Category: General

Christmas Books

I always get books for Christmas from my Mom, and this year was no different.  So, my latest additions are:

They Like Jesus...Leviticus

I’ve already started reading Dan Kimball’s book (I read his online chapter awhile back), and I really like his emphasis on getting outside of the office and living missionally as a pastor.  The other book, a commentary on Leviticus, is more of a reference work for leading bible studies, answering questions, and preaching.  I also got a gift certificate to Amazon.com, so I’ll be getting a nice assortment of books in a few weeks, including my books for my January D.Min. class.  2008 should be a good year for reading!

Thinking About Changing the Blog…

The blog has been taking off far more than I realized when I fist began, and I’m at the point I need to make a few decisions. Even though I blogged semi-anonymously at first, now I can’t even force myself to pretend that is the case. I’m beginning to think about switching to WordPress.org (the more advanced version of WordPress) or Typepad, but I’m concerned about the costs of using a webhost service. We’ll see what happens. Advice from you more experienced bloggers would be welcome!

For now, I’ve decided I’m just going to play with the template and see if that satisfies my need for change! haha Let me know what you think!

Thinking About Changing the Blog…

The blog has been taking off far more than I realized when I fist began, and I’m at the point I need to make a few decisions. Even though I blogged semi-anonymously at first, now I can’t even force myself to pretend that is the case. I’m beginning to think about switching to WordPress.org (the more advanced version of WordPress) or Typepad, but I’m concerned about the costs of using a webhost service. We’ll see what happens. Advice from you more experienced bloggers would be welcome!

For now, I’ve decided I’m just going to play with the template and see if that satisfies my need for change! haha Let me know what you think!

Backyard Wildlife

I was playing in the backyard with my son, and saw these two incredible butterflies. Fortunately, they stayed around long enough for me to get my camera out and snap away. I was so impressed with how some of them turned out.

Backyard ButterflyBackyard Butterly IIBackyard Butterfly III

Found out with a little searching that these are Agraulis vanillae more commonly known as the Gulf Fritillary.

Backyard Butterfly IVBackyard Butterfly VBackyard Butterfly VI

She Really Knows the Bible

Big BibleHave you heard statements like this before: “I just love my pastor, she really knows the bible.” Well, I have, and I wonder what this means. Does it mean you can quote lots of scripture to prove your point? Does it mean you are a quality exegete? Does it mean you can talk for hours on theories of Pauline authorship? Maybe it means you’ve memorized lots of Scripture.

What would it take for you to say your pastor “really knows the bible?”

Conference Expectations & Statistics

I’m finishing up my year end reports for the conference. Each year we enter our statistics online, which is great. However, there is one aspect of this that I do not like. If your church shows a 25% or greater increase in any category you have to offer a written explanation for that increase. Don’t you think that says a lot about our conference expectations? Shouldn’t we have to provide an explanation if we show another year of no changes? Maybe I’m just being picky. Anyway, it’s great to have this paperwork done for another year!