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I’m a fan of social media. I use it daily. Twitter is what I open instead of the fridge when I’m bored, and it keeps me well informed and entertained–thanks to a carefully curated list of theologians, geeks and friends. Technology has opened up a world of connections impossible just a few decades (years?) ago. In 1980, if you wanted to tell your friends that someone at Starbucks ordered an outrageous drink, you would have had to call each friend, one by one. Or written a letter. Or waited until you saw them in person. Now, hundreds and thousands of people can see whatever you want to share with them, split seconds after it happens. We can instantly respond to anything we experience. An amazing catch. A hilarious sign. A crazy remark. An unbelievable scene. See it; share it. Click-clack. That means there’s no time for a filter. Gossip is just a tap away. At the same time, there is no room for Christians to retreat from new technologies. We go where people are to love them. Influence them. Point them to Jesus. But sometimes, we do a stupendously sucky job at using social media in a way that honors God and loves people. We use technology to make fun of people. Shame people. Embarrass people. People. People! People made in the image of God. People who have families. Moms. Dads. Brothers. Sisters. Kids. Parents. People whose butts may be hanging out–whether they know it or not–and probably don’t want to broadcast their cheeks on Reddit or Imgur. Before we grab our virtual pitchforks and tweet out, “Down with Twitter!” we must realize an abolition on technology is not the solution. Technology isn’t the problem. Our hearts are. ...

This is part three of a three-part series on the productivity method called Getting Things Done developed by David Allen. I explained GTD in the first post. In the second post I shared my personal GTD tools and workflow. In this final post will explain the critical GTD component called the weekly review I’m bad at taking time to reflect. I enjoy the process, and I know it’s good for me, but blocking out large chunks of time to look around instead of moving forward is tough. But David Allen insists that those who use GTD to its full potential are faithful weekly reviewers. The weekly review is the time for you to get caught up, process everything, and prepare for the week ahead. Go into your office, shut the door, turn off your phone and close off communication to the rest of the world. Make sure you’re on the right path and that you’re not just grinding things out without knowing why you’re doing your work. Some people do it Friday afternoon. I walk through my weekly review on Sunday evening. The time isn’t important–making it a regular appointment with yourself is the key. ...

This is part two of a three-part series on the productivity method called Getting Things Done developed by David Allen. I explained GTD in the first post. In this post I’ll share my personal GTD workflow, and the final post explains the critical GTD component called the weekly review. I’ve used nearly every type of tool to organize my workflow and manage my tasks. I’ve used Moleskine journals of every size, Clear, Reminders, Evernote, my email inbox–you name it. But I’ve landed on the big daddy of Apple GTD systems to get things done–Omnifocus. ...

This is part one of a three-part series on the productivity method called Getting Things Done developed by David Allen. I’ll explain GTD in the first post, share my personal GTD workflow in post two, and the final post will explain the critical GTD component called the weekly review. People who are into productivity love talking about productivity. [footnote]Just as every successful blogger also writes about becoming a successful blogger. Or how writers write about writing. Very meta.[/footnote] I’m one of those awful people. I’m always on the lookout for new methods, apps and models for crossing stuff off my checklist. [footnote]And yes, I’m the kind of guy who writes things down I’ve already done just to cross them off the list.[/footnote] I’m a huge fan of Matt Perman’s work in What’s Best Next, but the precursor to Matt’s book and methodology Getting Things Done (GTD) by David Allen. I read the book last summer and I’ve been using the system in some capacity ever since. GTD is a flexible system of productivity that essentially helps you get all you need to do out of your head and into a system (physical or digital) so you don’t miss anything. There are five basic steps in the system: Collect Process Organize Review Do Allen’s mantra is, “Mind like water.” You want your mind to respond exactly as water does to an input: a tiny splash when a pebble comes in, but a massive wave when a boulder drops. Nothing more, nothing less. Then, right back to stillness, ready for the next input. He also notes that most people spend more time thinking of things instead of thinking about things. We’re constantly trying to rack our brain to make sure we’re not screwing something up instead of thinking about ideas, solving problems and communicating with clarity. So how does someone get started with GTD? ...

