This weekend we kick off a new series titled The Ghost in the Machine. We'll spend a couple weeks talking about the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit.

Just spent an hour with two of my favorite people. Dino Rizzo and Marc Cleary from Healing Place Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana were in DC for a couple days so they swung be Ebenezers for a cup of coffee. Feel like they are kindred spirits. Great to catch up and talk about family, ministry, and life.

Had a conversation today with Jon Gordon. Jon is the author of several books including The Energy Bus and the soon-to-be-released The No Complaining Rule. He is currently working on a fable and one of the characters in the book is a pastor in Washington, DC. So we've been dialogging back and forth about that.

Jon recently read In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day and he said something that reignited one of my crazier dreams. As he was reading the first chapter he said he thought to himself: this has to be made into a movie. I needed to hear that from a third party. As I was writing In a Pit I remember thinking that the story of Benaiah would make an amazing epic film. It has a Gladiator or Braveheart feel to it. Plenty of creative content to work with. And it's a redeeming story with a good ending.

Long story short, one of my life goals is to make a movie. I put my faith in Christ after watching a movie called The Hiding Place so I've always been passionate about that medium. I have no idea how it's going to happen. I have no idea what role I'd play. But I think my best bet is one of my books turning into a movie script.

To be perfectly honest, I feel a little awkward posting this kind of blog. It's one of my life goals that is really out of my control. It would take some divine networking and divine intervention. But I do believe it's a God-ordained passion. So while I have no idea how or when it could happen, I honestly think it will. And when it does, I want to give God all of the credit. For me, blogging is a form of faith. It's one way I put prayer requests and personal goals into writing so I have a record of them.

My head felt like it was going to explode today. Allergies were rockin my world. I think part of it was that I was outside a lot yesterday. I was in Winchester, Virginia with some of our staff for our district council and we played corn hole until 1 AM. I'm thinking all that "fresh country air" triggered my reaction. I'm paying the price, but man corn hole is fun!

I was reading the latest issue of Fast Company and came across an article that inspired me. Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide are known for their extraordinary customer service. upscale hotels. Here are some of the ways they serve their guests and create a unique hotel experience.

They recently hired French Composer, Henri Scars Struck, to orchestrate a 24-hour soundtrack for their hotels so that their guests would be greeted by a melange of sounds. Sorry, couldn't resist using the word melange. Don't really know what it means or how to pronounce it. But I like it.

Their goal is to catch customers off guard. They want to surprise them. They actually hired a cultural curator whose job description is "to create unique experiences for the guest that stimulate all five senses."

One way they do that is with limited-edition key cards designed by artists such as Michael Lin and Sam Samore. The key cards double as free passes to a local art institution. Guests also get a complimentary copy of adult fairy tale book as a take-home souvenir. By the way, all employees from desk clerks to housekeepers are required to visit the art institution they send people to and familiarize themselves with the variety of artists partnering with Starwood.

Starwood has partnered with a perfume design team to create a unique scent for their lobby. And they have partnered with master chefs to create a unique menu.

Listen, that may sound extravagant. But what if we put half that effort in welcoming people into our worship environments? What I'm trying to say is this: aesthetics are important. If you don't believe me, then why are a dozen chapters in Exodus devoted to the aesthetics of the tabernacle. God is in the details. He details everything from the color of the curtains to the recipe for the incense!

I'm always trying to find ways to rethink everything we do at NCC. Articles like this help my synapses fire in new ways. Are we doing everything we can to create an optimal environment for worship and fellowship?

I keep reflecting on last night's Catacombs.

Some amazing things happen when we come into the presence of God with no agenda. We simply seek His face and open ourselves up to His Spirit moving and speaking. As I went from person to person praying last night I was asking the Holy Spirit to help me know what to pray for. And it was amazing. The Lord kept giving me words or phrases or pictures of what what He wanted to do.

I grew up in a church that revolved around spending time at an altar. And that might sound really old school. But amazing things happen when you simply get on your knees before God.

Our weekend services are pretty programmed and pretty short. And I make no apologies for that. I believe the Holy Spirit can inspire our Big Ideas and Creative Elements and Sermon Series several months out. And sometimes the "anointing" is really a cop out for poor planning or lack of effort. Let's not under-estimate the Holy Spirit's ability to inspire ideas two months out as well as on the spot. But I think it's good to counter-balance our programming with some unprogrammed experiences that have no agenda. That is what Catacombs is. Ninety minutes in the presence of God.

