I'm headed out to Ocean City, MD for our Upward Bound retreat. We'll do a sunset baptism tomorrow night in the Atlantic ocean!

Pretty fired up about extended times of prayer and worship. There's something about the ocean that gets me on a spiritual wavelength.



Beam me up, Scotty!

Here's the weekly Friday feature :)

I try to post a "light-hearted" vlog on Fridays cause we all need to laugh more :)

Don't get me started, but I think humor is part of the image of God. It is one of the things that sets us apart from the rest of creation. For what it's worth, I bust out laughing in prayer all the time. I was laughing so hard during staff prayer this week that I was almost crying. I think God was laughing too! It's not irreverent. It's good stewardship of the medial ventral prefrontal cortex. I'm not kidding. It's part of loving God "with all of your heart and soul and mind and strength."

Anywho.

In light of the GodiPod.com blog release on Monday, this video seems like an appropriate vlog to end the week. It's a pretty funny mock commercial for the iPod flea.

Thanks for the link Joe!


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T-minus six days till GodiPod.com goes live.

Craziness :)

If I had to describe what it feels like in one word it'd be chaos. But I don't mean that in the negative sense. I think one of the most profound passages in Scripture is Genesis 1:2: "The earth was formless and void and the Spirit of God was hovering over the chaos."

In my experience, the Holy Spirit hovers over chaos.

If we try to resolve the chaos ourselves the knot gets even more tangled. But if we give God room to work, He untangles the worst knots and brings order out of the chaotic situations in our lives.

Whenever I read Genesis 1:2, I envision the Spirit of God hovering over creation. That picture is a microcosm. He's hovering over your marriage. He's hovering over your children. He's hovering over your hurts. He's hovering over your dreams. He's hovering over your chaos. He wants to bring order out of all of the above.

I feel like God is hovering over GodiPod.com.

It's the best description I can give of the way I feel right now.

At times, GodiPod.com seems "formless and void." I don't know anybody who steps out in faith who doesn't second-guess or triple-guess or quadruple-guess. But God is the one who began this good work. And He's the one who will carry it to completion. The Holy Spirit will bring order out of chaos just like He did in Genesis 1:2. All He has to do is say, "Let there be GodiPod.com."

One last thought.

The Holy Spirit must really hover over my kid's rooms :) Talk about chaos :)

Is there any better feeling than an empty inbox?

It's literally been weeks since my email inbox has gotten down to zero! But it just happened. Man, it feels good. It feels like the occasion should be celebrated.

You know how there are dog people and cat people? I think there are phone people and email people. I'm definitely an email person. I love it. But sometimes there is this internal angst because there is almost always an email in my inbox.

So I'm enjoying the moment until AOL informs me "You've got mail."

Our Pastor of Discipleship, Heather Zempel, just sent me a link to the videos from the Drive Conference hosted by Northpoint in Atlanta. I was totally bummed that I didn't get to go this year, but they have made the videos of the sessions available online. Here's a link.

This is totally aside, but do any other pastors out there wish Andy Stanley was their friend :) There you have it. I just came out and said it :) Man, I love the way that guy leads and preaches.

By the way, I'm definitely going to drive next year! I'll probably fly there. But I'm definitely going drive. Get it? I'm not going to drive to drive. I'm going to fly to drive.

Drive could do a fun take on the Abbott and Costello Who's On First schtick. Or not.

GodiPod.com is T-minus seven days! We'll launch GodiPod.com with a full-page ad in the Catalyst notezine. We'll also have a booth set up at the Catalyst conference.

I'll continue to provide updates until the GodiPod.com website goes live. Then I'm going to launch a GodiPod.com blog that will revolve around digital discipleship. It'll link with evotional.com.

Here's a little backstory on Godipod.

God + iPod = GodiPod.com

The mission of GodiPod is simple: redeem technology to foster spiritual growth. It's all about digital discipleship.

GodiPod.com is the byproduct of three contributing factors.

First, I began this year experimenting with spiritual disciplines. I got an iPod in April and began downloading content to feed my spirit while I excercised my body. I call it spiritual multitasking. I just started redeeming time by redeeming technology.

Second, I had what I can only call a God-ordained meeting with a professor of Information Technology from the Naval Academy. He is also the President of a start-up company called Riptopia. Our conversations were the catalyst for GodiPod.com.

Third, I was praying in May of this year asking God for a $2 million miracle for our coffeehouse. To be perfectly honest, I was asking God to send someone with a lot of money who could write a check to pay off the mortgage on Ebenezers. To make a long story short, I really felt like the Holy Spirit said, "What if I want to give you a $2 million idea?" I think GodiPod.com is the $2 million dollar idea. I'm believing that it'll help us retire the debt on Ebenezers.

I'm not sure of all that GodiPod.com will become. But we'll start off preloading Bibles, audio books, worship songs, and sermons onto Apple iPods enabling customers to feed their spirit while they commute, relax, or work out. Along with selling preloaded iPods, GodiPod.com will offer a variety of products and services:

1) Ripping Service--get your entire CD collection preloaded onto an iPod
2) Podcast Directory--subscribe to Godcasts that will feed your spirit
3) GodiPod Blog--discover new ways of practicing ancient spiritual disciplines

Along with selling preloaded iPods to individual customers, GodiPod.com has the scalable technology to customize content. It's all about win/win partnerships with like-minded organizations. GodiPod.com will partner with churches, conferences, and bands that want to preload their own customized iPod.

The theaterchurch.com iPod will be a prototype. It'll come preloaded with 1) Top Ten Message Series 2) the Message//Remix 3) Further worship CD and 4) a sample theaterchurch.com podcast.

There are still a million loose ends, but if we waited till all of our questions were answered we'd never do anything!

Ecclesiastes 11:4 is one of my guiding verses. It says, "If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done."

Last Sunday I gave a "homework assignment." I asked NCCers to keep a gratitude journal as a way of putting last week's big idea into practice. FYI--the big idea was your focus determines your reality.

I have to say that this has been a joyful week because I'm totally focused on the things I'm grateful for. I'm grateful for perfect weather days. I'm grateful for loyal friends (I would name names but you know who you are). I'm grateful for God-given opportunities. I could go on and on. I'm been grateful for the things I generally take for granted.

So here is today's gratitude blog. I'm grateful for all of Josiah's cute sayings. He's at that three year-old stage where he says something unpredictable everyday.

Here's a sampling from the last seven days:

"Mom, can you get me some flamin' hot cheetoes someday." Maybe you had to be there, but it was awfully cute coming out of his mouth.

