Jon Acuff's Blog, page 182

Win 20 subscriptions to Relevant Magazine.

Cameron Strang, the founder of Relevant Magazine, is a fan of the Orlando Magic.

I am a fan of the Boston Celtics. When they played each other in the Eastern Conference Finals, Cameron and I made an agreement. If the Magic won, I'd give Relevant readers 20 copies of the Stuff Christians Like book. If the Celtics won, Cameron would give 20 subscriptions of Relevant Magazine to SCL readers.

The Celtics won!

Which means 20 Relevant Magazine subscriptions for you.

Comment with an answer to the...

Setting Physical Boundaries in Dating Relationships

(John Crist is on fire. Out of nowhere he keeps coming up with great guest posts. This is his second one. I thought it was fantastic. Enjoy.)

Jon Acuff and I went to Samford University. We never knew each other, but I guarantee you we both knew about the Freshman Dorm Female Visitation Policy.

"No members of the opposite sex in your rooms, except from 3:00-6:00pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and only after they've signed in. While a guest is in the room, the door must be propped open a minimum...

Iffy Prayer Requests

Someone recently got in trouble in the middle of a prayer circle and it was kind of my fault.

I once wrote about something I called "confessing safe sins." It was the idea that sometimes in small groups, people confess things that are safe in order to not look like sweaty heathens. They say, "I have something really gross to confess, I haven't been reading my Bible enough," or "my quiet times have been short lately." I'm not sure if there is technically a right or wrong way to share a...

Winner of the iPod Shuffle or Conan Tickets.

If your name is Abby Sue, congrats you've won an iPod Shuffle or some Conan O'Brien tickets for his live show at the Fox in Atlanta. Email me with you're address and which one you'd like so I can hook you up.

Thanks

Jon

Worrying too much about trends.

Even though I'm not wearing 45 belt loops Z-Cavaricci's I got at Chess King and ladies have far less perms, our neighborhood pool is very similar to my high school cafeteria.

On one end you have the cool table, populated by neighbors who have lived in our subdivision the longest. They drink beer, get tougher than leather tan (Run DMC reference) and feel compelled to play Bon Jovi's "Dead or Alive," approximately 37 times.

On the other end you have a grab bag of dorks, which includes me. This...

The Social Media Sermon Pause

I've noticed something recently.

It was subtle, so it took me a little longer to recognize than it did that the lead singer of the Pussycat Dolls, a professional dancer, won the show "Dancing with the Stars." If I didn't think we had already exhausted all possible, "That would be like putting the Duggars in a baby having contest" jokes I would make one right now. But I won't.

What I will do is tell you something about pastors and conference speakers that I have discovered recently.

They are...

Happy Memorial Day

If you're in America, happy Memorial Day.

If you're in another country, I hope you have a pleasant Monday.

If you're currently orbiting the planet in a spaceship please let me know. This summer, Los from ragamuffinsoul is marrying a couple who met on his blog, and that's pretty hard to top. A spaceship Stuff Christians Like reader would really boost my ego. (Whoa, NASA-flavored word play!)

Regular Stuff Christians Like returns tomorrow.

In the meantime, thank you veterans who made freedom and...

Shameless Saturday!

It's that time again …

What's your blog?

What's your cause? What's your band? What's your book?

What's the link you want people to see more than anything else?

I hereby declare this "Shameless Saturday."

Post a link to whatever it is you're all about with no shame or apologizing or feeling like you're making a comment on a post you really don't care about but are instead secretly trying to promote your own blog. (I've done that myself many times. The best way to do it is to say, "That's an...

One blog mistake we all make.

The mistake I'll share today is counterintuitive. In some ways it goes against the fiber of what some people think storytelling and blogging are really about. But I think this one mistake causes us all to lose more readers and tell weaker stories than just about anything. Here's the mistake:

"We don't leave any room in our stories for the readers."

Why is that a mistake?

What does that mean?

Simple, as a storyteller, you're job isn't to complete the story. Your job is to catalyze the story. You ...

The Lady Worship Leader.

(I don't know anything about ladies. Seriously, ask any girl who met me in high school. I've got nothing. But fortunately, Daniella Summers does. She is funny/talented and has a very cool husband and a great family. She also agreed to write a post focusing on the ever fantastic Lady Worship Leader. I thought it was great. Enjoy!)

One day I discovered this blog. I can't recall exactly, but I might have stumbled upon it by typing a mixture of the following words into Google: John Piper, Lady...