persistent prayer

I listened to a sermon by Andy Stanley about prayer today. His text was the parable of the friend at midnight (from Luke chapter 11). The message was all about being persistent with your prayers. He concluded the message by asking what is it in your life (or is there anything in your life) that you pray for persistently and passionately. In other words, what are you praying for over and over again...what are the things you are so committed to in prayer that you've decided, no matter what, I'm never going to not pray for this. I'm never going to give up.

It forced me to think. Man, here's a real growth area for me. Because I don't think I have that thing--or things that I pray and pray and pray and pray...to the point of exhaustion and then pray and pray and pray again for. I think I need to be doing that. There are things in my life that I would tell you that I want to see God's hand move in, but I'm inconsistent in praying for those things.

What do you pray for, consistently, persistently, that you're never going to give up on. Read the parable in Luke 11:5-13 and maybe it'll shed some light on this for you. It did for me.

got any secrets?

While at North Point Community Church a couple weeks ago, during the final Q & A session, one of the church leaders, Bill Willits, was asked, "What do you do as a leader to guard your heart?" In other words, what safeguards to you have in place to make sure you don't blow it morally?
Bill answered the question the way I'd expect a small groups guy to answer it: be a part of a small group have have people in your life that you've given permission to ask the tough questions. I've come to realize that saying it, doing it, and REALLY doing it are all very different things. You've gotta be serious about it. You've gotta really want it. I'm not even sure if I'm completely there yet.

Then Bill said this: "I'm always one bad decision away from blowing it all...for my family, for my church..." He said, "And if you have secrets, you're really close to that bad decision."
Wow! So I've been thinking...and searching. Are there any secrets in my life? Because I don't want to blow it. How 'bout you? Any secrets in your life?

7/22 @ north point community church

Last week Danny Bunnelle and I had the opportunity to visit Andy Stanley's church in Alpharetta, GA.

North Point Community Church is about 10 years old and already seeing crowds of 12,000+ on the weekends.

Danny and I went to check out their college/singles gig. It's called 7-22. It was amazing. We got invited through an online application process to a two-day learning experience called Backstage Pass.

Backstage Pass basically gave us full access to everything 7-22. We toured the building, sat in on rehearsals, attended the production meeting, and had Q & A's with the 7-22 team. It was a great experience--well worth it.

The reason we went is because we're going to be starting a college/singles gig of our own. Look for it sometime in early '07.

While at Backstage Pass, I took about seven pages worth of notes. Here are some of the highlights from my legal pad:

• While touring the building, the volunteer giving the tour commented (rather off-handedly) that it's 'drilled in' to every team member/volunteer that the reason they do what they do is "To lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ." In other words, every time a ministry team or volunteer team meets, they are reminded: Hey guys, the reason that we're here...the reason we do this is because we want to be able to lead others into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. That's awesome! I'm trying to make sure, now, that every time I meet with a group of volunteers or small group leaders, that I'm reminding them that the reason we serve is to do precisely that: Lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.
• Here are some of the things I learned about their volunteers: They begin recruiting every May. They ask for a one-year commitment. Things get kicked off with a volunteer orientation. Applications get filled out. Volunteers go on a weekend retreat for team-building. Retaining volunteers is difficult. They have six different volunteer teams: 1. Greeting team 2. Resource team 3. Prayer team 4. Ministry team 5. Late night team 6. Production team. Each team has two leaders.
• Here are the requirements to lead a team: 1. stay sexually pure, 2. have your finances in line with Biblical standards, 3. if you drink, you must drink responsibly, 4. all leaders are required to have an apprentice.
• The target audience for 7-22 is 21-30 year-olds.
• About doing things with excellence: "Even if those coming don't believe in what we're doing, they respect what we're doing enough to listen to what we have to say."
  They would say that for 7-22 "worship is the centerpiece and God is the main event."

