What I'm reading / read

Ever since the last seminary class was finished in early June, I have thoroughly enjoyed reading a wide variety of books...mind you, these are books that I have chosen to read, not required (makes them much more enjoyable!)

As a reader I'm nowhere in the same ballpark as my lovely wife Holly. She is a reader-holic...but I do enjoy soaking in a good book. So here's what I've read since June and what I'm currently reading:

Why My Wife Thinks I'm an Idiot by Mike Greenberg
I'm a huge fan of Mike & Mike in the Morning ESPN radio Found myself laughing out loud while reading this one.

Night by Elie Wiesel A holocaust survivor's story as as teenager...tough book to read...can't comprehend how people can devalue human life

Messy Spirituality by Mike Yaconelli
A great, honest, blunt book about our relationship with God. Highly recommend!

Flyboys by James Bradley Great book about American fighter pilots in WW2

Next Generation Leader: 5 Essentials for those who will shape the Future by Andy Stanley Superb book on leadership...very practical for anyone in a leadership position.

The Present Future by Reggie McNeal (currently reading) A real charge to the church that how we are doing church today...ain't working! We have to do things differently...one huge key is becoming much more "missional minded."

Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell I've heard Rob several times at different conferences over the years...good teacher and Old Testament guru. Intriguing book...kinda thinking outside the box stuff.

I'm back now

Sorry for the hiatus...just didn't have the motivation last week, sorta like "bloggers block." Anyhoo, I'm back...

Seems like lots of things have been happening over the past week or so...here's a recap of a few:

-My son Bryan started middle school a week and a half ago. That ain't quite right...last Sunday was his first official day in our youth ministry at FBC. He even went on his first official trip yesterday. It was a guy’s only paintball trip...what a hoot! My first time playing...I now have a few bruised spots and very sore, but a great time. You can check out where we played here. A great farm in Waddy, KY. a great time...I even got Bryan a time or two!

-Our house that we are building is coming right along. We all went to check out the progress on Friday. There are still framing as you can see in the pics...should be done sometime late October. Still praying for our house to sell. We have a contract on ours, but these folks have to sell their house to buy ours (the domino effect!). Holly and I were trying to envision where things could be placed...we even spent some time praying over the house and those who are building it. Exciting stuff!


-Oh yea...a huge congrats to our dear friends Geron and Lydia Brown on the birth of their little girl Cora Sophia Brown. I love that name, kinda rolls of your tongue!

-Last thing...I gotta say that I've been really enjoying the fact that I'm finished with seminary. It's been really nice having some "free" nights to do anything, but not studying. I've actually been doing a whole lot of reading, but books that I've been choosing to read. I'll share some of those tomorrow.

Just haven't been in the mood

Just haven't been in the blogging mood this week...

Bono and Bill Hybels

The following are comments from an interview that Bill Hybels (pastor at Willow Creek Church, Chicago) had with U2 frontman Bono. The Willow Creek Association has a leadership conference every year to encourage, train, teach leaders from all over. One of these days I'm going to attend...anyhoo, below are some comments from Bono...pretty stinking profound. I think he'd make a great pastor.

-"The most rewarding part of this past year? Selfishly, it is to wake up with a melody in my head and heart. But beyond my music it is the work we are doing with the ONE campaign."
-"I never had a problem with Christ...it was Christians that gave me problems...they seemed completely disinterested culturally and politically...they seemed very strange to me."
-"The world works on the principle of Karma; what you put out comes back to you...but then enters the story of grace in the person of Christ and it turned the world on it's head."
-"Duality is the mark of really great art and it's what is missing in Christian art. It's missing the tension that is missing...the attempt to wrestle truth to the ground is often absent."
-"Much of gospel music seems fake to me...pretending that everything is o.k...I relate more to the blues...that sounds like the song of David to me."
-"Jesus was either a Charles Manson - a nut case or he was who he said he was. I'm fascinated by a child born into straw poverty. The Christmas story is a remarkable story that never ceases to amaze me."
-"How in a world of plenty can people be left to starve? We think, 'it's just the way of the world'. And if it is the 'way of the world' we must overthrow the 'way of the world.'"
-"Redemption is an economic term."
-"What else are you going to do with thing called 'celebrity'...it's absolutely ridiculous that it is valued more than being a teacher or more than being a mother...but it is currency and I decided that I was going to spend mine."
-"God has made me an opportunist."
-"Great ideas are like great melodies...they are memorable and a moral force whose time has come...and there is movement behind them."
-"The reason the church has been slow to respond is that the church has historically always been behind the curve: civil rights, apartheid...the church is afraid of politics. The second reason the church has been so slow is less palatable..the church has been very judgmental about the AIDS virus...it believes that it is about people living irresponsibly. Only 6% of evangelicals felt like they were to act in response to the AIDS epidemic. But the Christ will not let the church walk away from the AIDS emergency...it is like a car crash, we have to act. AIDS is the leprosy of our age. But then something tragic happened...the church woke up and began to act...and they ruined it for me...I couldn't hate the church anymore."
-"Love your neighbor is not advice...it's a command. Should an accident of longitude and latitude really decide whether you live or whether you die? There are 2003 verses in scripture about the poor, second only to personal salvation. Jesus speaks of judgment only once and that is the passage in Matthew where we are asked: 'who clothed the naked?' and 'who fed the poor?' and 'who visited those in prison?' That defines whether you are a part of the Kingdom or not."
-"If the Christian church can lead this movement it can eradicate malaria in 10 years...and then AIDS."
-"Stop asking God to bless what you are doing...find out what God is doing - it is already blessed!"
-"This generation could end stupid poverty...we really can fix that in our generation."
-"'Thy Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven' is a phrase that grabs me...in every detail of our lives we need to seek that."
-"The world is more malleable than you think."
-Bill has convinced me of the importance of the church as the moral force and practical infrastructure for solving the worlds problems. Open the doors of your church and make them an AIDS clinic. Your charity is important, but your passion for justice is needed. I'm asking for your voice and for you to give permission to fix these problems that are fixable. It's not a burden, it's an opportunity...it's an adventure!"

