Tom Allen

What do helicopters and empty tombs have to do with one another? Seemingly, nothing. So, why would we want to spend thousands of dollars and thousands of man-hours on helicopters, Easter eggs, football stadiums, cotton candy and blow-up bouncy things? (even a mechanical bucking bunny!) That's a great question. One that requires and demands more than one answer. First, we're doing it because we have a mission. Our mission is to introduce real people to a real God. In order to fulfill that mission, we have to meet people where they live. We have to think like they think and be interested in what they are interested in. Lost people in Pearland care about their kids and want the best for them. If we are to fulfill our mission, this is one opportunity to reach them. Another reason we're doing this is because of who our competition is. Our competition is not the church down the street, (although in many of our minds, that's exactly who our competition is)...

Ever play on a team without a coach? I have. You know, a church-league basketball team. Softball league. Flag football. It's not exactly the same as the sports experiences you remember from your earlier years. Back in High School, everyone knew exactly who was in charge. Everyone knew who was calling the shots, determining the strategy and calling the plays on gameday. But, even before that, every day you knew who was in charge of practice. And you knew what his purpose was. Sure, to win games, but also, to make you the best player you could be. After all, that's what makes it possible for him to win games. My playing days are over, but recently I got myself a coach anyway. Not to help me with my jumpshot or put a few more MPHs on my fastball, but to help me be a better pastor. For the past six months, I've been part of a coaching network, along with some other pastors from accross the U.S. and a few other countries. We have a coach whose sole purpose is ...

That pretty much sums me up. Why, you ask? Because this week is Valentines Day. I'm pumped! Can you sense the sincerity in my voice?!?! Not! OK, so, as a typical male, I consider VD (I like to call it by it's initials) a plague on our culture. I truly think it is a communist plot foisted on an unwitting American populace by by Lenin, Stalin, Marx and someone named Hallmark. Face it! We've been duped. We bit the apple. We swallowed the hook. We.....well, I could go on and on ad nauseum. But, I'll restrain myself. Here's my question: Why does the calendar or the florist or the card shop or anyone else, for that matter, have the right to tell us we should be romantic towards our mates this one day a year? Why? Who gives them the right? Of all the unmitigaed gaul. Seriously, someone give me an answer. Well, try this one. Maybe it's because we've failed to do it the other 364 days of the year. Just a thought. Maybe, not even a good one. But, it's a thought. P...