Explosions and Marriages

I was a little freaked out today when my roomate called from Atlanta and asked me if our apartment blew up. I came to find out there was a gas explosion in downtown dallas about 10 minutes down Elm Street from my apartment. (my place is fine) As I was on cnn.com trying to see if I still had a home, I noticed that most of the headlines in the news seemed to center around celebrities doing blow and cheating on their spouses. I looked around the sight and saw that most of the focus of the american public seems to be on celebrities and their relationships. Maybe if we payed as much attention to our marriages as we did to Tom Cruises' the landscape of the American family would be a little different. Rant over, llamas are funny.

Murray Street Coffee

My routine is a big part of my day. My life works better when I follow some sort of routine and things are organized-whether those two things are happening or not is usually a pretty good barometer of how i'm doing spiritually. Anways, recently I've added a significant piece to that routine-My coffee addiction is now fed by the amazing people at Murray Street Coffee in deep ellum. This place is amazing and embodies what it takes to succeed at anything. It has the following going for it:

1.) It's close to my apartment (i live about 6 blocks north)

2.) It's unique/not a chain (the people who own it live locally and pour their souls into this place)

3.)They serve illy's coffee (they produce a quality product)

4.) The atmosphere inside (great interior-makes me want to stay there)

This place drips of excellence in everything they do, from how they serve the customer, to the look and feel of their space, to how plugged in they are to their surrounding community, they do the impossible daily-make me look foward to waking up so I can stop by, soak in the atmosphere and get some illys and a danish.

Murray Street Coffee

Lay Down Your Weapons Boy

I've been listening to what has become my favorite band alot recently. They're called the daylights, and i first heard them when I was a summer intern at Riverbend Church in Austin. They're out of LA and are gaining a ton of momentum. Anyways, i'm stuck on they're track "weapons" right now. The chorus goes:

lay down, lay down your weapons boy

right now right now, you're gonna change the world

I think this speaks to me beacuse it reveals something i struggle with alot. I've always been an agressive guy-i like collision sports, violent movies and explosions. I also like to fight. It sounds weird, but if there is something i feel is wrong, or i disagree with i default to search and destroy, usually verbally and not physically, but still--if i feel like someone is coming after me or something i believe in i want to jack them up. And that is completely opposed to what Jesus called me to. We can't effect change in our culture when we're fighting (eachother or the culture itself) I'm very guilty of mocking christian subculture (even when it earns it) and it's counter productive. It's like football players hitting guys on their own team. Anyways, before I really start to make a difference I need to lay down all my weapons and love people. Great song, can't wait for the cd to come out. Show the daylights some love--

http://www.myspace.com/thedaylights

Coffee and Jesus

Our Church [attempts] to provide starbucks' coffee every sunday for our attenders. We average about 1500 people a weekend (this fluctuates up some and a little down some) and I only mention the attendance to present a frame of reference for exactly how much coffee we're talking about here. We have a starbucks system that will crank out two gallons in six minutes, and be ready to go again in 4. However, we have had a huge problem keeping up with demand. We run out of coffee before everyone who wants a cup gets one. It's a huge enhancement of our church's first impression to have coffee, but it would be better to not have it all than have an empty shuttle frustrating people. Excellence lies in the details. As we look to improve this function of the church, making the details work will increase the quality of the experience we provide for people. Any ideas?

also, we are going through a series on identity at FBCN right now-and Drew is doing an awesome job. along those lines, i got this link from Tony Morgan's Blog on personality. Here are my results-give it a try, who are you?

http://www.personaldna.com/report.php?k=EbsyOlelmyCEyOr-DM-ADDED-12a1&u=9ebd5e83279b

Creating Impact

It's been awhile since I've posted (finals), but i made it through them, and even passed Greek. The adult team from fellowship got back from the Buzz conference in DC last week, and it was impacting to say the least. The conference struck me in that it was so much more than here is a list of things to do to make your church big, and delved into the mindset and motivation behind minsitry and the church's relationship to culture. I began to think about what I want my ministry to be charcterized by. I kept coming back to the word impact. I want what I do to change my surroundings, have a lasting effect. The "why" of these things that impacted me came down to the same few characteristics: Quality, Creativity and Authenticity. Three things invaluable to anything we do in life. Speaking of things that effect my life, here's a picture of my girfriend kayleigh and myself on her birthday. (I know, i don't know what she's doing with me either)