Making the switch

http://wayneomite.wordpress.com/

For the 6 of you following this, join me over at the new Wayneomite

much love
Wayne
James 1:22

How do you use social networking?

So in the last couple of days I've had about 5 or 6 different conversations about how to use social networking (mostly Facebook and Twitter) - how do you use it?

Here's a couple of folks I follow on Twitter that I think have some great insight on this question (and utilize Twitter really well):

http://twitter.com/human3rror
http://twitter.com/BenArment
http://twitter.com/soulpancake
http://twitter.com/MarkBatterson
http://twitter.com/tonymorganlive

What do YOU think?

Much love
Wayne
James 1:22

The

For the week of May 11-17:

The good: God, duh - Galatians 5:1, Ephesians 2:1-10 and John 15:16! Oy, I love Jesus.
Honorable mention: Braves took 4 out of 6 from the Phils and Mets on the road, Mine That Bird winning the Derby, Star Trek, and this awesomeness from my Catholic brothers and sisters

The bad: Wolverine (yes, that's been out for almost 3 weeks but I never said anything), the way the Hawks tanked...oof...

The ugly: this is dumb, this is dumber, this is dumbest

Much love,
Wayne
James 1:22

The good, the bad and the ugly

Going to start mixing a few new things with my blog to keep me more interested in posting. I still don't think I have enough to say, but we'll see.

New section: This Week's Good, Bad and Ugly

Good: 1) God is so great: met some new dudes through YL, started meeting with one of our HS guys regularly, seeing 1 Timothy 4:16 come to life 2)the Braves have won 3 straight, 2 over Philly, 1 over NY, all on the road; 3) Mother's Day: my mom wins
Bad: sticky crap with some parents at church.
Ugly: the Hawks getting bombed by the Cavs...BUT it was a step in the right direction. Now, do they re-sign Bibby? Hmmm

Next new section coming soon: movie, book, and TV show reviews (stealing this idea from Mandy)

Much love
Wayne
James 1:22

Ministry

Friends and brothers and sisters in ministry, let me take a quick second to encourage you to keep at it! I'm not sure if you've had a rough couple of weeks or if you're not sure you're in the right place or if you are miserable with your situation or or or or..

Check out Colossians 1:29; struggling with HIS energy! Even if you're sky high with where you are, push forward with HIS energy; and if you're running on empty and discouraged, push forward with HIS energy.

What are some verses you have been encouraged by lately?

Much love
Wayne
James 1:22

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Fancy, big-worded poetry

I'm reading Knowing God by JI Packer (still) and I came across this poem by Isaac Watts in the chapter 'The Grace of God' - enjoy and comment as you see fit!

But there's a voice of princely grace
Sounds from God's holy Word;
Ho! ye poor captive sinners, come,
And trust upon the Lord.

My soul obeys the sovereign call,
And runs to this relief;
I would believe thy promise, Lord,
Oh, help my unbelief.

To the blest fountain of thy blood,
Incarnate God, I fly,
To wash my soul from scarlet stains,
And sins of deepest dye.

A guilty, weak, and helpless worm,
Into thy hands I fall;
Thou art the Lord, my righteousness,
My Saviour, and my all.

I love it. You?

Ephesians 2:5!

Much love
Wayne
James 1:22

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

'Knowing God' by J.I. Packer

You read it? I'm digging it, for sure. What are you reading right now? What's it teaching you? Non fiction/fiction? Would you recommend it to me?

Some thoughts on 'Knowing God':
- We can know God! Seriously, this never gets old
- Having sound doctrine matters (Matt Chandler and Packer would get along great)
- The Trinity is incredibly complex, and as much as I'd like to say I get it, I don't. (Side note: The best work of fiction on the Trinity is The Chronicles of Narnia; CS uses Aslan to paint a really great picture of all three Persons. Scratching your head? Reread 'A Horse and His Boy' for the Holy Spirit.incredible)
- God never changes. Oh thank You for that! Super comforting
- People who know their God are different than people who know about their God. And the difference is huge in life, joy, peace, strength, witness
- "To be preoccupied with getting theological knowledge as an end in itself, to approach Bible study with no higher a motive than a desire to know all the answers, is the direct route to a self-satisfied self-deception. We need to guard our hearts against such an attitude, and pray to be kept from it"

