Do you ever wonder if the world would be more interested in the Church if it didn’t seem like we were against everything?

How amazing would it be if we were not known as pro-life or anti-choice, but as people who loved and cared for unwed mothers and their children? What if we were known not as middle class WASPs, but as generous people sacrificing to help others? And what if we were known not as homophobes, but rather as people who loved the gay community and did everything we could to introduce them to Jesus. And not just so they’d stop being gay. After all, a Christian struggling with homosexuality is no different than a Christian struggling with pride. We all need to deal with our sin. We’re all broken.

We often define ourselves as for or against certain moral frameworks. But God did not call us to morality; He’s called us to himself. If I convince someone to become pro-life or straight and they never meet God then we’ve only gotten part-way (and not the most important part).

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So here’s the deal, I want our worship services to be excellent. Shocking right? Every cue should be on time, every light should be the right intensity and every video should impact the gathered crowd. I’m a perfectionist when it comes to this.

I doubt this surprises anyone that knows or works with me.

But I don’t seek excellence as a value in itself. I seek excellence because of what it means. [EDIT: I'm defining excellence as "doing the best you can with what you have."] Here’s what happens when you’re excellent:
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So I’ve been thinking about my dad a lot lately and I’m not really sure why that is. Perhaps it’s the holidays or perhaps it’s because the 5-year anniversary of his death is approaching. For whatever reason, it’s been on my mind a lot lately.

It hasn’t been so much him, as what I’ve learned from the experience of suddenly losing a father. It hasn’t been easy, but God has taught me more than a little from it. So over the next few days or weeks I’ll be posting a little bit about that experience.

I figured I’d start with the most important part – what I’ve learned.

1. God can do anything. Seriously. Anything. And I don’t mean that He can come wreck your life by taking away a parent. I mean that He can enter your heart and take away pain. Anyone can take a life (unfortunately). He’s the only one I know that can literally take away pain. And let me be very clear, God did not take my dad. Death is a result of sin in the world…this was not God’s initial plan for our existence. But for some reason, God entered the world again, gave us a path to redemption, and then left us His Spirit – the Comforter. Now that’s a God worth serving.

2. It matters when you pray for people. I had very little to do with overcoming the pain of losing my dad at 22. God had everything to do with it. And God acts when people pray. We see it all the time in the Bible. God wants us to go places with Him. We do that through prayer. Sometimes prayers don’t get direct answers…but trust me, it matters when you prayer for someone.

3. You never know how much time you have. My dad passed away suddenly (more on that later) and not from an accident or anything. You’re never guaranteed tomorrow, or this afternoon for that matter. It makes me think about my priorities. I have career ambitions. I’m driven to be the best. But the day I die, I don’t think I’ll be concerned with status. I’ll want to know that the next generation (my kids) knew they were loved and are taking up the mantle (so to speak). Not that my kids have to be technical directors (or even in ministry) but my hope is that I’ll know that they love Jesus and are actively loving others by serving them. I’ll want to know that I spent enough time with them. I knew that about my dad. I want my kids to know the same.

And that’s it for now, because I have a toddler who’s begging me to play ‘Bone’ on the Wii. We need to work on enunciation…

Working on a prospectus for the launch of our 3rd site. This is the cover.

We’re all passionate about something. Anyone who knows me knows I’m passionate about technology and media. My wife is passionate about teaching children. I have friends that are passionate about music, organic food, immunizations and sports. These are the things that others know us for.

We should be known for Christ.

We should be known as people who are first and foremost passionate about Jesus and what He’s doing in the world, because (let’s be honest) the rest is just not that important.

People may not remember what you say, but they will remember what you’re passionate about.