The Threads Blog

Our culture has created an environment where truly following Christ is frowned upon. This is not just done by people far from God, but even people in our churches. Living according to God’s standards is radical, there is no other way to describe it. Far too often though, our Christian walk looks dangerously similar to the life of other “good” people we know. We get comfortable in our churches with our church friends. We take lightly the call to follow Christ. We see spiritual disciplines as great things to talk about, but secretly very few of them are present in our lives. We see them in the Bible, but we quickly pass over them and move on to other passages. I mean honestly, when is the last time you really prayed? I don’t mean for your meal or for your commute to work, but really put life aside and just prayed. Is repentance really a part of your everyday life? I don’t mean confessing sins, I mean turning away from areas of your life that do not lead you closer to Christ. Do you treasure God’s Word? I don’t mean like it, or even love it. I mean treasure it. What about fasting, and no that wasn’t one of those things in the Old Testament that changed after Christ came. Fasting is something we see repeatedly in the New Testament that seems more like an assumption rather than a command, and yet we rarely see it today.

The Nashville Connect Conference event was an amazing opportunity for the Threads team to spend time with ministry leaders who have a desire to reach the young adult generation. Here is a message from attendee Ken Jewett, College & Young Adult Pastor at Hermitage Church of the Nazarene:

I had a really productive time at the Threads Connect Conference last week in Austin. The second of these conferences is in Nashville this week. For both of these conferences, I’m leading a breakout session that is trying to find the practical implications of one of the 4 key markers of Threads. My session? Depth.

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.

Today we announce the winner of our first LifeMattters contest and we begin the second contest. Use your sarcastic humor or your spiritually renewed mind to answer this weeks question, “What does this shirt mean?”

These are exciting times at the editorial offices of Threads. Our latest Bible study, Sent by Ed Stetzer, arrived early! For those of us who live our lives by deadlines, being on time is a must. Being early is cause for celebration, so we want to share the excitement with you. Here’s a sneak peek of a video from the study. I’m sure after hearing the inspiring story of All Souls Fellowship near Atlanta, you’ll be anxious to explore how you can be a part of living the missional nature of the church.

In the past week my wife’s grandfather passed away and she, along with our almost 3 year old daughter, flew to Virginia to be with family. Their trip was insane, in much the same way going on any long trip with a two year old would be. Right before they left our air conditioner went out. They were gone for the majority of it, but I was left to literally melt away. Then the A/C guy fixed what was wrong after 6 days of the house being about 90 degrees, and after one hour of running it on Tuesday night, it broke again. Different part same result…hot. So I spent Wednesday afternoon at home watching the thermostat rise while they labored on the machine. Finally, after 8 days and $600, our A/C works again. Oh, did I mention my wife is pregnant, and she is suffering from some demonic form of sinus/allergies/head cold that is totally messing her up? Sound like fun…no. Sound like adventure…only if you consider adventure a form of torture.

Well, it’s upon us. The Connect Conference tour is beginning this week. As promised, I’ll be filling you in on our happenings and also letting you know of the events ahead. It’s not too late to sign up. Here’s more about our speaker line-up from Todd’s bio.

She was beautiful, and it was Senior Prom. Being a good Southern Baptist, I didn’t really come to the prom to dance—just a picture for memories and a tuxedo evening … My date had already gone home. It was a bit complicated. In truth the night was dreadful until another girl much further up the social stratosphere sashayed toward the punch bowl where I was standing. She smiled that perfect smile and looked at me with those baby-blues. This girl with whom I’d had perhaps two conversations containing more than 50 words apiece, asked me, “Wanna dance?” I wish I could say that I answered based on some high moral reasoning, but that would be a lie. For whatever reason I mumbled a regretful decline of her offer. It would have been the perfect movie ending to the memorable, comedy of errors I recall today. Instead the moment passed, and I went home wondering why I didn’t dance. I’ll always remember the evening that ended my high school years.

This story is absolutely amazing, and its crazy to see how God is working around the world. Sometimes we like to say it is difficult to be a Christian in our culture, but his story is difficult. Take a few minutes and read his story and his interview. His testimony is so powerful