Mark Zimmerman and his pal "Benny"
grateful to my Kingdom ally Mark Zimmerman at Moody Radio Cleveland (please visit their facebook page and “like” them). – WCRF 103.3 fm for the opportunity to give an update on the Present:Hope Tour . you can download it here
Reading the Gospels without the personality of Jesus is like watching television with the sound turned off.
The ravages of sin, neglect, abuse, and a thousand addictions have left us all a shadow of what we were meant to be. Jesus is humanity in its truest form. His favorite title for himself was the Son of Man. Not of God – of man.
Sadly, for too many people, the Christ they know is too religios to love, too distant to experience and too rigid to be a source of life. It explains the abject poverty of the church. But hear this Jesus hasn’t changed one bit. He is still quite himself. This is still how he acts.
John Eldredge has written a new book…and probably his best. As his bride has said, “this book has been 30 years in the making”.
It is much different from his earlier works, but then again, maybe not so much. I think John condenses his message to simply that Christianity is anything but “trying harder; feeling worse” or
There is much good here. It is a great read. I particularly like the way John has weaved the biblical narrative…the stories of Jesus and his personality and how he lived life…into many stories of others who have found freedom in a living relationship with Jesus.
I’m guessing that Beautiful Outlaw will shock some….that I believe is the outcome of seeing Jesus for who he truly is. Eldredge’s writing compels the reader, maybe even provokes a deeper understanding and experience Jesus as he really is for us and even what he was like in the stories of the Gospels. Capturing those things we tend to miss as we read the Gospels. John keenly walks through many of the stories and helps the reader..
hear fresh the tone of Jesus’ voice…
see the twinkle in his eye…
sense the expression on face…
catch his mood changes…
so that those who chase him find him as “beautiful, playful, fierce and even captivating”.
I found it an encouragement that Eldredge’s purpose in writing the book is to wake up those that want to know Jesus intimately by pushing through what he calls the “religious crud” that captures, incorrectly who Jesus is so that we can know him and his true personality.
Lord Jesus, I give my life to you today, to live your life.
I’m very confident that “Beautiful Outlaw” is going to have a huge impact on the Kingdom. I’m sure some will find it disturbing, mostly because it may seem too simple.
the book is due out oct 12th. amazon.
Additionally,Ransomed Heart has a free webcast scheduled for Monday, November 14th. To signup to host or to find a host site go here.
note:FaithWords provided a free review copy.
hmmm…not sure what to think about this new documentary. i stumbled on it today and have watched the movie. its free till sept 1. click here. there’s some useful conversation that it begins, but i’m thinking it may be too narrow. there’s some stereotyping and some assumptions that i’m not fully in agreement with. that said…if you’re in ministry – vocationally or not…its worth the watch and a conversation about it. would be interested in your thoughts. please leave a comment…and lets begin the conversation.
normally i’m rambling about student ministry stuff. but today just a quick shout out to some amazing children’s ministry leaders… Sam Luce, Jonathan Cliff, Gina McClain and Dan Scott. Their collaborative efforts developed a great curriculum, God to the Rescue for use during the current season of Easter. We’ve been using the equally amazing curriculum from open.lifechurch.tv for the past couple of years.
watching ranger reggie in XK
it was fun today to watch how our elementary age children reacted to the change of pace. traditionally we’ve always broken the kids up by gender to do the small group activities. this series breaks them up K-2nd and 3rd-5th. the reaction was really encouraging. the materials take a little prep work from our volunteers, but its clear its worth the change up. so change is good. heard many good comments from the older children especially. although it was clear the boys were a little more challenged to figure out the steps to making a P, B & J sandwich…a simple task, so they thought. the analogy was to the instructions that God gives us through his Word. For the boys it was “take two slices of bread…”
following the directions to make a P,B & J!
but the girls helped them realize they that you had to undo the twistee-tie on the bag first. sometimes its really useful to get out of the ordinary. we’ll be back to lifechurch after Easter, but am grateful for this series to stretch everyone abit.
had a chance recently to see a sneak peek of another good movie, soul surfer, that’s being rolled out to offer encouragement and hope to today’s teens.
the movie is based on the true life story of bethany hamilton and her courageous journey as a surfer competitor after a tragic accident where she lost her left arm to a shark attack.
we saw bethany speak at saddleback in ’08 as part of the student leadership conference.
Bethany Hamilton (l) being interview by Jana Sarti at saddleback.
Bethany, though quiet and resolute, made a huge impression on all the students. Equally so is this movie to be release on April 8th around the country will offer a good conversation starter on how to face difficulties in life.
Soul Surfer will be a great movie for young women. The storyline of Bethany’s journey will be a encouragement to any girl who is pushing through any kind of adversity.
my only criticism of the movie is that there could have been more modesty in the clothing that is worn…especially the swim ware. given the context of hawaii and surfing it seems appropriate , but I’m positive our young men will be distracted.
Carrie Underwood makes a good youth director and dennis quaid and helen hunt are great parents. the surfing action its pretty good cinematography.
hope you can catch it in just about a month.
