Super Dave

I had the great pleasure tonight of having dinner with one of my heroes.

Dave Edwards continues today to be one of those extra special communicators that only come around once every decade or so. His messages have been part of most of the major spiritual landmarks of my life.

Tonight Jason and I got to spend a few minutes with him.

Here are some of the highlights that I hope I don't forget:

When communicating:

Don't be Cute
Don't be Clever
Be more than Creative
Always be Clear

When writing a sermon:

1.) Evaluate the scripture in light of the night (Give me a reason why I should care about this passage)
2.) Apply the scripture to the audience (Not just general age, but sections of the audience as well)
3.) Illustrate your point (This is where you can make it fun and easy to take away)

When Reading:

Digest even the hard stuff. Make an outline at the end of each chapter. Put everything that you have just read through the filter of the lowest level of understanding. (What does it take for a 6th grader to understand?)

**Dave was extremely humble, hilarious, and gracious in his time and truly genuine. I think what sets him apart is that his Biblical content is at the highest level no matter what the topic, his take aways for every audience are unforgettable (Jason and I both were reciting talks that we had not heard in nearly a decade), and his heart for connecting with people goes beyond wanting to be liked, but to put every person in a position to experience the true and living Christ.

Book Review

Just got this book in the mail to read and review for Catalyst labs...

"I became a Christian and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt" by Vince Antonucci

It looks pretty funny, but now I have a longer list of required reading for review including:

Vintage Jesus - Mark Driscoll

Organic God - Margeret Fineberg

Last Night

Some stuff from last night

Changed our service flow at 10 min. til to push worship to the front of the service...it actually turned out alright!

50% of our leaders (who are parents) were out at the parent seminar so that was a little interesting

We need some more work on our board of destiny

Great crowd- second largest of the year so far!

Talked about MS relationships - Who is in your inner circle?

John Lewis and Tony Trainer as Hans & Frans the announcement guys...enough said!

Message - recorded for the first time, pretty blunt, great response

Parents' seminar - Matt Brinkley brought the funk

Choose your own adventure video - funniest so far, seriously good stuff Shaver!

Met a lot of new students last night - where are all these guys coming from? It's awesome!

manana noche

tomorrow night at ReMix we answer the age old question...

If a middle schooler could go on a date without his/her parents driving, chaperoning, picking up, and waiting in the car while the girl was walked to the door...in the woods, would it still happen?

not exactly, but i'm psyched anyway.

For Real?

Read this today...

http://news.aol.com/story/_a/survey-finds-religious-landscape-in-flux/20080225170509990001

Some of the statistics are shocking. Here are a few that jumped out at me.

More than one-quarter of American adults have left the faith of their childhood for another religion or no religion at all, the survey found. Factoring in moves from one stream or denomination of Protestantism to another, the number rises to 44 percent.

The U.S. Religious Landscape Survey estimates the United States is 78 percent Christian and about to lose its status as a majority Protestant nation, at 51 percent and slipping

The Roman Catholic Church has lost more members than any faith tradition because of affiliation swapping, the survey found. While nearly one in three Americans were raised Catholic, fewer than one in four say they're Catholic today. That means roughly 10 percent of all Americans are ex-Catholics.

Hindus claimed the highest retention of childhood members, at 84 percent. The group with the worst retention is one of the fastest growing -- Jehovah's Witnesses. Only 37 percent of those raised in the sect known for door-to-door proselytizing said they remain members.

With that said, I guess I should get to work...

Retraction

Not really sure that I am totally 100% committed to this post but here goes:

Yesterday in my post ,"Things from the weekend," I mistakenly claimed to have whipped booty on the Wii. This has set of quite a fusillade in the office between those who believe they have greater or at least equal Wii talent as yours' truly.

So this is to set the record straight:

Jason Britt beat me in Wii tennis.

Let's hope this issue is finally put to rest.

**And yes, tongue is planted firmly in cheek!!!**

Great Lesson

Tonight Lane and I went to an FCA fundraising dinner for the Buford City Schools FCA clubs. It was such a great time to hang out with new and good friends Steve and Jill Colsson. Stuart Hall, 7 Checkpoints author and Big Stuff speaker, gave a great talk but it was an early part of an illustration that caught my attention. What do you think?

In the early part of his college career Stuart transferred from Alabama to another smaller school. There, the chaplain of the basketball team had chapel every week. The only attender of chapel every Wednesday? Stuart Hall. What do you think the chaplain thought about his realm of influence during those years? Do you think he thought that one day, this young guy he was discipling would someday write some of the most important stuff for a generation of youth workers? Who has had more influence? The chaplain or Stuart Hall?

I would argue that their influence, despite the disparity in numbers, is equal.

So, who are you influencing???