Two Statements

We are starting a new sermon series this weekend called Prison in which we will walk through the book of Philippians. As I study, I'm struck by the fact that Paul had great awareness of and confidence in what his life was about-- and that enabled him to live beyond his circumstances and beyond the walls of his prison cell. In the first chapter alone, he states with no hesitation or reservation that his life is about the Gospel and that he doesn't fear death because God will be glorified regardless of whether he lives or dies. As he reflected on his life, he could complete the following sentences:

My life is about...

I do not fear death because...

When we know how to complete those two statements ourselves, we can experience life the way God created us to live it.

Celebrate God

I love how Philippians 4:4 reads in the Message translation:

"Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in Him."

Love it.

Life Accomplishments List

This is brilliant. Why haven't I ever done this before? In the midst of all of my goal setting lists, stop doing lists, semester growth plans, etc., I have never stopped to record what I've already experienced. Bekah Kitterman (whose list at 24 reads like some peoples' life goals lists) calls hers a catchy "Been There, Done That" list. I can't use that phrase because it carries a negative connotation to me-- like-- I'm never going there again. "Life Accomplishments" sounds too sterile and formal, but I can't come up with a better word right now. I'm thinking. If you have any ideas, let me know.

Throughout the Bible, God instructs his followers to erect monuments and establish holidays to remember and celebrate His hand in their lives. What good does it really do us to have goals when we don't celebrate what's already happened? Life goals are not simply about boxes to be checked off but about prayers that have been answered. And for that we need to give thanks. Writing a Life Accomplishments list is similar to what God's people did in the Old Testament-- building a monument to remember and celebrate the hand of God in our lives.

The altars and the celebrations of the Bible also reminded the people of who they were in God. The rites of passage of Hebrew children taught them to celebrate who God had created them to be. Writing a Life Accomplishments list brought to the forefront of my mind some areas of my life that I have neglected and need to re-engage because it's part of who God created me to be. Some new life goals emerged for me from my Life Accomplishments List.

Santa Claus, Fairy Tales, and God

This is an excellent article:

Okay, Virginia, There's No Santa Claus. But There is God.

It includes some fantastic Chesterton quotes:

"I had always believed that the world involved magic: now I thought that perhaps it involved a magician."

"I left the fairy tales lying on the floor of the nursery, and I have not found any books so sensible since."

Blog Review 2008

I just spent the last couple of hours reading through my 2008 blog posts. It's not a complete journal for me, but it does give me a snapshot of the major events and guiding ideas for the year, and it's helpful as I set goals for 2o09.

Here of my top 10 favorite posts, in no particular order:

Modulus of Elasticity

Running the Bleachers

Control Issues

Newfoundland Day 5

Lab Reports, Journaling, and Seeing God

Color Outside the Lines

Coefficient of Friction and Spiritual Disciplines

Christmas List

Annual Leadership Retreat: Forceful Advance

Henson Exhibit

Blogs I Read: Steve's Stuff

I first heard about Steve Corn many many moons ago from family friend and mentor, Mike Mathews. At that time, Steve was serving as his youth pastor, and Mike was impressed with his creativity and desire to help others grow in Christ. Several years later, Steve married Mike's daughter and my childhood friend, Miranda. Even though I've only had the opportunity to talk to Steve face to face a couple of times, I feel like we are family. Plus, we are both Stryper fans. That's awesome.

Steve is a husband, a dad, a songwriter, a worship leader, a youth pastor, a disciple-maker, an innovator, and a passionate Christ-follower, and all of those dimensions of his life show up on his blog, Steve's Stuff. Reading Steve's blog reminds me of reading Mark Batterson's blog about five years ago-- you know the guy has a book inside of him just waiting to spring out and you are getting the opportunity to read the rough drafts in blog form. Some of my favorite recent posts include Consistently Emmanuel, Fresh Perspective and Barbaric Yawps, and Noticing.

Steve is also a contributor to Small Group Exchange. Check out his articles here.

I read Steve's blog, and you should, too.

Fifty Focus

On December 31, I'm starting 50 Days of Focus. I know, cheesy, huh? Usually, I do goal setting in two phases each year- one annual goal set at the beginning of the year and a more detailed goal set at the beginning of each semester. Unfortunately, as I think about the spring semester, I start getting overwhelmed, so I thought biting off 50 days at the beginning of the year might be a bit easier to think through. And 50 days takes me to the departure date for our Northern Ireland trip.

