Evotional.com - Mark Batterson

Parker and I fly to Las Vegas today. I'll speak in six services at Central Christian. I really covet the opportunity to speak at a few churches every year. Always get new ideas for NCC. And I've heard so many amazing things about Central Christian.

We're staying at the Bellagio on Saturday night. Excited about watching the infamous fountain show. Then we're off to the Grand Canyon for a week!

Really enjoyed the 4th! Went to a parade on Capitol Hill. We actually marched in it. Loved watching Josiah throw candy and then pick it up and eat it himself! Then we did a little grill action. Went down to watch the fireworks. That's when you've got to love living 12 blocks from the Capitol. And we topped it off with our own fireworks show!

I love history. And I love America! Thought I'd share a little of both as we celebrate Independence Day.

We live in a a day and age where we almost have to defend our patriotism. I'm certainly not suggesting that America is above reproach. Far from it. But a few years ago I did extensive research for a sermon series on our spiritual heritage. And I walked away with a renewed sense of destiny. There is so much revisionist history out there that we tend to forget that a lot of our Founding Fathers were motivated by their faith in Christ.

Just thought I'd share some backstory about some of the fifty-six signers of the Declaration of Independence. Most Americans know next to nothing about these fifty-six heroes who pledged their lives, fortunes and sacred honor to the cause of freedom.

John Witherspoon was an ordained minister and authored several books of sermons, as well as editing America's first family Bible published in 1791.

Charles Thomson served as Secretary of Congress and was a Biblical scholar. He helped edit the first American translation of the Greek Septuagint into English.

Charles Carroll, the last of the fifty-six signers to pass away at the age of 95 in 1832, wrote out his declaration of faith at the age of eighty-nine.

On the mercy of my Redeemer I rely for my salvation, and on His merits; not on the works I have done in obedience to His precepts.

Another Founding Father, Benjamin Rush, is considered the "Father of American Medicine." He personally trained three thousand medical students. Dr. Rush also founded "The First Day Society" which was the precursor to the Sunday School movement, as well as founding America's first Bible society. It was Benjamin Rush who said the Constitution was "as much the work of Divine Providence as any of the miracles recorded in the Old and New Testament were the effects of divine power."

Francis Hopkinson was a church music director and edited one of the first hymnals printed in America in 1767. He also set 150 psalms to music.

Roger Sherman is the only Founding Father to sign all four of America's Founding documents: the Articles of Association in 1774, the Declaration of Independence in 1776, the Articles of Confederation in 1778, and the U.S. Constitution in 1787. Roger Sherman was also a theologian. He wrote a personal creed that was adopted by his church:

I believe that there is one only living and true God, existing in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, the same in substance, equal in power and glory. That the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are a revelation from God, and a complete rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy Him.

I could share story after story, but the bottom line is this: many, if not most, of our Founding Fathers were motivated by their Faith in Christ. They wrote sermons and creeds and hymns. They founded Bible Societies and Sunday Schools. They served God's purposes in their own generation.

By the way, five signers were captured and tortured during the Revolutionary War. Twelve signers had their homes ransacked and burned. Two signers lost sons to the war they declared. Two signers had sons become prisoners of war. And nine signers fought in the war and died from wounds or hardships of war.

Hope that adds a dimension of gratitude to your 4th of July celebration!

Only 7 days left in the voting for City's Best Coffeehouse. Ebenezers is still holding on to the lead, but the margin is closing.

Vote early. Vote often.

I'm trying to wrap up loose ends before I head out to the Grand Canyon with Parker. So I tried recording an extended absence greeting on my phone. Just wondering if it takes anybody else thirteen tries to get the greeting right? I'm not kidding. Thirteen attempts. Sometimes I marvel at my little ineptitudes!

By the way, I was tempted to do an eternal absence greeting. I'm just not a phone guy. Why would you call me when you can email me? You know what I'm saying?

I'm not traveling much this summer, but I'm super excited about the places I am going. Speaking at a couple churches: Central Christian Church in Las Vegas and Northwaychurch.tv in New York.

Definitely want to put one conference on the radar. Check out the Echo Conference. The conference is all things media. Revolves around one of my passions: redeeming technology and using it for God's purposes. Here's the lineup of speakers.

