The Countdown Begins

One of my favorite things to do is go to concerts.  Seriously!  I love music and I love the atmosphere at concerts!  My sister went to a Kanye West concert in Detroit a few weeks ago and I really wish I could have been with her.  

But tonight officially marks the countdown until Cyndi and I go and see her favorite band/artist: DAVE MATTHEWS BAND.

They are performing here in Charleston at our baseball stadium, and I cannot wait.  It will be my first DMB concert.  ONE MONTH!  4th of July...Independence Day, is the day we will be jammin'!

Why Did God Create Cockroaches?

I know that God has a purpose and a plan for everything under the sun, but why in the world did He ever create cockroaches?

Seriously, this has been on my mind a lot lately. It probably has a lot to do with every time I walk outside I see the dirty little buggers. And I will be man enough to admit I totally freak out when one is in our apartment. I can remember calling the front office to ask for a bug spray after my first encounter with these disgusting little creatures.

I told the staff member, "Ma'am there was a cockroach scurrying around in my apartment, I need someone to come spray TODAY!"

She just laughed at me and said, "Sir, we do not have cockroaches here in South Carolina."

My response, "Excuse me? I know what a cockroach looks like and this is the biggest one I have ever seen in my life."

"Seriously, we have don't have cockroaches in South Carolina, we have Palmetto Bugs. And there isn't really anything we can do about it." she told me.

"I don't care what you call them, it was a dirty cockroach and it was in my home. I'm from the North lady we don't have cockroaches in our house and I don't want them here."

I HATE these things...really what are their purpose? I can handle spiders, they eat other bugs I don't want in my house...BUT COCKROACHES ARE JUST NASTY!

Be Who God Wants You to Be

Lately I have been encountering some great conversations centered around churches today.

One of my biggest concerns with churches today is that many of them don't really know who they are and who they are reaching. There are thousands of churches across America that are "contemporary," but aren't really reaching this generation. This may come to you as a shocker but I am going to say it anyway. Just because you think you are a contemporary church (meaning you don't necessarily just play hymns with a piano and organ) doesn't mean people want to come to your church.

One factor that is very apparent in churches that are growing spiritually and therefore numerically is the willingness to take risks. The willingness to do whatever it takes, without compromising God's Word, to reach people who don't necessarily have any desire to step foot into a church.

So its time for us as Christians to put away our "churchiness" and develop the mindset that it isn't about me. First and foremost, it's about Jesus. And if it's about Jesus, then it will be about reaching people who don't know Him. And it will involve risk and not necessarily do church how it has always been done in the past, and not necessarily catering to everyone's wants.

Happy Birthday

15 years 7 months ago (I think), my Mom and Dad sat my sister, Mallory, and I down for a little chat. I was probably worried that I've done something, once again, that I wasn't supposed to do. However, the news in which my parents gave us was nothing that I had done.

Mallory and I were told that we would be having a little brother or sister sometime in May of 1993. So at that news I decided I was going to have a brother!! After all God gave me the sister that I wanted 5 years earlier and so it was time for a brother!

May 20, 1993 at 5:29pm my Mom gave birth to Zachary Keith Brown, a healthy baby boy that looked exactly like his brother (I prayed every night specifically for a brother who looked like me...GOD ANSWERS SPECIFIC PRAYERS).
HAPPY 15th BIRTHDAY ZACH!

What's Important?

I am a big fan of knowing whats going on in our world...so therefore I watch the news and I watch it a lot. I try and catch our local news every night but during the day I tend to have CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News on throughout the day just to know whats going on.

As I was watching CNN the other day, a particular story caught my ear and my eye. It had to do with one of my favorite hangouts, Starbucks. The story was talking about how some Christian groups want Christians to boycott Starbucks because of the original Starbucks logo that is currently being cycled back into the stores.

Seriously, do you think boycotting Starbucks is going to lead anyone into the Kingdom? I highly doubt it! Do you think Jesus would have stayed away from Starbucks? Probably not! Why? Because Starbucks draws MILLIONS of people into the stores every day...and last time I checked Jesus wanted to be around people, especially people who were in need of a savior.

Seriously people, let's stop waisting our time with ignorant arguments of which company we are going to boycott because of a logo and be more worried with HOW IN THE WORLD WE ARE GOING TO LOVE AND REACH THEM!!