what i learned in downtown chicago on wednesday

1. Chicago is eager and ready to live up to its nickname (the windy city)
2. the giant silver bean is still there
3. Chicago trains are, in fact, cleaner on the inside than Egyptian trains
4. Portillo's hot dogs are pretty darn good
5. The elevator in the Hancock building is the fastest in North America
6. You have to go UP to get to Filene's Basement (weird)
7. my nephews are crazy
8. the Hard Rock rocks hard
9. it's not wise to mess with the guy that works at 7-11
10. did I mention that the dogs at Portillo's are really good?

what if starbucks marketed like the church?

Matt Beres shared this YouTube video with me last week. It's great. Ever wonder why we do (or don't do) certain things at NewPointe? Check it out...

thanksgiving vacation (day two)

On day two we visited the church (Grove City Naz) where I was on staff before coming to NewPointe. It was great to see friends and get caught up on life. I kept thinking about the One Month To Live series and how time spent with good friends is so precious. It honestly makes me want to do more of it. After all, if I only had one month to live...this is what I'd want to do. What's more important in life than relationships? Unfortunately, I (we) haven't done a very good job of staying in touch with some of the people we love so much.


As we were driving from Columbus to Indy, Jenny and I talked about establishing a plan that would allow us to be better stewards of the relationships God has blessed us with (which is a great segue for the next item on day two)...


A visit with some friends in Indy (friends we haven't seen in over 3 years). Here's a picture of Andrew with his friend Sam. Andrew and Sam shared a crib in Guatemala when they were infants. It was so much fun watching them pick right up where they left off in Guatemala over six years ago.


Our visit with these friends was incredible but way too short (aren't they always?).

Day two was a relational blitz between Columbus and Indianapolis but, dang, was it a great day!

The "blitz" put a beat-down on Andrew. Here he is in the van after our visits...

thanksgiving vacation (day one)

Thanksgiving week: my first full week of vacation this year. It started with a drive to Columbus Saturday morning to visit friends and watch OSU pound Michigan (again).

Today reminded me that Michael W. Smith was right when he said, "Friends are friends forever when the Lord's the Lord of them..." Okay, okay...I know that's corny but it really is true. There's nothing like having good friends. We can go months (even years) between visits but we can pick right up where we left off. There's nothin' better than good friends, is there?

Today we'll visit our old church (Grove City Naz), visit with more friends (guess we could call this week the Bunn family friends tour), and then head to Indy for yet another stop to visit friends before treating the kids to a big surprise.

does satan attend church at newpointe?

Evidently...he does. Well at least he did last week. Dave D actually invited the Prince of Darkness onto the stage to discuss the topic of money and greed. Interesting...insightful. And rumor has it that he may visit NewPointe again this Sunday...to talk about sex.

I have to share this: during the service on Sunday, the devil (portrayed by Matt Beres) actually texted me to say, "I'm sitting backstage waiting and praying. Then I realized how awkward it is for Satan to pray..."

And I'm thinking, yeah, how weird is it for me to pray for Satan? Crazy.

See you Sunday! (and so will the devil).

rick reilly @ kent

Last night I got to hear Rick Reilly (formerly of Sports Illustrated, now with ESPN) speak at Kent State Tusc (thanks Jeff).

What I love about Rick Reilly is that he views the sports world (and the world in general) through different lenses. I love creativity. And Rick is perhaps the most creative sports writer I've ever read.

Rick spoke for about an hour. He did about 45 minutes of his favorite stories/experiences, five minutes of stories that tug at your heartstrings, and then saved the last 10 minutes for questions.

Here is one of my favorite Rick Reilly lines:

Golf is the cruelest game, because eventually it will drag you out in front of
the whole school, take your lunch money and slap you around.

Rick Reilly has golfed with presidents. He's hung out with Tiger Woods. Last month he even partnered with Barak Obama to pick a fantasy football team. But...he says the most significant thing he's ever done in his life was starting this: Nothing But Nets.

You can read Rick's weekly ESPN column here.

the 2008 bunn's best-of awards (food category)

What you're about read is strickly one man's opinion.

With that in mind, I give you, the best of Tusc County...(food category)

• Best cup of coffee: Wallhouse Coffee (Sugarcreek)
• Best soft-serve ice cream cone: Tastee-Freeze (New Phila)
• Best chips and salsa: El San Jose (New Phila)...hands down, no contest
• Best wings: spicy garlic, Hog Heaven (New Phila)
• Best fries: Big Jim's (New Phila)
• Best salad bar: The Mill (Buehler's)...another easy choice
• Best donuts: Rod's (Uhrichsville)
• Best peanut butter pie: Canal Street Diner (Bolivar)...really, it's amazing
• Best Chinese dish: French Double Flavor @ Empire Buffet (New Phila)...is it weird that a Chinese dish is labeled "French?"
• Best cinnamon rolls: Cici's Pizza (New Phila)... oh. my. gosh.
• Best appetizer: breadsticks with dipping sauce, Yesterday's (Bolivar)

Your thoughts?

it's michigan week...

