All posts in Church

Book Review: Stuff Christians Like

by John on July 2, 2010 in Books, Church, Personal, Reviews with No comments

I’ve been an avid fan of Jon Acuff for a while, his humor is sharp, sarcastic, and completely on point. So when I heard that he was FINALLY getting published, I knew that I had to get my hands on Stuff Christians Like.

Stuff Christians Like is, from the author’s site, “..a collection of more than 120 ideas, including more than 80 never before seen, brand spanking new posts and reader favorites from the site. It’s illustrated to amplify the hilarity and features a collection of classic Serious Wednesday posts as well.

Stuff Christians Like is your field guide to all things Christian. Like a satirical grenade, Acuff brings us the humor and honesty that galvanized 730,000 online readers from 209 countries in a new portable version. Welcome to the funny side of faith.“

Not only is this a funny read, it’s a quick one as well. But the true brilliance Jon Acuff, is his ability to carve away the layers of personal protection and drills directly to the real, honest heart of every Christian. We hide from certain areas of faith that are too messy and too personal, but Jon pulls away the scab from years of Christian indoctrination to reveal the gaping wound of Christ followers who just don’t know any better…

Jon has been blessed with the gift of sarcasm, but also with the gift of teaching, evangelism, and of honesty. Which in today’s church world, is a rarity. If you’d like to get a taste of Stuff Christians Like, please visit StuffChristiansLike.net.

Book Review: The Air I Breathe

by John on March 18, 2010 in Books, Church, Leadership, Quotables, Reviews with 2 Comments

“We are all worshipers…of something. Bur are we spending our lives and filling our days with what matters most?” – Louie Giglio

This is a great book for people who wish to grow a deeper understanding of what true worship really is. The Air I Breathe is conversation and extremely thought provoking.

It’s also a great resource for a small group study, especially a worship team. It should also be mandatory reading for all ministers, pastors, and church volunteers!

Quotables:

“Worship is the activity of the human soul.”
“Worship should matter to you simply because it matters to God.”
“I’ve got to keep making sure that what matters most, matters to me.”
“The things we champion-the values we serve-are not choices made in a vacuum.”
“There’s a war raging for our worship, and it’s been that way since before there was time.”

Crazy Sunday

by John on February 9, 2010 in Church, Food, Friends, Leadership, Personal, Sports with 2 Comments

I’ve been struggling with a weird cold that Sid and I have been swapping back and forth for the last few weeks. THIS week, it’s my turn to have no voice, fever, sore throat… It basically sucks. But illness not withstanding, I have not experienced a 24 hour period like I did last Sunday, it was amazing!

Two old friends of mine, Pam and Jim Fenoff came over from Orlando to spend the night and Sunday with us, but I’m getting ahead of myself..

6:00 am – The alarm went off and I got up and took a shower. The I hit ‘The Book’, for some quiet time with God and hear something from my Savior.

7:30 am – Breakfast, yep a FULL breakfast of pancakes, eggs, fruit, and Bacon Explosion! It was marvelous! After we ate, I hit the road to be at church early, and I got out of doing dishes!!

9:00 am – Downbeat for band rehearsal. everything went well, I felt pretty good playing and all the elements seemed to be coming together.

10:30 am – Service Begins. Today Common Ground started a new series, God Love Sex, based on the Song of Songs. Hot stuff for a church to talk about, but we need to hear about sex, just like money, sin, Hell, and Heaven.

12:00 -Service ends, and it was awesome! We had cool videos, some extra surprises and an amazing stage set. I really felt like I was back in my niche. Well, church was over, and only 1/3 of my Sunday was over…what next???

1:00 pm - The Florida State Fair!! Sid, the Fenoff’s, and myself drove over the fairgrounds and enjoyed the entertainment, the attractions, the fair exhibits…but mainly, it was all about the FAIR FOOD!! I cannot even begin to list the different items we tried, but they were all good, but only once a year….

6:00 pm – Sid and I had enough of the fair and we STILL had Super Bowl plans…so we drove over to our annual football ritual at the lovely home of Doug and V, friends from back in the day…. Shrimp, beer, brats, and baked beans were the menu items, and Saints v. Colts the entertainment.

9:45 pm – Saints win! Saints win! Saints win! I cannot believe it! Everyone told me I was pulling for a loser, but justice prevailed!!

10:30 pm – Sid and I got home, took some cold medicine, and crawled into bed for a good nights rest. It was truly an amazingly crazy Sunday!