FlowerDust.net

The last few days, I’ve been in the Kansas City area for my best friend’s wedding. The Hubs and I fell in love, got engaged, and were married here. A few months after our wedding in 2003, I started working full time at a church here.

I don’t mention it in Mad Church Disease, but Kansas City was the launching pad for the book. The church I reference when I ran 120 mph, didn’t rest, and ended up in the hospital…all here. The question on the back of the book, “Is working in this church interfering with your communion with Christ?” was asked to me here. I was told my dreams were “too big” here. I got in trouble for unwisely expressing my idealistic ideas here.

But the lesson most learned was how to heal after being hurt.

That’s where Chapter 11- the final chapter of Mad Church Disease - comes into play.

If you haven’t read it, you can download it here if you’d like. It’s title is Processing through Pain.

Driving by my old church, my old Starbucks, my old house…all these things brought back so many memories. Every time I’d go somewhere public, my heart would race a little bit. I was afraid of running into the person who hurt me four years ago.

Four years..it seems like a lifetime ago. But the hurt still hasn’t gone away. And it’s still impacts me, my ministry, and my ability to take risks. I don’t assert myself like I normally did. I stay really quiet and don’t speak my mind as much as I should. I choose my battles too carefully.

In the chapter, I quote something Penelope Trunk said to me at SXSW08 when I met her after a session. (I also had spinach in my teeth and she told me about it. Nice, Anne Jackson. Nice.)

“People are afraid to be amazing.”

I wish I had it figured out by now. I’ve forgiven, the bitterness usually stays at bay, but that fear of getting crushed again keeps a part of me silenced. I’m afraid to be amazing - to live to my full potential - because last time I was there, my dreams were shot through the heart.

What about you? I know with as many people read this blog, there have got to be some walking wounded. We are each responsible for our own healing…I’m not as consistent as I’d like to be, but I try taking risks or speaking my mind even when it’s scary. What are some steps that you’re taking to live again and to trust again?

This is part of a group blogging project for Mad Church Disease. You can read a different perspective on each chapter at the links below. Thanks guys for doing this!

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Tweets about this post:
sandyboone at 2009-06-23T21:28:58Z: People Are Afraid to Be Amazing http://www.flowerdust.net/?p=2806 What do you think? Are you afraid to be amazing?
stevegrossman at 2009-06-23T21:08:26Z: @flowerdust Anne does it again: "People Are Afraid to Be Amazing" - http://www.flowerdust.net/?p=2806

Recently, there have been some very serious questions asked about Mad Church Disease, and instead of writing an impersonal post, I thought I’d address you guys a little more formally, via video.

Please see below:

(This is what happens when you have some free time and a video camera late at night after the NBA Finals are over. And, just to clarify, no pastors were insulted in the making of this video. Andy Stanley also looks good, and Ed Young knows how to lead. Thankyouverymuch.)

Have I ever told you that I wish I could just give everything away? I really do.

The wonderful people at Zondervan have now made another chapter of Mad Church Disease available FREE online (in case you haven’t downloaded the first free chapter, Chapter 11, you can do that by clicking here).

At the end of this post is Chapter 3 in its fully designed stage (they did an AWESOME job designing this book!)

My favorite paragraph from this chapter says this, because it’s something I’m still learning!

“We should look at our past as a gift and not a burden. And as such, we should steward it like any other gift we’ve been given. We need to be grateful for our unique circumstances, not resentful. Once we accept our God-given past, we can find out what about it makes us extraordinary.”

You can pick up a copy of Mad Church Disease from Amazon, for your Kindle, or any other fine book retailer (in the US, Canada, UK, or AUS). The audio book will be released in a few months and I hope to give as many of those away as possible, too.

I don’t ever want to cross the line into pimping MCD, but I am SO PASSIONATE about the message of health in the church. So many leaders are hurting, burnout out, letting their defenses down and IT HAS TO STOP!!! So forgive me if I have ever crossed that line, but I can’t emphasize how important the message of this book is.

David Kinnaman, author of unChristian and President of The Barna Group reviewed Mad Church Disease on Barna’s website today. Below is an excerpt. If you want to read the full review, click here.

The book is deep, but not stuffy. It is funny, but not cynical. It is easy to read, without being simplistic. Anne’s writing is poignant and personal, without being tacky. It takes a long, hard look at the difficulties of church work, while asking readers to face their problems.

