I recently read an article by John Ortberg titled People of the Book. Love the way John writes and speaks! Thought I'd share a few things that made my synapses fire in new ways.

Here are some wordbytes:

"I was at a conference recently on generosity, and I asked a man who works full time with churches in the area of stewardship what typifies generous churches. His immediate response: 'They have generous senior pastors'."

"Suffering causes people to ask questions like no other force in the world. It snaps the threads of our illusions of control and sufficiency."

"We get so used to the Bible, we miss its edginess. The prophets were the original street performance artists. What they did was much more like radical street theater than it was like a church service."

"If I'm honest, what holds me back is not lack of creativity. It's lack of urgency. I don't think the main force that drove the prophets was creativity for creativity's sake. I think it was spiritual reality. There was such a desperate awareness of the need for God to come fix things up that it drove them to do anything to make space people's awareness for God.

"The teachers I most learn from often find non-verbal ways to drive home what they are teaching."

"People don't care what I know. They care about what I'm learning."

The early bird deadline for Unplugged is two days away. If you register by April 30, the cost is $149. Love to hang out with some blog readers for a couple days! We'll have conversations around the five greatest challenges that every leader faces.

The dates are June 26-27.

Space is limited. We'll hang out at Ebenezers Coffeehouse!

What a great weekend. Steve Saccone from Mosaic came out and did a seminar helping us discover our strengths. We continued the Potential series. And capped things off with our variety show. Too much fun. Although, I have to admit that I was thoroughly embarrassed during our 80's triathlon.

The triathlon included name that tune, a dance off, and an 80's solo. I was nailing You're the Inspiration by Chicago in the shower all week, but once I got on stage they changed keys or something. Man, I have a renewed respect for musicians! Chris rocked the dance off big time! And Heather stole the show with her ballad.

What's got 48,000 BTUs and 667 square inches of cooking space? My new grill. And all this for the price of $159. That's what I'm talking about. Our old grill was down to one burner. I could cook about about 3 dogs at a time. Pretty pathetic! Nice to have four burners. Plus, my old grill had to be lit with a match so my mid-digital hair on my fingers got singed every time I lit the thing!

To top it off, the grill came pre-assembled. One of my first construction projects, after Lora and I got married, was assembling our first grill. I lost all sense of manliness. It took me more than four hours. And Lora realized she had married an unhandy man. Pre-assembled projects are my kind of projects.

Well, time to quit blogging and start grilling!

Looking forward to our annual variety show this weekend. We're going ol' skool. I'm caving in to the blogosphere pressure. Against my better judgment, you can watch our jam session and get the 411 here.

Sunday @ 6 PM
Stuart Hobson School
410 E Street, NE

Be there or be square!

Had a great day in Kansas City. I did an afternoon session on creativity. And I preached the ordination service tonight. Ordination was such a powerful milestone in my own ministry. Brought back lots of memories. Also enjoyed reconnecting with some old friends.

I've only been away from home three days, but it almost seems like three weeks. Can't wait to see the fam! I catch the first flight of the day at 6 AM.

I hop a flight to Kansas City this morning to speak at the Kansas District Council. I'm doing an afternoon session on leadership. And I'll preach a Chase the Lion message tonight.

Bon Voyage!

Loved Andy Stanley's session at Exponential. He talked about how to make vision stick. Here are the five vision principles he shared:

1) Make it simple

Boil it down to an irreducible minimum. Andy cited the One Campaign's vision statement as an example: make poverty history.

Andy also shared Northpoint's vision: to create a church that unchurched people love to attend.

2) Cast it Convincingly

3) Repeat it Regularly

"Vision leaks." As your church gets larger, you need more vision and you need to share it more frequently. One of the unique challenges we face at NCC is our turnover rate. 44% of NCCers have attended less than one year. So we need to communicate vision more consistently.

4) Celebrate it Systematically

"Stories do more to clarify and illustrate vision than anything else."

5) Embrace it Personally and Publicly

Today I'm doing a session at the Exponential Conference titled: the five greatest challenges every leader faces. It's a dry-run for our Unplugged event in June.

So I want to do a little blog research. Would you take a second to comment on this question: what is the greatest challenge that you face in leadership?

