The Deliberate Church

I have finished Confessions of a Reformission Rev, so until Driscoll's new book comes out, I'll be picking up on a new book called The Deliberate Church. Mark Dever, well known for his thoughts on the Nine Marks of a healthy church has co-authored this book along with Paul Alexander, apparently one of his students. I'm excited about the read. I'm also getting to see one of my best friends tomorrow because we're playing in Louisville, so I get to hang out with him for the day. Fun times...

Why is it so?

Ed Stetzer has blown my freaking mind again. If you haven't done so yet, go download the Convergent Conference from the podcast of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Amazing. Driscoll's message is great as well. But Stetzer made a great point that I can't get out of my head...

By the way, the talks are about emerging and emergent churches.
But here it is what is blowing my mind right now.

When you live like a missionary, you look similar to the world (the culture you're in), but you live differently.
Here's the deep irony.
We, in America, live identical to the culture and just look differently. That's sad.

This is nothing new or deep. But it reminds me our church culture is in desperate need for change.

Oh. And yeah, song lyrics keep coming to me. I'm excited about that. Peace.

New Albums Excite Me

I've been anticipating the new Jimmy Eat World album for some time now. It comes out in about thirty minutes. Unfortunately, I have lost all hope to get it at midnight. I miss Auburn, well at least Hasting's Entertainment, where I got their last two albums the minute it hit the shelves. I guess Wal Mart will see me sometime in the early morning. That's pretty much my day today, and for that, I'm happy. Well, this is really my day...

I slept in until almost ten.
I showered. That's good.
Had lunch, mexican, with my best friend Adam.
Looked for a jacket, no find so far.
Went to a football game with Mal for cheerleading, fun times.
Stopped by Wal Mart for food and hopes to get Jimmy Eat World two hours early, failed.

Tomorrow will be a good day, Lord willing.
I actually usually get annoyed when people say "Lord willing."
I'm such a hypocrite. At least I sing about it, I guess.

Church and technology

This video is pretty rad. Check out Mark Driscroll's thoughts on church and tech stuff.

So it's been too long

I've realized how easy it is to ignore things when you don't think about them.
How often do I do that to God?
I mean, to not post a blog on here for months is petty, but when I don't pray for a few days because God is just, there... that's dangerous to do.
My line of work deals with talking with a lot of people about this Jesus who has saved me.
But I found myself last night begging for God to forgive me for not truly praying for like three days.
That sucked to do. But I knew that I had to.

I hope I can get better at this blogging thing, but I really hope I get better at praying.
Grace and peace.

The sovereignty of God

Sometimes I want to go insane, or maybe, I'm actually just gradually getting there without trying. Either way, when things don't go the way that Kevin wants them, he becomes an idiot. I preach my heart out about how God is sovereign over all things, but then I get really mad when in God's sovereignty, I don't get what I want. How do I deal with this problem?

I do believe that God has orchestrated everything in all of creation. I am living a life I never dreamed of, and a life that I've never wanted. There are days, like today, that I want to get out. Wait. Not out of life in general, but just what I'm doing in life... I want to be done. But here's the tough part. Why has God put me here? Why would He do all that has taken place, and have me just end it now? It doesn't make sense. And so... the confusion continues in my life.

Pray for me please. I don't like not being home, and I'm away quite a bit. I'm praying that God will get me there more so that these thoughts will just go away.

Goodnight.

Back to work and life

I've been on vacation. It was, so wonderful. A week of not thinking about life, pretty much. Mal and I headed down to Seagrove Beach, Florida. Beautiful time together, just hanging out. So while that went on, I shut all technical life down for the most part - email, cell phone, and yeah, this fun blog.

Upon false accusation, I just want to be clear that I'm hoping to keep this new blog thing going for a bit. My life is getting scheduled pretty hectic right now, but this neat project is somewhat of an oasis for me, so I'm hoping it will stick.

God's been gracious to my family. We're trying to get innovative in the ways to grow spiritually (of course, by God's grace). Don't really want to go into detail, but just want to praise God for the ideas He has given us.

Speaking of ideas, the songwriting itch is back. I've got quite a few lyrical ideas sloshing around in this little noggin. Add in your thoughts and ideas (royalty free of course, hehe) as you wish. I will leave you with a few thoughts, not lines, that I'm chewing on right now...

depravity in me and grace from God

the largeness of the love of God for His children

the providence of God to use sinners for his glory


That's all for now. Peace and love.