The 50 days will focus less on big life goals and more on areas of my life that just need to get a major recalibration. I need to set some new boundaries, re-engage some old disciplines, and re-establish some priorities.

I always teach my small group leaders to set SMART goals- specific, measurable, achievable, require faith, and time-related. The "achievable" and "require faith" establish a healthy tension to encourage us to set goals that stretch us but don't frustrate us to the point of quitting. But I think my goals may have been a bit too SMART for my own good recently-- a little too achievable and not enough faith required. I think I need to change up that acronym and set some Stupid, Mind-blowing, A**-kicking (my apologies to readers Mom and Patti), require more faith than I have right now, and time-related (I'll keep that last one).

I've got three big categories: devotional, physical, and personal.

The devotional category consists of some spiritual disciplines that need to be re-established or re-imagined in my life. Prayers I need to pray, worship that needs to be given, parts of the Bible that need to be read. Some might call this category "spiritual," but I think all the categories relate to my spiritual life. The physical category consists of some changes I need to make in how I live. After two full weeks of Christmas eating, I'm feeling it. The personal category consists of some things that just need to get done around the house, people I need to hang out with more, and some life goals that I just need to do.

I'll spend tomorrow determining what things will fit into these categories for the last day of 2008 and the first 49 days of 2009.

More Christmas in Mobile

It's great being in Mobile for Christmas. Ryan and I went Christmas caroling with some friends from my old church last night. And we laughed until we hurt until late in the night.

If you are ever in Mobile, make sure to drop into the Dew Drop Inn. Keep it simple and order the Dew Drop hot dog or the Dew Drop cheeseburger. And top it off with the banana pudding. We saw half of the Hayes family there. On your way home, stop at Old Dutch for some ice cream. We skipped it this time because we have so many pies at home, but it was tempting.

Later tonight, we dropped by the local Christian bookstore to get a little work done and ran into one of my oldest friends and favorite artists, Jan Horton. She is primarily a children's portrait photographer and muralist. Check out her stuff. Jan and I have been trying to connect all week, but the Christmas Fates ignored our calendars and pushed us together. It was awesome to catch up.

Now, I've pulled on the snowflake flannel pants and ready to settle down. I'll spend the remainder of the night overseeing the shooting up of the turkey, watching Christmas movies, and tracking Santa's progress.

Mars Hill, Keyboards, and Gingerbread Houses

Ryan and I are having a blast in Mobile. On Sunday morning, we checked out the People of Mars Hill. It's an awesome church started by old youth group buddies Jack Hester and Chris Estis. Their church is a bit like our Ebenezers model. During the weekday, it's a first class, fully operational lunch cafe. On the weekends, it's the gathering of believers. What I find most fascinating about this church is that Jack preached through the book of Leviticus for a year and a half...and the church grew. Ryan and I ate lunch at the cafe yesterday-great ambiance, great food, free wi-fi. And the mission of the cafe is to end poverty in the Mobile community. Love it!

On Sunday night, Ryan and I joined my parents at my old church, Dauphin Way Baptist, for Keyboards at Christmas. This amazing event featured 4 grand pianos, one pipe organ, and 14 sets of hands for a celebration of Christmas music. They've been doing it for 19 years, and I remember being at the first one! Amazing. Afterwards, we joined the Stubblefield family (Dad Stubblefield was one of the featured performers) for some Cracker Barrel. Gotta love having a Cracker Barrel so close! We thought about getting Chris Jarrell some apple butter. :)

Last night, Ryan and I decided we need to make a Gingerbread House. The picture at the top of this post was the result. Today...gotta finish up the Christmas shopping and maybe a little neighborhood caroling! Good times!

Blogs I Read: Josh Karrer

Today's post is going to focus on church planter extraordinaire Josh Karrer. Josh and Beth served on staff at National Community Church for a few years and Josh became our church-planter-in-residence. It was with a mixture of joy and sadness that we kicked them down to the Richmond area to start their own church, Crossings. Ryan and I had the privilege of hanging out with them last summer, and it was awesome to see the amazing people that God has brought into their church.

I'm most impressed with the way that Josh is willing to experiment. I honestly believe the greatest creativity is not coming out of places like Willow Creek and Life Church-- as much as I love those places-- I believe it is coming out of small church planters who are willing to risk more because they don't have as much to lose...though actually, they have everything to lose!