As we get ready to celebrate Pentecost next weekend, here's a thought. You can't plan Pentecost. It's not like the disciples orchestrated what happened. Hey, let's speak in tongues today so all of these Jewish pilgrims from all over the ancient world hear the gospel in their native tongue and go back home as the first wave of Christian missionaries. They had no clue when they woke up that morning what was about to happen! But if you pray for ten days in an upper room, Pentecost might just happen!

Thoroughly enjoyed this weekend. We did another sermon experiment. We ended our Potential series with an offsite sermon. Dick Foth has been my friend and mentor for the past decade. We've had a Paul/Timothy relationship. So we decided to hang out and videotape a conversation about a range of topics from mentoring to legacy. I think it'd be worth watching the webcast. We'll post it Tuesday.

Tonight we had an amazing Catacombs. Hard to put into words. It was a good old-fashioned altar service. We usually worship for ninety minutes, but we wanted to follow the pattern in Timothy and lay hands on anyone that wanted prayer. Prayed for lots of NCCers. And I felt like the Holy Spirit really revealed things that helped me pray with spiritual insight. It was like a time warp. The ninety minutes felt like twenty minutes max.

Great weekend.

This is one of those spring days where it's impossible to be in a bad mood. Beautiful DC day. And I didn't have any appointments today so I've got my sandals, t-shirt, camouflaged cargo shorts, and backwards baseball cap going. That's how I roll.

Spent most of the morning on the rooftop of Ebenezers. It's my watchtower. Love praying up there. And I'm starting to read a bunch of books now that I'm coming out of a writing season.

For what it's worth, here's what I'm reading right now:

Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely
The Rule of Saint Benedict
Walking with God by John Eldredge
The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
The Holy Longing by Ronald Rolheiser
Eye and Brain by Richard Gregory

I'm reading all of them for very different reasons. My love of neurology and psychology is the reason I'm reading Eye and Brain. Sight is such an amazing miracle! I'm reading The Rule of Saint Benedict to stretch my thinking about personal discipline. And I was really inspired by The Last Lecture video so I decided to pick up the book.

So excited about being part of the Arise Conference at Willowcreek, June 11-13. Every trip back to Willow is like a spiritual pilgrimage to me. I love the Chicago area--that's where I grew up. It's an excuse to get Lou Malnati's pizza--just writing it makes me salivate. But it's also a trip back to a burning bush where God gave me a vision.

It was at a Willow Conference while I was in seminary that I felt like God called me to plant a church for the unchurched. I already knew I wanted to plant a church. But that conference gave me a picture of what it could look like. A church that would make decisions, design services, and create ministries that were targeted toward reaching the unchurched.

Excited about going back. And excited about doing a couple sessions: Snakes and Doves and Right-Brain Preaching.

I just spent part of my morning hanging out with Michael Lukaszewski from Oak Leaf Church in Cartersville, Georgia. They are doing a cool series called Summer Reading. They are talking about four books over four weeks and one of them is In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day. So we sat down and had a thirty-minute conversation about the book.

I love this series idea! In fact, I think we're probably going to rip it off with Michael's permission. We already do a series on movies and a series on music. Why not a series on books. Here is their series graphic.

I recently read an article by John Ortberg titled People of the Book. Love the way John writes and speaks! Thought I'd share a few things that made my synapses fire in new ways.

Here are some wordbytes:

"I was at a conference recently on generosity, and I asked a man who works full time with churches in the area of stewardship what typifies generous churches. His immediate response: 'They have generous senior pastors'."

"Suffering causes people to ask questions like no other force in the world. It snaps the threads of our illusions of control and sufficiency."

"We get so used to the Bible, we miss its edginess. The prophets were the original street performance artists. What they did was much more like radical street theater than it was like a church service."

"If I'm honest, what holds me back is not lack of creativity. It's lack of urgency. I don't think the main force that drove the prophets was creativity for creativity's sake. I think it was spiritual reality. There was such a desperate awareness of the need for God to come fix things up that it drove them to do anything to make space people's awareness for God.

"The teachers I most learn from often find non-verbal ways to drive home what they are teaching."

"People don't care what I know. They care about what I'm learning."

The early bird deadline for Unplugged is two days away. If you register by April 30, the cost is $149. Love to hang out with some blog readers for a couple days! We'll have conversations around the five greatest challenges that every leader faces.

The dates are June 26-27.

Space is limited. We'll hang out at Ebenezers Coffeehouse!

What a great weekend. Steve Saccone from Mosaic came out and did a seminar helping us discover our strengths. We continued the Potential series. And capped things off with our variety show. Too much fun. Although, I have to admit that I was thoroughly embarrassed during our 80's triathlon.

