The Heath Mullikin Project

Figuring it all out one day at a time

Heath Mullikin

The Techology Show Interview with Mark Batterson

As most of you know, I co-host the Techology Show every Wednesday morning.  Today, we had the privilege of interviewing Pastor Mark Batterson about his latest book, The Circle Maker.  It was a great time of sharing and speaking with one of my heroes.  If you want to win a copy of the book then @mention @techology before January 11, 2012.  The drawing will be held January 12, 2012 on a special edition of the show when we interview another great author, Kem Meyer.

 

Passion: Here for You

I’m a big believer that music feeds the soul.  Feed your soul angry or depressing music and you will find your mood matching it.  Some music is great to work out to because it’s rocking and motivating.  Who doesn’t want to run or hit the weights when “Eye of the Tiger” is playing?  I look for music that pushes me to fulfill my purpose with passion.  For some time, Passion has been putting out some of the best worship music around.  I’ve yet to purchase a bad Passion album and(though I was late to the party) “Here for You” might be their finest effort.  Only on a Passion CD can you find [Read more…] about Passion: Here for You

The Circle Maker Book Review

I’m a huge fan of Mark Batterson.  Chase Your Lion dot com came about after I read In a Pit With a Lion On a Snowy Day.  It completely changed my life.  As a matter of fact, when my wife and I were praying and considering our current pastorate I was content to stay where we were at.  My wife asked,”So, everyone else needs to Chase Their Lion, but you get to play it safe?”  Needless to say, she was right and we haven’t regretted our decision.  The latest book from Mark Batterson,The Circle Maker: Praying Circles Around Your Biggest Dreams and Greatest Fears, is another winner. The Circle Maker draws from 1st century story of Honi, the Jewish Circle Maker, who prayed for and received rain from the Lord during a severe drought.  The book challenges believes to dream big, pray big, and trust big.  The point isn’t to get in your circle to change God, but to allow him to change you while you’re in the circle.

He emphasizes that God is not a genie in a bottle whose wish is our command.  As a matter of fact he writes

His command better be your wish. If it’s not, you won’t be drawing prayer circles; you’ll end up walking in circles.

We live in a society where God has become little more than a short order cook:  on call for us 24 hours a day to serve up our hearts desire. Perhaps that’s why so many people today are walking in circles(just like the children of Israel wandering in the wilderness).  We aren’t praying for God’s will as much as we’re praying to will God.

Here’s another challenging thought from the book:

The more faith you have, the more specific your prayers will be. And the more specific your prayers are, the more glory God receives.

I’m starting 2012 by praying some very specific prayers and walking in obedience to see them through.  I believe that the God who designed the human eye is uniquely qualified to hear our prayers down to the smallest detail.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012, The Techology Show will be interviewing Mark Batterson about The Circle Maker and other happenings at National Community Church.  Check out http://www.thetechologyshow.com/live Wednesday at 9 am EST to submit your questions and win a copy of The Circle Maker!

Here’s our first interview with Mark:

Why does your church have yard sales?

Church Yard Sale
Church Yard Sale?

This week, my wife, Karen, has been hard at work getting things ready for our church yard sale.  I have done my fair share of yard sales for youth fundraisers.  Some have done quite well and some…haven’t.  There was one where I had to sit on a block of ice for 15 minutes because people put more money in my jar than the other pastor’s(this was of course rigged).  I don’t think there’s anything wrong with youth fundraisers as long as it doesn’t take away from the ministry.  If you’re doing a youth car wash every weekend then…you may want to re-think that.

In the last year, I’ve heard of 2 churches(both Wesleyan) having monthly yard/hot dog sales to pay the mortgage on their new buildings.  Before I go off on a rant let me say that both of these buildings were built in better economic times.  I’m sure the church leaders never foresaw having to use valuable church space to store yard sale stuff year round because they wouldn’t be able to keep up with the payments.

Now, church yard sales can a be a good thing because they get people on your campus in a non-churchy environment.  It’s a great way to meet new people and for people to check out your church.  On the other hand, [Read more…] about Why does your church have yard sales?

First Day of Summer Vacation

I should not see this during Summer Vacation.

Today is the first day of summer vacation.  My girls just finished second grade.  I know there’s an age where “sleeping in” becomes the cool thing to do, but I guess my kids aren’t concerned with being cool.  They were up at the usual time of 6:50 am this morning.  And so, for the first of 100o times this summer, I got up and put a movie on for them and tried to keep their decibel level down since my wife is in bed sick.  Don’t get me wrong.  I don’t want to waste the summer.  I want to invest in my kids and prepare the girls for 3rd grade.  I’m thankful for their great teacher who kept us in the loop with the things they struggled with.  Is it weird that twins struggled with the exact same things?  In a few weeks we’ll head off to youth camp in NC and one of my goals if for us to learn Spanish this summer.  I’m sure we’ll get to it later.  Today, however, I wanted to sleep in.  That’s one thing I don’t like procrastinating about.

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