I am Jamaica's husband, Foursquare's comm director, Personality's founder, and a catalyst for CFCC.
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March 2008 Archives
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March 30, 2008
Echo Promo Video
Filed under: Abare News
Earlier this month I mentioned that I'll be speaking at the Echo Church Media Conference later this summer. I just saw the promo video for this event with yours truly. Very cool blend of live motion graphics, although the voice-over is a little creepy.
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March 26, 2008
Finding God In Unexpected Places
Filed under: Reading Room
During the car-ride to and from Sedona this past weekend, Jamaica and I listened to Philip Yancey's gem Finding God In Unexpected Places. I must admit, I've never been a big fan of Yancey because the books I've attempted to read of his are a little dry. This one was definitely an exception.
Finding God was an encouraging book. It's 49 easy-to-digest chapters are loaded with wisdom and wonder. I love Yancey's stories and tangents. His life is full of experiences that are too good not to tell. From his city life in Chicago to his overseas travels visiting prisoners in Russia and Chile, God was showing up everywhere. Yancey also had a pleasant trail of humor throughout the book which was unexpected.
Unfortunately, because I listened to this book, I wasn't able to highlight and bookmark favorite selections. The bummer of audio books!
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March 25, 2008
New Easter Tradition
Filed under: Abare News
Jamaica and I stumbled upon a new tradition during Easter where we visit a new church each year. For the last several years we have found ourselves out of town, usually on a long weekend for a spiritual retreat or reflection time. Because of my proximity to Foursquare--my tribe--we've looked up the local Foursquare church in whatever city we're in and have gone there. This was our third year so I guess we can call it a tradition, right?
This year we visited Evangel Foursquare Church in Cottonwood, Arizona, just 20 miles outside of Sedona. I love seeing how different churches "do" church. Pastor Timothy Hall seems like a great guy--very connected to the community. It was difficult not to be drawn to him after he put his hand up a puppet after the worship time and started talking to kids about the meaning of Easter.
The highlight was meeting an elder married couple during a "meet and greet" time. They were from Oregon and had been living in Sedona for the winter. Sixty seconds into the pleasantries they were sharing their political convictions. Also found out the gentleman just got his PhD in Economics. He's 82. I love it!
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March 24, 2008
Long Weekend in Sedona
Filed under: Abare News
Jamaica and I enjoyed a great four days in Sedona, Arizona this past Easter weekend. It was our first time to this beautiful little town just 100 miles northwest of Phoenix. I imagine the Grand Canyon often overshadows this magnificent little treasure because they're only a few hours away from each other. In many ways, being in Sedona felt like being at the bottom of a miniature Grand Canyon. We were surrounded by huge rocks with towering beauty.
Jamaica and I sat through a 90-minute timeshare presentation on Saturday so we could score a free helicopter ride the next day. It was well worth the sales pitch (no, we didn't buy) to fly for 30 minutes over the whole Sedona area. We got to fly right up to the rocks, look at Indian ruins and feel like a bird. Very cool.
We both forgot our camera--doh!--but I did grab some photos with my iPhone. Most of them were taken during a four mile hike we did on Saturday morning.
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March 15, 2008
David McCullough Knows History
Filed under: Inspiration
I've been a fan of David McCullough ever since I read his book John Adams. Speaking of John Adams, I just learned that HBO is doing a 7-part miniseries on McCullough's book, executive produced by Tom Hanks. It looks incredible.
Back to David McCullough. He's brilliant and articulate. I read an article of his in the Winter 2008 issue of American Heritage magazine (no link available). After a little poking around, I found a link to the original speech it was derived from. He talks about knowing who were are and knowing where we came from. It's an excellent read for the argument of why history matters and more importantly why it should matter to us.
"History isn’t just something that ought to be taught or ought to be read or ought to be encouraged because it’s going to make us a better citizen. It will make us a better citizen; or because it will make us a more thoughtful and understanding human being, which it will; or because it will cause us to behave better, which it will. It should be taught for pleasure: The pleasure of history, like art or music or literature, consists of an expansion of the experience of being alive, which is what education is largely about."
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March 14, 2008
Echo Church Media Conference
Filed under: Abare News
I'm looking forward to the first ever Echo Church Media Conference this August 14-16 in Dallas, Texas. It's also an honor for me to be a keynote speaker with such heavyweights as Donald Miller, Mark Batterson and Mark Steele. Reminds me of the story about the farmer who entered his donkey in a horse race. The farmer's friends were incredulous, "You really think your donkey has a chance at winning this horse race?" "Heck no," said the farmer, "but the company would certainly do him some good."
I've been putting a lot of thought into what I'm going to share about, and so far it's coming together nicely. It's definitely going to be a departure from what I'm used to, but I'm up for a challenge.
But even if I am an ass, at least I'll be in good company...
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March 4, 2008
Goodbye Facebook
Filed under: Abare News
After much peer pressure, I signed up for Facebook late last year. To date, I haven't used it much, I've logged in only a few times, and it tires me every time I get a notification of some sort. Whether it be a request to befriend someone I don't know or poke someone before we've shared a handshake, it was becoming too much.
As of today, my account has been deactivated.
It appears I may be in good company, just saw that Tony Morgan is considering a departure as well.
If you still want to be friends, you can call or email me. Or better yet, let's share a meal or a drink together! There's a concept.
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