Much love
Wayne
James 1:22

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Some links and such

http://mockingbirdnyc.blogspot.com/2009/04/osteen-great-smile-crushing-theology.html - I love Mockingbird
http://relit.org/porn_again_christian/ - Driscoll's goods on the lust and porn issues
http://www.karyoberbrunner.com/faith-and-culture/unfashionable-is-in/ - Kary always has good thoughts, and is always humble about it; this is a book I think I'll be reading someday soon
http://itsmandyc.wordpress.com/2009/04/14/sunshine-cleaning-r-%E2%80%93/ - seriously, I use Mandy's movie reviews more than I use Rotten Tomatoes'
http://www.neueministry.com/ - I kind of love everything here
http://www.lala.com/ - and I definitely love this one; cheap music that's legit
http://www.patgillen.net/?p=767 - My boy Pat knows what's up; start with this one and keep following him. Totally worth it
http://40thstreetvb.blogspot.com/2009/04/truly-christian-depression.html - Ross is a friend I'm blessed to have
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/ - I'm still figuring how much I like Seth's thoughts; so far so good
http://treesclaphands.blogspot.com/2009/04/easter-sermon-from-bishop-tom.html - everyone should be friends with Brez. He's the man

Much love
Wayne
James 1:22

Twitter and pancakes

I think Twitter is knocking on my top 25 most favorite things. I mean, I don't love it like I love Jesus or my mom or the Gators, but I do enjoy seeing what some of the pastors I love are thinking about and how they have resources and such to help folks like me. There's plenty of times when I get annoyed with some of the tweets (that they are called tweets is probably my least favorite part of Twitter...) from folks, but mostly I dig it. I use TweetDeck and Destroy Twitter - do you Twitter and if so, how do you use it?

Also, pancakes are really great.

And now, the real deal: God is SO great! I started meeting with Santo this morning and we're walking through the book of John and just laying the ground work for his early stages in discipleship. It's incredible! Have I mentioned lately that discipleship is what's up? Who is discipling you? Who are you discipling? Cause you should be doing both, for real, right now. So go on, do it.

Much love
Wayne
James 1:22

Cheers

I have a place that I love to spend time at called Buffalo Beach. It's a little sports bar joint where the people are super nice, the food is delicious and they have a 9' HDTV. They know my name when I come in, and even save 'my' booth when I tell them I'm coming. It's incredible. Anybody watch that old show Cheers? It was really great and you should check it out. It was based around this bar where everyone knew every knows your name (theme song is top 10 material). Buffalo Beach is my Cheers.

Do you have a Cheers?

Much love
Wayne
James 1:22

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

The family of God

Quick post:

Thanks be to God for the body of Christ! It is a blessing to have people to do life with, to encourage, to sharpen and scold. It's really great and I pray if you don't have this that you'll find it. But don't miss the accountabilty! For real.

Much love
Wayne
James 1:22

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

1 Timothy 4

God has been ruining me with this chunk of His word for about 5 months now. And I am so grateful.

I got to teach my kids this morning from this passage and it was one of the most fun and exciting and challenging times of teaching I've ever experiences - and I couldn't be happier! God is so good, huh?

Take some time to read these passages and tell me what you think; here are some take aways (some need to be credited to Matt Chandler of The Village Church in Dallas):
- Verse 16: how you live MATTERS
- V.6: start with the Gospel and never ever leave it - grow on it, grow IN it, live a life that deeply reflects it
- v.12: live a life that sets an example - read also: Romans 12:2, Phil 4:8 and Ephesians 5:1-17; this is who we should be

I have bunches more but I'm going to bed. Your thoughts?

Much love
Wayne
James 1:22

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

The thing I hate the most

I hate sin. I hate my enemy. I know he's real and that he hates me and my kids and my church and my friends and the fact that I'm in love with Jesus and seek to make Jesus known.

But the secret thing I hate that I don't like to talk about much is disappointment. I can't stand disappointing people..it kills me. And you know how this fleshes out? I can't say 'no'. I just can't. I hate it so much, but I'm so terrified of disappointing people that I just say yes to anything anyone needs ever. If a kid wants to grab food or someone from church wants me to join a committee (another discussion for another time..) or you asked me to read a book and give you my thoughts - I'd say yes.