Love to connect at Echo!

We have a summer tradition of sending our kids off to spend a week with Grandpa and Grandma Batterson. So Parker has spent the last week with my parents in Florida. He went fishing in the gulf of Mexico; rode an Airboat in the Everglades; and spent lots of time hanging out.

Just thinking about what a gift grandparents are. You don't really appreciate your parents until you become a parent. I think you have to "go through it" yourself to fully appreciate the sacrifices and challenges involved.

Grandparents play a unique role in the life of grandkids. Huge opportunity to have huge impact. What is so meaningful to me is that grandparents on both sides pray for our kids. Can't even put into words what that means to me! Gives me a sense of destiny for my kids. And it gives me a sense of confidence as a parent!

I joined facebook a week ago. Loving the connections and reconnections. Still trying to find my way around, but I just created a facebook group for anyone who has read In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day.

Trying to create a place to hear from readers and share lion chasing stories!

Lion Chasers Group.

Check out this picture that a customer dropped off the other day. There was an amazing double rainbow. Sure seems like God is smiling on Ebenezers Coffeehouse!

Almost looks like a painting, but it's a scanned picture.

I blogged about our Protege Program last week. We've now got an application, overview, and FAQ available. We're only accepting a few proteges the first time around. But we're believing that this is a way that we can raise up hundreds of church planters, innovators, and leaders within the church. I also think it'll be our farm system for hiring staff.

We'll launch in September. If you're interested, email protege@theaterchurch.com.

I've always believed that God will bless National Community Church in proportion to how much we 1) give to missions and 2) care for the poor. And while we can always give more and care more I feel like these have always been part of our DNA. And I think it's one reason why God continues to bless us!

When we were a church of about fifty people we hosted a Convoy of Hope. We handed out nearly 50,000 pounds of groceries to about 5,000 people. And while we didn't experience a huge influx of people coming to church I learned a lesson. Here is it: if you are faithful in one place God will often bless you in another place. Or simply put: faithful here = blessing there!

On September 6, 2008 we will sponsor another Convoy of Hope. We have found tremendous favor. We're able to use RFK's stadium parking lot--about 26 acres! And we're hoping to serve 10,000 guests. But here is the cool thing. We'll have dozens and dozens of churches coming together to serve. And it's a beautiful reflection of this diverse entity called the kingdom of God.

Love to invite more local churches in the DC area to get involved. The next vision meeting is July 2nd at 19th Street Baptist. For me information, you can email us @ info@convoydc.org.

Or check out convoydc.org.

Another crazy weekend at NCC. Someone was doing coke in one of our services. And I'm not talking Coca-Cola. That's a first. But it's one reason why I love where we're at. Such an amazing cross-section of people.

Every weekend we have pastors visiting, but this weekend was off the hook. The pastor who interviewed me for credentials when I was in seminary was in church. That was sort of surreal. I didn't know he was going to be there and I spotted him in the middle of my message. We had a delegation of forty pastors from South Korea. I met the Junior High Pastor from Willowcreek who was on vacation. And some pastors from our Unplugged conference who stayed over for the weekend.

The theme this week was Make us Dangerous.

Really felt like I was running on fumes. Unplugged knocked me out physically. So it was tough to gear up for the weekend. But God has a way of making up for what we lack doesn't He?

Jesus didn't die to keep us safe. He died to make us dangerous! The will of God is not an insurance plan. It's a daring plan. In fact, the will of God doesn't get easier. God gives us more difficult, daring, and dangerous things to do! Read Hebrews 11.

Danger is one of the themes of Wild Goose Chase. And it's the theme of my One Prayer message this weekend: make us dangerous.

In the words of a daring twentieth-century missionary, C.T. Studd, "Some want to live within the sound of church or chapel bell; I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell."

The church needs more Studds! And you can quote me on that.

I signed up for facebook before I knew up from down so I'm trying to learn the ropes. Did create a couple pieces of flair on facebook.

Thoroughly enjoyed the final day of Unplugged. Jud brought the heat! Thought I'd share a few notes from the session. Also, Charles Hill did a little live blogging.

