As you can see our site has been redesigned! Eric Holmer did it for us and I’m really happy about it!
Two New Features
Beau Crosetto
Quick Announcement and a Favor
Book Launch in 65 Days!
I am really close to wrapping up my long-awaited book “Beyond Awkward”. I will be releasing it September 19th! But before I do, I have to ask you a couple of questions. Can you help me out?
I would love to know what you as APE’s are thinking about evangelism and would love to have some of your collaboration in this!
You can answer the questions here (and get a little more detail on the book) at this link:
http://beaucrosetto.com/?p=392
Thanks so much!
Beau
Think Like A Freak: World Cup & Penalty Kicks
Since we’re in the final four of World Cup I thought I’d share a story.
Did you know that on penalty kicks the shooter has a 7% greater chance of making a goal if they shoot right up the middle than anywhere else?
The goalie will jump left 51% of the time and right 41%.
But only 17% of shooters kick it up the middle. Why?
Uncontrollable Joy
[tentblogger-youtube Ls9Cg8iaq1s]
This is a great video of a son who sets up a secret camera to capture his dad’s reaction to his C grade in math.
The he kid has been working hard, hasn’t been able to pass and now finally he makes it over the hump.
Shawn Young shared with us a great word about the joy of the Father in planting and he uncontrollably celebrates our success (even a C) in planting. For some of us planting is so hard and we feel like we’re working so hard to pass.
How does the fathers reaction help you glimpse The Father in Heaven’s reaction towards you?
Don’t Let Your Weakness Fray Your Leadership
“People are going to judge you by your weakest areas, not your strongest.”
I was having a great conversation with my father in law and brother in law yesterday and this is one golden nugget was shared with me by my father in law. He just retired as the President of AT& T in the South East and he has led thousands of people.
He went on to inform me that once you start to rise in leadership, people are going to judge you by what you are weak in.
Can You Lead Someone to Jesus?
*Photo Credit: Conversacion, Creative Commons
By Beau Crosetto
My online friend Miguel raised an interesting question on FB:
And it got me thinking (as he usually does) about the tensions that this questions raises.
- Do we have a role in leading others to faith in Jesus?
- If so what is it?
- Is it total arrogance to say something like that? Of course God saves people not us.
- If it is all God’s role then why am I needed?
- Maybe what bothers us has nothing to do with what is actually being said, but more to do with the type of people who say that kind of statement?
4 Ways My Dad Has Shaped Me As A Leader
one thing I didn’t get from my dad was his jump suits 🙂
Bobby Clinton, an expert in leadership development, talks a lot about the sovereign foundations the Lord gives us growing up. Even if we are not believers growing up, the events good and bad, lay a foundation that God uses to shape our character and our calling in ministry as we grow old.
I did not grow up a Christian, we never talked about it in my family, and so my dad did not lead me in the way of the Lord. But who my dad is in his ethic as a person and the way he developed me and modeled for me life growing up were essential to who I am as a planter of ministry today. So much of how God has used me as an evangelist and apostolic (planter) leader is because of my dad’s life and input.
In honor of Father’s Day (I was going to post on Sunday but my neighbor came to faith), here are four concrete ways my dad shaped who I am and how God in His sovereign plan has used these qualities to extend the Kingdom through me.
My Neighbor Surrendered His Life To Jesus Today: Full Story
Since the first time I pulled up to my drive way two years ago I have been in relationship with Ben. I love this guy so much. We play volleyball together and talk deeply on our way to the games. He has a very troubled past and has had no belief in God or religious experience. We have had many deep talks on those drives, but he has never followed through to meet with me outside those car rides to go deeper. I have been praying and praying and hoping and hoping for God to draw him close, and today it finally happened.
You can read about the first time Jesus came up in our conversation here. You can read an update to that first conversation here. This will give you perspective on a two year conversation and how his conversion has happened over time through God’s Spirit softening him, us doing life together, and me incarnating myself into his world.
Here is the detailed story of how it happened and how our conversation went (I have his permission to share).
Evangelism: Todays Christian Curse Word
Most of us cringe at the word evangelism. Christians I talk to are creeped out by it, uncomfortable and want to run as far away from “witnessing” as possible.
Evangelism, witnessing, sharing the gospel, has a horrible image.
As my mom said to me the other day, “it seems that evangelists always need to go find people. Why?”
Evangelists and evangelism strikes fear in people’s hearts. It has the connotation for being pushy, agenda driven, careless with humanity and furthermore, slick and salesman like – INAUTHENTIC.
Ya that is the word we were looking for. Maybe forced, showy, and aggressive.
Evangelism therefore is a curse word and we want nothing to do with it.
So my question to you as a Christian is this:
Are you going to perpetuate, ignore, or change that image?
You have to pick one as a Christian.
Read the full article over at www.beaucrosetto.com as I unpack all three options
Expelled: Evangelical Groups Being Removed by Universities This Fall.
In a collision between religious freedom and anti discrimination policies Christian groups are being removed from campus. Any group holding to the policy that one must be a Christian to be in leadership is being systematically removed this Fall.
We who work on the campus have known this was coming for a while, but this recent NY Times article brings it to the forefront for many of you.
At Cal State, the nation’s largest university system with nearly 450,000 students on 23 campuses, the chancellor is preparing this summer to withdraw official recognition from evangelical groups that are refusing to pledge not to discriminate on the basis of religion in the selection of their leaders. And at Vanderbilt, more than a dozen groups, most of them evangelical but one of them Catholic, have already lost their official standing over the same issue; one Christian group balked after a university official asked the students to cut the words “personal commitment to Jesus Christ” from their list of qualifications for leadership.