MORE GRACE

There's a great story in today's devotional from The Grace Awakening. It's about what Chuck Swindoll did with his father's car when he had got his license and his dad tossed him the keys to go out solo for the first time. Let me paraphrase the incident for those who didn't get the book yet (sorry there was a glitch with the second order - they are definitely on their way here as I type!).

He tells how, once he was out on the open road by himself, he started wondering what the car would do. He was calculating how far he could go in the two hours he had been given the use of the vehicle if he drove at 100mph. Loads of crazy thoughts, but he did none of them. Why, when there was no one there to hold him back? Here's what he says -

My relationship with my dad was so strong that I couldn't, even though I had a license and nobody was in the car to restrain me. Over a period of time there had developed a sense of trust, a deep love relationship that held me in restraint.

Living in grace rather than under legalism means having such an awesome respect for the Lord that we voluntarily hold back as we apply self-control. Our faith is not about rules, it's about having a meaningful relationship with Jesus and with other people too.

AM I A CHRISTIAN?

Here's how I reckon most people seem to view Christians -

Intolerant
Self-righteous
Judgmental
Hypocritical
Anti-most things in life
Narrow-minded
Closed-minded
Self-absorbed

So next time someone asks me if I'm a Christian, I think I'll say no. You see I'm more than ready to stand up and be counted for what I believe a Christian to be. But if their perception is totally different, I'm certainly not inclined to suggest I fall within their definition of the term.

Just say No sounds a good plan!

STARBUCKS

When this morning's service started I was sitting in Starbucks in Selden, drinking an overpriced grande latte made with skimmed milk. It was interesting to see the world beginning to make its way to this relatively new American institution so early on a Sunday and fascinating to see one of the alternatives people have chosen rather than go to church.

Now, if you're wondering why I was there, it was because I was staying out of the way to set things up for the video introduction to today's message in our Caffeinated Christianity series. Those who were there will know that I am not speaking in riddles, but for those who wonder what I'm talking about, remeber what the Bible says - If thou snoozest, thou losest!

The Starbucks story is truly amazing - over 10,000 stores all over the world - making the simple cup of coffee into something special. I shared a bit (probably a bit too much) about the company's phenomenal growth today, comparing it to the fact that while they have turned people on to coffee, the church has succeeded in turning people off to Christianity.

I commented that in the eyes of most people Starbucks rocks and Christianity stinks. I was going to say "sucks", but I'm not sure if you're allowed to use that word in church.

Whatever words we use, we have a long way to go in portraying a better picture of Christianity. Maybe a good starting point would be if we could just forget about calling ourselves Christians for a while and get on with living like Jesus instead.

HOME JUST GOT BETTER

It was a relief to finally get off the plane last night and walk out into the chilly New York air, checking to ensure my car was still where I had left it in the long-term parking lot at JFK. It's always good to get home.

But on the drive back to Coram, something happened that makes home even better. I had been travelling since 3.30am and it was now 7.30pm, so I had heard no news all day. What a surprise to learn that South Dakota lawmakers had passed a bill to outlaw all abortions in the state except for when the mother's life is at risk.

Could it be possible that the slaughter of the innocents will finally be ended? Is there the prospect that this nation will take steps to protect the most vulnerable members of society - the unborn? Will the greatest stain on the conscience of America over the past 33 years at last be addressed? It seems that way and if getting back to Gill and everyone else I love was not enough - which of course it was - that piece of news made my day.

There will be an almighty battle in months to come. I certainly don't have all the answers. But I do know that killing babies is wrong.

Governor Mike Rounds is having his legal team check every aspect of the bill, but has already announced that he is "inclined" to sign it into law.

Yesterday this great nation took one small step to becoming greater. It's good to be home!

SWINDOLL'S WORTH READING

I love the four results of getting a good grasp on grace that Charles Swindoll describes in The Grace Awakening Devotional for today. (By the way, our apologies to those who were unable to get a copy on Sunday. We ran out, but will have plenty more this weekend so that everyone can use this 30 day devotional alongside our Sunday messages on Grace over the next few weeks).

Here are the outcomes he describes -

1. You can expect to gain a greater appreciation for God's gifts to you and others.

2. You can expect to spend less time and energy critical of and concerned about others' choices.

3. You can expect to become more tolerant and less judgmental.

4. You can expect to take a giant step toward maturity.

Grace is so fundamental to every aspect of our lives that it's not surprising that it's the major issue people get blinded to. To hold them back from grace is to rob them of success and effectiveness.