The triathlon included name that tune, a dance off, and an 80's solo. I was nailing You're the Inspiration by Chicago in the shower all week, but once I got on stage they changed keys or something. Man, I have a renewed respect for musicians! Chris rocked the dance off big time! And Heather stole the show with her ballad.

What's got 48,000 BTUs and 667 square inches of cooking space? My new grill. And all this for the price of $159. That's what I'm talking about. Our old grill was down to one burner. I could cook about about 3 dogs at a time. Pretty pathetic! Nice to have four burners. Plus, my old grill had to be lit with a match so my mid-digital hair on my fingers got singed every time I lit the thing!

To top it off, the grill came pre-assembled. One of my first construction projects, after Lora and I got married, was assembling our first grill. I lost all sense of manliness. It took me more than four hours. And Lora realized she had married an unhandy man. Pre-assembled projects are my kind of projects.

Well, time to quit blogging and start grilling!

Looking forward to our annual variety show this weekend. We're going ol' skool. I'm caving in to the blogosphere pressure. Against my better judgment, you can watch our jam session and get the 411 here.

Sunday @ 6 PM
Stuart Hobson School
410 E Street, NE

Be there or be square!

Had a great day in Kansas City. I did an afternoon session on creativity. And I preached the ordination service tonight. Ordination was such a powerful milestone in my own ministry. Brought back lots of memories. Also enjoyed reconnecting with some old friends.

I've only been away from home three days, but it almost seems like three weeks. Can't wait to see the fam! I catch the first flight of the day at 6 AM.

I hop a flight to Kansas City this morning to speak at the Kansas District Council. I'm doing an afternoon session on leadership. And I'll preach a Chase the Lion message tonight.

Bon Voyage!

Loved Andy Stanley's session at Exponential. He talked about how to make vision stick. Here are the five vision principles he shared:

1) Make it simple

Boil it down to an irreducible minimum. Andy cited the One Campaign's vision statement as an example: make poverty history.

Andy also shared Northpoint's vision: to create a church that unchurched people love to attend.

2) Cast it Convincingly

3) Repeat it Regularly

"Vision leaks." As your church gets larger, you need more vision and you need to share it more frequently. One of the unique challenges we face at NCC is our turnover rate. 44% of NCCers have attended less than one year. So we need to communicate vision more consistently.

4) Celebrate it Systematically

"Stories do more to clarify and illustrate vision than anything else."

5) Embrace it Personally and Publicly

Today I'm doing a session at the Exponential Conference titled: the five greatest challenges every leader faces. It's a dry-run for our Unplugged event in June.

So I want to do a little blog research. Would you take a second to comment on this question: what is the greatest challenge that you face in leadership?

Wild Goose Chase is out of my hands!

Yesterday I sent off the final copy edit to my Publisher. What a relief. I really wrestled with this book. I prayed over it and poured over it. And I'd like to think that the God's fingerprints are all over it.

Now that it's out of my hands I can't wait to get it into readers hands, but it won't release until August.

Headed to Orlando for the Exponential Conference. I'm doing a pre-conference seminar on creative communication. Look forward to hanging out with the church planting tribe!

For our FSM (Father/Son Meeting) this weekend I took Parker to see Expelled. I thought it was fascinating and funny. Parker and I kept turning to each other and saying "that was random" because of some of the old movie clips they splice in.

Man, this documentary is going to get some people pretty fired up. It took me back to my University of Chicago days where I felt like such an intellectual minority because of my views on the origin of the earth. I was made to feel like a fool for believing in an Intelligent Designer. But listen, everybody has to account for the first cause. How in the world did organic life come from inorganic primordial soup? And where did the soup come from? Honestly, I don't know how you can look at a strand of DNA and doubt an Intelligent Designer. Random chance or Intelligent Design? Ironically, I think it takes more faith to believe in Random Chance.

This weekend we continued our Potential series. Loving this series on lots of levels. I feel like helping people reach their God-given potential is the core of my calling. And I'm really enjoying hanging out in I and II Timothy.

The only challenge this weekend was my voice. Not sure if my vocal chords are strained from too much speaking, but I don't have much endurance these days.

Yesterday we had our first official spring picnic. The weather was beautimus so we took a frisbee and food and headed over to the FDR memorial by the Tidal Basin. Fellow Washingtonians know that one of the challenges of living in the city is that we don't have backyards. But you gotta love picnics on the National Mall.

By the way, this isn't just tourist season in DC. For Washingtonians, it's tourist watching season. Lots of class pictures and tour buses in DC right now!

