Monday, February 16, 2015

Slow and Lonely Work



Writing a book is hard work. There is absolutely no way to get the instant gratification I crave.

I’ve been compiling bits and pieces, blog posts, articles, and pictures over the past eight years since we adopted Allie. I pulled together 66,000 words from various sources and condensed them into a 75 page manuscript of about 21,000 words to enter into a contest where the top three prizes were different flavored publishing contracts.

The result was a finished product that was not a finished product. This was a difficult conclusion to come to, but come to it I did. I decide to send what the contest officials rejected to friends for feedback. I picked a range friends who have different relationships with me. Some are friends that are close now and some were close during another season of my life. Some walked through the early days of our story with us. One of the guys I tapped for feedback doesn’t know me or my story at all which is helpful. He doesn’t have a dog in this fight and I’ve received invaluable and knowledgeable comments.

I’ve tried to keep my work away from people who will tell me I’m awesome. I have this recurring nightmare where I’m standing in front of Simon Cowell and he’s telling me I suck and my friends aren’t really friends to send because they’ll allowed me to go onto national TV to get shot down in front of millions of viewers.

I’m not even half way done with my book. I might only be a third of the way there. To a man, every body that read what I’ve written so far says that the book needs to be longer. Also, people want to hear more from the Charming and Beautiful Susan, as do I. They also want to know how things are going taking care of Allie now. Which, by the way, is getting better every day. Finally, people want to know more about Charity. So we’ll work all that out.

I’m looking forward to working more on it and bringing it all in to completion.

Thursday, February 05, 2015

The Making of a Leader

“Simon Peter replied, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’”—Matthew 16:16 (ESV)

There is nothing quite like going away on a retreat with a group of friends. You turn off the phone, interrupt the routine, and prepare yourself to move into a deeper faith experience.

This is exactly what Jesus had in mind when He took His closest disciples up to Caesarea Philippi, which was about twenty-five miles north of their Sea of Galilee ministry headquarters. But Jesus threw them a curve ball when He picked this place. This place was notorious for the worship of the pagan fertility god, Baal. It was given the name Caesarea Philippi by Rome as a political move to disconnect the region from indigenous pagan ritual. The Jewish people wanted nothing to do with the place so they went so far as to name the most popular shrine “The Gates of Hell.”

Even more unusual than the place Jesus took the disciples was the question He wanted them to answer: “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”

The disciples rattled off a bunch of answers. “John the Baptist!” someone blurted.  “Elijah!” offered another. “Jeremiah or one of the other prophets!” another guy shouted. As usual, this question caused the disciples to argue.

Then, over all the noise, Peter shouts, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!”

This was not a safe statement. It was explosive, the opposite of “politically correct.” To the Jew, this answer was blasphemous, and to the Roman, treasonous. But here in Caesarea Philippi, it went unnoticed. Peter was safe here.

Jesus commended Peter for his answer:“Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 16:17).

Peter’s role as spokesman was firmly established. This event foreshadowed the leadership role he would assume in the future in more precarious times and locations.

On the night Jesus was arrested, Peter infamously failed as spokesman. He denied he knew the Son of God. But Jesus used this failure to further prepare Peter to stand boldly, in the power of the Holy Spirit, and preach Jesus as the Son of God. Peter’s explosive declaration at Caesarea Philippi set in motion a movement that continues to change the world today, “and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18).

This Daily Devotional was originally published at www.CalvaryFTL.org/DailyDevo

Tuesday, February 03, 2015

Three reasons why I hate this ad about a dead kid

http://youtu.be/dKUy-tfrIHY


This is the creepiest ad I’ve ever seen that wasn’t a trailer for a B rated horror flick.

First Fail: Alienated Audience

Nobody wants to ever think that a little kid dies and spends the afterlife in a state of perpetual regret and loneliness for childhood choices. That, in my humble opinion, is the reason for the blowback about this ad. This is why you, yourself, hate this ad. You instinctively think all little kids should go to heaven if they die.

Second Fail: Disconnected Narrative
Nationwide also was not thinking about the audience they were pitching to. People were watching the Super Bowl to be entertained. This was not an entertaining commercial. It wasn’t even sad. It was twisted.

Third Fail: Scare Tactics

Progressive, Gieco, and Esurrance are having fun selling insurance. They tell entertaining stories and where we can’t wait to see what they do next. We love the cast of characters including type A personality Flo, a gecko with a British accent, and lovable senior citizens reimagining tech and social media. These insurance companies are not using old school scare tactics to sell insurance.

To Nationwide’s credit, the MakeSafeHappen.com website is a great idea with useful and shareable content. But Nationwide would have done themselves a huge favor if they found a more user friendly way to roll this out as a public service announcement. But when I see those kids pictured on the website, I get the heebie-jeebies because I think they're all trapped in limbo with unbaptized babies.


After huge social media backlash, in a statement, Nationwide said, “The sole purpose of this message was to start a conversation, not sell insurance.” This was definitely accomplished, but Nationwide has morbidly tainted it’s brand with an image of a dead kid telling people to be careful from beyond the grave.

Sunday, February 01, 2015

January Daily Devotionals for Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale

http://www.calvaryftl.org/dailydevo

I'm really happy to be part of a team of writers posting daily devotionals on Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale's website. In January, our church's teaching team launched a weekend series about family, relationships, and being created in the Image of God called Interconnected. Our team of devotional contributors write pieces daily based on topics being taught from the pulpit to reinforce and supplement the principles being taught.

Here's a list of January's devotionals along with the authors that wrote them. Enjoy!

1/1 »The Initiator of Relationships by Bryon Mondok
1/2 »Living in Community by James Seawell
1/3 »God Knows You by Danny Saavedra
1/4 »A Transforming Glory by Bryon Mondok
1/5 »New Man in Town by Danny Saavedra
1/6 »Children of the Lord by Mike Miller
1/7 »The Good Wife by Danny Saavedra
1/8 »Forsaking All Others by Charlie Halleran
1/9 »A New Way to Live by Bryon Mondok
1/10 »An Inconvenient Moment by Kelly Nothnagle
1/11 »Finishing the Divine Task by Jeff Denis
1/12 »What Really Matters? by Steve Carlson
1/13 »Simplicity of Purpose by Michael Rust
1/14 »Reconciled Through Redemption by Jessica Busboom
1/15 »Beautiful Redemption by Anitra Parmele
1/16 »In Christ: Redemption by Fidel Gomez
1/17 »Somebodies and Nobodies by Bryon Mondok
1/18 »Letting Go of the Past by Nia Arnold
1/19 »Playing Favorites by Luann Doman
1/20 »Parental Solicitude by Greg Anderson
1/21 »When You're Called to Pick One or the Other by Bryon Mondok
1/22 »A Parent's Prayer by Chris Baselice
1/23 »A Loyal Heart by Duane Roberts
1/24 »Take Care of Your Soul by Greg Anderson
1/25 »The God-Infused Life by Luann Doman
1/26 »Every Day, All the Time by George Sayour
1/27 »Stories Change Behavior by Bryon Mondok
1/28 »Raising Children by Rod Pearcy
1/29 »Be Present In Your Present by Melissa Presser
1/30 »A Quiver Truly Full by Ashley Ruiz
1/31 »To Let Them Fly by Ashley Ruiz