Monday Quote

A few notes:

• One Debate down two to go.  Did you watch?
• Sat down to watch a good college football game Saturday and for the second time this year Alabama killed a teams National Championship hopes.
• Went to Cold Stone Creamary on Friday night.  I now have a new favorite creation, “ALL LOVIN’ NO OVEN.”  You need to try it.
• Noah is seven weeks today. 
• Jenn’s birthday is on Friday and I’m accepting gift ideas. 

Today’s quote comes from William Carey, the father of modern missions.

“Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God.”

Just for fun here is another concerning missions by Oswald Smith.

“Any church that is not seriously involved in fulfilling the Great Commission has forfeited its biblical right to exist.”

Monday Quote

 A few notes from the Week:

• Went to KALEO (Call to Ministry) Conference this weekend.  It was solid.  J.D. Greear spoke this on Saturday.  If you read this blog with any frequency you know I’m a big fan.  If you want to listen to his sermons you can do that here.
• Also this weekend I got hangout with my former youth pastor, current good friend Mark Hazle and his family.  We need to take a trip to hang out with them soon.
• My aunt and uncle saw the baby through our ichat this weekend, everyone should have a Mac. 
• The Colts are 1-2 and I’m wondering if we can get this thing turned around. 
• My sister and brother-in-law are coming on Wednesday.  We are really looking forward to seeing them, wish we lived closer. 
• This week’s quote is not from Crazy Love, but you NEED to read the book. 

Well this week’s quote comes from the small amount of football I was able to watch on Saturday.  During the halftime show one of the guys on set made a comment which I can’t remember, but Lou Holtz response was awesome.

“That is the biggest understatement since General Custard said, ‘Them look like friendly Indians.’”

Hope you enjoy that and can find away to fit it into your conversation this week.

Matt

Expanding the Blogroll

The blogroll is that little column on the righthand side of the page that has a few names of others who occassionaly blog.  If you looked before today you would have noticed three names:

Josh Martin-I spent about 8 months traveling with Josh and a minsitry team after my Senior year of college.  A few years ago I got to do another event with Josh at a college retreat and it made me really miss those days on the road.  Today Josh is serving at a church in KY, still leading worship and writing music.  Having Christian brothers is an incredible thing,  Josh and I may talk on the phone once a year, email twice a year, and send about three blog comments a year, but I still feel I could call on him with any circumstance at any time. 

Tim Morrision-Tim and I spent 11 weeks hanging out with kids and teaching sports on what I would call the one of the best Crosspoint teams ever.  I know others would disagree, but those who would don’t read this blog.  We spent the final five weeks, I believe, as roommate in Carson Newman College.  It has been 8 years since that summer and I believe we have seen each other twice, but still consider Tim a great friend, another testimony to having solid brothers in Christ. 

Tony Merida-Tony was my roommate for a semester at Cumberland College.  He graduated in December the year we roomed together and then left for New Orleans Seminary that January.  Since that time he has down amazing things for the kingdom.  Most recently he has accepted a position at Temple Baptist in Mississippi. His sermons can be found here.

Over the next couple of weeks I plan to expand the blogroll and each time provide you with a short explanation about why they are there and why you should read them, at least occassionally.

Monday Quote (on Tuesday)

A few notes:

• JC Ryle’s “Expository Thoughts on the Gospels” has been great and I’m going to begin making my way through John.  You can find them at CBD.
• Church Basketball has begun and I have realized two things: (1) I’m out of shape. (2) I still hate losing.
• Noah has begun to walk.  Not really he is only five weeks old, but had a crazy dream last night in which he was walking and talking. 
• Looking forward to the Kaleo Conferencethis weekend.  It is a conference at SEBTS for High School and College students that are considering full time ministry. 
• Also looking forward to seeing my mentor and good friend Mark Hazle, he is bringing some of his group down for the conference. 
• Noah’s diapers have begun to stink, I mean they have smelled before they now they are REALLY starting to stink.  Someone told me that didn’t happen until they started eating baby food, they lied. 

