Cullen Allen

Key Ingredients For Planting a Church

No, I haven't planted a church, but I thought this video was quite entertaining!

Unshakeable - Winter Retreat 2011

 

Tweeting The Entire Bible. . .

Twitter is a growing phenomenon, and I like it just as much as anyone else.  It's a "mini-blog" that people use to connect with friends, increase their social network, follow their favorite star, advertise their business and everything in between.  One of the things I personally enjoy is tweeting key Scriptures as a means to encourage others.  But I have to admit I never thought of tweeting the entire Bible.  I just read an article that documented a worship director in the UK who plans to do just that. . .tweet the entire Bible over a period of 3 years.  That's a pretty big feat!  You can read more about it Here. 

In Victory & Defeat

For those who know me, it's obvious that I'm a big Texas Longhorn fan. So it was heartbreaking to see the QB with the most wins and highest completion percentage in the history of college football go down to injury on the 5th play of the BCS National Championship game. (I really think we could have won the game if he would have played - but that's another subject).  He is definitely a difference-maker.

Well, one of my good friends gave me a Colt McCoy jersey today as a gift. I absolutely love it!  McCoy isn't just a great football player, he's also a follower of Christ and an all around classy guy.  I believe that you can learn a lot about a person by how they handle disappointment and defeat. The moments right after the championship game against Alabama were probably some of the most difficult moments in McCoy's football career, since he didn't get to play in the biggest game of his life.  This was the game he had waited all of his life to compete in.  Yet in that moment of great disappointment, it's refreshing to hear what he said and how he handled himself.  While he's one of the great college football QB's to ever play the game, his character and relationship with God speak louder than all the accomplishments. That's the last memory we'll have of McCoy on a college football field.  That's the kind of message that will live on long after the event, the trophies and accolades.  Watch it below. . .

The World In Perspective

Do You Have "Junk" That Your Hiding?

Last night in our Sr High 2Twenty Youth Service we did something unique.  Instead of having a typical sermon, we watched one of Rob Bell's "mini-movies" from the Nooma series called LUMP, which talks about the "junk" we often hide in our lives.  Then we broke off into small groups for a time of discussion and Bible study relevant to the topic of the video.  It actually went really well.  I even decided to post the discussion guide that we created for our small groups.  Some of the questions were taken from the booklet that came with the purchase of the Nooma series, while others were ones we came up with ourselves.  If you choose to watch the video (which I recommend), just know that it lasts about 10 minutes.

Lump (Rob Bell - Nooma)

HERE'S OUR DISCUSSION GUIDE WE CREATED:

Question #1 – Have you ever gotten busted for something you’ve done?  If so, what was it?

 

Question #2 – What are some ways that you avoid dealing with the “junk” in your life?

 

Question #3 – You don’t have to answer the first part of this question out loud, but make sure you think about it:

• Do you have anything in your life that you’re hiding or something that you’re ashamed of?  If so, are you ready to deal with it?
• Here’s the portion of the question that you can answer out loud: Instead of hiding something that you’re ashamed of, or that you regret, what’s the best thing to do about?  What are the results of continuing to hide it?

 

*Let’s see what the Bible has to say about these things:

 

James 5:16 – “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.”

• This verse tells us there is freedom and power when we confess the things we’re trying to hide.  When we confess to God, He forgives us.  When we confess to another person who is spiritually strong, they can help by to keep us accountable so that we don’t keep getting tripped up by the same thing over and over again.

Romans 8:38-39 - And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. ³⁹ No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

    

Question #4 – Is it difficult for you to believe that God loves you no matter what you have done in your life?  Why or why not? 

 

Question #5 – How can that truth (the fact that God loves you no matter what) help to change the way that you live? 

 

Remember this quote from the video: “May you stop hiding under the covers.  May you let God pull the covers back.  May you embrace him.  May your whole life become a response to the truth that you’ve always been loved, you are loved, and you always will be loved.”

Video Parody - What Is Love?

This was a video parody that some of our students made for the retreat this past weekend.  Check it out!

The Song Only A Mom Would Appreciate

I've seen this circulated around and thought I would post it as a credit to all the moms out there.  My wife really enjoys this. . .

Commandment Cops Video - Keeping The Sabbath

We're doing a series on the 10 Commandments in 2Twenty this summer.  As a creative "splash" to the services, we have introduced the brother and sister duo of Justin & Jess, otherwise known as THE COMMANDMENT COPS!  Here's a funny video they did on the topic of Keeping The Sabbath.

Latest Podcast

The latest (and last) message in the current series, "When People Make You Mad," is now available on podcast.  It's called, Dealing With Difficult People.  Click Here to access it.