Sunday we're going to be looking at Taking The Grind Out Of Life as we continue this series under the title Caffeinated Christianity.

Grace is what gives your walk with God a buzz!

Looking forward to being back for that.

WARNING: My teaching style Sunday will be a first - not for traditionalists!!!

WHY SCOTLAND?

A couple of weeks ago someone asked me an excellent question that may well be in other people's heads too. Why do missions in a Christian country like Scotland? Good question!

Here are a few rambling reasons as I sit here not sleeping because though the clock says it's almost midnight, my body thinks I should be watching the end of World News Tonight, with the whole evening ahead of me.

1. Jesus told us to take the good news to the whole world.

2. Scotland is pretty much a godless nation despite its CHristian heritage.

3. Less than 5% of Scots attend church - probably far less have a real relationship with God.

4. Because the need and therefore the opportunity is greater here than in some traditional missions areas.

5. Whole nations in Africa are more Christian than this one.

6. Because Scotland is a place I care about and I would love for others to visit it, meet some great people and share Jesus here.

7. Because some remote areas will never really hear the freeing message of Jesus unless someone actually goes there.

Most of our missions activities as a church are in areas where no one else is working. There is very little happening in these villages I am in tonight. We would be continuing a pattern. Instead of being one among many voices we might be the only voice.

Anyway, sleep well and pray for Scotland!

DIDN'T HE DO WELL!

Day 2 of this brief Scottish trip comes to an end this evening (we're five hours ahead) with a meeting wih a number of people I am briefing about our thoughts for a missions trip this summer. I have known them all for years, so it will be good to see them and get their feedback. I have had a number of profitable meetings already and have two appointments tomorrow before returning home on Friday.

I am enjoying spending this time with the pastor of a good church in Milton Keynes, England, who is looking at joining with us together with a team from his church.

Billy Ritchie is 42 years old now, but he was around 12 when I first met him. He was a boy with a real heart for God and we became close friends back then. Modern church-speak would say I discipled him or mentored him. But we just hung out a lot and I took him to a number of places with me (kind of like Jesus did with people). He eventually went off to Bible school and into ministry hundreds of miles away. It's great to see how God has used him and is continuing to bless others through this father of two who was a scrawny kid when our paths first crossed.

But I do believe there's something wrong with the pattern of losing your best people to Bible Schools. I prefer hands-on training that develops into ministry in your home environment. Home grown leaders are the best kind and that pattern is developing more and more.

Some of the best churches in our country have pastors on staff with no formal training in theology, but with a passion for God and abilities to lead that have placed them at the forefront.

It's one thing to see those who show promise succeed miles away, it's another to harness their energy in the local church. That's the best way to go!

BONJOUR

So here I am in Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris on my way to Scotland. It's morning here according to them but my body knows better than that. I might not be too familiar with the variety of croissants sitting temptingly across from me - but the French can't fool me - it's the middle of the night!

I'm excited about this trip and about the possibilities of bringing a missions team to Scotland in the summer. It's great to be part of a church where missions is in our DNA.

I'll be starting the next stage of the journey soon - just two hours from here to Aberdeen. By the time I reach my destinqtion my body will feel like it's morning and that I have had one long sleepless night. Missions is fun - the traveling stinks!!!

LITTLE ANNOYANCES

Hope it didn't show, but I was a little frustrated yesterday morning and it turned to being downright annoyed just before I left the movie theater.

I was frustrated because we had put so much effort into the start of our new series. We had the cappuccino and biscotti thing going well in the foyer, the stage done up with a great set looking like and expresso bar, bistro or whatever. We were all set to go - and then discovered the heat was not working in the main theater we use for service.

Of course the more observant among us would have noticed that from get-go, but trust me, when you're moving hundreds of pounds of equipment into place you quickly work up a sweat all by yourself. So if the air's chilly, it takes a while for that to actually sink in.

But what annoyed me was that on my way out I learned from a staff member that they had been trying to get the corporate office to authorize getting the heating fixed - for five days. The snow railroaded the final Sunday of our Win 4 Life series and there was nothing we could do about that. But to have the start of our new series messed up by negligence is totally unacceptable. Oh the joys of renting!

Anyway, I'm off to Scotland today, so I get chance to calm down! I'm going to be making the arrangements for our missions team to go over there in July and thankfully because of frequent flyer miles, the journey is not only free but it's business class too. Should be comfortable - back Friday, but I'll greet you from over there tomorrow!

