The best thing you can do as you pursue God in 2010 is to have a consistent devotional life. Many people get overwhelmed as they seek to grow in their walk with Christ because they simply do not know what to do next. EXAMEN.me provides several convenient options that will help develop and guide you in your walk with Christ.
Meditate on scripture with the goal of life obedience.
Pray with focus.
Journal and keep a record of God’s activity in your life.
What are you waiting for? Create an Account or Login today and let EXAMEN.me help you pursue your spiritual goals for 2010.
This is a story from a guy at NorthWood. God really used the song “How He Loves” in his life. Here is his incredible story of receiving and giving forgiveness.
This past weekend we used it as an intro and then we played the song. It was a huge blessing to our congregation. It is also a great example of team work. Great job Jordan and Chris.
I have a friend who is successful and influential in his field. He owns a growing company, but he never seems that stressed out about it. I have seen him walk through some serious trials with it all, and he still remains rather calm. In other words he is driven but calm. I get the driven part, but not always the calm. I asked him how he stays laid back in the midst of it all. His answer, “I read Ecclesiastes at least once month.”
So this morning, outside of my normal personal worship routine (which of course is examen.me) I read the whole book of Ecclesiastes in one setting. It was very refreshing. It puts the pursuits in this life into perspective.
In life there is vanity, wisdom, folly, toil, hard work, fleeting joys, and a time for everything. But even through the writer of Ecclesiastes seems to ask many more questions that he answers, I love how the book is ended.
13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. 14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil. Eccl 12:13-14
Over the last couple of months, I have had the privilege of getting to know Shawn Wood, the Experiences Pastor of Seacaost Church and the author of two books. He is the real deal. He is one of those extremely talented, super smart kind of guys who you wish you were like, but he is also humble and approachable like an old friend. His second book, Wasabi Gospel, is coming out very soon. I have had a chance to preview it, and I really think you would enjoy the book. You can and should pre-order it today on Amazon.
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.
Yesterday was an incredible day at NorthWood. We have been implementing what we are calling the “Time of Obedience” for the last two months. It finally feels like we are getting close to the sweet spot.
The Time of Obedience is where at the end of the service, we are giving time and space to let people respond to what God has been speaking to them. We have Alter ministers positioned in 4 places around the room to lead someone to Christ and pray for them, we open the altar for people to come pray by themselves or as a family, we have cards for people to sit and write what God has been doing in their lives, we sing, and yesterday we took communion. It is controlled chaos, but our people are responding to God, and I could not be happier!
One of the best books I read in 2008 was Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us, by Seth Godin. Quite frankly, it was 1 of 3 books that created the perfect storm that helped me gear up to release EXAMEN.me.
If you haven’t read the book, or don’t intend to, make sure you check out this video, a 20 minute TED talk summarizing the book..
I just bought the Sovereign Grace CD “Together for the Gospel – Live.” It is incredible. The recording is hymns, and other doctrinally rich songs, with only a piano and a room full of voices. The truth of the songs mixed with the voices of the saints have stirred my heart with overwhelming affections for our God.
Go check it out. You can preview it and have several purchase options.
For the last 3 months I have been putting together a website that is an online devotional tool called EXAMEN.me. It is finally finished and we are launching today!
EXAMEN.me is a simple-to-use web site that fosters your personal interaction with God. The site guides you to examen your life as you meditate on scripture, pray, and journal all of your reflections.
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.
EXAMEN.me is a simple-to-use web site, provided by Worshiply, that fosters your personal interaction with God.
EXAMEN.me lets you choose how you want to interact with God by providing guided experiences that will lead you through scripture, prayers, and let you journal your experience.
What are you waiting for? Go create your account today and revolutionize how you interact with God.
About Me
My name is Brent Minter. I am a follower of Christ, husband, father, and a Worship Pastor. My life’s pursuit is to lead others in worship, not just from the stage, but in their personal lives as well. This starts with my smoking-hot wife Kari, and our 3 kids. Then it moves to NorthWood Church in Keller, TX, a truly remarkable place, where I design and lead worship services/experiences. I love the interwebs, any music that has soul, theology, hunting, learning, being the only worship pastor in America who still uses a PC I gave in, and scooters. Those who ...
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The best thing you can do as you pursue God in 2010 is to have a consistent devotional life. Many people get overwhelmed as they seek to grow in their walk with Christ because they simply do not know what to do next. EXAMEN.me provides several convenient options that will help develop and guide you in your walk with Christ.
I have a friend who is successful and influential in his field. He owns a growing company, but he never seems that stressed out about it. I have seen him walk through some serious trials with it all, and he still remains rather calm. In other words he is driven but calm. I get the driven part, but not always the calm. I asked him how he stays laid back in the midst of it all. His answer, “I read Ecclesiastes at least once month.”
Over the last couple of months, I have had the privilege of getting to know 
