HALT! DISMOUNT AND BE RECOGNIZED

reThink...

I know, I know...I was on quite a pace there leading into the book release of actually posting regularly. Well, the last week has been crazy! I'm honestly just blown away by all the feedback on the book so far, this is so humbling.

I will post more about that soon, but it's been quite the surreal week to say the least. 

I did want to let you know that my good friends at the reThink group now have the book on their site. That's cool! There is a chapter in Halt! about a moment at their conference a few months ago so I think it's cool they wanted to have it with their resources. Reggie has been an incredible encouragement and help during this process. You can get it from them here.

And to answer all the emails- the only non online store to get it at right now is at the :Connections bookstore at North Point. It is for sale there now too.

More to come soon...for now...back to work!

Thanks!

I'm still thinking a lot about and processing this past Monday's book release event. As with any event you do, you always look back and think about things that should be fixed, changed, or added- but all in all it was an incredible night. I'm still taken aback that people would stand in line for me to sign something that has been so personal for so long. Just yesterday I had a few conversations with some friends who were talking about some chapters they read...as amazing as that is, it's crazy that it's out there now and people can read it.

All that to say, I do owe a lot of thanks to quite a few people for helping make this past Monday's event happen- so here we go...

* To everyone who spent hard earned money to come out and support this thing, thank you, thank you, thank you.I hope it was worth your time.

* Thanks to George and the folks at KRCS for wanting to host this event and helping pull it off on the first day of school.

* Thanks to Tam and the staff at "my" Starbucks for donating coffee for Monday night. (She even sent Gold Coast...my favorite coffee!)

* Thanks to my buddy Jayce for running point on all the technical stuff. You, 'Celo, Clete, Tyler and team pulled it off. Thanks! I still can't believe how quickly you guys got everything loaded out.

* One of the guys in Honestly couldn't get to Georgia to play...so our friend Lee came down from SC to join the party. Thanks Lee! It was fun playing some pounce with you too!

* And to all the guys in the band, thanks for being excited and wanting to be there, that means a lot.

* Thanks to Beth, Larry and team for making the logistics happen. Amazing.

If you are someone looking to put on an event, I would highly recommend the team at iTickets. They were great to work with and do a great job of communication/follow up.

Again, thanks to everyone who helped make the book release event such a special night.

I've got to say it, but my prayer throughout this whole thing has been that anyone who comes in contact with this book would be inspired about how incredible our God is and how much He wants to use us in spite of how...well...stupid we are. From the feedback so far...He has and is doing that and that is amazing...it's another picture of how incredible He really is.

Calling all reviewers...

Now that the book is out and from the sounds of it, many of you are reading it quickly! I talked to quite a few people who have jumped into it and so far the feedback has been really encouraging!

If you are a reviewing kind of person...and If you get a moment kindly head on over to Amazon and write a review if you want!

Click here and post a review on Amazon.This might sound crazy...but a few days ago it was ranked like in the 7 digit range...and this morning it's #176,896. Huh? That's incredibly cool! I'm in the top 200,000!!!!

I'm not a big review reader, but from what I understand many people check out the review before they buy books on Amazon (which is the biggest seller of books right now!)

On that note, it should be available at the : Connections bookstores on campus at North Point sometime in the coming days.

And the journey continues! Thanks for plugging a review in if you want!

Tuesday Morning Hangover...

So here I am the day after. Wow. I'm trying to find words to explain last night.

I told a few friends this, I really don't remember much of what I said. Honestly, I was really taken aback by how many people showed up and all the incredible conversations I had before the thing even started.

I feel so honored. I feel so blessed. I feel so undeserving. I am all those.

I got an email from a friend who was there and I think it really sums it up. "Although last night was about your book and you, I left thinking about how God wants to use me and my relationship with Him. Thanks for taking your platform and using it to point us to something bigger than you."

That has been my prayer all along and I'm grateful God might have done that. 

If you are interested in buying the book online, you can do so here and here.

It should be up on a few other sites soon. I'll let you know about then when it's up, we are launching my new site sometime in the next day or so. 

Thanks again to everyone who came out last night. It's going to take me a while to process it all, but thanks again. I'm looking forward to getting some feedback on the book now that it's out there!

I'll post more about all this once I get some more time to process it all...for now, let's just take a moment and thank the One who makes it all possible.

RELEASE DAY IS HERE!!!!

It's a few minutes until midnight which means in a few minutes it will be the day of the book release!

It's been quite a day and my eyes are heavy, but tomorrow is full so I wanted to put some stuff here.

First...if I could describe this weekend I would use the word rich. No, not money. Relationships. God keeps showing me how rich relationships are. The last few days of connecting with some friends have reminded me of that again. After the band rehearsed for the event many of us went to dinner here (which is one of my favorite places) and it was amazing. The food was amazing, but even more was the laughter and heart of friendships. Isn't that so rich?

This morning was crazy good. It was so great to have our small group leaders back on the scene and jumping back in. Wow. I need to quit underestimate at how amazing they are. We're in the midst of some construction and I thought we'd have a crazy morning due to our lack of available space. It wasn't that crazy because these amazing leaders just made it happen. Not only did they do that- they had a blast making it happen. Man, great small group leaders just make a student ministry something special.

Tonight we had a dinner with many of the people who have been or are helping out with book stuff. It was catered by this place which doesn't stink. The best part again was the richness of relationships. There was so much life lived in that group of friends. So many conversations. So many good days and bad days. Yet in the middle of it all has been one incredibly kind, gracious and life changing Heavenly Father.

I'm trying to not carry a lot of expectations for tonight. I just want to celebrate our great God. I hope and pray that God would use this opportunity to do something special in all our lives.

