And The Numbers Are In…

Well, I just looked at my stats server this morning and totalled up the amount of hits the site has received from April 2008 to September (so far) 2008 …drum roll please:

Total Hits the past 5, almost 6 months:

54,493!!  Yeah!  To all my readers, thank you, I never would’ve guessed this site would have that much traffic.  And, if you’re looking to advertise, I’m looking to sell space!  :)

September 5, 2008 | Filed Under Uncategorized | 1 Comment 

Cold Weather, Tree Branches & the A.M.

For those of you who read this that are not in the midwest, you probably have no idea what I’m talking about.  For those of you who do live in the midwest, you know exactly what I’m talking about.  I woke up this morning and it was somewhere in the neighborhood of 58 degrees!  How is it this cold in early September??  I’m not going to lie, I really like it.  I wish it wasn’t raining, but I really don’t mind this chilly weather…it means I can wear long sleeves under my shirt today at work!

Anyway, now that we have the small-talk out of the way, let’s hit the good stuff.  Last night at 180* (my church’s high school student ministry) we had our first night with our small groups.  After a long and tedious small-group draft, the rosters were set and we were ready to meet!  Last night was the 1st one and it was amazing!  I love my small group!  They are such a unique mix of people.  I’m very impressed by them all and can’t wait to spend more time with them.  This weekend we have the scavenger hunt which will rock and then in a few weeks we have Acquire the Fire which should be an awesome time.  I was told by “management” that I am definitely going to ATF.  I didn’t have a choice in the matter and know I won’t regret it one bit!

God’s been really teaching me a lot about my selfish tendencies.  I’m probably the king of selfishness.  I like my time, my things, and my life the way I want it.  Reading through Romans 11 this morning, Paul makes it clear that I, as a Gentile, was picked up and grafted into the tree, not that I have anything to boast about or to make any claim to.  I was picked up, put into the tree and that’s how I got there…which brought me to the conclusion that if I’m not attached to my own root or to my own tree, but to the Tree of the LORD, then all my desires, and all my selfish tendencies no longer have a place in my life at all as my life has now been grafted into Christ’s.  That’s gonna take a lot of work.  Please pray for me.

September 4, 2008 | Filed Under LIFE lessons, Life, grACE, scripture | 1 Comment 

We Have A Winner!!

I would like to first of all thank everyone who entered the Wild Goose Chase Giveaway contest.  It’s been awesome!  And now the moment we’ve all been waiting for…..

The winner of his/her very own copy of the new Mark Batterson book, Wild Goose Chase is…..

Jeremy Vale, Youth Pastor at the Wauconda Ev. Free Church!  Congrats Jeremy, you will receive your copy this week!!

Many blessings to you all,
brad

September 1, 2008 | Filed Under Uncategorized | 1 Comment 

It’s An Election Year, Part 2

Tonite is a very historic night.  Illinois (my home sweet home) Senator Barack Obama won and accepted the Democratic nomination on the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech.  We now have 1 candidate officially on the ballot and we’re awaiting who we know will become the Republican nominee, John McCain.  The immediate thoughts about the election is that it will be another close one.  No landslide this year.  I tend to agree with those sentiments.

For me, this is a very tough decision.  I generally swing left with my voting habits.  I’m more concerned by domestic issues and helping the poor which usually swings me left, however, I am a staunch Pro-Life’er, so you can see where it’s more difficult for me to just choose one or the other.  If I could make some super-candidate out of the 2 I would’ve.

But where does the Christ-follower line up?  Where do we put ourselves in all of this?  Personally, I stay out of the political arenas/circles and live by the idea that the Christ-followers are the ones that need to handle the poor, the hungry, the destitute, the widows, the orphans and so on, not because it’s just a “good” thing to do, it’s the call of the Believer.  It’s the mandate handed down by God himself.  I would much rather be part of a movement of Christ-followers that are working in unity to resolve the issues of poverty and famine.  I think that we have the resources and certainly the “answer” in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I don’t know, I really don’t even want to blog more about this because I know it’s such a sensitive thing there and I don’t want to stir up dissension.  I would rather challenge the Christ-followers out there to get involved in the conversation of intervention.  Let’s sponsor a child with Compassion, let’s give our time to the elderly, the orphaned, and the needy.  Let’s motivate one another and encourage one another to do these things.  Can we all do this??

Where are you guys at with politics?