My wife Niki loves Jesus. Really loves him. Loves him more than me, officially, and lives her life boldly for him. I couldn’t be more grateful. But there are people in my life–friends, family members, acquaintances–who are Christians but who don’t have a significant other that has a true relationship with Jesus. Sometimes people are already married when they meet Jesus. This post is not for them. This is a plea, a forewarning and a peek inside what you’ll be missing if you’re currently 1. walking with Jesus 2. dating a non-Christian and 3. considering marrying that non-Christian whom you likely love. The more I think about my relationship with the Lord, and with Niki, the more grateful I am that she walks closely with Jesus before everything else. If you think all you’ll be doing is disobeying God by marrying a non-Christian (and surely, as Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians 6:14 [footnote]Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?[/footnote] that should be reason enough to not sin), let me share with you what you won’t experience by marrying a non-Christian. ...

This is a long story about a dialogue between an accountant and a blogger. You can imagine that we don’t end up seeing eye to eye, but for the moral of the story in fewer than 1,300 words, stop picking the short-term over the long-term in your life. People do funny things. Businesses do too. We had our taxes prepared recently because we had a tax situation that was definitely beyond my self-preparing pay grade. [footnote]We lived overseas, moved back to Ohio, had to switch which local district we were paying taxes too and went from paying normal taxes to self-employment taxes because of our transition in our ministry. One of those things would have been enough.[/footnote] We had a cacophony of complexity to wrangle. So we hired an accountant. ...

Christmastime in America is completely nuts. There are holiday drinks, holiday movies, holiday albums. And by holiday, we mean Christmas. All of them birthed out of Christmas. Christmas has even spawned its own mini-celebrations of consumerism in Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Americans can get behind Christmas because no one is offended by a baby being born in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago. We can say things about Christmas like, It’s all about family… It’s about giving to people you love… It’s about being grateful for what you have and blessing the less fortunate… **We can lose the true Christmas message that God came into the world to save sinners because we can twist a humble birth into just about whatever we want. ** ...

I’ve tried to learn guitar a half-dozen times. By try, I mean I’ve pulled my guitar out of its case at least once a year. And by learn I mean I want to instantly be able to play any song like an expert. The furthest I’ve ever made it was three days in a row of practice. My new record is 5 weeks (and counting!) What changed? Well for one, my level of effort. For the rest, these are my lessons of learning guitar that apply to pretty much anything. 1. Replace a bad habit with a good habit Every morning I used to wake up, check Twitter, Facebook, email and my RSS feeds. I’d blink and an hour had gone by, and at that point I was definitely awake. I hated wasting time in the morning–which is definitely my most productive time of day. So I decided that I’d spend that half hour each day practicing guitar instead of milling through gobbledygook 140 characters at a time. If you’re interested in habits, I recommend The Power of Habit. The audiobook version is fantastic. ...

Sometimes I get stuck in trying to think through a problem. I feel like I’ve hit a wall and I’m not sure how to work around it. I’m not the most experienced person to answer most of the questions I’m struggling to answer. But that person isn’t always reachable (or worth bothering!) So I take off my Jordan hat and put on my expert hat. And then I just try to think about it the way they would. How would Seth Godin connect with people and tell them about this thing? How would Niki respond when someone is a total jerk? How would my boss respond to that difficult question? If I can’t think of a particular expert, I just try to pretend I’m coming in as an outside consultant. If someone asked me what I would do in this situation as an outsider, what would I say? ...

We live in a world where cash is on it’s way out the door. While I’m still a fan of using cash envelopes for budgeting, over half of the things we budget for are done electronically (like paying rent, giving to our church and other organizations, utility bills, etc.) While it’s easy to pay companies with debit cards and online bill pay, writing your friend a check for a dinner you split or tickets to a game feels ridiculous and clumsy. In the second decade of the 21st century, peer-to-peer payments should be easy, quick, and free–like cash without the hassle of carrying around exact change. Enter Square Cash. You can now pay your friends with a simple email, processed by one of the leaders in mobile payments–Square. All you need is a debit card. A credit card won’t work because your card must be linked to a checking account. Here’s how it works. ...