I was going to study last Saturday night and, out of nowhere, Josiah said, "Are you going to study at the Capitol." Huh? I didn't even know he knew what the Capitol was. I guess he thinks that's my office. I laughed about that all night.

One day this week he informed us that God has "superhero powers." That's good to know!

We were at the National Arboretum on my day off and Josiah was running down a hill. He totally wiped out and said, "I ice skated." I have no idea where that came from. But that was a pretty good description of what it looked like.

I'm always saying, "That was worth a million bucks" when we my kids say or do something cute. In that sense, I'm wealthy beyond measure!

We're putting together a two-sided card to hand out at our Catalyst booth next week. We'll also hand these out to NCCers as a way of telling friends about the evotional blog and theaterchurch.com podcast.

Just thought I'd post the draft:

Josh at the leadership blog just posted his top five podcasts. The theaterchurch.com podcast was one of them. I'm going to check the others out.

I've been subscribing to the Mosaic podcast as well. I love Erwin McManus! I listened to last week's podcast while I worked out on Wednesday.

Podcasts are a vital part of my spiritual diet. They are a great way of feeding your mind and feeding your spirit.

A friend of mine emailed this video to me. As a preacher who has put his foot in his mouth more than once it was encouraging to know that I'm not alone :) Enjoy a little levity at this guy's expense.


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A few years ago I was invited to serve in a trustee capacity for a charitable foundation. It was one of those "how did it work out that I get to do this" kind of things.

A little backstory.

A Christian entrepreneur set up a will in the 1980's that upon his death, a portion of his assets would be used to set up a trust fund that would invest in start-up ministries. His legacy lives on. Every year we give away grants to church plants, missionaries, and parachurch ministries.

One of my favorite days of the year is our annual meeting where we decide on year-end grants. That day is today.

Here is one of the lessons I've learned in this capacity: none of us owns anything!

Every time we give away a grant I'm cognizant of the fact that I had nothing to do with this. These aren't my resources. I'm just privileged to act as a trustee. But the truth of the matter is that I don't own anything that I think is "mine" either. I'm a trustee of my God-given gifts and passions. The resources and time at my disposal are gifts from God. We're all trustees of everything.

Glenn Droomgoole says, "Maybe we should look at our meager resources as minifoundations." If we all viewed ourselves as trustees of minifoundations I think it'd help us become better stewards.

I think it's tough for 21st century Americans to understand the 1st century Jewish mindset. We have deeds and contracts and certificates and patents and copyrights and receipts. All of those things prove ownership. Or do they? I Corinthians 6:19 says, "You are not your own." You don't even belong to you!

When you put your faith in Christ there is a transfer of title. You sign over the deed to your life. Denny Bellesi says it involves "consciously transferring the title on everything you consider yours so that it now becomes His. It's a subtle shift, but a profound one. No longer is it "my" house or "my" car or "my" money or "my" stuff…it all belongs to Him."
Os Guiness says, "Behind everything is the ruling principle that God, as Creator, owns absolutely everything. We humans are always and only stewards."

So I'm not just a trustee today. I'm a trustee everyday.

Is there anything more fun that giving away money and blessing people?

Of course, it's easy to say that when you're a trustee of someone else's resources. And that's the point! You are the trustee of someone else's resources--God's resources.

Jesus said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." Don't get me wrong. I love being on the receiving-end of someone else's giving :) But the greatest joy is being on the giving end.

The real blessing is being a blessing!

Last Sunday I gave out a homework assignment during my message. I encouraged NCCers to keep a gratitude journal this week. I think that's a great application of your focus determines your reality.

The Batterson family has been putting that into practice by sharing what we're grateful for at the dinner table. Here is one of mine.

I was listening to ESPN radio. And, yes, I'm grateful for ESPN radio in and of itself :) It's hard to imagine life without ESPN isn't it? But one of the announcers said something that had a stun gun effect on me. He said, "I can't believe I get paid to watch sports." That's how I feel about pastoring. I can't believe I get paid to do what I do. I've never taken that for granted, in part, because we didn't draw a full paycheck the first few years of church planting.

Here's the funny part. When I said that I'm grateful I get paid to pastor, Summer had this surprise expression on her face and she said, "You do?"

Surprise, surprise, surprise! I think our kids think we've got a money tree in our backyard :)

During The Game of Life series I did a message on pursuing God-given passions. I think the ultimate goal in choosing a vocation ought to be doing something we'd do even if we didn't get paid to do it. That's how I feel about what I do. I can honestly say I wouldn't want to be anywhere else doing anything else.

For what it's worth, one of my dreams is pastoring for free. I'd love to get to the point via good investments and good stewardship where I don't need a dime of income from NCC.

I'm sitting in team meeting and we're sharing wins like we always do at the beginning of the meeting. We just had a guy visit Sunday who has been "dechurched" for eighteen years. I love stories like that. It really seems like NCC is a church for people who quit going to church. We're a church for people on the rebound. On our last survey we were 25% unchurched and 50% dechurched.

Nothing gives me greater joy than helping people find their way back to God.

Wired for Worship: Focus
09.27.05
Pastor Mark Batterson

This evotional continues the Wired for Worship series. If you want to subscribe to the Theaterchurch.com podcast, you can subscribe via iTunes or without iTunes. It's a free subscription and you can get it automatically downloaded onto your computer or MP3 player each week.

Bronze Medalists

This week I read about a fascinating research study done by Vicki Medvec, a professor at Northwestern University. She studied Olympic medalists and she discovered that Bronze medalists were happier than Silver medalists. Here's why. Medvec found that Silver medalists tended to focus on how close they came to winning gold so they weren't satisfied with silver. Bronze medalists tended to focus on how close they came to not winning a medal at all so they were just happy to be on the medal stand at all.

I think that study reveals a fascinating facet of human nature: your focus determines your reality. How we feel isn't determined by objective circumstances. If that was the case, Silver Medalists would be happier than Bronze medalists because they had an objectively better result. But how we feel isn't determined by our objective circumstances. How we feel is determined by our subjective focus.

Here's another way of saying it: your internal attitudes are more important than your external circumstances.

John Milton said it best: "The mind is its own place, and in itself, can make a Heaven out of Hell, a Hell of Heaven."

That's so true isn't it? All of us know people who can find something good to focus on even in the worst of circumstances. And all of us know someone who can find something bad to focus on even in the best of circumstances.

There is a universal principle I need to share with you right out of the gate: we tend to see what we're looking for. I think there are two basic types of people in the world: complainers and worshippers. Complainers can always find something to complain about. Worshippers can always find something to praise God about.