We're gearing up for our annual variety show next weekend. We're going Old School. So yesterday our staff formed a little break dance circle at Ebenezers and had a little dance off. We had quite an audience. Captive audience. The Ebz customers and security guards from the Federal Judiciary building got a little Friday afternoon entertainment.

Can I just say that is one reason why I love NCC? We love having fun and looking foolish. And I think we're pretty good at it. Especially the latter!

For the past decade, Dick Foth has been my friend and mentor. He is a former pastor, college president, and currently serves as a minister-at-large in the congressional and diplomatic communities in DC. Hard to put into words what Dick has meant to me both personally and professionally. In fact, my next book is dedicated to Dick.

So today we we went out on the National Mall and spent several hours shooting a video that will close out our Potential series. Instead of having Dick preach, we decided to experiment with a conversation. We talked about everything from finding a mentor to leaving a legacy.

One of the things we're trying to do this year is experiment with new preaching forms. Whenever possible I want to get out from behind the pulpit and preach on location. I think it'll be a cool way to cap off our Potential series.

One of my life goals is to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. So a few months ago I got an email from Joel Malm, director of Commission Expeditions. He was at a Passion Conference and someone recommended In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day. He read the book and extended a very unique speaking opportunity. We'd climb Mount Kilimanjaro and I'd share a devotional at base camp each day. After the climb we'd go on a short missions project. And then tag on a safari. How do you pass up an opportunity like that? We're looking at doing the expedition in July of 2009.

I love my day off. During the school year I take Wednesdays off because our kids have a half-day of school. Lora and I usually hit a coffeehouse and hang out. Yesterday it was Firehook on the Senate side of the hill. And it was so beautiful we just walked around the Capitol. Felt like tourists! A ton of class trips during this time of year. I wonder how many pictures we inadvertently ended up in yesterday.

In the afternoon, we took the kids to the National Arboretum. Pretty cool "sanctuary" in the middle of the city. Josiah must have ridden his scooter about a mile yesterday. And Summer and her friends rode in the back of our mini-van with the back hatch up and legs dangling until we got pulled over by a very zealous security guard who told us we can't do that.

Last night I went to Parker's Lacrosse practice. Honestly, I've never played Lacrosse and I don't even know the rules. But I might get a Lacrosse stick so Parker and I can play catch. Pretty cool game.

One of the things I'm becoming more intentional about as a parent is finding shared hobbies with my kids. It's been really cool running with Parker as we train for our 10K. Tonight we spent a little time on the climbing wall at Results gym. Man, that is a humbling experience! My forearms were cramping in a matter of minutes. But I think rock climbing is going to be another shared hobby that will result in shared experiences.

We did a major spring cleaning in our offices today. The whole staff pitched in and broke a sweat. Honestly, it was fun getting rid of lots of accumulated junk!

In the spirit of spring cleaning, we're doing a spring special on In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy. Along with the 50% off case discount (24 books), we'll throw in a Chase the Lion t-shirt. Just let us know your size. You can see the basic design below.

Email resources@theaterchurch.com for details.

Just wanted to extend an invitation to anyone who has a heart for church planting. We're hosting a luncheon for my friend and church planting guru, Trinity Jordan. I had the joy of seeing Elevation Church firsthand this past January. They are going to be launching new churches in Utah so Trinity is coming out to raise funds. If you're interested in attending, email events@theaterchurch.com to reserve a spot.

Think of it as a step in the direction of becoming a church planting church.

Lunch is on us!

Decided to do our taxes early this year. Yes, early means April 14. I have this weird idiosyncrasy: I feel bad if I'm too early with some things. I feel that way if I'm flying. Good stewardship is getting to the gate right as they call my boarding group. I feel that way with preaching. I can never finish sermon prep until the day of. It doesn't matter how much I've studied or prepared, I've got to continue fine tuning until the last minute! Same with taxes. I always end up getting them done just in time! That way it's a rush of adrenaline. Not really. But sort of.

For what it's worth, Lora is the one who manages our budget and checkbook. But for some strange reason, I really enjoy doing taxes. It's sort of like an annual puzzle that I try to figure out. Of course, while I'm doing them I keep asking myself: why do I like doing this again?

Wanted to put an event on the radar.

We've invited Steve Saccone from Mosiac to come and do their Yelo seminar as part of our Potential series. Yelo is all about discovering your gifts and playing to your strengths. We want to open this up to those outside NCC. Love to have some area churches bring some folks to this event. Be a great way to equip and unleash volunteers!
The date is Saturday, April 26 from 9 AM to 3 PM. And it will be held at Ebenezers coffeehouse. This six-hour and $50 investment will pay dividends the rest of your life.

