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[On a Claire Day]


[On a Claire Day]


[On a Claire Day]

This is really good... (Come to TheEdigers.com to see the video)

"Mom, can we go to Billy's church on Halloween? They're giving away lots of candy and are having games."

"Sorry, son. They're just trying to sell us something. We're just going to go trick-or-treating in our neighborhood where it's safe."

I was driving home from work yesterday, passing church after church who were advertising their Halloween Parties, I mean, "Fall Festivals." Andrea & I had the conversation about what our October 31st activities are going to include, and whether those plans included stopping at any of our local churches to take part. One is having a fairly large party, with games & the lot. Another is having a "trunk-or-treat" in their parking lot while showing "The Great Pumpkin" on a movie screen.

I honestly doubt we'll do either (we will likely travel to a friend's neighborhood to let the kids trick-or-treat). If we had to pick one, though, it would be the trunk-or-treat. Why? Because the kids are going to have to sit through a gospel presentation at the other church in order to take part in the fun/candy.

I got to thinking...

If we, as Christian parents, are turned off by the idea of making our kids sit through a 'pitch' in order to get their treats, how do non-Christians feel about all of it? Is some family having the same discussion we were having, trying to determine where the 'safest' place for their kids to celebrate Halloween is without having to subject them to undue sales situations.

I know that the 'sales pitch' idea isn't exactly true, but it feels like it. It feels like those offers you get in the mail for the "free vacation weekend" at the condo resort - the ones that you have to endure a sales pitch and pressure-packed calls in order to enjoy the perk.

It just doesn't sit well with me. It's up there with the whole 'hell house' idea - make a 'pseudo-haunted house,' throw in some scenes of a group of teenagers drinking & driving (and dying some incredibly bloody death), or a girl getting an abortion, and then present the gospel after everyone is shocked enough.

If we're going to offer a safe Halloween alternative, so be it. Let's just do it right. Let's provide a safe atmosphere for kids & families to have a great time without feeling like they're being manipulated. Call it what you want - let's just try being Jesus to a lost world in the process. Somehow I can't see him standing in the last room of a hell house or trying to keep a group of costumed children quiet while he tells them about his story - all the while dangling a bag of candy over to the side for those who listen well.

We had some fun last night decorating the kids Jack O' Lanterns for Halloween this year. Each drew on a piece of paper what they wanted theirs to look like, and then, with a little help from mom & dad, helped carve out their faces. You can see the creations below. Afterwards, we lit them up, turned out the lights, cranked up some Charlie Brown 'Linus & Lucy' and danced around the kitchen :-)


[Jack O' Lanterns 07]


[The Budding Artists]


[Having a Little Fun]

Our kids have been trained to fast forward through commercials on television which can be so handy. We don't get near the amount of toy requests that I suspect we would if we were TiVo-less. However, there's no TiVo for the mailbox. The evidence is in my kitchen. That's where the holiday toy catalogs are starting to turn up - on the table, the bar, the counter. They are already getting dog-earred, circled, and marked. Josiah has started leaving drool stains in electronic sections. Micah is often overheard exclaiming, "Whoa! Look at THIS!" - and it usually involves some sort of building project that appears incredibly do-able in the picture. Even Emerie perused a catalog yesterday, circled items and wrote a big 'E' next to each one. She learned quickly from her brothers. Most everything she circled involved a princess, a fairy (or dressing up as either one), a doll, that doll's house or furniture or clothes, or cooking. Yep, that pretty much covers it.

Just updating some of our links. These can always be found in the sidebar on the homepage. Here's the latest...

• Chris' MySpace Is No More... All I get from MySpace these days are porn emails. No thanks. May take a little while until it completely disappears, but I've cancelled the account. Find us on Facebook instead...
• Chris' Facebook Profile
• Andrea's Facebook Profile
• Our Flickr Photos
• Our Vimeo Videos
• Chris' Jaiku Stream
• Chris' Pownce Notes
• Chris' Twitter Feed

It has been an interesting day working from Panera. Got here early and began working from my usual corner of the restaurant. My friend Craig joined me a little bit later. Then another guy. And another. And yet another. And then a group of three women and one of their 3-year olds did as well. We were having a virtual work party in our little corner of Panera.

I was feeling a bit claustrophobic, but with my earbuds in & listening to John Mayer, it was bearable. And then the 3-year old began acting up.

