Jon Acuff's Blog, page 179

Let's Talk!

I'll be on a call in radio show for an hour today at about 1:05PM Eastern.

You can call in at 1-877-93-FAITH (1-877-933-2484).

Click here for more info about the show.

The last option.

For about a year or four, my wife and I didn't have a membership to Costco. Correction, we didn't have an active membership to Costco. We didn't pay the $45 to renew our card because we used to buy ridiculously large things we didn't need. So instead, we would just walk around and pretend the food samples were really just a large, geographically scattered buffet line.

And the pizza, who can pass up that cheap, voluminous pizza Costco serves? It's like a culinary science experiment gone right. ...

Eagerly awaiting the invasion of Christian Silly Bandz.

Last week, the Friendly Atheist, who has been incredibly kind to Stuff Christians Like, thought something I wrote was unintentionally funny. In the Snopes post he thought it was odd that I felt the need to explain what Snopes was. It's so well known and so obvious that he didn't think I needed to.

But as a copywriter, I can't assume everyone is on the same page. I have an extreme desire to explain every detail, which is why I am resisting with every fiber in my body to explain what Silly...

Happy 5th of July.

Ahh the 5th of July, what a day, what a day!

Work gave us the day off and hopefully you too.

You're out throwing the football or grilling or lighting fireworks. Or you live in another country and you're thinking, "Seriously, the 5th of July? A day off on the 5th of July? We better get Boxer Rebellion Day off."

I'm going to be honest with you, I don't know if you will. But today, just relax and enjoy the 5th of July. Stuff Christians Like returns tomorrow.

Side hugs and skittles

Jon

The "Everyone is on vacation, anything goes" church service. (AKA tomorrow)

(I can't believe we've been kicking around this site for 2 years. It's become a tradition that every 4th of July I repost the piece that started the Skittles running joke and let the cat out of the bag about how church is going to be. Consider this your guide to a July 4th Sunday, even if my church is trying to throw us all off by doing the opposite and having Andy Stanley, the LeBron James of preaching, at church tomorrow. Enjoy)

It is a poorly kept secret that the day before a big holiday...

The YMK.

Someone once told me, "You should write about DKs, Deacon Kids." I told them that was ridiculous. No one says "DK." They don't have their own awkwardly sexual theme song like us pastor's kids. (Son of a preacher man.) But then Robby Kiley sent me a guest post about YMKs or Youth Minister's Kids. And I was willing to relent on my "PK or the highway" rule. Hope you dig this as much as I did.

The YMK

Our laser-like focus on Pastor's Kids has left out a large segment of the church population. One ...

The reformed rock star.

When pop princess, pastor's kid Katy Perry has a prodigal moment and releases another gospel album, I'm going to get an exclusive interview on Stuff Christians Like. What's that you say? "But Jon, she just got a Hindu tattoo. She's marrying deviant comedian Russell Brand!" True, but she's dropping clues everyday that she's coming back.

In a recent Rolling Stone article Brand said the only time Perry ever got mad at him was when he said something so horrible about Jesus that it would make my...

Wanting the wisdom without the walk.

"You don't need novocaine. I'm just going to use this drill to shape your tooth a little."

My dentist told me that yesterday. If I didn't have a complicated contraption in my mouth at the time, I would have replied, "You're using a high powered drill to shape my tooth and you don't feel like that requires novocaine? Seriously? Novocaine was meant for moments like this like the Kardashians were meant to date professional athletes."

I didn't say that though and he proceeded to drill. Instead of d...

Immediately applying what you heard in a sermon.

As I've confessed before, my wife drives us home from church and I sit in the back seat with the kids. We do this because we go to a megachurch and until construction of a new bridge is finished, our church parking lot is akin to Mad Max and the Terrordome. Also, I'm a jerk and have the distinct ability to cut someone off mere minutes after hearing a sermon about grace.

I'm not the only one who has a hard time applying the lessons of a sermon once you walk outside of church, but a few weeks...

Why are Christians jerks online?

I wrote a new article on CNN.com.

Please check it out and let me know what you think. It's about the 2 ways we become jerks online.

Click here to read it.