As you can see from the image below that I grabbed off of the internet someone at ESPN was so excited to get the story of Michael Phelps’ 8th gold medal on the web that they made a boo boo. Every week I do the bulletins for the church and almost every week there is a misspelling of some sort. Now I feel better.
Click to enlarge the image if you can’t see it well enough:
This is my “new” 1979 Yamaha xs400.
Its not going to win any races or awards but it runs great, has 10,000 miles and they notoriously run forever. Now i have to learn how to maintain it. Time to get my hands all greasy.
Oh, and insurance on this bad boy is a whopping $45/year.
Now we are going on vacation and I have to let it sit for a week before I ride it again. That’s bad timing.
The only thing that is not working out so well is that my landlord, who owns two beautiful Harley’s, told me I could store a bike in his garage if I got one. Then he saw I bought a Yamaha and he (half-jokingly) said that I couldn’t put that crap in his garage. Then I asked him if he wanted to ride it and he said, “uh…no.” Well, he was kind enough to let me keep it in there. I just hope his biker buddies don’t cut my electrical wires when I am sleeping one night…
When I was in high school everyone called me, “Hot Rod.” No, seriously. Everyone. My name wasn’t Todd the last two years of high school. I am not really sure how I got it but as a friend just told me, “It’s time to grow into your nickname.”
Yes. It’s about time.
Last night we had a family photo shoot. It turns out there is a group out there called Celebrating Adoption that helps adoptive families get a free photoshoot and pictures from a professional photographer within the first year that the child is home. Its really a great program and the photographer we connected with was awesome. Angela Pursell did a great job interacting with the kids and taking some amazing shots. She has posted a few pics on her blog and we’re waiting for the rest of them to be posted on a gallery where we can choose our shots and order some more.
Out of respect for her work I’ll not steal any of the pictures and post them here. Instead you’ll have to check out her blog here to see some of the pics.
So, I’ve had a few crazy weeks and blogging has been on the way back burner as far as priorities go. I need a short break from working on my sermon so here we go… This will serve as a summary and update of my last two weeks.
Mission Trip To Suburbia
I posted recently about our week long missions trip to suburbia. We basically spent the week serving in Lower Bucks County. We …
I’ve been working overtime getting ready for what promises to be a great weekend with Al Hsu. We’ve had a lot of registrations and I’m excited by all the people who will be coming that I don’t know. Should be a great time of connecting with some other Christians who are from the area and even from out of town.
There are still some tickets available. Hope to see you there…
For the last year or so we’ve had about 15 people going down to Love Park in Center City Philadelphia to serve, get to know and bring food to the homeless population that lives there. It’s been a very neat ministry and I’m pretty sure that these are the kind of people that Jesus would be reaching out to. But, over the last year or so I’ve begun to think that this kind of thing …
Blogging time is hard to come by these days. Life has been crazy with the Zambia trip, our local missions trip, our poverty forum a weekend away camping and the upcoming Seminar with Al Hsu. With all of this, I have plenty to say but no time to say it. So, hopefully before too long I’ll find some time to sit down and do some writing…
But, I am getting really excited about our upcoming …
Last night we put on the Bucks County Forum on Suburban Poverty here at The Well. It was awesome. About 65 people showed up, only 23 of which were from The Well. It was not only a great turnout, it was an awesome event. The panelists did a great job and the conversation was excellent. I don’t have time to write my thoughts about it right now because we’re getting ready …
A few years ago I wrote a post asking what it might look like to have a suburban missions trip. Well, in about two hours we will be begin our first missions trip to suburbia.
I’ve gotta be up front here. I’ve done very little to make this happen other than maybe share in the creation of the idea and what kinds of things we might do (I forget who thought of …
I would be remiss (and a jerk) if I didn’t mention that my co-pastor, side-kick, friend and all around good guy Gary Alloway is now blogging. For those of you know Gary, you know that this is a big deal.
A few thoughts about Gary and why you should not only visit his blog often, but subscribe to his blog in your RSS reader:
Gary is awesome.
Gary is funny.
Gary kicks butt as a pastor.
You can learn a …
Reading NT Wright’s book, Surprised by Hope this afternoon. A few quotes for your reading pleasure:
The mission of the church is nothing more or less than the outworking, in the power of the Spirit, of Jesus’s bodily resurrection and thus the anticipation of the time when God will fill the earth with his glory, transform the old heavens and earth into the new, and raise his children from the dead to populate and …
Just a reminder that the seminar for the ages is coming up soon (August 9th to be exact). There has been a lot of discussion about what it means to be missional in the suburbs. Wait, forget about being missional in suburbia, let’s ask a bigger question, what’s it mean to be Christian in suburbia? Many of us are realizing it’s not as easy as we’ve thought.
