Archives For General

FREE BOOK: The Very First Easter

4.6.2011 — 1 Comment

Right now, Amazon is offering the eBook, “The Very First Easter” for FREE through the Amazon store.
STOP. I know what you’re thinking: “I don’t have a Kindle, so I this is a worthless blog post.” Well let me tell you that I don’t have a Kindle either and I’ve already downloaded this book on my phone AND my laptop!

The whole eBook craze is a bit overwhelming for sure, but if you’ll take a moment to realize how YOU can get in on the craze WITHOUT having to buy another $200 gadget, you might learn something.

Amazon offers a Kindle “app” for many platforms:
Kindle for PC
Kindle for iPhone or iPod
Kindle for Blackberry
Kindle for iPad
Kindle for Android

Once you “purchase” a book (this one is FREE, mind you) you can automatically send it to any device that you have installed the application on and the next time you open that application the book will download and you can begin reading!

How cool is that? And what are you waiting for? Most Kindle books are listed CHEAPER than the print-copies, so you might be more-inclined to buy the book as an eBook and save a few bucks and read it on your phone, iPad, laptop, or even desktop computer!

Now, more about the book…

In “The Very First Easter“, children will learn the story of Christ’s death and resurrection, and the reason we celebrate Easter. Featuring The Beginner’s Bible vibrant art this book will delight children as they learn what Jesus did for them.

The book weighs in at a lightweight 31-pages. If you choose to download it, let me know in the comments! And let me know if listing FREE (or greatly discounted) books like this is something you’d be interested in here on stevansheets.com!

In Family, General, Linkage, Tech
permalink

Oz Behind the Curtain

4.6.2011 — Leave a comment

My drive from home to the office isn’t very long, but for a few minutes most mornings, I’m able to listen to the morning radio show, “Mornings with Brant” on our local WordFM station. The show’s host, Brant Hansen is a great host and quite funny on most mornings. Like all radio shows, we only get to listen to the hosts and if you’re like me, you wonder what the person-behind-the-voice looks like, acts like in ‘real-life’, and whether we’d be able to point them out in a crowd of people if we met them in public.

Recently, I stumbled on Brant’s “I am Second” testimonial video and was pleasantly surprised at his humility and honesty.

Watching his video, I think, gives a true view of the “Oz behind the curtain”.

In General, Linkage, Ministry, Videos
permalink

LIVE MUSIC at the C&C Coffee Company

4.5.2011 — Leave a comment

Last night we loaded up the van and headed to downtown Chambersburg and the C&C Coffee Company on the courthouse square where there was quite a lineup of musicians slated to play outside on a beautiful evening.

We got to hear the Ryan Payne Band for our first time and were very impressed. Next up was my buddy Scott Troyer who happens to be on tour currently with another band, Attaboy. Scott had a short set, but I was thankful that he managed to include my favorite, “If Ever in Doubt”. I captured Scott and that song from the show last night:

Scott’s EP which features a recording of this track is available here for less-than $5!

We also enjoyed the sound of Attaboy – a band that we hadn’t heard until last night. They’re from Huntington, IN and from what Scott tells me, they’re a quality group of guys. Ezra really got into their set before we had to leave and I’m thinking they have a new ‘biggest fan’ as you can see from this video:

Thanks to C&C Coffee Company for putting together a great FREE show for families like ours to come and enjoy! The strawberry lemonade smoothie I shared with my daughter was great, too!

In Family, General, Linkage, Videos
permalink

Craig Groeschel’s “Weird” now available

4.5.2011 — Leave a comment

Pastor Craig Groeschel of LifeChurch has written a few books already that have challenged and inspired me. I’m looking forward to getting my hands on his latest: “Weird: Because normal isn’t working” which released just today, April 5th.

Here’s the promo video from Pastor Craig:

The book is available in a two formats on Amazon right now: Hardback (only $12.50 today) and Kindle eBook (only $7.99 today).

What I love most about Pastor Craig’s books is not only how thought-provoking and challenging they have been, but also how they translate very well into sermon-series inspiration, too!

FULL DISCLOSURE: If you pick the book up by clicking on my links, Amazon gives me a small percentage of the sale which helps me resource my own pastoral library! Thanks!

In General, Linkage, Ministry, Videos
permalink

What Netflix taught me about trust

4.4.2011 — Leave a comment

I received the following email last evening with the subject line, “We’re sorry you may have had trouble watching instantly”:
As you can see, the email was from Netflix and I was quite taken back as I read and then re-read it.

My family and I were away all-day on this purported service-interruption of Netflix’s streaming service that we subscribe to, but Netflix sent us the email anyway and offered us 3% off of our monthly bill for the trouble. (no, we didn’t take it)

Sure, 3% of $7.99 is “nothing”, but the service behind it is what is impressive to me.

Netflix left the decision up to me about whether to ask for my refund. I liked that. Trusting consumers isn’t a very popular thing these days I don’t think, so when it happens, I choose to highlight it and applaud it!

And I think there is something further to learn in other contexts via this example. We, as a people, are quite untrusting, too! What if we learned to stop being so untrusting all the time, took a risk and attempted to trust “outdide the box”? I can’t imagine that Netflix only refunded the 3% bill to those who actually experienced service interruption, and yet they went for a “mass-trust” of their customers and won!

Where are we missing out by not trusting?

The neighbor we don’t yet know?
The cafe down the street that we haven’t yet tried?
Trusting God with our finances? (I aknowledge the big leap here, but I think it makes a point)

I want to trust like Netflix, take faith-risks, trust in new ways that are unpopular and maybe even dangerous…

I think it’s what Jesus calls us to when he says, “Come follow me.”

Thanks for the reminder, Netflix.

In General, Images, Ministry, Tech
permalink