Please read what I'm about to write.

All of us develop hypotheses about everything all the time. Then we look for evidence to support our hypotheses and ignore evidence to the contrary.

For example, if you decide you don't like someone you'll notice everything that is wrong with that person. And you'll probably ignore anything you could potentially like about them. The flipside is true as well. If you're head-over-heels in love with someone you tend to only notice those things you love about them.

We see what we're looking for.

What does that have to do with worship? A worshipper makes a pre-decision to look for something to praise God about even in the direst of circumstances.

Acts 16 is exhibit A.

Bad Day

In Acts 16, Paul and Silas are in a prison cell in Philippi. I'd encourage you to read the entire chapter yourself, but let me set the scene. Paul casts a demon out of a fortune-teller. Her master doesn't like it because she loses the ability to predict the future so he has Paul and Silas arrested.

Acts 16:22 says, "A mob quickly formed against Paul and Silas, and the city officials ordered them stripped and beaten with wooden rods. They were severely beaten, and then they were thrown into prison. The jailer was ordered to make sure they didn't escape. So he took no chances but put them into the inner dungeon and clamped their feet in the stocks."

I think we read a story like this and it's almost tough to put ourselves in their shoes. I've had bad days before, but nothing like this. As a kid, my mom used to read me a book titled Alexander and the Horrible, Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. This is Paul and Silas and the Horrible, Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.

If I'm Paul or Silas I'm emotionally and physically and spiritually spent. I'm drained to the last drop. I've got nothing left to give.

Their backs are bleeding from their beating. They are black and blue all over. And they had to be ticked off. I've never had a mob form against me, but I'm guessing that'll set you off emotionally. And to top it off they land in the maximum security cell in stocks!

It just doesn't get much worse than that. And that's why this next verse is so amazing to me. Acts 16:25 says, "Around midnight, Paul and Silas were complaining about their circumstances."

That's not what it says.

It says, "Around midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening."

Zoom Out

Let me share something I've learned from personal experience. When I get into a spiritual or emotional slump, it's usually because I've zoomed in on a problem. I'm fixating on something that is wrong. I'm focused on the wrong thing. Nine times out of ten, the solution is zooming out so I can get some perspective.

That happened to me on Friday.

We had a meeting with our contractors who are building Ebenezers. The meeting was fun if you find pleasure in conflict that could potentially cost you thousands of dollars. Let's just say that I had an elevated heart rate for most of the morning! Here's why. We zoomed in on half a dozen problems we're trying to resolve. By the end of the meeting I had forgotten why we were doing what we were doing. I had to zoom out, get some perspective, and refocus on the dream of building a coffeehouse on Capitol Hill.

Sometimes you've got to zoom out and look at the big picture.

That's what the following college student did in writing this letter:

Dear Mom and Dad,

I have so much to tell you. Because of the fire in my dorm set off by student riots, I experienced temporary lung damage and had to go to the hospital. While I was there, I fell in love with an orderly, and we have moved in together. I dropped out of school when I found out I was pregnant, and he got fired because of his drinking, so we're going to move to Alaska, where we might get married after the birth of our baby.

Your loving daughter

PS: None of this really happened, but I did flunk my chemistry class and I wanted to keep it in perspective.

Sometimes you need to zoom out and look at the big picture. You fail a chemistry exam and it feels like the end of the world. But it's not.

So how do we zoom out?

Let me give you a one word answer: worship.

Worshipping is taking our eyes off of our external circumstances and focusing on God. We stop focusing on what's wrong with us or with our circumstances. We start focus on what's right with God.

Paul and Silas could have zoomed in and complained about their circumstances. God, we cast out a demon and this is what we get? We're on a missionary journey and we get beaten and thrown in jail? Instead of "watching our back" our backs are bleeding from a beating! They could have complained till the cows came home. But they made a choice to worship God inspite of their external circumstances.

Here's what worship does. It restores spiritual equilibrium. It helps you regain your perspective. It enables you to find something right to praise God about even when everything seems to be going wrong.

Worship is zooming out and refocusing on the big picture.

It's refocusing on the fact that two thousand years ago, Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for my sin. It's refocusing on the fact that God loves me when I least expect it and least deserve it. It's refocusing on the fact that God is going to get me where God wants me to go. It's refocusing on the fact that I have eternity with God to look forward to in a place where there is no mourning or sorrow or pain.

Worship is refocusing on the fundamentals of our faith. And here is what happens: God restores the joy of our salvation. We regain our spiritual equilibrium.

Is it easy? Absolutely not. Nothing is more difficult than praising God when everything seems to be going wrong. But one of the purest form of worship is praising God even when you don't feel like it because it shows God that your worship isn't based on circumstances. Worship is based on the character of God.

Oliver Wendel Holmes said there are two kinds of simplicity: simplicity on the near-side of complexity and simplicity on the far-side of complexity.

In the same sense, I think there is worship on the near-side of suffering and worship on the far-side of suffering. Worship on the far-side of suffering has greater density and purity! It is rising above your circumstances.

George Bernhard Shaw said, "People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want and if they can't find them, make them."

Worship is reframing our circumstances.

Response-Ability

One of my all time favorite books is Man's Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl. Frankl was a Holocaust survivor who wrote about his experiences in a Nazi concentration camp. Everything was taken away from these prisoners. They were stripped of their clothing, their pictures, and their personal belongings. They even took away their names and gave them numbers. Frankl was number 119,104.

Everything was taken away except one thing. Frankl said, "Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms-to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances."

I'm absolutely convinced that the most important choice you make everyday is your attitude. Your internal attitudes are more important than your external circumstances. The outcome of your life will be determined by your outlook on life. If you have a critical or complaining spirit you'll complain till the day you die. Your life will get worse and worse because you'll accumulate more and more negative experiences. But if you have a worshipful spirit life gets better and better. Why? Because you accumulate positive memories.

At the end of the day, one way or the other, your focus determines your reality!

I think response-ability is one dimension of the Imago Dei or image of God. We have free choice. We are response-able. In other words, we have the ability to choose our response in any set of circumstances.

Paul and Silas were in prison. Their bodies were chained. But you can't chain the human spirit. That's what Victor Frankl discovered in the concentration camp. That's what Paul and Silas modeled two thousand years ago. Their bodies were chained, but their spirits soared.

