LukeDooley.com

I normally wouldn’t announce in advance when I’m preaching for Tom at Journey Church. It’s actually our “policy” to not announce the weekend speaker in advance. I can’t help myself today though. I trust that this blog probably won’t be picked up by the Associated Press, and be on the front page in any local markets.

I’m really excited about sharing with Journey Church on Sunday. We’ll be wrapping up our current series entitled: Make Change. It’s always fun to be the “closer” for a series (hey look, two baseball analogies in one post in November… when do pitchers and catchers report?). I feel like God wants to do something special in and through our community in 2009… I’m praying that this Sunday can serve as a launch-pad towards 2009.

I leave you by saying…. if you haven’t watched this video, you seriously need to.

These are the things going on in my life, and rattling around in my head at this minute. Enjoy… beware… share.

• I’m currently at my favorite local coffee shop. It’s comfortable, low traffic (unfortunately for them), and has good hot chocolate. I hate coffee, call me a kid if you’d like, I’m okay with that. The reason I’m here is because I felt cooped up in my house, and needed a new scene. One of my favorite bloggers, Mark Batterson, famously says: “Change of place + change of pace = Change of perspective”. I try to live this our in small bits daily, and in large chunks yearly (through retreat weekends, etc…)
• I’m through the first 3 chapters of Crazy Love by Francis Chan. So far it has definitely not disappointed. Francis has laid out some common things in these first three chapters that we all “know”, but don’t “know”. Things about God, life, death, and love. Good stuff! My only regret is that I’m reading it alone… any blog readers out there want to step up and work through the book with me?
• The Journey Church adult small group that Jenessa and I host at our home kicks off tonight. I’m excited to see who walks through the doors… if there is not an influx of new blood into our group from last season, I plan to make sure that’s the case by next Thursday! If you need a place to hang/learn/grow tonight, stop by our place from 7-8:30.
• This might be the last year that I can handle not being at Catalyst! Catalyst has become the premier conference for church leaders across the country. I’m following all of the action as best I can at the following sites: Catalyst Backstage, Tony Morgan’s Blog, Various Twitter Accounts. My favorite quote so far comes from Andy Stanley, talking about moral authority, he said: “As leaders you need moral authority with forgiveness, family & finances…. Give, save, live on the rest…. No one cares how smart you are as a leader. They want to know if you have the moral authority to lead”. 
• A friend of mine tells me that there are cops on all of the local interstate entrance/exit ramps, and in each of the median turnarounds. Wonder if that has something to do with this?
• That’s all… My plan now is to devote some more time preparing for the topic of Fear, and the kickoff of the Monsters, Myths & Masks series at Journey Church & BIG Student Ministries.

I was not a fan of Tim Tebow… then I watched this video. Now I can’t help but like him, even if I hate the Gators. Watch it… feel stupid about your selfishness, pass it along.

I’ve spent a good amount of time over the past couple of weeks watching the Republican and Democrat National Conventions. I’ll keep all opinions and preferences out of the discussion, because I don’t want my blog to go near that conversation… it’s often boring, hateful, and filled with predispositions that aren’t worth discussing. That said, this post is less about political ideas, and more about business ideas.

In 2003, Seth Godin wrote a now infamous book entitled: Purple Cow. Below is a summary of the book: 

Cows, after you’ve seen one, or two, or ten, are boring. A Purple Cow, though…now that would be something. Purple Cow describes something phenomenal, something counterintuitive and exciting and flat out unbelievable. Every day, consumers come face to face with a lot of boring stuff-a lot of brown cows-but you can bet they won’t forget a Purple Cow. And it’s not a marketing function that you can slap on to your product or service. Purple Cow is inherent. It’s built right in, or it’s not there. Period.

So here is my question: After dozens of speeches, hours of conventions, and endless debates, will either of these candidates/parties/tickets arise and be a Purple Cow? Come November, will we be able to say: “I’m voting for candidate X because he/she brings something unique to the table. Something that no one else does… something that is phenomenal, counterintuitive and exciting”.

I wish we could get past all of the rhetoric, party loyalty, and brown bag speeches. I wish a candidate would stand up and say: “I’m a Purple Cow, and I deserve your vote because I bring this to the table, and no one else does, nor ever has…”

It’s 12:30 am, so there’s no chance I can put words together to do this post justice. I just downloaded John Mayer’s new live album: “Where the Light Is”…. after 4 songs, it is simply amazing. I’d love to write a lengthy, emotive review, but I’ll just keep it short and sweet. We’ll roll with a numbered format for this one. My quick thoughts:

1.) John Mayer is the Eric Clapton of my generation… I’ll be listening to him when I’m 50.
2.) If you don’t like John Mayer’s music, you are either a.) Deaf or b.) Ignorant to what “good” music is.
3.) This CD is a journey through John’s three distinct styles of concert. The Full Band, The Trio, The Accoustic set. I don’t have a favorite…. they all make me giddy inside.
4.) The cover of Tom Petty’s ‘Free Fallin’ might be better than the original (blasphemy… I know)
5.) “In Your Atmosphere” is probably instantly my favorite new JM song.
6.) There’s a live DVD that you can get along with the CD. It would make for an excellent birthday gift for the author of this blog (July 6th… that’s next Sunday in case you don’t have a calendar handy). I’ll let you come to my house and enjoy it in surround sound if you hook me up!

I know what you are thinking…. and yes, I have a full blown man crush. I’ve chronicled it here before.

Finally, the picture at the top was taken by me at the John Mayer concert in Cincinnati last year.

“Keep me where the light is…..”