But I've been bombarded lately with wise counsel telling me to stop doing this. I'm still going to passionately seek lost people and challenge Christ-followers to know Him more, but I'm going to start saying no more. And I'll be bummed that I disappointed someone, but I'm going to do it anyway.

(Please don't respond and tell me that I haven't disappointed you - it's not true anyway - because while I appreciate the encouragement, I just needed to vent that off).

Have you read 2 Corinthians 5:17 lately? Do it again.

Much love
Wayne
James 1:22

Favorite teachers of the Word

In no particular order, here are my top 5 (my dad doesn't count. Jesus doesn't either)
- Matt Orth (podcast: Broad River Comm Church)
- John Piper
- Francis Chan
- Andy Stanley
- Randy Singer

I'm going to write more on why later..bedtime now..

Yours?

Much love
Wayne
James 1:22

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

2 Corinthians 5:18-21

My job description!

Thoughts?

Much love,
Wayne
James 1:22

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

God is funny

So I let you guys know last post that I think I talk too much - about how I feel like me talking/teaching/preaching fuels my ego. I was telling this too a friend and local pastor/church planter and he challenged with this: 'if you did it more often I bet you'd take a big hit to your ego rather than having your ego be fed.' Oof..he was right. I've taught 10-12 different lessons since my last post..and I've been humbled.. Thank you God for showing just how dependent on YOU I must be..

Much love,
Wayne
James 1.22

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Romans 8

I'm trying to memorize all of Romans 8 during Lent. Hold me accountable.

I love verse 6 - the mind CONTROLLED by sinful man is death, but the mind CONTROLLED by the Spirit is LIFE AND PEACE.

That's crazy talk. And I love.

Also, verse 12 - therefore, brothers, we have an OBLIGATION, but it is NOT to the sinful nature, to live according to it.

Shapow and I love you
Wayne
James 1:22

I wanna open a coffee shop

Anyone with me? The proposal went in 3 weeks ago so I'm excited/curious/anxious to hear what's next. It would be a combo coffee shop/student facility, kind of like Batterson's church - a for real coffee shop with a place for students to just be. I would love to have a place where a high school kid could do their homework, a place I could have middle schoolers come by to play video games, where Meg and our girls had a place to do their study. A place where we could hang on a Friday night after a football game. A home for a 20-somethings service. A way to make an extra batch of food for our homeless friends. Mmmmm..

You have any thoughts?

Much love
Wayne
James 1:22

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

I talk too much

I sometimes wonder if I need to stop teaching so much. I love it, might even be OK at it, but sometimes I think I do it because I think I've got something great to say...and boy, I do NOT.

God, that Galatians 6:14 would be the cry of my heart.

I'm heading to Florida for a few days which is going to be great - even preaching at River Cross this Sunday. Again, I'm crazy excited, but I pray that He becomes greater, and that I become less (John 3:30).

Much love
Wayne
James 1:22

Man Tour

Incredible. I've never been a part of an event/camp where I was more aware of people praying for us and for me. I don't really understand prayer, I must admit, but I love it, and I know that God hears the prayers of His people. So, if you prayed for us/me, thank you so much.

There were so many great things and I could talk or write about it for days, but here are a few quick hits:
- Sam, a dude I've gotten to know thru Young Life, was great to get to know better and see grow in Jesus
- Brenner, a 7th grader from across the street from me, came and I saw him grow and connect with Jesus and some of our dudes
- The hike was awesome - 8ish miles of beautiful woods and waterfalls and views
- Wrestle Mania
- Wartching Chip and Dave lead as dads; such Christ-like servants who did anything that was needed, never looking for praise or thanks but just glad to be there
- Hutch is an incredible communicator, teacher, and example of Christ. He's a brother and partner in crime that I will hopefully know and serve with for life
- Ace is about as good a friend as I could ever hope for, and to have that kind of friend as a co-leader is such a blessing. The boys went crazy with excitement when they found that he was going to go with them to the water park - I can't describe what that feels like to me to have a leader like that
- I love skiing and Massanutten was way better than I expected
- God is active in our dudes and it's a privilege to be allowed to be a part of that

Much love
Wayne
James 1:22

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]