Now, with a nod towards Los at ragamuffinsoul.com, I’ve been offered something that tops that.  Folks, I give you:

Stuff Christians Like

My favorites?

#9 – Comparing Braveheart to Christianity

#26 – Songs That Sound Christian But Aren’t

#28 – Rob Bell

#34 – Subtly finding out if you drink beer too

#80 – Fixing things with mo’ prayer or mo’ Bible

#115 – Kissing dating goodbye

#116 – Using “let’s pray about it” as a synonym for “no”

#125 – The mandatory youth minister goatee

There are more, but I don’t want to spoil it for you.

That all changed last night. I had the opportunity to spend a couple hours with Samuel Scheffler, who will become our new lead pastor in July. Not only did he seem like a genuinely good guy who I could work well with, I was impressed by what he viewed his role to be on staff. There were a few things in particular that Pastor Sam said that made me giddy…

(1) The whole point of the church is to share Jesus Christ with people.

It doesn’t get much simpler than this. I realize that this should be standard with people – but I’ve worked enough in churches to know that this isn’t always our priority. Pastor Sam repeated this about a dozen times throughout the evening. In fact, he jumped about two levels of excitement when I told him that a kid had prayed accept Christ with my wife that same night. There’s just something about knowing that this is your pastor’s priority and passion that is reassuring.

(2) I believe in prayer.

Pastor Sam made it a point to let us know that if he didn’t agree with an idea or direction we wanted to go immediately, it was because he wasn’t doing anything without praying about it. Talk about being willing to let God lead…

(3) I will let you fail.

I like the idea of my lead pastor encouraging and enabling ideas that may or may not pan out to try and share Jesus more effectively. I don’t think the church embraces risk enough. My church likes to claim a reputation of being open to change. Being flexible is different from being risk takers, though. Pastor Sam made it clear last night that he’s willing to fall down and break a leg or two on our way to winning souls. I can get excited about this frame of mind.

(4)  I will always let you know what I expect of you.

From the second chair, it’s awfully nice knowing exactly what your leader wants and expects.  This kind of clarity will keep me from stressing out when I’m juggling different roles and unsure of what I’m supposed to be doing with my time.  I think a strong leader should always lay out his/her expectations for those under him and set the tone for that — I’m excited to know Pastor Sam agrees.

It’s going to be hard to lose Pastor Dennis as a leader and mentor – he’s the guy that brought me on to this staff and I’ve got a great deal of respect and loyalty to him.  Last night really helped me to be at ease with gaining a new leader and the direction he plans to take us.  In fact, I’m pretty excited about it…

This is an interesting article, with a lot of valid points despite being just shy of crazy.

READ HERE

We’re expecting in September. What can I say? We had some happy holidays! We’re not finding out the sex until the kid pops out, so don’t even ask, but you can take a sneak peak!

John Legend performs PRIDE (In The Name of Love)Video sent by ElectricArtists

“KING” with Tom Brokaw premieres on History™ on Sunday, April 6 at 8pm / 7C. A stirring new look at the life and legacy of the leader who changed our past and our future. www.history.com/king

This was not a joyful moment for me. It wasn’t an easy moment. It was an admission that I loved and believed in God, and that my old atheism was a façade. I knew it was going to be difficult to return to the Maker, to give over my life to Him, and become a member of a huge quarreling religion that had broken into many denominations and factions and cults worldwide. But I knew that the Lord was going to help me with this return to Him. I trusted that He would help me. And that trust is what under girds my faith to this day. 

You can read the full article HERE. 

You can read more about the event HERE. 

I’ve always felt this way about “the guy who played Darth Vader.”  I feel like he screwed up the Star Wars prequels way more than Jar Jar Binks.  And I always enjoy Orlando Bloom movies, but never really because of him.  Also, I like Amanda Peet, but I can’t defend her of these accusations.

I do hold out hope for Kate Hudson, though, because I loved Almost Famous and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days is one of the more watchable rom-coms.  Here’s hoping she finds a real project to get involved in where she doesn’t have to play the spunky blonde “insert character role.”

My only addition would be Nicholas Cage, because I feel like he’s got the same career as Orlando Bloom, just longer.  He’s got a bunch of really fun movies, but none of them really have anything to do with him actually acting.

Who would you add or take away from this list?

One of the most powerful images, let alone stories, I’ve heard in a long time.

I asked my students this morning how they knew Jesus was alive today. This is a great answer.

Thanks, Los.

If you want to be a successful black comic, you need to have a “white dude” sketch. Every successful black comic has ridden one to fame. This site reads like Top (fill in a number) List of “white dude” sketches.

And it’s written by a white dude.

Amen.