The Ethier Stream

People of the Second Chance

By Oli Higham:

I was driving home from a prayer meeting and reflecting on a a twelve year old girl I work with whose parents divorced last week.  Got me thinking about how sometimes you’re desperate to find the right words to say to people.  Whether it’s this girl or the homeless dude on the street or your friend who has screwed things up big time or even just talking to...

Mashable!

From photo books to iPad screensavers, we’ve seen some great uses of Instagram’s API.

The latest of these is Casetagram, which lets you create an iPhone case using photos you’ve uploaded to Instagram.

Cases are priced at $34.99, including the cost of international shipping, and come in four different formats: an even, square grid; an even grid of circles; squares of varying sizes; and circles ...

Lifehacker

Pastor Steven Furtick

This past weekend we continued our Hebrews XII series where we’re taking four weeks to study one of the most significant chapters in the entire Bible. We came around verses 4-13 and studied God’s discipline.

I know, fun, right? But it actually ended up touching a lot of people. It was one of those words that was both challenging and encouraging at the same time, and sometimes that’s the word we ...

Perry Noble | Leadership, Vision & CreativityPerry Noble | Leadership, Vision & Creativity

Pastors and church leaders will ALWAYS have to deal with distractions…

ALWAYS!

I was reading Romans 3 the other day and had to stop and really reflect on Romans 3:8…

STOP!

People were actually attacking the Apostle Paul!  They were slandering him…taking bits and pieces of what he said, twisting his words and then attacking him through a lens of superiority.  (I am SO thankful the world has changed ...

ReadWriteWeb

After nine months of testing, a nifty tool called ifttt opened to the public last week. Don't worry; I'll save you the trouble. They tell me it's pronounced "Ift." Like "gift" with no G. Ifttt stands for "If this then that." It's a tool designed to "put the internet to work for you" by creating simple tasks using the Web's great services using the format "if this then that." It requires a...

WordPress Hacks

As we transition to a new era of computing where people are getting their information via mobile phones, you are starting to see just about every high profile website or blog making their own iPhone app.  But what about the average WordPress user who doesn’t have the time and/or budget to make their own custom iPhone application?

Not long ago I covered a free WordPress plugin called WPTouch

Pastor Steven Furtick

Abbey was crying obnoxiously one night recently. In the early days of your baby’s life, you think crying is cute. As time goes on, you think it’s a curse.

I started to complain a little to myself, but then God cut me off with a question:
You prayed for that baby, and now you’re complaining about a blessing that you wanted me to bring into your life?

That will shut you up quickly.

It’s interesting ...

Pastor Steven Furtick

Simple and obvious leadership tip for you today. But it’s one that I’ve seen pay big dividends over the years.

If you’ve ever watched an infomercial, you know that it says to call their phone number over and over again. The TV personality says it repeatedly. They flash it on the screen multiple times.

It seems repetitive, almost to the point of being obnoxious. But they’re just trying to make it ...

TonyMorganLive.com

“It’s part common sense, part human nature to press on towards a break through. If we are not producing at work, we just work harder, longer hours. If our organization is not growing, we work the same plan harder. It seldom seems to occur to us that ‘more’ or ‘harder’ might not be the answer. Sometimes the only thing that works is ‘different.’” –Maurilio Amorim, CEO of the A Group

Check out the ...

Pastor Steven Furtick

There’s a lot of different strategies that the enemy uses to get us off track in our walk with God. But I think one of the enemy’s greatest tactics is a sequence I call, yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

Here’s how it works. The enemy gets you to think about your past, present, and future in these three ways:
Yesterday – Remember when.
Today – Live for now.
Tomorrow – Do it later.

The enemy wants t...

Pastor Steven Furtick

It’s hard to know exactly what to say after this past weekend.

Without a doubt, it was one of the most phenomenal experiences of not just our church, but our entire lives. 1,426 people were baptized Saturday and Sunday in our first week of spontaneous baptisms during our Follow series.
We give all the glory to Jesus!

Elevation, this is why we started this church. This is why we put in all of the ...

Coach Shef

I often find myself defending North Point.

It’s not that I feel the need to…but people, when the see the size, have a lot of questions.

I get this question from them all the time.

“If you are so “into” reaching the lost, how do you find time to equip the saints?”

And, when I’m not “on my game” I fall into that trap.

The problem is that the premise of the question is that you can do EITHER one OR...

ChurchCrunch

Vimeo.com announced Monday (Aug. 1st) a new level of service called Vimeo Pro.If you, like me, are a Vimeo PLUS user you might be confused as to the differences between a “Plus” account and a “Pro” account.

Simply put, Vimeo Pro is designed to give users a privately branded and separate commercial video service. In other words, Vimeo Pro removes your video content from the Vimeo community and...

Mashable!

Name: Pictarine

Quick Pitch: Pictarine is a website that lets you enjoy and share all your photos in one place.

Genius Idea: Mix and match photos from different services to create shareable...

Pastor Steven Furtick

I get asked all the time how we do discipleship at Elevation. Related to this question, I also get asked how we follow up with new believers.

Do we relentlessly call people until they’re in a small group?
Do we offer 57 Bible studies for people to grow in their faith?
Do we provide a yearlong systematic theology course for new believers?

We do have specific and practical things that we do. But...

Pastor Steven Furtick

One of the greatest critiques of the American Church today is that it’s malnourished. Some would even say it’s our most pressing problem.

When most people voice this complaint, the focus is on the worship experience. From people who leave these churches, you hear, “I wasn’t getting fed.” Or, “I just want some deeper teaching.” From people outside these churches you hear, “too much milk, not...