Josh sponsored a Screen on the Green that reached more people weekly than the average weekly attendance of his chuch. He is also a Chipotle Burrito Ambassador. Josh regularly posts about sermon series ideas, including Christmas, Refocused Recession, and (my personal favorite) Seven Deadly Sins.

I also love the way this church celebrates. Check out their birthday celebration and their volunteer appreciation.

The blog is also sprinkled with Josh's thoughts on personal growth and church growth. He is constantly learning and growing, and it's fun to learn with him.

I read Josh's blog, and you should, too.

Messiah

Hypothesis: the music of heaven will sound more like Handel's Messiah than Hillsong United.

Discuss.

My list of Christmas activities includes Handel's Messiah. There are many ways to experience it-- the updated, hip and rockin' versions, the sing-along varieties,the 300-voice youth choir Christmas programs, etc. My favorite was Messiah at the National Cathedral, but this year's experience might offer some competition to the Catheral.

On Friday night, Ryan and I caught Messiah at the Kennedy Center, complete with the most energetic and animated conductor I have ever seen (think Bug Bunny as Leopold...but worse) and a countertenor that sent people scrambling for their programs for confirmation when his voice soared through the concert hall. The Master Chorale of DC was incredible. And I worshiped.

My mom introduced sections of Messiah to me at a young age, so it has been a part of my Christmas experience for as long as I can remember. When the Young Messiah hit the shelves about twenty years ago, I was initially appalled at the idea of bringing drums and electric guitars into the orchestration. Until I started learning more about George Frideric Handel. Most relevantly, about how he would alter the music to fit the performers and would encourage the performers to embellish the score and make it "their own." Meaning that every performance of Messiah was unique. So I think Handel would probably love how people are re-imagining and re-interpreting his work today. (Ryan just said, "They made it suitable for Christians who can't stomach high art"- ouch. I'm not going to touch that one).

I also love the fact that he confronted controversy during the first performance of Messiah since sacred works were typically reserved for church environments. He took Messiah into a public venue and contributed the proceeds from the first performance to charity. I also love the text painting in the score. This guy was creative, innovative, and I like him.

I'm not sure what the music of heaven will sound like. Maybe there will be lots of different types of music because there are lots of different types of people and we are all created to worship God uniquely. I just know that I want to be in the same corner of heaven where Handel is writing the music.

Blogs I Read: Paint Pants

The next blog I want to introduce you to is, well, quirky. It's not authored by a member of my team, an innovative church planter, or a daydreaming discipleship director. The genius behind this blog is a Christ-follower who is desperate to love Jesus, love others like He does, and live life intentionally.

Bekah Kitterman, also known as Paint Pants (which is for real...I have seen the paint on the pants) is a artist, musician, crafter, friend, wife, student of life, etc. There's not really a neat category for her, which I'm sure makes her happy since "Individuality" registers high on her Strengthfinder profile.

I started reading Paint Pants because it was a friend blog-- a way for me to keep up with the comings and goings of those in the personal sphere of my life. But soon, the musings became just as important to me as the comings and goings as I found myself challenged and inspired to tap into the creative spaces of life.

Where else, for example, can you read about Imaginari and Juxtaposynthesis? I also liked Talk of Many Things. And talk she does. It's kinda rambly, but you will find your soul and imagination on a wild ride. Soon, Bekah will be blogging from London, and I look forward to seeing what comes out of that experience.

I read Paint Pants, and you should, too.

Everything I've Eaten

This has been a ridiculous week...food all the time...it's going to come back to haunt me. Here are the haunts--

Ghost of Christmas Food Past (i.e., what I ate last week)
Friday Night- Holiday party at US Chamber of Commerce
Saturday Night- Good Stuff with the McCrawfords and Kittermans
Sunday Night- Nick's Riverside Grille with the NCC Staff
Monday Night- Chop't with my adorable husband after Polar Express
Tuesday Night- Zaytinya with the Zone Leaders
Wednesday Night- Ruth's Chris with the SAPs
Thursday Night- Melting Pot with the Kittermans
Friday Lunch- IKEA...yes, IKEA with the Beek (do you see how many times the Kittermans show up on here? I'm blaming it on them)

Ghost of Christmas Food Present (i.e., what I'm eating today)
Chicken salad for lunch
BBQ for dinner

Ghost of Christmas Food Yet to Come (i.e., what I'll be eating the rest of the week)
Outback Steak
Bacon Cheese Ring
Fried Turkey
Assorted pies, cakes, and candies
Macaroni and Cheese
Buffalo Wings
More BBQ

I don't know why I think anyone would care about this...but I'm in the South and food is what we care about!

