Pastor Jason's Blog: February 2007

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

The Whole Town

I challenged all the "recruits" in attendance on Sunday to spend the next 40 days (until Good Friday) reading 1 chapter a day from their "field manual" (the Bible). Well I started in Mark and am noticing something that I'd like to see happen here - crowds are gathering to have an encounter with Jesus.

There's one verse that I held on to before we ever launched and that was Mark 1:33 which says, "The whole town gathered at the door." I want to see that here in Greenville - the whole town gathering at the doors of churches because they want to encounter Jesus. Then in Mark 2:2 says, "So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them." Again, the place is packed (even outside) and the word is preached. Today I was reading chapter 3 and in verse 20 I read, "Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat." The whole plan Jesus and the disciples had was scrapped because so many people showed up.

Isn't that great? Don't try and tell me people don't want to know more about who Jesus is and the difference he can make in their lives and others. It's not true. There's a new book out by Dan Kimball called They Like Jesus, But Not The Church that I admit I haven't read, but think I would agree with on a lot of points. If what happened in Mark happened wherever Jesus went and whenever he showed up, is it a fair conclusion that it's not happening in a lot of places today because we're more interested in "church" than in "Jesus"? I've been guilty of thinking that way, particularly when I think of the fact that this is my "job" and if people don't come to church, tithe to the church, serve in the church, then I won't get paid by the church when my mission support runs out. But when I make it about the church, that puts Jesus in second place and may even keep him out of the very place we tell people they can find him. A scary and convicting thought. Time to make sure Jesus is allowed to work and get ready for the "whole town to gather at the door."

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

I'm The Punch Line

I was just thinking back to the weekend and was reminded that I was the butt of one joke that was pulled off and one that was missing a critical part. I'm a big practical joker, don't get me wrong - once "borrowed" a guy's car and painted it pink - but I was set up this weekend.

First off, during last week's message I was talking about how the media influences us to spend money we don't have. I made a passing reference to how catchy the commercial was for "My Little Pony" and how even I was almost convinced that I needed one. Apparently my attempt at humor was taken completely literally as this week, someone threw up this picture.

Next, since I was getting my (to start our Back 2 Basics series) another person thought it would be hilarious to flash up a picture of head shaveda celebrity's newly shaved head. "Lucky" for me he forgot to actually bring the picture. Figured I'd just fill you in on the way people 'take advantage of me.' Besides, I think I'm way better looking than Britney!

There, I'm glad that's off my chest. Now I can go back to loving the people who do this to me.

Sunday's Buzz

Kicked

off a new series called Back 2 Basics on Sunday. We're going through the basic stuff like how we got the Bible, who God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are, about Heaven and Hell and what salvation is. Since we're treating it like basic training, I figured we'd start out like every guy at basic starts out....with a buzz haircut. We were supposed to have a former military barber come, but he was a no show so the backup plan was Claude. When he was in Florida last week he got a flat top and Sunday he dressed in some BDU's so he was the barber. Gave me my cut and then did Tanner too. Also had a couple of other guys from the crowd volunteer to come up and get clipped in the background while I was speaking. Gotta say it was fun and the rest of the series should be great.

I've been wearing a "toboggan" (knit cap) around though. When I shaved my head back in Florida I never woke up to 35 degrees. That'll make your head cold.

Saturday, February 24, 2007

Teacher "Learned Lesson"?

Caught an article in the news about a teacher in Kentucky who mistakenly sent text messages to a state trooper trying to arrange to buy marijuana. (full story) It turned out to be a 34 year old middle school teacher named Ann Greenfield. The trooper thought it was a joke but once he confirmed it wasn't he set her up and when she arrived at the designated meeting place, she got more than she bargained for and ended up arrested.

The part of this story that upsets me most though is the comment the trooper made. It's bad enough that a middle school teacher is buying pot, but what's worse is having one of the men 'sworn to protect us' make a comment like this. After her arrest the trooper said, "She learned her lesson. Program your dealers into your phone." What?! Are you kidding me? So the lesson is to be a better law-breaker or at least don't get caught? Wow, thanks for setting a high standard there trooper Meadows. I'll be sure to program all my illegal activity contacts into my phone since that's the most important lesson. Never mind the idea of not buying drugs - that lesson apparently isn't one our teachers (or kids) need to learn.

