:: eric michael bryant ::

A new friend of mine from the Northwest sent this PFP Moment about “The Church in the Cracks.”

“Just a few days into my job at Safeway and I had the opportunity to meet Bill. Or should I say, Bill met me… Bill is a friendly guy, but at first glance you would not give him much attention. He walks slowly and his speech is slurred from a palsy that also causes his hands to tremor when he shakes you hand. Bill showed some immediate interest in coming to our church’s meetings and I have to admit that part of me wanted to say “no”. Yeah, I realize that makes me look like a jerk for even feeling that way, but still the feeling was there. But I overcome that urge and invited Bill to come and join us for one of our Saturday Night Reunion meetings. It turns out; Bill is a great guy who is in desperate need of a caring community. His wife has recently passed away, and he is lost and looking for meaning in his life. Bill may not even know it yet, but he is looking for Jesus. Bill is exactly the reason I am planting this church and I am so glad God gave him to me.”

Joe goes on to say:

“The most interesting thing about Bill is that he does not fit into any of the demographics that make church planting organizations get excited…. I have never met a church planter or a pastor who said a guy like Bill is their target demographic. Everyone wants to reach the middle class, middle age, middle American, but who is out there reaching the Bills of our world—you know, the folks who don’t exactly fit into our “ideal demographic.”?

Joe concludes:

“All this makes me wonder, do we still value church in the cracks? I sometimes think… we have put more value in reaching “blocks” of people more than people themselves. But what about the people who don’t fit into the big blocks? What about the people in the cracks? I just can’t help but wonder if we have not missed something or someone. How many Bills have we overlooked or undervalued? What about the needs of those not in the majority? Who is reaching out to the people who don’t fit into our surveys and demographic studies? What about the people in the cracks? Where is the church in the cracks?”

Check out the rest of the article by Joe Miller here.

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During our recent road trip in Texas, we purchased Queen’s Greatest Hits.

The kids already know a couple of the songs from going to Dodgers games or even playing little league baseball or just being a sports fan in general. They are now officially Caleb’s favorite band. He always asks for us to “put on The Queen!” I even heard him attempting to play “We Will Rock You” and “Another One Bites the Dust” on his little drum set.

One of my new favorite activities is to play the song “Bicycle Race” in the car on the freeway while pretending to run really fast like Jim Carey did in Dumb and Dumber (”It feels like I am running at a really high rate of speed!”)

If you don’t know this song, listen to the sample at Amazon.com and try it! Debbie and the other drivers around me hate it when I do it, but the kids and I cannot stop laughing!

My favorite line from any of their songs which is sang which such hilarious, ironic hyperbole comes from “We Are the Champions (of the World).”

Freddie Mercury sings: “I consider it a challenge before the whole human race that I never lose!”

I love how grandiose and melodramatic these guys were! Even in the midst of their bragging, you cannot help but like them!

May we all have such confidence yet make people smile in the process!

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I would love to connect with you personally next Tuesday, July 15th at 10am (Pacific Standard Time) in our next Teleseminar.

The topic:  Catalyzing Community (starting a small group, a ministry, a non-profit, or even a church).  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

A reply will be sent to you via email with call details and dial in instructions.
A recording of the call will be made available 48 hours after the live call is complete.

If you have specific questions you would like to ask Eric during the call, please email those to eric@ericbryant.org.

Be sure to click the “Share This” icon below and invite a friend to join in on this call as well.

Hope to talk with you then!

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I discovered a sad fact: the porn industry has had an increase in revenue as a result of the government’s stimulus checks.

Pornography is a rampant and destructive problem with all sorts of hoffiric implications such as breaking up relationships, destroying trustworthiness, fostering abuse towards women, and even contributing towards human trafficking among other things.

Through some of our support groups and small groups at Mosaic, we have seen some remarkable transformations for guys struggling with addiction. This past week, Kim McManus shared a powerful message (listen here) on the subject and brought up a couple who shared their story.

A powerful spiritual truth Jesus shared which has been a guiding force in my life has been: “The pure in heart will see God.”

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I heard this horrible statistic yesterday: half of gun deaths are suicides. This is especially telling in light of the recent ruling by the Supreme Court that we have the right to bear arms.

As we near the celebration of our freedom we have in this country, I cannot help but remember the passage from the Scriptures which reads:

“It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don’t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows” (Galatians 5:13).

People deserve freedom, yet have you noticed how often we blow it?! The answer isn’t gun control. (Chris Rock thinks the answer is charging people $500 per bullet. That way people would be less likely to pull the trigger!)

The answer according to Jesus is finding hope by bringing others hope. Jesus said that we find our lives when we lose our lives in serving others. Healing comes through serving.

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Chad Becker, a former Olympic-worthy skier, father of three, navigator at Mosaic, and music maven, just informed me that the owner of the Mayan Theater actually turned down the opportunity to have Coldplay play at his venue since it would have interfered with our Mosaic gatherings there.

Can you believe that?! He chose Mosaic over Coldplay!

Now, I know that we certainly pay more over the course of the year than a one-time renter would, but the owner is such a good guy to treat us so well.

We joked that if he had asked us, we could have moved our gatherings in exchange for a few front row tickets!

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The irony isn’t lost on me that the day after posting “Avoiding Being Super-Sized,” I am posting a reminder that today is World Refugee Day. As we struggle to stop eating more than we should, many struggle to even eat at all. I always think of the passage from Genesis 12:1-3 in which God blesses Abram to be a blessing to the nations and the phrase from the New Testament: “To much is given, much is required.”

According to the United Nations, by the end of 2007, there were more than 11 million refugees worldwide and 26 million internally displaced people.

Another important statistic: The world population will grow to 7 billion by 2012.

Finally, China, India, Malaysia, Thailand, Bangladesh, Iraq, Kenya, Russia, Sudan and Europe have been identified as among the worst violators of refugees’ rights in a global survey.

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Erwin’s newest book, Wide Awake: The Future is Waiting Within You is coming to a store near you June 17th!

To catch a glimpse of this powerful book about making your dreams a reality, read a chapter here for free.

Check out the short films preview here!

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Join us for a free teleseminar on Tuesday, July 15th!

I need your help, post or email me (eric@ericbryant.org) the topics you want to discuss/questions you want to ask and your preferred time of day.

Hope to talk with you then!

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Over the past year, I have enjoyed the opportunity to get to know Jon Gordon.
Jon’s next book is called: The No Complaining Rule: Positive Ways to Deal with Negativity at Work

Here are some insights I heard him share recently:

More people die at 9am on Mondays than any other time and day of the week. People would rather die than go to work.

Two dogs inside (angry and negative or warm and loving) which will win? The one who I feed.

Positive companies outperform negative ones.

My bus can only travel down one road at a time - either positive one or negative one.

“Stop complaining. 80% of those listening don’t care, the other 20% are glad something bad is happening to you.”. - Lou Holtz

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