Wild Goose Chase is out of my hands!

Yesterday I sent off the final copy edit to my Publisher. What a relief. I really wrestled with this book. I prayed over it and poured over it. And I'd like to think that the God's fingerprints are all over it.

Now that it's out of my hands I can't wait to get it into readers hands, but it won't release until August.

Headed to Orlando for the Exponential Conference. I'm doing a pre-conference seminar on creative communication. Look forward to hanging out with the church planting tribe!

For our FSM (Father/Son Meeting) this weekend I took Parker to see Expelled. I thought it was fascinating and funny. Parker and I kept turning to each other and saying "that was random" because of some of the old movie clips they splice in.

Man, this documentary is going to get some people pretty fired up. It took me back to my University of Chicago days where I felt like such an intellectual minority because of my views on the origin of the earth. I was made to feel like a fool for believing in an Intelligent Designer. But listen, everybody has to account for the first cause. How in the world did organic life come from inorganic primordial soup? And where did the soup come from? Honestly, I don't know how you can look at a strand of DNA and doubt an Intelligent Designer. Random chance or Intelligent Design? Ironically, I think it takes more faith to believe in Random Chance.

This weekend we continued our Potential series. Loving this series on lots of levels. I feel like helping people reach their God-given potential is the core of my calling. And I'm really enjoying hanging out in I and II Timothy.

The only challenge this weekend was my voice. Not sure if my vocal chords are strained from too much speaking, but I don't have much endurance these days.

Yesterday we had our first official spring picnic. The weather was beautimus so we took a frisbee and food and headed over to the FDR memorial by the Tidal Basin. Fellow Washingtonians know that one of the challenges of living in the city is that we don't have backyards. But you gotta love picnics on the National Mall.

By the way, this isn't just tourist season in DC. For Washingtonians, it's tourist watching season. Lots of class pictures and tour buses in DC right now!

We're gearing up for our annual variety show next weekend. We're going Old School. So yesterday our staff formed a little break dance circle at Ebenezers and had a little dance off. We had quite an audience. Captive audience. The Ebz customers and security guards from the Federal Judiciary building got a little Friday afternoon entertainment.

Can I just say that is one reason why I love NCC? We love having fun and looking foolish. And I think we're pretty good at it. Especially the latter!

For the past decade, Dick Foth has been my friend and mentor. He is a former pastor, college president, and currently serves as a minister-at-large in the congressional and diplomatic communities in DC. Hard to put into words what Dick has meant to me both personally and professionally. In fact, my next book is dedicated to Dick.

So today we we went out on the National Mall and spent several hours shooting a video that will close out our Potential series. Instead of having Dick preach, we decided to experiment with a conversation. We talked about everything from finding a mentor to leaving a legacy.

One of the things we're trying to do this year is experiment with new preaching forms. Whenever possible I want to get out from behind the pulpit and preach on location. I think it'll be a cool way to cap off our Potential series.

One of my life goals is to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. So a few months ago I got an email from Joel Malm, director of Commission Expeditions. He was at a Passion Conference and someone recommended In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day. He read the book and extended a very unique speaking opportunity. We'd climb Mount Kilimanjaro and I'd share a devotional at base camp each day. After the climb we'd go on a short missions project. And then tag on a safari. How do you pass up an opportunity like that? We're looking at doing the expedition in July of 2009.

I love my day off. During the school year I take Wednesdays off because our kids have a half-day of school. Lora and I usually hit a coffeehouse and hang out. Yesterday it was Firehook on the Senate side of the hill. And it was so beautiful we just walked around the Capitol. Felt like tourists! A ton of class trips during this time of year. I wonder how many pictures we inadvertently ended up in yesterday.

In the afternoon, we took the kids to the National Arboretum. Pretty cool "sanctuary" in the middle of the city. Josiah must have ridden his scooter about a mile yesterday. And Summer and her friends rode in the back of our mini-van with the back hatch up and legs dangling until we got pulled over by a very zealous security guard who told us we can't do that.

Last night I went to Parker's Lacrosse practice. Honestly, I've never played Lacrosse and I don't even know the rules. But I might get a Lacrosse stick so Parker and I can play catch. Pretty cool game.