Structure for growth more than control
Structure for effectiveness more than excellence

"You can push the excellence bar too high. Perfection paralyzes."

"Recognize the blessing of financial constraints." Constraints are a blessing disguise. It's the "Houdini Principle." The greatest acts are often performed under the greatest constraints.

"There are no financial lids. Only leadership lids."

"The summit is a state of mind."

Always identify the next step that you want people to take! Central Christian actually has a next step booth.

"There is no there there."

I loved this last observation. You never arrive. It's the journey not the destination!

Just wanted to say thanks for the welcome to facebook.

I sort of feel like I opened Pandora's box. But here's the thing I'm loving: it helps me put a name with a face. And the way it connects and reconnects is pretty amazing!

I really marvel at the way social networking sites reduce six degrees of separation. It seems to cut it in half. It's more like three degrees of separation.

Yesterday was a long day, but a good day. Love the interactive element at Unplugged. Very personal. Very conversational. It doesn't have the same energy as a large conference. But I think the ability to hang out and talk offline is what we were going for.

Really enjoyed the Corn Hole Tournament on the National Mall. Ate a little Chik-Fil-A and tossed bean bags. Jud and I finished in second place.

Here are some unplugged thoughts as we kick off our Unplugged Conference today.

The genesis of Unplugged dates back to something called the School of Pastoral Nurture hosted by Jack Hayford. I was one of thirty-five pastors that hung out with Jack for a week. We had dinner at his house. Had off-line conversations. It was an incredibly formative experience. So I've always wanted to do something similar.

We'd also observed that the highlight of our Buzz Conferences were the personal interactions. Besides that, there are lots of amazing big conferences that people can go to. So we decided on less conference, more conversation. Long story short, we limited Unplugged to fifty people. And while we'll kick off each of the five greatest challenges leaders face with a teaching component. We really want it to be as interactive as possible.

One of the things I'm loving is that it is low-stress. It's more about speaking out of the overflow of what God is doing in my life and what I'm learning than a canned speech.

We'll do more Unplugged events in the future. I'm basically tag-teaming with a fellow pastor that I really want to hang out with myself. First up is Jud Wilhite from Central Christian in Las Vegas. Great guy. Great leader.

Alright, we're about t-minus one hour. The adrenaline is pumping. Time to get unplugged.

Thought I'd share the logo we came up with for our missions series. Our goal is to go on ten missions trips in 2009. And our focus verse is Acts 1:8. So we're branding it A18. Want it to be branded on people's hearts and minds and spirits!

A18.

Let the games begin.

We are T-minus 12 hours till Unplugged. In keeping with our theme--less conference, more conversation--we limited Unplugged to fifty leaders. Excited about hanging out with Jud Wilhite from Central Christian in Las Vegas.

We've got some great sessions planned. Talking about the five greatest challenges every leader faces. But we've got some fun stuff planned too. We'll do a little corn hole tournament on the National Mall on Thursday night. Just got our custom-designed corn hole sets delivered. They are schweet!

Just to get in the spirit, here's my favorite corn hole video!

I'm not gonna lie. I feel like I'm late to the facebook party! But better late than never.

I jumped on Twitter last week. Why not join Facebook this week.

I decided to jump in for a couple reasons. My primary reason is because of some advice I got from parents with older kids. They said I needed to be on facebook so I can connect with my kids when they get on facebook. And I know that'll happen sooner than later!

But I also feel like it's one more way I can stay accessible as NCC grows larger. I know I can't be all things to all people. But I already feel a unique connection to NCCers who have become friends on facebook. I also feel like it's another way to connect with pastors and readers.

My greatest hesitation, and the reason I held out for so long, was that I can barely keep up with my blog and twitter. But I think social networking is the future. Period. So ready or not, here I come.

By the way, wouldn't mind a few friends on facebook. Feels awfully lonely when you sign up!

Ebenezers is leading the race for City's Best Coffeehouse. Ebz was #2 last year. Wouldn't mind landing the top spot this year.

If you love Ebenezers, vote here.