So, Al Hsu had graciously agreed to come all …
Been reading The Multiplying Church by Bob Roberts. I was slightly surprised to realize recently that I’ve never really read a church planting book and a friend recommend I start here. I’m finding it a good primer on the topic. A quote that was very compelling to me,
“Where do you start in your dreaming - the church or the world outside the chruch? That determines everything. It determines how you organize, where you engage, …
In the comments of the last post, Jim asked this question:
“I’m just beginning to try to help my established congregation turn itself into a missional focus.
I really like the notes and presentation, but where I struggle is where your presentation leaves off…what does this look like practically…what are the practices your community is a part of…in what ways is your community different in appearance, look and action than what I see going on in …
This past weekend I taught a class at The Well called, “An Introduction to the Missional Church.” It as basically a very broad overview of the topic and a crash course in how we structure things here at The Well and why we do the things that we do. I’m more than happy to post my notes here (At hte request of a few friends) because, well, most of this stuff is borrowed …
I’m working on a class at The Well for tomorrow that is basically serving as an introduction / overview to missional theology. It’s been a blast to put it together and I think we’ll spark some great conversation about our specific context and calling here in suburban Philadelphia.
Of course, I’ve been looking back through a few of my Newbigin books and came across this gem in The Open Secret:
“The day-to-day worship and …
So, I’m almost on two weeks since I got back from Zambia. I feel like I was pretty prepared for the “missions trip high” (for lack of better way to describe it). I’ve done this before and like most people I usually crash spritually and revert to my old self within two weeks.
I’m coming down off my cloud a bit but I’m happy to say that we have not moved away …
I’ve been posting a bunch of serious thoughts lately so I thought something on the lighter side would be good. My son Cole loves baseball. We play together daily. He’s four, turning five this week. If you are a major league scout, you can contact me if you’d like.
…
Last week I wrote about the way that my Zambia has effected me and one of the things that came from it is that we’re hosting a new small group in our house on Sunday nights. We were talking in this new group about how easy it is to departmentalize our lives and so easily miss how the gospel actually calls us to live differently from how we are. Thoughts went to …
This is the first day. About 30 minutes into our bike riding lesson. Not a bad days work!
Okay, its been about a half a week since I’ve been back from Zambia. I’ve not done much deep writing around the trip because there is so much in my head that I am just trying to sort it all out. Sunday morning, I preached a mess of a sermon that I am hoping made sense. I really tried to share my heart and what God is doing with Melanie and I …
We’re doing our summer missions trip this year a little differently. We’re going to the far away land of Feasterville, PA! Yes, that’s right. Feasterville. The hotbed of today’s youth culture… or something like that.
Two years ago we went to New Orleans. Last year we went to Philadelphia. Next summer looks like another trip to Zambia. But this summer we’re staying local. Gary has lined up …
I am finally back from Zambia after two weeks of spending time with Pastor George Palo of Harvest City Church in Ndola, Zambia. I have a ton in my head and I have to say that these two weeks will likely turnout to be a watershed moment for the lives of the Hiestands.
You’ll have to be in church tomorrow to get my more complete reflections (or listen online when i post it) but here are …
Will be on Zambian TV tomorrow. Weird. #
Lots on my mind the last few days… too much to unload at once. Blog posts to follow after Friday when I get back. #
We fly out of Lusaka, Zambia on Thursday morning for London. Overnight in London. London to NYC on Friday. 17 hours of flying. #
Might try and see Wimbledon on Thursday #
One more day of speaking …
Is it possible to see what I have seen today and not change the way you live? #
Feeling the effects of the rolling black outs in Ndola. Have lost power twice today. #
Preaching at a church in Zambia tomorrow morning. About 4am your time. Wake up and pray. #
Bungee Jump Video: http://tinyurl.com/5u36hf #
I am sitting in nice cosy guest house that we are in and just reflecting a bit on our last two days. Its been an encouraging and challenging two days as we have begun to meet with the Zambian people and specifically some of the church leaders.
Last night Tom and I spoke at the leadership team meeting for George’s church, Harvest City Church. There were about 40 people there. Some were pastors and some were …
Pictures of the bungee jump being uploaded to flickr right now. Very slow connection so only a few might get up. #
Tonight we’re talking about creativity and imagination in the church. A big need in the Zambian church. Then to an all night prayer meeting #
Not sure which roads are worse. the ones here or the ones in New Jersey. #
Missing my wife and kids like crazy. #
Brittish …
“The Bible renders to us the story of God’s mission through God’s people in their engagement with God’s world for the sake of the whole of God’s creation…”
The Mission of God
Christopher Wright
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