My Blog is Moving to www.DaveHess.com

It’s been almost a year since I first started blogging. During that time I have grown as an observer of life, as a thinker and as a writer. I have also grown in relationships with people that I probably otherwise wouldn’t have, because or the accessibility of a blog or in some cases because of the common bond and experience of blogging itself. I have been able to share parts of my life with those who live far away, whom I can’t see on a regular basis.

All, in all, I think it has been a really good experience. 

At the urging of my tech-savvy friend, social media guru Clayton Bell  (Yes, He IS.) I have decided to take the plunge to a self hosted blog. 

This will allow many more comment features and flexibility within the new blog that will enrich your experience on the blog and make it a more fun experience. Some of the new features include:

• The ability to receive follow up comments via email 
• The ability to subscribe to the Blog via email
• The ability to share the post using integrated “Share This”
• A more memorable Blog URL (DaveHess.com)

Checkout my new blog site, and let me know what you think! I would love to get your feedback. (Be sure to update your RSS feeder and any links too!) I’ve got some good posts in mind that i’ll be posting soon. 

Special Thanks again to Clayton Bell and Chris Tavalare who guided me through some of the technical aspects of making this transition!

Humility: True Greatness

I just started reading Humility: True Greatness, by Pastor C.J. Mahaney. I am not even two pages into the foreword, and this book has already struck a chord within me. 

Joshua Harris starts off the foreword in this book with the following, 

Humility is a funny thing. On the one hand it’s an extremely desirable trait. Most of us, as Christians, would say we want to be humble right? Or at least we want to be thought of as humble. At the same time, few of us have given attention to what being humble actually means. Even fewer have considered what it takes to grow in humility. 

In place of true humility we learn certain words or phrases that we believe make us sound humble: “Oh, really, it was nothing” or “Anyone could have done it.” We cast our eyes down and shrug our shoulders or maybe even blush. Of course, we don’t really mean it – inside we’re congratulating ourselves for how humble we look and feel. We want that reputation but don’t know how to get the reality. Like children playing dress-up in their parents clothes, we’re only acting humble; none of it really fits us. 

If the rest of the book is half as good as the first two paragraphs of the foreword, this will make for a very good read. I’ll let you know.

Some Good Blogs.

• Steven Furtick on the difference between mere imagination and true creativity. Ouch!
• Adam Mabry on the challenge of receiving encouragement, and guarding your heart against pride.
• Steve Murrell on Accountability
• Josh Harris on what he’s learned since he’s learned since he kissed dating goodbye

The Myth of Short Attention Spans

I have heard it said that people these days have shorter attention spans than they did 40 or 50 years ago. Mostly this is attributed to our increasingly entertainment oriented American culture. 

Andy Stanley, senior pastor of North Point church in the Atlanta area says this,

‘There is this myth that people say, “Sermons need to be short because people today have short attention spans.” That is totally irrelevant. People’s attention spans are as long as their engagement. If I’m engaged, I will sit and stay engaged until I have to go to the bathroom. The issue is: are people engaged, not how long is the sermon?’

When you communicate in a small group setting or on a Sunday morning, are you more concerned about filling a time quota or “getting through some material” or are you attuned to how you can engage people? 

Information and message content is important – ABSOLUTELY! But the greatest and even the most relevant information will not be well received unless you help stir up desire for the information you are going to give and show your audience how it is applicable to them within their situation. This is what it means to engage people as a communicator.

It’s easy to see when people aren’t engaged and when they are not. People leaving early, staring off into space, yawning or falling asleep – these are all tell tale signs of people who are disengaged. 

If you’re a leader, and the people in your environment of leadership are not engaged, chances are it is because you aren’t effectively engaging people. 

We are messengers of the most engaging story in all of history – the Gospel. Let’s not make an exciting message boring by the way we communicate.

(Andy Stanley quotes via Ed Stetzer)

Ten Days Missions

Every Nation Ministries has really improved it’s short term missions program. Now called Ten Days Missions(which I suppose is the average length of a short term mission trip) the trips bring together students from churches and campus ministries all over but unify the teams and facilitate ease of administration through video training. Ten Days also makes online giving an option for would be trip participants. 

Short term mission trips are powerful experiences. As you step out and commit to go, you are forced to stretch your faith to trust God to provide the finances to get there, experience another culture, see the multitudes that don’t know Jesus and witness God show up in the lives of people you are changed. – (All this in addition to the change that takes place in the people and community you go to serve!)

I am personally helping to mobilize some students for a mission trip to Baja Mexico this June 17-22. The cost of this trip (excluding the cost of airfare to San Diego) is $1,000.  If you are in the Tallahassee area and are interested in going please let me know, as we are starting the application and training processes now. 

If those dates don’t work for you, or if you live in another part of the U.S., but want to get involved, check out the short term missions opportunities on the Ten Days Missions website.