Guest Speaker - Francis Chan

Since my voice was unable to handle preaching today, we had to go with plan B. "Plan B" has been in place for well over a year now. I thought that there might come a day when I had prepared to be at church and preach but for some reason not be able to follow through, so for just such a time we had Francis Chan waiting in the wings (on DVD of course). Francis had been hanging out in the media booth just waiting his turn to preach. Today his number was called, and I must say he did a great job. If you are interested in seeing the message you can go to www.juststopandthink.com.

Francis Chan spoke at the Catalyst conference back in October of 2007 and we had been given a DVD that he had put together called, "Just Stop and Think". After previewing the video I thought it would be a perfect message for our congregation to see. Interestingly, I had one gentleman after the 10:30 service ask if he could have a copy of the DVD for a couple of friends of his in prison. I gladly gave him the original DVD that I had been given and told him that I would be praying for his buddies. 

As Pastor Pink mentioned in church today, Francis is a major influence in his life and I must say in mine as well. Listening to Francis' sermons, reading the book "Crazy Love", and hearing him speak in person has left a positive mark on me. I routinely have other ministers that I listen to, and Francis is one of them. He has helped shape my view on God, the church, and specifically his view on the church's responsibility to the world around us, has made the biggest impact on my philosophy of ministry. Thanks Francis for being our guest speaker today (even if it was on DVD :-)