quote of the day ...

A quote from one of my favorite books ... a great story about love and revenge ... if you've never read it, you're missing out ... go to Barnes and Noble and buy it tonight ... much better than the Americanized happy ending film ...

"Life is a storm my young friend, you will bask in the sunlight one moment be shattered on the rocks the next. What makes you a man is what you do when that storm comes. You must look into the storm as you shout as you did in Rome. Do your worst for I will do mine. Then the Fates will know you as we know you ... "

-The Count of Monte Cristo

Stirring Downtown ...

we just spent the past few hours moving our office downtown ...
we're stoked about the new office ...
hard wood floors and crown molding and traffic sounds ...
it's a great day to be alive and downtown ...
thanks to all the Stirring peeps who found boxes and packed books and loaded up trucks and helped us move ...

once we get fully moved in, come and hang and check it out ... and bring some pretzels for Patrick ...

the most legendary person of the 21st century ...

I am legend ... I won't let you down ...

LYNK Training ...

hey guys, I'm speaking tomorrow night at the LYNK training at River City Church ...

I'm speaking on reaching culture and reaching the next generation ... if anyone wants to come, we'll get you in for the night ... just tell them you're with the Stirring ... Thursday night at 7 pm ...

we'd love to see some Stirring peeps come out and support ...

ReJesus ...

I just got back from Barnes and Noble and I bought this new book ... ReJesus ... written by authors Alan Hirsch and Michael Frost ...

they wrote two other books, the Shaping of the Things to Come and the Forgotten Ways ... great books ... Dan and I spent a week with these guys at a conference last year in Florida ... these guys have a profound and compelling grasp on the mission of the church and God's heart for discipleship ... so needed today ...

I probably won't read this book for a few weeks, since I'm already reading 30 books for my master's theology course, but eventually I'll get to it ... one day, I think I'll write a book called 'Jesus' ... it's never been done ... who wouldn't buy a book titled 'Jesus'? ... until then, ReJesus will have to do ...

i lost my voice ...

I'm not sure what happened ...

I took a quick nap yesterday afternoon after the Stirring, and I woke up sounding like a seal ... my voice almost completely gone ... my kids are sick, so maybe I'm on the verge of a massive nasal and viral disease ... or maybe I just have a little cold ...

last night, Dan Lance rocked it at the Stirring ... we're in a series called 'I am Jonah' ... Dan talked about how God uses Jonahs ... prideful, racist, depressed, disobedient, and suicidal people like Jonah ... and if God uses Jonahs, God can use you ... go check out the podcast later this week ...

today, I'm hanging out with my family ... playing Tinker Bell Old Maid with Adiah and trains with Asher ... our newest one, Alicia Amy is healthy and dark ... all she does is eat and poop and poop and eat ... it's boring, it's her life ... we're heading off to Barnes and Noble for a family date ...

this Thursday night, I'm speaking at the citywide LYNK gathering ... I'll be speaking about the need for fathers and mothers in the church and in our city ... we don't need more outreach programs and rock concerts and youth groups to reach the young people in our city ... we need fathers to embrace their father calling ... we need mothers to embrace their mother calling ... period ... this has always been God's heart ...

Jesus Culture Live ...

tomorrow night, Jesus Culture is playing live at the Cascade Theater ...

if you want to come, I've got quite a few tickets for the show ... just email me at nathan@thestirring.org so we can get your name on the guest list ... then show up tomorrow night and tell them your name ... we'll get you in ... get the word out ...

it's more than just culture ... it's Jesus culture ...

Alicia Amy Edwardson ...

just got back from the hospital ... I've been drinking those 7-up and Cranberry juice drinks all night long ... amazing ...

Alicia is so tiny and beautiful ... she weighs 7 pounds, 6 ounces and looks just like Adiah ... dark hair and dark eyes ... her eyes are wide open and she just stares at me wondering, "who's that crazy guy with the crazy hair?" and "why are they letting him hold me?" ... she has long Edwardson toes and fingers ... tomorrow, I'm going out to buy her a guitar ...

Erica is resting and hopefully coming home tonight ... she's my baby making hero ... everyone needs one ...

this afternoon, I'm taking the kids up to meet their baby sister ... they're stoked ... I'm not sure if Asher knows what's going on, but he's excited anyways ... it's a great day to be alive ... and to have a full quiver ...

hasta la vista creepy floating baby ...

I am Jonah ...

tonight, we began a new series at the Stirring called 'I am Jonah' ...

what a great story ... every kid loves the story of Jonah ... there's a man Jonah ... he runs from God ... he gets swallowed up by a whale ... he sings a song in the whale ... he lights a candle in the whale and the whale spits him up on dry land and he becomes a real boy ...

God calls Jonah to a great city ... Jonah runs, God pursues ... Jonah hides, God exposes ... Jonah sleeps, God wakes him up ...

As we read through the Jonah story, we find that we are Jonah ... God has called us to a great city ... we run and God pursues ... we hide and God exposes ... we sleep and God wakes us up to the call on our lives ...

next week, we get to talk about the huge fish ... props to my friend Juan for drawing our Jonah image ... so good ... the most amazing and creepy fish I've ever seen ... we have so much passion and talent in our church ...

my Valetine's ...

it's Valentine's day ...

