A Tribute to Gayle Williams

There are more important things than the stock market.
Or how busy you might be
Or the presidential election.
Or the price of gasoline.
Or fill in the blank of anything you might be doing today that has NO eternal significance.

Somebody important passed from Earth to Heaven on Monday, and I really know very little about her other than her name. Gayle Williams was an aid worker for an organization called Serve Afghanistan. She was 34 years old and she loved the outdoors and any kind of physical exercise. She held dual citizenship in South Africa and the UK.

She sometimes wore glasses, had beautiful red hair and was equipped with a great smile. I think she would have been a blast to get to know.

She was murdered in Kabul by two men on a motorcycle.

"This woman came to Afghanistan to teach Christianity to the people of Afghanistan," Zabiullah Mujahid told The Associated Press. "Our [leaders] issued a decree to kill this woman."

People die every day in the name of Christ while we -- the church in America -- fret over any number of completely inconsquential issues.

Gayle has no worry of any kind today.

"For this reason they are before the throne of God,and they serve Him day and night in His sanctuary. The One seated on the throne will shelter them. They no longer will hunger; no longer will they thirst. No longer will the sun strike them, or any heat. Because the Lamb who is at the center of the throne will shepherd them. He will guide them to springs of living waters and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." Revelation 7:15-17

So, Gayle is fine today.

We are the people in need -- of focus, fire and passion for the things of God.
It's time we got what Gayle lived during her days on Earth -- right now.

The Power of Confronting Problems

After 44 years of life, I should have learned this by now, but I learned it afresh today.

When you have a problem, confront it -- head on.

For the past two weeks, I have been waking up in the middle of the night, worrying about a challenge I am facing. Roadblocks have been piled in the way day after day, making an imposing challenge seem completely impossible. It has caused a crisis of faith in my life, a crisis of commitment and a crisis in my family life. I felt like the ultimate ostrich, sticking my head in the sand and nearly asphxiating myself with the problems in the process.

I have been praying to God for wisdom, but I have been unwilling to put legs to what He was calling me to do -- talking it out.

Today, I sat down with two of my friends who are shareholders in this effort and talked through all of the roadblocks and what we could do to remove them.

About two hours of frank discussion later, we all feel better about the future and this challenge we are all facing together. They were refreshed to see that someone else had run into the everyday issues they face. I was refreshed because they saw the issues, acknowledged them and pledged to help me remove the roadblocks.

Sometimes, I am willing to turn my life upside down to avoid a tough conversation.

We have to have tough conversations, not only for us, but for the betterment of our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Death by Love

You simply have to watch this video. Powerful message. Powerful book.

The Largest Freshman Class in History

A friend sent me a piece of information that rocked me back in my chair. This year’s freshman class of college students in the U.S. numbers 13.6 million, which is the largest in history. Who is going to introduce these to students to Christ, since there are only about 4,000 college ministers on campus?

The answer is “The Church.”

If you don’t have a ministry to college students in your church, start one. You can start small, with a single small group. Or you can start huge with a worship gathering, multiple small groups and a social justice team. Whatever you do, talk with campus ministers about how you might partner with them to make a difference on campus.Talk to other churches about how you can work together to accomplish the Great Commission on campus.

A few other things you might need to know:

7 in 10 students own a laptop.
6 in 10 watch TV online.
3 in 10 visit YouTube frequently, but Veoh, Hulu and Joost are climbing in their visibility.
A majority of college students expect 24-7 connectivity and rely on the web for communicating, socializing and entertaining themselves.

The bottom line: Your church and your ministry needs a well thought out, easy to navigate web site. You need video on your site. You need to be using Facebook, YouTube and a plethora of other sites to get the word out that college students are welcome in your body of believers.

One other thing to consider. If your church doesn’t have a concept of how to accomplish young adult ministry, you better get started. The 13.6 million college freshmen are going to begin appearing in your town looking for work once they get their diplomas. Is there a place for them in your ministry?

A Crummy New York State of Mind

It's a dark day in my Nashville office. I have rolled up my Green Bay rug and hidden my Packers mug in the desk. Been shopping on NFL.com for the latest in FavreWear (above).

Brett Favre has moved from the smallest market in the NFL to the largest, and Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy have lost a fan forever.

Favre will be fine. He may not have a great chance of turning a 4-12 team into a winner, but he'll be in the spotlight, where he thrives. It seems like a low pressure deal for him. If he plays badly, he's washed up -- which some people already believe. If he leads the Jets to the promised land, he'll be the toast of New York. I am thinking playoffs for the Jets. The man can't walk on water, but he's close.