Tired Supergirl Confessions

I am so excited about a new book, All I Need is Jesus and a Good Pair of Jeans: The Tired Supergirl's Search for Grace.

It's written by Sue Aughtmon, a former NCCer, who is now in California planting a church with her husband, Scott. Sue's blog is absolutely hilarious and worth a read, as well.

The book releases on January 1, 2009, and amazon is taking orders now. Check it out!

Blogs I Read: Mind Muse

I read Mind Muse because Will Johnston is a cross-pollinator. And I love cross-pollinators. Will recently left a career on Capitol Hill to enter the Protege Program at National Community Church. Pray for him (and his wonderful wife Rachel) because the poor kid got stuck in my department.

Mind Muse is a masterful blend of Will's interests and skills-- relationships and community, technology, politics, theology, creativity and lots of other stuff. The blog is also something of a personal journal, as he records in ridiculous detail content from conference sessions he has attended, books he is reading, and assignments he is completing. I appreciate the way he uses his blog to engage in conversation and debate-- check out his post in response to Ed Stetzer's comments on Twitter.

Will is a creative initiator, and we are so thrilled to have on our team. And by the way, he is going to Ethiopia in March and is raising funds for that. Consider supporting the guy. I know what our Proteges make, and it's not much. Okay, it's nothing.

I read Will's blog, and you should, too.

Question-Based Discipleship

Ideation appears as one of my top 5 in the Strengthfinder inventory, and that means ideas tend to hit me at weird times, like when I'm making the turn from 3rd Street to E Street looking for a parking spot. I decided at that moment what my Leadership Retreat breakout will be this year, Greater Depth: Questions That Transform.

I'm convinced that discipleship often boils down to the questions we ask more than the answers we give. I've never researched it, but I'd love to know the percentage of Scripture devoted to Jesus' questions vs. Jesus' teaching. I bet the percentage looks a lot different from the amount of time the typical pastor engages in both of those activities.

• Who you say that I am?
• What do you want me to do?
• What are you thinking in your hearts?
• Do you believe I can do this?
• Why are you terrified?

Those are some of the questions Jesus asked, and they transformed the lives of the people that he asked. How would we answer them today? And how can we incorporate questions like this into our day-to-day conversations with people? What if we moved away from a classroom or coursework approach to discipleship and viewed every conversation as an opportunity for discipleship?

Blogs I Read: Justice Tabernacle

Want to be challenged? Head over to the Justice Tabernacle and brace yourself for John Hasler. My first memories of John are pretty clear. When I gave him permission to lead his first NCC small group (and our first small group on Social Justice), I thought, "This is risky. This will turn out to be the worst thing we've ever done. Or it will be awesome."

I'm so glad we took the risk. Because it was awesome. And John is now my partner in crime on staff at NCC. Together (and with Protege Will Johnston) we form Team D.

John and I are about as different as night and day, but we share a passion for building community and finding and embracing the heart of God for the world around us. Check out his most recent post--the block party his house hosted for Christmas. So good.

I read John's blog, and you should, too.

Blogs I Read That You Should Read, Too

There are a number of blogs that I love to read that you should read, as well. We all know about the big ones-- Mark Batterson, the guys from Lifechurch.tv, Perry Noble, Steven Furtick, Tony Morgan, Tim Stevens, etc. I love those guys, and I read them, as well. But there are some other folks who really inspire me and in many ways challenge me and help me in my ministry more than the heavy hitters. They are the people who are quietly and tenaciously changing the Kingdom of God. They include people like:

John Hasler- Justice Tabernacle
Will Johnston- Mind Muse
Bekah Kitterman- Paint Pants
Josh Karrer- Josh Karrer
Steve Corn- U-Turn

I'll post more in the next few days about why I love these people and why you should, as well.

Wild Goose Chase- Coming to a Small Group Near You

Today is December 15, which means the bulk of the new Wild Goose Chase small group curriculum will be completed. Like Chase the Lion, the upcoming Chase the Goose will be published by the good people at Lifeway's very awesome Threads division, and it will include group member workbooks and a leader kit containing group facilitation resources, leader research materials, and creative ideas for groups. The workbooks will focus on the same topics as Mark Batterson's best-selling book, Wild Goose Chase, but it will feature new content.