I have the most beautiful Valentine's in the world ... I asked my daughters to choose a special Valentine's restaurant to go on a special Valentine's date ... yep, they chose Round Table Pizza in the mall ... we're off to eat pizza ... and then we'll walk around the mall looking for heart shaped candy, doing our best to avoid creepy older men and high school gangsters ...

Happy Valentine's day ... enjoy every minute of it ...

nets and barrels ...

hey Stirring, we're looking for nets and barrels for our Jonah series ...

you know, Pirate stuff ... if anyone has nets or eye patches or peg legs, please let us know ... or a talking parrot that sits on my shoulder while I speak ... whatever ... anything that draws us into the Jonah story ...

if you haven't read the story of Jonah, read it this week ... it's one of the shortest books in the Bible ... if you can't find it, here's a hint: it's somewhere between Obadiah and Micah ...

when God dreams and big fish ...

this Sunday, we're beginning a new series at the Stirring called "I am Jonah" ...

God calls and just like Jonah, we run ... God pursues and just like Jonah, we hide ... God sends storms and just like Jonah, we are exposed ... God sends fish and just like Jonah, we get swallowed up by huge fish ... we are Jonah ...

I'm stoked about our When God Dreams Conference ... so many amazing friends getting involved with this conference ...

Banning Leibscher, pastor at Bethel Church, who leads Jesus Culture and the Campus Awakening movement, will be speaking at our conference ...

Stu Streeter, who is currently planting Disciples Church in Sacramento, will be coming up with his team to be involved with the creative church planting bit ...

I just got off the phone with Sean McMasters, who recently planted Antioch Church on the streets of Santa Cruz ... Sean is coming up to bring his passion for church planting an evangelism ...

I can't wait to spend some time dreaming and praying and seeking God with these guys ...

the greatest cartoons ever ...

I'm hanging out with my family ...
It's sabbath ...
We're watching Tarzan, one of the greatest cartoons ever ...
I've only seen it once, but I love it ...

I can't believe I waited so many years to watch Tarzan ... where have I been the past ten years ... and I hear it's based on a true story ... gorillas raising a man to be a gorilla ... amazing ... and Tarzan meets Jane and they fall in love ... she teaches him to speak ... he shows her a 'whole new world' ... what a great story ... that's my life ...

Tarzan and Finding Nemo and Shrek and the Incredibles ... genius ... I can't wait until my kids grow up and we can watch big kid films ... like Goonies and Zoolander ... but until then, let's watch Tarzan 3000 times ... bring it on ...

hanging out with friends ...

I'm hanging out with Patrick, Bethany and Josiah ...
It's 10 o' clock at night ...
Eating pretzels ...
I'm craving vanilla ice cream ...
We're getting ready to play Settlers of Catan ...
I'm hooked ...
Sheep and Ore and Brick ...
We're having a baby in 23 days ...
It's my life ...

God tore down the wall ...

this Sunday, we're wrapping up a 5 week series called Honor, the lost virtue ... I'm stoked about this series and what God has been doing in our church ...

this week, we're talking about honoring other churches ... this is such a deep passion of mine ... almost 10 years ago, I was grateful to be apart of a movement in our city we called Celebration ... in less than a year, God brought together more than 50 different churches in our city for a night of worship ... we worshiped God for hours ... we prayed and we sang and we wept and we laughed ... it wasn't about style or music or doctrine or theology ... it was about God's presence ... during those few years, I believe God showed us something about real unity ... God showed us something about Himself ...

in Ephesians 2:14, Paul writes that God "tore down the wall of hostility that separated us" ... God tore down the wall ... we've been united in Christ ... together as one body, Christ reconciled us to God by means of His death on a cross ... in Ephesians 4:4, Paul writes that "there is one body and one Spirit and one glorious hope and one Lord and one faith and one baptism" ... and more than that, "there is one God and Father, who is over all and in all and living through all" ...

so, if God has torn down the wall that separated us, why are we throwing up walls? ...
why are we so divided? ...
why are we so threatened by other churches? ...
why are there over 40,000 different Christian denominations in the world? ...
why is Christ so divided? ...

my prayer is that God would show us how to honor other churches ... she is the bride of Christ ... and He loves her deeply ...

LYNK Training ...

a few of us are going to check out the LYNK Training tonight at River City Church ... they're bringing together some of the city leaders and pastors to inspire and train people to reach our city ... it's every Thursday night for the next 7 weeks ...

LYNK stands for Love Your Neighbor Kingdomstyle ... sweet ... is Kingdomstyle really a word? ...

tonight, Jon Thompson and Danny Silk are speaking on the church's call to influence the city ... next week, Bill Johnson from Bethel is speaking on Kingdom authority ... they've asked me to speak on Thursday night, February 26th ... I'm speaking on influencing culture and reaching the next generation ... I'm hoping to rally the Stirring peeps ... let's show up and see what God does ... Kingdomstyle ...

I'm out ... see you tonight ...

district retreat ...

Dan and I are spending three days in Pleasanton at the Four Points Sheraton ... it's the life ... hot tubs and room service and flat screens ...

it's our Alliance District Retreat ... we gather with a few hundred leaders and pastors from Northern California to Las Vegas ... worship and training and encouragement and of course, breakout sessions ... the focus of this retreat is mentoring leaders in our churches ... coming alongside emerging leaders and shaping them to become men and women of God ... sweet ...

it's been a great few days ... especially the hot tub ...