One of the things I'm becoming more intentional about as a parent is finding shared hobbies with my kids. It's been really cool running with Parker as we train for our 10K. Tonight we spent a little time on the climbing wall at Results gym. Man, that is a humbling experience! My forearms were cramping in a matter of minutes. But I think rock climbing is going to be another shared hobby that will result in shared experiences.

We did a major spring cleaning in our offices today. The whole staff pitched in and broke a sweat. Honestly, it was fun getting rid of lots of accumulated junk!

In the spirit of spring cleaning, we're doing a spring special on In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy. Along with the 50% off case discount (24 books), we'll throw in a Chase the Lion t-shirt. Just let us know your size. You can see the basic design below.

Email resources@theaterchurch.com for details.

Just wanted to extend an invitation to anyone who has a heart for church planting. We're hosting a luncheon for my friend and church planting guru, Trinity Jordan. I had the joy of seeing Elevation Church firsthand this past January. They are going to be launching new churches in Utah so Trinity is coming out to raise funds. If you're interested in attending, email events@theaterchurch.com to reserve a spot.

Think of it as a step in the direction of becoming a church planting church.

Lunch is on us!

Decided to do our taxes early this year. Yes, early means April 14. I have this weird idiosyncrasy: I feel bad if I'm too early with some things. I feel that way if I'm flying. Good stewardship is getting to the gate right as they call my boarding group. I feel that way with preaching. I can never finish sermon prep until the day of. It doesn't matter how much I've studied or prepared, I've got to continue fine tuning until the last minute! Same with taxes. I always end up getting them done just in time! That way it's a rush of adrenaline. Not really. But sort of.

For what it's worth, Lora is the one who manages our budget and checkbook. But for some strange reason, I really enjoy doing taxes. It's sort of like an annual puzzle that I try to figure out. Of course, while I'm doing them I keep asking myself: why do I like doing this again?

Wanted to put an event on the radar.

We've invited Steve Saccone from Mosiac to come and do their Yelo seminar as part of our Potential series. Yelo is all about discovering your gifts and playing to your strengths. We want to open this up to those outside NCC. Love to have some area churches bring some folks to this event. Be a great way to equip and unleash volunteers!
The date is Saturday, April 26 from 9 AM to 3 PM. And it will be held at Ebenezers coffeehouse. This six-hour and $50 investment will pay dividends the rest of your life.

You can register here.

Just got out of a session with Len Sweet. What a brilliant mind. He likened cultural changes like post-modernism and post-Christianity to a perfect storm. And he challenged us to quit complaining about the weather. Here are five navigational principles he shared:

1) Launch into the deep. Our natural tendency is to run the other direction when a storm is headed our way. But the ships that get destroyed are the ones that hug the harbor.

2) Steer into the storm. I think this is what Paul did in Athens. He didn't back down. He stepped up, walked into the areopagus, and went toe-to-toe with the most brilliant minds in the ancient world.

3) Get rid of excess cargo.

4) Lash yourself to the mast. The more culture changes the more we have to be in the Word. It's our anchor!

5) Enjoy the ride.

For what it's worth, Len has a book that just came out called The Church of the Perfect Storm. It's compilation of chapters from a variety of leaders, including yours truly. I think it's a good read.

Head to Toronto this morning to speak at The NOVA Experience hosted by Willowcreek Canada. Very excited about heading across the border! I'll do a session today on creative communication and then close out the conference with the last session on Saturday.

Took Summer on a little date last night. It's been too long since our last one! One of the things I'm learning as a dad is the value of one-on-one time. It's a whole different dynamic than when we're together as an entire family. My goal as a parent is to keep the lines of communication open so my kids feel like they can talk to me about anything and everything, especially when they get into some things that are over their heads!

Nothing like quality time with your kids. And I think the only way to have quality time is quantity time. I often feel under-qualified and over-whelmed by the changes my kids are going through. I feel like I need more parenting skilz. You know what I mean? But one thing every parent can do, no matter how skilled or unskilled, is just spend good old-fashioned one-on-one time with their kids.