I have had this week’s quote picked out for a while, but had given the book to someone else and didn’t have the quote available.  It is not an actual quote from the author, but a quote that the author used.  I hope you followed all that.  I wish I could post the entire chapter, but believe it or not I have other things to do.  Here is the quote with which Francis opens chapter for entitled “Profile of the Lukewarm.”

“It is not scientific doubt, not atheism, not pantheism, not agnosticism, that in our day and in this land is likely to quench the light of the gospel. It is a proud sensuous, selfish, luxurious, church-going, hollow-hearted prosperity.”

                           Frederic D. Huntington, Forum Magazine, 1890

As you read that quote you might think he wrote it last week, but in fact he wrote that 118 years ago.

Monday Quote

Good morning and good week.  Here are a few notes from the week:

• Noah’s one month old today.  Everyone told us how fast it would go by, but it has gone by much faster than I could imagine.
• Praying about a new Wednesday night series with the Youth.
• Church basketball season starts tonight.  It has been great to get out and run around a bit, I need more of that. 
• We got Noah’s picture taken, I will post some this week.
• We ordained deacons yesterday and they shared their testimony, we need to hear more testimonies from our church family. 

As I mentioned previously I’m reading a few books right now.  On of those books is “Family Driven Faith” by Voddie Bauchum.  Last night I couldn’t sleep so I got up and knocked out a couple of chapters and as I read there was one line that stuck in my head as I went to bed.

“If I teach my child to keep his eye on the ball, but fail to teach him to keep his eyes on Jesus, I have failed as a father.”

That challenged me in a big way.  Often times Jennifer and I have joked about what sports Noah will want to play and what sports we hopes he enjoys.  My sport of chocie is always tennis in hopes that I will be able to coach him.  That line challenged me to think more about how I will lead him to be like Jesus than how I will lead him to hit a ball.  It is not wrong for our children to get excited about sports, but it is wrong when we desire athletic development over spiritual development. 

Have a good week.

 

 

Book Update

I have been making my way through Francis Chan’s book “Crazy Love.”  It has been very challenging.  I thought I would provide you with Francis’ intro into the book.  He has a website set up that helps ask questions after each chapter.  This video is the introduction to the book. 

Monday Thoughts

I know Monday is normally a time of passing on wisdom and knowledge from those that have have gone before us or currently walking along side us, but today we are going to take a break.  After-all (is that one word or two?) it is Labor Day.  The day people don’t labor at work so they can usually labor at home. 

A few notes:

• At church basketball practice I saw the most painful injury I could imagine.  I won’t go into alot of detail, just know I saw my friends bone sticking out the bottom of his leg. 
• College Football began this weekend!  Another year I wonder why they even bother with preseason rankings.  Let them play a few and then tell me if Clemson really should be #9. 
• Noah will be three weeks on Monday.  I was up ALL night with him last night, I know what your thinking, was it really ALL night?  The answer is Yes. 
• If you need an additional commentary on the Gospels let me suggest J.C. Ryle.  It is affordable and can be used in preparation to teach, but recently I have been using it in my personal study.  It was written in the 1800’s but it seems it was written last month. 
• I have been camped out in front of the TV this weekend watching the US Open.  Finally more than one American has made it to the second week of a major, unfortunately they could all lose today. 
• The more tennis I watch the more I want to play. 

Instead of giving you a quote I thought I might give you the source of the next few quotes.  I’m going to begin a new book today and I have also ordered three others on Amazon. 

1. Family Driven Faith – Voddie Baucham
2. Crazy Love – Francis Chan
3. Planting Fast Growing Churches – Stephen Gray
4. Creating Community – Andy Stanley and Bill Willits

Feel free to read along or give me a book review on one of the above.  I’m really looking forward to Chan’s book.  If you haven’t heard the guy preach at all it is worth your time and you can check some sermons out here.

Have a good week and enjoy your Labor Day. 

matt