This is one of the audio tracks I'd love to hear. I wish we had the MP3 of Paul and Silas singing. I'm going to go out on a limb, but have you ever heard someone who can't sing, sing at the top of their voices! I think there is something so pure about that. I'm not suggesting that you intentionally sing out of tune. But there is something so awesome about worshipping God at the top of your voice without caring how it sounds.

I don't think Paul and Silas were In Sync. But I think they sang with a conviction that caused their fellow prisoners to listen. They praised God at the top of their voices! And that choice to worship set off a chain reaction.

Premeditated Cognitive Commitments

Albert Einstein said, "You can't solve a problem on the level it was created." I think problems created on a human plane are solved on the supernatural plane. That's what happens when we worship God. It changes the spiritual atmosphere. It charges the spiritual atmosphere.

During the Course in Miracles series last May I made an observation. I said, "You can't plan Pentecost. But if you pray for ten days, Pentecost might just happen."

I don't think Paul could have planned this miraculous jailbreak. To make a long story short, there is an earthquake. The prisoners are set free, but they don't leave! The jailer who is about to kill himself gets saved and his entire family is baptized in the middle of the night.

You can't script that kind of thing. You can't plan miracles. But when you worship God in the worst of Circumstances you never know what is going to happen. Worship sets the stage for miracles! Worship causes spiritual earthquakes that can change the topography of your life. Worship is a shifting of the tectonic plates in your life. It may not change your circumstances. But it will change your life.

Napoleon Hill said, "Every negative event contains within it the seed of an equal or greater benefit."

I believe that.

Worship is the way we stay positive in negative circumstances. And it's not a placebo! It's reality. No matter how bad things get, as a follower of Christ, I have eternity in heaven to look forward to! My pain is real. But so is heaven. The good news is that this reality is temporary. That reality lasts forever!

The key is focusing on the right reality!

I read a fascinating statistic this week. Research indicates that the average person talks to himself or herself about 50,000 times a day.

Any guess on what percentage of self-talk is negative?

Research indicates that 80% of self-talk is negative.

We say negative things to ourselves. I'm not good enough. I'm not smart enough. And, doggone it, people don't like me.

So here's what happens: we let what's wrong with us keep us from worshipping what's right about God. We're focused on the wrong reality.

In her book, Mindfulness, Ellen Langer says that all of us have "premeditated cognitive commitments."

Translation: we tend to see what we're looking for.

A pessimist will always see something bad in a good situation and an optimist will always see something good in a bad situation.

Paul gives some priceless advice in Philippians 4:8. It's a list of eight premeditated cognitive commitments. He says, "Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things."

A worshipper always finds something to praise God for because they're looking for something to praise God for. Worship is a premeditated cognitive commitment based on ultimate reality.

Chains

Here's a closing thought: the circumstances you complain about becomes chains that imprison you.

Worship is the way out.

It was worship that set Paul and Silas free physically. And it's worship that will set you free emotionally and spiritually. Worship sets off a chain reaction. The prison doors fly open. The chains break free.

Are there circumstances that you're allowing to imprison you? Have your complaints about someone or something become chains?

Stop focusing on what's wrong about you or your circumstances. Start focusing on what's right about God.

Here's an assignment.

Keep a gratitude journal this week. Find something everyday to be grateful for. It's a spiritual discipline. Psalm 103:2 says, "Praise the Lord and forget not all his benefits."

In the words of the hymn:

Count your blessings. Name them one by one. Count your many blessings. See what God has done.

Your focus will determine your reality!

Last week's big idea was your focus determines your reality.

The homework assignment was to find something to be grateful for each day.

Here is mine for September 26: nerf basketball hoops. We celebrated Parker's birthday and one of the gifts was a nerf hoop. It was actually the only gift I personally picked out. And, yes, I had selfish motivations. One of the things I love about being a dad is that I get to be a kid :)

We set up the hoop and I showed Parker the "take two steps, spin around once, shoot it underhand, bank it off two walls, and dunk it" move. Yeah Baby!

I think the trap most people fall into is needing bigger toys to satisfy their urge for fun. I think it's the simple pleasures that provide the greatest joy. Nothing like a game of "horse" on a nerf hoop with your son.

By the way, you know I'm affectionately known as "Mr. UNhandy Man." It took me forty-five minutes to assemble the nerf hoop! I'm not kidding. And I got a bleeding wound under my thumb. And Lora is the one who finally figured it out.

Every once in a while I like sharing a testimony of the way the theaterchurch.com podcast is impacting people. Got a cool email from someone who lives in the Netherlands today. It's a small world after all :)

Jesus said, "Go into all the world and make disciples." Who would have thought 2,000 years ago that "going" could include podcasting. It's digital discipleship.

Here's an email excerpt:

I visited the National Community Church in Union Station yesterday. I'm a guy from a small village in Holland, attending an IT conference this week. Yesterday was my free day and I made a city tour. I started my trip with a visit to the NCC and a visit to God. I sent an e-mail to my wife and kids in the Netherlands. I told her about the service and asked her to listen to the podcast.

I just got my laugh quota for the day.

I got a copy of the Sun "newspaper" in the mail today. They did an article titled Catch God on Your iPod that spotlighted our theaterchurch.com podcast. And they sent me the article. They must have picked it up on the AP Wire from the New York Times article.

Here's the catch. The other articles included E.T. Highway: Flying Saucers clog skies over entire country; Deadly visions of Uranium Miners; and a column by Psychic Sarah.

My first clue should have been that it looked just like The National Enquirer.

Too funny! We're expanding our podcast audience in some interesting ways :)

T-Minus ten days.

I believe there are good ideas and God ideas. Several months ago I had what I can only describe as a God idea. That idea is about to become reality on 10.05.05.

I promised a blog release ten days ago. This is it. I asked a question: what happens when an iPod gets God? Here's the answer: GodiPod.com.

The GodiPod.com website will go live in ten days. To make a long story short, we're going to preload iPods with Bibles, sermons, worship, and audio books. We'll also partner with conferences, bands, and churches to produce customized iPods. It's all about win/win partnerships.

The first customized iPod will be a theaterchurch.com iPod that will come preloaded with 1) Top Ten Message Series 2) the Further worship CD produced by our worship band, and 3) The Message//Remix (New Testament).

In a nutshell, GodiPod.com is all about redeeming technology to foster spiritual growth. I like to think of it as digital discipleship or downloadable discipleship.

GodiPod.com was birthed out of my own experiment with spiritual disciplines this year. I started listening to messages and worship on my iPod while I worked out instead of being a captive audience to whatever radio station the gym decided to tune into. It's spiritual multitasking. I can feed my spirit while I exercise my body. It's all about redeeming the time.

