The Cattle on a Thousand Hills
Monday, January 10, 2011
I received the final giving numbers for 2010 last week. It was humbling. Our 2010 budget was $2,975,000 and the giving was about $2,979,000. God is good. I must tell you that conventional wisdom and most of the sidebar anecdotal wisdom would have encouraged us to ‘not get our hopes up’. In the current economy and having gone half of the year without a Senior pastor and a full year prior to that made the thought of ‘making budget’ a pipe dream.1 God had other plans for Southwood. As I woke to the new fallen snow on December 26th my heart filled with nostalgia. “OOoh, snow!” and then I remembered it was the last Sunday of the year and my heart filled with fear, “ohhhh, snow!” We were a quarter of a million dollars away from making our budget after the ‘snowed-in’ Sunday. You read that right- $250,000 AFTER that Sunday. Vinit Mahesh and some of the other elders gathered with me on that Sunday morning and we prayed. We smiled at…
Where was God last Wednesday?
Tuesday, May 03, 2011
Last Wednesday afternoon Tornadoes ravaged the Southeastern United States. Many of these storms touched down in Tuscaloosa, Birmingham and little cities like Harvest, Monrovia and Cullman, Alabama. The photos, eyewitness accounts and videos are sobering and heartbreaking. The loss of life is unprecedented in Alabama and this will certainly be remembered as one of the greatest natural disasters in U.S. history. Having moved to Huntsville from Katrina-ravaged Mississippi the similarities are all too familiar.
The message posted here is the one preached on Sunday morning, May 1st with no power and the gathering of a few hundred at Southwood Presbyterian Church. The message is entitled “Where was God last Wednesday?” Blessings and grace. Our prayers are with you all.
Jean's Tweets
Recommended Reading
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“Jesus + Nothing = Everything will remind you of the ancient yet ever-fresh truth that everything we need is found in the perfections of Christ—not in ourselves, not in our reputation, our relationships or wealth or accomplishments—in Christ alone. If you’ve never rested in the finished work of Christ this book is for you. If you’ve rested in it for decades like I have, this book is for you, too. Why? Because we forget; And, although we love Jesus, we’re blind to the ways in which his work connects to our daily lives and we wonder why joy and zeal are foreign concepts to us.” -Elyse Fitzpatrick
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Get ready to be bothered by the Gospel. Steve Brown teaches grace in a way that gets under your skin—- Reading Brown is like having a gospel hair in your mouth of your conscience. The more it bothers you the more beautiful the pearl produced will be
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From the publisher: “It is a deep and rich biblical study of sanctification - how Christians grow in holiness and become more like Jesus. In a day when Christians are very prone to pursue self-help methods to grow in obedience to Christ, Walter Marshall lays out the biblical way of growth: obedience comes as Christians live by grace, in union with Christ, by faith.” This book influenced me PROFOUNDLY on the topic of sanctification. The Modern-English re-write makes this a TOP PICK for 2011!
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I ‘accidentally’ picked up this book simply for the title alone. I grew to hate it quickly. It hit a little ‘too close to home.’ Fischer’s book plunges the scalpel of self-awareness and need for deep repentance deep into the hard hearts of Pharisees like ME!
Recommended Listening
- Redeemer Presbyterian Church
Ricky JonesRicky Jones is the pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He is a trophy of grace. If you want to listen to bold preaching by a man who knows his sin, knows his weaknesses and trusts only Jesus to take what he says and use it to God’s glory then you are heading in the right direction. The preaching is bold, the preacher is humble and you will be blessed.
- Key Life Ministries
Steve BrownSteve Brown is not the most subtle guy you will ever meet. If I were to write an S.A.T. question about Steve this is how it would go: Steve Brown is to legalism what a child hopped-up on cake and ice cream is to an pinata! I love this guy. Check out his website and fair warning: you are not heading to a ‘SAFE’ little Christian site!
- Coral Ridge Presbyterian
Tullian TchividjianAs one comment on iTunes said: “Tullian preaches the Gospel in an unadulterated and undomesitcated way…The way it should be preached!”
Recommended Links
- Mockingbird Blog
David ZahlMockingbird is a ministry that seeks to connect the Christian faith with the realities of everyday life in as fresh and down-to-earth a way possible.
- White Horse Inn
MIchael HortonWhite Horse Inn is a multimedia catalyst for reformation. We believe that each generation must rediscover and apply the gospel to their own time. We long to see a second reformation take hold of our churches and return them to the God-honoring, Christ-centered, Spirit-wrought places of worship they should be.
- On Earth as it is in Heaven
Tullian TchividjianWilliam Graham Tullian Tchividjian (pronounced cha-vi-jin) is a Florida native, the pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, a visiting professor of theology at Reformed Theological Seminary, and a grandson of Billy and Ruth Graham.
- Heavenward
Scotty SmithSmith is the founding Pastor of Christ Community Church in Franklin, TN, avid writer, prolific blogger and tweeter. His nuggets of Gospel wisdom are seasoned by years of service to the Bride. He is gentle and very purposed in his every comment.