August 28, 2008 | Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment 

Wild Goose Chase Giveaway! (contest details)

Hey everyone!  It’s finally here!  The Wild Goose Chase Giveaway Contest!  Recently, I was privileged enough to review Mark Batterson’s newest book, Wild Goose Chase.  It was phenomenal!  Be sure to read the review on www.iheartbrad.com.  What was just as phenomenal was that the publisher shipped me an extra copy of the book to giveaway as a prize on this blog.  So here we are!

What’s the Contest?
It’s simple!  Since the book is about chasing after the Holy Spirit and really pursuing God, just send me an email at giveaways@iheartbrad.com telling me your story and how you think this book will help you chase the goose!  The Contest winner will be announce on Labor Day, Monday, September 1st!  If you’re the winner, you will receive an email back with the details asking us where to mail the book, etc.   Good luck!

August 27, 2008 | Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment 

It’s An Election Year (re-processing a lot of things)

Well, 2008 is an election year.  That means that America will be pulling together to vote for a new President.  I’m not going to get on here and put together some major rant about which candidate is best and why.  I’m not going to get on here and railroad one of the guys over another or anything like that.  In fact, this election year, I’ve been thinking quite a bit about where I stand politically and how I am going to vote this year.  I’m not even sure I’ve formed a solid conclusion as of yet, but I wanted to get on here and process a few things and ask a few questions, either to myself or my readers.

Traditionally, I swing to the liberal side of politics.  I generally punch the ticket with the little donkey on it.  I’m not going to lie, I generally support the democratic party.  But lately, I’ve been having a hard time doing that.  Now, I’m not saying that I support the republicans either.  I’m just saying that I don’t think I line up with the democrats any more; I know for a FACT that I don’t line up with the republicans at all either.  So, who do I line up with?  Christ.  I want to be in line with Christ.  I want my views and my life to line up with Christ.  I want to make sound, God honoring decisions and positions regarding issues.  For a long time I’ve compromised things here and there to side one way or the other.  I don’t think I can do that any longer.  I’ve got a lot of thinking to do ahead of me.

August 27, 2008 | Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment 

Reproducing, by Troy McMahon

I found this on Troy McMahon’s blog.  Troy is the Senior Pastor at Restore Community Church in Kansas City, MO.  He and a team of people left the Chicagoland area several months ago and launched Restore CC back in March.  Restore has had a profound impact on the community around it and it’s been such a joy and a privilege to be able to keep up with what’s going on there through blogs and podcasts.  God is really doing a lot of amazing things there with the Church, the community, and the staff themselves!  It’s exciting.  Troy is someone I really look up to as a leader and I thought this blog post of his had some great points in it that should be shared.  Technically, I don’t have permission to reproduce this, so I hope he doesn’t mind.  I will ask him for sure, so no worries.  Enjoy:

Reproducing

This week I had the opportunity to speak to the launch team for the Lockport Campus of Parkview Christian Churchin Chicagoland.  This is an amazing church who are doing great things to reach people who are far from God.  They are passionate about reproducing their mission.

Last Sunday at Restore, I announced our plans to reproduce.  Beginning September 14th, Restore will launch its second Sunday morning Celebration service.  From a space perspective, we don’t need 2 services. So why should we do this and why is this the right time. Great question.

Our mission at Restore is

  1. Helping people find their way back to God.
  2. Mobilizing Christ Followers to change the world.
  3. Reproducing leaders, artists, and churches.

So as our staff prayed and talked together these past couple of months we discovered a few things.

  1. Some of our most dedicated contributors weren’t able to fully experience what it meant to be 3C Christ Followers.  Theses dedicated small group leaders in Kids’ City and Student Community have been contributing nearly every week since launch with no chance to celebrate together with the Restore family
  2. We also realized that God has brought us dozens of new people who need to find a place to contribute by using their time and talents.  Jon Ferguson, one of my friends and mentors, has always told me that for people to feel “a part of it” they need a relationship and a responsibility.
  3. The last thing we realized is that one of our mission statements is to reproduce and one of our values (spirit-led, missional, reproducing) is to reproduce, so we need to be about reproducing.

So beginning September 14th, Restore will have two services one at 9:30am and one at 11am.  Between now and then, we will be recruiting and developing new contributors and leaders to fill the expanded roles.

August 21, 2008 | Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment 

Wild Goose Chase, by Mark Batterson (a book review)

I was excited when I read on Mark’s blog that his publisher was looking for bloggers to review his upcoming book, Wild Goose Chase: Reclaim The Adventure of Pursuing God.  I immediately emailed the publisher and to my joy, I was one of the 100 bloggers chosen to review the book.  That aside, let’s get into the book itself; that’s why we’re here right?