Here are a couple pictures from our staff pray and play retreat. I had a little "encounter" with a yellow submarine while swimming. Fortunately I didn't have to get stitches. Just a couple steri-strips that I'm still wearing. I'll probably end up with a little scar as a memento.

And here's a shot of us playing corn hole while a thunder storm was rolling in!

Very excited about this post because I think it's huge. Huger than huge. Two months ago I spoke at the Awaken conference at Mosaic. While there I spent some time with Steve Saccone who oversees their Protege Program. I also spent some time with their proteges. I fell in love with the concept. It's a two-year internship that provides an incredible win/win scenario. The proteges get an amazing experience working on staff at Mosaic. And Mosaic gets a couple dozen staff members with lots of energy.

Long story short, we've been in conversations with Mosaic. They have given us their "blessing" to launch an east coast version. Definitely want to give credit where credit is due. We are borrowing lots of ideas from Mosaic, but we'll come up with a very unique program here. And initially, our protege program will be a one-year experience. We'll also do a few exchange experiences with Mosaic.

We'll go live with applications in a few days.

I'm so excited about this on lots of levels.

First of all, we've always felt tremendous affinity with Mosaic. Love their approach to church. And on a personal level, Erwin McManus is one of those leaders I admire on lots of levels.

Second, we feel called to be a teaching church. Think hospitals and teaching hospitals. Teaching hospitals care for patients just like hospitals. But they are also intentional about training doctors. We really think this will help us raise us a generation of leaders. Give it a few years and we'll have hundreds of proteges planting churches; serving on church staffs; and leading entrepreneurial organizations.

Finally, we view the Protege Program as our farm system. Think baseball. Every major league team has a minor league team. It's their farm system where they cultivate players. As we continue to launch new locations throughout the DC area and around the world, we need people to step into those positions. I'm guessing most of our future hires will be proteges. And the ones we don't hire will get an amazing experience. And hopefully it won't hurt their resume either.

We'll certainly share more details and let you know when the application and FAQ go live. But we're looking to bring on 4-6 proteges in the fall.

Every year we do two staff retreats.

In December we do a planning retreat. It's pretty intense. We try to put together a strategic plan for everything from preaching to outreach to marketing to discipleship.

During the summer, we do our Play and Pray retreat. Our entire team gets away for two days and we...well...play and pray. Great time of just kicking back and hanging out. I absolutely love our staff. Amazing chemistry. We work hard. But we have fun. Our laugh quota during team meetings is off the chart.

Off to Play and Pray!

Just added twitter updates on the right sidebar. You can also follow me on Twitter.

In the words of Napoleon Dynamite's brother, Kip, I Love Technology. By the way, that has to rank as one of the greatest all-time love songs! I've only been on twitter one week, but I'm diggin it for several reasons. Here are five of them.

1) I feel like twitter helps me really keep in touch with people I don't see as much as I'd like to. It was cool to track Perry and Tony on their journeys this week.
2) It's odd, but I love the little details about people's lives. I feel like I'm learning people's personalities and idiosyncrasies by following them.
3) Last night, my friend Joe Dascenzo, posted a tweet about his son getting hit with a baseball. I was able to pray for him in real time. I also requested prayer during my recording session and God answered it!
4) I'm a mad blogger. I often post several times a day and that is me restraining myself. I've found that twitter helps me fill-in-the-gaps with 140 character posts.
5) Twitter bring down walls and makes us realize that we're all human. I think for pastors, it can have a wonderful humanizing effect.

Headed out to Summer's first swim meet of the season. Swim meets are eternal. But I love watching Summer swim. Joyful. She's swimming free, backstroke, and butterfly.

Wrapped up the recording of Wild Goose Chase today. Had a serious frog in my throat and I was slurring words by the end. But I really felt like God touched my vocal chords and helped me knock it out. Took two days and ten hours to record the whole thing.

Hoping to do a simultaneous release of the audio book and paperback.

Wild Goose Chase releases two months from today on August 19. Counting down the days!

It's definitely the same DNA as In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day. In fact, we're calling them sequels or prequels. Take your pick. As an author, I definitely wrestle with the fact that everybody will like one book more than the other which means everybody will like one book less than the other. It's the curse of the sophomore project. I just hope it's an even split.