Friday, February 23, 2007

We're Rich

Looking through the mail tonight and noticed Lora just got lucky. It seems that Capital One wants to offer her at least $5000 in credit. Not bad, but not unlike the dozen other offers that have come through this year so far. So when I opened some junk mail from Chase I was caught off-guard. Why? Because the available funds being advertised and offered to Lora were......are you ready..... $224,000 of credit! We're rich.

Why do all these credit card companies send out the huge volume of junk mail that clogs up our mailbox (or shredder in our case)? Because there are people out there who are going to take the "deal." How sad. Now if some company wants to just drop $224,000 in my account with no expectation or requirement to return even a portion of it, I'm up for that. Until then, I'm rich in plenty of other ways - family, health, friends, employment, ideas, etc.

When Things Don't Work Out

I hate unmet expectations. I get so easily upset and frustrated when things don't go the way I thought they should or I planned they would. For instance, we're starting a new series this week called Back 2 Basics which I'm really excited about. It's got a basic training/camo/military kind of theme to it and we decided to design some programs (bulletins) to go with it. Well they sent out, but the arrival date says they shouldn't arrive until Monday! Doesn't do me a lot of good this week. And we ordered 'em two weeks back. Now, I've prayed they'd show up today and there's still time for God to answer that prayer in the affirmative, and I could deal with that change in expectation much better.

Another unmet expectation is that this week while Lora was gone, I wanted to suprise her with a "secret project" a la Ty Pennington. I just don't think I'm going to get it done. I'm working extra on church stuff so I can have all day tomorrow to try and work my magic, but we'll see. Teaching kids, making meals, doing laundry and other domestic stuff while working from home on sermon prep and church planting doesn't leave a lot of time for projects as big as what I tried to take on. Maybe I'll get part of it done though since she doesn't arrive until after 6PM

Makes me wonder if God ever has unmet expectations. I mean, he knows everything, so doesn't he just expect what happens to happen? I guess on one hand he expects us to be obedient and live a righteous life that glorifies him, but on the other hand, he knows we sin so doesn't he expect us to miss the mark? If I think about it too long my brain hurts. God's just so much bigger and better than my itty bitty understanding can comprehend.

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Away From Home

Haven't posted for a few days and am finding that it's a little harder to do that when I don't have my wife around to help with kids, laundry, cooking and all the rest of the stuff so many single parents deal with everyday (talk about perspective). Anyhow, talked with Lora and was told that my 7 month old has green snot, 102 fever and is tugging at her ear, my 3 year old is coughing, Lora's sister has a sore throat and thinks she might have strep and her two kids are coughing and snotting still. Lora's the only healthy one and it's quite obvious she's not in the best environment.

As I thought about that, I thought about friends and eternity. All things considered, we're not "home" yet. We get however many years here on earth to make a difference and hopefully to be made different by Christ. We're out of town let's say. And depending on our choices we sometimes end up surrounded by unhealthy and sick people where if we spend too much time there, we'll end up sick too. Other times, we're in a safe and healthy environment and the rest of the time, we're in some sort of combination.

If we've got friends or family that are sick and far from home, we can't just leave 'em behind. So what do we do? 1) Stay healthy for starters - stay connected to Christ. Spend time reading the Bible and talking with God. Know what he's called you to do. 2) Help others get healthy - offer hope, direction and the encouragement of knowing that there's a better place, but right now we're just away from home.

If you think about it, it makes sense. My home is still being built and until I move in, I need to stay healthy and help others get healthy. Sounds alot like loving God and loving others. Sounds alot like following Jesus.

Monday, February 19, 2007

Day 5

Today is day 5 without my wife and besides missing her and my girls, I continue to gain a deeper appreciation for her choice to stay home and her skill at successfully managing our home. A lot happened this weekend and I woke up this morning so to get kids fed and set up for school and then prepare for our staff meeting which we just did here. There's a lot I don't know, but I know this...I wife of noble character who's as capable as mine is hard to find (Proverbs 31:10)

I don't think it should be quite that hard though. I think American culture is selling a bad product and pushing women to find satisfaction and success outside the home at the expense of success inside the home. Working outside the home isn't the problem (at least not the main one). The problem is the prevailing attitude that having home duties be a priority is somehow a second class form of success rather than something to aspire too. It's about trying to "do" both instead of just trying to "be" a godly homemaker. "Be" the virtuous woman proverbs talks about and you can still "do" work. What I've noticed is when women just try to "do" work and "do" home they end up "being" busy, tired, frustrated or disappointed.