For discounted copied of the original book Wild Goose Chase, email us. For the small group curriculum, stay tuned!

Mobile Christmas

It's been three years since I've been home to Mobile for Christmas, and I cannot wait! Here are a few things I'm looking forward to:

• Fried turkey.
• Bacon cheese ring (HINT HINT, Mom)
  
• Seeing old friends at Dauphin Way Baptist Church.
• Checking out the Luke 4:18 Fellowship, People of Mars Hill, or any other cool churches we can squeeze it. (Yeah, I can't really seem to get away from church world even on vacation).
• Getting caffeine at Carpe Diem.
  
• Watching funny movies.
• Seeing the Mathews, the Fishers, and whoever else we can convince to hang out.
• Watching the magical world of Facebook bring us together with friends we haven't seen in a decade.
  
• Playing games.
  
• Eating lots of really great food that is really bad for you.
  
• Teaching my niece to walk (c'mon, Ruthie, you can do it this time!)
• Watching football. Playing football. Or just thinking about playing football.
  
• Eating at Wings, Ritchie's, Los Rancheros, and about a dozen other places...

I'm sure I'll think of more stuff.

The Christmas List

In no particular order, thirty Christmas experiences that I believe every person should have at least once.

1. See The Messiah live.
2. Participate in a live nativity.
3. Get your picture taken with Santa Claus as an adult.
4. Read the Christmas story as a family.
5. Go to a multi-hundred-voice, over-produced spectacular Christmas production at your local Baptist mega-church.
6. Participate in a multi-hundred-voice, over-produced spectacular Christmas production at your local Baptist mega-church.
7. Attend a carols by candlelight service.
8. Make a pilgrimage to the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.
9. Leave out cookies for Santa Claus.
10. Eat the cookies left for Santa Claus.
11. Go Christmas caroling in your neighborhood or at the nursing home.
    
12. Wear a really ugly Christmas sweater.
13. Listen to someone yodel through Silent Night (I witnessed this at a Lutheran church in Oregon last Christmas...I am not kidding you! I saw "yodeler" listed in the program and started laughing. I was not disappointed).
14. See Polar Express in IMAX 3D.
15. Watch A Christmas Story 5 times back-to-back on TBS.
16. String popcorn, cheerios, fruit loops, etc. Eat more than you string.
17. Make a gingerbread house.
18. Pack a shoebox for Samaritans Purse Christmas child.
19. Send a letter to Santa.
20. Watch A Charlie Brown Christmas (this one should happen every Christmas)
21. Cut down your own tree after at least 2 hours of deliberation. Preferably a Charlie Brown tree.
    
22. Give a gift to your post officer and trash collector.
23. Go shopping on Christmas Eve.
    
24. Finish your Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving.
    
25. Give the gift of time to someone who really needs it.
    
26. Kiss someone under the mistletoe.
27. Fry the turkey.
28. Play football with your family after eating the fried turkey.
    
29. Decorate your house with something really outrageous and embarrassing.
    
30. Read a bunch of children's Christmas books with friends.
    

What did I miss? What do you recommend?

Bummer

Why is the failure of others so funny?

Jerusalem in the Mail

Three years ago, I went to Jerusalem on a pilgrimage with 6 other clergy from various denominations. The purpose-- to determine if we could lay aside our theological and methodological differences and find common ground in our pursuit of Jesus Christ. It was one of the most transformational experiences of my life.

While on the trip, a film crew followed us and collected over 90 hours of footage and interviews for the purpose of potentially creating a documentary. I just received an email from the producer today to let us know a rough cut is in the mail to each of us.

There's still a long way to go...final editing, negotiations with distribution companies, etc. But we'll be able to see it close to final form. I'm simultaneously looking forward to and nervous about watching it. And trying to figure out whether I want to watch the DVD initially by myself or with friends.

You can check out the trailer here.

Christmas on the iPod- Winter Kirk

I love Christmas music. Since I won't allow myself to listen to it before Thanksgiving, there is a ritual roll-out of the Christmas tunes over Thanksgiving weekend.

Here's one I'll put on your radar screen; it's likely the best Christmas recording you've never heard of. Winter Kirk by Smithfield Fair. This Baton Rouge-based Celtic ensemble has been a favorite since I first heard them perform at the Student Union at Louisiana State University in the mid-90's.

