It has been said that no team has come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a NBA playoff series. Well, it is 3-2 right now (after tonight’s game) and heading back to Chicago. First of all, all these Pistons fans here in Ann Arbor are giving me a hard time for rooting for the […]
Observation at O’Hare Airport
As a semi-sociologist, I enjoy watching people and various situations. Usually in airports, I am in a hurry trying to get from one place to another that I miss out on some of the interactions that happen on a daily basis. Today, I left my wallet in my dad’s car and I had to wait […]
Transforming Worship Update
I just got an e-mail from a member of our staff indicating that someone from China accepted Christ during last week’s Sunday Celebration. It is encouraging to know that as we talked about the power of worship and how it can allow people to encounter the living and true God that it became a reality. […]
Quote for Thought
I read a quote this morning that I think I needed to be reminded of… especially in this generation, where it is easy to get spoiled with things. John Powell writes, “By afflictions, God is spoiling us [i.e., taking away from us] of what otherwise might have spoiled us. When he makes the world too […]
Lessons from the 2007 NFL Draft
I enjoy keeping up with any professional sports’ draft. One reason is that I enjoy sports overall, but also because I see the draft being very similar to leadership principles. It is interesting how many number one picks turned out to be a bust (no disrespect to JaMarcus Russell from LSU)… and many lower picks […]
Cultural Faux Pas
I turned on the news in Hong Kong and saw the blunder that Richard Gere made in New Delhi. If you don’t know what I am talking about, you can read it here. I don’t know what it is… maybe we, Americans forget that we cannot just do whatever we want to do especially in […]
The Virginia Tech Incident
The shooting at Virginia Tech has caught everyone’s attention. Even as I was getting off the airplane coming back from Chicago, people at the airport were glued to the T.V. watching the news update. It is very sobering to think that it happened at a college campus. It is another reminder that we need to […]
Blast from the Past
Our family hosted another pastor’s family in town for dinner yesterday. There is always a special connection with pastor’s families. It is a unique calling – unique struggles and unique stress. It was nice seeing Karissa playing with their daughter… they decided to play with all the toy food products and princess dresses. I think […]
Six Hours for Baptism
I am sitting at the airport (again) and waiting for my flight to Chicago. We will be baptizing people at the HMCC of Chicago church plant. As I am doing the math, I realized that I am going in for 6 hours to Chicago to do a simple baptism. During these situations, it is easy […]
2007 Passion Week
Passion Week (or known as the Holy Week) is a time of remembering the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem (Palm Sunday) all the way to the crucifixion. Various Christian traditions observe this week differently, but one unifying thing is that it recaptures the suffering and death of Jesus Christ. The dictionary defines, […]
Importance of Communication
This picture was submitted by Jane Gaboury to Mark Hurst. Taken at a shopping center called, “The Forum” in Norcross, Georgia. Many headaches and heartaches could be avoided if we all learned how to communicate better. Various conflicts in marriages, friendships, and even in the church arise out of poor communication. I […]
A Long Day
Wow… today was a long day. There are times when I just want to lay my head to rest and not wake up for days. It is interesting how certain type of “tiredness” can kill you but then there are other types of tiredness that rejuvenates you. When people are doing what they love and […]
Books that Shaped Evangelicals
As you know, I love reading. I am always trying to get a hold of books that will enlighten me, exhort me and expand me. I try to read from various genres as well so that I can try to balance out my reading diet. I came around this article that talked about the top […]
Reflective Writing
I just read an article by Jill Carattini that I found very interesting. Maybe this can be an argument for journaling: “For the past decade, doctors and psychologists have been taking notice of the health benefits of reflective writing. They note that wrestling with words to put your deepest thoughts into writing can lift […]