A Leadership Principle that Donald Trump Doesn't Know

I watched the better part of a season of the Apprentice a few years ago. This year I've seen about one & a half episodes. But I've seen Trump make the same error (in my opinion) twice.

If you've seen the show, you know he calls in a few people at the end who will …

Miracles

Al Michaels: "You've got ten seconds, the countdown going on right now! Morrow, up to Silk. Five seconds left in the game. Do you believe in miracles? Yes!”

Lane preached a sermon yesterday on miracles & it was fantastic. He questioned what miracles really are …

Awesome Day

I had one of the best days today that I've had in a while. Here's how I was blessed:

Had breakfast & spent some time with God. I'm in II Timothy right now.

Took Cole to school & then met with Dave. He shared some encouraging stuff with me this morning. I'm excited …

How much would you have to hate a person...

On Sunday we showed a video clip of Penn talking about receiving the gift of a Bible. He's an avid atheist but appreciated the gift. The line that impacted me the most was something like this, "If you believed eternal life was possible, how much would you have to hate a …

We Have An Announcement

2 Announcements for the price of one:

1. We will probably be bringing home our little girl from Ethiopia in late June. And "probably" means that there is a 70% chance of it happening then. We could not be more excited. We've seen some pictures, know her name & think …

Yes & No

I was asked to do something today. It would have been a decent thing to do. It would have helped someone out. But it would have directly kept me from doing some other things.

It's always tough for me to say no to people. But it is getting a little bit easier. I'm …

Funny Date

The plan was to meet my parents halfway between Joplin & Tulsa so that the boys could spend the weekend with them. We got out of Tulsa just as a big storm was about to hit. It was right behind us the whole way (a typical storm that follows I-44). We met my parents in …

Flu vs. Serving

HPCC completed 32 out of 51 service projects all over the neighborhood yesterday for our Day of Serving. It's turned into the Week of Serving, and that's gonna stretch into the Month of Serving...And we couldn't be happier about it.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to be …

Camping with an Urban Dad

Cole and I are going camping this weekend. I can't wait for the time the two of us will spend together. But I'm not exactly like Bear (the survivor guy on Discovery Channel).

It's funny because I spent tons of time as a kid in the woods. I fished, camped-out, hiked …

Being The Church

Last week we sent about 5000 postcards to every house w/n about a mile radius of our church building. We communicated that we would be glad to help people with outdoor work that they might need help with. We've planned to cut our worship services short this week and …

A Little Devotion for Your Sunday

Since we are snowed-out (or is it snowed-in) tomorrow, I thought I'd share a little devotional thought with you. Maybe you can take some time to read the Scripture, reflect, pray about it and talk about it with your family (and facebook friends).

When I got back from …

Big Adoption News

The following excerpt is from my wife's blog:

Today I was spending a little time sewing on a Birthday gift when the phone rang. I almost let the answering machine get it but at the last minute picked up. It was our Family Coordinator from America World. She said that …

Chicago Trip

Well, the Chicago trip was fantastic. Our team barely needed sponsors. It was great giving the team some direction and then just watching them serve as they did. Our sponsors and students were all great.

We had a lot of things happen as I hoped they would, and we had …

Chicago Trip

I'm gonna be helping lead a team of Sr. High students who will be serving in Chicago this week. We partner with First Christian Church and By The Hand Club for Kids. Both are making a huge difference in their communities, and are doing some major Kingdom work. They are …

Reflecting & Praying

Yesterday was busy. Really busy. My day started early, was spent rushing to get ready for a lesson and our Chicago trip, and I had a meeting and counseling appointment sandwiched in between. We had a great discussion with a visiting friend until 1:00am, so this morning …

I Didn't Mean Anything By It - I Promise

Yesterday we tackled the question, "Is Jesus the Only Way to God?" Some cool things resulted, and we were able to help some people. (The sermon should be on-line this afternoon.)
But a few people pointed-out something funny that happened - and it was completely …

Urbanly-Retarded

We all know people who are socially-retarded in some way or another. They aren't bad people. They mean well. They just aren't quite aware of their surroundings and the norms. Sometimes they lack any sort of awareness of etiquette. If you don't know of their condition, …

Coincidence?

Late last night I me-up with some great friends to hang-out at the bowling alley. My bowling was horrible (I failed to break 100 – no surprise). The hot dog I ate was equally horrible, but it smelled so good. But the time with friends was priceless.

One lane over …

Beautiful Collision: Related Texts

Our series got-off to a great start yesterday. It's titled "Beautiful Collision: Holiness Meets Humanity" (yes, it's inspired by David Crowder's album). We are studying the book of John and I wanted to list some passages related to the sermon. There are many more, but …

What Goes into a Sermon

I can't quite describe the feeling that I have after giving a sermon that I've worked extra hard at preparing. I typically spend about 15 hours of prep per sermon, but lately that's been going up. The sermon I preached on John 1 took about 35 hours of prep, which …