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Here we go again…check out this story about a high school student getting a ZERO for including this reference and a cross on an art assignment. Read the story here.

Starbucks is shutting down all their stores nationwide to retrain their baristas. The quality of their product depends upon the drink masters…so this is a good deal.

But what about all of us wanting our evening pick-me-up?

Do you think it’s any coincidence that Dunkin Donuts is selling Latees for only 99 cents today?

Story here

The Washington Times does a weekly feature on an area church and pastor…The Capital Pulpit.  This coming Monday’s paper will feature an article about Life Community Church, a transcript of a recent sermon, and my mugshot.  So, go out on Monday and buy a copy of the Times.  I’ll have to get an extra copy for my mom’s scrapbook

I have to admit that I had a difficult time turning off yesterday’s hearing.  It’s somewhat ridiculous that Congress has spent so much time on this issue…but nevertheless “it is what it is.”

So what’s my opinion?  I think Clemens is lying.  McNamee is not a person of integrity by any means, but I do believe that he is now telling the truth.   I don’t believe that Andy Pettite “misremembered” or “misheard.”  It’s sad that it has come to this.

So what’s your opinion?

I received this email from Russ Wells in Iraq. He is one of the men from our church serving our country overseas. His testimony in this email is too amazing not to share…so I am going to cut and paste for you. Praise God!

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Hello everybody,

I’m writing from an internet cafe. So, no journal . . . but I will do one later.

I’m sure many of you are aware that I was wounded yesterday. Our Iraqi Army unit was involved in another big clearance mission. Yesterday was the third day of this particular mission. There were four of us dismounted clearing an area (with the rest of the team in vehicles, talking to us on the radio ready to react). We came under heavy enemy gunfire (presumably just small arms). During the initial shooting I heard SFC Hnt shout out that he was hit. I was a little farther back with our medic and we tried to move over to him. As soon as we moved I felt a sharp impact on my face and saw the blood. I knew that I had been hit. We found cover and those who were able returned fire while our team (and the Iraqis) came up with vehicles to take us out. I remained conscious the entire time. It wasn’t until we got back to the JCOP that I started to understand the extent of my wounds. They identified an entrance wound under my ear and exit wound on the other side of my nose (meaning it had gone through my face). Within minutes medevac helicopters picked us up en route for the hospital in Balad.

Once at the emergency room they determined that it was shrapnel — not bullets that penetrated my face. They later found that a piece of shrapnel had also gone through my arm. They were extremely concerned about my face (thus, initial reports about the injury being serious and maybe a trip to Germany). Over time they figured out that the shrapnel had gone through without hitting any of the important stuff (sinuses, brain, important part of the bone). I quickly became “the story” of the hospital. Everybody was amazed at how “lucky” I was. Of course, I know that I am extremely blessed and that God had me in His hands the whole way. It is now a day and a half after the injury and I am doing fine. My face is swollen and I have many stitches — but I did not require surgery. I will spend a few more days at Balad under watch and then they are flying me to Qatar for about a week of R&R. They will return me to the unit to finish the deployment . . . but our time will be short when I get there. I had great care the entire time. I have already had my “Purple Heart” awarded to me and also had a visit from General Cody (4 Star General, one of the top Army commanders), People helped me get in touch with Deanna. And I know many people were helping take care of her as well.

Thank you for all your love and support. I am pretty tired and am going to stop typing now, but I will send out a journal with the full story later.

Love,

Russ

Commenting on recent findings, LifeWay Research’s Ed Stetzer said, “We found a real openness to hearing about matters of faith, but the study also clearly documents what I call the Oprah-ization of American Christianity. It’s very much a generic ‘big guy in the sky’ view of God and a ‘you believe what you believe, I believe what I believe’ viewpoint on theology. People say, ‘Who am I to judge?’”

This is a huge part of the challenge the church faces today. I still believe that there is a standard for truth and it is the Bible…which is God’s inspired Word. Oprah and others are well-intentioned and they do a lot of good, but this viewpoint of theology is so dangerous.

What scares me is the number of Christians and pastors/ministers that have bought into this idea. It doesn’t matter how sincere individuals are about what they believe if what they believe is untrue. We must continue to proclaim the truth and give biblical definition to the ‘big guy in the sky.’ Sorry, but political correctness is not going to save anyone’s soul.

HGH (human growth hormone) and illegal steroids have rocked the baseball world. It’s big news. And I do feel sorry for or sympathize with some of the guys listed in the Mitchell Report. Guys like Brian Roberts who says that he only used steroids one time in 2004 and he decided immediately to never do it again. Guys like Andy Pettit who used HGH only a few times when recovering from a major injury. These guys and others admitted that these shortcuts were wrong and they regretted them.

I guess the reason I sympathize is that I think I’ve been guilty of taking CGH (church growth hormone). If there is such a thing…I’ve done it. This church steroid is something that comes in various forms and many church planters and pastors desperate for church growth take the pill or order the injection. Here are some of the forms of CGH that I’ve tried:

• 20,000 piece direct mailers to the community
• hanging door hangers every Friday
• copying an Ed Young message series
• doing the latest, greatest 40 day campaign
• spending a big chunk of change on a community carnival
• a complete redo of the website
• implement everything I learned at the latest conference
• skating parties and cookouts and movie nights

Here’s the deal…none of those things are absolutely wrong or sinful. They are not even on the “banned substance” list. But so often we are looking for something to give us the jolt of growth…only to come up later regretting the time and money spent. At Life, we are truly experiencing our best season/year of growth, now in the 6th year of our church. Here’s what is actually working…

• Focused prayer on God-honoring objectives (our 2007 prayer card)
• More preaching series based on passages/books of the Bible (less based on random topics)
• Improved worship experience (better music, setting, flow)
• Emphasis on small groups
• Keeping it simple…saying no to CGH

Sometimes we have the learn the hard way. If there were a Mitchell Report listing pastors guilty of trying CGH, I know my name would be there…most names would. Here’s my conclusions:

• avoid the church steroids
• promote the Gospel and talk about Jesus
• be consistent and excellent in what we do
• keep it simple
• and let God bring the growth

Looking forward to a new conference for church leaders…in our area!  It’s coming on May 22nd in Reston.  It’s called the Whiteboard Sessions and being put on by my friend and fellow church planter, Ben Arment.  He’s been blogging daily about it and posting the names of the 8 incredible speakers.  Can’t wait for this…check it out here.

I’m not one to blog about boycotting movies (especially before they are released)…but I cannot help but use this forum to warn you about this new movie release. They have tried to make it look something like the Chronicles of Narnia and seem family friendly…but this is a movie which is about as anti-God and anti-Christianity as you can get. I urge you to not let your kids see it. In the end, it’s about a boy and girl who kill God so they can live as they please.

There’s plenty of articles out there…

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