It has been an up-and-down week. We had a wonderful week with the Double Springs church of Christ. Two were restored during the week, and it was so nice to see many people we have missed since our move from Winston County. I have a wild preaching story from Sunday night, but that may be another post (or podcast) for another time. Last night, Dale Jenkins and I recorded our sixth iPreach podcast. We discussed demons and Halloween with Mike Benson and a surprise guest. Go to this site and click on episode 6 to listen to the most recent podcast. These have been a ton of fun to record,…

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Well, I’m on the road again. Lord willing, after this weekend, I will be finished with speaking engagements for 2008. But, until these next few days are over, I’ll be busy! Tonight and tomorrow, I’ll be speaking at the Sonshine Youth Rally in Evansville, Indiana. The Washington Avenue church of Christ hosts this rally each year, and they do a tremendous job with it! It’ll be great to see my friend Alan Bush, who serves as the associate minister there. The theme for this year is “Standard,” and the young people have asked me address topics that deal with our changing standards in the world, but our unchanging standard in…

Today, we crossed a milestone. We crossed the 30,000 hit mark! As we’ve said many times, that may not be much when compared with some blogs, but we’re thankful for every milestone. Pass the word along about our blog… …and thanks for the first 30,000 hits!

If you’ve read this blog for very long, you know I enjoy reading and listening to Charles Swindoll material. While I don’t agree with everything he writes, his style causes me to think when I read. His book So, You Want to Be Like Christ? is a simply-written devotional book that helps the reader think. We often say things like, “I want to be more like Jesus,” but do we ever truly think about what that statement means? Swindoll makes the reader think about the many distractions we have in our lives and helps the reader remove those distractions to focus on the changes necessary to be like Christ in…

Valvano: They Gave Me a Lifetime Contract, and Then They Declared Me Dead is the autobiography of Jim Valvano, who coached the North Carolina State Wolfpack basketball team for several years, including their 1983 title season. This book was written before Valvano had cancer, so it deals with his coaching career and with the allegations that caused him to lose his job at NC State. If you are a college basketball fan, or if you are interested in coaches, this is an interesting read. Two warnings: First, know that the last 1/3 of the book is a time-line of events that led up to Valvano’s termination. It has little to…

Lebanon Road was again a blessing to me. I chose to preach on giving yesterday morning in a “survey” style (just some basics). Sometimes, sermons on that topic are not well-received, but Lebanon Road is a special place, and many thanked me for the sermon and complimented certain aspects of it. That was truly encouraging. (It was also encouraging that we were well over our budget this week!) We were pleased to welcome two new members to the Lebanon Road family yesterday. Everett and Betty Green have been visiting with us for some time and finally made their membership “official” by expressing the desire to work under the oversight of…

This morning, I did something I’ve never done before. I visited a chiropractor. On Wednesday morning, I woke up in Paducah, with a slightly sore shoulder and neck. On Thursday it was worse, especially as we drove home. This morning, it was really bad. The chiropractor repeated a move I’ve seen in the movies that kills people by breaking their necks, but, somehow it worked. I’m still sore, but some better. I’ll have to go back on Monday for a follow-up, but that’s okay. I’m calling this the “Great” pain the neck edition because I can’t think of a better place to get a sore neck than traveling preaching the…

We have enjoyed a tremendous weekend! On Friday night, the Lebanon Road church of Christ kicked off her “Mission Emphasis Weekend” with a congregational meal with six of our eight visiting missionaries. (The other two were still traveling.) 114 were present to encourage our missionaries and to be encouraged with a brief report of their works. Following that meal, my family was on the road. We drove to Paducah, Kentucky, where Jeremiah and I began a joint Gospel Meeting on Sunday. The meeting is going so well! On most Sundays, Central has about 190-200 in attendance. We were so excited that there were over 180 in Bible class, and then…

This is one of “those” months. I have two Gospel Meetings scheduled. I’m looking forward to both very much, but it will be a taxing time. The first is in Paducah, Kentucky, and begins on Sunday. (Scroll down to the next post for details.) If you cannot attend, please pray for this effort. I truly think this will be a good opportunity for the Central church of Christ, and I look forward to preaching with Jeremiah. On to the links for this week: 1. When something bad occurs and “Christians” are around, they will be blamed. But are Christians to blame for any bad thing? What about wars? Dwight Whitsett…