Toluu

Sets 'n' Service

Inspirations on 'mere-Christianity', the 'everyday mission', and the 'gospel reviving culture'

I’ve been chosen as a “Top 10″ blogger of the year by JR Woodward, thanks!January 2

 

Thanks JR for tossing me in with a crowd much wiser and more seasoned than I am. For the rest of JR Woodward’s “Top 10″ blogger list click the link below:

JR Woodward’s “Top 10″ blogger list

      

I’m looking for a pastoral calling. Here’s my resume, website, and more.December 12 2008

My family and I are in the midst of a ministry transition. We’ve loved our time of service at East Lanier but the Lord is moving us and them on. We had a wonderful time of saying goodbye to our many friends at East Lanier today at the end of service. We’ll miss them and remember all that the Lord did in and through us with them.

Because of this transition I am looking for a new pastoral calling. You may not realize this but only 1/3rd of ministry jobs are advertised, while 2/3rds are found solely through relational side doors. We’re looking for those side doors. If you are a reader here and know of someone looking for pastoral help and you believe that I would be a good fit for them please feel free to pass along my resume and my resume website address to them.

We’ve only recently begun networking with friends in ministry and putting my resume out.  Of course we’d be grateful for your prayers during our search season. 

Here is my resume in PDF formate:

Greetings friends, please pray for my baby girl Cali…I’mNovember 25 2008

Here’s the short of it: She has had RSV for the past few days and had a dangerous fever to boot so she was rushed to the hospital last night. Docs say the worst of it could still be coming either today or tomorrow. Pray that it doesn’t come and that she remains calm so she can breath well. Her oxygen level was very low and she barely was released last night from the hospital so also pray that her pathways clear and stay cleared. She is only 11 weeks old so meds are for the most part out because she’s too small and there’s no way to tell what she allergic to or not.

On top of that Jess and I are both sick - I’m coming out of it and she’s getting worst. I’m flying down there today so pray nothing happens on top of these things. Thanks..

Update: We’re back in the hospital again with Cali and we’ll be spending the night. Cali is on a new remedy that she can breath in which has helped a lot. So far her vitals have been good for 3hours. More TBA…thanks for praying for us.

UPDATE: We’re home now and Cali is doing well. We’ll go back in on Friday for a check up on all her vitals. Hopefully she’s through the worst of it. Thanks for praying for us.

      

Congrats to Sam Boyd for being part of the unearthing of history!November 20 2008

A friend of mine from seminary, Sam Boyd, who is completing a PhD in Ancient Near Eastern studies at University of Chicago just got his name published in the NY Times and Archeology Magazine for being part of a team that unearthed a 2,800 year old monument. Follow the links to find out about their dig and what they unearthed. Here’s a clipping from the Times piece;

In a mountainous kingdom in what is now southeastern Turkey, there lived in the eighth century B.C. a royal official, Kuttamuwa, who oversaw the completion of an inscribed stone monument, or stele, to be erected upon his death. The words instructed mourners to commemorate his life and afterlife with feasts “for my soul that is in this stele.”

University of Chicago archaeologists who made the discove

Recovering the nature of discipleship from a lexical fallacy - its more than just educating the mind, its transforming entire lives!November 15 2008

I’m living between the CNN Omni Center in downtown Atlanta and my home this weekend while commuting to the CEP conference on “Making visible the invisible church: The call to discipleship.” As typically happens to me in a conference setting my mind tends to wander during the plenary talks. Not because the talks aren’t good (some are always better than others), but because I begin to ask myself if I were asked to give a lecture in this conference theme where would I go with the lecture? Discipleship is definitely something I’ve been drawn to reflection over a lot lately…

I’ve attached a document I created during the all day Friday sessions. I always do at least two things at once while taking notes on a laptop (old seminary habits die hard I guess). Here’s the document, its called “Recovering Discipleship“. Basically I make the point that too often people think and speak about discipleship in terms of theological education, a transformation of the mind, rather than a transformation of the entire life. So in this document I simply point out that discipleship is at the very least the ongoing experience of being