These were our final four picks: • Dad – Florida, Kansas, Ohio St., North Carolina • Mom – Florida, Kansas, Georgetown, Ohio St. • Josiah – Wisconsin, Pittsburgh, North Carolina, Ohio St. • Elliot – Florida, Kansas, Ohio St., North Carolina • Karissa – Texas A&M-CC, VCU, New Mexico State, Albany (no comment) The scenarios: […]
Excellence in the Public Square
Picture from the Associated Press Look closely at the picture and see if you can find something wrong. Hint: what state became the 35th state to enter into the Union in 1863? Yup, that is correct – West V-I-R-G-I-N-A After the West Virginia Mountaineers won 78-73 over Clemson in their […]
Battling on the Rocks
The family and I went to a nearby park. As the kids were playing on the playground equipment, Christina wanted to play an old game that she use to play when she was younger in the Chicago neighorhoods. Objective of the game was to stand sideways facing each other (kind of like a fencing duel) […]
Importance of Communication
This picture was submitted by Jane Gaboury to Mark Hurst. Taken at a shopping center called, “The Forum” in Norcross, Georgia. Many headaches and heartaches could be avoided if we all learned how to communicate better. Various conflicts in marriages, friendships, and even in the church arise out of poor communication. I […]
A Good Test
One topic that Jesus talked about quite often was on the subject of “giving.” It was not just isolated to financial giving but the principle of giving in general. This is probably the case because it reflected his heart… He was going to “give” his life as a ransom for many. In Luke 12, Jesus […]
Daddy/Daughter Lunch Date
Christina volunteered to be a chaperone for Elliot’s field trip, therefore I was assigned pick up duties for Karissa. After I picked her up, we decided to go out to eat. I asked her, “sweetheart, what would you like to eat?” She responded by saying, “MacDonald’s, Wendy’s, and Jimmy John’s.” Hmm… We ended up at […]
Pride and World-Travelers
Due to all the travel from AA or Chicago, I have gotten to know the airport security and gate check personnel fairly well. In some sense this is a best way to do relational evangelism… as we frequent the same restaurants, stores and places, we are able to build relationships and naturally talk about what […]
Reconnecting with Pastor Paul
Yesterday in HMCC of Chicago we had Pastor Paul Liu and his family join us for our Sunday Celebration. Since many of the people in Chicago do not know Pastor Paul and his ministry in Indonesia, we had him share an update. Then a handful of us went out to eat and just share in […]
300 Spartans
I went to see the movie, “300” on IMAX with some of the men in our leadership team. It was pretty inspiring. The movie was a combination of Braveheart and Gladiator all put in one. Classic ingredients to get a guy pumped up: Heroes… fighting for something worth dying for… loyalty… camaraderie… a traitor… sacrifice… […]
Asking for Donations
Every morning at 8:55AM on the local Christian radio station, there is a pretty well-known pastor in the area that comes on to speak (or shall I say share). He runs a rescue mission which helps minister to homeless people, as well as people who are rehabilitating from drugs. Since they want to preach the […]
A Long Day
Wow… today was a long day. There are times when I just want to lay my head to rest and not wake up for days. It is interesting how certain type of “tiredness” can kill you but then there are other types of tiredness that rejuvenates you. When people are doing what they love and […]
Books that Shaped Evangelicals
As you know, I love reading. I am always trying to get a hold of books that will enlighten me, exhort me and expand me. I try to read from various genres as well so that I can try to balance out my reading diet. I came around this article that talked about the top […]
Latte Arithmetic
I love Wednesdays. At Espresso Royale Café, they have $2 lattes (plus tax it is $2.12) – any size only on Wednesdays. They also have a frequent buyer card where if you buy any drink, you get a punch card. Then after 10 punches you get one free drink – yup, any free drink – […]
Raising Generous Kingdom Workers
Couple of days ago, I found out from our finance team that one of our alumni gave a considerable amount to the Transformation Vision. When I found out the exact amount, I was a bit flabbergasted. After corresponding with the person, I found out that he came to know the Lord through our church and […]