If you want an autographed copy, you can order from bookschristian.com.

Also, I'm looking for 100 crazy people who are willing to pre-order a case sight unseen or book unread. If you're interested, email me @ resources@theaterchurch.com.

So every summer our family has a summer theme. It's kind of goofy and kind of cool. In years past, our themes have ranged from "the summer of simple pleasures" to "the summer of adventure."

Drum roll please...

This year we're going with "vintage." Actually Lora's idea. I was thinking "good old-fashioned fun." But vintage has a nice ring to it. Basically, we want to focus on doing anything besides video games. I'm not kidding. We want to have some old-school fun with things like hiking, canoing, ice cream cones, frisbee, concerts on the mall, camping, slip-n-slide.

So vintage it is.

Did a podcast interview with Catalyst a few weeks ago. Just went live. You can listen here. It's a conversation that Craig Groeschel, Perry Noble, Steven Furtick, and I had with "da man" Brad Lomenick.

By the way, you've got to watch this spoof by my friend, Chad Johnson. How he kept from laughing is a modern-day miracle!

Can't wait for Catalyst 2008.

Here is the picture we're leaning toward for the back cover of Wild Goose Chase.

I'm not sure it's my favorite shot, but the cage metaphor plays off the book. I personally like the second picture. I'd make a better hand model than face model.

Headed into the studio today to record the audio version of Wild Goose Chase. Looking to do a simultaneous release with the paperback. I'm recording for about four hours today and six hours on Friday. Hopefully we'll be able to knock it out.

I don't think I have a great voice, but I really like reading my own book. Feels authentic. Definitely a work out for the vocal chords.

Not gonna lie. It's only been 72 hours, but I'm diggin twitter. A little too much. Am I driving anyone crazy yet? Such a great way to know what everybody is up to. And a great way to fill-in-the-blanks between blogs!

Want to follow? Here's a link.

Spent part of my day with Jim Johnston from Threads. We tag-teamed with Threads to produce the Chase the Lion small group study. And we're exploring the possibilities of tag-teaming again on Wild Goose Chase. Grateful for their partnership.

In quantitative terms, blogging is the most important thing I do. I view it as a form of digital discipleship. Not a substitute for one-on-one. But a great supplement. As NCC grows larger, I feel like it's a way that our congregation can know what is going on in my head and my heart at any given moment. Twitter takes that to another level by the way!

Blogging came pretty naturally to me because I've always kept a journal. But over the years I've learned a few do's and don'ts. Here are ten of them. I view them as my personal guidelines for blogging.

1) Stay Positive

Life is too short and the Kingdom Cause is too important for the sideways energy of negativity! In my opinion, too many blogs try to stir up controversy. And it's almost always someone who has a very small readership. A blog is not a license to go negative or take potshots.

2) Include Hyperlinks

Remember the fear that technology would turn us into nameless, faceless autobots? That it would kill community. Again, it's no replacement for face-to-face. But I think it's had the exact opposite effect. It brings people together in amazing ways. And one way that happens is by linking to one another.

3) Keep it Short and Sweet

It's a blog not a book!

4) Don't let commentors hijack your blog

Here is a personal rule of thumb. When people post comments I try to discern the spirit behind the comment. If I feel like someone is trying to bait me or hijack my blog then I resist the temptation to go there. Here's one lesson learned. If someone's comment is longer than your post they might have an agenda! I do think it's healthy to engage in respectful debate. But don't let it cross the line.

5) Tell Your Wife About It Before You Blog About It

Guess how I learned this lesson? If your family has to read your blog to know what is going on in your life something is wrong! One critical decision you have to make is how transparent you're going to be. I try to be emotionally, spiritually, and intellectually transparent. But I do have boundaries. For example, I don't post pictures of my kids.

6) If You Wouldn't Say it to Their Face Don't Blog It

Again, I think we need civility and respect. I think there are ways to rebuke, exhort, and correct via blog. But do it in a gracious and redeeming way. Here's the problem. That takes far more work! Meanness is laziness. Tactfulness is hard work.

