Filed under: Sports Headlines | Tags: All-Star Game, Dallas Cowboys, Dallas Mavericks, David Stern, Jerry Jones, Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant, Mark Cuban, NBA
Dallas has been selected as the site of 2010 NBA All-Star Game, Commissioner David Stern, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones announced yesterday during a press conference outside the American Airlines Center. The 59th NBA All-Star Game will be played on Sunday, Feb. 14, 2010, at the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, which will have a seating capacity in excess of 80,000. If you sit in the back row of the upper level at the new stadium for the All-Star Game, rumor has it that they are going to have each player on the court wear a different color headband so that you know from a mile away that the green dot is Kevin Garnett and the gold dot is Kobe Bryant, etc…
Filed under: Life and Leadership | Tags: life, laughter, driving, bloopers
If you can’t laugh at yourself then you are taking life too seriously. This morning I had a great moment to laugh at myself. I rolled the trash bin to the alley and then jumped into my truck parked in the driveway just above the container. I buckled my seat belt, cranked the ignition, turned on the music, and the heat, and of course put on my shades. Then it happened – I glanced at my sunglasses in the rear view mirror – and once convinced that I was both handsome and cool, I slammed the truck into reverse and backed into the trash container. Boom! Trash everywhere…everywhere!
What was your trash can blooper today? Yesterday? Oh come on…I know you had a moment. Did you laugh or curse? If you didn’t laugh – try it next time – and lighten up because laughter is good medicine.
Filed under: Sports Headlines,sportspastor | Tags: Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers, Dallas Mavericks, ESPN, fantasy football, Greg Oden, Houston Rockets, Lebron James, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, NBA, NBA TV, Phoenix Suns, Portland Trail Blazers, San Antonio Spurs, sports, TNT, Turner Sports, tv
For those of you who love the NBA and those of you with Fantasy Football quarterbacks with injuries, it is time for the tip-off of the 2008-09 NBA regular season. Turner Sports enters their 25th season of broadcasting the NBA with a perfect double-header. Opening night features the defending champion Boston Celtics versus LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
If you are a night owl, you can catch the second great game of the double-header. The Portland Trail Blazers travel to LA to challenge the Lakers, a game featuring Greg Oden’s long-awaited NBA debut. A special one-hour preview show precedes Tuesday’s doubleheader.
Opening week continues Wednesday with ESPN’s national telecasts of Phoenix at San Antonio and a Staples Center home team showdown, Lakers and Clippers. TNT follows with a Texas two-step for the early game on Thursday, as Houston visits Dallas (I will be there for this one!). The late game features rising star Chris Paul and the New Orleans Hornets at the Phoenix Suns.
ESPN networks are televising 72 regular-season games, which include 29 games on Wednesdays and 35 on Fridays. The slate consists of 27 doubleheaders.
TNT is televising 53 regular-season games, including 47 as part of Thursday night doubleheaders and a tripleheader on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. TNT also exclusively televises NBA All-Star 2009 festivities in Phoenix from Feb. 13-15, culminating with the NBA All-Star Game on Sunday, Feb. 15.
NBA TV will televise live studio programming six days a week from the new NBA TV studio in Atlanta. NBA TV will also broadcast 96 live games throughout the regular season — the most of any national network.
This is going to be a great season. Can Boston repeat as champs? Will the Lakers take it to another level? Be sure and find my recent post on the Celtics and Lakers (sidebar “Breaking Posts”) and vote for who you think will win it all in 2009.
Filed under: Life and Leadership,sportspastor | Tags: Craig Groeschel, Leonard Sweet
“11: Indispensable Relationships You Can’t Be Without” by: Leonard Sweet
As believers, our journey is just as important as the destination. And because relationships are essential to our walk through life, it is vital that we partner with people who positively impact our world. Dr. Leonard Sweet believes these essential people are found in the pages of God’s Word. Using eleven classic figures from the Bible, Sweet details key personal attributes that make up God’s Dream Team for your life. Readers will be encouraged to not only seek out such people, but to find their place with those around them.
“It: How Churches and Leaders Can Get It and Keep It” by: Craig Groeschel
Craig Groeschel, founder of LifeChurch.tv (Edmond, OK), witnessed a powerful presence from God that he calls It at work in many churches. What is this transformational force? How can you and your ministry get—and keep—It? Combining in-your-face honesty with off-the-wall humor, this lively book tells how any believer can obtain It.