We shortly thereafter moved to the front of the store and grabbed some lunch. Chairs are less comfortable. Air is pretty chilly (because we are close to the front door). And our neighbor begins humming... loudly... to whatever is going on inside of his earphones.

I may have to head home after awhile or wait it out until someone leaves or changes seats. We'll see. :-(

Andrea sent me a link to a Facebook Quiz last night that I utterly failed at. It's a color blindness test. Read on & see how you do (hopefully better than me). Write down your guesses, and then click the link to see how you did. Once your done, leave a comment & share your score. BTW - I scored 30% after staring at the screen for about 4-5 minutes (yeah, I know, pathetic)... Andrea & the boys all scored 100%.

Question 1 - What number do you see?

1. 25
2. 28
3. 29
4. 19
5. 26

Question 2 - What number do you see?

1. 5
2. 6
3. 8
4. 9
5. 3

Question 3 - What number do you see?

1. 45
2. 46
3. 44
4. 49
5. 40

Question 4 - What number do you see?

1. 8
2. 9
3. 10
4. 6
5. 5

Question 5 - What number do you see?

1. 55
2. 56
3. 53
4. 50
5. 58

Question 6 - What number do you see?

1. 29
2. 28
3. 27
4. 26
5. 25

Question 7 - What number do you see?

1. 9
2. 8
3. 6
4. 5
5. 3

Question 8 - What number do you see?

1. 2
2. 5
3. 7
4. 8
5. 9

Question 9 - What number do you see?

1. 6
2. 5
3. 8
4. 9
5. 2

Question 10 - What number do you see?

1. 29
2. 18
3. 16
4. 13
5. 15

Answers after the break...
(Visit TheEdigers.com to see the answers)

Continue reading "I Flunked - How About You?" »

Overheard at the doctor's office:
"Who's that, Emerie?"
"Okie-Dokie."
"Who?"
"Okie-Doki-o"
"You mean Pinocchio?"
"Yeah..."

Oh, yes - today she reminded me again that when she uses this thing on her nails, it's an Emerie board - when I use it, it's an Andrea board.

Micah made up actions to one of his favorite songs. The props are hard to see fully, but he had written certain words like "965" (for I-65) and "17" (when she's 17 again) on small pieces of paper. The red thermos is "Coca-Cola." The water bottle is "Blue Da Soda" (Blue DeSoto). He's especially proud of the special move he made up for "1948" in the chorus.

(Check out the video at TheEdigers.com or by visiting Vimeo below)"Ellsworth" by Rascal Flatts, Actions by Micah Ediger from Chris Ediger on Vimeo.

One of my favorite sites, Mashable, ran a story today listing over thirty online resources to help you sift through the U.S. election for President (yeah, I know, it's still a year away :-) ).

They've listed links to sites that let you do everything from find out how much money candidates have raised/spent, news on the race, political social networks, and a good sized list of information on political parties/candidates/issues.

Check it out here: 30+ Web Resources For US Politics (Mashable.com)

I made a quick Wal-Mart run over the weekend and I saw something that struck me in a strange way. As I walked past the costume aisle I noticed that most of those who were their perusing the shelves were adults - and they weren't buying costumes for their kids. We were talking about this at Community Group last night & it seems like Halloween is becoming more popular with adults. Someone else noted that not only are more adults buying costumes, but that the costumes are becoming skankier as well.

So what is the draw here? I was talking with the boys last night (Micah is still trying to figure out what he wants to dress up as) and they matter-of-factly said, "But you don't dress up for Halloween because you're an adult, right Dad?" I said, "You bet - trick or treating is just for kids." I hope I'm right. I hope my fellow post-adolescents are simply getting dressed up for some sort of Halloween get-together (aka 'costume party').

Not sure what I'll do if, while walking around with my kids a week from today, I find adults knocking on doors/ringing doorbells.

Great article on iMediaConnection titled "The Secret Weapon for Web 2.0 Success." The article, as a whole, examines the relationship between Web 2.0 & new advertising models. Pretty fascinating. Here's a brief scenario offered in the article that is a good illustration of what the Web 2.0 Lifestyle looks like, at least in one situation:

So what does ad serving in Web 2.0 look like?
Following a consumer -- in this case, "Chris" -- on his way to the baseball game illustrates a current and future Web 2.0 consumer lifestyle:

Unsure of traffic, Chris walks out of his house calling up directions on his wireless device or smartphone. Shortly, directions arrive with a traffic update, mass transit options, a map, several links to restaurants near the stadium and the local paper's sports page. Deciding to walk, Chris makes a reservation at one of the advertised restaurants by clicking through an advertising link, where he is informed that he will receive free desert by making a reservation through the web; so Chris decides to forward an Evite from the restaurant to a friend asking the friend to join him for dinner after the game.