My deepest desire as a dad is to see my kids grow up to love God and want to hang out with us when they are old enough to have a choice. But I think they'll want to hang out with us then if we hang out with them now!

Last week I had the joy of being called an apostate evangelist because of a book I had on my recommended reading list. I'm not even sure exactly what an apostate evangelist is, but I don't think it was a compliment. I just thought this was an opportunity to process how I process stuff like this.

For starters, I always try to stay positive on my blog. There is way too much sideways energy in the kingdom. If something says or does something heretical or blasphemous, then we need to call a spade a spade. But there are lots of Christians taking pot shots at other Christians. I've decided not to defend myself. I probably wouldn't have time for anything else. But I do want to set the record straight.

I have officially removed my recommended reading list from my blog. Let me explain why. I read a ton of books. I used to read about 150 books per year. I now read closer to 50-75 books per year. And my reading list includes lots of books by lots of people I have issue with theologically or personally. I love spiritual classics by people like Tozer or Chambers that I agree with lock, stock, and barrel. But I also like reading books that I don't totally agree with because it makes me think. And it's sort of disingenuous to not believe in something you don't even know about. I read lots of non-Christian authors as part of my cultural exegesis.

Long story short, I had some books listed that I enjoyed reading personally. They made me think in new ways or gave me insight into culture or even helped me understand why I don't believe what I don't believe. And while they are written by people who don't have a Christian worldview, they resulted in a better understanding of Scripture and a closer relationship with Christ. Yes, that's possible!

But here's the thing:I put them through my seminary filter. I'm able to digest them in ways that absorbs the nutrients and gets rid of the waste. But I'm afraid that my recommendations might be viewed as an endorsement of everything these authors stand for as writers and people. It's definitely not. So while I think it's laughable that someone calls me an "apostate evangelist" because of one book I've read, this is an instance where I've decided to error on the side of caution because I know that with visibility comes greater accountability. And if my recommended reading list is a stumbling block it's not worth it. Listen, while NCC is somewhat unorthodox in practice we are absolutely orthodox in belief by any historical standard. And Scripture is the final authority when it comes to truth.

I guess what I'm saying is this: I've learned to choose my battles wisely. And this isn't the hill where I want to fight. It's not important enough. What's so ironic is that I've taken it on the chin from several sides because of an author whose early writings I enjoyed but has become more of a syncretist whom I absolutely disagree with!

For what it's worth, I talked about not majoring in minors this past weekend. Paul warns Timothy against arguments that waste time and start fights. I'm just not going to go there. I don't get negative. And I don't defend myself. Life is too short. And the mission is too important.

One request. Can we put down our stones? We're so quick to stone one another while the world watches! It's an embarrassment. How can we love the world if we can't stop fighting with each other?

Trying to keep it real.

It was a busy day. Still feel like I'm catching up from vacation, but I had some energizing meetings today. Really enjoying hanging out with Brian Mosley from Bluefish TV and Rightnow.org. Also did an interview with Skye Jathani, managing editor of Leadership Journal and the Out of Ur blog.

Topped the day off by meeting with our auditors. They are setting up shop for a few days and going over our financial systems and records.

I see a generational trend that I want to address.

It seems to me that emerging generations don't want watered-down, dumbed-down, or soft-sell versions of the truth. I think they want to be challenged and confronted. I'm not talking about Bible thumping. We need to do it persuasively and thoughtfully and prayerfully. But I have this growing sense that the people I pastor want me to get in their face more often.

To be perfectly honest, I think I was a preaching wimp early on in ministry. I was afraid of tough topics or controversial topics. I wanted to preach things that pleased everyone. But as the years have passed, I have realized that you aren't doing anybody any favors if you don't talk about tough stuff. Even if people disagree with you. At least you force them to think. Any maybe it's an opportunity to learn how to agree to disagree but still love each other. In too many instances, the church is answering questions no one is asking. We dance around the things people really think about and care about.

I think emerging generations want us to make them think, challenge them to change, and confront their sin. That's my sixth sense. And whether they want us to or not, that is part of our calling. I'm afraid that there is a strong temptation among younger preachers to just scratch where people itch. But Paul warns Timothy against that (II Timothy 4:3).

Does that resonate with anybody?

