On Saturday night I watched part of the forum that was held at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, CA.  I’ll admit that I was flipping back and forth from the Olympics.  But I digress.  One of the candidates made a comment to a question asked by Pastor Rick Warren.  

Rick asked the candidate, “what do you consider to be rich?”  

The gentleman gave a great funny answer of anyone who sells 25 million books. (laughter) Then he said I would consider the middle class as being anyone who makes $150,000 or less!

OK, I’ve never made anywhere near $150K.  I haven’t even come close to $100K even when I was in the business world.  I actually have made less money at each church since I left Peachtree Corners back in 2001 to start a church.  I’m going backwards. So if $150K is middle class then I’m in the bottom third.  

But this got me thinking.  What is rich?  When I went to the Ukraine a few years back our hosts told us that the average Ukrainian makes an average of $20 US a month! That struck me hard back then.  That isn’t enough to feed a family at McDonalds or Wendys here in the US for one meal.  I once lived in the poorest county in NC and my pay reflected that.  But I have no idea what real poverty is. 

Malawi is one of the ten poorest countries in the world with an income per person of around $160 per year. Most Americans make more than that in a day.  Some people make that in an hour.  

Look at the 10 poorest countries in the world:

So really the definition of rich is almost everyone in the US.  We need to quit whining about $4 gas and other problems in the US, because we have it made here in the US.  I’ll bet people in every country above would trade places with those of us in the lower third of “middle class.”

What do you think?

[Fox Orlando]

Fed up with the high gas prices? A central Florida church says it wants to bless you by giving you a discount on gas.

For a few hours on Saturday the members of the New SpringChurch will pay $.50 cents of every gallon sold at the 7-11 on Red Bug Lake Road. It’s certainly a smart way for their new church to get its name out but Kirk Henman, pastor of New Spring Church say it’s not the main reason why they’re doing this. 

“For the two hours on Saturday people will come, whether they know we’re having this gas buy down or not,” Henman said. “You know they may just be coming to 7-11. There is no catch. We simply want to show the love of Jesus Christ in a positive way.  There’s no bait and switch. There’s no catch whatsoever.”

And Henman says there’s no lecturing either. 

“Nope, no preaching,” he said. “We’re just here to serve the community. We’re just here to pump the gas and wash the windshield, that’s it!”

Source

[From me]

Me likey!

What do you think?

Friday morning my son Jacob and I left Charlotte at about 8 AM headed to my beautiful home state of Alabama.  We were headed to Decatur, AL to pick up a Honda Scooter from my good friend Dr. Rob Jackson who is the pastor of Central Baptist.  

Our adventure got started as we got mooned by the giant peach in Gaffney, SC.

Then we made one of our many stops at Starbucks to keep my mind fueled.

Then we stopped at the Georgia welcome center on I-85 S and they were giving away freebies.  We got free lunch, gift certificates, coffee, computer bags, etc…  I do miss Georgia.

We made our way through Atlanta seeing old places we used to go like the Mall of Georgia, Downtown, Philips arena, Turner Field, Georgia Dome, Varsity, Guitar Center and Six Flags.

We drove by Talladega Motor Speedway which was funny because the big race is in Charlotte today.  I love Birmingham and north Alabama.  The scenery is beautiful. Birmingham holds a special place since it is where I met Cassandra.  

When we arrived in Decatur, Rob took us by Central Baptist’s new building.  God is doing amazing things through Rob’s leadership.  They are relocating to a Central place between Decatur and Hartselle, AL.  They bought and existing Savings and Loan office that is huge.  It sits on 29 acres and the amount they paid for this was what the land would have cost alone.  God gave them the building.  It will allow them to grow to 3000 in SS and worship.  WOW!  Rob is a great friend and I’m forever indebted to him and Tonya for making sure Cass and I got together.

Jacob and I loaded up the scooter and left Decatur about 4 PM EST.  We arrived in Birmingham and drove around were I used to work near the former Eastwood Mall (that was torn down and has a new shopping center).  My old employment, Longs Electronics is long gone.  We got back on the road and stopped once again at Starbucks in Oxford, AL.  They gave me free coffee!  

Then we drove around I-285 N and saw our old stomping grounds.  We miss Atlanta.  We stopped again in Commerce, GA so I could get more Starbucks so I wouldn’t fall asleep.  We gassed up in SC.  Their gas is .20 cheaper than Alabama, Georgia and NC.    At midnight we drove back by the peach and I was mooned again.

We arrived home safely about 1:10 AM and I slept late.  We got up and tried out the new scooter.  It has more power than you would think.  Later we met three couples from our church in Mobile for supper at Smokey Bones. They are here for the Coca-Cola 600.  It was great to see them.  Man am I tired!

My Sprint Palm Treo 700 P broke last week after I got off the phone with my dad. I didn’t drop it–the screen just went bad. Today I went to pick up my new Palm and the gave me a FREE UPGRADE to the Palm 755P ! Bonus!

I even got it in CRIMSON TIDE RED!

Below are some pictures of Nashville. The bottom one was a sacred area (Baptist Vatican) that I was in.

I had a great time here in Franklin/Nashville area. I will have to take a few days to process everything I heard and learned. The People’s Church is truly impacting their community and the world. While I was with Rick White another pastor called asking for advice and just like he did with me Rick told the pastor to e-mail him in bullet points what is going on in his church and in his life. Rick is an amazing man. He truly has a passion for people. I don’t know if I have ever been around a more personable person than Rick. I am truly grateful for our time together. I can never repay him or The People’s Church but I hope to one day pass on whatever wisdom God has given me to others. This is what cooperation and being missional is about to me.

At lunch I was honored to share a meal with Rick and Ken Davis. You may know Ken from his radio spots called Lighten Up. Ken has known me since I was a baby. He and my dad worked together in YFC/Campus Life years ago. He told funny stories about my dad pulling pranks on him and I had fun making him feel old. Anyway, Ken is a funny guy who has a tremendous ministry. He fills in for Rick at the People’s Church when Rick can’t be there. What a blessed day I had.

I learned about lot about leadership, people skills and just a church that is being the hands and feet of Jesus. I can’t take and copy what is going on in Franklin because our church is in a different type of community. But I will forever be grateful to Rick White and the People’s Church for a great time.