Jonathan Herron

3 Brief Videos Making Me Smile This Week

3) Crud War. 
    Because glorified food fights rock.

2) This. 
    Love seeing our friends from our old Catalyst church plant
    in Ohio thriving in ministry.  Love these guys!

1) Max the Pug. 
    Little J and I are seriously addicted to these vid's!

What's making you smile this week?

Tullian Tchividijian, 38, new senior pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church and grandson of Billy Graham, on dissidents challenging his leadership:

"I haven't seen Matthew 18 used nearly as often as it should be.  I think what saddened me most was that those who stirred up the most trouble never even attempted to come and see me...

The real underlying issue was a perceived loss of power.  When new members join the church, they promise 'to promote the unity, purity, and peace of the Church.'  One of the quickest ways to break this vow is to gossip - to 'chatter idly about others behind their backs.'  This seemingly innocent activity can cause a world of hurt.  The corrective is found in Matthew 18.

I'm convinced that most divisions in the church would never happen if we took God at his word and scrupulously observed Matthew 18.  When we sin against our brother or sister in Christ we sin against ourselves.  A sin - such as slander - against any one of us is a sin against all of us.  It's like shooting ourselves in the foot, only much worse."

- from July 2010 edition of Church Executive

Sunday Reflex 06.27.10

• Today we were reminded that we were Separated, Reconciled, and now UN1TED by One.
• Genesis 10 reveals that all nations descended from Noah's 3 sons: Ham, Shem, and Japheth.
• Genesis 11 shares how humanity was separated by nation, tribe, language, and race.
• Acts 2 is where God reconciles - humanity is UN1TED by Jesus.  Pentecost is the Anti-Babel!
• Ham's family is UN1TED to God's family when the Ethiopian receives Christ in Acts 8.
• Shem's family is UN1TED to God's family when Saul receives Christ in Acts 9.
• And yes, Japheth's family is UN1TED to God's family when Cornelius' household receives Christ in Acts 10. 
• UN1TED as Colwood, we had a strong Mid-Year Update to celebrate and be encouraged by today!
• I truly believe that when the local church is UN1TED in Christ, we are an unstoppable force!
• On top of all the lives changed and our 80+ new Partners since January, I loved sharing how we've given away hundreds of Bibles to Guests over the past three months.
• Every new family that registers at Colwood Kids receives a free copy of The Jesus Storybook Bible.  Josiah was reading to me from his copy tonight: "Let's see here.  What's a good story for Daddy?  Ah.  This is good.  See, there is the water and John is baptisms in the water.  And this girl is sick so she went to see Jesus and He made her all better."
• Looking forward to a "normal" week with a complete staff team!
• Also looking forward to talking with Dave Sears of LifeChurch.tv this week.
• Just locked in reservations for a visit to NewSpring this Aug 4-6.  Taking Marshall and Dan to Anderson, SC to learn from their leadership team.
• And finally, planning is currently underway for a big series kick-off on Sep 12th - we are going to AMPLIFY life in the Thumb!

Phriday is for Photos - 06.25.10

More photography at Flickr.com/FollowJon.
Random shots at Twitter.com/FollowJon.

JOSIAH: "Daddy, you're my Best Dad."

ME: (pointing to Amber) "And who is she?"

JOSIAH: "That's my Sugar Momma!"

And Scene.

My buddy Ben Arment is like the Willy Wonka of modern Christian leadership: making dreams come true. 

Only without the pesky Oompa-Loompas.

This September the math adds up:

Chicago + Gospel + Creativity = STORY.

Great presenters like this author.
Seats are going fast. 

BTW - I recommend catching a free improv set while you're in Chi-town.

Must See Links

• Clayton King on Holy Hangovers.
• Seth Godin on Amplifying Complaints.
• Jeff Kapusta on Momentum Makers & Breakers:
  "Movement causes friction. When you paint a target for your team, you’ll likely encounter resistance. As a leader, you can’t restrict yourself by living inside of someone else’s comfort zone."
• Seth Godin on Don't Snowglobe Me, Bro:
  "Interrupting everyone so you can properly alert one person in a thousand is just silly."
• Perry Noble on Stop Expecting Excitement to Happen... Create It!

Many younger evangelicals today are reacting to their parents' conservative, buttoned-down, rule-keeping flavor of "older brother religion" with a type of liberal, untucked, rule-breaking flavor of "younger brother irreligion."

It screams out, "That's right!  I know I don't have it all together, and you think you do; I know I'm not good, and you think you are.  And that makes me better than you!"

See the irony?  We become self-righteous against the self-righteous.

No matter what kind of person we are, it's always easier to detect sin and shortcomings and imperfections in other people than in ourselves.

Our sin-corrupted survival mechanism makes us think, "I have to believe I'm better than somebody."  If we aren't better than somebody, we fear we'll lose all reason to live.

It only shows we trying to trust in our superiority, rather than God's, in order to be saved.

- Tullian Tchividjian, Surprised by Grace

Monday Reflex | 06.21.10

• Amazing Sunday with Marshall Brooks leading worship!
• The energy-level was off the charts in both services.  God is blessing Colwood and our people are responding with passionate worship.
• Both services cheered and totally clicked with our American Idol video edited by Josh Phillips!  Long-time readers may remember the same idea from a few years back...
• I keep waiting for the "Summer Slump" to hit us... and yet our weekend attendance remains basically unchanged.  "But God..."
• I love our church.  Seriously, so many good things are happening.  Its a privilege to serve in such a healthy, Gospel-centered community.
• Unpacked Acts 19 and Ephesians 1.15-2.10.  Talked about the history of Artemis worship.
• You don't really know what your idols are until they are threatened or destroyed.
• Idols are functional saviors that always leave us unsatisfied.  Jesus is the only Savior who truly satisfies.
• When we live for our functional saviors, we do so to GAIN acceptance; when we live for the true Savior, we do so because we're ALREADY accepted!
• Whether or not you had a great daddy growing up, we all have a Father of glory who showers us with inexhaustible, incorruptable love!
• You were DEAD... But God, being rich in mercy, made you alive with Christ Jesus!
• You don't have time to maintain past regrets!
• Looking forward to a GREAT week with a full staff!

i (heart) tim keller

"Jesus' teaching consistently attracted the irreligious while offending the Bible-believing, religious people of His day.

However, in the main, our churches today do not have this effect.

The kind of outsiders Jesus attracted do not bother coming to our churches, even our most avant-garde ones.  We tend to draw buttoned-down, moralistic people.  The licentious and liberated or the broken and marginal avoid church.

That can only mean one thing.

If the preaching of our ministers and the practice of our parishioners do not have the same effect on people that Jesus had, then we must not be declaring the same message that Jesus did."

- Dr. Tim Keller