Nelson Searcy: Fusion: Turning First-Time Guests into Fully-Engaged Members of Your Church
Very practical book on how to assimilate people into your church
Tim Stevens: Pop Goes the Church: Should the Church Engage Pop Culture?
Great Book on using Pop Culture to reach disconnected people. Our church is in the book! See page 198 for our story.
Chip Heath: Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
Seth Godin: Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable
Marcus Buckingham: Go Put Your Strengths to Work: 6 Powerful Steps to Achieve Outstanding Performance
The practical application to Now, Discover Your Strengths.
Dave Ferguson: The Big Idea
One of the best books I've read on narrowing the focus of what we're doing to One Big Idea
Dan DeHaan: The God You Can Know
One of the books that has most shaped my walk with God and my ministry.
Today is my wife's birthday! We celebrated by going to her favorite restaurant-- Shogun Japanese Steakhouse. We love that place. Came back home, watched American Idol... (David Cook is my favorite... I think he's going to win it all!) and ate this killer TCBY deep dish brownie yogurt pie---- MMMMMMM! She is an amazing woman and I love her so much. Happy Birthday Sonja!
It's finally here... the bug that has been going around has finally stopped at the Taylor house. Both Seth and Abby are home sick today. We have a rule at our house... you can't miss school unless you're running a fever in the hospital or bleeding (yeah, I'm a mean guy) ... so if you stay home from school it's got to be bad. It's no fun when anyone at our house is sick, but when both kids are sick... that's a double whammy.
This week has been a wildly busy week, so I find myself a little bit behind where I should be getting ready for Sunday... BUT...in about 15 minutes my beautiful, funny, talented, and incredibly Godly wife will be getting home and I'm going to unplug and she'll have my undivided attention. 
We're going to a movie and get some coffee... can't stay out too late... it's a school night! I am so grateful to God for bringing us together over 18 years ago... every day she amazes me with how God uses her in my life. 
Today is a BIG day in the Taylor house. Today they posted the Auburn Junior High Baseball Team. Seth, my 13 year old, has been working hard the past few months and it paid off... He made the team! We're so proud... He's pretty excited too. They are going to use him primarily as a pitcher. His coaches told me he has good form and they like him in that role. Here's the funny part... he never really pitched all that much in rec league until last year. Here's what I'm most proud of... his desire is to play and perform well, but he also wants to influence his teammates and coaches for Christ. God's definitely going to use him in a big way! First game is in 2 weeks. This weekend we've got to get all our blue and black Auburn gear out so we can be ready! Go Tigers!
Today Seth and I started meeting together for our FSM (Father Son Morning). Got the idea from Mark Batterson at National Community Church. We're going to get together once a week for breakfast and talk about the New Testament (we're reading through it together this year); I've picked out some books for him to read. They range from fun books-- Lanny Donaho's God's Blog to Leadership books-- Andy Stanley's Next Generation Leader and a few others. (Batterson's, In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day; McManus', Unleash the hero within and some others.) I'm looking for a couple more. If you have any suggestions, leave me a comment. We're also going to do some hiking and camping together for some adventure time. It was a great first meeting... We're starting with John and we're going to move on from there. We finished our Chicken biscuits and prayed together before I took him to school... while I was praying over him I got kindof choked up... This young man is going to do GREAT things for the Kingdom. I'm excited to see where the Lord takes us on our Father Son Adventure this year.
Today my daughter turns 15! I know it's cliche but it does seem like yesterday that she was climbing up on my shoulders and I was teaching her to ride a bike without training wheels. Now, on Monday, she will take her Driver's Test to get her learner's permit. It's going to be a great Daddy/Daughter Day... we'll get to the license office around 6am to wait in line until 8. Then she'll take the test and, hopefully, we'll be out of there by noon... I'm not counting on it! Then the words that she's waited so long to say will come..."Dad, can I drive home?" I'll have to say yes... I want to say yes... I want her to learn to drive well and be confident in her skills while I'm in the car with her.... because in just one more year, the words will come that I hope I'm ready for... "Dad, can I borrow the car?" I'm not sure I'm ready for that yet... we'll just celebrate her 15th birthday for now and get ready for the Great Driving Adventure. Happy Birthday Abby... You make me proud... I love you!
I've been teaching my daughter, Abby, to drive. She get's her permit at the end of this month and every Sunday she goes to the school with me at 7am for a little daddy/daughter time. A while back, I let her drive from the front gate of the school around to the back just to help her get comfortable driving... I really know what it's like to NOT be in control... it was one of the scariest things I've ever done. But she's a really good driver and every week she's gotten better. Being a portable church, we have a trailer that we have to unload every Sunday and Abby has even learned how to back up my truck to hook up the trailer. That's been a big help! But what happened yesterday made me so proud. She asked me if she could drive the trailer around and back it up! And she did it! I only learned to back a trailer up when I was working at Mountain Lake Church... It took a long time... and a lot of tries... But Abby picked up on it quickly. That made me so proud! I know that God's going to use her to do great things... she wants to go to medical school and be a Doctor. But I know however and wherever God uses her, if there's a trailer that needs to be unloaded, my Abby can do it!
I'm incredibly blessed to have been married to my wife for 18 years. 
She is definitely the woman behind the man. 
She worked while I was in seminary... She's the most incredibly disciplined Christ follower I've ever been around. She's an incredible mom and a wonderful friend... She invests her time and heart into a bunch of 5th graders at Dean Road Elementary School and she's dang good at it... She coordinates the Children's Ministry at Journey and I never have to worry about what the kids are doing because she's on it! She loves her kids at school and at church... she loves our daughter and son and models the way for them to become Godly young adults... she loves me more than I deserve... I really did marry way over my head! But most of all, she loves God radically, passionately and will follow Him wherever He leads. Even into the crazy adventure of church planting. Sonja is a special woman and I'm so blessed to call her my wife! I love you, honey. Happy Anniversary!
I loved this past Sunday! We revealed some of the places we're going to invest our time and money over the next year. If you missed it here are some of the highlights...
Tomorrow night our family is heading out to spend the Thanksgiving holiday in Wear's Valley, TN close to Gatlinburg. This will be a bittersweet trip because it marks the first anniversary of Sonja's mom's death. We're all so thankful that she is with Jesus now and isn't suffering, but there's still an incredible void in our family. So, we've decided to take the holidays on the road. It's going to be an awesome time... we even get to watch the Iron Bowl up there... bad part is... Sonja's family are all big Bama fans!
I'm taking several books that I'm reading and I hope I'll get to finish them up there... I also picked up a new one today called "UNSTUCK". 
I know you're not suppose to judge a book by it's cover, but the cover is what hooked me... then the layout, design got me... but as I read the preface, I knew it was something I needed because there are days I feel STUCK as a leader and a pastor. I'll let you know... of course, there's no internet access at the cabin, but I'll be back online on Monday. Hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving.
Today I'm taking my wife, Sonja, to the hospital for her 3rd epidural (no we aren't having a baby) in 6 weeks. She's got some kind of neck problem and this is suppose to relieve the pain and reduce the swelling and inflammation. The first 2 gave her limited results... we're praying REALLY HARD for this one to work... She's been a trooper through the whole thing though... so today, she's getting my full, undivided attention... we're taking the kids to school then going to breakfast together, something we rarely get to do during the school year, and then, we're going to hang out together the rest of the day doing whatever she wants to do. As much as I hate that she's having to get a needle stuck in her back, I am grateful that she has the day off and we can spend the day together.
