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The Rock Church in San Diego is stepping it up. They’ve volunteered over 400,000 hours to the city’s mayor so far this year and will end up giving 600,000 hours by year’s end.

“What I like to point out, though, is that we are one church in one neighborhood, having this kind of impact,” said Pastor Miles McPherson. “We as one congregation are doing more community service than some huge national organizations.”*

I’m really impressed with what they’re doing. They’re addressing a real need and making a tangible impact in their community.

What are some other stories you’ve heard of churches doing similar things?

*Read more about this from the Christian Post.

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I used to be really cheap. If I had an option of buying something generic that would save me money over buying the name brand I would do it. Not only would I buy generic, I would ALWAYS pick the cheaper item if there was a choice. It seemed like it was the better choice.

Not anymore.

The old adage “You get what you pay for” turns out to be true. Well, at least some of the time. There are some things that generic or less expensive equivalents are a good idea. But there are others that I’ve decided it’s worth spending a little extra on.

Here’s a short list of things that I used to buy cheap, but now I’m willing to spend a little extra on:

• Q-tips
• Toilet paper
• Jeans
• Tools
• Mexican Food
• Underwear
• Tires

There are still some things that I still think you can get by with buying cheap, though. Including:

• Soda Pop (or coke or whatever you call it)
• Cereal
• Shampoo
• Cheese
• Freeware / Open-source software
• Hand soad
• Mouthwash

What would you put on either one of these lists?

[Image by exfordy]

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I really do love my daughter, but this video doesn’t really show it. We were at the Pumpkin Patch in Flower Mound, TX. Emory was having a great time running between the pumpkins. Then, WHAM, down she goes. I didn’t immediately run over to check on her. My first thought was, “Sweet! I’m glad I was recording!”

Thankfully she was fine and went on running after we wiped the grass off her jeans.

Toddlers are resilient like that.

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Or maybe not. I haven’t really taken an intentional break from blogging, but life has gotten crazy for me. Changes jobs. Sold a house. Bought a house. Moved (obvious). Left the country on vacation for 10 days. And more.

If you’re really interested in getting bite-sized pieces of what’s going on in my life you can follow me on twitter or check out my facebook profile.

More posts soon…maybe.

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I shot this quick video of my new office with my MacBook Pro.

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Church Unique: How Missional Leaders Cast Vision, Capture Culture, and Create Movement by Will Mancini

rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is one of the best books I’ve read on church leadership this decade. It has a great combination of theory and practice. Every church leader should read this book and consider whether or not his or her church has truly discovered its vision. I’m going to read this book again, at least one more time.

The basic concept of the book is that too many churches simply copy what either Rick Warren, Andy Stanley, or Bill Hybels have as their vision of what their church is about and try to apply their vision to their own church. The problem is that each person has a unique blend of giftedness and passions that will drive how they lead the church. What are stated as aspired values and vision may not be the church’s actual vision and values.

Do yourself a favor and read this book. It will shape your understanding of how to establish clear vision for church leadership.

View all my reviews.

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All this work for one stinking brake light!

Originally uploaded by kevinandbrea

One of the fringe benefits of visiting Brea’s family in Stillwater is that her dad is handy at almost everything. He built his house from the ground up, has restored at least one car and Cushman scooter, and probably a lot of other things that I’ve never heard of. He has a shop that makes working on cars easier. That’s the theory at least.

While I was here I decided to tackle a “minor” fix on Brea’s 2006 Hyundai Sonata. The brake light in her rear window needed to be replaced. This turned out to be a ridiculously hard task when you consider that it was just one stinking, tiny, little light bulb that needed to be replaced.

In order to get to the compartment that held the light, we had to remove the back access area, which required us removing the sides of the back seat, the side panels above the seat, the plastic panel frame, and the top cover (I’m making up names for all these parts). It took a total of about 90 minutes to get to the little light bulb.

We got it all put back together and in working order, but the job reminded me that sometimes in church life we do the same thing. We make what should a simple task, following Christ, in to an extremely complex and complicated thing.

Jesus, thankfully, tells us what it takes to follow him: Love God with all that we are and all that we have and to love people (Matthew 22:34-40). That’s it. Unfortunately we like to make things more complicated than this. No wonder so many people who are new to the church give up on it.

Lord, help me to never forget that following you is simply a matter of growing in relationships.

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