My son read this book first and gave me his underlined copy.  I am not sure I would have read it otherwise.  While the conclusions were very insightful and interesting, the details regarding the studies done was a bit boring.

The findings of the studies reveal that a strong focus on materialistic values is associated with low well being.  Not only does focusing on materialistic values effect us emotionally but it also has a negative effect on our health.  People who believed it is important to strive for possesions, popularity and good looks reported more headaches, backaches, sore muscles, and sore throats than individuals less focused on these goals.  In summary, the more materialistic values are at the center of our lives, the more our quality of life diminishes.

None of this is really shocking but some of the information behind the results is fascinaiting.  For instance,insecure people tend to be more materialistic.  In analyzing dreams it was discovered that 15% of the dreams of a high materialism gorup of people involved falling compared to only 3% of people from a low materialism group.  Falling is almost universally interpreted by theorists as representing insecurity.

If this type of research is interesting to you I would recommend the book but if you get bogged down in it like I do try another plan.  Let someone else read the book and highlight it.  Then simply read what they highlighted.  It worked for me.

We had a great day Sunday.  There were 60 in our worker service at 9 and 121 at the 10:30 service with 23 children.  Five people recommited thier lives to Christ and 10 people indicated that they would serve with us.

I can't wait to see what God is going to do at our next preview service on August 17.

 I have had a great time visiting with those who attended and hearing how much they enjoyed the services.  I want to thank all of you who have been praying for FOTP Grapevine.

This Sunday, July 27 at 10:30, we will be having the first of two preview services for Fellowship of the Parks Grapevine.  Our second preview service is scheduled for Sunday, August 17 at the same time.  Both services will take place at Faith Christian School located at 730 E. Worth Street in Grapevine.

 

Our preview services are designed to let people have the opportunity to check out FOTP Grapevine.  We are praying that through the preview services God will raise up another 30 people who want to be a part of our launch on September 7.  We pray for people who not content to come, sit and soak but who are passionate about helping others learn about God’s radical love for them.  We will need people to help with set up, sound, children, youth, the parking lot, and many other areas.  We are blessed to have a team of volunteers from FOTP Keller to help us in these areas until we can take them over ourselves.

 

Once we launch on September 7, we will be meeting weekly.  I pray that every week God will bring people our way who need to be connected to God and to a loving church family.  In nature anything that is healthy is growing.  I want FOTP to be healthy and growing.

 I look forward to seeing some of you on Sunday.  I appreciate your prayers as we start this exciting journey.

This Sunday we will have our first preview service at Fellowship of the Parks Grapevine. The service will take place at 10:30 at Faith Christian School located at 730 E. Worth Street. 

As I was visiting with Pat this week about taking this on at this point in our lives, she reminded me of my favorite quote.

 

“Far better it is to dare mighty to win glorious triumphs though checkered by failure than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much for they live in that gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.” – Theodore Roosevelt

 

Pat reminded me that I have prayed and asked God to take me wherever He pleased but to never let me go to one place – that gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.

 

Starting a new church campus is risky business.   It is hard work (we could not have done it without the incredible staff at FOTP Keller and our great CORE team). 

 

I know this – God has called us to launch this new campus at this time and He is going to use us and those who chose to come along side of us to make a difference in the lives of many others.

Divine Embrace (as defined on an earlier posting) – When your longing for God intersects with His longing for you which results in a transcendent moment often evoking tears

 

Last night I woke up at 1 and went downstairs.  My daughter Caroline was up listening to worship music.  She wanted me to listen to one of the songs.  The chorus was:

 

You made everything glorious

You made everything glorious

You made everything glorious

And I am yours

 

I thought about all the dads out there with teenage daughters and wondered how many of them got to spend time with them last night listening to worship music.  Don’t know but I did and it was a “Divine Embrace Moment”.

 

I will be speaking this Sunday at FOTP Keller as we continue the series, Religion Bytes based on the book of Galatians.  The title of the message is "Seems Right".

We've all done things that seem right only to discover that they were not right.  You don't want to miss the story I will tell about Biofreeze (ointment for sore muscles), vitamins, and accidently deadening my mouth.  It all seemed right but it was not.  Funny but not right.

We will see how some of the things that seem right spiritually are actually not right accorcing to God's word.