There are a million loose ends that need to get tied in the next ten days. But I wanted to make it official.

I honestly have no idea what GodiPod.com will become. I think we've got it less than 50% figured out going into it. But we have a core value: playing it safe is risky! If you don't get out of the boat one thing is for sure: you'll never walk on water! We're stepping out in faith.

I did an interview with Terry Storch last week on podcasting. You can listen to the podcast on the bloggingchurch.com site.

Terry is one of those guys with a machete cutting away the underbrush and blazing a trail in the blogosphere. If you're a pastor who doesn't subscribe to the bloggingchurch podcast you need to.

Blog On.

The theaterchurch.com podcast passed a significant milestone last week. We started podcasting our weekend messages in July. The third week of September we crossed the 10,000+ visitor threshold.

I know the New York Times article was the primary catalyst, but I'm still shocked at how quickly the podcast is growing. We're now averaging between 80-100 subscriptions per day! At that rate, we'll have more than 25,000 subscribers in less than a year.

Acts 2:47 has been on my heart the last few days: "And each day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved."

I've always dreamed of pastoring a church where this Acts 2:47 was reality.

For what it's worth, look at the chapter and verse--2:47. Remove the colon. Add a slash between the 4 and 7. And you get 24/7.

Podcasting is a 24/7 ministry!

People can listen to a message anywhere, anytime. It's like a sermon with TIVO.

Podcasting has totally changed my preaching. While I'm preaching to our congregation I can visualize people listening to the message while they are jogging around the neighborhood or commuting to work or working out at the gym.

It's just cool to know that we're impacting people that we'll probably never meet this side of eternity. If we can change the eternal trajectory of one life it's worth all of the time and effort that goes into digital discipleship.

Parker has played soccer for several years now. I'm always on the sidelines cheering and praying. My prayers were answered today. Parker scored the first goal of his life.

I tried to maintain my composure. I wanted to run onto the field and do backflips. But I didn't want to embarrass my son. So I just screamed. Loud.

I think I was more excited than Parker!

Just watched The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl with the kids tonight. About the wierdest movie I've ever seen. But I loved it because it was all about dreaming with your eyes open.

Two thoughts were worth blogging:

"When your dream becomes reality, reality becomes a dream."

"Dream a better dream. Then work to make it real."

I think the movie resonated with me because so many dreams are becoming reality right now. The coffeehouse dream. The writing dream. The church dream. And I'll do a blog release next week about an entreprenurial dream that will become reality in T-minus two weeks.

God is super-sizing my dreams!

I think that's one byproduct of being Spirit-filled: you dream God-sized dreams.

In the words of Aerosmith: dream on.

I'm trying to add a friday feature to my blog. All of us need a laugh at the end of the week.

If you've read this week's blog you know that I got an awesome surprise on Tuesday--Malnati's pizza delivered to our office. It's my all-time favorite pizza in the whole-wide world.

We captured a little "home video" with our disposable CVS video camera.

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This was one of those days that seems like two days :)

Had a "knock down drag out" meeting with our contractors. That was fun. If you have a demented sense of fun that finds pleasure in conflict that costs thousands of dollars :) All you can do is try to keep a sense of humor in situations like this.

Let's just say that I don't need to run on a treadmill for twenty minutes to get my cardio workout today. I definitely had an elevated heart rate for most of the morning :)

The good news is that we're still building a coffeehouse :)

I had two highlights today.

I loved my podcast interview with Terry Storch. If you don't subscribe to Terry's bloggingchurch.com podcast you need to. Here's a link. I just subscribed to it today and I listened to his podcast interview with Scott Hodges while I worked out. Terry rocks!

Then I had lunch with Matson Duncan and Billy Zabka, the guy who was Daniel-San's arch-nemesis in Karate Kid. He's produced an amazing film called Most. We're going to do a screening when the coffeehouse opens! You need to check out the film. I really love what these guys are doing. It's great art with a great message! I really want to get behind guys like Billy who are competing for truth in the Hollywood marketplace.

I couldn't resist getting a picture. Billy is on the right.



Wax On. Wax Off.

I'm working on another article for Relevant Leader. Here's an excerpt:

Remember the battle of Troy? The Greeks sailed across the Aegean Sea to rescue their kidnapped Queen. They thought it would be a short war. Ten years later, the city of Troy was still impregnable. Then, according to Greek mythology, Athena gave Odysseus an idea. The Greeks built a hollow horse big enough to hide a regiment of soldiers. They parked the horse by the gate of the city and sailed their ships around the tip of the island. The Trojans thought it was a peace offering, but in the middle of the night the regiment of soldiers exited the horse, opened the gates for the Greek army that had sailed back, and rescued Queen Helen. Mission accomplished.

Here's a thought: technology is a Trojan Horse.

Blogs and podcasts are Trojan horses that get behind the impregnable defense mechanisms that keep people out of church. Why? Because they are non-threatening. Blog visitors can remain "anonymous" as long as they want to or need to. Podcast listeners can download Theaterchurch.com and check us out while they work out or hang out or commute to work.

We don't ask people to come to church. We go to them. Podcast listeners can have church anytime, anywhere. Am I suggesting that a podcast is a replacement for "the gathering" together of believers? Absolutely not. Think of the podcast as a side door into NCC. Actually, front door might be a more apt description. Podcast listeners are subscribing at a rate of almost 100 per day less than three months after launching our podcast.

One last thought. We're not trying to save a Queen who has been kidnapped. We're trying to rescue souls that that have been kidnapped and held captive by the enemy. Hopefully the podcast and blog will help people find their way back to God.

Ebenezers is getting off the groud. We're T-minus two months. Thought I'd post a picture update.

I just spent an hour with two church planters, Jay Brooks and Andy Sink.

I thought I'd blog something I shared with them.

I think the toughest part of church planting is managing emotions and managing motives. Church planting is an emotional rollercoaster. You fluctuate between excitement and discouragement. I don't know too many church planters who don't have frayed emotions on launch day!

The other challenge is managing motives. If you do the right thing for the wrong reasons it doesn't count in God's kingdom. If your motives are wrong nothing is right. If your motives are right you can't go wrong.

In all honesty, I think I do everything I do with mixed motives. On my best days I'm doing what I do to glorify God, but there is always some selfish ambition mixed in. You can want your church to grow for the right reasons--to see more people come to faith in Christ. Or you can want your church to grow for the wrong reasons--to feed your ego.