7) Know Your Audience

Would you blog if no one read it? I think that's a good litmus test. Obviously, if you are blogging you are doing it so people can read it. But I primarily blog for myself--it's my journal. It's the way I keep track of what God is doing in my life. But you also have to be cognizant of your audience. I have two primary audiences: pastors and NCCers. From a numbers standpoint, pastors are my primary audience. From a personal standpoint, NCC is my primary audience. I also know their is a growing audience amongst those who have read one of my books.

8) Be Yourself

A blog ought to be as unique as you are. It takes a while to find your voice. But don't worry if it's different. Different is good. I ought to be able to figure out your personality type by reading a month of entries!

9) Find Your Rhythm

Part of blogging is finding a way for it to fit your lifestyle. I think it's critical that you be consistent. Consistency is key! But don't revolve your life around your blog. Your blog needs to revolve around you! By the way, I used to think that my blog supplemented my sermons. Not so sure. Now I wonder if my sermons supplement my blog.

10) Stay Positive

I know. I know. I listed it twice!

Went out for a photo shoot last week to try and get a photograph for the back cover of Wild Goose Chase. I'm not gonna lie: I don't like getting my picture taken. That's usually the case when you aren't very photogenic! But we actually had some fun.

Took pictures in the middle of the street with traffic, riding the escalator with tons of people while facing backwards, and standing right next to the metro car as it raced into the station and almost blew me over.

With a little (or alot of) help from photo shop, hoping one of the pictures will work.

Feels a little weird posting pictures of yourself. Hey, look at me! But props to Joe Portnoy, long-time NCCer and creator of snaptography.

During the school year, Wednesday is my day off. During the summer I switch to Mondays. Love Mondays off! Feels more like a pseudo-weekend. And you gotta love Monday off when Tiger has a playoff in the US Open!

Spent part of Father's Day re-evaluating how I'm doing as a dad. By the way, I consistently ask my kids that question: how am I doing as a dad? Healthy question to ask your kids!

Thought I'd update on my year-long discipleship of Parker. We signed a discipleship covenant on his last birthday. He committed to three challenges--intellectual, spiritual, and physical. And we have weekly FSMs--Father/Son Meetings. We've certainly had our ups and downs. But I'm thinking we'll hit a little stride during the summer.

We've read half a dozen books so we're halfway there on the intellectual challenge. Currently going through In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day. The next two books on the docket are Do Hard Things and The Purpose-Driven Life. I feel like both those books are a little beyond his age, but I think they're great reads.

The physical challenge is running a 10K. But we might upgrade to a sprint triathlon. And the spiritual challenge is reading through the New Testament; coming up with first list of life goals; and creating a coat of arms that reflects our core values.

Let me come out and say it: the deepest desire and greatest challenge of my heart is to be a great dad. I'm so far from perfect. But I'm determined to disciple my kids!

We continued the One Prayer series this weekend. Absolutely loved Craig Groeschel's message: Make us One. The irony is that I met a couple who was visiting NCC for the first time, just moved to DC from Oklahoma, where they attend Lifechurch.tv.

We were a little concerned about having speakers via video that our congregation doesn't know, but I feel like that is part of the spirit of the series. We're setting up the messages with me doing short video introductions. I think it bridges the gap.

We ended our services this weekend by celebrating communion. Thought it was such a great way to symbolize our oneness in Christ.

Just read a great article in the latest issue of Rev Magazine about Right-Brain Bible Study. I resonated with it because my next book, after Wild Goose Chase, will be on right-brain leadership. Thought I'd share a few notes and thoughts just to get the synapses firing in new ways.

The author, Helen Harray, talks about something she calls spiritual drawing. Instead of just reading through Scripture she has found that drawing helps her imagine the text. Reminds me of imaginative meditation taught by Saint Ignatius. He taught the importance of trying to imagine yourself in the text as one of the people. Try to get in the mind and in the heart of the original characters--what were they thinking and feeling. I think one of our greatest shortcomings in studying the Bible is the inability to really feel the text.

By the way, Nancy Beach did an amazing job of this at the Arise Conference. She preached the text of Psalm 40 in a way that helped everybody personalize it. The different elements, especially the drama, really helped us feel it. I think that is one key to preaching. I don't just want people to know it. I want them to feel it.

