Jon Lloyd

It’s time.

jon — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 19:55:31 +0000

Today marks the beginning of Lent, the Christian observance of the liturgical calendar between Ash Wednesday and Easter. Typically, people make plans to “give something up” for Lent. I’ve given things up periodically, only to return to them later. For example, I gave up social media last October, but came back to it full force (although I viewed it in a significantly different way). People give up caffeine (which – WHOA – the headaches), technology, types of food, habits, etc. … →

Hanging in the balance

jon — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 14:17:03 +0000

Have you ever experienced this? There’s something you need to do. You know it. You know God wants you to do it. The only thing stopping you from doing it is a fear of the way. How? How could I possibly do this? There’s just no way. I’ve written about this scripture before, but I want to revisit it this morning: The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land … →

What is the gospel to you?

jon — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 21:07:15 +0000

In January, I was tasked with answering a question. I had a month or so to prepare this answer. The question was, “What is the gospel?” When I read the question, I thought, “that’s easy. I can do this…“ Then I thought some more. And some more. Once I began to pursue the heart of that question, I began to find that the answer I was seeking was much deeper than what I initially thought. As part of a “social … →

Vertical’s “Party Rock Anthem” Remake – The Lyrics

jon — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:00:35 +0000

For those of you know don’t know, this past Sunday at Vertical Church we kicked off our service (entitled “Party” as we celebrated our first birthday) with our own rendition of “Party Rock Anthem.” I enlisted the help of our pastor’s daughter for some help with the lyrics, and now I’m pleased to present those lyrics to you. Enjoy! Verse 1 This is our church, cool and clean Yeah it’s ok if you wear some jeans Maybe a t-shirt too, … →

Remember

jon — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:41:44 +0000

This past week and a half, God has been speaking to me specifically about remembering. It stems from a recent incident that I’ll talk about in a second. Last night, I shared this passage from the book of Joshua with our worship team: 1 When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the lord said to Joshua,2 “Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe,3 and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle … →

When reality falls through the cracks

jon — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:18:06 +0000

I was standing in line at a local store last week, and as I was waiting there, I noticed that this particular store had a shelf, probably 10 feet long, as you stood in line waiting to checkout. On this shelf was every piece of religious nonsense I’ve ever seen. Have you ever seen any of these things? For example – one of the most common things are the mints. I’ve seen them called different things. These were called “Spiritmints,” … →

One crazy day (with video)

jon — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 03:55:02 +0000

Today was awesome. In fact, there are so many things going through my mind right now that I have to just hit things haphazard-style (an ode to my brother Mike P): 12 baptisms. TWELVE. I got to baptize 5 of them. One was someone I’ve known for over ten years, lost contact with, and baptized this morning after reconnecting. One was someone I prayed for “without ceasing” for a long time who battled an eating disorder. One was someone who … →

You’re definitely my son.

jon — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 19:28:16 +0000

Don’t think I don’t remember it. I was excited. I was overjoyed. I was crying. I was more emotional than I’ve ever been in my life. It was February 6th. Super bowl weekend. Your mom and I had been through childbirth class. We knew everything we needed to know. We thought we did, anyway. Remember the conversation we had? Well, it was more of a one-way conversation. It was when I was pushing your cart thing to the nursery for … →

BOLD / Part One

jon — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 17:21:48 +0000

God has been teaching me about boldness over the last few months. I just want to share with you today a few things I believe He has been teaching me about this character trait; some of the things I’m wrestling with right now. As I see it, there are a number of areas of our lives where boldness is needed. Let’s look at three of them today. I’ll cover three more tomorrow. I’ll go with a first-person perspective here: BOLD … →

Here’s how we make a difference.

jon — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 19:13:11 +0000

Passion is an annual gathering of college students from around the world in Atlanta, GA. It’s a few days full of worship and teaching, aimed at making the name of Jesus famous. Do Something Now is an organization of Passion that is geared towards doing good in the world in Jesus’ name. What happens when the annual gathering of students combines with the force of Do Something Now? Watch below. THIS is how we make a difference in our world. … →