ericmichaelbryant

I just sent out my free email newsletter with a link to a picture of a Cheeto that looks like Jesus and free resources. Sign up at www.ericbryant.org!

I was surprised to find out I was included in an incredibly cool new website called

Here’s their description:

“We help you explore your passions by collecting stories from “all the top” sites on the web. We’ve grouped these collections — “aggregations” — into individual Alltop sites based on topics such as environment, photography, science, gaming, sports, politics, automobiles, and Macintosh. At each Alltop site, we display the headlines of the latest stories from dozens of sites and blogs. You can think of an Alltop site as a “digital magazine rack” of the Internet.”

Alltop: Modern Church (I am the ninth one down on the left just above Catalyst).

I look forward to exploring the other Alltop sites about Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Books, Music, News, Mixed Martial Arts, and Humor.

I have some great pics I have yet to post from our fun summer. Here are some of the highlights!

TREVI’S KINDERGARTEN GRADUATION

CALEB, MY DAD, AND CALEB’S FIRST FISH!

TREVI’S BAPTISM DAY FLOWERS

CALEB’S SUMMER HAIRCUT (from long to Jewish orthdox to Joe Dirt mullet to short)

CALEB JUMPS WHILE TREVI HAS SECOND THOUGHTS

I had a chance to speak this past weekend at Mosaic at the Mayan on “Loving Unlikeable People.”

Listen to the Podcast which includes stories about spanking my Dad, a look at the Apostle Peter’s prejudice, a Q&A with Erwin, plus much more.

Here are a few ideas on loving unlikeable people:

1. Look for the uniqueness and value in the person you find annoying.

2. Be honest about your expectations rather than impose them.

3. Realize some people are hard to love due to the pain in their lives.

The teleseminar from Tuesday was a great time! Thanks to all who joined us from Germany, the U.K., Australia, El Salvador, China, and across the U.S.!

Here were some of the key points for Catalyzing Community:

Principle #1: Cause creates community.
Our cause = moving people to become the person God created them to be.

Principle #2: Meet the needs of those around us.
We need to seek to meet the physical, emotional, economic, and spiritual needs of those around us. We should be pursue helping change the environment and change the individual who is looking for change.

Principle #3:Reach out to Xenos
Hospitality means loving strangers. A similar word, “hospice,” means “a safe place.” Our homes, our businesses, and our churches should become safe places for strangers to experience kindness and love.

Principle #4: Develop authentic friendships with those you know.
OIKOS is the Greek word for household (family, neighbors, co-workers and friends)

Principle #5: Allow people to belong before they believe.
We should never allow our convictions to become a litmus test for friendship. In fact, we should actively pursue friendships with people – even people with whom we may disagree. Go to www.mosaic.org/faq for more on the staff process at Mosaic.

Principle #6: Raise up a team of leaders to replace you
MPAC = Ministry through a pastor, assimilator, and catalyst
We need to make decisions based on who is not yet here rather than who has been here the longest.

Principle #7: Start Over

Listen to the conference call at my site’s audio messages at Catalyzing Community Audio

As always, special thanks to Daniel Decker for putting this together!

Send an email to teleseminar@ericbryant.org if you would like to join us for the next one:

“Moving People from Brokenness to Wholeness” on Sept. 10th at 10am (P.S.T.)- based on Uprising (a.k.a. The Character Matrix)

BUY ONE CASE, GET ONE FREE!

For those of you who are interested in using copies of Peppermint-Filled Pinatas in your small groups or as gifts to your friends, family, or church community, we have worked out a special deal!
For $350, you will receive 48 copies of Peppermint-Filled Pinatas (shipping included for anywhere in the US). Just send an email to josh@mosaic.org to get the details on this short-lived offer!

FREE TELESEMINAR!

Tuesday, April 22nd
11am (Pacific Standard Time).

I’ll spend an hour sharing insights from my book as well as some of the things I’ve learned as Navigator at Mosaic. We’ll also interact and I’ll try to answer as many of your questions as I can.

To Register, email your name and location to: teleseminar@ericbryant.org

Hope to talk with you then!

Wow! Time is flying by so quickly! I still cannot believe I was able to convince Debbie to marry me 14 years ago!

For our anniversary I gave her the Vegetarian Supercook, a cookbook by Rose Elliott. Yummy!

I also gave Debbie the first season on dvd of my favorite new show to watch: Flight of the Conchords.

Have you seen these Kiwi musicians yet? Apparently they are “New Zealand’s 4th Most Popular Folk Parody Duo.”

I am so grateful for a best friend who likes the same things I do! Here’s to 144 more years together!

Erwin McManus and our team at Mosaic would love for you to join us in Los Angeles in April for our premier event of the year!

AWAKEN is more than a conference…

AWAKEN is an invitation into the imagination of some of today’s most inspiring spiritual leaders. Join us for a 3-day conversation between uniquely different voices, generations, styles, passions and perspectives.

EXPERIENCE
Mentors with scars and victories under their belt, speaking out of who they actually are and what they’ve actually done.

« Nancy Beach » « Wayne Cordeiro » « Bill Hybels »
« Nancy Ortberg » « Lee Strobel » plus…

EXPERIMENTAL
Mavericks and cutting edge leaders who fail fast so others can succeed faster, and succeed so others will be inspired.

« Mark Batterson »
« Dan Kimball » «Rick McKinley» plus…

EXPERT
Mavens in their own field, brilliant minds dispensing paradigm-shifting insights like cotton candy at a parade.

« Dr. Henry Cloud » « Emmanuel Katongole »
« Yvonne Latty » « Mark Mittelberg » plus…

* * *

For more info: awaken2008.com

When Jesus invited a motley crew of fisherman and tax collectors to follow Him, He invited them to follow Him and “become fishers of men” (Mt. 4:19).

It seems odd that He doesn’t invite them to follow Him so they can go to heaven, so He can meet their needs, or so He can teach them great things since these “benefits of following Christ” seem to be the message most of our churches share.

Jesus does not invite us to follow Him for what we can get, but He invites us to follow Him for what we can give! We can be a part of serving, loving, and reaching the people around us!

We need to trust Jesus when He says, “If you lose your life in serving others, that is when you find your life” (Mt. 10:39).

Back by popular demand, we have a contest for the February give-away!

The person who gets the most people to sign up for my email newsletter on my website wins either the Crave DVDs (a fantastic series of short films based on Erwin’s Soul Cravings, they are coming soon to a Wal Mart near you!) or a copy of Peppermint-Filled Pinatas.

Here’s how you can win:

Send your friends and family to www.ericbryant.org or to my blog

Make sure they enter their email address in the appropriate window

Encourage them to follow the instructions and fill out all the fields

Make sure that they enter your name in the field next to the question: “How did you hear of us?”

By the end of the month, we will let you know who wins!