Filed under: Life and Leadership,sportspastor | Tags: christian living, church, evangelism, faith, Gospel, outreach
“Live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” These words are an exhortation of the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 4:1b. What are the characteristics of a life lived in such a way that it is worthy of the calling we have received from God? To discover the answer to this question you must first identify your calling. I believe that God will give you the passion to do what he has called you to do. For example, I am passionate about the calling on my life to equip believers to make the most of every opportunity to reach out to people who are far away from God through the most creative and relational means possible. Now if that is my calling, then how do I live life in such a way that it would be worthy of this calling I have received?
Colossians 4:5-6 offers further insight into my calling and the answer to this question: “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” I looked at a number of Bible commentaries and based upon careful exposition have drafted a version of this selection of Scripture in my own words: Believers should live in such a way that they will attract, inspire, and convict non-Christians, giving them a favorable view of the Gospel and the church. Believers should have a verbal witness that is winsome, full of character and worthy of respect.
A healthy balance of faith and practice make a lasting, positive impression on a person who is far away from God. This means that we are responsible for living a life worthy of the calling we have received.
Filed under: NBA,Sports Headlines,sportspastor | Tags: Boston Celtics, Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Lakers, NBA, San Antonio Spurs, sports
According to a survey of the league’s general managers, forty-six percent of GMs predicted the Lakers would win the 2009 NBA title. The defending champion Celtics were a distant second at nineteen percent. Honestly, a rematch would be nice, but I do not even predict that the Lakers will make the NBA Finals this season, much less win it all. I say that the Celtics will beat the Houston Rockets in the 2009 NBA Finals to win their 18th NBA Championship. What is your prediction?
Filed under: Sports Headlines,sports,sportspastor | Tags: college basketball, Lute Olsen, NBA, NCAA, University of Arizona
After 25 years as the Arizona head men’s basketball coach, Lute Olsen has decided it is time to retire. What an amazing legacy he leaves. Under his leadership Arizona has sent numerous players to the next level. If my calculations are right, there are currently 11 active players in the NBA that were coached by Olsen. Based upon my research, other schools that have contributed a healthy number of active players to the NBA include UCLA (13), Kansas (13), Connecticut (13), Duke (12), North Carolina (12), Florida (11), and Kentucky (11). That is good company.
Starting tonight and from here forward, I will be posting links to the best sports headlines of the day from around the web and I will be adding my own commentary (sometimes insightful and sometimes attempted humor). Also, starting tonight, I will be posting on a more regular basis on a broader range of topics than just sports outreach ministry. What intrigues me the most about other bloggers is when they speak the right words at the right time into my life and it encourages me, makes me laugh or cry, challenges me in a particular area, or just offers perspective from another person just thinking out loud. Make plans to stop by the SportsPastor blog for the latest in sports and ministry and much, much more.
Filed under: Life and Leadership,church,church leadership,leadership,sportspastor | Tags: Steven Furtick, Tony Morgan Live, Catalyst08, Craig Groeschel, Seth Godin, Jim Collins, Andy Stanley, Perry Noble
Catalyst is all about shaping leaders in the Church, presenting the next big ideas, practices and content. Catalyst exists to ignite passion for Christ and develop leadership potential in the Next Generation, equipping them to engage and impact their world. Every year 12,000 next generation leaders converge on Atlanta in October for the Catalyst Conference, the leadership experience of the year. But Catalyst is more than a conference – it purposes to serve as a leadership filter, continually providing relevant training, innovative events, and cutting edge resources for leaders in the Church.
If you are like me and did not have an opportunity to make it this year check out these blogs for a brief report or even notes from the conference. We must start with Tony Morgan’s updates. Tony Morgan is a pastor and the Chief Strategic Officer at NewSpring Church where he develops creative solutions for communications, technology and NewSpring Ministries–the church’s ministry that equips other church leaders. The following is a list of his notes on some of the featured speakers.
Perry Noble
Andy Stanley
Jim Collins
Steven Furtick
Seth Godin
Craig Groeschel
Two other blogs that are doing a great job at live blogging the Catalyst Conference are Coffee Shop Journal and Ross Middleton’s Blog – Collide Leadership You can also check out Catalyst Backstage with Anne Jackson.