Of course these are generalizations. Some people might seriously take issue with this even. But it's still worth considering. Christianity and following Christ has never been about trying to do it all. It's much more simple than that. It's about our being - who we are - not what we do. I am a follower of Christ and because of that I do ministry vocationally. My wife is a homemaker and yet she can also do nursing as an RN, but there's a clear order of identification. She's, in my opinion, an exellent example of what it means to BE a godly woman.

Friday, February 16, 2007

What I Put Up With

Got an email that contained an attachment for something I asked all the staff to do. We're trying to be much more clear about the ministry opportunities available where people can serve. Anyhow, here's the last one that was on the list of this particular staff member (who shall for now remain nameless)

Staff meeting “stand in”

What?
This opportunity is for a male about 6’4” & 245lb’s with dark hair to simply sit in staff meetings AS ME and nod in agreement to the pastor and make stupid jokes about staff meetings. By The Way…I will personally pay you for this “opportunity”

When?
9:00 – 12:30 Monday mornings

Who?
35 - 42

I love the humor, but sometimes wonder if it's that miserable working with me. Naaaa. If a smart, beautiful, talented lady like my wife thinks I'm great, my staff will just have to keep teasing me because I know it's not true! I'm great!

Getting Excited

As I've been reworking and tweaking our PARTnership class materials, I'm getting excited again. Not that I'm not excited about life in general or the church in particular, but freshening it up and clarifying some stuff gives me energy. I'm also looking forward to the class because we're doing some new things to liven it up a bit more. Not that it was a 100% boring by any means, but this one will be a bit more interactive and adventuresome.

With around two dozen people planning on attending, you can imagine my concern when I heard that the building we're planning on meeting at hadn't been confirmed for sure. Don't think it will be a problem, but if it is, those are the kinds of things I hate. It makes us look like we're unorganized and not on the ball (and that's exactly what will have happened if there's a problem) I guess it might just add to the excitement.

That's kinda the nature of church work though. We need to be ready to adapt to what's going on instead of just being a frustrated old stick in the mud (been there). While change is uncomfortable, it's also necessary. Plans don't always go how we'd like but there's no sense pouting about it. Address the issues and do the best you can. Around here we define excellence as "doing the best you can with what you've got" and that's still a high standard. I try not to compare myself to other pastors and churches because we're all in different places with different people, circumstances and resources. We're called to be obedient, not better than others. That's what doing our best is - us being obedient.

Thursday, February 15, 2007

625 Miles Away

My wife and daughters are now officially 625 miles away in Ohio. Glad they made it but can't wait until they return. Lora said Hannah and Sarah were wonderful on the plane. Hannah slept the whole first leg and didn't make a noise the second leg. Sarah thought it was the coolest thing to just look out the window and see the ground a few miles below. Just thinking about it, I remember how life kinda falls into perspective when you pull back (or up if you're in a plane). Anyway, I'm about to experience life from Lora's perspective for the next 9 days!!

Doing What She Says

Talking at the men's group this morning that's going through Every Man's Marriage, some of the guys thought the book sounded a little like it was saying we (men) should just do whatever our wives want. Of course, that doesn't sound to spiritual or even enticing so some of us rebelled a little against that thought. It got me thinking though.

It's not so much that happy marriages happen or marriages work because husbands do whatever their wives tell them to. Good marriages happen because husbands understand what their wives are talking about and then take action. If my wife feels like I hear her, like I understand what she's saying, like I care about it - I've validated her as a person. Even if I disagree and I make a different decision, I have respected her. More often though, she may have a great point or something I need to take into consideration and when I do that, I'll do it "her" way. Not because I'm doing what she says, but because I love her and understand what she's saying.

Understanding our wives is hard work. It's always easier to just do what she asks. It's harder to really understand what she's asking. A request to help around the house may mean "I need you to recognize my worth (validate me)." Her asking you to call if you're going to be late may mean "I don't feel like a priority." Making a woman feel like a priority is hard work...it's requires us to be less selfish and more giving. It might require us to change how we think and act. We might need to change OUR attitude before her's changes. But when our motivation is to love our wives, it won't really be about "doing what she says."