On his way, Chris stops by RadioShack to look at new printers. After finding one he likes, he scans the bar code of the printer with his smartphone to conduct a comparison web search. Immediately, Chris is presented with a list of comparable printers and other stores that offer the same printer at a lower cost. Deciding to wait on buying, Chris proceeds to the game.

Chris waits in line at the stadium, playing an internet video game on his smartphone, when he is served an in-video ad to buy the album of the band whose music is playing in the background of the video game. Enjoying the music, Chris downloads the album onto his smartphone and receives an email notification that the same band will be playing in his town the following Friday. Again, Chris forwards an Evite to one of his friends.

.:: Read the full article...

Just found this web site via Digg this morning while checking my email. It is a site set-up through the folks at poverty.com to help raise awareness and support for world hunger. Here's how it works...

Head over to FreeRice.com and start matching vocabulary words with synonyms. It starts fairly easy and adjusts itself to your skill level, detecting what word to ask next based on if you answered the last one correctly or not. For every correct match it donates 10 grains of rice on your behalf through an international aid agency. If you get a question wrong, it doesn't do anything. :-)

On the face of it, I have to admit I was a little unsure about the whole prospect. It just comes off as a little cheap to me. How in the world are 10 grains of rice really going to make a difference? But then I realized that just might be the point. Here's what I think the site accomplishes...

1. It's fun, and slightly addictive - if nothing else you have a good time playing along.
2. It reeks of inadequacy - you can't help but feel like you're not really making that big of a difference.
3. Collectively, it does make a difference - millions of people playing = real help - all paid for by the sponsors on the site (which from the pages I saw were big companies like Liz Claiborne, Toshiba, Radisson Hotels & Resorts, & Apple).
4. It raises awareness - One of the main points of the site, I believe
5. It increases the opportunity to do more - Coupled with #2 above, I found myself pretty quickly on the poverty.com site reading about what else/more I could do to help

A friend sent this to me - incredible ending!

Josiah all slicked up :-)

We're at a spaghetti dinner fund-raiser tonight for Scouts. I'll have to take a few pictures of the boys with the good camera sometime. We're in a church gymnasium, which gives everything a nice yellow/ greenish tint :-)

I am an information addict. The problem is that I have a hard time keeping up with everything. Jott is one of those web tools that I use that helps me keep things straight.

Jott bills itself as "mobile note taking and hands-free messaging." You begin by creating a free Jott account, and then tie in your phone numbers and email addresses (any you would like to use with the service, that is). Once that's done, you simply call the toll-free Jott # to send yourself (or someone in your address book) a message. When you call in, it recognizes who you are based on the phone numbers you have set-up in your account and then politely asks, "Who would you like to Jott?" You can say "self" or the name of the person from your address book, and then leave a message. Jott takes your message, transcribes it into text & emails it back to you (or to the person you designated). Incredibly simple, but incredibly powerful!


[Jott - Home]

Jott keeps a record of every message you have sent to yourself or others in your account on their website. It allows you organize, edit, forward, etc. any text transcript, as well as re-listen to your original audio message.


[Jott - All Messages]


[Jott - Individual Message]

Any time you receive an message via email, or a message is sent to someone in your address book, the Jott, links to the audio, the ability to set reminders, forward, etc. are all provided, as well as a link to your Jott profile.


[Jott - Email]

I mainly use Jott when I'm driving to/from work and remember something I need to take note of - an idea for an article, something to buy at the store, a meeting I need to schedule in my calendar, etc. Jott makes it quick & easy to capture those thoughts.

The possibilities of using the service beyond this, though, are numerous. Basically any online service which uses email as a trigger can be incorporated. Twitter/Facebook updates, blog entries, etc. can all be set up with some finagling to work with Jott.

Check it out at Jott.com!

