Happy Mother's Day

I already know this, but just so my blog readers will know...Heather is an amazing mom!  She does such a great job with Sydnie...and I'm sure she will with daughter #2 (we really need a name) as well.  So on this Mom's day I wanted to give Heather her "props" for being a great mom and wife.  Too bad the only real gift she got was some lousy blog entry by her husband.  Calm down.  We're going shopping at a later date.  Peace.

In Houston

We are curently in Houston for the Memorial Service of Heather's Grandpa Kroen.  We flew here yesterday morning and head back to Orlando early tomorrow morning.  Though funerals are never something we "look forward to", they seemingly serve to be a great time of family coming together (especially when the lost loved one has lived a long, full life).  This weekend has certainly served to be a great time with family.  We had a very small, intimate memorial service this morning just with the family.  It's been good to catch up with the "Houston Clan"--we've enjoyed a few holes of golf, some time in the pool and an Astro's game last night.  It had been a long time since I've been to a more major leage game and ballpark.  About got my self sick at the game...combination of Red Bull, Large Coke, Cheese Dog and Chili & Cheese Nachos.  Mmmmmm.  Well I've obviously digressed.  Good trip.  Hopefully more blogging once I get through this next week of finals at RTS.  Fun times.  Until then...peace.

Acts29, Vista and other ramblings

Well it has certainly been awhile since any sort of “update” post on the ol’ “hartblog”--been busy. How’s that for an explanation? Anyway, the past couple of weeks have been very full and hectic, yet enjoyable as well. Here’s the recap and other assorted details:

Acts 29

About 2 weeks ago now Heather and I attended the Acts 29 Bootcamp here in Orlando. If you don’t know, Acts 29 is a church planting organization based out of Seattle, that was originally started by Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill Church. The conference was fantastic. We basically immersed ourselves in church planting world for the better part of 3 days. Listened to one church planter after another (all of them very gifted, skilled, Godly men). Heather and I had a great time to talking for many hours, uninterrupted I might add (Sydnie was with the grandparents). It was just a great chance for us to seek out where God would have us be in the upcoming years. Church planting seems to be on the horizon and we are more and more excited about that possibility. Of all the things we heard, one session in particular was very practically oriented. It was entitled “Reverse Engineering Your Life” and it was taught by Mark Driscoll. The underlying premise was that we need to have a vision of where we want to be, not just with our churches, but in all aspects of our lives. Once that vision has been articulated, prayed through and written down the next step is to reverse engineer your way to seeing that vision come to fruition. I could try and explain it all, but it would be better if you just downloaded the session. The link is here, but it is not the one we heard (not posted yet), but it is the same basic content, just at a previous Acts 29 conference. I highly, highly recommend working through many of things Driscoll speaks about in this session. I believe the general principles can apply regardless of your vocational calling--this is not just for church planters. If you listen to it, I’d love to hear what you think. Driscoll may make you mad with some things, but hey, most thought provoking stuff does.

Vista

THE NEW DAVID WILCOX CD IS AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD! I can’t tell you how excited I am about this. It’s entitled “VISTA“ and you can secure your copy by visiting www.davidwilcox.com Favorite track thus far is ”Hard Part“

More Mark Driscoll

I also highly recommend the most recent podcast of Northland Church featuring Mark Driscoll who was in Orlando and taught there this past weekend. Driscoll speaks on the power of the Cross to not only remove our sin, but also the sin that has been committed against us and its subsequent shame. Really good stuff. Get it by searching under ”Northland“ in the podcast directory. You will need iTunes. You should have iTunes. If you don’t have iTunes you should just stop reading and go get it. Hurry up.

Other Ramblings

--New pics posted under ”April and May“ heading. --Sydnie amazes us more and more everyday. She is very loving and appreciative. Good stuff. Talking up a storm. Kinda scary that she knows how to repeat things now. --Final week of RTS and then finals. Past week was exhausting, but good to get through and feel good about the work that was completed.--I am officially a theological nerd as I just bought my first full commentary set. Way too much money. Oh well. It’ll look good on the shelf.--Driscoll’s latest book was very good. Read it before I even had time to post it under the ”What I’m Reading“ section. Get more info here.--Good night.

Church Shopping...funny stuff.

Mac Ad(s)

Pretty funny stuff.  Watch at apple.com

Download restarting_480x376.mov

In Honor of the Impending Tax Day

A song to listen to whilst doing your taxes.  Enjoy.  Poor quality recording unfortunately. 
Download do_the_w2.m4a

Worth a read

Was given this book from a friend.  It is a simple, easy read, yet has some profound implications concerning how we approach Scripture.  Rather than an "information" approach, the author, Tony Jones, pushes for a "transformation" approach.  It is not that the Scriptures are non-informative, but rather they are so much more than that.  Plus this little book gives some practical ways to begin "reading" the Bible afresh through an ancient practice called Lectio Divina.  Click here for more info.