My Three Sons

Lora leaves today with the girls to go to Ohio and be with her sister for 9 days. I'm a little nervous to be responsible for everything homeschooling and kid related while trying to stay on top of my ministry stuff too. But, I'm also excited. This should be a good time with just me and the boys. I'm just praying I make wise use of my time and don't turn into a bad dad under the stress.

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day. Ever wonder why this day is such a big deal? Don't you think it's been over-commercialized? I read that over 1 billion cards are sent out for Valentine's Day (apparently 2nd only to Christmas) and that 85% of the cards are bought by women. Why is that? What's it all about?

There are a number of stories about the origins of Valentine's Day and who St. Valentine really was. The three most common are 1) he was a priest who continued to married young couples when the emperor said not to; 2) he was arrested and sentenced to death (ultimately became a martyr), but fell in love with the jailer's daughter, sending her a card signed, "your Valentine" and 3) the day came about to counter a pagan holiday called Lupercalia that was celebrated on Feb 15. So, love, marriage and competition...hmm.

I love my wife as much as the next guy, but I think this holiday puts an unnecessary burden on people to profess that love. I don't need a special day set aside to do that. I can do it any day. Yet I feel "forced" to "perform" or even compete with what other men are doing for their wives. And none of this even takes into consideration single, dating, separated, divorced, widowed and just plain lonely people. What about them? What about just loving people regardless of the day or marketing? If we did that, there'd be fewer frustrated lovers and more people being loved.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Good Read

Stopped by Barnes & Noble while I was out today because I needed to find a book. Couldn't find what I was looking for, but I did come across a book I had been wanting to read - Simple Church. I started paging through it and after a few minutes, realized I was 40 pages into it so I decided to sit down. I was liking what I was reading...feeling a little bit of confirmation as well as being challenged about how we've been doing things at Discovery. To make a long story short, I sat in that chair and read the whole thing before I went home for dinner.

I really liked it and I'm glad I invested the time reading it because we've got a PARTnership class this weekend and I was already working on clarifying some of the stuff in there. This made that even more of a priority and also confirmed what I'd been thinking - some of who we are has been unclear. And that point was one of four main things to look for in a simple church. Clarity. How clearly defined is the disciple-making process? The other three were movement, alignment and focus.

I asked myself why we exist and what our process is. We exist to help people discover real answers for real life which lead to real opportunities. Real answers start with knowing Jesus Christ. Real life happens when people plug into an Outlet (small group). Real opportunities are where people get involved in actually doing ministry. We want people to connect with Christ (answer), the church (life) and the community (opportunities).

I get it. But I don't think I've done a good enough job of relaying that to people - even our staff. It's not part of our DNA yet and that's not good. It's more like our clothing - I say that's who we are and try to "look right" but I can take it off just like my clothes. You can't get rid of DNA - it's part of everything in the body. I want Discovery and it's people to be there, so I'm working on being more clear about why we exist - and how we move people through the process of becoming a growing disciple 1) know Jesus - the answer, 2) plug into an Outlet - do life with others and 3) find opportunities to serve and bring others into the process.

In my opinion, I've allowed too much peripheral stuff to cloud the clarity I once had. I'm praying we'll rework our ministry alignment and sharpen our focus. As simple as is sounds, it's hard work. I'm a people-pleaser by nature and saying "no" isn't as easy for me as some (like David Spade in a Capital One commercial) As much as I wasn't planning on reading a 250 page book today (I had plenty of other things to do) I'm glad I did.

Worth The Cost?

Every Monday we have a staff meeting (Claude likes to call it our "staff infection") and we always start by praying for new and ongoing prayer requests and reading outloud a couple chapters each from the Bible. The last few weeks we've been meeting at Panera Bread and this week we started reading Revelation. I had to wonder what people sitting nearby might be thinking as they listened to four guys reading from the book of Revelation, but that's beside the point.

When I read Revelation 3:18 and it talked about buying things from God I had to ask some questions. My first was, "I thought we didn't have to earn anything from God...why was he encouraging people to buy stuff from him?" Then I wondered what kind of money we'd use to buy stuff from God. How much would it take? Does anything ever go on clearance or is shopping at God's place an upscale experience? Besides that, why buy gold since that'd be like buying pavement since the streets are made of gold? You might think I'm joking with these questions, but this is actually what goes through my head sometimes.

