There has been a lot of discussion on this journey that our church will be taking with other churches around the world. For 21 days, we will join the movement of God’s people fasting and praying together. As we start off this new year, we are reminded that we need to depend on God for […]
Lessons from a Life-Long Soccer Player
This past Christmas, our family and extended family all gathered together at my cousin’s place. I think their house was the only one big enough to hold all of us together. It was a great time of reconnecting with everyone, as well as enjoying a great home cooked meal – they always go all out. […]
New Year Goals
I have always been a firm believer in goals. The infamous quote, “Aim at nothing and you will hit it every time” always proves to be true time and time again. It’s amazing how a person who comes up with goals, writes it down, and takes steps to actualize it is the one that makes […]
The 2008 Year Reflection
As I take some time to reflect on this past year, my heart is filled with praise for God’s faithfulness and favor. I had an opportunity to look over all my blog post for the 2008 year and I realized that God has been good. So often when we don’t write things down, we forget […]
Awakening: 21 Days of Fasting and Prayer
For several months, the pastoral staff and I have been talking about the need for more prayer in our lives, as well as in our churches. Sometimes we are so consumed with coming up with the next “best thing” or the next “great idea” that we forget some of the basics. […]
Leaders Make Tough Choices
AP Photo I enjoy seeing leadership principles being lived out a daily basis. I am constantly seeing how various situations and even news-worthy events show leadership principles in action. This is why I decide to write on the recent news about President-elect Obama choosing Pastor Rick Warren to give the invocation […]
Apple and Leadership
Getty Photo To set the record straight – “I am NOT an Apple hater!” In fact, I used an Apple (Macintosh) when I was in college (I had a Macintosh SE) and in seminary I used a Powerbook 520. I just prefer a PC now. I give all these disclaimers because […]
Ministry According to Will Smith
USA Today Photo I enjoy watching movies, especially with Christina. Some of my favorite actors are in the likings of De Niro and Pacino. But more recently, I have been slowly enjoying Will Smith (I still can’t believe he was The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air). For the promotion of his new […]
The Twitter Sensation
I am amazed at how quickly Twitter is taking over the communication world. For a lot of people, it is like a micro blog. The beauty of Twitter is that it only gives you 140 characters to type a message or an update. This disciplines you to share only what is […]
A Woman’s Perspective
In the midst of making the announcement of going to Jakarta, Indonesia, people have been asking me, “How does Christina feel about all this?” Instead of me trying to put words in her mouth, you can read it from her own perspective here. I guess this is going to be a 2 part series that […]
Giving Away Our Wish List
As the kids got older, we started to implement a wish list for Christmas. In this list we would have 3 categories (3 M’s): 1) Most Expensive, 2) Moderately Expensive, 3) Minimally Expensive. The number of items would decrease as we move towards the “most expensive.” There is a greater probability that we might not […]
The Blinding Power of Power
AP Photo By now, many of you have probably heard about the arrest of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich on corruption charges. Blagojevich and his administration were on a 3-year probe by the FBI; and on Tuesday, they were finally charged with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and solicitation of […]
First Vietnamese-American Congressman
Things are happening. History is being made all over the political landscape. It is encouraging to hear about how people in the state of Louisiana elected the first Vietnamese-American to Congress. Joseph Cao came out of nowhere. But his committed to the community and wanting to bring change, helped him get […]
The Power of Words
I always get mixed reactions when it comes to creating new words. When we first came up with the word, Transformasphere, people were not that enthusiastic (maybe rightly so). But for me, I am all for it as long as it serves the purposes of trying to: 1) Communicate a vision or movement; 2) Help […]