News & Updates

Last night, I spoke to a gathering of students at Point University in West Point, Georgia. We talked about how the church is now viewed as dangerous. At one point the church was the center of community. Then she moved to being irrelevant but harmless. Now many think Christianity is dangerous and needs to be eradicated from our thinking. What’s the answer to such a shift in culture? I passionately begged the Point University students to cement their identities… soul…

Last Friday I took Sherry and the remaining Scott brood to see the movie “McFarland.” We all loved the flick. It stars Kevin Costner as a white, high school coach challenged with coaching in an all-Hispanic high school in McFarland, California. Costner, or coach White, begins a cross-country running program because, as Costner says, “What better place could you find a cross country team than with kids who eat the right foods, pick in extreme heat and running is their…

Is tension good or bad? Is tension the same as stress? Does an unexpected bill cause tension or stress? Should a flashing “E” on my gas gauge cause stress or tension? Stress, some would say, is usually linked to a specific person, situation or experience that one fears. Tension, on the other hand, refers to mental strain, excitement, or a strained state of relationship. What the what? Do you happen to recall (or can Google) the 1975 movie, The Stepford…

Snowpocalypse II has passed. I barely survived. I made it back home on Wednesday just before noon — like Governor Deal had asked me to do. I hunkered and bunkered down. The family braced for the worst. Three days of school closings are evidence of the winter storm disaster God brought us all graciously through. Perhaps the worst part of the arctic solstice catastrophe was the layering. You know what I mean, right? With a legendary Atlanta winter event, survival…

He didn’t have a pair of shoes until he was a teenager. It wasn’t a parental, domestic abuse situation. It was abject poverty being lived out in east Africa. His family sold a cow to afford shoes, a Bible, tuition, and school supplies so David could finally go to school. After one semester, the money from the cow was gone, and David was kicked out of school. He was only brought back to his school because of exceptional athletic abilities.…

I’ve been thinking a lot about freedom. I watched the movie Lincoln. What a fight for freedom that great man fought. I’m studying the incredible letter of Galatians where Paul is all about freedom. “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” Why are we so quick to give freedom up? Perhaps loneliness. Maybe a thirst for approval and acceptance. A quest…

I was with a young couple this morning preparing for their March wedding. They’re continuing to do the DTR thing. Define The Relationship. When you meet someone, you immediately start your DTR process. Going steady moves the DTR status right along. Becoming engaged and then setting a wedding date refines and crystallizes specific tenets of the DTR. There’s a similar mode when we come into contact with Jesus. DTR. Is he a good guy? Teacher? Mere prophet? He said He…

“Which would you choose?” It’s a fun game. Wanna play? If you were given four Super Bowl Tickets (Row 1, 50 yard line), would you choose: a. to stay home because a special episode of Empire will be aired? b. to ask for free nachos too? c. to create a lottery to choose who will go with you? d. to smile and high five the nearest Falcons fan? If you were invited into the winner’s locker room to congratulate Russell…

What wrecks you? What has slammed you to the ground only to completely reshape you when you got back up? Jeff Goins, in his book, “Wrecked” says: “To be wrecked is to have a transformation that goes beyond mere words—to be introduced to another way of life, to follow in the footsteps of a teacher who is calling you through the eye of a needle. Often it involves being catalyzed by an encounter with pain. The process is horrible and…

Words are so incredibly important. My children’s visible demeanor can rise and fall on words or the lack thereof. A person boasting a top love language of affirming words becomes a confident warrior with even the slightest encouragement. That same person can also become a pile of mush with a mere barbed comment. I know all about such dynamics. You should see the wonderful cards I keep on my desk. One of my favorite Christmas gifts was a small wooden…