nakedpastor

Well, after I did the draw of names this morning, I’m happy to announce that the winner is Kathi Sharpe in North Carolina, USA. Congratulations Kathi! I’ll need your mailing address and the cd will be shipped off to you asap. For those of you who mentioned that if you didn’t win you’d like to order the cd? You can download it HERE. Thanks everyone for participating. That was fun! We’ll do another contest again soon.

Hey everyone. On Friday I started a contest which ends tonight, Sunday at midnight Atlantic Time. I’m giving away a free cd. All you have to do is enter a comment on Friday’s post. GO HERE to enter. Have fun. It’s a nice cd that will be shipped to the winner, anywhere in the world, for free!

Hey everyone. Yesterday I started a contest which ends tomorrow night, Sunday at midnight Atlantic Time. I’m giving away a free cd. All you have to do is enter a comment on yesterday’s post. GO HERE to enter. Have fun. It’s a nice cd that will be shipped to the winner, anywhere in the world, for free!

This is an up and coming band from the Halifax area in Nova Scotia Canada. One of them, Aaron Ewer, a friend of mine, is married to a friend of mine who is a daughter of another friend of mine who is a Vineyard pastor too (uh, figure that out!). Anyway, they’ve just come out with a cd. It’s got some really good stuff on it. The one I chose to stream for you today may not be their favorite, but it’s mine. Here’s the deal: just make any kind of comment on this post, any kind at all, and your name will be entered into a draw to win their brand new cd, “Something in the Sky”. The contest closes Sunday midnight Atlantic Time. I’ll announce the winner Monday and the cd will be shipped out to the winner anywhere in the world! Good luck and have fun. You can check out their official website HERE.

MP3 File

Well, it’s time to announce the winner of this contest I held to celebrate my birthday. The woodcut, handmade and hand-painted by me, goes to Kamsin Alexander over at Fearfully Made. If I remember right, she teaches English as a Second Language and lives in the UK. I’ve contacted her by email to inform her of her win! Congratulations Kamsin! And thanks everyone for your generous comments. 150 comments! Wow! Stay tuned for some pics from my birthday party a little later. It was unforgettable and lots of fun. Thanks again everyone!

Because it is my birthday tomorrow, I decided to give away a free painting. GO HERE to find out how to win it, and make a comment on that post! And if you want to give me something for my 50th, you are free to click the “if you liked this post, buy me a beer“. Trust me, it will be appreciated! I’m saving up for something special. Contest closes Sunday midnight Atlantic Time. Good luck!

Hey everyone! My 50th birthday is this Sunday. We are celebrating here at my house Saturday night, starting at 7:30pm. Everyone is invited. I thought I would give something away for my birthday. So all you have to do is make a comment on this post of any kind. Even “nice picture” or “happy birthday”! Anything! And your name will be entered into a draw to win this ORIGINAL HAND-PAINTED WOODCUT, created by me! It is 5″x7″ and depicts a maple tree in my back yard, backlit with the Northern Lights. Your name will only be entered into the draw once, no matter how many times you comment. OH! A couple of you have asked what you could give to me: how ’bout putting some $$ into my Paypal account? That would be cool. Just click on the “Buy Me A Beer” at the bottom of this post. The contest will close at the end of my birthday: Sunday midnight Atlantic Time. Good luck!

Gary Kirkham, with his own blog HERE, won the draw on the BOOK CONTEST. Congratulations Gary! Stay tuned everyone. I have another book to review then give away, hopefully this week coming. Have a great weekend!

I began a contest yesterday that ends tonight at midnight (Atlantic Time). Go HERE to make a comment of any kind on that post and you’ll be entered into the draw to win the book. Last warning!

ANOTHER CONTEST!I have another book to give away. Just make a comment and your name will be entered into the draw for a free new copy of this hardcover book. I’ll close the contest tomorrow night, Friday, midnight my time (Atlantic Time). Again, thanks to Zondervan for this opportunity. This week’s book is 3 Seconds: The Power of Thinking Twice, by Les Parrott, PhD., founder of the Center for Relationship Development at Seattle Pacific University. He has published several books and is a sought-after speaker to Fortune 500 companies and others.

I was skeptical of the book as I read it because, again, it falls under the very popular category of self-help for personal and business success, where I think there’s lots of garbage floating around. It also felt very reminiscent in many ways to the last book I reviewed, Holy Discontent: Fueling the Fire that Ignites Personal Vision, by Bill Hybels, and I’m not crazy about that book. (By the way, I want everyone to know that when I review these books, I realize that I am critiquing the work of my brothers and sisters. I wish to maintain respect and love for all people, but let us agree that our works and words must be open for analysis and criticism. I would love to have lunch with Hybels or anyone else I review, and I’m sure it would be an enjoyable one… for me anyway.) There are some things about this book I enjoyed and benefited from. He encourages us to not fall into the trap of following our first overwhelmed response to a problem and give up, but to think again and work for a solution to the challenge. So, let’s say our first response to a problem is, “There’s nothing I can do about it!” Parrott instructs us to replace this first impulse with the second: “I can’t do everything, but I can do something!” It has some good advice and is peppered with quotes and stories. We are encouraged to do what we love to do. One quote:

Follow what you love!… Don’t deign to ask what “they” are looking for out there. Ask what you have inside. Follow not your interests, which change, but what you are and what you love, which will and should not change.

Some good stuff. But my problem with books like these is the whole cause and effect issue. We are so confident that if we do a certain thing we will achieve our desired results. We’ve become like gods of our own lives. “I will do this and therefore get this!” It is the same philosophy behind the health/wealth gospel that runs rampant in the churches, only we apply it to business as well. To his credit, Parrott tells the story of Wetherill Associates, Inc., a company founded by Richard Wetherill who believed that right action would get right results. To this day, Wetherill inists that:

We do not try to make profits or avoid losses. Instead we try to take “right action” in the best way that we know; the profits are a natural by-product.

Reminds me of Gandhi, who I think was closer to the truth when he said that we need to trust God for the right results of our right actions. I think it was Barth who argued over and over that to be so confident of our plans, to be so sure of the effects of our causes is the ultimate in human arrogance. So, in a nutshell, I like most of what Parrott has to say. I just wish that this whole field would be a little more aware that this kind of philosophy only works in a part of the world where humanity seems to reign supreme over all and has the rare luxury of guaranteeing its own success.