The author of this book Dr. Les Parrott states that it only take us 3 seconds to turn a negative impulse in our mind into a positive impulse.  With that in mind, three seconds is all that stands between those who settle for "whatever" and those who insist on "whatever it takes." Dr. Parrott reveals six common impulses that sabotage greatness in our lives. We can unleash our full potential and excellence when we learn how to give our first impulses a second thought.  That's all that lies between settling for "Whatever" ... or insisting on "Whatever it takes." 

For instance, it takes Three Seconds to ...

Disown Your Helplessness: The First Impulse: "There's nothing I can do about it." The Second Impulse: "I can't do everything, but I can do something."

Quit Stewing and Start Doing: The First Impulse: "Someday I'm going to do that." The Second Impulse: "I'm diving in ... starting today."

Fuel Your Passion: The First Impulse: "I'll do what happens to come my way." The Second Impulse: "I'll do what I'm designed to do." 

The cliff notes of this book are really all you need.  It was actually fairly boring to me after the first half of the book.  Dr. Parrott is not one of my favorite authors.  While he is a Christian most of his books are written to a broad audience and have little scriptural refences.  I understand his desire to appeal to a broad audience but his books leave me a little empty.  In general, they lack the punch to be great, inspiring motivational books and they lack spiritual depth which prevents them from making me fall more in love with God or make me want to serve Him in a greater way.  They are "tweeners."  Some people love his works and that is why they sell.

This is a short book and easy to read but not something I can recommend wholeheartedly.  On the other hand, if it seems like something you would enjoy - go for it! 

I am a die-hard homie when it comes to sports which means I have been throughtmany painful seasons with the Texas Rangers.  I remember the time when their pitching was so bad ( has it ever been good?) that Darren Oliver's ERA went up on a day when he didn't even pitch.  It seems the official scorer from the day before when Oliver did pitch changed a call from an error to a base hit meaning the run Oliver gave up was earned.  I remember when they had a relief pitcher (I have long sense forgotten his name and you will see why)  whogave up three runs on opening day and did not get anyone out which meant he had an ERA of infinity.  I remember being at the old stadium when they took a shot at thier first mascot, Rootin Tootin Ranger.  He looked a little like Yosemite Sam - a cartoon character.  Only problem was that he made his debut in July and the costume did not have good ventilation so he passed out in the sixth inning.  He got sent down to the minors to Oklahoma City a few days later.  I was there the night the guy climbed the third base foul pole.  The game was delayed unitl he came down.  The police were going to escort him out of the stadium but the crowd in the outfield fueled by nickel beer night (this was BC, before Christ for me) booed so loudly that the police handcuffed him to the rail and let him watch the rest of the game.  He got a standing ovation and spent the rest of the night signing autographs with his free hand.

Having been through all of that, I am loving watching this team play.  They play hard every night and seem to really enjoy the game.  They have far exceeded anyone's expectations but their own and those of Ron Washington.

I know that it is time for Rangermortis to set in (always does after the all-star break) but it is fun while it lasts.

If you would like to study the Bible on line, an excellent resource is www.christiancourses.com  You can get a syllabus on many different Bible topics such as an overview of the Old or New Testament or you can watch a video.  You can even take check up tests to see how much information you retained.  Some of the teaching is a little boring but the content is excellent and theologically sound.  This is a great reasuorce for anyone who wants to learn more about the Word of God.

Our first prview service is three weeks from today at 10:30 at Faith Christian School in Grapevine.  It is such an exciting time for my family and our CORE Team.

In 1942 a Tennessee business man took his family on vacation.  He became frustrated after spending many nights in hotels that were unclean and staffed by unfriendly people.  He decided to start a chain of family-friendly hotels.  He chose the name "Holiday Inn" after a movie starring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire.

When the first Holiday Inn was built in 1950, 98% of the hotels were stand alone, single-entity hotels.  Today 80% of the hotels in our country are a part of a chain like Holiday Inn, Marriott, and Hilton. The other 20% are independently owned and operated.

The authors of a book I am reading (The Multi-Site Church Revolution) predict that within a vew years 30,000  American churches will be multi-site.  FOTP Grapevine will be a part of that revolution.  I pray some of you will be a part of what we do on

July 27 at 10:30