(In college, I got rejected from every fraternity because I was a jerk at the time. After college I lived with one roommate and then moved home to live with my parents. Then I lived in a retirement community in a trailer park. Single wide, not one of those double fancy deals. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was missing out on a chance to live in an “intentional community” with a bunch of other Christians. What’s that you say? Erin Kutz has the answer in a great new guest post. Enjoy!)

Intentional Community. I remember when I first heard of the concept. My now-landlord and intentional community leader (it’s kinda like a camp counselor role) was looking at a house several months back and one of our mutual friends told me that he had gone to look at a house to buy so that a bunch of Christians could live there. I remember thinking that it sounded like a 24-hour youth group retreat for 20-somethings.

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(Tyler Stanton is one of the funniest people I know. His blog is hilarious, his book is hilarious, his videos are hilarious as well. I’m sure he’s not funny sometimes during the day, like at the grocery store or while pumping gas, but I can’t verify that. Here is a great guest post from Tyler!)

Purchase Justification

No one is better at feeling guilty for having nice things than us Christians. Now, of course, this guilt doesn’t actually stop us from buying the nice things. It just causes us have a justifiable response on hand in case someone ever broaches the subject.

Here are a few of the more common ways we justify questionable purchases:

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(If you’re in college, this happened to you over the holidays. If you’ve long graduated, you’ll still remember this phenomenon, especially the first item on this great guest post from Ryan Guinan. This seemed perfectly timed for Valentine’s Day and all my friends who are single. Enjoy!)

I am a Senior in college and have one semester to go before I graduate. When being home for the first time after 3 or 4 months, familiar faces naturally want to catch up but I noticed a grueling common trend of questions they ask every first Sunday after being away.

They are 3 questions a college kid better have figured out or be on their toes to ‘Barry Sanders’ their way through the masses and find a seat before anyone can stop them:

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(Next week we’ll be going to the Christmas Eve Eve service at Cross Point. Yes, I meant Eve Eve, as we’ll be going on the 23rd, which is kind of like the “pre-party” of Christmas. I was going to say, “pre-game,” but that felt a little too Four Loko. The Christmas Eve service is very different from a “Christmas Program,” which “Some Guy” is about to prove in a great guest post. Enjoy!)

It’s getting to be that time of year when churches across the country, across the world even, think about how to best impress everyone.

That’s right, I’m talking about the annual Christmas program competition. Not the Christmas service that your church does only on Sunday morning, but the programs that are meant to rival Broadway productions.

Okay, okay… it might not be an official competition. But there are only so many families out there, and they’re going to go to only one Christmas program each. So churches have to step it up for the big show. In preparation for all this, I present to you this scorecard. This will help to rate whichever Christmas show you do end up watching. Or, if you’re putting together a show, this may help you make it even better.

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(I love a good post about prayer and I think you’ll dig this guest spot from Joel. Enjoy!)

In the past, Jon has talked about prayer shot blocks, that awkward moment where someone prays the opposite of what you are praying for. Example: Someone prays God will bless a bad dating relationship they are in and their friend prays right after instead that “God would give my friend patience and clarity about her relationship.”

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(Curtis is like the Run DMC of Stuff Christians Like guest posts. He was one of the first people to guest post almost 2 years ago and he still knocks it out. I love this post and think you’ll laugh too. Enjoy!)

Thinking the Rapture Has Happened When You’re Alone

”The Son has come and you’ve been left behind.”

-DC Talk

As I sit here writing this in my office on a Monday morning, I’m kind of wondering is this has actually happened. Fact: Monday mornings at a church can be a lonely place. It’s like when an NFL team wins on Sunday. They get Monday off. The only difference is, the admin staff at the football office isn’t sitting around wondering, “Hey, I wonder if everyone else got sucked up into heaven, leaving their clothes in a pile?” The chances of the football team’s admin staff being left behind because T.O. isn’t there? Pretty slim. The chances of the church’s admin staff being left behind because the pastor and worship leader aren’t there? Moderately likely.

Here are a few scenarios like the one I’m currently in, shaking in my Tom’s shoes, and the likelihood that the rapture has happened:

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(I’m sorting through dozens of awesome guest posts right now. One that came my way is from Michael Kelly. You might remember him from the prosperity gospel post. He writes great stuff and this is proof of that. Enjoy.)

Perhaps you’ve been in an awkward situation like this one. You are leaving a conversation about Lady GaGa and Skittles. It was an enjoyable time, and you felt like you held your own nicely. People appreciated your wit and cultural relevance. But though you are adept in conversations like these, you find yourself totally lost in the atrium of the church lobby.

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(Curtis Honeycutt is ridiculous. Every now and then he emails me the funniest things. I love the countless guest posts he has done on SCL and hope you dig this one too.)

So You Think You Can Ush?

Are you qualified to be an usher? No, not the Usher. Those qualifications include: Is your outfit ridiculous? Are you in the club lookin’ so conspicuous? Do you refer to Hotlanta as “A-Town”? If so, you might be qualified to be Usher. If you’re wondering more about becoming an usher at church, read on.

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(“Start thinking you’re a big deal.” That’s the answer most leaders give me when I ask them how leaders wreck their ministries. Ego, pride, thinking you’ve got mad skillz with a z not an s, that’s what happens. Which is why I will always welcome guest posts that poke fun at me and the Stuff Christians Like book. It’s a great way to not take everything so seriously. It’s also a great way to laugh, especially since today’s guest post created 4 new SCL based spin off sites. Seriously, 4 new sites. Ridiculous. Long live the Chad Gibbs guest post.)

I was afraid this would happen. Jon Acuff wrote a book, and everyone loves it. Wait, that’s not what I was afraid of. Jon’s a funny guy, and a good writer, and I’m happy for him, in a ‘I wish it were me’ sort of way. But what I was afraid of, and what has already come to pass, is that some of you are starting to take this book a little too seriously.

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(Ben Meredith is no stranger to the guest post. It is not something he avoids, like door to door witnessing. Which lots of people avoid like the plague, constantly finding reasons not to attend outreach events. In this post Ben muses that we treat door to door witnessing like some strange avian-swine disease. Enjoy.)

I never even saw it coming until it was too late.

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