Winter Kirk is a collection of sacred songs that they have performed at the Kirking of the Tartans, Christmas services, and other religious holidays. The song "Lord of the Highlands," written by Dudley-Brian Smith, is one of my favorites (listening to it now!).

I would travel long miles to see these good folks perform, and I'm so glad I can carry them around with me on my iPod. Get it here.

Lunch, Circus Dogs, and Friends

Alright, so a little before noon, I hit a wall mentally and physically. So I decided to stop writing and take a short nap on the couch. The next thing I know, Sarah Owen and Bekah Kitterman show up on my porch. Sarah comes in and immediately starts making lunch for everyone, as Bekah snarkily comments on the pitiful plate of cheese and crackers I have half-eaten. Then, Bekah brings in four dogs who know circus tricks. They do a couple flips and then run out the door. While feeling slightly disoriented and a little confused at Sarah's almost supernatural knowledge of the whereabouts of stuff in my cabinets and kitchen, I slowly realize that Bekah and Sarah have come to ensure that I finish my writing assignments for the day.

At that point, I jumped off the couch...and everything disappeared. What a crazy dream! It's awesome to have friends who can extend their butt kicking even to your dreams!

Next thing you know, the Hungry Mothers will be over here with heavy snacks or the McGowan will be over composing love notes.

Willow Group Life: West Coast

Looks like I'm heading to California in January for the Willow Group Life Conference: West Coast. I'm excited about re-connecting with some old and new friends, learning from some of the most innovative thinkers in small group ministry, and going to Disneyland. Yes, Disneyland. And who doesn't want to be in California in January?

If you are on the west coast, come out and join us. I'll be doing a breakout session, Everything is an Experiment: Creative Community for Emerging Generations. We probably won't blow anything up or illuminate any pickles like we did in Chicago in October, but it will still be fun.

Register here.

Writing

Monday is my day off, and today I will be spending it typing my fingers to the bone on a writing project. I've got one week until my first deadline. Yikes!

Luckily, I woke up excited about writing today. It's so hard to get into a groove when I'm just not feeling it. Hope to knock out a couple chapters today.

Great Weekend

Wow. What an awesome and packed weekend. Here's the rundown:

Continued our "Gift" series at our weekend services. Talked about the gift of peace. Tough topic for me and definitely stretched me as a communicator. I wasn't feeling the flow of it at all on Saturday night, but I really enjoyed it today. I'll post some additional thoughts later.

Met Stovall Weems, pastor of Celebration Church in Jacksonville, FL and David Stine of DC Metro Church here in DC. Great LSU connections. Stovall was a legend on the LSU campus, and I was really excited to finally connect with him face to face.

Bid "good riddance" to Ian and Bekah Kitterman at our official Good Riddance Party on Saturday night. So cool to see the lives they have touched in the short time they've been here in DC. We are kicking them out of the country in a month so Ian can pursue his last semester of law school in London and Bekah can dream up the next few years of her life. I'm super proud of them.

Northern Ireland Team meeting today. Wow!! This is going to be an awesome super dooper trip. Did I just say "super dooper?" Oh well. Our team is solid and I'm really excited about meeting up with the guys at Cornerstone City Fellowship.

Kingstowne Launch Team Informational meeting tonight at Uno's Kingstowne. WOW!!! NCC is launching it's 5th location on February 8, and over 60 people came out tonight to be a part of this awesome new team. Great job, Pastor Chris.

I can't believe I get to do what I get to do. I'm so thankful for my amazing job, incredible friends, and the blessing of doing life and ministry with people you love.

The Evil Empire of Twitter

At one point, I was faithful in blogging every single day. Now, I have a new addiction. Twitter. It's just so easy. 140 characters. Done.

But it's a pathetic excuse for journaling.

So, in 140 characters or less, here's my last week...

Awesome Thanksgiving with family and friends. Caught the Opry, enjoyed a breakfast sandwich and Pink Poodle at Fido (YUM), ate some catfish and fried dill pickles, devoured a pulled pork spud at Corky's, played tour guide, bagged some Christie Cookies, laughed and told stories, watched my two teams get demolished, played with Baby Ruthie...

I'm already over 140 characters, so I'll just keep going.

Had a great time hanging out with zone leaders last night and the women of the Georgetown Women's Bible Study this morning.

Tonight, I'm heading over to G-town University to hang out with one of their women's Bible study groups. They've asked me to address the topic of women in ministry leadership. Whew.

Alright, enough with the narcissistic 140-character updates and back to life...