I wonder if any of my church planter buds could benefit from this article? I wonder if any of us who are trying to renew something old could benefit from it?

It is, after all, all about you! Since you pouted today and wondered out loud when I was going to mention you on my blog again, here you go!

This is another of my redneck pastor buddies, Gary Lamb. He is not currently a blogger. He is, however, a pretty neat guy, who’s doing a great work as lead pastor at RidgeStone Church, an exciting new church in Canton, Georgia! Sometimes he even wears real shoes, but he still doesn’t know what the buttons on his shirt sleeves are for! Seriously, Gary is a good friend and an encourager!

Now, are you satisfied?

A couple of months ago, I posted about a friend of mine, Nathan Byrd, who is a campus minister at the University of Georgia in Athens. We go back a long time! When we hooked up at my church in September, it was the first time I’ve seen him in who knows when. But we’ve managed to get re-connected and Nathan’s blogging now.

He’s one of the smartest and most creative guys I know. Check out Nathan’s blog!

OK, here’s the deal…I installed Firefox several months ago and I immediately ditched Internet Explorer. I also installed Thunderbird to try for my e-mail. I’m not quite as sold on Thunderbird yet, mainly because, while it imported my e-mails and addresses just fine, it won’t automatically import my rules and filters from Outlook. Also, I use Outlook (the big kahuna, not Outlook Express) for my calendar and other kinds of administrative things.

Is there a good alternative to Outlook for the calendar and other functions like that?

Your help will be greatly appreciated!

(From Scott Williams, via Darren Friesen, via everyone’s favorite Canadian…

May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, superficial relationships, so that you will live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression and exploitation of people so that you will work for justice, equality and peace.

May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation and war, so that you will reach out your hand to comfort them and change their pain into joy.

And may God bless you with the foolishness to think that you can make a difference in the world, so that you will do the things which others tell you cannot be done.

This month’s winner from The Holy Observer…

I read an article somewhere this morning about the Jesus-apprentices among the persecuted and displaced people of Iraq. I have generally been supportive of the war (see news today of newly-discovered Sarin gas in Fallujah), but I hadn’t really given much thought to the fact that all of the people there – maybe most of the people there – aren’t our enemies. In fact, they are our brothers and sisters, trying their best to live out their faith in increasingly dangerous, difficult, and even deadly circumstances. God has placed a burden on my heart today for these people.

I will continue to pray for our “enemies” in the struggle. But I’m going to start praying deliberately for those who are part of the family there as well.

How can we help? What are some resources? If you know of people and/or groups that are actively invloved in the cause, let us know.

This isn’t the article I read this morning, but it does highlight the issue a little.

Remember those books from a bygone era that showed how we’d be traveling in flying cars, wearing funky little space suits, and only working a few hours a week? All by the year 2000? Check out this “prophetic look” at the “typical” home computer of 2004, from 1954…

He’s a Methodist, but he’s a cool Methodist. He can scarf down Krispy Kremes (did you know they’re kosher?) and chili dawgs with the best of ’em. Heck, he’s even got a tattoo! But above all, he’s a good friend and part of the Redneck bunch I get to hang out with from time to time.

He’s Andrew Stone, and since I threatened to add him to my List O’ Links, he’s blogging! (Well, actually, he’s been blogging, but now he’s getting to be a regular!) Check out the one, the only REVDUDE!

This is what we need to get to replace the aging sign at our church! I think it would look pretty impressive out there by the side of the road, don’t you?