I’m speechless… Come to TheEdigers.com to See The Video

Learned of a (somewhat) new video sharing site calling “Vimeo” this weekend. I’ve been wanting to find a better method for posting videos (like Micah’s appearance on Channel 4 last week) quickly & easily. This looks like it might be the answer. It’s set-up a lot like Flickr (which I love) and gives you the ability to limit videos based on users/groups. I’ve uploaded a few videos to start & try it out. Right now everything is open for anyone to see - I may/may not limit that in the future; we’ll see.

Micah on Channel 4 from Chris Ediger on Vimeo.

I just downloaded the new Radiohead album In Rainbows for 1£ - that comes out to about $1.42!

Because Radiohead are truly independent they own all distribution rights to their music. They have opted to release their newest album (as of Oct 10th) exclusively online for the time being - and on a "pay what you want" basis! This is the first time I think I have ever seen this, especially from a major band/artist.



So, how are they going to make any music if people can pay what they want? Well, considering that they have literally millions of fans, and assuming that a good majority of them are going to support this effort by the band by paying what they think the album is worth (not the measly 1£ from people like me). Add in the fact that some people who aren't really fans are going to be willing to purchase a full album from a major band for a couple of bucks. Also add in the fact that they are also marketing a 'special edition' Discbox version with the album, and additional CD with more new songs, a couple of vinyl albums, photos, etc.

I'm the perfect example. I wouldn't have bought the album regularly - I simply am not all that familiar with the band. But because of the way they're selling it I plunked down my buck & a half. And now I'm blogging about it, which may lead others to do the same. I think they'll do just fine :-)

Buy it online from their InRainbows.com site...

By some weird twist "Backwards" by Rascal Flatts will calm an extremely tired and fussy 4 yr old while driving home from a friend's house at 11 pm. Who would have figured?

Emerie taking part in a High School Musical 2 show at a friend's house.

This is the second post in a series detailing some online tools I use on a regular basis that make my life a lot easier. I looked at Google Reader a couple of weeks ago. This time around it is Google Notebook. Just realized that a lot of these may very well be Google sites/tools - not that I'm a big Google fan boy, but just for the fact that they have a lot of useful tools out there, and, well, they're Google - what more can you say.

Google Notebook is an interesting concept. Note-taking is one of those practices that hits everyone at some point in their lives. We may take notes of a lecture when we're in school. We jot down thoughts for that never-ending 'to do' list. We come away from a seminar or meeting with notes scribbled everywhere. We like to take notes. The problem is that, at least for me, I don't like the analog life near as well as I like the digital one. I would much prefer all my thoughts/notes/etc. be accessible wherever I am at, whenever I need them. Thus, the fact that I utilize web tools like Google Reader, Google Notebook, & others.

Think of Google Notebook as just that: an online notebook of sorts. Once you create an account, you are prompted to download & install a browser extension that puts your online notebook at your fingertips whenever you need it. Researching the best price on that new HDTV you've been eyeing? Google Notebook can help keep your thoughts all together. You can grab great deals and copy/paste them to your online notebook for safe keeping & referral later (including links back to where the note was taken from). Add the ability to grab & store user reviews, HDTV 'need to know before you buy' articles, and the like, and you've got your own virtual online assistant!


[Google Notebook - Original Quote Location]


[Google Notebook - New Quote Location]

Here's how I use it...

I primarily use Google Notebook for three purposes: 1) to grab pertinent news links to stories about young adult culture for my weekly Threads enewsletter, 2) to grab quotes and thoughts that I like and that I want to refer back to later, and 3) to grab news stories/site links for things I want to go back & read in more detail later. Let me give you a quick synopsis of what #1 looks like, as this is the one area I use Notebook most heavily.

I have several Google News searches saved within Google Reader to help with my gathering process. These cover news stories with the keywords "young adults," "faith," and "twentysomething." I like gathering news in this way because whenever I'm ready to pour over news from any given week as I'm pulling links for the newsletter I have them all in one quick location. I browse through the headlines quickly, opening potential stories/links in new tabs in my browser. This process takes about 10 minutes or so as I can easily have 300+ news links waiting for me in Reader.

I then click through my 'potential news' tabs, skimming articles to see which might be good to feature. When I find one, I simply highlight the first paragraph or two in the article, right-click and choose "Note This (Google Notebook)" from the menu. The headline, link to the article, & highlighted excerpt are instantly placed into my Notebook. I can then go and copy/paste the approx. four articles I want to feature that week & place them in the newsletter.

