From the monthly archives:

August 2008

Buncha Stuff Sunday

August 31, 2008

Made a weekend trip to Cincinnati with my family.  My wife grew up there and we visited some of her favorite childhood spots and the Cincinnati Zoo.  We had a great tip and stayed at the Garfield Hotel.  You should go there. The rooms were HUGE. I was shocked at how rough downtown Cincinnati was.  [...]

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Why Last Night was a BIG Beautiful Deal (Video)

August 29, 2008

"Seeing Barack Obama accept the Democratic nomination for President will be one of the biggest moments of my life." Yesterday morning, I typed those words to several thousand friends of mine through Twitter and Facebook and received a response as diverse as our nation.  Admittedly though, I was surprised at the number of people that [...]

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Making Your Spouse Comfortable with Risks

August 28, 2008

Launching out to start a new entrepreneurial venture is a major risk.  Failure isn’t just a possibility – it’s likely.  My vision for The Courageous Church here in Atlanta is so huge that I am pretty sure we are either going to hit a grand slam or completely strike out.  Our risk of failure is [...]

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Pray for a Brother!

August 27, 2008

My heart yearns to reach uchurched people and help build them into courageous followers of Jesus.  That’s why we’re launching The Courageous Church in downtown Atlanta.  It’s pretty much what I eat and breathe and dream about (any leaders or church planters understand this?).  I start back @ Emory tomorrow and could imagine that it’s [...]

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An Incredible Apology that Changed My Life

August 26, 2008

In January of 2007, I received an email from a name I did not recognize.  It was entitled, Long Overdue Apology. I thought that it must have been junk, but much to my surprise it was amongst the most moving things I have ever read. I grew up in a very racist town in rural [...]

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The Courageous Church is Coming to Center Stage

August 25, 2008

The Courageous Church is coming to Center Stage – right in the heart of Midtown Atlanta in Atlantic Station!  This is a BIG, HAIRY move for us as we prepare to reach the city of Atlanta with chain-breaking worship and a courageous, bold message of what it means to follow Jesus! Nearly ever major artist [...]

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(Not a) Buncha Stuff Sunday -World Hunger Edition

August 24, 2008

For my kids, starvation means not getting a snack between breakfast and lunch or snack #2 between lunch and dinner.  Could you imagine the desperation of living in a place where so little food exists that you watch your children become emaciated unto death?  I cannot imagine such a reality.  I have eaten something every [...]

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Share the Link Love Saturday

August 23, 2008

My friend Eugene Cho gives a great perspective about two recent controversies regarding "Christian celebrities" here in the states and around the world. Chris Elrod really made me pause and think about how a pastor should respond to these issues when it really impacts the people your local community I got a real ghetto comment [...]

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Are you a Shawty Lo or T.I. Leader? (Video)

August 22, 2008

Before I became a Christian, I was a hip hop DJ.  I DJ’d @ house parties and clubs, made mix tapes, promoted concerts, and more.  Every dime I had went to music.  A good number of my childhood friends and college roomies are now full-time rappers and producers.  Although I mainly rock audio books and [...]

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What’s Missing?

August 21, 2008

Still writing from my Blackberry until I get a computer up and running @ home. I have a hunch that sometimes you get the feeling that something is missing from your life. I get this feeling from time to time and think I know what it is. You know, like I know, that God is [...]

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A Sign

August 20, 2008

Both computers in my house broke down at what seemed to be the worst time ever. I am about to start @ Emory in a few days, my wife and kids just started back to school last week, and I had a series of really cool blog posts scheduled. A ton of other reasons make [...]

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Praying for 1,000 Souls for our 1st Service on 1/11/09

August 18, 2008

I have been burdened today to begin praying that The Courageous Church reaches 1,000 people with our Grand Opening Service on 1/11/2009.  This number sounds big, but in a city in which the overwhelming majority of new residents, old residents, and 50,000+ college students don’t go to church at all, the number may actually be [...]

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Do You Make Angels Yawn? (Free Book Giveaway)

August 18, 2008

What an amazing question?!  If it is true that angels were, in part, created to guard and protect us as we pursue the will of God, are you living a life that is so dull and drab that your angel is somewhere yawning and gaining weight because of all of your inactivity?  It’s a funny [...]

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Buncha Stuff Sunday

August 17, 2008

We are this (hold up your thump and index finger as if you were hold a piece of paper) close to finalizing the contract for our Sunday morning location and hope to announce that we’ve sealed the deal any day now! This week I received about ten major signs and confirmations that this facility is [...]

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Now Featured on Alltop.com (I Should Retire Now)

August 16, 2008

I almost retired from pastoring altogether when Craig Groeschel and Gary Lamb commented on my blog a few months back.  After I caught my breath and came to my senses, I realized that we haven’t even launched The Courageous Church yet.  When I started reading some of my news from the Alltop website a few [...]

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My Girls are Growing Up

August 16, 2008

This is a picture of my girls a few years ago.  Tae didn’t have any teeth and Kendi hadn’t started elementary school yet.  I was the only man/boy they liked or loved. This is a shot of the girls before their first day of school.  They are getting tall and begged us to buy them [...]

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A Preview of Next Week’s Topics

August 15, 2008

Way back in the day (two months ago) I used to just wake up and wonder what I should blog about.  Doing that day in and day out is not only stressful, but puts a major drain on creativity.  I am planning my blog posts out more now and even writing several posts at a [...]

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Broke, but not Broken -Coming Clean about Finances

August 15, 2008

This week I decided to take off my mask so that you could really see a more complete perspective of who I am.  For laughs and giggles I told you how often I get "the runs" before I speak publicly (bet I lost some invitations over that) and yesterday we started a great conversation about [...]

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Overcoming Pornographic Addiction

August 14, 2008

This week I am taking off the mask and baring some of the funny and difficult realities of who I am.  Don’t get me wrong, I am comfortable being a role model for people, but I want folk to know that I have struggles today and have had struggles in the past just like them. [...]

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Public Speaking Gives Me the Runs (Video)

August 13, 2008

I’m taking off my mask for the next few days and revealing some of the real challenges I have in life.  Pastors and leaders too often come off like everything is perfect and for me that’s just not the case. About half of the time I have to speak publicly, my stomach gets so upset [...]

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