From the monthly archives:

November 2009

Taking a Risk & Telling YOU My Dream

November 26, 2009

Six years ago today on Black Friday my whole life changed. Real life is crazier than fiction and the painful miracle that I experienced is so crazy that if I made it up it would sound ridiculous!  Coming that close to death has caused me to not take a single day of life for granted [...]

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Sorry So Many Pastors Talk Bad About You

November 19, 2009

After a church service one Sunday recently, a man that was visiting said something to me that took me by surprise.  After telling me how much he enjoyed the message and believed in Courageous Church, he said, “I’m sorry so many pastors talk bad about you.” It took me a second to catch what he [...]

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10!

November 17, 2009

Hey Blog Readers!  I need your help. I REALLY NEED YOUR HELP! We have just about 3 weeks to raise $20,000 to shower holiday blessings on the beautiful kids of Frank L. Stanton Elementary School in inner city Atlanta and many amazing families that lost everything in the Atlanta Floods.  This may sound like a [...]

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Mercy Amnesia!

November 17, 2009

(The daily devotional below appeared here today @ StreamingFaith.com. For the thousands of you visiting from StreamingFaith today…if you could read 2 just things on my blog I would love for you to go here or here and WE COULD REALLY USE YOUR HELP HERE!) ——- Do you have Mercy Amnesia? The more you remember that YOU NEED MERCY, the [...]

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Too Many Hoops to Jump Through: Pre-Marital Counseling, Ellen, and Gay Dudes

November 14, 2009

(My thoughts below are a work in progress and I am hoping they will spark a warm, tough, loving conversation.) I love Courageous Church.  The people I pastor are a total mess. I mean that in a loving way :-) I need them.  They need me.  We need each other.  In so many ways this [...]

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I’ll Ride a Motorbike :-) (YouTube Video)

November 12, 2009

I referenced this HILARIOUS clip from The Cosby Show this past Sunday @ Courageous Church as we dive into what it takes to honor God with our money.  It is a classic scene from the very first episode with a great exchange between dad and son dealing with what it’s going to cost to make [...]

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I’m Sorry

November 12, 2009

I’m sorry. I told an entire elementary school in inner city Atlanta that all of my friends online (if you are reading this that definitely means YOU) would purchase every child in the school a brand new uniform and a brand new toy this Christmas.  Are you mad? I know I didn’t get your permission, [...]

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The Naked Truth

November 10, 2009

On this past Sunday @ Courageous Church we launched a new series dealing with the intersection of faith, finances, and the church called “iGwt?”.  It is the first time we have really dealt with this topic head-on since we launched this past January.  People REALLY received it well and I am praying it helps us [...]

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Atlanta Santa :-) (YouTube Video)

November 5, 2009

500toys.org Last year 100s & 100s of people from 25 states and several countries came together and raised over $20,000 to purchase every single student at an award-winning inner city Atlanta elementary school brand new school uniforms and a new toy of their choosing!  It was amazing! This year we are doing it again AND [...]

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What Do You Say & Do When You Accidentally Offend a Billion People?

November 4, 2009

I hope you see that the question in the title of this post is rhetorical.  If you ever happen to offend a billion people…or ONE person on accident – I have 3 simple tips for you. 1. Accept that you did indeed offend them (if you meant to offend them or not should be temporarily [...]

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A Day in the Life of Courageous Church

November 3, 2009

On Sunday, November 1st we gave every volunteer the day off @ Courageous Church!  We filmed this video the previous Sunday to really show all of the attendees what it takes to pull one “simple” Sunday off!  Shout out to DJDust for the great video!

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Subscribe

November 3, 2009

Judging from the stats, hundreds (maybe thousands) of you visit here regularly, but you don’t subscribe.  Maybe you don’t know how to subscribe to blogs or don’t know how to subscribe to mine.  I read dozens of blogs daily through subscriptions and they keep me sharp and encouraged!  Here are two ways you can subscribe [...]

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Volunteer Revenge @ Courageous Church

November 2, 2009

Yesterday we gave every volunteer @ Courageous Church the day off…without telling anyone else.  No set up.  No breakfast.  No music.  No parking crew.  No Courageous Kids.  No signage.  No sound system.  Nothing!  It was a mess…just like we wanted it :-) Our goal was to show everyone what a Sunday without volunteers looks like!  [...]

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We Need You to Serve vs. You Need to Serve

November 1, 2009

For the first six months after we launched Courageous Church, I often felt like a car salesman when it came to volunteers.  Regularly I would basically beg people to serve and tell them how much we needed them in the clearest way possible.  In the end, a few great people would sign up, but it [...]

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