If you're not from Ohio or Michigan, you'll never fully understand the significance of OSU-Michigan week...and the bitter, brutal dislike the two schools have for one another. Michigan week in Ohio brings with a virtual buffet of Michigan jokes and put-downs...lots of fun. And yes, my inbox has been welcoming the jabs at the "school up north." So...for the next couple days...leading up to The Game (yes, 'round these parts it's referred to simply as 'The Game'), I'll be posting some of my favorite jokes, jabs, and cheap shots at the school we all love to hate: Meat-Chicken.

Here's one of my favorites so far (sent to me by Harry):

I heard that they may cancel the OSU/Michigan game for the first time in
history... Yeah see, the problem is Michigan can't get past Toledo.

(for those of you scratching your heads right now...Michigan lost to Toledo earlier this season...it was a thing of beauty.)

FEAR THE VEST!

precautionary measures

Some of you know that Dwight was hit with a serious flu bug over the weekend. Very unusual for him to be out of commission. He made it back to work Tuesday...came right into my office and stuck out his hand (wanted me to shake it). I thought, are you serious? I went ahead and slipped him some skin and then hit up my bottle of Germ-X as soon as he left my office.

A little later in the day, Celeste Honigford stopped by my office. She said she had a 2:00 meeting with Dwight...but she came prepared. I snapped a pic...

'Tis the season...for the flu!

sunday's scuds (november 16, 2008)

Okay...it's difficult to do a scud review of a message I delivered. I'm going to give it a shot anyway.

Sunday we continued the Worlds Apart series. We've been dealing with how there is an unseen world that actually greatly affects the world that we do see. Sunday we dealt with something that's extremely difficult to see in ourselves: Greed.

Here are the scuds as I see 'em:

• I’ve never met anybody who would say, “Well you know, my problem is, I’m just greedy."
• When greed gets lodged in your heart it becomes a filter through which you make all of your financial decisions but it also impacts your relationships.
• Greed is not really a financial issue. It's a heart issue.
• For the greedy person stuff = life.
• There are people around you that feel like they are competing with your stuff.
• We spend money we don’t have for things we don’t need but then when somebody asks us to give, our mind just goes in a completely different direction and we look at what we have immediately available and we make a giving decision. What is that? It’s greed.
• We think we're not greedy because we have all these feelings...but I can’t give you the dollars because they’re not immediately accessible. And then we turn right around and borrow and make stupid, stupid financial decisions purely for the our own sakes.
• We assume that having an abundance of stuff equals having an abundance of time but the reality is...the two have nothing to do with one another.
• Eventually everything we claim to own will be owned by somebody else.
• It’s not a matter of if somebody else will get it, it’s just a matter of when and how. Either we will give it away while we still have time, or it will be taken away when our time runs out.
• You'll never meet an unhappy generous person.
• God's desire is for you to be free in every area of your life.

(Thanks to Andy Stanley and his book, It Came From Within, for much of the content of Sunday's message.)

married life live pics

I LOVE Married Life Live at NewPointe. Saturday night was another huge hit. Not only is MLL just a great date-night for couples (fun, entertaining, creative, good food), but God always shows up and speaks truth in to my marriage at MLL. Here are some pics from "The Motion of the Ocean"...

possibili-days

A couple weeks ago at First Wednesday, I mentioned a new tradition that we've started in our family. It's called POSSIBILI-DAYS.

Possibili-days were inspired by the One Month To Live Series. See, I want my kids to dream big dreams. And then I want them to chase down those dreams. So we created possibili-days.

Here's how it works: Once a month, usually on Saturdays, I take one of our three kids some place like Borders or Barnes and Noble. We snag a table near the cafe and call it home base. There we unload our bags full of magazines, scrap booking items, photos, etc. And then we go to work.

I talk to each kid about what they want to do with their lives, the dreams they have, and how we can begin to pursue those dreams. They do most of the talking...I mainly ask questions and encourage them to dream big.

We cut out key words and phrases from magazines that may apply to their dreams. We cut out pictures. We make words. And then we formulate a plan for what their "book of possibilities" will be.

The best part of possibili-days for me is just hanging with each of my kids, one-on-one. Another huge thing for me is that we're getting the dreams, goals, and possibilities for each of their lives in writing...in a keepsake form. Something they can keep to remember and refer to the dreams that God has planted in their hearts.

Here are a few pics from some our recent outings:

The cover of Andrew's Book of Possibilities...

Looking for stuff in magazines...

Working on the scrapbook. By the way, the first thing Andrew wanted me to write in his book was this: "I want to play football and I want to honor God." Works for me.

When Naomi and I were talking about career possibilities, she said she'd like to work at a church and do service programming, like her daddy. How cool is that?

When we make pages for the books, the kids don't just dream about what they want to do. We make pages about the kind of person they want to BE.

One of Natalie's dreams is to adopt a kid someday.

I think it's huge to get the kids' dreams in writing. I want them to dream big and set high goals for themselves. That's what possibili-days are all about.

