I saw this and was speechless with tears in my eyes.  The truth is compelling and the art is deep and rich.  It reminds me that creativity is a fantastic vehicle for truth.

Beautiful art intensifies the truth.

However, as the green grass begins to peak through the brown-dormant grass of last year, I feel myself waking up .  I am not sure exactly what that means, but I do know that I feel rested. For the first time in months, it feels like I have a reserve of energy and creativity that I am ready to start using.

Even though I have been laying low, I have still been living. Here are some of the highlights:

• We released 30 new reading plans for EXAMEN.me, and our users are loving it!
• I ran a 10k in 55:55.
• Kari and I paid off our student Loan!  We now have no debt except our house.  We have been working our butts off to accomplish this. Thanks Dave Ramsey.
• Justus just turned 2.  This is the first time we have not had a baby in our house since 2005.  That feels weird.
• “Feet the Move” was chosen to be highlighted in Worship Leader Magazine on the Song Discovery CD sampler.  I feel very honored.  If you stil haven’t got the record.  What are you waiting for? Get it on iTunes or  Amazon.
• Chris Johns finished editing all the videos from the NorthWood live recording.
• I have read several good books.  Margin, The Power of Full Engagement, Harry Potter, Today We Are Rich.  And I re-read The War of Art. I recommend them all.
• Netflix on-demand can be dangerous. I have never considered myself a TV guy, and have never had cable as an adult. Who knew there was so much to watch on TV – especially when it is commercial free.

Here’s to a new seasons and coming out of the cave of hibernation!

Last year we had Phil Wickham at NorthWood for a Christmas Concert. It was incredible.  His voice + Christmas music = a good time for all!

This year he is going to be at First Baptist Hurst in the DFW Metroplex.  I have two tickets and I would love for you to win them.

The Details

Date & Time: Monday,  December 6th – 7pm

Place: First Baptist Hurst (map)

How to Win the Tickets

Jonathan Gifford is the winner!

Leave a comment.  I will pick 1 winner who will get both tickets. Since the concert is in the Mid-Cities area of DFW you will need to pick the tickets up from me Sunday or Monday. I will announce the winner on Sunday 9:00 am.

If you don’t win the tickets, it would still be a great event for you to go to.  See all the ticket info here.

So what are you waiting for… ENTER HERE!

The Global Faith Forum was a one-of-a-kind gathering at NorthWood where we sought to understand, respect and love those of other faiths, while not compromising one tenet of our own faith.  Because our Pastor, Bob Roberts has such a wild ministry and platform, he was able to bring in his friends from around the world to help us understand  and respect those of other faiths and traditions, while encouraging us to engage them with Love and the Good news of Christ.

My favorite part of the weekend is when many of our guests – most of whom were not Christian – commented  on how much they loved the music and personally requested the new NorthWood Worship CD.

Thank you God for all that you allow me to be a part of.

There are some great speakers who are going to be there.  I am looking forward to learning and connecting with friends from around the US. I am also interested in watching the dynamics of a whole lot creative types who are very savvy  in social media. Should be Fun!

If you are going, hit me up. I would love to connect.  You can also follow me on twitter to catch real time updates.

What are you doing this week?

Review

If you have ever had sushi, then you probably have had an experience with wasabi, the flaming hot green stuff that is always put on the side of your plate. It is a small dallop, and looks innocent enough, but it has extreme power if you put it in your mouth.  Shawn relates that experience to seven teachings of Christ.  He uses scriptures that are nice and cute and very familiar to a believer, but he unpacks them in a powerful way.

Shawn’s approach to the book is brilliant.  I approached the book excited for Shawn to highlight some of the hard teachings of Jesus and really push and challenge me to “Just Do It”.   However, his approach is much more effective.   Each of the Seven “wasabi”  teachings of Christ is woven around the story of Laura, a normal girl with a life full of emotional baggage (just like the rest of us).  Throughout the book,  she struggles with applying the teachings of Christ into her broken and un-perfect reality. This approach did two things to me.  First, it made me think through my own life to see how I am assimilating Christ’s teaching. This challenged me to evaluate myself instead of simply reading the book and saying “Amen” as I came to the hard teachings of Christ.  Second, as a pastor, it helped me have empathy for the people in my church (myself included)  who are trying to assimilate the life and words of Christ into their lives.  To see that it is not that they don’t want to, they just have a lot of questions and baggage to deal with.

Shawn’s writing style is refreshing and very easy to read.  He does not belabor points.  He gets to the point and uses humor that literally makes me laugh out loud. I highly recommend Wasabi Gospel, as well as  his other book, 200 Pomegranates and an Audience of One.

The keynotes of the conference are Eugene Peterson, Dallas Willard, Richard Foster, John Ortberg and many others.  I am excited to see what God does in my heart.

I will try to update the blog as we move though the conference, but I am assuming I will have limited access to the interwebs.  So, make sure you follow me on twitter to catch the updates.

If you are going, I would love to connect.  You can contact me through the contact page or through twitter.

Kindle 2: Amazon’s New Wireless Reading Device (Latest Generation)

As of this morning, I have 418 unread items in my feed reader… I usually have 0.  I have not blogged in 2 weeks. I usually try to blog at least 3-4 times a week. Several people have asked me why I have not been posting.  I hope your wondering that too. So what in the world is going on?

A little Background

I am passionate about worship.  Not just leading corporate worship, but making sure that people are worshiping in their own personal lives as well.  In fact, as much as I love corporate worship, it is COMPLETELY insufficient for the believer.  One service a week cannot deliver the transformation that your sole needs. If you want to walk with Christ, it is a daily thing (Luke 9:23).

Something Great is Coming.

I am currently working with a couple of uber-talented guys to develop a web site (web app) that will let you interact with God by guiding you through Scripture and prayers while providing a journal to record your experiences.  I don’t want to give away to many details, but what we are working on could radically change how many interact with God on a  daily base, at least that is the goal.

Stay tuned for more information.

Forgive the temporary silence from the blog.

Pray for us as we try to get this thing launched.

For Black Friday, Amazon is offering their top 50 downloaded albums for $5 each. That is 50% off of good music. You can’t beat that. Go check it out.

Actually they have a lot of other Black Friday sales as well. Go check them out here. But honestly, who would buy other stuff when you could buy music!

HT: Jon