From the first page to the last page, this book was something my soul had been needing.  Batterson does a great job of laying out the challenge of the call to follow God and what it means to pursue God’s desires for our lives.  The ever-elusive Wild Goose (termed from the Gaelic phrase used to describe the Holy Spirit) will take us into all the places we’ve never wanted to go–namely, out of our comfort zone.  Batterson discusses in great detail the things (”cages”) that keep us from fervently pursuing the “Wild Goose”.

What’s most impressive about Wild Goose Chase is that Batterson is constantly reminding us that we need to ENGAGE life and “play offense” as he puts it, when we’re pursuing The Wild Goose.  We can no longer wait around and hope that things will work out, but he challenges the reader to go and take action with faith that God is taking us the adventure of finding out who it is He made us to be.

This is a must read for anyone who is struggling to really seek out and find the will of God in their life.  I strongly recommend it for those of you who are in leadership.  Wild Goose Chase will inspire you to dream big dreams and chase those dreams with all you are!  It’s a wonderful book and I’ve already recommended it to my entire leadership team as a “Must Read”

Overall, Wild Goose Chase, by Mark Batterson receives a grade of A+.  A definite must read!

For more information on Mark Batterson, please visit his blog here, or for more information regarding Wild Goose Chase, visit the site, Chasing the Goose.

To purchase copies of Wild Goose Chase, click here and visit Amazon.com

August 18, 2008 | Filed Under Uncategorized | 2 Comments 

Wild Goose Chase

Tonite I will be posting my review of Mark Batterson’s newest book, Wild Goose Chase.  it’s been so amazing to have the opportunity to read this book before it’s hit the shelves.  Come back tomorrow as I will be posting the information for the Wild Goose Chase Contest.  This will be a chance for one lucky reader to get their very own copy of Wild Goose Chase for FREE!!

August 18, 2008 | Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment 

Oldie But A Goodie

I found this while backtracking through my 5 or so years blogging on Xanga.com.  I have been re-reading old posts and enjoying the nostalgia.  Thought I’d share one with you all…

January 8th, 2004

Wow, it’s pretty late. I’m sitting here thinking my life is in a very chaotic limbo. Let’s face it: jobless, clueless, poor, and mediocre. Those are the things going on in my mind right now. Just sitting here on my trusty leather couch thinking there may be no hope in life anymore. “Don’t lean on me now if you can’t afford your ticket…” David Bowie sings words of wisdom to our generation. And rock-n-roll. I realized one thing last week: If life fails for me (as it apparently is now), I could open a record-store.

While in Record Breakers last week, where I picked up the new Hey Mercedes, Jawbreaker’s Dear You, The Best of Bowie, and Watashi WA’s the Love of Life, I had a conversation with the owner. He’s a really cool guy who undoubtedly has seen the Ramones live and owns all of the Clash’s work on CD and Vinyl. Cool guy. We talked about how stupid fans caused the breakup of Jawbreaker upon the release of their last record, Dear You. Just for historical reference (for those of you who are not hip to indie), Jawbreaker’s Dear You has been considered one of the most monumental albums in the history of Indie Music. It’s influenced almost everything I listen to today that’s post 1995. That aside, I realized a few things.

(1) I’m a lot like the guy who owns Record Breakers: tragically hip, cool, and knows a crap-load about music history. It was fun to talk about Velvet Underground with him, as well as some of the local talents.

(2) That guy has a lot of fun doing what he does. At one point, he breaks into song singing along with Stevie Wonder–who can blame him, Wonder is so catchy! Damn that Stevie Wonder, he’s just so hot!

(3) That guy owns that record store because it’s the one thing in life he’s held on to. It’s possible to say that he has lost a wife or two to that store. It’s also possible that he’s lost a friend or two because he loves music. I love music.

Is opening a record store a copout for not doing anything substantial with your life? Would that be something I could do cause it would be “safe”? I hope not. Although, I wouldn’t mind owning a record store, I think what I really want to do in life is grow up. I’m tired of being a kid. I need to be a man now. Or else it’s back to Suffragette City! Thank you again Mr. Bowie.

Ok my bed’s quite close and I need to sleep soon. I have a busy day tomorrow….wish I was getting paid for that.

August 15, 2008 | Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment 

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