I LOVE POSSIBILI-DAYS WITH MY KIDS!

dwight's scuds from the sticks

As promised, here are some of my notes from Dwight's talk at "The Sticks"

• Nothing happens without leadership.
• All that God wants you to be is YOU…BUT, you have to lead!
• Jesus, our example, said, “Follow me.” Are you comfortable with that? Paul said, “Follow me as I follow Christ.”
• We don’t like to lead people, we like to TELL people.
• The number one requirement to be a pastor: Lead your family well.
• It’s so tempting for you and I to just want to preach. We impress people from a distance but we impact people up close.
• What we have a tendency to do is to blame people rather than taking responsibility for our leadership.
• The greatest need in the church today is for trained leaders.
• We need to take our cue from Jesus when he says, “Follow me.”
• We teach what we know but we reproduce who we are.
• If you don’t like your church, take a good look at yourself.
• You are reproducing who you are whether you’re intentional about it or not.
• If you can’t say, “follow me as I follow Christ,” then you’ve got problems.
• NewPointe is blessed to have me as your pastor. Are you okay with that? If you can’t say that about yourself, then you’ve got to change some things.
• You can change the world right where you are.
• You need a call that is greater than your critics. If you don’t have a call greater than your critics, you will cave in to them.
• I’m not valued for what I do, I’m valued for whose I am.
• Do you know why Jesus could wash the feet of the disciples? He had nothing to prove, nothing to lose, nothing to hide.
• You’re as sick as your secrets.
• The times I have not led well…has not been because I didn’t know what to do…it’s because I lacked courage.

the sticks

This week several of the NewPointe staff participated in a church conference in Loudonville, Ohio called The Sticks. It was a conference designed specifically for churches located in rural area and small towns (thus the name "the sticks").

Several NewPointe staff members spoke at breakout sessions. My main man, Dwight spoke in one of the main sessions and flat out knocked it out of the park. The NewPointe band did a worship set to kickoff day two.

Here are a few pics I took while at The Sticks...

Yeah, that's me hangin' with one of my favorite authors, Mark Batterson (In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day, Wild Goose Chase). Yep...we're tight now.

Here's Kevin the stalker getting Mark Batterson to sign his copy of Wild Goose Chase (which Kevin just happened to have with him...stalker)

Dwight...doin' his thang at The Sticks. Truthfully (and I know I'm a homer, but Dwight did an absolutely amazing job of speaking truth to the leaders in attendance...really, it was phenomenal).

I'll post some of my note from Dwight's talk soon. In the meantime, you can cruise over to Tim Stevens' (executive pastor at Granger Community Church) blog to read some of his notes from what Dwight shared.

aquafying chicago

Showed this video of the trip to Chicago at Aqua last night. The crew asked me to post it online. Here you go guys...

sunday's scuds (novemer 9, 2008)

Part 2 of the Worlds Apart series. Dwight gave a powerful, clear presentation of the Gospel today. Strong. He focused on freedom in Christ. Here are some of the scuds:

• Maximum freedom is found under God's authority.
• God to Adam and Eve: I'm so interested in your freedom, I'm giving you this rule..."
• It was not God who robbed man of his freedom, it was sin.
• Satan's number one goal is to get you to blame God for all of your problems.
• God loves you so much that he's willing to say "no" to you some times.
• The lie Satan wants you to believe: God is holding out on you.
• Sin leads to bondage.
• Every day of our lives we're tempted to trade authority for what's disguised as freedom.
• Many of you lost freedom because you were sexually active when you were single.
• Some of you have had an affair and you've lost the freedom to parent your kids because they no longer trust you.
• Some of you haven't lived according to God's principles when it comes to finances. And now you're in financial bondage.
• Some of you haven't put boundaries on how you're entertained...and you're in bondage now because you're addicted to porn.
• When we attempt, in the flesh, to be free, we end up in bondage.
• Rules without relationship results in a lack of trust.
• Christianity is an invitation to a relationship, not an invitation to a code of conduct or a set of rules.

Y'all okay?

monkey boy

I've had these pics of the Monkey Boy for at least a month. Meant to get them posted to my blog before now. Here he is at the Swiss Festival riding the Super Shot. The Super Shot is the ride that takes you way up in the air and then drops you straight down.

Andrew was barely tall enough to ride...but man, did he ride. I'm not exaggerating when I tell you that he must have ridden the Super Shot 30 times time two days. He's a wild man.

pie chart

Interesting.

election reflection

Regardless of who you voted for...or who won, God is still sovereign...and he's still in control.

Whether you supported McCain, Obama, or neither, this is still America...it's still the greatest nation on earth...

...and EVERY president needs our prayer and support.

Imagine that all the right people got elected to all the right offices Imagine if they did everything right: zoning laws, tax structures, immigration policy, crime bills—everything just exactly the way you think it ought to be.

Here’s the question: Would that fix what's wrong with America?

If we got all the right people in all the right offices to enact all the right legislative policies, would you finally be the woman or the man that you know God called you to be?

The fact remains, that there's only ONE THING that can change the human heart: JESUS CHRIST.

Jesus ushered in a new administration, the Kingdom of God. Jesus offers life to the fullest, God's presence, his favor, and his love.

The hope of the world is STILL Jesus Christ.

(we'll talk more about this at First Wednesday tonight)