The entire process from start to finish (provided that I don't get distracted perusing articles in the middle) takes about 20 minutes or so. Before Google Reader & Notebook, the same process (albeit having to hunt down news on my own and trying to keep track of ones I'd found) took a couple of hours. Thank you, Google!


[Google Notebook - My Current Notebooks]

You can set-up as many notebooks as you like. As you can see, I have these three set-up right now: "Need to Read," "Threads News Links," and "Quotes." You can edit anything you capture very easily. Just click on the headline/link/note and type away - complete with the formatting tools you'd find in your word processor. The "Note This" process will pretty faithfully capture not only text, but images & links as well. You can even export any notebook into Google Docs (another tool for another time) - giving you a way to compile all those HDTV links/reviews/tutorials and print them out for your shopping convenience.

I haven't spent much time in the recent past listening to podcasts. It seems like there was a window of about 2-3 months where I was tuning in - mostly surrounding the time we were looking to begin podcast offerings at Threads/LifeWay. I commute to work each day with a friend, and we usually spend this time talking. I haven't worked out with regularity in awhile, so workout time isn't an option. Which leaves listening while I work - something I don't like to do all of the time because it is hard to listen intently while I'm busy working on something that requires my attention.

Gearing up for Catalyst, I began tuning in to the Catalyst podcasts. Going last week to the conference also re-sparked my interest. Craig (my friend & commuting partner) is out of town for most of this week, so I have the opportunity to listen in on the way to/from work as well.

Here are a few new, and some of my former favorites, in case you have some time on your hand & are looking for some good podcasts (each are linked to their respective listing in iTunes):

• Francis Chan - Cornerstone Community Church, Simi Valley, CA (NEW)
• Matt Chandler - The Village Church, Highland Village, TX (NEW)
• Bridgeway Church - Oklahoma City, OK
Mark Driscoll - Mars Hill Church, Seattle, WA
• Nelson Searcy - Church Leader Insights
• LifeChurch.tv - Worship Podcast
• Threads Podcast - Firehose Stream
• TWiT - This Week in Tech

Seems the video I posted earlier in the week of Micah on the Channel 4 News didn’t work for a lot of folks, so here goes try #2. As a recap - Micah went on a field trip on Monday to Channel 4 as part of their study on the weather. They spoke with the meteorologist and took turns with the green screen. The ran the video of them in the studio/mentioned it on the 5 o’clock news that night. Here’s the video: (Come to TheEdigers.com to see the video)

Prayer of Sir Francis Drake...

Disturb us, Lord, when We are too well pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.
We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push into the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.

Well, as I indicated yesterday, I grabbed the Evan Almighty DVD from Redbox yesterday & we watched it last night as a family. It was as good the second time around as the first! I'm definitely going to have to pick this one up on DVD. The kids loved it, as did Andrea.

At one point early in the movie (not giving anything away) Steve Carell's character (Evan) is faced with God (Morgan Freeman) basically invading his space at every turn (he sees him in his back seat, in the face of a policeman next to his car, as a pedestrian in the crosswalk in front of him, etc.). Obviously, he is completely freaking out! Emerie looks at us, and very matter-of-factly says, "Why is he afraid of God?" like it was nothing for God to be visibly popping into the man's life.

"Then Jesus called for the children and said to the disciples, 'Let the children come to me. Don't stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.'" Luke 18:16

My friend, Michael Kelley, posted a blog entry today on the Threads blog entitled "No Atheists in Foxholes" - it's excellent! Here's an excerpt:

"So the saying goes. I think the meaning is clear - when the chips are down and life is at stake, there are very few people stubborn enough to face that moment alone. But I would add something to the old saying. There are also no atheists in waiting rooms. Having spent considerable time in waiting rooms of hospitals over the past year, you can’t help but notice how the complex faith of the super-spiritual becomes simple, how the simple faith of the barely believing comes to the forefront, and how the non-existent faith of the faithless suddenly rears its head. People believe in waiting rooms because it is in there that you find yourself in a position of helplessness. You don’t know the difference between a fracture and a break, between Amoxicillin and Penicillin, or between a short beep and a long one from an IV machine. You just know that you don’t know. And you want to believe that there is someone who does."

Read the full blog post on the Threads site

This summer I got a chance to see a free preview of the Steve Carell movie, Evan Almighty. I blogged about my impressions a couple of months ago. We had plans to take the kids to see it in the theater, but the summer got away from us before we had a chance to go.