SERIOUS CAFFEINE TOMORROW

Hasta Manana, Baby!

GUNS 'N' MOSES

For those who have been wondering how my visit to our Guns 'n' Moses group went last night, here's the sorry record. I got to fire two different kinds of rifles and two handguns and this target is the undeniable evidence of what many have known for years - I'm more than a bit off center!

This was a berretta, which to be honest I'm still reasonably happy about, as it was the first time I've even held a rifle in more than forty years.

Here's what was really cool. Of thirteen people who were there, nine were from our church, three don't really know the Lord yet and one is out of church, disillusioned at present. Which all goes to prove that if we will get off the well-worn paths and offer to meet people where they are at instead of trying to get them to where we are at, we can make significant connections!

READING TIME

I know there are some folks who never read a book and while I know that doesn't make them bad people, I must admit that I don't fully understand them! Personally I wish I had more time to read. But because I don't manage to get through all the material I would like to, I've decided to freeze my book-buying.

Between what I've got myself, what I was given over Christmas and what I bought with gift certificates, I have quite a stack waiting for me to get into it. Here's what I'm looking at getting through in the near future -

THE BARBARIAN WAY by Erwin McManus
AN UNSTOPPABLE FORCE by Erwin McManus
THROUGH PAINTED DESERTS by Donald Miller
THE CREATIVE LEADER by Ed Young
NEVER EAT ALONE by Keith Ferrazzi
LEADING BEYOND THE WALLS by Adam Hamilton
THE EXPERIENCE ECONOMY by Joseph Pine
ENTREPRENEURIAL FAITH by Kirbyjon Caldwell

I haven't got into any of these yet, but Erwin mcManus is currently my favorite preacher - he's radical! Donald Miller's first book, Blue Like Jazz was outstanding and I thoroughly recommend it. It's way outside the box, but it's real!

SUPERCOOL PERSON OF THE WEEK
It's that time of week again. And there's a good chance that the people who will carry off this prestigious award will not even be aware of it. They possibly do not frequent these pages and they're not part of our church. Yet they are in a way.

I have discovered over the years that the most important aspect of renting facilities for a church is to have a good relationship with the staff. We do not have a good relationship with the management and staff at Patchogue UA movie theater - we have an excellent relationship with them.

Eileen, who is the General Manager, goes out of her way to make sure we are comfortable and is more than willing to accommodate some of our crazier ideas - like staging a walk-through Narnia for Christmas Eve or filling a horse trough with water from the bathrooms several hundred yards away so we can baptize people every couple of months.

It's usually Tina who drags herself out of bed early every Sunday to be there at 7.00am sharp so that the doors are open for us. If some of the theaters open earlier than normal for shows, she does all she can to make sure we have space elsewhere.

The staff collectively are a great help to us. We couldn't function without their support and we certainly get it. It's one thing for a corporate office in Colorado to okay a lease, but it's the people on the ground in the individual theaters that make it happen.

I hear some horror stories occasionally from other theater churches, but we have none to tell. Thanks to all at the UA, our Supercool People Of The Week!

Why not make a point of thanking all the staff you see on Sunday?

GOOD EVENING AHEAD

My small group has its first proper meeting on Saturday morning and I'm really looking forward to it. We did well last weekend when me met up at a diner for breakfast, to get acquainted, talk about the next seven weeks and eat health food, but Saturday is the real thing.

Gill is going to a ladies' group tonight and I'm planning to drop her off and then slip into the Guns 'N' Moses Grace Group. They meet at a shooting range and I can't wait to see what they're up to and hang out with whoever is there. A gun shooting, rifle toting small group! - Are we insane or what???

By the way, anyone notice I managed to get the new photo in the profile? - With some help from Texas!

WHAT DO I KNOW?

When we start our Caffeinated Christianity series on Sunday, I want to look at the question of How good is good enough?

A lot of people live the majority of their lives in some state of self-condemnation wishing they were just that little bit better. Occasionally when we brush shoulders with Mr.Superchristian or listen to the subtle boasts of a spiritual Wonderwoman, we feel that if we really gritted our teeth and sorted ourselves out, we could maybe - and just maybe - rise to be one tenth of the person they are. So we try and we fail and we feel a disaster.

So, how good is good enough for God? That's Sunday's question.