I think we could use some raw honesty when it comes to emotions and motives. Most church planters resonate when I tell them that I've faced severe discouragement at times and I've done the right things for the wrong reasons.

By the way, what is God going to judge at the end of the day?

Not the size of our churches!

He'll judge the motives of the heart--why we do what we do.

I just read a Fast Company article on Tom Kelley's new book, The Ten Faces of Innovation.

Some of the "faces" totally resonated with what it means to be a right-brain pastor. I won't share all of them, but here are a few that are especially apropos for pastors:

The Experimenter

Anybody who knows me knows why I love this one! One of our core values is: everything is an experiment. I think every church needs a R & D (Research & Development) department. I think the biblical basis for this is the eight times the Psalmist says "sing a new song." We need to experiment with new wineskins.

The Cross Pollinator

I think good leaders are interested in everything. Albert Einstein said, "Never lose a holy curiosity." Leaders are readers. Readers are leaders. I read everything from neurology to business to physics to theology. Cross-pollination is the key to metaphors and metaphors are the key to preaching like Jesus.

The Set Designer

I love this one. It reminds me of the section of Exodus where God plays interior designer. He chooses the color of the curtains and the scent of the incense with great precision and intentionality. Why? Aesthetics are important. I think staging is a huge part of planning sermon series. You want the right graphic backdrop, the right symbols. Meeting in rented facilities doens't allow us to do "set design" as much as we'd like, but wait till we open the coffeehouse :)

The Storyteller

I think leaders are good at backstory. They share stories that shape culture and give vision. They share stories that help people see old things in new ways. I think video is one key to good storytelling. It's multi-sensory story telling. I call it 5S/3D--story telling that engages the five senses and helps them experiece truth in more three-dimensional ways. That's why we invest so much energy into our videos and trailers and eventually short films.

I think the Malnati mystery has been solved :) See Malnati blogs below before you read this one.

I emailed my #1 suspect, Joe Dascenzo, creative cosmonaut with the Change Design Group. Here was his initial response to my investigation:

Don't jump to conclusions. Just because I'm as big a fan of Lou's as you are (if possible), AND that we've chatted about the za several times, AND that I snuck in the question about what you liked on your pizza last week, AND that the message on the pizza was a play on the service we were at, AND that you preached about Lou's this past Sunday, AND that they "just happened" to show up when you were blogging about it...you think I'm the guy that sent Lou's to you? That seems a bit far fetched, don't you think?

After intense questioning and chinese water torture, Joe finally confessed to the crime.

Thanks for the pizza Joe!

Next Sunday's big idea is: your focus determines your reality. For what it's worth, that's also a Batterson family value. It's also what Qui-Gon said to Anakin Skywalker :)

The longer I live the more I believe that external circumstances don't determine who a person becomes. It's their internal outlook on life. You can find something bad in the best of circumstances and you can find something good in the worst of circumstances. The question is: what are we looking for? Here's a universal principle: we tend to see what we're looking for. If you're looking for something to criticize you'll find it. If you're looking for something to praise you'll find it.

That's where worship comes into play. It's looking for something for something to praise. It's choosing to focus on God's greatness not our badness. Or to put it into Wired for Worship terms: don't let what's wrong with you keep you from worshipping what's right with God.

Worship is all about focus.

Here's one practical tip:

We start every staff meeting by sharing wins.

The "old school" word is "testimony." Sharing wins gets us focused on the positive things God is doing. It has become part of our culture. It sets the tone for everything we do!

If you're pastoring, put "wins" at the top of every meeting agenda. It's positive reinforcement. You need to celebrate what you want to see more of.

It doesn't matter whether it's a boardroom, classroom, or locker room, sharing wins is one small step/one giant leap towards creating a positive environment. Sharing wins can revolutionize a church culture, family culture, or work environment.

I just spent more than five hours with a publisher that flew in to town. We're in negotiations for my next book. This is new territory for me so I sort of feel like I'm navigating without a map. But today's meeting was great. I felt like we were able to talk through writing passions and goals for the next few years. I really want to find a like-minded publisher. I think they "get me." And I love their team of authors. They're working with some of my role models in ministry.

By the way, when I got home Summer said, "Did you get your book published today?"

If only it was a one day process :)

It'll probably be 8-12 months before this book hits the market. I'm getting an education in the editorial and marketing process behind a book! That's probably the toughest part for me. I want the book published yesterday :)

One day at a time!

A blog miracle just happened.

You might want to read the last post before you read this one. At the bottom of that blog I pasted the URL and linked to the Lou Malnati's website where you can order a pizza that will we delivered overnight. As I was pasting the website on the blog there was a knock on our office door. It was UPS delivering two Lou Malnati's pizzas.

The timing was unbelievable. Right to the split second. I was pasting when I heard the knock!

I can't even put into words what I'm feeling right now. I busted out a big Jehovah Jireh--The Lord provides. And I started singing I believe in miracles. If you know the song I left off the next line of lyrics :)

I honestly feel like a little kid who just opened up the greatest Christmas gift they've ever received :) I can't concentrate on anything else right now.

I need to track down who sent them. They were sent by "anonymous." But the message is a play off of last week's big idea: you can't not worship.

The message said: you can't not eat this.

You got that right. I can't not eat this. I won't not eat this.

One of the things I'm trying to do during the Wired for Worship series is demystify worship. Let me put praise in pizza terms.

A few months ago, part of our team flew back to Chicago for the multi-site conference at Willowcreek Community Church. I was really excited about the conference. But I was equally excited about getting Lou Malnati's pizza.

I spent half of the plane ride thinking and talking about Lou Malnati's pizza. I love Lou Malnati's. A lot. There is pizza. And there is Lou Malnati's pizza. The whole time I'm trying to figure out where the nearest Lou Malnati's is and when we can break away from the conference to get some.

So we show up at Willowcreek and they've got a speaker's lunch before the conference. What do you think they served? Yeah. Lou Malnati's pizza. I'm in seventh heaven at this point. But it gets better. The wife of the owner is at the lunch. And she's sitting at my table! I felt like I was in the presence of greatness! She told me that I am the first person to ever ask her for her autograph. I've got her autograph on a Lou Malnati's napkin. It's one of my prized possessions.

I'm sure the other people at the table thought I was nuts, but we talked about Malnati's the whole time! I shared some of my favorite Malnati memories. Then we got onto the topic of their cookie desert. They serve a hot Chocolate Chip cookie in a pizza pan with ice cream and whipped cream. If that's wrong I don't want to be right!