The DVD releases today, so I'm going to grab it at my nearest Redbox location & hopefully watch it tonight with the family.

Great, fun movie! I'd highly recommend it for anyone needing something to do tonight :-)

Micah took a field trip to Channel 4 today as part of his study of the weather. They met the meteorologist, and took turns learning how they use the green screen with the weather maps on TV. As a bonus, the video of them learning made the 5:00pm news! Check it out... (Visit the website to see the video)

Just got this link from a friend. Checked it & it’s legit. You can click the headline below to read the full article on MSN Money…

Do Not Call list to start expiring (MSN Money)
There’s little doubt that the federal Do Not Call list has made dinnertimes much quieter across the nation. There’s just one problem: Registration of your number on the Do Not Call list isn’t permanent. After five years, the ban on calling your number is lifted unless you renew your registration. That means a whole lot of folks are going to start hearing from telemarketers next summer unless they take action.

A good friend of mine who is a student pastor in Colorado has been sharing via his blog about his conversations with some LDS (Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, aka Mormon) missionaries he has befriended. It began when they came by his house and no less climbed on his roof to help him spray for yellow jackets. They agreed to get together for lunch a few days later.

I've had good experiences with LDS missionaries. I don't close the blinds, run out of the living room & hold my breath hoping they won't realize I'm home. I open the door, and, if it is a good time, invite them in. I like Grant's attitude on the whole thing and I wish we were all right there as well.

The problem is that, for me, too many Christians are ignorant and scared. We don't know what we believe, let alone what others, like Mormons, believe. I have a Book of Mormon on my shelf. I got it in college shortly after taking a class on cults & other belief systems. It was a difficult course (I spent several months avoiding Scripture in large part because I couldn't read it without immediately dissecting it to figure out how others might twist it around to say something different). It was an important time for me, though, as it helped break down those walls.

Grant wasn't surrendering his beliefs by having lunch with these men. On the contrary, it provided a great place to have good discussions with them about exactly what he believed. He was able to bring it all back down to the One thing - Jesus - and talk about their differences off of that common ground.

Most Jesus followers are fearful of talking with people who don't believe exactly what they believe - and I do mean exactly. Never-mind the common ground. Never-mind the fact that we get the big things right. You think Jesus is coming back in the middle of the tribulation? You actually wear T-shirts that don't have some corny Christian rip-off slogan on them? You don't think everyone who takes a sip of alcohol or smokes a cigar is going straight to hell? I'm not sure we can be friends.

Sometimes it is laughingly absurd the kinds of hills we are willing to die on, while at the same time forgetting the very hill that Christ did died on.

I like what Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill out in Seattle, says. He says that we should hold tightly to the 'big stuff' - Scripture, who Jesus is, etc. - and that we should hold everything else loosely - our beliefs on lesser issues like speaking on tongues, alcohol use, when we think Jesus is coming back, etc.

Finished uploading some new photos/sets to our Flickr account...

• Boomer Sooner
• Lego & Imaginext Creations
• First Day of LCA - 2007
• Amber's Wedding - Sept 07, 07

Josiah came down after half-time wearing his own custom-made "Beat Texas" shirt (made from his only good white T-shirt & a permanent marker, mind you) :-)

We’re on our way home from Catalyst after an amazing three days. I’m thankful and overwhelmed by all I experienced, but also tired. Figured I’d post a pic I snapped with my iPhone since I’m going to be dead tired by the time we get off the road (gotta love Atlanta traffic). I’ll try and post my thoughts over the weekend sometime.

I'm going to make this short. It is 12:30am Atlanta time. I'm sitting here catching up on email, downloading my free Starbucks iTunes song (from my coffee this morning), reading some news, etc. when I should be sleeping. Tomorrow morning is going to come around really quick (wait... I guess it's already here :-) )

I just wanted to say that today was incredible! So many good things that I don't have the space or time to share right now. Great, great, great (really) speakers! Francis Chan was unbelievable! The guy walked off the stage & received about a 2-3 minute standing ovation that wasn't really for him - it was for our great God who we could see all over him! I was about 10 feet away from Rick Warren talking about how God brought him to the point of speaking for the 'least of these.' Incredible worship. Antics that were beyond fun. It just kept coming!

Had an extra blessing in that I got to eat dinner afterwards with a good friend who was celebrating his birthday with new friends & old at a Cuban restaurant. I'm using this word too much, I know, but - it was incredible! Went back to his home to share dessert, coffee & conversations. Met some amazing people - several new friends that I know I'll be sharing in this Journey even more in the coming months & years.

