http://www.desertfather.com for the glory of God and the good of Greenville Mon, 04 Jan 2010 03:45:28 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en After a few years, I'm closing DesertFather. Lots have changed, including myself, and it's time to symbolize that with a fresh start. From here on out, I will be blogging at doxologie.org. This site will remain up. My wife may be blogging sporadically there as well. http://www.desertfather.com/2010/01/03/new-blog/ I write daily devotionals for the church, posted on an internal network. This one hits home for me, and I thought I'd bring it out to the public. It's from Judges 3. I want to focus on the most epic story in the chapter, the story of Ehud and Eglon. The ... http://www.desertfather.com/2009/12/31/youre-full-of-crap/ Here are some resolutions for 2010: To love Jesus, my wife, and my forthcoming children unconditionally and sacrificially. To look at my body as a method of worship. I need to lose about 10 pounds. I will be preaching, praying, working for this city [Greenville], even harder this year. To consistently and continually battle ... http://www.desertfather.com/2009/12/31/resolved-2010/ I know it's been awhile since the last update, so here are some thoughts in my favorite format, bulleted list. We're having twins! Miranda and I went to the OB/GYN, and to our delightful surprise, we saw two little Brown youngin's on the sonogram monitor. Wow! We don't know the gender ... http://www.desertfather.com/2009/12/22/thoughts-in-brief/ I've heard it said that 2 signs of a healthy & growing church are physical babies and spiritual babies; births and new births. That being said, I'm proud to announce that over the past year, we've baptized 6 brand-new, first-time believers (not 're-dedications', either, real baptisms [sorry to the number-fakers]), ... http://www.desertfather.com/2009/12/02/babies/ In honor of the Advent season, here's an incredible rendition of one of my favorite Christmas carols, Joy to the World. Why is it my favorite? Check out the lyrics, for real this time. They are so commonly sung (and mis-sung) that we glance over them, not realizing the power ... http://www.desertfather.com/2009/11/30/music-monday-joshua-james/ In the men's cohort that I lead (there's 4 of us that meet weekly for lunch), we are going through the book of Joshua, extracting principles of leadership from the life of Joshua, and ultimately seeing the Gospel through this man's biography. One thing I've noticed so far, and the ... http://www.desertfather.com/2009/11/27/three-days-the-book-of-joshua/ I've really been enjoying Snow Patrol's Up To Now album. They are passionate about their music, and have reason to be, because their music is good. Check out this live performance of Chasing Cars, their hit made possible by Grey's Anatomy. I love how into the music & performance Gary ... http://www.desertfather.com/2009/11/23/music-monday-snow-patrol/ This year we're tackling the Christmas story in a different way. So often, we look at Christmas as Jesus being born in order to eventually ascend to the throne. But before the Incarnation, Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Ascension was the Descension, when Christ laid aside His crown in order to enter ... http://www.desertfather.com/2009/11/23/from-crown-to-cradle/ A week ago I had the privilege of teaching a Pursuit Class (link) on the Scripture entitled "The Divine Autobiography". The class went great (lasting 3 hours), had a great attendance for our first weeknight study, and I think that people are really reading their Bible (and understanding it!) on ... http://www.desertfather.com/2009/11/18/how-to-study-the-bible/