Not gonna lie to you. This is crazy. In a few hours my first book will be out there for all to see. And so it begins...God this is all for You. Have Your way with this thing, it's Yours in the first place!

(On a shameless plug note- you can no longer buy online tix for tonight- but you can buy tix at the door. they will be $20- cash or check only. Thanks!)

Bring it

At rehearsal for Monday night for the band.

I'm a blessed man. Two days!!!

Adding to the noise...

Now I know I've made it. A friend just emailed me this:

"Congratulations, you've officially entered into the capitalist flea market of EBAY! Now you've really made it!"

Ok, so this is a smart friend...who writes "Capitalist flea market?" Anyway.

So...it's true.

 

The book is out in 3 days!!!

So here we are on Friday afternoon. In just a few days we're launching this thing! I wish I could try and explain how amazing this is.

* A few years ago this was just a "it would be cool if I could write about this" kind of idea

* Then I started working in that idea that it would take me no time to make it happen. That was 3 years ago.

* I changed jobs. I moved...a lot. I've drank a lot of coffee and had plenty of wrestling matches with my Heavenly Father. (And of course...He always wins.)

* I graduated a small group that has marked my life forever. Another group has come along and these guys are amazing. It's funny how much I'm learning and being challenged by their hearts for God and the world.

* I started a job that has not been what I thought it would be. It's been way more challenging and rewarding than I could have thought. To this day I feel like I am learning a lot and getting to be a part of something incredibly important to the Kingdom of God.

* All along this journey there has been bits and pieces of the book written. It wasn't written all at once. It's been written along the way on the crazy journey of life. And I am so grateful that God has allowed me this chance to share it with you.

It's my ultimate hope and prayer that God would take all this junk and stuff from my life and use it encourage and challenge others about what He is doing in the midst of theirs.

I am amazed.

I am humbled.

I am so excited to be able to share this journey with everyone.

So if you think about it- please be praying for Monday night when the book release event happens. If someone get's in their car after Monday night and is thinking about me or the book...then we've failed to do what we are asking God to do: make this a great banner of His fame. 

?'s about the book

So I asked a few friends to send me questions about the book for the blog...so here is "Questions about HALT! DISMOUNT AND BE RECOGNIZED" from my loving, yet sarcastic friends...

Q: "How many cups of coffee were consumed in the making of HALT?"
A: Ummm...wow. I think at this point it would be hard to measure that. Let's just go with a lot. And by a lot I mean I think I could have bought a bean field in Africa at this point.

Q: "Be honest, is it what you thought it would be?"
A: Honestly, nope it's not. When I set off to do this I had a very specific idea in mind. That idea has long sense been booted off the back porch of ideas, yet is still trickled in the book. What it is now is SO much different and in my opinion better than what I wanted it to be on the front end.

Q: "What is your goal for this book? World Domination?"
A: I've had 2 goals. First I want my mom and dad to like it and they do. Second I want to not lose money. We'll see on that one! Other than that, whatever God wants to do with it will be incredible. I don't have a master plan right now, I have some dreams, but we'll see what He has planned.

Q: "Why did it take so stinkin long to get the book done? You've been talking about it forever."
A: Thanks for the kindness. Seriously, it's taken so long for tons of reasons. I do have this thing called a job. I love my job and it takes up a lot of my time and head space. I also have plenty of other things going on like trying to be a good small group leader for my guys and on and on. All that to say, it's been a long season of late nights and looking for times to work on it. But to be honest- the books about life. I'm glad that I've been living it and not hidden away thinking about what life is like. I'd rather be in the middle of it then let that sink into my writing. And I kept running out of coffee, and moving, and...well you get the picture.

Q: "How are you feeling about finally it getting out?"
A: I'm all over. There is some incredibly personal stuff in HALT. Some things you might not know about me even if you know me well. I'm interested to see how it's received. I'm also beyond humbled that God is giving me this chance. I don't deserve it and want to do my best to honor the One who makes this possible. And I really want Monday night to be something special for the people who are coming.

Q: "What has been the toughest part of writing this book?"
A: Several things. Choosing which content makes it and which does not was tough. I think the hardest part was trying to write about God and His truth without sounding like I know it all. I've been learning a lot about talking "to" someone and talking "at" someone. My hope and prayer is that the book is more of a "to" than an "at." I tend to connect more with things like that. I do feel like I've found my "writing" voice.

Q: "What has been the best part of writing this?"
A: Finding my voice. Having something SO many people have been so excited about. Having God continually kick me around as the content unfolded. The hours and hours of thinking, praying, and scratching out stuff. All the coffee and back porch MX2 conversations. More than anything...hopefully using all the great stuff God's given me and giving it back to Him to do something with it.

Q: "What's next?"
A: Well gosh. I think once we get HALT launched the plan is to see how it connects and try and get it out there for people to use in groups. (Ideally- student and young adult type small groups.) Once that's done we'll see. I do have an outline done for book 2- but i'm not ready to work on that yet. I think for now it's let's see what God wants to do with this one first. Oh yeah...I'm going take a nap too.

Random stuff...

Gonna miss ya Skip. Your voice has in many ways been the background to my life.

This show has been the show of the summer for my friends and I. Tuesday night's won't be the same with school starting back up. It's been a great thing to hang out and watch as a group.

This is/was amazing. This world is a dark crappy place sometimes. This family seems committed to being a bright light in the midst of the storms.

If your on Facebook...watch a video here that some guys in my high school group made about the book. Hilarious.

Oh yeah, I've got a book coming out Monday. It seems like I've picked a bad week to quit sniffing glue. Kidding. This is such an amazing time!