A few ideas if you want to start talking about what people are actually thinking about. One of our open-source series is The Elephant in the Church. All of the graphics and videos are free. Love to see some churches take on the obvious truths that everyone ignores. And don't just use ours. Come up with your own. You may have very different elephants running around your church than NCC.

Here's another idea. My friend Michael Kelly at Threads has done a great job with his new study The Tough Sayings of Jesus II. If you're anything like me, you tend to read faster when you come to the parts of the Bible you don't understand or aren't obeying. Maybe that is where we need to slow down!

I love to preach. I think it's the core of my calling as a pastor. I often say that I don't get paid to preach. I get paid for all the other stuff. But I preach for free!

As I was driving home from the National Preaching Conference after speaking last night I had such a feeling of peaceful joy or joyful peace. I can't believe I get to do what I do. Few things compare to the joy of knowing that somehow the Spirit of God took your words and used them to change minds and touch hearts and inspire dreams.

In the AM, I did a three-hour seminar focusing on cultural exegesis. I spent some time unpacking Acts 17. I think American is a modern-day Athens. We are surrounded by altars to unknown gods. And we've got to follow Paul's example by walking into the Areopagus (the marketplace of ideas) and competing for the truth! I also talked some about new mediums and new methods. And then I wrapped it up talking about sermon branding.

I'm spending my Monday at the National Preaching Conference. Nice to have a local conference that I don't have to fly to. I'm doing a seminar in the morning called Preaching in the New Church Setting. And then I'll preach in the Monday evening service. Really looking forward to listening to some pretty legendary preachers.

I'm still in the Junky Car Club. My 95 Ford Taurus died about a month ago. Well, we just replaced it with a 96 Honda Accord with 224,000 miles! Yeah baby. Sweet retro ride. Got a great deal on it and our kids love it because it has a sun roof.

So great to be back in the pulpit. I miss my spiritual family when I'm gone. I've said this before, but when I'm preaching back-to-back too many weekends in a row I lose a little passion. It's inevitable. But when I've been out of the pulpit for a week or two I have such a renewed passion to preach. I felt it today.

I now speak about 36 times per year which I think is a great rhythm. I also think a teaching team is one way to make a church less personality-driven. Plus we've got such gifted teachers on our team! A variety of voices is a good thing.

We continued our series titled Potential. We're focusing on some of the themes in I and II Timothy.

Today we have our quarterly leadership summit where we spend Saturday morning with our small group and ministry leaders. I typically share wins and personal updates. I also try to share what God is doing in my heart. And if I had to condense it down to one statement it would be this: I'm hungry to see God do something bigger and better in my life and in the life of National Community Church.

This week someone gave me a copy of the commencement address Steve Jobs gave at Stanford a few years ago. It was titled: Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. His words resonated with my spirit. He closed his address this way:

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewritters, scissors, and Polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along. It was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then, when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970's, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early-morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish."

It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

So excited about our conference experiment we're calling Unplugged--Less Conference, More Conversation. It's going to be a two-day conversation about the five greatest challenges leaders face. No holds barred.

Here's an invite card in electronic form. Space is limited so I'd recommend registering sooner than later. Look forward to hanging out with Jud and you!

Just wanted to put Unplugged Europe on the radar. We are going to do an Unplugged event in Washington DC, June 26-27. But we're also taking it over the Atlantic to Edinburgh, Scotland on August 21-22. We'll share more 411 when we've got it, but figured you could at least mark your calendar!

To quote an 80's classic by Survivor: the search is over. After three months of searching for a Wii we finally found one. Is that crazy or what! Part of the challenge is that we had gift cards for Toys-R-Us so we were trying to find one there. But those things are hard to come by. The Batterson family will begin a new Friday night tradition. Friday night is Wii night!

Thought I'd share a few updates coming out of our media department.

We continue to move in the direction of making all of our resources open-source. We currently have a couple sermon series that are free and downloadable. The open-source dream is simple: other churches take our ideas, tailor them to their context, and do it better than we did it. It's kingdom leap-frog.

Hundreds of churches have done a Chase the Lion series and used graphics, videos, and resources from chasethelion.com. And I'd love to see hundreds of churches do The Elephant in the Church series. We're actually going to do a sequel in the fall. You can check out the free resources at TheElephantInTheChurch.com.