After thinking about it, I came down here. Obedience is costly. Discipleship is costly. Becoming like Christ is costly. It may cost materially, but more often the cost is measured in the difficulty of selfLESSness. It's hard to put others first, hard to love the 'unlovable,' hard to always do the right thing (especially when the wrong thing is so easy and unnoticable to others), and it's hard to deal with the truth of who we so often are - selfish people.

Is it worth the cost? Is what the Bible calls "righteousness" worth paying for? Absolutely. Yet even as I write that I know there will still be times when I choose to invest my resources someplace else.

Sunday, February 11, 2007

Great God Story

I told you I'd share the testimony of God's faithfulness when we tithe after the service today so here it is.

Jason,

The past two sermons have been great and extremely timely for our family. Before we moved here, six years ago, We were making a six figure income and we loved to tithe. Our church had gone thru a similar series and the church actually started clapping an cheering with excitement when it was time to pass the plate and that continues to this day.

After last week, [my wife] and I had decided to get back on track with our tithing. It has been so hard to be faithful in that area since we are now living on a forth of what we made before we moved here and our finances have been a nightmare.

Well last Monday I got a couple checks at work and we went ahead and cashed them and pulled out the tithe. I told [my wife] I really needed to run it over to your house, because I knew it would be tough to hang on to it until Sunday. Well the week went by and it was tempting to use it for other things, but it stayed on the Kitchen counter all week and everyone knew that it was to go to church with us on Sunday.....

Well....Everyday [my son] and I pray together on the way to school and on Friday [he] could tell that I was really struggling with our finances because we had a power bill and rent due on Friday and I was around $600.00 short. When we finished praying [my son] looked at me and said, Dad you can't use our tithe. I agreed, but knew it was a really tough situation and every penny counts. But we decided that it had to stay where it was and we couldn't use it, because it wasn't ours to use.

The day went by and a creditor called me who was a real pain and I ended up having to pay another hundred dollars to him, which was sending us financially in the wrong direction. I was really struggling and told [my wife] at lunch that I had no idea what we were going to do.

On the way home a friend called and while we were talking he asked me how things really were going. I told him it was like a perfect storm of bad stuff and that I really didn't know what I was going to do. Out of the blue he said, why don't you let me take care of the power bill. I really didn't want him to, but I stopped by his office and picked up a check out of his mailbox to pay the power bill. That blew me away, but what really did me in was less than 5 minutes after he called me another friend called me and said that he and his wife had been feeling sick and were not going to be able to go to a marriage conference this past weekend that he had been telling me about. He wanted to know if it was alright for him to come by the house that night and give me something. That night he came by and gave us an envelope. He and his wife had decided to give our family the money they were going to spend on the conference because they knew things had been tight for us. They had no idea that it was the exact amount we needed to pay our rent.

It blew me away....[my son] was kind of like ....I told you so....I've got that 30 year old faith. He's got that Child like faith.....

Have a Great Day....Have a Great Week

Now if that isn't something worth braggin on God about, I've got others. Here's another I've heard. One couple hadn't been tithing because they were paying nutshell versiondouble mortgage/rent payments since they hadn't sold the house they moved out of to move here. So double payments for the past couple months isn't a good deal. They came to church, didn't have a check to write a tithe and so on Monday, the husband called his wife from work and said to write the check and mail it in. She skeptically asked if it was so they could get an offer on their house. Funny thing is, she wrote the check and got an offer a few hours later. They countered, it was accepted and they're closing THIS FRIDAY (less than 10 days later). There's even more to that story, but I'll share that on Sunday.

God is at work when people follow His ways and His plans.

Friday, February 09, 2007

What God Is Doing

We're on week four of a five week series dealing with stewardship. It's a great series called the Zone and we got a lot of the stuff from Ed Young. Anyhow, I talked about tithing and how that's part of living in the Zone and have gotten some great feedback. I got one email from a guy that has an awesome story of God's faithfulness. I've asked him to share it this weekend and I'll post his email next week. What I said last week is so true...God will keep His promises when we keep His ways.

