Wordle

I ran across a cool website the other day. It takes groups of words (according to the number of usages) and makes sweet designs . This picture is an expression of the words from this blog. Check it out. Click on the picture to get a better look.

So you want to be a leader

I was in New Orleans last week attending a workshop. The class was worship leadership and I learned a lot. But the biggest thing I learned did not happen in the class room. On Monday night, I took advantage of the free supper being offered in the cafeteria. Due to the one hour break we had between class sessions, there were a ton of people cruising through the chow line. As I sat at the table with a couple of friends, I watched as a guy stood in front of the trash cans and took people's trays. As the time passed, this same gentleman started making the rounds throughout the room, taking trays from the tables and depositing them in the trash. He continued his efforts for well over an hour. In fact, he was working hard enough to work up a noticeable lather. And to top it all off, he was doing it while smiling like it was the greatest day of his life.

I realize that it is not unusual to see someone helping in this way. The fascinating aspect of this story is not the what, but the who. The guy taking people's trash was the President of the Seminary. I repeat, the PRESIDENT of the Seminary! There were over 300 students visiting the campus as a part of the Red Carpet week. With this many folks visiting the campus, you would expect the President to be shaking hands, visiting, and speaking from a stage. Instead, the top leader of my Seminary was handling the trash.

It was incredible to watch people try to refuse his offer, and him respond with, "It's not a problem. Trash is my specialty." I am not a rocket scientist, but I am sure that a guy with multiple degrees that runs a seminary has other specialties.

My first dinner in New Orleans last week was very impacting for me. It was a tremendous reminder of what God has called Christians to do. We are here to serve others. Leaders are expected to humble themselves and serve others. Jesus continually met the needs of others. And when the situation called for it, He did the job no one else wanted to do. I would imagine people would want to wash feet as much as they would want to handle other people's trash.

I have never been more proud to be apart of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary than when I saw my President serving others through trash duty.

Do you know what it means....

The past two weeks away from school has been fantastic. I've played golf with Coach Hoffman. I've been to two Braves games. Watched a ton of baseball and basketball. But the time has come to get back on the wagon.

So I leave at 4:30 Monday morning for New Orleans. A week long workshop kicks off my Summer o' school.

Let's do this!

The importance of looking foolish

I have been re-reading through "In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day" by Mark Batterson. This morning I was reading about how Christians need to be ok with looking foolish. His argument was that many times Christians do do what God calls us to do because we are fearful that we 'll look foolish or uniformed.

The truth is that often what God calls us to do will look foolish to the world. He went through a pretty extensive list of people in the Bible who looked foolish to the people around them. He started with Moses, Sarai, Joshua, moved to Peter when he stepped out of the boat and finished with Jesus hanging on a cross.

Aren't you glad Jesus was willing to look foolish.

Golfing

Today was great day!

I spent the morning hiking at Ocmulgee park with the Kusnyer and the afternoon golfing with Coach. I'm about to eat some chicken fingers for dinner and watch the NBA playoffs.

Life is fantastic right now.

Summer Reading

Are you looking for something good to read while sitting poolside. I have just the thing for you. A Christian fiction work called " Indivisible" by Kristen Heitzmann.

This book is a story that follows the life of Police Chief Jonah Westfall. The reader follows Westfall as he seeks to solve a mystery not only in his work but also his personal. If you enjoy a psychological thriller, this is for you.

Below I have posted the necessary links for you to pick up a copy.

http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/catalog.php?isbn=9781400073092

http://www.amazon.com/Indivisible-Novel-Kristen-Heitzmann/dp/140007309X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1273867641&sr=8-1

Finally

Monday signaled the end of my crazy semester.
I am excited for the Summer and the adventures that will surely ensue.

Where you looking

C.S. Lewis said that pride makes you look down on people and things. He noted that it is impossible to look up at God if you are continually looking down in pride.

So I ask you: Where are you looking.

Chalk another one up for the Bears

Mercer traveled to USC Upstate this past Friday and claimed another win. It was a tight game from the tip to the finish, but the bears were able to hold on by three.

I wasn't able to attend this game. I was in Dallas for Kyle Goyer's wedding. Thanks to my boy Brian Burton, I was able to keep updated on the score via his iphone.

I was on the first plane to the ATL Saturday morning so that I could go to Jamie Burns' wedding Saturday night. It had the best music at a wedding that I have ever experienced.

It was a good weekend. Two weddings in two time zones inside of 24 hours.

Draw them out of the crowd

I heard a good message at church today. It was the first message in a three part series on what it looks like to be a disciple of Jesus. Tim McCoy preached from Matthew 5 where Jesus preaches the sermon on the mount. McCoy highlighted the insight that when crowds gathered to listen to Jesus, He drew disciples out of the crowd.

Isn't that the purpose of drawing people to church? We do what is necessary to get the crowds to Church, not for the purpose of having a crowd, but so that disciples can be drawn out of the crowd. The goal is disciples because fully devoted followers of Jesus is what brings God glory.

Why does your church meet?

The camels go down

Mercer continued our winning streak last night with a win over the Camels from Campbell university. It was a back and forth game. We went up 18 early in the second half, only to see the camels come back and take the lead. We were able to close the game on a good run and defeat Campbell by nine.

All five of our starters had double digits in scoring. Campbell is pretty athletic and we were able to overcome it with disciplined offensive sets.

East Tennessee State University (ETSU) comes to town Saturday afternoon @ 3:30. Hopefully we will be able to get a 4th win in a row.

Mercer's Got a Little bit of Mo.

The Mercer Men's basketball team is on a two game winning streak. We beat Jacksonville University last Saturday on a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

We completed the Jacksonville 2-step Monday night with a win at North Florida. Tomorrow we try to keep the streak going against Campbell @ 5:30.

3 Days

I just completed a workshop class on Servant Leadership.

Here are a couple of takeaways:

1. Servant Leadership is the mode, transformation is the goal.
2. Servant leadership is not a position of weakness.