One other update.

We just launched a high definition version of our podcast. For those of you who don't like small-screen poor-quality video, now you can subscribe to our high-definition version. And I if you ever want a guest preacher via video let us know. No honorarium.

Carpe digital.

I love the way Gabe Lyons and Fermi are reshaping church and culture. I recently wrote a Fermi short titled Postmodern Wells. I share some of the backstory behind Ebenezers and how we created a third place in our Capitol Hill community.

Here's a link if you want to check it out.

Thoroughly enjoyed Awaken--especially hanging out with some friends like Dan Kimball, Rick McKinley, Brad Lomenick and the entire Mosaic crew. It was also nice to meet a few new folks like Wayne Cordiero from New Hope Church in Hawaii. What an amazing communicator and nice guy.

Last night I had dinner with our former church planter in residence, Scott Aughtmon, who pastors Pathway Church in Palo Alto, CA. Then I hopped a red eye flight back to DC. Good to be back home. Rarely am I away from DC for ten days.

Tonight was one of the most enjoyable dinners I've been part of in a long time. Erwin McManus was kind enough to invite some speakers and friends over to his house. I know that's a huge sacrifice in the middle of a hectic conference that Mosaic is hosting. Some of the unscripted conversations were priceless.

One of the things I love about conferences isn't just the information I glean, but also the relational connections that are made. So cool to connect with kindred spirits!

All the speakers at Awaken have ten minutes to speak. I knew it was going to fly by, but what a rush of adrenaline. Serious time warp! I had to start wrapping up the minute I started ramping up! Thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

I decided to speak on one of the greatest dangers we face as leaders. Neurological studies have shown that over the course of time, there is a cognitive shift from right-brain to left-brain. And if we don't find a way to stop the shift, memory overtakes imagination. We stop creating the future and start repeating the past. We stop innovating and start imitating. We stop doing ministry out of imagination and start doing ministry out of memory.

A few years ago I read something R.T Kendall wrote that impacted me: "The greatest opposition to what God is doing today comes from those who were on the cutting edge of what God was doing yesterday."

I don't want that to be me!

One of the byproducts of the neurological shift away from right-brain imagination toward left-brain logic is that we become too logical. And it seems fitting on April Fool's Day to say that great leaders are illogical. The people God uses the most are people that aren't afraid of looking foolish. In fact, if you aren't willing to look foolish you're foolish!

I shared a little bit of our coffeehouse experience in my ten minutes. I still remember feeling so foolish when I called the previous owners of 201 F Street, NE. It was owned by two Jewish lawyers. NCC was only about 100-150 people at that point. And we didn't have one red cent in the bank. It felt foolish asking if they would sell the property when we didn't even have the capability of buying it. But that's one dimension of faith--the willingness to look foolish.

I Corinthians 1:27 says that God uses foolish things to shame the wise. Nothing has changed. He still uses fools. So maybe the church should adopt April Fool's Day and make it a holy day!

I've spent the better part of the last two days reading. Amazing the way a new book makes my synapses fire in new ways. Just thought I'd share one of my favorite quotes. Oliver Wendel Holmes said, "A mind stretched by a new idea never returns to its original shape." Cool thought isn't it?

Proverbs 18:15 is one of my life verses. It says, "Intelligent people are always open to new ideas. In fact, they look for them." (NLT) I never want to become a closed system. I want to stay open-minded. And one of the best ways to look for new ideas is by reading widely. You need to cross-pollinate. My bookshelves are filled with books on everything to theology to psychology to neurology to physics. Why? Because I honestly believe that every ology is a branch of theology. And when I study other disciplines I discover new dimensions of God's kaleidoscopic personality. According to Romans 1:21, creation is one way the creator reveals His character.

All I know is this: leaders are readers and readers are leaders!

I know what you're thinking. I don't have time to read. Me neither! But did you know that Teddy Roosevelt read one to two books a day while serving as President. That has always inspired me!

I'm convinced that all of us could read at least one book a month if you simply put a book in the bathroom. And some of you have more potential than that if you know what I'm saying!