It's a first-class, well run organization. VERY impressive. And oh, by the way, the actual event, 7-22, was mind-blowing. The evening was called "Touch of Heaven." Louie Giglio brought a message about compassion and true worship. At the end, he asked for a response...he asked, get this, a room full (3,000 or so) of college students and singles to give generously to Compassion International. They tallied the giving--and that night they raised $41,000. It was simply an amazing evening. You can watch it here.

condiment capers

I have a four-year-old who likes to watch Blues Clues. While I was watching it with him the other day, two of the regular characters, Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper, made an appearance. And it got me to wondering...Why is Mr. Salt running around with Mrs. Pepper all the time? Does Mrs. Salt know? Does she care? And what does Mr. Pepper think about all this? And...is Mrs. Pepper really married to Dr. Pepper? Maybe she just married him for his money.

And to make things worse, apparently, Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper have a kid together (Paprika). See, this is the stuff TV is teaching our kids. Sheesh!

chick flicks i recommend

Okay guys, so every once in a while you gotta throw the Mrs. a bone by watching the occaisional chick flick (after all, you want her to watch movies like The Rundown and I Robot with you, right). It always scores more if you initiate the chick flick watching. So with that in mind, let me help you out...since you're gonna have to do this every once in a while to keep things kosher at home, here is my list of recommendations:

• Just Like Heaven
• A Walk to Remember
• Where the Heart Is
• A Lot Like Love
• Return to Me
• Pride and Prejudice (2006)
• Ever After

Yes, I actually enjoyed all of these. Almost cried durning a couple of them...almost.

maurice clarett...what happened?

In case you missed it, Maurice Clarett (former star running back for the Ohio State Buckeyes) has been arrested yet again. Apparently early this morning he performed an illegal u-turn in his SUV and Columbus police began persuing him...and he ran! After stopping him and getting into a wrestling match with him, the police attempted to taser him--ineffectively...because he was wearing a bullet-proof vest! Not only that, but when they searched his vehicle, they found, get this:

• A loaded assault rifle
• Three loaded handguns
• A hatchet
• A bottle of vodka

They ended up having to mace him before it was all over.

Clarett is already awaiting trial on two counts of aggravated robbery, four counts of robbery and one count of carrying a concealed weapon in a separate case.

Here's a guy who could have had it all...so to speak. Star player on a national championship team...could have won a Heisman trophy, another national title, been a 1st round NFL draft pick and made millions...if he'd have just kept his nose clean.

But this guy keeps making one bad decision after another. And he doesn't seem to be learning. His decision making keeps getting worse and worse.

Here's my take on the whole thing: I think it's a situation where Clarett feels a sense of entitlement...meaning that he's entitled to a plush lifestyle where everything is handed to him on a platter. He was tracking that way and then he screwed up as a freshman and has just kept digging himself into a deeper and deeper hole.And the sad thing is that he seems to blame everybody but himself. In his mind, he's a victim...and the NCAA, the NFL, or whoever, robbed him of all the "stuff" he was entitled to. And then he looks at his buddy LeBron James--a guy who it's all worked out for (talk about polar opposite career/life paths)--and he can't believe his misfortune...and so in his mind, he has a right to get it back...by whatever means possible. In his mind, he's not wrong, because he's been wronged to begin with. And all along the way he keeps getting bad advice and he keeps getting himself in more trouble and it just exacerbates the whole thing.It's sad. And everytime he gets in trouble, I'm thinking, well maybe this will be his wakeup call...and then there's just more of the same later on. He needs help and I don't know what it'll take to convince himself of that.

My buddy Kevin and I were talking about how, in life, there's always this fine line we seem to be walking where we're just one, seeminly small, bad choice away from disaster. Sometimes it could be merely seconds away from things turning out differently and were in not for the grace of God, my life could be on a trajectory similar to Clarett's. I look back at some dumb decisions I've made and I think, if that would have gone that way instead of this way...missing disaster by only inches or seconds...who knows where I'd be.

It's easy for us to look at a guy like Clarett and think: idiot. Loser. And assume he's so incredibly unlike us. But is he really? What about your life? I'd bet you can look back on bone-headed things you've done and think...Wow! I was headed for disaster!

Stuff like this is like a wake-up call for me. There's a fine line between what could be and what will be. We've got to guard our hearts!

i almost died laughing

Check out this obituatry. This is for real! Follow this link: Frederic Arthur (Fred) Clark