I don’t know how it happened but it’s happening.  It’s a sight to see.  To everyone who serves on the ministry teams worldwide: Thank You!  God has not forgotten your labor of love.

Unity is the most powerful earthly force!

Finally, we see the answer from God and it hits us: He was always good. So good! Why did we forget? Why did we need yet another reminder?

The goodness of God is so much bigger than we realize!

Love God.  Love people.

We can talk all day about loving God but the bottom line is that we already know that we are supposed to do that.  But there are so many of us that don’t realize our responsibility to love others.  Recently I attended a conference session and Dino Rizzo (author of Servolution) was the speaker.  He said that the Bible speaks of two basins.  One basin Jesus used to wash His disciples’ feet.  The other was used by Pilate to wash his hands “of” Jesus.  To be done with him.  We can either wash people’s feet or we can wash our hands of them.

I’m typing this on my new iPad that my amazing wife and family gave to me for my 30th birthday. I’ll be as fair and honest as I can be in my review. But I love this thing!

1. You have to realize the iPad is not a replacement for a MacBook.  You might say “Why don’t I just get a laptop?” Well, a fully loaded MacBook can be $2000 more than an iPad!

2. I love the iPad because of the way I can read books on it. You can use Apple’s iBooks store or the Kindle app to buy, store and read books. I like the Kindle app because they have more books (most are $9.99) and I can highlight and type notes in the book as I read it. Book reading is something I just can’t do on my MacBook. Also, the iPad feels great in your hands for reading books.

3. The apps offer something else my MacBook doesn’t. If you have an iPhone you know how useful apps can be. On the iPad they are bigger and better. Games and gadgets are a lot of fun on the iPad and I think app developers are just scratching the surface.

4. The iPad is THE best way to surf the Internet. It’s really fast, comfortable to hold while relaxing on the couch, zooms in and out and the images and video are crystal clear.

5. It doesn’t have Flash (and it doesn’t need it). So many sites, such as CNN, Vimeo and ESPN, are turning away from Flash just so that iPad users can still enjoy their site. Many others will follow. Apple’s philosophy is that everyone will come to them, not the other way around.

6. iTunes movies and tv shows look so good!

7. I love the 10 hour battery life, also a positive a difference from a laptop.

8. There are some apps that let you create documents on the iPad but nothing too impressive. Google docs and calendar will let you view but not edit or add new items. But it probably won’t be long.

7. The keyboard: it’s faster than an iPhone but slower than a laptop. You don’t want to type a long time on this thing.

Overall, I love it. I would have probably bought it just for the books and internet. It’s not a device that does everything (camera, iChat, phone) but at this price, it’s not supposed to.

Thank you so much Christina and family!

We’re all God’s creation but when He became our Savior we became a NEW creation, His masterpiece.  We are His artwork with a calling on our life to go and make more art.

Art – the quality, production, expression, or realm, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance.

(By Seth Godin) My definition of art contains three elements:

1. Art is made by a human being.
2. Art is created to have an impact and to change someone else.
3. Art is a gift. You can sell the souvenir, the canvas, the recording… but the idea itself is free, and the generosity is a critical part of making art.

(Also from Seth) “By my definition, most art has nothing to do with oil paint or marble. Art is what we’re doing when we do our best work. “

Your best work is ahead.  Maybe no one expects you to be an artist.  Perfect.  No one expected David, a shepherd, a boy too young to go to be a soldier like his brothers, to stand up to the giant.  Even the king couldn’t talk David out of it so he put his own armor on David.  It didn’t fit.  Art doesn’t live in a box.  David met the Goliath with 5 stones and a staff and the rest is history.  I dare you to tell me that is not art.  Stories don’t get more poetic than that!

And then there’s Jesus.  Everyone was looking for a savior, a king.  And he was born in a barn.  He said “I didn’t come to be served, I came to serve”.  No one expected that!  He took a towel and a bowl of water and washed his disciples feet!  That’s unexpected!  That’s impact!  That’s art!

