• My Ministry Dip: Gaining Traction

    It’s winter… so this is a metaphor that anyone can understand.

    At Romeo, our tires are getting traction. As I reflect back on the last few years of ministry (my primary work) I can’t help but see where we’ve come and where we are headed.

    (more…)

  • E-mail that costs you a billion dollars

    As far as slip ups with technology go, this one is pretty major. A lawyer for drug manufacturer Eli Lilly thought she was sending an email to her co-counselor on a billion dollar case.

    Unfortunately, her co-counselor shared the same last name as a person doing a story on the matter with the New York Times. He already knew about the deal but didn’t have enough sources confirming the story to make it public. That is, until he received the mistaken e-mail.

    The story exposed details of a billion dollar private settlement that would have otherwise remained confidential.

    Here’s the story.

    What’s the lesson here for your personal email, business email, and super-duper-uber private messages?

    HT to NPR

  • Is James Dobson’s Reign Over?

    James Dobson I’ve talked about this before. But I think it is safe to say James Dobson no longer represents the middle of the road Christian. I don’t think I’m in the middle of the evangelical road, but I think it’s becoming clear that he’s now losing traction with the masses.

    I hate to sound like Rush Limbaugh. But I predicted sentiments like this. Middle of the road evangelicals are leaving the right-wing conservative camps in droves to express their dissatisfaction with their ignoring the policies that motivate young Christians to action. Justice. Equality. Education. Environment. These aren’t ideals to young Christians, they are minimum requirements and Dobson’s old-fogey-out-of-touch ways aren’t even on their map.

    Prime example of Dobson’s lack of connection with today’s young Evangelicals:

    Should Sen. McCain capture the nomination as many assume, I believe this general election will offer the worst choices for president in my lifetime. I certainly can’t vote for Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama based on their virulently anti-family policy positions. If these are the nominees in November, I simply will not cast a ballot for president for the first time in my life. These decisions are my personal views and do not represent the organization with which I am affiliated. They do reflect my deeply held convictions about the institution of the family, about moral and spiritual beliefs, and about the welfare of our country. Source

    How mature. He doesn’t get his hand-picked candidate so he isn’t going to vote. (Allegedly)  Good leadership there Mr. Dobson.

  • .7 and falling on the frozen tundra of Romeo

    That’s the headline. At least in my house. I think the furnace will run all night long.

    It’s butt cold. It’s frozen nose hair cold. It’s punch your mama cold. It’s so cold the dog won’t go out to pee. Brrr.

  • Saturday Tunes

    saturday tunesIt’s snowing. Kristen said, “It’s like we live in Antarctica or something.” In Antarctica it’s the middle of the summer and their weather is a little like ours, just no snow! Other than the snow it’s a quiet morning in our house. The kids are playing on the computer and daddy is listening to music. Here’s a peek into the next 10 tunes humming from my iTunes shuffle. As always, no cheating and ratings included.

    1.  All the Young Dudes by Mott the Hopple *****
    2. Here with Me by MercyMe ****
    3. Lightning by Eric Church ****
    4. O, for a Thousand Tongues to Sing by David Crowder Band *****
    5. Glad About It by Joe Pace ****
    6. Agnus Dei by Barber ****
    7. Deliver Me by David Crowder Band ****
    8. Oh Lord Your Love by Caedmans Call ****
    9. Revolution by Grey Holiday ****
    10. What do we Know by Thousand Foot Krutch ****

    Holy cow is that a crazy shuffle. Classical, Gospel, CCM, Worship, Country, Metal. The next hour is going to be interesting.

  • Another live video channel

    I’m testing out Y! Live. This is Yahoo’s knock-off of ustream.tv.

    Here’s what it looks like.

    I will say this, it uses a lot more CPU than Ustream.tv seemed to. I turned it on and within 1 minute I could hear the fan kick on with the MacBook.

  • Money Management Lesson from Paul

    Paul, 4 years old, is learning about money management on WebKinz.

    Dad: What’s the secret to saving all that money?

    Paul: You just have to stop spending money. And then you’ll have a lot.

    Pretty good advice. What is your money management lesson?

  • People long for someone to talk to

    I am sitting here at a local eatery quietly writing. Unintentionally, I’m observing the people around me. Here’s a fascinating observation about the world we live in.

    Directly in front of me is a mother of a 1 year old interviewing a babysitter so she can go back to work.  It’s pretty clear that this married mother of a one year old needs someone to talk to. For the last hour she hasn’t stopped talking. She has shared with this stranger all sorts of personal information dating back to getting pregnant with Elliot. I keep thinking, “Does this babysitter need to know all of this? Does any of this have anything to do with her role as a babysitter?” Of course it does. This mom wants to know that her babysitter understand her. She wants to know that she is hiring a co-parent. In a way, she is hiring a friend. She needs to know that this person is trustworthy. And for this lady, being trustworty includes listening to her yack for ours at a time.

    More importantly, my observation is that there are a lot of lonely new mom’s out there. This mom needs a playgroup, she needs a Bible study, she needs a church family, and most importantly… she needs to get a life outside of Elliot.

    The reality is that if people don’t have someone to talk to on a regular basis, they’ll go crazy. God created each of us to connect with others, we crave human interaction that is empathetic and just says “uh huh” 200 times per hour. It’s kind of like sleep… when we don’t get that on a regular basis we just data dump on the nearest person who will listen. In this case it’s a babysitter. But it could just as easily be her cable guy, the checkout person at the store, or a random person at Starbucks.

    What can we all do to help this happen for new moms? 

  • The Preference Wars of Church

    Perry Noble of NewSpring Church has a couple of funny, yet serious, points about heaven and the preference wars of church today.

    I was reading through Revelation a couple of weeks ago and I had this thought, “I really think that some people might not like heaven!” Especially when I got to Revelation 7:9-12…seriously, take a second to read that passage and then come back here as I share a thought or two about it. If people approach heaven the same way some approach church then here are my fears… 🙂

    #1 – For Some People Heaven Will Be “Too Big.” We have people that say, from time to time, “I really do like your church–except that it’s too big.” My reply is always the same, “Heaven isn’t going to be a small group/house church!”

    #2 – The Focus Will Be On Jesus…And That’s It! Apparently the music in heaven is going to be loud…and will not be sang out of the Baptist hymnal. (See verse 10–they cried in a LOUD voice…apparently they didn’t get the “reverence” memo!) No one will be asked in heaven, “Did you like the music? Was the sound too loud? Were you totally comfortable?” Nope–the focus will be on Jesus Christ…NOT consumeristic ego maniacs who church hop because they think everything exists for them. 🙂

    I think Perry is right. And I think he brings about the new battle in churches, personal preferences. If 1990-2005 were all about music wars 2005-present are all about preference wars.

    Should church be like Burger King and the parishioners be like Frank Sinatra?

  • Update on Paul & Becky

    Back in November I posted a prayer request for Paul & Becky. I got an e-mail from them yesterday giving an update on their situation. A couple of praises:

    • Their new baby boy was born with no complications. Mom and baby are doing great.
    • They didn’t have to leave Russia and their son was born right in their hometown.

    Isn’t it cool when God answers your prayers?

    Sidenote: Congratulations to other folks who had babies in the last 48 hours. Jason and Tracy Raitz welcomed Madison. And Brian and his wife welcomed a little girl this week as well. Must have been something in the water 9-10 months ago?