But there was one among us who was obviously pulling for the Heat.  Since the Heat won game 1 … Tim took a white shirt and put it on over his Heat jersey.  He had written 1-0 with a big marker and then burned parts of the white shirt to indicate that the Heat had burned the Mavericks in game 1.

After last night’s Heat loss I figured Tim would be in need of a shirt this morning … so I made him one.

I convinced him to wear it today by telling him that I would wear a shirt that he brings on Monday … IF … the Heat win game 3 on Sunday. Now I have extra incentive to pull for the Mavs on Sunday night.

Last fall I read Dug Down Deep. I was captivated.  The tag line is unearthing what I believe and why it matters.  This book manages to communicate deeply profound truths about God and faith in a very engaging and relatable way.  Joshua is now the pastor of Covenant Life Church in Maryland. No doubt that teaching thousands of people each week has helped him develop a knack for communicating so clearly.

After reading the book I pursued Joshua to see if he would work with us on a new youth Bible study series to teach similar content from his book.  I was encouraged by his over-the-top enthusiasm to work with us and get this message to thousands of youth ministries across the country.

Last week we filmed Joshua’s teaching and it is phenomenal.  Somehow he manages to deal with words like theology, atonement and sanctification in a way that students can understand and use..  It’s critical to help students build a solid foundation when they are young.

I am pumped to release the Dug Down Deep youth Bible study this August.

Francis speaking at the RightNow Conference

Last week we were in San Francisco to film teaching with Francis Chan for a new youth Bible study series. You can read more about our Surrender series and Francis’ comments on Osama Bin Laden here. We also just added Francis to our speaking line-up at the November RightNow Conference.  More details soon.

Last spring Francis shocked a lot of people when he resigned from pastoring his church to pursue what God was laying on the heart of his family. Part of that plan was to engage more in what was happening in the church around the world. This past fall Francis spent months traveling with his family throughout several countries in Asia.

Now that he’s back in America we asked him what he learned on his travels …

The tag line for this Bible study is Others before self. Christ above all. It will address surrendering our stuff, our status, our sin and ultimately our self.  Our culture tells us that we should only look out for ourselves.  The idea of surrendering is usually only talked about when a bad guy surrenders to the good guys in the movies or on the news.  But as Christians isn’t that what we are called to do too? We are the “bad guys” (sinners) and we can continue to try to fight our way through … or we can surrender to the “good Guy” and let him take over.

We hope the Surrender Bible study is a great resource for pastors to inspire and encourage the students in their youth ministry.  It will be released this August.

The night before our filming with Francis is when news broke of Osama Bin Laden’s assassination.  Twitter and Facebook exploded with comments both rejoicing the death of this tyrant and warning Christians against getting smug.  I have always appreciated Francis’ attention to scripture and living Biblically … so I asked him for his thoughts on recent news events.

Here’s what he had to say …

Please help us spread the word to others who might fit this position.

Check out this link for a job description and the next steps.

We are still pretty new at all this. We’ve only received a few phone calls in our 3 years as foster parents.

Call 1 - We took in a cute little baby girl who was 3 months old. By the time she was 9 months old her mom was ready and able to take her back. They called at 4:00 in the afternoon and by 8:00 pm she was at our house.

Call 2 – We took in a 2-day old baby and 18 months later we adopted little Ashley (pictured on the elephant). They called on a Saturday afternoon and by Sunday they brought Ashley to us straight from the hospital.

Call 3 – Just 2 weeks ago we got a call for a 7 week old baby who was partially in a cast. It seemed like a tragic scenario … but we were heading out-of-town the next day and they couldn’t give us this baby.

Every time the phone rings I wonder if this is it. Most people prepare for about 9 months for the baby … we get 4-24 hours. I can wait!

How do these stats inspire you to act?

Two of our favorites over the past few trips are This American Life and Radio Lab.

These radio shows do an amazing job of engaging the viewers.

They find interesting stories.
They ask great questions.
They create an emotional experience for the listeners.

At our ministry I think one of our chief roles is to tell great stories. We’ve filmed and produced thousands of stories all across the U.S. and even around the world.  We have the privilege of using visuals to help tell the story … so I am especially impressed by storytellers who only use audio.

I think we can all be better storytellers and these two radio shows inspire me in my own desire to tell great stories.

Here are two specific shows we listened to last week on the drive from Texas to Colorado:

1. This American Life: This Party Sucks
2. Radio Lab: Lost & Found

Pete is the pastor at Bent Tree Bible Fellowship where my parents are members. I trusted that Pete could kick-off the RightNow Conference with a bang, but you never know … we all have our off days.

Thankfully Pete nailed it. He did an outstanding job highlighting from Ephesians 3 the way that Paul was a TRADER. It was a challenging message and an awesome way to begin the conference. Here’s a short excerpt from that message:

Pete’s message is part of the RightNow: Lead Beyond Our Walls kit for church leaders.