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I am currently working on a few projects and was challenged to listen to a few podcasts — a program (as of music or talk) made available in digital format for download over the Internet. I have been listening and trying to read more lately thanks to my friend who challenged me.

This post, which I hope to continue each week or every other, combines the top things that I have read and listened to this past week. They have either encouraged me, help me to grow or forced me to think and ponder their implications. They have made me use parts of my brain and heart that sometimes don’t get stretched because of the busyness of life. Especially the listening part.

I hope these help you, encourage you or make you think as well.

*Also a ‘tip of the hat’ to Brian Dodd who gave me the idea. Brian shares a weekly email about great article that he reads throughout the week. Check him at Brian Dodd On Leadership.

1. Tips for Emotionally Intelligent Emailing by Dr. Travis Bradberry
2. Try something new… by Dr. Clay Smith
3. Why our screens make us less happy by Adam Alter. I’ve included a transcript I found of the most impactful portion of his talk at the very bottom of this page. 
4. AOL: Steve Case | How I Built This on NPR (link below)
5. ​StoryCorps 508: No Barrier For The Love (link below)

 AOL: Steve Case | How I Built This
​When Steve Case started out in the tech business in the mid-80s, the idea of the internet — as we think of it today — didn’t exist. But with AOL, Case saw an opportunity to connect millions of people, through chat rooms, news updates, and the iconic greeting, “You’ve Got Mail.”

​StoryCorps 508: No Barrier For The Love
Immigrants are one of the most talked about groups of people in the country. In this episode, we let them do the talking.

Why our screens make us less happy by Adam Alter
One of the reasons we spend so much time on these apps that make us unhappy is they rob us of stopping cues. Stopping cues were everywhere in the 20th century. They were baked into everything we did. A stopping cue is basically a signal that it’s time to move on, to do something new, to do something different. And — think about newspapers; eventually you get to the end, you fold the newspaper away, you put it aside. The same with magazines, books — you get to the end of a chapter, prompts you to consider whether you want to continue. You watched a show on TV, eventually the show would end, and then you’d have a week until the next one came. There were stopping cues everywhere. But the way we consume media today is such that there are no stopping cues. The news feed just rolls on, and everything’s bottomless: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, email, text messaging, the news. And when you do check all sorts of other sources, you can just keep going on and on and on.

This past week, I attended the annual Coastal Evangelism Conference at Langston Baptist Church in Conway, SC. Here a few nuggets of wisdom that I picked up from the 14 messages that I heard over the 2.5 days I was there. 

Dr. Roc Collins
Text: Acts 2:37-40

What makes an effective witness? 
A convicting message, a concise answer and continual invitation. 

It’s OK to say, “I don’t know.” 

Jesus: “I go, so that you might be empowered.”

Instead of asking people, “Where do you go to church?” Ask them, “Do you have a relationship with Jesus?” 

You cannot witness that which you do not know. 

We don’t need more information, but more anointing of believers. 

Dr. Johnny Hunt

“They’re listening!” 
People around you, they need truth and they want something that can change their life. 

A Baptist pew can be a very comfortable place to go to hell from. 

God help me to feel before I sin how I’d feel after I sin.

A thought I (Chris) had during the message, which included Paul’s time in prison: 
Paul in his jail time, do you think he had conversations with people unlike him? Far from God? Do you think those conversations and chains changed his perspective? 

“This book (The Bible) has outlived all its critics.” -Dr. Roc Collins

“Your sign out front will be a tombstone of what used to be.” -Dr. Roc Collins, on the state of the church if its members don’t continue to seek God and stop looking to the past. The one word that Baptist hate the most: change. Change must take place. 

Dr. Phil Hoskins
Learning to wait on the Lord
Text: Isaiah 40:31

We have been programmed to be impatient. 

When must you wait upon the Lord? 
(1) When circumstances are uncontrollable.
Wait. Things you did not cause. Things you cannot change. Wait.
(2) When people are unchangeable. 

Not everybody comes to church for the right reason. 

“When we cannot trace His hand, we can always trust His plan.” 

Dr. Joe Brown

If you love Jesus, when was the last time you told him? 

You can’t love somebody you don’t know. 

Dr. Bob Pitman
Text: Luke 6:17-19

Jesus came down. 
Jesus came down to be heard. 
Jesus came down to be touched. 

The mountaintop is a great place to fellowship, pray and worship Jesus, but the Christian life is lived in the valley. 

Thank God for unnamed people who tell people about Jesus. 

Desperate people always have the attention of God. 

Dr. Jeff LaBorg
Text: John 6:1-11

He will take us to desolate places … hopeless unless God shows up. 

He’ll put us in desolation to give us a revelation. 

The church is not a democracy. 
Every time they voted in the Word of God they voted against God. 

We are in the distribution business.