It's not so easy for the Packers. They were a win away from the Super Bowl with my boy Brett a year ago. Now, they'll be expected to make the final step with Aaron Rodgers, Brian Brohm and Matt Flynn, all of whom have a combined ZERO starts at quarterback in the NFL.

The Packers will be fortunate to make the playoffs. Aaron Rodgers will be fortunate NOT to lose his mind. Thompson and McCarthy will be on their way out of Green Bay in a short period of time.

There is no sympathy for them here. They have traded the greatest Packer of all time for a fourth-round draft pick. They will get what they deserve.

The late great Lewis Grizzard wrote a comedy book entitled "They Tore Out My Heart and Stomped That Sucker Flat.''

That's exactly my sentiment today.

Honor Among Competitors

I admit I am a confirmed big three sports fan (baseball, football and basketball) in that order, but occasionally I see something riveting in another sport.

This past Friday night, one of those moments took place. Danny Way, Bob Burnquist and Jake Brown went head to head in the Skate Big Air competition in X Games 14, and I have never seen anything close to the drama they created.

First of all, they started off a ramp five or more stories high inside the Staples Center in L.A. and then they proceeded to attempt to kill themselves on skateboards. Way took a fall that would have landed me in the emergency room (pictured above) and then they all proceeded to push the envelope all the way to the edge.

But that was not the exceptional part of the evening. On every jump, the competitors cheered the others to a new height. This wasn't manufactured goodwill you see at times in the "major sports." This was the real deal. When Way fell, Burnquist jumped out immediately to check on him. When Way nailed an incredible run, Brown was interviewed and crowned Way the champion no matter how well he performed. When Burnquist nailed his gold medal winning jump, the first person to greet him with a hug was Way.

No egos. No bared teeth. Just great competition and celebration, with everyone lifting the other to greater achievement.

Don't you wish we all treated each other in this way -- in business, in faith and in life?

What if churches in our communities all worked together, cheering each other and celebrating the accomplishments of our Lord?

There's a ton we can learn from the X Games.

Why I Have a Man Crush on Brett Favre

John Madden and I have something in common.
No, I don't weigh 400 pounds and travel exclusively by RV.
I do have a man-crush on Brett Favre, though.

The question a friend of mine at LifeWay asked me this week is a good one. WHY?

There is a story here. First of all, my wife I and both are alumni of the University of Southern Mississippi, like the greatest quarterback of all time. Second, I actually knew Favre's late dad Irvin, because some of his former athletes at Hancock North Central played baseball with me at at Gulf Coast Community College. I am pretty sure I met Brett Favre when he was still in high school when he was making the rounds with his dad.

The third big reason is the best one, though.

The year was 1990 and I covered college football for the Montgomery Advertiser, Alabama's capital city newspaper. If you know about college football in the state of Alabama, you know the state is split down the middle between Auburn University and University of Alabama fans, many of whom have lost their ever-loving minds when it comes to this sport. If you don't pledge your undying allegiance to Bear Bryant (Crimson Tide) or yell War Eagle (Auburn) incessantly, you are unworthy of drawing a breath of life. I had people threaten my life over negative things I wrote about both sides. Seriously.

It was in this environment I covered college football. When my friends and newspaper readers found out I was a USM graduate, I was labeled incompetent to cover college football because this tiny school was not in the SEC and unworthy of any consideration by Alabama and Auburn folks. It made me a little crazy.

Six weeks before Alabama's home opener against USM, senior quarterback Brett Favre wrapped his car around a tree outside Hattiesburg and had 20 inches of his intestines removed as a result. He spent a week in the hospital. He lost 30 pounds.

Somehow, Favre led USM to a 27-24 win in Gene Stallings' first game as Alabama's head coach. What made it even better was that I assigned to cover the Southern Mississippi locker room and got a chance to do an interview with Favre. To cap it off, several weeks later, Favre followed up with a doubleheader sweep of the state, leading USM to 13-12 win over Auburn. Both of these were road games for Favre and the Golden Eagles, since at that time, none of the big boys wanted to "lower" themselves to come to Hattiesburg for a game.

So, in 1990, Southern Mississippi and Favre were the state champions of Alabama college football.

So, yes, Brett Favre has had a Hall of Fame NFL career with the Packers. Yes, he's won a Super Bowl. Yes, he will probably end up leaving the Packers for the Tampa Bay Bucs or the New York Jets.

But he earned my admiration long before he became a Packer. I became a fan when he put the USM football program on the map.