Ultimately, Mad Church Disease is not just about solutions, it is a solution. It is a tool that can be used by a church staff or by individuals. It contains helpful interviews with church leaders who have lived through Mad Church Disease. And it offers worksheets to start private or group discussions about the issues of personal and spiritual health. Use this great new tool to find and restore healthy margins in your life.

Anyway, enjoy!

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Normally I reserve Thursdays for book giveaways but I discovered something today that I wanted to celebrate!

(We’ll still be doing our typical Thursday giveaway too!)

I found out that Mad Church Disease is on its third run of printing and wanted to say THANK YOU!

And as a thank you, I have five copies to giveaway! Actually…ten…one for you, and one for someone you think needs to read it!

Just leave a comment telling me one thing you are doing to stay healthy and you’ll be entered.  Use Tweet This below and be entered twice!

Good luck!

Something I am SO excited about is…

We are taking some of the core values from each chapter of the book Mad Church Disease and putting them on video so churches or staffs or groups of people can use them to help walk through the book and begin a discussion.

Oh, and the thing I’m SUPER DUPER jazzed about is that they will be completely, 100%, no strings attached FREE!

We start working on them next weekend, and before we do, I’d love to get your opinion on what makes (for lack of a better term) a “teaching video” helpful to you?

If you haven’t read MCD yet, you can download a FREE chapter (which happens to be one of my favorite chapters) here.

And I just got a case of books in a few weeks ago, so if you’d like a bulk discount on books (10+ copies) just shoot me an email. We’ll get ya hooked up.

Have a great week!

I have a Genius Marketing Guy at Zondervan. Not only is he a genius. He stops me from saying stupid things publicly when certain retailers (as there are more than one) don’t carry my book in stock (and it has to be special ordered).

It’s a little frustrating being an author and getting continually asked “I went to Popular Christian Bookstore and they don’t have your book in stock.” or “I went to Popular Christian Bookstore’s website and can’t find your book.”

Evidently picking fights with Popular Christian Bookstores isn’t a good idea when you are attempting to be an author they carry.

I see it as just helping them out.  The customer is there.  And you’re missing them.  So they go to Amazon or B&N or Borders or Booksamillion or Davis Kidd (in Nashville) or ChristianBook.com or Parable.com…any other bookstores which have it in stock.

Just trying to help.

ANYWAY.

Genius Marketing Guy came up with a fun giveaway.

And super easy.

Go to Twitter and tell us your favorite quote from Mad Church Disease, or why you think people should read it, and include the hashtag “#mcd” and the link “http://tr.im/gH3N” and you’ll be entered to win a free book.  If you don’t have it yet, you can download the sample chapter and tell us what you enjoy there.

Example: “Satan is ONLY out to destroy us! #mcd http://tr.im/gH3N”

Genius Marketing Guy is giving away 25 copies and there is no limit on how many times you can enter.  The more you enter, the better your chances, and people will be chosen at random TOMORROW at noon EST.

So you have 24 hours.

Roll!

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PS - Mad Church Disease should be available on the Kindle beginning Friday! :)

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If you’d like to buy a book yourself and a book for a stranger (see the post below) you can use this nifty PayPal button. You don’t even need to have PayPal - you can use any major credit or debit card.

We have had several come in already. Thanks for your generosity and for blessing a stranger.

Name for Autograph

So, a month or so ago, I got the addresses for people who donated books to Dominican Pastors. As of this Friday (February 27) your books will be shipped. Sorry for the delay on that. Long story.

Since I will be spending a few hours at my Sylvan Park post office this coming Friday, I thought I’d throw this out there for you guys…

I have a case of books to sell.

At the same time, I know there are some instances where I need to give a book away to someone who can’t afford it.

So here’s the deal.

I’d like to sell you a copy of Mad Church Disease. It would be personalized & autographed. The catch is, instead of the $15 you’d pay on Amazon (after shipping), I’m going to charge you $25. What a huge bargain, right?! Ha. I know. It seems like a rip off.

Here’s the catch.

You paying $25 (which includes shipping) will afford me the opportunity to keep some free books on hand and give them away to legitimate people who need them. Basically your $25 buys two books. One for you. One for a stranger.

If you’re interested, you can send me $25 via PayPal (flowerdust at gmail dot com) and in the notes, put who you’d like the book’s autograph to be made out to. I will ship all these books out by Friday, February 27, so it’s a limited time offer.

