Tommy Mitchell / The Rurban Church Blog

The Title Caught My Eye - Don't Waste Your Time Being a Christian!!!

There are some good writers that on occasion need to be re-blogged.  Frank Viola is one such writer with THIS POST! DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME BEING A CHRISTIAN!  Click the title link to jump to the blog post.

Excellent Post!

Mark Wilson shares this excellent post on a quote from Oswald Chambers!

Primal - A Great Read from Mark Batterson!

Throughout the years, I have been involved in a few renovation / restoration projects. One of the rewards of such a project is the discovery and rediscovery of original architecture, wall coverings, paint colors, and sometimes even hidden treasures previously left behind.  Mark Batterson has gone a long way in his new book, Primal: A Quest for the Lost Soul of Christianity,  in helping Christ-followers rediscover the simplicity and power of a relationship committed to loving God.

 

In Primal, Mark presents the Great Commandment in four parts: The Heart of Christianity,  The Soul of Christianity, The Mind of Christianity, and The Strength of Christianity.   Like a craftsman uncovering and stripping a renovation project back to its foundation, Mark takes the four major points of the Great Commandment and masterfully reminds us of how to simply love God!  He reminds us that the heart of Christianity is primal compassion, the soul of Christianity is primal wonder, the mind of Christianity is primal curiosity, and the strength of Christianity is primal energy.

 

Mark brings to Primal his unique ability to take his life experiences and make powerful applications for the reader.  From personal experiences to powerful illustrations drawn from unique bits of knowledge, Mark explodes the Great Commandment in the heart of the reader.  As you read Primal, the passion and conviction to love God genuinely, marked by a powerful impact on a perishing world, is evident. 

 

Primal is a great read for every person, believer and non-believer.  There are no slow moments in the book.  From beginning to end, Primal draws the reader into the wonderful reality of the foundation of our Christianity – loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.  You will be blessed in reading and contemplating what it means to truly love God and hopefully, that blessing will result in a greater obedience to follow Him.

 

 

Coming Soon! Primal!

Got an email yesterday from Random House publishing that my blog had been selected to participate in a blog tour for Mark Batterson's new book, Primal. I will receive an advanced copy next week. I will be blogging about it between December 15 and December 22nd.  Also I will be writing a review of the book.

When I applied to get to do this, I really did not think it would happen. Figured there were too many blogs for me to get my foot in the door.  So, I am excited to be one of the blogs on the blog tour.

Humidity, Saturday, and Stuff!

WOW!  Today was the first BEASTLY day we have had so far as humidity goes.  It has been warm with a touch of humidity, but today was vintage SOUTH MISSISSIPPI! 

I have accomplished several things today - so the day has been productive - we have spent a lot of it together as a family.  My son and his wife came for an overnight stay last night! This is their year to be at her mother's house for Mother's Day - so they came here on Friday and left this afternoon.  We had a great visit!

For a while this afternoon, I did a little "blog digging" on the internet - and came across a couple of articles that are interesting.

Plexiglass Relationships is a good article!  We have a couple of men in our church doing a good ministry in this area.
Spiritual Consumerism was thought provoking. Raises some interesting questions.
Dealing With Criticism by Perry Noble was a good read!
7 Filters for Leadership Decisions by Tony Morgan was, as usual, an excellent post.

I guess my favorite post was over at Mark's blog - How Do You Put Your Jeans On?   That's wild!!!!

Blogging and Stuff

Three months have now passed since I started blogging!  It has been a great ministry tool with our church. I thouroughly enjoy the feedback I get from our membership at ABC.  I have 20 subscribers and a daily high of 186 visitors, according to Feedburner.  Don't know for sure how that is after 3 months, but it is what it is.  I have benefitted from my reading posts by my blogging friends.  I have included a few of the posts that I really enjoyed and a brief statement as to why.

Perry Noble  Perry is not for the faint-hearted!!  I really enjoyed these two posts:
         Do Numbers Matter?  (for all the people who think they don't)
         How Big is Your God? (this is my kind of thinking - and the scripture encourages it Ephesians 3:20

Tony Morgan  Tony is just a fabulous minister and blogger.  I could probably just say read everything he has written.  Here are a couple:
         10 Easy Ways to Make Your Church Services More Boring (self explanatory)
         The Church: Our Greatest Evangelistic Enemy (I have been preaching this for years. We tend to create ways through the church organization to avoid the world of unchurched, lost people.)
         5 Myths of Growing Churches (being a Rurban Church, I especially like myth #1. We have close to 12,000 within 8 miles of our church. We can build the kingdom as much as we have vision to do so)

Steven Furtick   Steven is just hanging on!!! His church is less than two years old. They have hit around the 1700 mark now.  I love his fresh, enthusiasm.  He basically says that since none of them really know what they are doing, the Lord has to lead!!!  (obviously they are fast learners)
           Quote Box (the post explains what the quote box is - I just love these guys for being themselves)

Mark Batterson   Mark is doing the Lord's work in Washington D.C.  His book, In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day is being used all over the world.  I enjoy all his posts.
           Manifesto  (what a great statement for living)
           A Gut Check for Growing Churches (as American Idol's Randy Jackson would say - "just keeping it real dude.")

Hope you enjoy the favorites!

Great Blogging Help!

While chillin' tonight, I found a most helpful post for blogging ministers at Church Communications Pro . Read the post here.  Good job Cory Miller!