Yesterday I heard that Charles Stanley's son Andy, who has a great church of his own in Alpharetta, GA, has actually written a book using my message title. How dare he? I like it's extended version - Since Nobody's Perfect, How Good Is Good Enough? Sounds an interesting book. I hadn't heard of it before.

Then when I mentioned it in the office today, I was informed that we've been selling it on our Guest Services Table for several weeks now! Ah well! What do I know?

You may think that means I'm out of touch, but it actually means I'm an excellent leader - and I have that on good authority. A couple of weeks ago, I heard T.D.Jakes tell a group of several thousand pastors that it you know everything that is happening in your church, you are a micro-manager and not a good pastor.

Weighing up that statement, I think that makes me more than a good pastor, more than excellent, in fact I could well be on the road to Sainthood, because so much happens at Grace just the way it should - people get on with what they have committed to do without waiting for the nod from me on every detail. I really don't know much!

And quite frankly, I really don't want to know everthing either.

TECHNICALLY CHALLENGED

I've been getting some aggrevation about using such an old photo of myself in my profile. It is suggested that a leaner, older looking me would be more honest. I've been trying to do it, but the program won't work with me. So here's the new one and sometime I'll work out how to move it over!

THANKS RON

I think Ronnie Dylnicki may have done his best work yet for us. Don't you love the graphic for our new series that starts on Sunday? Wait till you see the invitation cards he designed too - of course you would have actually had some in hand to pass on to friends if we had been able to have a service last Sunday. But you can get some at the weekend.

You'll love them and be proud to pass them on. I'm so glad that God has given us so many gifted people who are willing to donate their time and skills to make sure that we present the most exciting news in the world in the most attractive way possible.

Plan to be there early Sunday and enjoy some specialty coffees and home made luxury biscotti (in addition to the regular bagels, donuts, cereals, etc of course!).

Valentines Day

So far so good, I think. Started the day by giving my wife a CD of love songs, Amore and a box of chocolate roses - plus the obligatory card of course. Not that I want to offend 75% of Long Island, but what's the attraction in a bunch of songs in Italian???

Dinner and a movie tonight. Sorry but I do have a real problem with all the restaurants that bump up their prices for the evening and then compensate by giving the wife a rose. So we're going to Outback - using a gift certificate we got at Christmas. Hope I'm not sounding cheap already. Maybe I'll quit while I'm ahead!

Valentines Day has really fallen victim to the consumer society. One of the advantages of having lived for ever is that I can look back on simpler times. When I was a teenager Valentines were always sent anonymously, so spotty adolescents would rush home from school to see how many cards had come in the mail. Then came the real detective work of trying to find out who they were from and the particularly important job of trying to decipher whether there was a Hallmark special from the person you really hoped to get one from. It was fun.

Of course the smarter ones among us kept our Christmas cards and simply compared handwriting to see who exactly was sending us romantic notes.

Oh the innocence of those days!

But I do like a good steak!

HEAVEN CAN WAIT

I think that was a movie title from a few years ago, though I have no idea what it was about. I hope it's something that's suitable for quoting on my blog - if not, forgive me and just raise your eyebrows at my ignorance!

Having missed church today, I've had a number of enquiries about the last part of our Win 4 Life series that was scheduled for this morning. We have our messages planned out until July and to be honest, it would get complicated if we tried to push everything back a week.

So I'm postponing the message on Heaven until later in the year. However, having taken a good look at the subject while preparing for today, I think we should come back to it for two or three Sundays and spend a bit of time thinking about it and exploding some common myths.

Nex week we'll go ahead and start a series I have really been looking forward to - Caffeinated Christianity. Before our services start there'll be a whole exciting range of coffee options in the foyer and then once inside, we'll look at what keeps the Christian life vibrant and exciting - Grace. Without it, our relationship with God becomes flat, lifeless and unsatisfying. Grace gives it pep.

Pass the cappuccino!

IT'S OFFICIAL

Tomorrow is a snow day!

I've been watching the forecast for the past 48 hours and it looks like nothing is going to change at this stage. Some are calling for 16+ inches and blizzard conditions, so I guess most folks will stay at home anyway.

I see they delivered the Sunday Newsday this evening, so I suppose I'll stay home, read the paper and drink coffee. But I'll miss everyone!

When your major focus is the weekend as you build towards a Sunday service, it's frustrating to have that taken from you - but I'll get over it!

LET IT SNOW!