The world is craving something genuine and authentic.  They are tired of hype.  The world used to be so attracted to anything that could shock them.  We have a unique opportunity because now there’s nothing shocking anymore.  If anything is shocking it’s people who serve the least of these, no strings attached.  Generosity is shocking.  The unexpected are the ones who do the right thing, the ones who honor God with every life decision they make, the ones that aren’t afraid to be different and aren’t ashamed to be a Jesus freak.

You may still be thinking “The guy in my class that draws Transformers – he may be an artist but I don’t get how I can make art”.  Would you say storytelling is an art form?  Every one of you has a story to tell and it’s a good one!  In your story you are the main character but Jesus is the hero and that story is a work of art.  It’s going to make an impact.  YOU can make an impact.

You are God’s art, created to make art in this world.

I’ve learned so much from Ryan Stafford, the previous IMT Director, and I will do my best to build upon the great work he’s done.  He will continue to work at Victory in the area of production, managing Victory’s big stage presentations and lots more.

I will continue to be the Pastor of Chosen, Victory’s urban youth outreach.  It’s going to be a lot of work but now I will have some extra help from the IMT students.  I’m thankful to be a part of such a powerful ministry and my goal is to fuse these two ministries together and cause both to be better because of each other.

I’ve never been more excited about what God is doing in my life!

Lately I’ve been studying about the Civil Rights Movement and I’m blown away at the amount of risk taken by those standing up for the right thing.  These risk takers obviously didn’t know how America would treat them but it turns out this quality was exactly what America was looking for in a leader.

John F. Kennedy, while running for president in 1960, learned of the unjust prison sentence of a civil rights activist named Martin Luther King Jr.  King was arrested along with 33 other activists holding a nonviolent protest against a segregated cafeteria in Atlanta.  All charges were dropped except King’s, who the police said violated probation stemming from a minor traffic ticket months earlier.  Many in America considered the arrest and conviction unjust but President Dwight Eisenhower ignored the situation along with VP, and republican presidential candidate, Richard Nixon.  John Kennedy did not.  He interceded on King’s behalf, speaking out against the imprisonment, and King was released.  Eight days later John F. Kennedy won the Presidential election by a slender margin.

It’s natural to play it safe and stay away from risk.  Lay low and don’t stand out and you won’t be criticized…and you probably won’t make much of an impact either.   Kennedy was risking his career but MLK was risking his life!  Both, of course, were assassinated but not before civil rights history was made.  Enormous risk became enormous impact.

• Try to eat some carbs and protein within one hour postrun
• Stretch only if you want to.  If you do, stretch after you run – not before
• Increase your mileage no more than 10% each week
• Don’t run hard on back to back days
• Keep your upper body relaxed during a run.  Imagine carrying a potato chip in each hand
• Have a slogan or mantra ready for times of adversity, such as  “Adversity causes some to break, and others to break records” or “One more mile” or “Pain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever”
• There is no difference between running on concrete and asphalt (one is not more forgiving than the other)
• Wear wool socks or synthetic, not cotton
• Don’t put any running clothes in the dryer
• If you’re going to buy running shoes, buy them in the afternoon because your feet swell during the day
• Get to know “Pre” (Steve Prefontaine)
• Shin discomfort while running is ok.  While walking, not ok.
• Run facing traffic
• For Pete’s sake, stand still at red lights
• Having a million things to do is an excuse for running, not an argument against it
• The best time of day to run is the time you’re most likely to actually do it
• The more often you check your watch, the longer the run will last
• Running with someone who’s faster?  Use the open-ended question to slow them down, “Say, how’s the job?”
• You lose fitness faster than you gain it
• If you can remove your shoes without untying them, they’re not tight enough.  And always go with the double knot
• No one has ever watched “Chariots of Fire” from beginning to end.  Not even the people who made it

And God always makes it possible for us to obey Him

We should be careful in our belief of failure and success

Some of us would say success is obedience to God

But what we say and what we believe are two different things

We say what we think but we act on what we believe

So if we’re curious as to what we believe all we need to do is examine our actions

I think we’ve done the right thing by helping Haiti. Actually, it was the only thing we could do. We are generous and ready to act but it seems we first need to see the devastation with our own eyes before we do anything.

I hope that as believers we will start searching for causes. Searching and praying because they are out there.

There’s so much to do.

“…therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” – Matthew 9:37, 38