I even told her that we were building a coffeehouse on Capitol Hill, but if she was willing to franchise we'd scrap our entire plan and go with a pizza place! I was half-kidding :)

Here's what I'm trying to say: I sang the praises of that pizza! Why? Because we praise that which we enjoy! It's natural. Or supernatural.

C.S. Lewis said it this way: "Praise is the culmination of our enjoyment of anything."

I think heaven will be filled with praise because we'll enjoy God more and more and more.

By the way, if you can't wait till the marriage super of the Lamb, you can order online Lou Malnati's and it'll be delivered to your door overnight.

Wired For Worship: The Fear of Foolishness
09.20.05
Pastor Mark Batterson

This evotional continues the Wired for Worship series. To subscribe to the podcast, click on the theaterchurch podcast under evotional feeds on the right menu.

Like everyone else, I have had my fair share of embarrassing moments.

When I was in the second grade I fell in a mud puddle and I had to wear a pair of pants that the school nurse gave me. They were checkered wool pants. My legs still itch from those pants!

A few years ago we were playing kick ball at a leadership summit. I played basketball in college. I'd like to think that I still have some semblance of athletic prowess. But there was no evidence of it when I tripped on the kickball running to first base and dislocated my left shoulder. The only thing that hurt worse than my shoulder was my ego!

Last fall I was driving home from our Bonfire Baptism and I stopped to get gas. Long story short, I forget to remove the gas nozzle from my gas tank. I pulled the whole thing off and dragged it behind the car while everybody stared and laughed. I had to go into the gas station and tell the teenage employee what I had done. I felt like a fool.

I could write for a long time on this topic! But I'll share one more embarrassing moment.

I'm not sure exactly how to say this, but I can't dance. At least that's what I'm told by other people! Hold that thought.

Two years ago, a team of NCCers attended the Origins conference in LA and we did reconnaissance at Mosaic. I hold the pastor of Mosaic, Erwin McManus, in highest esteem. He is one of my favorite authors. And he is an amazing communicator.

To make a long story short, Mosaic services are very interactive. And they asked for a volunteer to do an interpretive dance of chaos. Let's just say there was mutiny on the bounty. Our team turned on me and volunteered yours truly. I was mortified. My sum total of dancing experience was going swing dancing once or twice. If you can call it that. And I did the river dance routine at our variety show a few years ago. That's it. I didn't even know the running man yet! I had zero skilzs. And they put on a stage in front of a church. And had me dance! I can't even put into words what was going through my head. I was dancing on the outside, but I was dying on the inside. I've never felt more self-conscious. I've never been more humiliated. It ranks as one of my all-time embarrassing moments.

I actually have a video of that dance. One of the mutinous team members happened to have a video phone and he took some footage. I posted the vlog on my blog. You'll have to scroll down to Thursday, September 15. If you listen closely you'll hear Erwin McManus laughing. And he's not laughing "with" me.

By the way, I was reading Erwin McManus' book The Barbarian Way this week. No, I haven't boycotted his books. And he said there is an old Celtic Proverb that says you shouldn't give a sword to a man who can't dance. Let's just say that if I lived in ancient Ireland I would have been disarmed.

The Fear of Foolishness

I think deep down inside, all of us of us are afraid of looking foolish.

For what it's worth, the #1 fear in poll after poll is speaking in public. The #2 fear is death! That means that most people would rather die than speak in public. Why? The fear of looking foolish! It's the curse of self-consciousness.

It's that fear of foolishness that keeps us from raising our hand in the fourth grade because what if our answer is wrong. It's the fear of foolishness that keeps us from asking someone out on a date because what if they say no. It's the fear of foolishness that keeps us from changing majors or changing jobs. It's the fear of foolishness that keeps us from praying for a miracle or sharing out faith. And it's the fear of foolishness that keeps us from worshipping God the way we could and should.

But here's the deal: if you aren't willing to look foolish you're foolish.

Here's one of my personal definitions of faith: the willingness to look foolish.

Noah looked foolish building an ark in the dessert. Sarah looked foolish buying maternity clothes at ninety. The Israelites looked foolish marching around Jericho blowing trumpets. David looked foolish attacking Goliath with a slingshot. The Wise Men looked foolish following yonder star. Peter looked foolish stepping out of the boat in the middle of the lake in the middle of the night. And Jesus looked foolish hanging half-naked on the cross.

But that's faith. Faith is the willingness to look foolish. And the results speak for themselves don't they?

Noah was saved from the flood. Sarah gave birth to Isaac. The walls of Jericho came tumbling down. David defeated Goliath. The Wise Men found the Messiah. Peter walked on water. And Jesus rose from the dead.

Can I tell you why some of us have never killed a giant or walked on water? It's because we're not willing to look foolish. We're not willing to attach with a slingshot or get out of the boat in the middle of the lake.

Backstory

I think II Samuel 6 is a microcosm. It's one isolated incident. But I think it reveals why God used David in such historic ways. David has just been crowned the King of Israel. He has defeated the Philistines. He has recaptured the fortress of Zion. And he's bringing the Ark of Covenant back to Jerusalem.

All of that to say this: this is on the greatest days of his life!

II Samuel 6:16 says, "But as the Ark of the Lord entered the City of David, Michal, the daughter of Saul, looked down from her window. When she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she was filled with contempt for him."

Let me make an observation.

When you get excited about God don't expect everybody to get excited about your excitement. Here's why. When the Holy Spirit turns up the BTUs underneath you it disrupts the status quo. Some people will be inspired by what God is doing in your life. Others will be convicted. And they will mask their personal conviction by finding something to criticize. Nine times out of ten, criticism is a defense mechanism. We criticize in others what we don't like about ourselves!

Michal is dripping with sarcasm. II Samuel 6:20 says that David went home to bless his family. And Michal says, "How the King of Israel has distinguished himself today, disrobing in the sight of the slave girls."

Here's what impresses me about David. He wasn't afraid of looking foolish. He wasn't afraid of taking off his royal robes and dancing without hindrance and without inhibition before the Lord.

Think about the circumstances. David was the newly crowned king of Israel. The significance of that is this: I think there was added pressure to act like a King. He had a reputation to protect. He had a crown to represent. Kings don't disrobe and dance! Shepherd boys do!

And no one knew that better than Michal. Why? She was a KK-a King's kid. She grew up in the palace. She knew the protocol. And I'm guessing that Saul was very kingly. In fact, I think Saul woke up with scratches on his face because he slept with his crown on his head. Saul was all about pomp and circumstance!

