Top 10 Posts from 2010 (as determined by you)

I always like the year-end countdowns for top songs, news articles, etc.  So I thought I would post my top 10 posts from the year determined by the amount of hits they received.  Here they are in cased you missed them:

10. Why Some Churches Fail This was actually a re-post from my sabbatical in 2008.  But it resonates with people.

9. What does God’s voice sound like

8. The most important ingredient of leadership: integrity

7. Godliness vs. Worldliness

6. New Song Inspiration: Jason Gray’s Fade With Our Voices This post came out in ’09 but the hits in ’10 kept coming.

5. What About Those Who’ve Never Heard

4. 8 Wishes on my 40th Birthday

3. Not Sure What to Think of Church Rater This post elicited some great comments and dialogue from the people who run Church Rater.

2. 66 Love Letters by Larry Crabb My book review on Crabb’s book brought some new visitors.

1. “6 is a serious number” starring my old friend Scott Degitz I haven’t talked to Scott in years but this post brought some Cards fans to the site.

Difficult but Necessary

I can hear the Holy Spirit best when I can hear everything else least.

True.

But difficult to do, to tune out everything else but God alone.  It’s often brief and fleeting, but necessary.

My New Year’s Wish: Only Eyes for God

Acts 7:54-56 (The Message)

Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, hardly noticed–he only had eyes for God.

Oh, if that could be said of me!  Only eyes for God?!  What a concept in our culture but seemingly impossible with all that our culture throws at us.

How do we get like that?  God’s grace and hard work.

Earlier it says, “Stephen, brimming with God’s grace and energy, was doing wonderful things.”

Despite that, or because of that, enemies were made.  So if you have “only eyes for God,” someone will try to tear that down and perhaps destroy you.

The Best…

The best coaches, parents, teachers, and friends see the potential in the people around them and help them discover something inside them that they might never have know without external encouragment.

Adoption Option

There are approximately 115,000 children in the United States ready for adoption.  There are 350,00 churches in the United States.  If one family in every three churches adopted a child in the United States, there would not be anymore orphans here.  While I applaud families who adopt internationally, I think it would be an incredible testimony for the Church if we were able to complete the job here!

James 1:27 is pretty clear that this is our job!  Not someone else’s, especially not the government’s.  The Scriptures are also clear that we have been adopted by God as His children through Jesus Christ.  I’m glad I’ve been adopted.  Maybe we should return the gift.

Check out this site: www.orphansandthechurch.com

What do you think?  Should our church (FCC) make an initiative in this area?  Or leave it to 2 other churches in our community?

Top 10 Things That Make Me Wonder

What are the things, memories, observations, dreams, or experiences that fill you with amazement, awe, reverence?

For me:

1. Seeing the birth of my children.
2. Watching someone transform spiritually.
3. The changes in my wife during pregnancy.
4. The fact that people sometimes follow me as a leader.
5. The four seasons.
6. Love–particularly agape.
7. Watching/experiencing true teamwork where my unique significance makes a difference.
8. Contemplating the incarnation.
9. Studying the hand of a baby or young child.
10. The rhema/pneuma of God’s Spirit in my life.

What would you add?

Christmas Day: I Miss Michigan but…

Anyone who knows me know that my heart belongs in Michigan…but I’m starting to wonder.  This Christmas I’m quite content being a Kentuckian, especially one living in Versailles, Woodford County.  I love the church I serve with.  I love the community…where our food bank is overflowing and people serve sacrificially.  It’s not perfect that’s for sure.  But this Christmas as I celebrate the incarnation of God as Jesus, I see how the Gospel has changed this community in many ways.  Still a long way to go … But I know with the power of God, I (and my church family) can change the world.

Christmas Eve: Also Aidan’s Birthday

As a pastor I never imagined that I would miss a Christmas Eve service at my church…until Jen went into labor on Christmas Eve, 2003.  Here’s what I wrote in my journal shortly afer…

Yeah!  Aidan finally comes!  We went in at 1am Christmas Eve morning.  He was delivered at 1:33pm that day.  8lbs 2oz 20 inches long.  The nurses did give us a little scare.  His baseline heart rate was high (almost 180) and Jen’s blood pressure was low (90/50).  But they improved and everything is going well, praise God!  Keevin took care of Christmas Eve services.  We celebrated Christmas (with presents for the kids) a day late.  Corky and Karen came down early (4am) Christmas Day and have been a big help with Reagan and Micah.

So while we celebrate the birth of Christ, it’s hard to forget our family’s Christmas present…Aidan.

Baby Aidan 6 years ago with his brother and sister

Join God’s Adventure

Sometimes the Spirit speaks clearer and louder to us than other times.  Those times typically correlate with how much time we’ve been spending with Him and depending on Him.

So it’s crucial when we are prompted by the Spirit to talk to someone, help someone, serve somewhere, WHATEVER IT IS, that we do it!  When we don’t, we’re not depending on God and that prompting will be a little less clear next time.  When we do depend on God we join God’s adventure to see what He’s going to do THROUGH US and it will be clearer next time.

Follow me on Twitter…if you’re into that

Didn’t think I’d get into twitter when I first started over a year ago.  But it’s given me another way to connect with people I otherwise wouldn’t connect with.  So if you’re Twittering, feel free to follow me at www.twitter.com/marcuslynn