I apologize for the silence this week. I am simply taking a short blogging break to focus on family some this week. I will resume my blogging thoughts probably over the weekend.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Dec 282007
This past week has been a blur! Christmas, family, preparing for Sunday morning, Christmas Eve service tonight!
Yesterday morning was awesome! We had another four people turn to follow Jesus!
First of all, I don’t accept everything any individual speaker, preacher, communicator says without filtering it through scripture. Although I love hearing Rob Bell, there are some things he has said/taught that I have questioned and have had a hard time accepting.
I know that Rob Bell has been criticized pretty harshly, but I do not think he is a heretic and I believe he is willing to ask the hard questions that know one else has the courage to address. I believe he intentionally avoids being placed in a theological box in order to maintain a connection and continual conversation with people outside the evangelical community and I admire him for that.
This video satire is obviously taking a shot at Rob Bell. I think it is hilarious and well done with a great sense of humor.
Here is the problem I have with the video. In Rob Bell’s “Bullhorn” he is expressing a concern over the modern church’s influence with “those people” outside of the church and religious circles and their perspective concerning the message they are hearing from people supposing to reflect Jesus in our modern culture. The “bullwhip guy” reflects a Jesus going INTO the religious circle and the religious community and condemning the already religious people for how they are misrepresenting God to the larger world. This is a quite different perspective is obviously taken out of context. But it is still funny. Enjoy.
I went to church A LOT this past weekend with Christmas stuff and family events. It filled up my weekend big time and I simply did not stop long enough yesterday to write a blog post. I have a feeling that between now and January 2 will be the same and I may not blog as much and I will have to work hard to keep up with writing posts. Here are a few highlights from the weekend.
- My son Josiah is playing basketball and we had a blast at practice Friday night and at the game Saturday morning. My good friend Jeff is helping coach the team and I enjoy hanging out with him. He and his wife Leslie, daughter Skyler and son Holden are awesome. Holden plays on Josiah’s team and we missed having him play Saturday. Oh boy did we miss him! He was sick and could not play. Get well quick Holden! Watching 8 & 9 year olds play basketball is like watching brickmasons play catch. There is a whole lot of brick throwing going on!
- Saturday night was a special night. My brother was the founding pastor of The Summit 14 years ago and he resigned just over a month ago to take the position as Church Planting coordinator for the Georgia Baptist Convention. His church held a banquet in his honor Saturday and it was very special and sweet. They didn’t ask me to take part in the celebration but rather kept a “positive” approach instead of roasting him. Oh well, it was still fun. They did ask me to close in prayer and I couldn’t resist and threw a few “zingers” in before the prayer. The main comment I made was alluding to the fact that Butch is famous and everywhere I go people know him and when they find out my last name is Butcher they always ask if I am Butch’s son.
- Sunday morning at the Grove was great! I was thrilled to have Ric Wortham and his band leading worship! He did a great job and I continue to hear comments about how great he did.
- We had eight people in the first service to indicate they were turning to follow Christ! YES! That is what we are ALL about!
- I am so thankful for Chad Spinks and the work he puts into making sure we are adequately covered for Setup and Breakdown. Thank you to all the volunteers that make our Sunday morning gatherings happen. We can’t do it without you. If you are reading this and aren’t serving on one of our service teams, please consider joining one of the teams.
- My sweet daughter Abigail was part of the children’s musical of our sponsoring church Sunday night. She sang beautifully! I am so proud of my sweet girl!
- We had a team from CATGrove led by Troy and Shamrelle O’Connor deliver all the blankets, coats, and other warm clothing collected during our “Homeless for the Hurting” event last weekend. I am so proud (if that is ok) of CATGrove. These last two weeks have been incredible with “Shop With A Hero” and “Homeless for the Hurting”. We made the front page of the Loganville Tribune two weeks in a row. Check it out here.
- I am so thankful for Nathan Boyd and Katelyn Acuff and their leadership with our students. They are gifted and I can’t wait to see what God has in store for them.
- My kids are already racking up on the Christmas gifts. Sunday night our adopted family, Phillip and Marjorie Kesler (Nana) and Rebecca Avra came to see Abigail in the Christmas musical and dropped by our house for a visit. They delivered multiple gifts to our children and I received a Georgia Bulldog cooler! That is significant since all the Keslers and Rebecca are huge Tech fans. I am surprised Phillip allowed it in his vehicle. Jill got something too. I forgot what it was. Monday night our neighbor and friend Terri Crumley brought our kids each a unique blanket and pillow set. The blankets fold into a pillow! They are awesome! I can’t wait to order mine. Terri is such a sweet friend and I am so thankful she is part of the CATGrove family.
- This week is a crazy week, but a good one. This weekend is going to be great with our Sunday morning gathering AND our first ever Christmas Eve service this coming Monday night at 5pm. You do not want to miss it! This is a perfect service to invite your neighbor, family member or friend to join you for one of our gatherings.
