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Posted in Faith Issues by Jeff Goins on 7/2/2009
I grew up in a church that never said "hallelujah" or "amen." They
were good Presbyterians who kept their religious fervor to themselves.
However, when I got to college, I'd often hear people in church or
chapel shout out with joy in response to what the preacher was saying.
People would nod, sometimes clap, or exclaim, "Praise God!"
I had no idea that this was considered charismatic or anything
like that. I just thought that it was cool... and honestly, kind of
fun. When I went back to my home church, I'd sometimes shout out an
"Amen" or "Hallelujah" in the middle of the service just to see how
people would react. As you can imagine, the reaction was not always
favorable (I admit that my motives were sometimes far from holy in
making these exclamations).
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Posted in Book and Music Reviews by Jeff Goins on 7/1/2009
 I first was introduced to Francis Chan at the Youth Specialties
Conference in Nashville, TN in 2008. In front of thousands of youth
leaders, he spoke about how he read the Bible and was disturbed by the
things in it, because they didn't match up with what he saw in most
American churches. He said that something was wrong with Christianity
in America, and that merely "checking out" was not an option. He talked
about how the people in his church were committed to one another and to
counter-culturally following Jesus. He inspired me.
At the suggestion of my friend Joe, I read Chan's book Crazy Love. I eagerly started it, hoping to be further inspired; however, I finished it a little disappointed.
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Posted in Writing As Vocation by Jeff Goins on 6/30/2009
 Having just got back from a long weekend in Illinois, I haven't had much time to write, but I have been busy publishing some articles lately, and I wanted to share those with you.
Below are some pieces that I've worked on over the past month or so, along with an excerpt, and link to read the rest of it (just click the title for the full article). Enjoy:
Christian Post - "Is the Gospel of Jesus Still Relevant?"
Let's be honest -- the gospel of Jesus is offensive. It tells the most religious that even on their best days, they're just whitewashed tombs full of dead men's bones. It calls both the morally corrupt and seemingly morally elite to a place of humility and dependence on God. It equates lust with adultery and hate with murder. It says that no one is good, except for God, and that those with the best intentions of following God's will have murdered his very messengers. On top of that, this "good news" of Christ says that the only way to be saved from such depravity is to die. In a pluralistic, increasingly secular culture, it's a tough sell.
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Posted in Creating a Counter-Culture by Jeff Goins on 6/29/2009
 This is probably old news by now, but I've been wanting to post this for a week now.
I just saw this in People: " Gosselin Divorce Papers Filed." This really disappoints me. Chalk up another marriage/family torn apart by the pressures of fame. To add insult to injury, this family was supposedly a Christian family (they even published their book Multiple Blessings with Christian publisher Zondervan). The article about Jon and Kate splitting says:
After months of speculation, the 10-year marriage of Jon & Kate Plus Eight's stars Kate and Jon Gosselin appears to be coming to an end, a source close to the situation tells PEOPLE.
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Posted in Creating a Counter-Culture by Jeff Goins on 6/28/2009
 As you have undoubtedly heard, Michael Jackson passed away yesterday. As a young boy, I was a fan of Michael's music, but as the drama escalated later on in his career, I just sort of tuned it all out. It wasn't until my wedding that my respect for his music was renewed. My wife and I choreographed a dance to "The Way You Make Me Feel", where I did my very best (as a white guy) to moon-walk.
I've heard a lot of negative comments about Jackson's death -- from people on Facebook saying that "this world is a better place without him" to overhearing a couple at Cracker Barrel the other morning disdainfully remark about how they weren't going to watch one minute of the "ridiculous" coverage on Michael's life and sudden death.
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Posted in Creating a Counter-Culture by Jeff Goins on 6/26/2009
 I love that word -- "innovate." It means to introduce something new or make significant changes to an established order of doing things. As we know from the movie The Passion of the Christ (and from Scripture), Jesus said, "I am making all things new."
In the video below (sorry, no subtitles), you see Christ at one of his most painful and weakest moments on earth, surrounded by people who are slandering and cursing him. If there was ever a time for the Savior to throw in the towel, this would be it. His mother Mary rushes to him as he falls, seeking to comfort him (as a good mom should), and yet, he comforts her with the following words:
"See, mother, I make all things new."
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Posted in Short-term Missions by Jeff Goins on 6/25/2009
Critics scornfully call such trips "religious tourism" undertaken by
"vacationaries." Some blunders include a wall built on the children's
soccer field at an orphanage in Brazil that had to be torn down after
the visitors left. In Mexico, a church was painted six times during one
summer by six different groups. In Ecuador, a church was built but
never used because the community said it was not needed.
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Posted in Short-term Missions by Jeff Goins on 6/24/2009
 This is a letter to my sister Marissa who is going on her first mission trip to Costa Rica in a few days. As her older brother, it behooves me to give her some need-to-know advice before she takes this next step in her faith walk. Maybe, this information is relevant to you, as well.
1) Be open to God's Spirit. You will be challenged to step out in your faith, take risks, and even look stupid. If you're not doing these things, you're probably not being obedient.
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Posted in Book and Music Reviews by Jeff Goins on 6/23/2009
Actually, it was a prank, but I didn't start it. In fact, Don himself started it as a fun, creative way to market his new book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. And since Michael Hyatt, the CEO of Thomas Nelson (Donald Miller's publisher), joined in on the fun, I figured that it was okay to join in the fun.
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Posted in General Stuff by Jeff Goins on 6/22/2009
 Over the weekend, I revamped my blog. With some very talented help, I took out some old links, shrunk the Twitter feed font, added a custom header, changed the upper menu bar, and changed the color and background scheme.
This has always been a blog about a journey of faith,
and so, it makes sense that the design of it would change over time.
This is the third design in the past two and a half years (almost
three, actually) that I've done. As with anything, if the blog doesn't
change and grow over time, it becomes stagnant.
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