It’s eye opening to experience first hand the innocence of youth. Recently a new family moved into our neighborhood. They have boys. That’s a good thing. There are currently 10 boys (now 12) in our neighborhood that play together, roaming around like Hell’s Angels on their Huffys and Schwinns. My oldest, Zeke (7), befriended one of the new boys and came home one day and told me, “[My friend] is so lucky, he has a stepdad!” Record scratch, head jerked sideways,... Read more
Every Monday at 10 am, the pain comes. As crazy as it sounds, it’s good pain. It’s the pain I asked for. It’s time for the weekly worship service evaluation. Each week Mt Vernon’s creative leadership team sits down and rips apart the previous Sunday’s worship services. We nitpick stuff that most people don’t even notice: Was the service intentional? Were the transitions smooth? Did we achieve excellence? Was hope made tangible? The first part is easy: we talk about... Read more
I’ve got a morning routine. I drop off my oldest son at school each weekday, then I stop by my gym just down the street for a quick workout before heading to the office. I’ll spend ten minutes on the elliptical, partly to get a good heart rate going, but really it’s an excuse to watch last night’s monologue from the Tonight Show on my smart phone. I never used to watch the Tonight Show. No disrespect to Jay Leno,... Read more
Watch below for the third installment of our Underdogs series (preached 8.17.14) https://vimeo.com/103849660 Read more
Have a great weekend! Here are a few articles to keep you learning: 4 Things Every Husband Needs to Hear Daily – read this ladies! What Made the Situation in Ferguson Escalate So Quickly? – sobering words. How To Kiss Like You Mean It – for married couples! Don’t Let Your Comfort Zone Kill Your Church – great words! What Writers Can Learn From ‘Goodnight Moon’ – I read ‘Goodnight Moon’ to my boys at least twice a week! Read more
Last night at The Conversation (our mid-week adult Bible study) we talked about how to practically stop the bad habits that are destroying our lives. Those bad habits may be: bitterness, lack of exercise, poor eating, viewing pornography, or overspending (to name a few). While many people think the answer is pure willpower, modern neuroscience shows that to be false. In a fascinating article, John Ortberg applies modern science to spiritual discipleship, saying “Most of the time, a change of... Read more
In this short clip, I talk about keeping the negative labels you carry from defining you. https://vimeo.com/103855537 Read more
Recently I had to make a phone call that broke my heart. It’s a phone call that I hope I never have to make again. A few years ago a couple came to me for marriage counseling. They had been struggling with issues for years but hadn’t talked to anyone about them. We met several times and made a little bit of progress but no breakthroughs. They couldn’t meet in the middle. Counseling kind of petered out and they eventually... Read more
If you look in your high school yearbook, you’ll discover that it’s divided by labels. All the seniors are together, then the juniors, then the sophomores. Then you have the football team, the baseball team, the band, the mathletes, the puppet club. Everyone had a label in high school. You might have been the athlete, the cheerleader, the nerd, the party animal, the class clown, the JROTC fanatic, or the miscellaneous kid. We all wore a label in high school.... Read more
This video is the second week in our Underdogs series (preached 8.10.14). Come tomorrow to Mt Vernon to see week 3 (or you can stream online at 9:00 and 10:30 at www.mtvchurch.tv) https://vimeo.com/103273035 Read more
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