Every company I have worked for has been massive — both in size and in success. This massiveness is due to no small degree to the abilities these companies have of leveraging themselves as competitors in the market. They set themselves apart as unique; but it is not only marketing. These companies also must protect their data, their processes, and their products from other companies. My present job is much different; collaboration has replaced competition. We work together with other groups in an effort to do what we do better. Why? Because we share a common goal: help humans encounter God. I am new to this whole mentality (of open collaboration) and it is not an easy concept to embrace. Fortunately I am surrounded by other ex-marketplace personnel who can relate. I am curious about two things:

1. How does one relax his/her competitiveness?
2. How long will this last? As more and more churches are on the Internet, will we continue to embrace collaboration, or will we soon turn into the two churches on opposite street corners who bicker over everything?

I have been blessed with one, two, three astounding kids. I have long believed that physical intimacy is important in the development of children. (Interestingly, the older I get, the more I notice myself becoming less intimate with those outside my family, and more intimate within the family.) I’m not talking about just hugs, though. Hugs and kisses can get boring. Many years ago I began transforming the hugs into tickle-tackles and that has evolved into everyone-against-everyone wrestling, where even Bella, the 100-lb, I’ll-start-my-diet-tomorrow dog, joins in.

(Read on …)

It has been just about one month since we have moved to South Carolina and we love it. We love the town, the church, and the job. Here are the top ten things I love about the South:

10. Meat & Three Restaurants — pick one meat and three veggies, all cooked Southern style
9. Carolina-style hot dogs — “all the way” — comes with chili, mustard, onions, and [optional] coleslaw on top
8. Country roads to drive on — quickly
7. The bird-dog — chicken tender wrapped in bacon on a hot dog bun with melted cheese and honey mustard on top
6. Fall colors — the variety of colors is unlike anything I have seen before (here are some pictures I took this weekend)
5. Southern Hospitality — people are generally nicer here than in other parts of the country (you know who you are); I especially love the people I work with
4. The Corner Bagel Shop — best deli sandwich ever, seriously
3. Pulled pork sandwiches — sweet victory
2. Carolina mustard sauce — mustard, vinegar, and other goodness: completes the pig referenced above
1. Sweet tea!

Much of my list is consumed by food and drink. So what?

What about you? Perhaps you have visited the South or maybe you live here already. What do you love about the South?

I attended my first NewSpring all-staff meeting today. It was amazing. We had a time of worship, Perry brought some amazing insight and encouragement, and then we ate Buckys BBQ. It is impossible to annotate here all the things I learned and was challenged by today, but I want to point out one of the concepts I am loving right now. It has to do with admiration of others.

Perry said that admiration in something else should result in our departure towards that something else or it should result in motivating us to improve what we do.
I am so fortunate that what I get paid to do every day is something that I believe in with my whole heart. I get to work with some of the coolest people on the planet; together working towards finding ways to make Jesus famous. And I am convinced that the reason I love this so much is because I believe in what we are doing here at NewSpring.

If you admire something, then stop admiring it and improve what you are doing. Or go join that which you admire. It is fun… trust me!

I do not like to vote. There. I said it.

I am pretty sure I would not like the polling places. I cannot definitively know because I have never been to one. I always vote with an absentee ballot by mail. Even then, I do not like filling in circles with a pen. I do not like reading referendums. I do not want to wear a sticker that says, “I voted.” I do not want to rock the vote either. But I acknowledge that voting is an important part of being a self-governed society. (Are we self-governed?)

Perhaps the problem I see is that nothing really matters. We vote. We are unhappy. We complain. Then we vote some more. Everything changes, but it is always the same.

Which is why I am glad that God is unchanging. I am glad that He will be the same today and tomorrow whether we like it or not. (James 1:17)

It is almost November and we are well into autumn. The air has a chill here in South Carolina and the leaves are only now starting to change. Last weekend, we went to a large farm near Clemson and picked pumpkins, navigated a corn maze, and [the kids] played around in the hay. I was reflecting as I drove (on my friend’s advice) down the winding country road near NewSpring, with the sunroof open, and the leaves dancing in my rear-view mirror. I thought of the natural rest that the land gets every year via the seasons. But it seems that sin itself can disturb the slumber of the earth.

(Read on …)

I heard a cool comment this week from a Muslim dude. He said, “Live for the now as if you will live forever and live for the hereafter as if you will die tomorrow.” It made me think: perhaps it is beneficial to focus our interactions with others as if we would be interacting with them forever. AND we should focus on the eternal kingdom as if we would die tomorrow. What a mystery and yet what an exciting challenge!

I have seen a lot of people in the past few days as I have traveled to Ecuador and back. I love watching people in airports and other public places. Some are funny-looking, others are stressed out. Some are sleeping because they are tired, others sleep because they are drunk. Some are happy to be on an adventure, others are sad to be forced to obey rules. Some are peaceful waiters-in-line, others are constant pushers-in-the-back. One thing I noticed is that most of them are not people I am normally drawn to. Today, I read a verse that made me smile.

(Read on …)