Sunday Nite Speak!

* Today TOTALLY ROCKED!!!
* I preached this morning for my buddy and former professor, Steve Layne, at the church where he pastors, Life Church. It's always an honor to preach there, because I know the type of preaching those people are used to. Steve is one of the sharpest, most effective teachers I have ever met. He's not even 40, and has been a Bible professor for longer than I have been in ministry. AND... he's cool. ;-)
* It was great seeing some good friends at Life, as well. Walter and Annette, Marcus and Ebony... you're in a great place, with a pastor who's the Dude of dudes! ;-)
* Had an awesome time at the Gathering at Mosaic DC tonight... my church is bangin, man!
* Three up, one to go... we're almost finished the EXTREME series... if you haven't made it out yet, you need to come through THIS WEEKEND! Let's PACK THE HOUSE Sunday... friends, family, co-workers, neighbors, aliens from another planet... LET'S END THE SERIES WITH A BLAST!!
* Thought the worship went really well tonight! The band has been doing an awesome job, with really only minimal practice because of everyone's schedule. Here was the set for tonight:

- O Praise Him, Crowder
- Run, Hillsong
- Everlasting God, Tomlin
- From the Inside Out, Hillsong

* Tonight's message was a little difficult for me... not sure why. We talked about Extreme Kindness, and looked at 2 Samuel 9, from the account with David and Mephibosheth. It's a beautiful depiction of "extreme kindness/grace" shown to a totally underving (and unexpecting) person... and mirrors the love and kindness shown to us by our awesome God.
* I think I got the point across tonight... but one thing I've learned from my man Francis Chan is to be transparent when preaching: if you don't have the thing worked totally out... but you know you're being obedient in preaching it anyway... be honest. Tell your people. "Hey, I'm still working through this... but I'm expecting God to show up tonight anyway." And He did! In spite of me, He did. And I love it when He does that. :)
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* My man Steven Furtick had a GREAT POST about the difference between FRIENDS and fans. I've been talking about this for some time now... there's a huge difference between people who love you for you, and those who love you for what you do. Honestly, we need both... but when things get THICK, I want a friend that I can count on.
* Well, that's it for now... until later,

Pastor D