His isn't the only story either. I've got wind of a few others who have seen God's faithfulness in their faithfulness. It's an exciting time.

I didn't post about it, but last weekend I took a little bit of a risk and gave people a stewardship "pop quiz" of sorts. Since everything we have comes from God, I decided to let people discover what kind of manager they are. The parable of the talents in Matthew really talks about being ready and prepared for when Christ comes back - being able to enter the Kingdom, but there's a principle there dealing with managing what we've been given. So Lora and I decided to take $1000 of our own cash (we've been saving to go on that cruise we've never taken) and to see how people manage it. I filled 100 bank envelopes with $5, $10 or $15 and had everyone take an envelope (not knowing what was in it). Then I challenged them to invest wisely. They've got until March 4th to increase what they've been given. A number of people are pooling resources and have some cool ideas. Can't wait to see what they come up with.

One other thing I'm excited about offering is a three month tithing challenge money back guarantee. That's right. At the end of this series people will be able to sign up to take the challenge and if after three months of tithing God hasn't proved Himself faithful, they can ask for their money back, no questions asked. That might seem like a bigger risk, but God is faithful. We're already hearing some of the stories about it after only a couple of weeks.

To make it easier for people to give and to automate things (particularly if they're taking the three month challenge) we're about to launch online giving. I already give like this to Discovery through the Global Reach Foundation. They're the catalyst behind us moving here and starting Discovery and they provide our financial accountability and administrative oversight. You can be an early adopter by CLICKING HERE and giving or if you're a Discovery Church PARTner or regular attender, set up your tithe to occur automatically (every week, month, quarter or whenever you decide)

Up To The Challenge

In less than a week Lora will be gone to Ohio for 9 days to be with her sister. She'll be taking Hannah and Sarah, just the girls, and leaving the boys with me. This presents an interesting challenge. We'll be starting a new series (which always means a little more prep work). I'll be responsible for making sure the boys homeschooling work gets done. On top of that, Lora is supposed to be teaching a class for the homeschool co-op, but she'll miss it the first two weeks. That means I get to teach a class full of 7-8 year olds "fun and wacky science experiments"! Somehow I'm still going to do staff meeting, sermon prep and ministry work. Nine days is a long time to be away from my wife (and daughters), but it should be fun with just the boys. Who knows, we may go camping in the 30 degree weather. I think I'll be up to the challenge (and I'm convinced I'll increase my appreciation for my wife's abilities as a homeschooling mom of 5)

Thursday, February 08, 2007

Sarah's Birthday Pictures

Sarah had a princess party for her birthday. If I'm king of this castle, she's definitely the princess.

Sarah runs with an older crowd than the typical 3 year old.

But she gets as excited as any three year old when she gets to open presents

She wanted to go to Sonic for lunch and play on the slides (even though it was only 40)

Well look at that...there's TWO princesses living in my house. Hi Hannah

And this is just two of the five. Sometimes I wonder how I get anything done with work. Other times I wonder why I work so much when I've got this back home (or even downstairs some days)

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Day Off

Took most of the day off...still not where I need to be with a total disconnect from anything related to church, but not bad for being around the house most of the day. And today was Sarah's birthday!!! My first little girl is 3 years old today. Had a little princess party with a few adult folks from church. She loved it, and looked beautiful. I'm in big trouble as she gets older...or perhaps more accurately, whatever boy wants to hang around my daughter is in big trouble!

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Ton's of Bloggers

Took a survey along with a bunch of other bloggers that was done by Rick Warren and Saddleback Church and the results will ultimately be posted on the Church Communications Pro website and in an upcoming issue of Rick Warren's Ministry Toolbox. So if you're looking to see what some other believers think, write and care about, check out some of their blogs. And notice that Claude, Brent and Davey aren't on here - I think one of the next books we'll go through with the staff will be The Blogging Church. Can't hurt.

http://www.churchcommunicationspro.com

http://friesville.net/blog

http://ministrymarketingcoach.com

http://johnsmulo.com

http://douglast.com/thoughts

http://www.thebellsite.com

http://www.ghostofmediocrity.blogspot.com

http://morethanstone.blogsome.com

http://davedavis.typepad.com

http://theflippingsweetblog.blogspot.com

http://blog.aspiringindie.com

http://www.spirittalks.blogspot.com