Grits pic

For some reason I couldn't get the Grits pic on my last post...so here it is!

Catch Up Blog Time...

Whew...busy, but great week here at the Prosser house hold...typically I keep a list of "things to blog about" around the computer...I'm kinda behind, so here's a quick recap of a few things from the week:

MONDAY, AUGUST 7th
August 7th...one of the most important days in my life! It was mine and Holly's 13th wedding anniversary. Woo-hoo! What an adventure and what a Godly woman that I have in my life. And 13 years of honeymooning! Here's to 13 more Hollybird!

AUGUST 8th-9th
Staff Retreat at Country Lake Retreat Center in Indiana. Country Lake is a ministry of Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, KY. We had a great retreat...thinking, planning, visioning, dreaming, praying, laughing, playing as we all serve together at FBC Richmond, KY.

AUGUST 11th-13th
Newsong Music Festival in Leitchfield, KY. A great weekend of bands and worship. This was the last "hoo-rah" of the summer for our youth ministry. Our son Bryan (who as of next Sunday will be "officially" in our youth ministry), came along with me. He is a music junkie...we enjoyed moshing and dancing together. My favorite band of the weekend...Toby Mac. The dude can put on a show! We got no sleep and no showers...got home around 2pm today. Bryan came in and went straight for the bed...he's still out.

Bryan's favorite band...Grits. We even got to meet them afterwards. Check out the pic below! That's Coffee, Bryan and Bonifide. MCJP was taking the pic.

Man I love my son...there's nothing quite like jumping up and down together, screaming and hollering while Grits or Toby Mac are playing...another father/son moment!

Dad & Lad Day

On Friday Holly, Bryan and I were at Hobby town in Lexington. Bryan scored on some cash from his recent hospitalization and the money was burning a hole through his pocket.

We checked out the rocket section of the store. I have always wanted to try these things out, even as a kid. So I halved the purchase with Bryan and later that day we headed to the EKU intramural fields (wide open space) for "the launch."

We got everything in place...even followed all the directions! The box said this rocket would go 1,000 feet...I was a bit leery of that claim. Bryan started the count down and boom! 1,000 feet had to be the minimum height! We were high fiving each other jumping up and down like kids (well, I was acting like the kid, Bryan was acting normal).

The rocket kept going and going...then a gust of wind began and we then said good-bye to our rocket. Apparently we didn't go out far enough in the fields...the rocket, I think is somewhere on the top of the Exide building on the EKU bypass. So we got one great launch. But I couldn't let our rocket adventure end there!

I went to Wal-Mart and bought another rocket...by that time it got too dark to launch, so the next day we all came out to the fields. We made 5 successful launches...they were all pretty incredible to watch. I again was hootin' and hollerin' like a kid...what a day!

In honor of Discovery's "Shark Week" (which I really dig), here's a taste of a great white shark munching on a seal...
Shark attack

Shark Week

Update on Bryan

Just a quick update on Bryan...

His surgery went very well last Thursday. He was in the hospital until Sunday...the fine folks at UK children's hospital took excellent care of him.

We are recouping here at the house this week...Holly was home with him on Monday and I'm home with him the rest of the week. He's doing great...we even got out yesterday to Barnes and Noble. Bryan racked up on gift cards and cash while in the hospital and to spend it!

Thanks for your prayers and please continue those prayers...