broken//stained//glass

the NY Times and Good Morning America?

You've heard me mention my dad before on this blog. He's the director of Good Sense, a financial stewardship ministry at Willow Creek in Chicago.  I received an email from my mom saying that in yesterday's Sunday New York Times, dad was quoted for a few lines in an article about finances, debt and the Church. You can read the article here.
That's kinda cool...but I kidded him that he wasn't the first Briggs to make it into the New York Times.

Based on the article, he received a call yesterday from someone from Good Morning America who might be interested in talking with him more.

Who knows where all this is going to lead...

Hypocrisy or conspiracy?

The Joy of Relationships

The past three days have been full of relationships for Megan and me. Filled with conversations with dear people who know us, love us and care about us - and vice versa - as well as conversations with new relationships that are just beginning to bloom like the flowers in our back yard.
The past few days have been refreshing, much-needed, a breath of fresh air.

We've laughed, we've been vulnerable, we've prayed together, we've shared stories, been courageous enough to share our fears and discussed openly the pain of the past and have been innocent enough to describe the dreams and aspirations we have of the future.

What a great couple of days!
I'm so grateful that God has created us to live in relationship with others. It is a gift to share these times with others.

Google Maps are great

Ever use Google maps?
They're great.

But you have to be in incredible athletic shape.
Especially if you're looking to get directions from New York City to London.
Click on this link and then scroll down to number 23.

Christian consumerism

Interested in running a Mega Church?
Here's your chance.

Be kind

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle."
-Philo of Alexandria

My brain is smoking

Currently, I'm sitting in a weekend-long seminary class listening to the blogger, author and professor Scot McKnight teach on the book of Galatians. I'm multi-tasking: listening, learning and blogging.

At the moment, Scot is talking about how Paul's gospel has a starting point of Abraham, rather than Moses.
Brilliant. He's rocking my face off.

Best line of the morning: "Paul was the Brian McLaren of the ancient world..."

We just got back from having lunch with him where we talked over pizza about the Cubs' chances this year in the National League, what he thinks about D.A. Carson (who he affectionately calls "D.A. whats-his-face"), his relationship with Tony Jones, why he and his wife attend Willow Creek and where the best deep dish pizza is in Chicago (Bill's Pub).

He's so brilliant...my brain is smoking at the moment.
Back to listening and taking notes.

Advice for Presenters

For those of you who present/teach/preach/communicate/do some sort of public speaking from time to time here are a few links worth checking out.

(1) Here's a presentation that is almost entirely visual and is absolutely fascinating to watch (about 10 minutes long).

(2) A professional presenter blogs about the importance of good presentations and constrasts the difference in presentation styles between Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.

Freedom isn't free

I'm still reeling from something I saw in Newsweek two weeks ago.

Newsweek's issue, called 'Voices of the Fallen' published hand-written letters from dead American soldiers from Iraq to their families. The cover has a picture of several soldiers at dust with the handwritten words across the cover, "Anyday I'm here could be the day I die."

I opened it up the magazine to the third page, which listed the names and included the pictures of the authors of those letters in the issue.
I went through the names - with probably 60 or 80 listed, and my eyes stopped on the fifth one down. The hometown of "Charlottesville, VA" caught my eye first. Charlottesville is where I grew up.
Then above that line I read: "Marine Cpl. Bradley T. Arms."

Brad Arms was in my youth group when I was a youth intern at my church in Charlottesville, his family went to our church and he was a classmate of my brother at school. I remember picking up Brad and his brother Doug to go to the driving range or out for ice cream or to go to a summer Bible study. He died a few years ago, but the emotions came swirling up again as I remember the phone call from my mom when she told me that Brad had been killed by friendly fire.

It was even more difficult on pg. 41 of Newsweek to read the words that he wrote to his mother and dad, whom I knew fairly well. You never expect to see the words of someone you know personally published in Newsweek and it blows your mind to read the words of someone you knew who is no longer alive.

Once again I was reminded that freedom is a terrific blessing, but it certainly comes at a cost.

Conference alert

I like attending conferences, but very rarely do I find a conference that I'm absolutely enthralled with. But I'm salivating over this one. This conference for church leaders in Atlanta looks just awesome.