God is just so good! I'm overwhelmed, and exhausted all in one. Can't wait for another incredible day ahead of me :-)

The first day of Catalyst was great! Listened in on four sessions total - all from amazing guys. Matt Chandler, pastor of The Village Church in Highland Village, TX, was incredible!

The story of The Village is one that is amazing in and of itself - growing by nearly 5000 people in about five years time. This is one of those churches that people look at and want to tap into whatever it is that they can draw from the pastor (Chandler in this case) - most of the time in an effort to try & duplicate it in order to hopefully see the same numerical growth in their own ministries/churches.

I knew I was going to like what Matt had to say when right out of the gate he admitted that this growth was the primary reason that he was even at Catalyst - not so much because he is an amazing teacher, or that he has a unique message - but primarily because he is the pastor of a fast growing church, and because others want to know his 'secret.' The only secret he shared right off the bat was the fact that the growth & the numbers were the number one barrier/problem he faced in trying to see spiritual transformation take place in the church. He went as far as to call it a 'nightmare.'

He went on to share about some possible reasons why he believes the church isn't seeing spiritual transformation take place in people's lives. Here's a synopsis...

1. Undue emphasis is placed on width and not on depth
This isn't so much on numerical growth, as much as it is on the level of information being conveyed in churches. For most churches, discipleship is only related at the cognitive level - "what people know." People aren't striving to be obedient to what has already been revealed to them. They just keep taking more and more in. We are left with people who are theologically knowledgeable without real life change having taken place.

2. The absolute disintegration of authentic Biblical community
We all need both encouragement & rebuke in our lives. The problem is that we, as a whole, do not have those type of relationships. Encouragement is more than the pat on the back of the pastor for a "good message" given on a Sunday morning. It is 'speaking life' into someone else. Rebuke is never taken well. We either respond with shame or angrily try and turn it back on the one rebuking - even when they are rebuking us correctly & in a spirit of love.

3. The absolute lack of building out of authoritative churches
We don't have authoritative churches in most cases any longer. We don't want to offend people. We certainly don't want to practice Biblical discipline for those in our churches who are living blatantly and openly in sin. We'll too often sacrifice depth for width (numbers, wise) - which leads us to...

4. Numbers are sexy to us
We have the false assumption that size has something to do with success. It's relatively easy to get people into our churches - it is more important, though, what we do with them then.

5. We live in a culture built off speed
Both spoken & unspoken we've told people that spiritual growth/formation happens quickly. It's a crawl! It's like watching our kids grow. We can't stare at them & see grow take place - but we can measure it. It is slow - something that can't be felt, but can be measured. We keep lying to people, saying "If you just have a quiet time 3 times a week..."; "If you just complete this Discipleship course..."; "If..." you fill in the blank... you're grow quickly spiritually! We will lose people when we lie to them. Spiritual formation does happen - God promises to complete the work He has begun in us. But it is something that is a slow & many times difficult process.

We need to treat spiritual growth like we treat our children's first steps - by celebrating the steps, not focusing on the fall! Step, step, step, fall - "He's walking!" Is this the way God view us? Doesn't He celebrate the fact that we are walking, not beat us up because we fall?

We need to find ways to celebrate the steps in people's lives & celebrate those stories. The stories of people who "step, step, step" and then something major negative happens in their life - they lose a job, disease enters the picture, etc. - and they keep walking! That's spiritual transformation/growth that we need to celebrate!

Tomorrow I'll be heading down to Atlanta for Catalyst - a next generation leaders conference. It's a conference that I've been wanting to go to for the last couple of years & I'm super pumped about being able to go this year.

In prep, I've begun listening to some of the keynote sessions from previous years. Each year's Catalyst delivers some big names: Andy Stanley, Louie Giglio, Bill Hybels, Donald Miller, George Barna, and more. This morning I was listening to Erwin McManus - probably one of my favorite voices pushing the church right now. The message was incredible, but his prayer at the end was even more amazing. Very transparent, no pretension, just honest conversation with His Savior. He ended the prayer with these words - they just stuck with me, so I thought I'd pass them along...

Jesus you are beautiful and magnetic and winsome and lovely... and we have made you look ugly... and uncaring. Oh, God, help us, just to let them see who you really are by living a life worthy of you.