Gilbert Thurston

Through the years I have had the pleasure of getting to know some of the top pastors in the country.  One of them is just down the road from us in DC and not only does he pastor one of the most influential churches in the nation, but God has given him the gift of writing.

Mark Batterson is the real deal.  Not only has he been gracious to me with his time, but his first book, In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day helped inspire me to chase after even bigger dreams for United than I had first even imagined.

Now his second book, Wild Goose Chase is getting ready to hit the bookstores tomorrow.  Mark and his publisher were kind enough to send me an advanced copy and I spent this weekend reading it.  Wow…Mark was worried that maybe his “sophomore album/season/book” wouldn’t be able to live up to the hype that the first book created.  Thankfully he was wrong!  Wild Goose Chase will help anyone become all that God has designed them to be.

The premise behind the book is that the ancient Celtic Christians had a name for the Holy Spirit- An Geadh-Glas, or ‘the Wild Goose.  Mark encourages us to see, rightfully so, our lives as Christians as a grand adventure…a following after the Holy Sprit…a Wild Goose Chase.

The problem though is we many times “cage” the goose.  As Christians we often want to play it safe, not take risks, remove all traces of danger.  But as Mark says, “Jesus didn’t die on the cross to keep us safe.  Jesus died to make us dangerous.

Over 174 pages Mark explains the 6 cages we most often find ourselves in.  To follow is each of those cages and my favorite quote from each chapter.  It was hard to narrow it down to just one because the book is that good, so you’ll have to pick-up your own copy to get the rest.

The Cage of Responsibility- “I would rather fail at something I love, than succeed at something I don’t enjoy.” The Cage of Routine- “One of the greatest dangers we face spiritually is learning how and forgetting why.”

The Cage of Assumption- “When I pray, the best I can do is no longer the best I can do.  Now the best I can do is the best that God can do.”

The Cage of Guilt- “Love people when they least expect it and least deserve it.”

The Cage of Failure- “Getting where God wants me to go is not nearly as important as becoming who God wants me to be in the process.”

The Cage of Fear- “Faithfulness is not holding the fort.  Faithfulness is storming the gates of hell.”

So there you go…a taste of the Wild Goose.  I highly recommend this book.  If you buy it via Mark’s site www.chasethegoose.com you’ll also be able to get a free copy of his 10 Steps to Setting Life Goals which by itself is worthy of the money you’ll be spending for the book.

• Wrapped up writing the God at the Box Office messages yesterday!
• Can’t wait to share them all.
• Decided to go a different direction for the next series because of some other exciting things that will be happening later this fall.
• Hate doing that…but this will be well worth it…stay tuned for details.
• VBS week has been tiring but well worth it.
• Is it wrong that I can’t get these kids song out of my head? 
• Do to others (clap, clap) whatever you would have them do to you!
• I asked Lisa if she’s coming to the closing ceremonies to see what her kid (me) has been doing all week long.
• She now knows as soon as I come through the door at night to put the DVR on pause and ask me about what craft we did that night and other VBS related stuff.
• It’s been a great week, the kids are having fun…one more night to hopefully make an impact!
• My costume is a little short…showing some knee…look out JT…who’s bringin’ sexy back now?
• I’m digging the times we wear a yarmulke…it nicely covers my bald spot.
• I’m all messed up this week because of VBS on my days…today is normally the day the band practices and we do our walk through of everything. 
• I guess it’s not bad to shake the routine up though from time to time.
• The band will practice Saturday, which doesn’t leave much time for adjsutments so pray everything goes smoothly.
• This week we’ll look at the movie Hancock…don’t forget to invite someone to hear about a common but not talked about problem many of us face…loneliness.

I was watching the Olympics last night after getting home from VBS. At one point they were saying that unlike our English alphabet where we have 26 letters that can be put into various orders to form words, the Chinese have no alphabet. Instead they use a character to depict every word. Right now that translates to about 50,000 characters to learn although a mere 3000 can get you by.

Hmmm…which is easier to learn 26 things or 50,000 things?  What’s amazing is that at the end of the day they both accomplish the same thing…a bird is a bird, a house is a house, flying is flying…just two radically different paths to get you to the same conclusion. 

Interestingly enough, churches do the same thing all the time.  Some churches offer so many different ministries and programs that it overwhelms people and the result is people don’t end up growing like they should.  The most successful ministries focus on doing just a few things exceptionally well and the results numerically and spiritually are incredible.  Both churches want to help people grow to be more like Jesus but one is harder than the other.

At CFCOG this is something we always try to keep in mind.  What’s working, what’s not working…what needs to be added, what needs to be eliminated?  Pray for your leaders as we look forward to what our church will look like in 2009.