I bet you already heard the forecast for this weekend. Snow starts Saturday afternoon, intensifies overnight and leaves us waking up to 6 - 12 inches of the over-glamorized white stuff on Sunday morning. That scenario would mean that our service won't happen, but watch this space and check your emails for the final call. The weather men have been wrong before!

I think I asked whose side God is on already, so I won't press the point because while a basement office is secure, it's not thunderbolt-proof.

It's Friday. It's after 11.00. And it's time to pull the cover off the week's best kept secret. Who wins the Supercool Person Of The Week award and a ten days Caribbean cruise? (Well, one out of two isn't bad!)

Some of the best churches in the country function just the way we do right now - setting up and breaking down in theaters, schools and a hundred other places. Whether it's National Community Church in D.C. or Mosaic in L.A., countless churches are proving that a building is secondary to the church's mission. Useful? - Yes, but only secondary.

Having said that, if you don't have a building, you do need a lot of alternatives for different activities. The fact we have a house and some other outbuildings on our church property is a great help to us and so is the fact that we are structured for small groups mid-week rather than a service that brings everyone together.

But did you ever wonder where the worship team meets to practice? How do they get ready for Sundays? Well for all who may have thought about this and for those who never did, the answer is ... Ray and Donna Pensivy open their home every Thursday evening so that our musicians and singers can prepare for the weekend. While Ray is one of our worship leaders, Donna is also our anchor at the soundboard and together they put in a very full morning on a Sunday - as do their daughters, Sherri and Lauren!

So for their great hospitality, for allowing regular home invasions, for their early Sunday starts, for their short vacations so they won't miss a Sunday and for their overall commitment to Jesus and to Grace Church, The Pensivy Family are our Supercool Persons Of The Week. When you see them next, why not thank them for all they do?

I DID IT!

Had a great meeting with our creative team last night, getting some things in place for upcoming series. I am really looking forward to Caffeinated Christianity, which will be a four week series on grace. I love doing stuff on grace as it gives me a chance to shoot some sacred cows and see people set free to be who God intended them to be. It's an opportunity to be outrageous, which is okay because Jesus was too!

Once the guys had left with their lists of things to do (good leadership is the art of delegation!) I decided to check out my new toy - the Ipod.

It came with minimal instructions, so I was a little nervous. Yet having been assured by my son that Ipods are idiot proof, I decided to venture forth and enter a brave new world.

Surprise, surprise! I managed to download several sermons and sign up for a few podcasts. Feeling brave and unbeatable, I then put a CD into the computer to download that onto the Ipod, but I have to confess that something went wrong with that process. Somehow or other the songs just never made it to their destination, which is a pity because there were 25 on there and that would have brought the available space down to 7,475 titles.

My main worry now is whether I will die before I can fill my Ipod!!!

Learning new things is good. Doing things differently is good too. Stretch yourself - regularly!

And if you have an Ipod, remember we podcast our messages too. Check out our website - www.churchatthemovies.com - and go to "Listen to Last Week's Message".

DEEPER INTO THE 21st CENTURY

Okay, so this afternoon I ventured deeper into the 21st Century by embracing yet another technological advance that certainly was not around when we were pre-tv kids listening to the radio. I am now the proud, if puzzled, owner of the hottest seller over the Christmas period this year. That's right, I have an Ipod.

And not just any Ipod. It's a black 30 GB that can hold 7500 songs - to say nothing of sermon downloads, videos and whole books. Imagine how much "reading" I can get done at the gym in the mornings instead of following the trivial musings of Diane Sawyer and Charlie Gibson on GMA.

Here's the really cool bit - I didn't buy the Ipod. Didn't steal it either!

It was a gift from a church in the area that I have been trying to encourage and that is doing extremely well (without my help that is!). I was blown away when one of the leaders came to the door and presented me with this gift from their young church.

That generous attitude speaks well of them and bodes well for the future. God always gives seed to people who are sowers.

As for me, I now have to look through my CD collection and decide which tracks to omit as I only have room for 7500!!!

MONDAY, MONDAY!

I try to keep Mondays as a quiet day - a day off from church involvement, just so that I can get refreshed and recharged by focusing on a few other things. I'm not saying I head to the beach as the sun comes up - it's usually more mundane stuff like gym and Weightwatchers in the morning and then either doing minor jobs around the house or like yesterday, taking Gill over to Commack to a store she needed to go to.

God's idea from day one - or day seven to be exact - was that all creation should follow his example and take one day a week to chill a little.

