thrive community

I’m proud to officially announce my new devotional book, EXPRESSO. It’s been a work of “devotion” for the past few months. I began writing it the day after we received our adoption referral for Jaida on December 23rd. As a tribute to my dad, I made the official publishing date of EXPRESSO for March 20th, 2010, my dads 77th birthday!

When it comes to following Jesus, there are so many things that can overwhelm us and keep us from moving forward in our faith. For the new believer as well as the seasoned follower, the business of life can demand a pace that leaves little room for God. Even when space is created for spiritual development, it can be difficult to find a trustworthy grip on how to express faith in a meaningful way.

Sometimes all we need is a new opportunity, like being given a devotional book to refocus our attention on God and get our lives back on track. The passion behind EXPRESSO is to help stir a fresh desire for God’s Word in the heart of the spiritually thirsty and help them discover simple, yet practical opportunities to put their faith into practice.

My prayer is that EXPRESSO will truly energize the faith of those who read it. My hope is that it will create encouraging conversation between those who chose to read it together.

Copies of EXPRESSO can be purchased from my personal publishing site: http://openskypublishing.com. Thanks to all who have already purchased the book. I would love to hear about your experiences as you read it.

Blessings!

Jason

My friend, Barry Odom had this youtube link on Facebook that describes the missional church in a simple way. I thought it was worth passing along. Let me know what you think.

Matt Chandler, Lead Pastor of The Village Church in Dallas spoke about the lack of honesty in churches and with many Christians. With humor, he addressed the seriousness of our insane tendency to wait to get help after everything has blown up.

“Without the cross of Christ, you can boast in your moral accomplishments which creates churches that look very much like Stepford wives. Where everybody is pretty and smiling and great! And if you notice in those types of churches, no one has small problems, everybody’s house just burns down. I’m not saying that their house actually burns down, I’m using an analogy here. I’m saying that no one ever has an electrical problem with the light switch and says, ‘For some reason this light doesn’t work.’ They can never have an honest conversation and say, ‘This switch is supposed to turn the light on.’ Everybody instead says, ‘MY HOUSE IS ON FIRE!’

You don’t ever hear anything until the marriage dissolves, somebody gets murdered or somebody gets fired for embezzlement. You pick up on that? Nobody goes, ‘I have a lust problem, it’s kind of continual.’ It’s like they’re beautiful, they teach Sunday school, they…  ADULTERY! I’m not making this up. It’s Deacon, it’s lead out in communion, it’s… 20 years in prison for embezzlement! There is never any… ‘Hey this switch isn’t working.’ There’s just… ‘My house just blew up!’”

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I’m excited to present our very first podcast here at thrivecommunity.net with Barry Odom, Lead Pastor of Mosaic Seattle. Though we are still “tweaking” the recording process, the conversation topics still come through loud and clear. Barry and I will be discussing the influence of community on our lives and how following Jesus doesn’t end once a person has crossed the line of faith.

You can find out more about Barry and Mosaic Seattle at www.whatismosaic.com.