I think there is powerful symbolism here. A few weeks ago I talked about Moses throwing down his shepherd's staff. That staff symbolized his identity and security. In the same sense, the royal robes symbolized David's identity and security. He refused to find his identity and security in his position as king. He found his identity and security in God. Read the Psalms. David says, "The Lord is my refuge." "The Lord is my shepherd." "The Lord is my shield."

David wasn't afraid of looking foolish!

David said to Michal, "It was before the Lord, who chose me rather than your father or anyone his house when he appointed me ruler over the Lord's people Israel-I will celebrate before the Lord. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes."

The New Living Translation says, "I am willing to act like a fool in order to show my joy in the Lord. Yes, and I am willing to look even more foolish than this."

Civilized

There is a powerful scene in Rocky III. Of course, all the scenes in Rocky are powerful aren't they? But I love the scene where Rocky is getting soft. He is getting cultured. He has achieved success and he loses the fire. And his manager, Mick, says to Rocky, "But then the worst thing happened that could happen to any fighter, you got civilized."

When I read the gospels, the only civilized people I see are the Pharisees. Evidently, Jesus wasn't very impressed with pomp and circumstance. In fact, it seems to me that Jesus handpicked a dozen disciples who were undomesticated.

I see Jesus lambasting the Pharisees and praising a prostitute who doesn't know any better than to crash a party and pour an Alabaster jar of perfume on his feet as an act of worship.

I don't think God cares about outward appearance. At all. If doesn't matter where you're wearing royal robes or servant's garb. What God is looking for is people who are desperate enough to climb sycamore trees and cut holes in ceilings and push through crowds and yell at the top of their voices and jump out of boats to get to him!

Undignified

The David says, "I will become even more undignified than this."

One of the words for worship in Hebrew is hallal. It means clamorously foolish. I love that. In other words, if you aren't willing to look foolish you can't worship!

On a human plane, worship is foolish isn't it? Singing to someone you can't see! Raising your hands to someone you can't touch.

But stop and think about it.

Have you ever seen someone dancing in their car? You see their head banging or their body swaying. If they're really into it their car is rocking. They look sort of foolish don't they? Why? Because you can't hear the music!

There is an old proverb: "Those who hear not the music think the dancer is mad."

That's what is happening in II Samuel 6 isn't it? David hears the music. Michal doesn't. So who's crazy?

All I know is this, if we had ultrasonic hearing and we could tune into heaven's frequency and hear the angels singing it'd lift us off our feet. We'd dance like David danced in II Samuel 6!

No Inhibitions

II Samuel 6:20 says, "How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, disrobing in the sight of the slave girls like any indecent person might do."

David took off his royal robes. That's a picture of worship. Worship is disrobing. It's getting naked and exposing ourselves to God. It's also the recognition that it's not about what we can do for God. It's not about our "royal robes." It's about what God has done for us. The greatest freedom in the world is having nothing to prove. Instead of trying to prove who he was-the king of Israel. David was embracing who God is-the King of Kings.

When I was three years-old I got out of the bathtub, went out the front door, and ran down the block stark naked. My mom eventually caught me and put some clothes on me. When I was three years-old I had no inhibitions. Zero. Zilch. Nada.

I see the same thing in our three year-old, Josiah. He is being potty-trained right now. So this week we were at Target and Lora took him to the bathroom. Josiah decided to give a play-by-play description so everybody in the restroom could track his progress. When he finished they walked out of the bathroom and Josiah yelled at the top of his voice, "Daddy, I went poopy in the potty!" He might as well have gotten on the intercom and said: "Attention all Target Shoppers."

Here's what I love about that. Kids aren't self-conscious.

Remember what Jesus said? "You must become like little children if you want to enter the Kingdom of Heaven." I think this is one dimension of that. We need to become less self-conscious. Like little children.

I think that's part of what John the Baptist meant when he said, "He must become Greater. I must become less." We need to care more about what God thinks and care less about what people think.

Unhealthy and unholy people are trapped by our fear of looking foolish. The happiest and healthiest people aren't afraid of looking foolish.

Let me put it in theological perspective.

Genesis 3:7 describes what happened the nanosecond after Adam and Eve sinned for the first time: "At that moment, their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness."

The moment they sinned they become self-conscious. In other words, self-consciousness isn't just a curse. It is part of The Curse. Before the fall, there were no inhibitions in Eden. For what it's worth, there won't be any inhibitions in heaven either!

Think of spiritual maturity as a continuum. On one side is "God-consciousness" and on the other side is "self-consciousness." To become like Christ is to become more God-conscious and less self-conscious. The end result ought to be no ungodly inhibitions.

What does Ephesians 5:18 says? "Don't be drunk with wine. Instead, let the Holy Spirit fill you and control you." What happens when you get drunk? You lose all inhibition. Paul is saying that wine is the wrong way to lose inhibition. The right way is being filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit helps us overcome our ungodly inhibitions.

I like the way Ron Rolheiser says it: "Isn't it the task of the Holy Spirit to introduce some madness and intoxication into the world? Why this propensity for balance and safety? Don't we all long for one moment of raw risk, one moment of divine madness?"

David is intoxicated with God. His dance is divine madness! He takes off his royal robes and loses all inhibition. He humiliates himself before God.

We are way too preoccupied with ourselves. And that's what keeps us from worshipping God the way we could and should. I love Eugene Peterson's definition of worship: "Worship is the strategy by which we interrupt our preoccupation with ourselves."

The greatest moments are those moments when we lose self-consciousness. We forget about ourselves. It's almost an "out of body" experience.

That's what heaven will be like. We'll be so enraptured by God that we won't be thinking about ourselves.

We'll be too busy enjoying God.

Forever.

Monday, September 19th got off to an interesting start.

I overheard Lora telling Summer that there would never be another September 19, 2005. And she started rattling off what was so unique about this day. It got me thinking about the uniqueness of each day, each week, each month.

I've got to admit, I'm walking into this week with rare excitement.

I'm meeting with a publisher who is flying into town on Wednesday. I feel as called to write as I do to pastor. So finding the right publisher for my next book is of huge importance. I think this meeting could be one of those "one small step/one giant leap" deals. At least that's what I'm hoping and praying for. I've had numerous discussions with several great publishing houses, but the publisher I'm meeting with this week is top drawer. They'd definitely be on my wish list.

I have a podcast interview with Terry Storch on Friday. I love that guy! I like talking with people who are even crazier than I am :) Terry is a leading voice in the blog revolution.

And I'm meeting with a movie producer who is coming into town this week. One of my passions is redeeming the entertainment industry and producing short films and eventually feature films