You can register here.

Just got out of a session with Len Sweet. What a brilliant mind. He likened cultural changes like post-modernism and post-Christianity to a perfect storm. And he challenged us to quit complaining about the weather. Here are five navigational principles he shared:

1) Launch into the deep. Our natural tendency is to run the other direction when a storm is headed our way. But the ships that get destroyed are the ones that hug the harbor.

2) Steer into the storm. I think this is what Paul did in Athens. He didn't back down. He stepped up, walked into the areopagus, and went toe-to-toe with the most brilliant minds in the ancient world.

3) Get rid of excess cargo.

4) Lash yourself to the mast. The more culture changes the more we have to be in the Word. It's our anchor!

5) Enjoy the ride.

For what it's worth, Len has a book that just came out called The Church of the Perfect Storm. It's compilation of chapters from a variety of leaders, including yours truly. I think it's a good read.

Head to Toronto this morning to speak at The NOVA Experience hosted by Willowcreek Canada. Very excited about heading across the border! I'll do a session today on creative communication and then close out the conference with the last session on Saturday.

Took Summer on a little date last night. It's been too long since our last one! One of the things I'm learning as a dad is the value of one-on-one time. It's a whole different dynamic than when we're together as an entire family. My goal as a parent is to keep the lines of communication open so my kids feel like they can talk to me about anything and everything, especially when they get into some things that are over their heads!

Nothing like quality time with your kids. And I think the only way to have quality time is quantity time. I often feel under-qualified and over-whelmed by the changes my kids are going through. I feel like I need more parenting skilz. You know what I mean? But one thing every parent can do, no matter how skilled or unskilled, is just spend good old-fashioned one-on-one time with their kids.

My deepest desire as a dad is to see my kids grow up to love God and want to hang out with us when they are old enough to have a choice. But I think they'll want to hang out with us then if we hang out with them now!

Last week I had the joy of being called an apostate evangelist because of a book I had on my recommended reading list. I'm not even sure exactly what an apostate evangelist is, but I don't think it was a compliment. I just thought this was an opportunity to process how I process stuff like this.

For starters, I always try to stay positive on my blog. There is way too much sideways energy in the kingdom. If something says or does something heretical or blasphemous, then we need to call a spade a spade. But there are lots of Christians taking pot shots at other Christians. I've decided not to defend myself. I probably wouldn't have time for anything else. But I do want to set the record straight.

I have officially removed my recommended reading list from my blog. Let me explain why. I read a ton of books. I used to read about 150 books per year. I now read closer to 50-75 books per year. And my reading list includes lots of books by lots of people I have issue with theologically or personally. I love spiritual classics by people like Tozer or Chambers that I agree with lock, stock, and barrel. But I also like reading books that I don't totally agree with because it makes me think. And it's sort of disingenuous to not believe in something you don't even know about. I read lots of non-Christian authors as part of my cultural exegesis.

Long story short, I had some books listed that I enjoyed reading personally. They made me think in new ways or gave me insight into culture or even helped me understand why I don't believe what I don't believe. And while they are written by people who don't have a Christian worldview, they resulted in a better understanding of Scripture and a closer relationship with Christ. Yes, that's possible!

But here's the thing:I put them through my seminary filter. I'm able to digest them in ways that absorbs the nutrients and gets rid of the waste. But I'm afraid that my recommendations might be viewed as an endorsement of everything these authors stand for as writers and people. It's definitely not. So while I think it's laughable that someone calls me an "apostate evangelist" because of one book I've read, this is an instance where I've decided to error on the side of caution because I know that with visibility comes greater accountability. And if my recommended reading list is a stumbling block it's not worth it. Listen, while NCC is somewhat unorthodox in practice we are absolutely orthodox in belief by any historical standard. And Scripture is the final authority when it comes to truth.

I guess what I'm saying is this: I've learned to choose my battles wisely. And this isn't the hill where I want to fight. It's not important enough. What's so ironic is that I've taken it on the chin from several sides because of an author whose early writings I enjoyed but has become more of a syncretist whom I absolutely disagree with!

For what it's worth, I talked about not majoring in minors this past weekend. Paul warns Timothy against arguments that waste time and start fights. I'm just not going to go there. I don't get negative. And I don't defend myself. Life is too short. And the mission is too important.

One request. Can we put down our stones? We're so quick to stone one another while the world watches! It's an embarrassment. How can we love the world if we can't stop fighting with each other?

Trying to keep it real.