It's easy to get into the routine of running seven days a week, but it's not good. How do I know that? I just believe the One who made us and wrote the manual. Of course cutting back is a tough thing to do - I must admit to checking emails, listening to phone messages and doing some research on the internet during the course of the day yesterday - but it's essential to pull back from everything else one day a week.

I can't go to every party, attend every dinner, be at every event I get invited to, even though I appreciate being included. Nor can anyone who might wander into these pages of selected ramblings. Saying no is sometimes misunderstood, but it's essential to our sanity and to us living life the way God intends.

Simplify!

And have a Sabbath!

THE SIMPLE THINGS

That's the first half of Superbowl XL over. Any minute now the Rolling Stones will take another drink from the elixir of life and jump around all over the stage like a bunch of geriatrics on steroids. Wish I could get a sip of that stuff!

Anyway, I was just reflecting that this time last year I was in Mather Hospital sleeping off the anesthetic following my Superbowl Sunday gall bladder surgery.

It's a blessing to be sitting in my own home watching the finale to an interesting football season. Who'll win? Who knows? I'm just glad to be here seeing it all on my own tv! It's the simple things in life you miss when you can't do them.

ENOUGH ALREADY

The harassing phone calls have started again - it seems there are people out there who are unable to progress properly through a Friday without discovering the identity of our Supercool Person Of The Week.

You're going to have to wait a bit (or scroll down)while I explain that it takes a lot of time to catch up after six days away, so life really has been busy. Then - and here comes the complaint - Gill asked me to go with her to a doctor's appointment this morning as she was going to get the verdict on whether knee replacement surgery was going to be necessary. Don't get me wrong, I had no problem with her or with accompanying her.

My gripe is that we arrived punctually for an appointment at 11.15am and finally got to see the man himself at 1.25pm. Doctors may well be busy, but so are the rest of us. When on earth will they discover some civilized way of organizing their days which does not mean that patients spend an inordinate amount of times watching News 12 repeat itself over and over in their waiting rooms?

Okay, I feel better now!

One of the main areas in which we want to see development at Grace this year is that we are looking to upgrade our children's ministry considerably. By September I want to have everything in place to start a whole new program that has the kids pestering their parents to get out of their beds on Sunday mornings. Church should be fun for the kids too.

We have a great team of volunteers who do an outstanding job with limited resources every Sunday. We need to offer them better equipment, more help, and a whole 21st Century style of children's ministry so that we can be as effective as possible in laying a good foundation in the lives of those growing up around us.

Our children's ministry has not been granted the priority it deserves - and the buck stops here! - but all that will change this year.

I want to commend all those who put so much effort and energy into our Promiseland program, but none more than Nancy Negron our Supercool Person Of The Week.

Nancy has been leading our ministry to children from Pre-K to 6th Grade for the past two and a half years. She loves the kids and it's clear that they love her. A public school teacher all week, she is still willing to spend her free time organizing Promiseland and then overseeing it on Sundays. Despite limited facilities, constant changes in schedules and a thousand other distractions, she maintains a program that many churches would be proud to have.

We're going to help her take it to the next level - she deserves that and so do our children.

BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN

So that was Texas!

Interesting place!

It sure is big, with vast expanses of nothing - unlike Long Island which will probably be putting up the FULL signs during my lifetime. Texans seem a lot less motivated than most of us and what's with the "Sir" and "Ma'am"? They are unbelievably and almost annoyingly polite - apart from the AA check-in clerk who told me she didn't care for New Yorkers. I let the comment pass because she gave me a good seat, but the woman really does need a customer relations seminar.

On the plane I finally finished John Grisham's novel, The Broker. I love his writing - it's about the only fiction I read - and probably the only stuff that isn't church-related too.

So once that was finished, I picked up my next book - The Big Moo by Seth Godin. Godin is a Manhattan-based marketing guru and he talks a lot of sense. The first of his books I read was Purple Cow which talked about how you need to be different to stand out. Now he goes a stage further and declares in The Big Moo that remarkableness is the essential target for growth.

How about these quotes? -

You will grow as soon as you decide to become remarkable and do something about it.

The only tool left is to stop hyping the product and to start making things worth talking about.

You can shake up your industry by breaking all the rules.

Those who fit in now won't stand out later. Those who follow the rules are never noticed.

The fast-rising stars are those who question authority and refuse to do what's been done before.

I wonder what they'd make of that in the Lone Star State!