Jonathan Herron

Leadership Interview

In honor & memory of Kyle Lake, The Leadership Blog has re-posted an interview with him from earlier this year.  It's funny - he & I share the exact same pet peeve!

Baptism Death

* UPDATE: Marko has a first-hand post on what happened; turns out this is the home church from which David Crowder Band leads worship.

Sounds unbelievable, but completely true:

Texas Pastor Electrocuted During Baptism
Oct 30 7:18 PM US/Eastern
WACO, Texas
   A pastor performing a baptism was electrocuted inside his church Sunday morning after grabbing a microphone while partially submerged, a church employee said. The Rev. Kyle Lake, 33, was standing in water up to his shoulder in a baptismal at University Baptist Church when he was electrocuted, said Jamie Dudley, a church business administrator and wife of another pastor there. Doctors in the congregation performed chest compressions for 40 minutes before Lake was taken to Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center where he was later declared dead, Dudley said.  Link

And now a real-life conversation between Amber & Jonathan this evening...

Jonathan:  "So, it's says here in the news that Mr. Sulu is gay."

Amber:  "Who's that?"

Jonathan:  "Mr. Sulu.  Star Trek."

Amber:  "What?"

Jonathan:  "'Take us out of here, Mr. Sulu.'  'Aye, aye, Captain.'"

Amber:  (Blank stare)

Jonathan:  "The asian dude."

Amber:  "Oh ya."  (Laughs because she knows who the asian dude is but not from Jonathan's dumb impression).

Jonathan:  "I should put this on my blog."  (Embarrassed for not representing asians well).

Shameless Plug for Birthday & Christmas

With only 25 shopping days left until my birthday and 58 until Christmas, I thought I'd help out family, friends, and readers who wish to get that something special for Yours Truly by posting a new Amazon Wish List on the left sidebar.  Click it and feel free to peruse and shop for your favorite writer at jonathanherron.com...  (Yes, this is shameless).

Get Fuzzy

This is my all-time favorite comic strip (even better than The Far Side!).  Maybe it's because the dog is a talking pug.  Anyhow, today's strip is freakin' hilarious (maybe it's because we're headed back up North this weekend):

Click the comic to see a larger version of it.

TV Alert

Tune into NBC tonight at 8pm for a one-hour news special report on the role of evangelical Christianity & the mega-church boom in America:  Tom Brokaw Reports: In God They Trust (Doesn't that title just grate against your skin a bit?  The word they is used to seemingly disassociate the producers of the program from the subject).  If nothing else, I'm sure the report will remind us all why the Church needs to work harder at being apolitical.

Passion for the Product

   "Above all, I believe one of the greatest lessons that can be learned from extraordinary companies like Starbucks and Disney is their passion for their product. Starbucks sells coffee, and they believe it is for everyone. Disney sells entertainment, and they believe in entertaining everyone. How much more passionate should we be about the Gospel?" - Jeanne Mayo

Acceptance Speech

As a public service to our readers, here is the complete text of Trevor Cox's acceptance speech for being the 10,000th visitor to this blog, as left in the Comments section: 

"First of all, I'd like to thank the academy for their votes. I'd like to thank my parents and my 1st grade teacher, Mrs Barton, for teaching me how to read and write. And I'd like to thank Jared Barden, technology wizkid, who taught me the finer points of blogging. Thanks to jonathan for making this blog what it is...whatever that means. And most of thanks to Jesus who I'm sure is a blogger. Irreverently yours, TC."

  I was hanging out at Barnes & Noble today and came across the latest issue of Rolling Stone in the magazine section.  The cover story is on Bono.  Interesting read (most of the interview is online):

  "I believe there's a force of love and logic in the world, a force of love and logic behind the universe. And I believe in the poetic genius of a creator who would choose to express such unfathomable power as a child born in "straw poverty"; i.e., the story of Christ makes sense to me." - Bono in current issue of Rolling Stone Magazine

Odds & Ends

* Trevor Cox, one of NewSpring's home group pastors, was officially the 10,000th visitor here.  Check out the comments for the celebration!

* Ken Wilson has a hilarious true story about saving a kitten from a tree (you HAVE to see the pix!).  My favorite quote from his post:  Meg and I found a kitten in a tree this afternoon. After several unsuccessful rescue attempts, we took a long shot and called the Fire Dept. Oh yes, we did. I’m not even kidding. 

* Amber has a post updating everyone on our growing little "puglit."

* Youth Pastor Mark Rodriguez has been blogging from Florida about Hurricane Wilma.  Worth a look.