Welcome, or… at least welcome back!

After a couple years of maintaining the CROSSEYEDLIFE we have decided to take a giant leap forward technologically.

It’s so exciting.

Much of what has happened is behind the scenes, but it’s going to mean some very public benifits. Changing providers, hosters and structures will allow the site to be much more nimble and easier to change.

Plus, there are a good number of widgets on the sidebars that are there for fun (clocks, twitters, MAVS updates, online radio) and for real use (eBible, Calendar, library suggestions, Compassion Connection and partnering with external blogging sites: Technorati Profile). These will be continually changing.

All the content is here from the previous site, but the comments to the posts have been lost. It’s one of the reason I had to leave behind the old hoster. They kind of handcuffed what we could and couldn’t do.

The teaching resources (all the archived messages and such) are no longer a siderbar item, they have their own page with broader descriptions and logos for visual depictions. This should make things much easier to find. You can find that link on the top and the left sidebar of each page.

Finally, even if you had been a subscriber to the CROSSEYEDLIFE, PLEASE NOTE… THIS IS A NEW SITE AND NO SUBSCRIPTIONS HAVE TRANSFERRED!!!

I cherish your connection and really hope you’ll take 20 seconds to provide your email in the subscription box you see at the top of the right hand sidebar. Your email is kept private and is only used when an update is made to CROSSEYEDLIFE. A copy of that article is sent to you and you can read it, or link to the actual site… thats it. Please, consider subscribing right now.

Well, this is just a technological blog update, but I can’t miss an opportunity to give you something worth chewing on. One of the new features of this site is suggested books widget (down on the botton right). One of the books I have on the list there is from a favorite speaker/author of mine.barbarian-way

Let me tell you, I know it’s Mother’s Day weekend, but you read this one and you’ll grow a beard. It drips with testosterone. AWESOME!

Here’s a taste:

 “If you are a follower of Christ and you have allowed yourself to be domesticated, you have lost the power of who you are and who God intends you to be. You were not created to be normal. God’s desire for you in compliance and conformity. You have been baptized by Spirit and fire. Asleep within you is a barbarian, a savage to all who love the prim and proper. You most go to the primal place and enter the presence of the Most High God, for there you will be changed by His presence. Let Him unleash the untamed faith within you.”

– Erwin Raphael McManus “The Barbarian Way”

Weird God Story

Everyone has one, and here is one of mine… the “weird God story.” They are usually hard to believe (thus, the weird God story part), but they mean something to the storyteller.

In this case, I hope it means something to you, too.

Hope you enjoy and find it encouraging. Continue reading “Weird God Story”

Slowly Going Insane

Wow… first of all I can’t beleive I even made this video. My wife is right… sometimes I am 11.

Second, I can’t beleive I am posting it.

It’s just for fun.

After a week of speaking in the Grand Caymans I got stuck overnight at Chicago O’Hare Airport waiting for a flight the next morning (why yes, I am too cheap to get a hotel for the night). Giddy tired and bored out of my mind, here is what I did when I have no friends or family members to keep me under control. This video has no redeeming value, but it did keep me from losing my mind. . . completely.

  Continue reading “Slowly Going Insane”

Obama, McCain and Bears, O My!

  

 

As a former journalist I find myself pretty excited every four years when our national elections roll around. It’s pretty sick I know, but I scour the newspapers daily, trade in the ol’ IPOD music for talk radio for a few weeks and tap network news every morning like an addict jonesing for the morning hit.

Someone help me…

Dog eat dog politics, biting commercials and round the clock reporting all seem to get my juices flowing. There’s nothing quite as exhilarating as a super-revealing expose about the embarrassing third grade shenanigans of some candidate that you can only get on this network, you won’t want to miss it, tonight at nine! Continue reading “Obama, McCain and Bears, O My!”

Booya

Here’s a video-blog update on the issue of fear and courage. It focuses on one of my favorite verses from Isaiah 26:3.

You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.

The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Is 26:3). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

Make sure and leave your comment. I curious to see if you can figure out why I titled this blog the way I did…? Continue reading “Booya”

You got IT goining on

What is your back to school bash?

Most families I have talked to in the last couple of weeks have had some kind of last ditch effort to hold onto summer before the old grind of fall rips into us: school schedules, fall sports, routine, mundane, salt mine grind.

So, people are headed to the lake, grandmas and Kansas City, but not the Addis’. No, we are way to classy for that.

For our back to school family affair we purchased four tickets to at a private table at the Cotillion Concert Hall to see Weird Al Yankovic. Continue reading “You got IT goining on”

Just For Fun

Wow… obviously, this post is nothing but the product of a dare.

Last night our Student Ministry (a bunch of midwestern, predominately white teenagers) had an all out Hip Hop Night.

I thought this was hilarious, but honestly… there were some students with some skillz (80s reference notes) and I was impressed.

I was really feeling left out since I had to speak at the Reno County Fair, so, I made them this love note and they used it to kick off their Hip Hop Night 2008.

It’s amazing what you can do with a green screen, a really old CD, way too much time on your hands and complete disregard for your own self-respect.

Hope you enjoy. Continue reading “Just For Fun”

Saddleback, the conference begins


Download Video

 

Believe it or not, these conferences are not all about facilities and numbers. There is actually a lot of solid teaching and instruction that goes on here.

So, let me just drop a few pearls of wisdom for you. I’ll try to include some things that are cool enough to translate across several fields of interest and not just pastoring. These are ideas/quotes from any number of the presenters that spoke during today’s sessions: Continue reading “Saddleback, the conference begins”

Suffering for the Lord

 

 

This week I’ll be perpetuating a problem.

Several of the staff from our church have come up with a nickname for myself and our executive Pastor Rod Sims.  Apparently, we work together a lot which, makes sense since his position was created out of mine as the church grew.

Anyway, they affectionately (and it better be affectionately) refer to us as RANDY whenever they see us together.  Honestly, it makes me kind of uncomfortable and I am trying to express a little less PDA in public…  that was a joke.

Well, the RANDY jokes should be flying back in the office this week as Rod and I headed for a weeklong trip to the sunny state of California for a conference of Saddleback Community Church. Continue reading “Suffering for the Lord”