August 2009

Courageous Church Podcast

August 26, 2009

Search “Courageous Church” on iTunes or get our latest podcast from 100 Life Goals: Creating a Vision for Victory here.

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Scripture for Family/Friends Goals

August 26, 2009

The Courageous Church is currently going through a series entitled 100 Life Goals: Creating a Vision for Victory.  It has been a powerful experience as we guide our community through a very real process of creating a real, working, God-inspired plan for their lives.  Here are the scriptures that we used this past Sunday to [...]

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The #1 Killer of Dreams

August 19, 2009

(This is part 2 from my opening message for 100 Life Goals: Creating a Vision for Victory) —— Do you still have dreams? You used to. You used to dream big, exciting, audacious dreams in which you were courageous and fully alive. In those dreams you saw yourself as successful. In fact, the funny thing [...]

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#1 with Cheese & a Coke to Drink Please

August 19, 2009

(As we wait for our podcast to be put up…I thought I’d post the intro to my message from this past Sunday up for you to read.  Our series is entitled 100 Life Goals: Creating a Vision for Victory.  I’ll post part 2 tomorrow.) I started off God’s Minute which you can read here. —- [...]

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What Do You Hope For?

August 18, 2009

This past Sunday we launched into what I think is the most life-changing message series we have experienced as a community faith entitled, 100 Life Goals: Creating a Vision for Victory.  Beyond record attendance, we had record participation and buy-in and it was overwhelmingly obvious to me that people are hungry and ready to live [...]

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God’s Minute by Dr. Benjamin Elijah Mays

August 16, 2009

I heard this poem regularly as a student @ Morehouse College.  It’s about squeezing value out of the time that God has given you.  I’m pretty sure most of us forget that our time on earth was given to us as a gift to use and is severely limited. Simple but profound, Dr. Benjamin Elijah [...]

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I Never Make Casting Errors

August 15, 2009

I just finished watching the movie “Rescue Dawn” starring Christain Bale.  It is an amazing story of survival about a man named Dieter Dengler that I would really rank up there with Miracle in the Andes or the story of Ernest Shackleton.  These are my favorite types of tales because they are so absolutely ridiculous [...]

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Online Reading/Resources for Setting 100 Life Goals

August 15, 2009

Tomorrow we are starting what I think is going to be the most powerful, life-changing series in the life of our young church – 100 Life Goals: Creating a Vision for Victory.  I wanted to create a simple resource list for you that I will be referencing throughout the series.  This is a living list [...]

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10 Steps to Setting 100 Life Goals

August 15, 2009

This short article from Mark Batterson about 10 Steps to Setting 100 Life Goals is a life-changer. I am pretty much basing the 100 Life Goals series that I am starting tomorrow on the ideas I read here.

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You have to make the BIG ASK!

August 13, 2009

7 months in to leading Courageous Church and I have realized that a HUGE part of discipling people and getting them to new levels in life is much simpler than I expected. You have to make the BIG ASK (I dare you to say BIG ASK 5 times fast) :-) Almost odd, Jesus, in the [...]

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Shake What Your Mama Gave You!

August 11, 2009

In our culture it is very tempting to focus on what we don’t have. Our house is never big enough. Our gadget is never new enough. Our teeth are never white enough. Our skin is never clear enough. Our TV screens are never wide enough. You get the picture. Very simply – I want to [...]

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100 Life Goals: Creating a Vision for Victory

August 11, 2009

RSVP Today! If faith is “the substance of things HOPED FOR and the evidence of things unseen,” the question is…. What are YOU hoping for? If you don’t choose what you HOPE for, here’s the thing…life will choose for you! Ever find yourself just hoping you have enough money to make it through the month? [...]

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Summer Slump is a Self Fulfilling Prophecy

August 8, 2009

Churches (so I have been taught for years to believe) go through a major slump in the summer. Attendance goes down. The offering plummets. Interest in the church dissipates. If you can just survive the summer, everything will be fine. While this is just my first summer as pastor of Courageous Church, we haven’t experienced [...]

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I Just Wanna Be Successful: Why Drake Needs to Read Andy Stanley

August 7, 2009

Have you heard of Drake?  He’s the new “it” guy in hip hop and a pretty talented young dude working with the right people and rapping about the stuff that will make you popular in 2009. He has a song out that I find quite sad.  The name of the song is “Successful” and it [...]

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We Did It!

August 7, 2009

If you didn’t catch the news, we hit our goal @ GiveThemAGoodStart.com and delivered several truckloads of amazing school supplies this morning!  We went downright Pentecostal and prayed and laid hands on everything before we delivered them :-) Here’s the list of everything we delivered: Count Item 2028 #2 Pencils 7 #56 HP Ink Cartridges [...]

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What I’m Reading

August 4, 2009

I read about 30 or so blogs on a regular basis and learn so much from them.  I still love books, but I have to admit that the blogs I read daily take up some of the time I previously used with books and print magazines.  Here are some great recent reads… Who are you [...]

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Tax Free Holiday Ends Today!

August 2, 2009

Hey Friends, Thank all of you for supporting our efforts @ GiveThemAGoodStart.com! We are raising funds and have 8 days left to hit our goal!  We can do it…TOGETHER! Although we have 8 days left to raise all of the funds we need, TODAY is the final day of the tax free holiday for school [...]

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