BST's Blog

We're in dance recital time. Maddie and Ella have done a fantastic job. They have one more performance Sunday night at New Song at 5:30. It’s been fun to watch them prepare and get excited about it. Blogger won't let me post pics for some reason. Maybe I've reached my max?

As I mentioned, I’ve been at the Willow Creek Leadership Summit. It’s been mostly good. As is always the case, you have to take some things and translate it to your own tribe or environment. Perhaps one of the greatest things I’ve been reminded of this week is that leaders are called to inspire people. And one of the best ways to inspire people is to paint a picture…a dream that’s bigger than ourselves. The Kingdom of Jesus is an upside down kingdom. It’s a way of death…not exactly popular. Come and die. Come and lose your life and gain His. Come and give up your rights and lay down your will. These are not exactly great conference themes. I’ve missed hearing some of that this week.

The other thing about conference or “group think” that is sometimes troubling is when someone we respect stands and says, “This is the best way to achieve results…” and people all nod their heads and leave trying to make their places look exactly like that. It’s troubling to me because there is a certain truth in principle to all of that, but there are often discrepancies. I’ve found myself uncomfortable in ZOE settings after teaching a class and going home replaying it in my mind. I have tried more in recent years to stress how the Holy Spirit wants to do a unique work in all of our places. There are awesome ideas we can share and ways communal discernment can create something better than we could ever do on our own...but I confess to you that often times the messiness of that causes us to opt for the least common denominator. I shiver when I hear people say things like…”Well, we can’t do it that way because that’s not how ZOE does it”. Or, today I heard someone say, “Well, Bill Hybels said we have to…”

Praise God for His example of the Body---all parts, all functions, all joined together serving our purpose and working towards the same end. We need each other. And…aren’t we glad?

ZOE sings in Athens, Alabama Saturday night (tonight). It's my first date back with ZOE. I'm looking forward to it!

BIG NEWS!!!!!!!
The kids' record I produced with Eric Wyse called Playground released yesterday! The first shipment to stores was 20,000! Wooo-hooo!! TJ sounds great on it! He wrote most of the songs. He and I co-wrote a couple. It will also be available on itunes. I'll let you know when. Click here to find a Parable bookstore near you! God's hand was on this project from start to finish. It was one of the most enjoyable projects I've ever been a part of. Please, go buy lots of CDs!!