madmenI just finished season two of Mad Men on Netflix. Whatever your feelings are towards the show, I find it better than reality TV. Each episode I watch, I’m reminded of how America and the world has changed. A couple episodes ago, the Draper family was enjoying a nice family picnic at the park. When they finished and decided to leave, they just dusted off the blanket and left all of their trash on the grass. It shocked me and I was like, “WOW–THEY JUST LITTERED! I would never do that!” The same goes for the countless efforts to find happiness in affairs and office politics. Smoking/drinking while pregnant, women in underwear being considered “hard porn,” and the obsession with power all strike me as from another world.

After finishing two seasons, I will say that I’ve learned a couple things from Don Draper and the Mad Men crew. Continue Reading…

When I was in youth ministry, I was responsible for preaching every week. That requirement (and passion) didn’t lend itself to visiting others churches often. The majority of sermons that I heard were my own, our senior pastor on Saturday night, and anything I downloaded. My perspective was limited.

Now that we are church planting, we’re taking advantage of being able to attend church while we prepare to launch. It’s fantastic although I can’t wait until we start having regular services and I can get back into the pulpit.

One of the observations that I’ve noticed is that a lot of pastors preach for an hour or more! Don’t get me wrong, I love a good sermon just like anyone reading this blog, but an hour is so far removed from my previous experience it’s shocking. When I was preaching every week, we only had 20-25 minutes set aside in the service for me to preach. A long sermon might have been 30-35 minutes but never an hour (or more.)  Continue Reading…


Workshop 1: (Artie Davis-The Sticks) 

The Word of God tells you what to do. The voice of God tells you how to do it.

Everyone needs a “Now how?” Just because you did it one way years ago, doesn’t mean that method will work today.

The main question: Is your church CRAVEABLE?  Continue Reading…