Miranda and I went to watch the movie last night, and we both thoroughly enjoyed it. Usually, I’ll come back and post some thoughts on a movie’s redeeming qualities, but Reid Monaghan over at Power of Change has already done that for me. Check his notes out here: I Am Legend
Here’s the second post of my 2007 wrap-up. I’m beginning by reviewing my life this past year, through by highlighting some of my posts from throughout the year. Here’s the second quarter (Apr-Jun). You can find January through March here.
April
April was a blog-filled month for me for some reason. Part of it was the National New Church Conference in Orlando. I reviewed a pretty good book about the beliefs of the emerging church and we wrapped up the book of Matthew in the college class I teach. It was a great message, by the way. The Cross is always powerful. I was also contemplating some different names for the church in Greenville. Guess what we went with 
. I also surveyed the Uptown area to get some info on who lived in the area. Here’re the surveys, along with the initial data and my conclusions from the data. I posted our vision for the church and attended another Acts29 Luncheon (notes). To end the month with a bang, I took what was practically a two-week vacation: first to Oriental, NC (miniature Charleston), and then to Orlando, Florida. Check out the conference notes here.
May
I posted some thoughts about Bill Hybels and Mark Driscoll to start May off. I also reviewed Spiderman 3 through the lens of the Gospel, posted about a potential Great Awakening, and started posting the Top 15 Church Plants from my point of view.
June
Posted about using the iPod to teach and wrapped up the Top 15 Church Plants series. I also posted 33 Podcasts that I listen to. One of my favorite posts was this one on leadership from the book of Acts. Here’s another post on leadership. I also started blogging through the book of Amos, which I will post the links to in the next post. Finally, I headed to the mountains with Miranda’s family (we had a blast.)
So that time is near: the time for year-end lists. This is the first of many of mine. I’ll begin by reviewing my life this past year, through by highlighting some of my posts from throughout the year. Here’s the first quarter (Jan-Mar).
January
I attended an Acts 29 regional on the 10th. (Notes I, Notes II). Good stuff there. Also, I posted the first 20 of my life goals (more coming soon) and I wrote a post on my design philosophy, which I still adhere to. Lastly, I wrapped up with a post on the Top 20 Christian Blogs You Should Be Reading. As a note, at this point in the year, I could’ve swore we were preparing far in advance to move to DC and plant a church. Little did I know what was coming…
February
I wrapped up Biblical principles for church growth in this post on How to Be a Successful Church and then a couple of days later realized how much I love my future wife, Miranda. I also found out that I was invited to blog the National New Church Conference. Would love to do it again, hint, hint.
March
I got a job at Moe’s Southwest Grill in March. It lasted about two months, then I was cut loose for reasons still unknown to me, or any other co-worker at the restaurant. I also picked my Final Four (here) . I also had a pretty diesel post on Worship in Church Planting. I took a visit up to Vintage21 on the 25th, and loved it. Here are my thoughts. At the end of the month, I posted some resources for monitoring culture, 10 more blogs you should be reading, and I broke the news that God had called me here to Greenville, at least for the time being.
What a winter 2007!
Last night, Donald, Pablo, and I had a great time of hanging out and corporate prayer. We have a night devoted to just corporate prayer once a month, where we get together, eat, and of course, pray. Last night, it was my turn to lead the prayer night’s structure, and I chose to do a lectio divina of sorts. I started by praying through Psalm 133 with all of us together. We then broke up into separate rooms and prayed through four carefully selected Psalms (93, 67, 127, and 145). I wrapped up the night by presenting our guiding text for 2008: Isaiah 62. We simply read it together, replacing every reference to Jerusalem with our own city, Greenville, NC. Here’s that chapter, localized:
For Greenville’s sake, I will not keep silent, and for Greenville’s sake I will not be quiet, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a burning torch.
The nations shall see your righteousness, and all the kings your glory, and you shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will give.
You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord., and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate, but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married, for the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married.
For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.
On your walls, O Greenville, I have set watchmen; all the day and night they shall never be silent. You who put the Lord in remembrance, take no rest, and give Him no rest until He establishes Grenville and makes it a praise in the earth.
The Lord has sworn by His right hand and by His mighty arm: “I will not again give your grain to be food for your enemies, and foreigners shall not drink your wine for which you have labored; but those who garner it shall eat it and praise the Lord, and those who gather it shall drink it in the courts of my sanctuary.”
Go through, go through the gates, prepare the way for the people, build up, build up the highway; clear it of stones; lift up a signal over the peoples.
Behold, the Lord has proclaimed to the end of the earth: say to the daughter of Greenville, “Behold your Salvation comes; behold, His reward is with Him, and His recompense before Him.”
And they shall be called the Holy People, The Redeemed of the Lord; and you shall be called Sought Out, A City Not Forsaken.
This is our prayer for 2008.
Tags: greenville_nc, harmony_church, harmony church, greenville, leadership, prayer
As a former high-school baseball player and current baseball fan (Go Nats!), the Mitchell Report is deeply saddening…but not for reasons you think. I think the Report is completely bogus, and it’s sad that the media has gotten a hold of it. Some of my thoughts on the report:
This is all dumb logic and rabble-rousing if you ask me. At the cost of the game, and of people’s reputations. Pathetic. And for the record, I’m not a big Pettite or Bonds fan. I do kind of like Roger Clemens, though…
Tags: baseball, mitchell report, mitchell, roger clemens, andy pettite, miguel tejada, steroids, hgh, human growth hormone, eric gagne, barry bonds
I'm a Christian/husband/church planter in Greenville, NC. I love my King, my wife, and my church (in that order). This blog is my place to put thoughts, encouragements, things that depress me, and an all-around mental dump-off for me. Hope you enjoy it...