Here is a personal conviction. The Bible wasn't meant to be read. The Bible was meant to be meditated. Reading without meditating is like eating without digesting.

I don't think we should just read the Bible with our left-brain. We need to imagine the Bible with our right-brain. And spiritual drawing is one way of doing that. Here is the goal according to Helen Harray: "I consider a successful drawing to be one where I have a moment of insight about myself, a sense of intimacy with Jesus, or a revelation of God's Word."

If we read the Bible but we don't feel a greater sense of intimacy with the author, The Word Himself, has it really accomplished it's purpose?

One last thought.

I remember reading a book titled Creative Spirituality years ago and different artists were interviewed about the way they worship. A sculptor named Gregg Wyatt does "artistic devotions." Instead of just reading the book of Job, Wyatt meditates on William Blake's illustrations of the book of Job. I know that sounds very "subjective." Doesn't looking at pictures leave room for misinterpretation? Absolutely. But so does reading. Evidenced by hundreds of denominations! I'm certainly not suggesting that pictures replace words. But I think they can help us turn the kaleidescope and see new patterns in Scripture.

Love what Wyatt says: "Art is not simply a pretty picture or something to glance at as you go by, but to be meditated upon. It is like a library of great truth." Pictures help us visualize truth. That's what Rembrandt's The Return of the Prodigal Son did for priest and prolific author, Henri Nouwen. He said the painting made him want to "laugh and cry at the same time." It imprinted his soul in a way that the text could not.

Just read Psalm 104 this morning thanks to a twitter tip. As I was reading verse 8 I decided that I'm going to read the Psalms while I'm in the Grand Canyon in a month. I'll be surrounded by "paintings" illustrating the text.

Bottom line? A picture is worth a thousand words. Actually, it's ten million words. The brain processing print on a page at about 100 bits per second. The brain processes pictures at ten billion bits per second. The medieval church understood this. That's why they turned the gospel story in stained glass pictures. For what it's worth, that is what our media department does every time they edit and produce a video! We turn the screens at our three movie theater locations into postmodern stained glass.

Next month I'm speaking at Central Christian in Las Vegas. Taking Parker with me and we're going to spend a week in the Grand Canyon. Never been. Can't wait. But I've got to admit. It's a little overwhelming. Not sure where to go or what to do.

Definitely want to do some hiking, rafting and maybe a helicopter ride. We're leaning toward North Rim.

Any suggestions?

I've got a confession to make. I had a twitter account before I even knew about it. That's a little embarrassing. But someone set up my account without my knowledge. So I was a little surprised to see nearly 700 followers on there.

Long story short, I'm going to enter the world of Twitter. Really needed to count the cost first, but I think it'll be a cool way to stay more connected.

If you want to follow here's a link.

The Screen on the Green at Lincoln Park last night was awesome! I think we gave out more than 300 bags of popcorn and also gave people a customized bag of microwave popcorn with the 411 on NCC on the way out. Such a great way to bring the community together.

I've really been chewing on Matthew 10:12-13 lately as a modus operandi for ministry. Jesus sends out his disciples on their inaugural mission with these words: "Whenever you enter a town or village, search for a worthy man and stay in his home until you leave for the next town. When you are invited into someone's home, give it your blessing. If it turns out to be a worthy home, let your blessing stand; if it is not, take back the blessing."

In too many instances, the church has it backwards. We expect people to belong before blessing. Jesus instructed his disciples to bless before belonging. Fundamentally, we are called to be a blessing. It's the Abrahamic Covenant. But I think we're so afraid of blessing the wrong people that we tend to withhold the blessing. Jesus tells us to bless everything that moves! And if they aren't worthy, we take the blessing back. If they are, the blessing stands!

I feel like Screen on the Green is a simple way to bless our community. So cool to see families and couples on blankets enjoying an evening out in Lincoln Park. It brings everybody together. And what is so exciting about being a blessing is that you never know how God is going to use it. Some of those people will land at NCC and God will transform their lives.

By the way, huge props to all the volunteers who made it happen. Amazing team effort. Definitely blessed our family!