Otherwise Occupied

So yeah, the posting here at the Den has been pretty sparse of late. Well, life's like that sometimes. Seems I've been otherwise occupied with a number of time-consuming things that have precluded me from paying much attention to this blog. And what are those things? Well, thanks for asking.

The launch of a new ministry focus and vision at my church has involved me getting hands on with a new blog site intended to help communicate and engage members in the process. The whole thing is themed Even More, and is rooted in Jesus' words in John 15:2 - "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit." God's done incredibly gracious things in our church over a number of years, and now we sense Him leading us to ask Him to do even more. Which is expressing itself in a number of ways, which will be rolled out as the plan unfolds. This really is an exciting time to be part of Highland Park Church, and I'm loving being able to play the role of content guy for this one component of the whole thing. So go check out the blog site at http://hpevenmore.org.

Related to parts of the new ministry vision roll out are a couple other things keeping me occupied. As I've noted in previous posts, I'm developing a new in-depth study of Ephesians, 26 lessons worth, to begin teaching in one of our new flock groups launching this fall. Lots of exegesis and application left to do there (I'm working on lesson 3 now). And I'm also working on a sermon I'll be preaching in August as part of a series on the letters to the seven churches in Revelation. Got the exegesis done, now starting to think about homiletics. I'm expositing on Christ's words to the church at Philadelphia, the faithful church that needs to persevere to be overcomers. Great stuff.

And outside of that, I've also been putting a lot of time and effort into some work-related things. Since I serve as a volunteer leader for the Utilities Community of the Americas SAP User Group (ASUG), I've been heavily involved in planning and prep for the ASUG Annual Conference coming up next week in Orlando. In fact, I just finished packing and am flying to Orlando in the morning, will be emceeing a group meeting all day Sunday and then helping with the rest of the conference the rest of the week. Expecting 15,000+ people. Yep, it's a big deal. The Amazing Algore is one of the keynote speakers, along with Colin Powell and others. Of course, the best part is the free Santana concert on Wednesday nite.

So sorry if you few readers out there, wherever you are, haven't had much silage to chew on here lately. I have been occupado, and will be for a bit more. But I promise eventually to get back to something of substance here. Someday...