Also, if you have any questions, or need to pay using cash or a check, leave me a comment.

Thanks for being such great evangelists for this message of health!

IN STOCK.

It’s on its way.

I am so eating a cupcake today.

Amazon just changed the release date of Mad Church Disease to January 25 instead of February 1!  Meaning if you preordered, you’ll be getting your copy in the mail next week!

If you haven’t preordered, you can still do it here and lock in the low low price of only $11.55.  That’s for a stinking hardcover.  I took some pics of it for you guys…

If you plan on reading MCD, what’s the one thing you hope to learn?

The winner of the Logos Bible Software Scholar’s Libary is

#165. Courtney B.

Her favorite verse is:

Psalms 143:8
Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.

And she also said:

My starving Youth Pastor husband would LOVE this!

I am thinking of throwing in some ramen noodles as well.

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Giving stuff away is fun.

I feel like giving away a copy of Mad Church Disease to someone random.

So…comment by 6 am CST Monday and I’ll do another giveaway of my book.

Ready…go!

Officially, the book releases in just a couple of weeks (it may actually start shipping sooner from online retailers!) and even though this process has been a couple years in the making, the conversation and interest around it has continued to grow.

Why?

Because we, as church leaders, are burning out…and it’s not stopping.

We’re also realizing this…and we’re desperate to do something about it!

We’ve got to fight!  IT HAS TO STOP!!

Yesterday, several bloggers have generously offered their online real estate to help champion the message of Mad Church Disease. Most of them asked me a unique question about burnout, the book, and the journey writing it. Please take a little time to click over to their blogs to read their questions, my answers, and drop them a note of thanks for helping spread the word.

Here are the blogs from the big blitz yesterday.  I’ve posted their questions…you have to visit their sites for the answers.

Jesse @ Catalyst Catablog asks:

Is there something about our current way of doing church that’s causing so much burn out? What key changes can churches make to reduce the rate of burn out in their staff?

Mike Foster asks:

“When people read MCD, what will be the hardest thing they will have to face in this book? Or what hard decisions do you think people will have to make?”

Church Marketing Sucks asks:

Church marketing seems to pair two fields that have a problem with burnout–ministry and communications. What can churches do to ensure that they still have effective marketing and communications but aren’t burning out their people?

Boomama asks:

Let’s say someone works as an assistant to a senior pastor / executive pastor / high-up-person-on-the-church-leadership-flowchart. And let’s say that someone who works as an assistant notices that his or her boss is stressed, anxious, tired - basically on the verge of burnout. Do you think there are any specific things that assistant could do for his or her supervisor to lighten the load? Or should the assistant just stay out of it? I ask this because a friend and I had this very conversation a few weeks ago - and I’m not sure we came to any real conclusions.

Pete Wilson, my pastor & boss did his interview via video:

Innovative Ministry Leader asks:

What is the most important concept you have learned from writing Mad Church Disease? Are their any struggles of burnout that you still have to focus on today?

Brad Lomenick does a classic Top Ten list including:

#7 - [Anne] gives us five principles for fighting mad church disease tied to relational health. You’ll have to get the book to know what they are. But one includes sleeping more, which is always a positive.

Tony Morgan asks:

Mad Church Disease presents itself in many areas of health…what were your symptoms like when you burned out and what did you do about them?

Perry Noble asks:

Why did you write this book?

Todd @ Monday Morning Insight shares some thoughts & an excerpt.

Dan Ohlerking (who wins for greatest photo!) asks:

Anne, from the first day I heard of your study on this, I have loved the name you chose for it. I’m curious to know what made you choose the name. What correlation do you see between Mad Church Disease and the more familiar Mad Cow Disease? Both seem to be lethal yet preventable, but are there other parallels you see?

Dino Rizzo asks:

In ministry we sometimes feel like we have to have it all together. Does that contribute to Mad Church Disease, and if so, how can delicate topics be addressed in a wise yet honest way?

Angie Smith shares some amazing insight from someone who isn’t “in ministry leadership” so to speak…

Spence Smith (whose story is in the book) talks about his own experience with health and burnout.

Tim Stevens thought he’d  hate the book.  He asks:

What were some of your thoughts about God or the church that came from watching some of the junk your dad went through as a pastor?

Shawn Wood made me hungry by asking a lot of questions & talking about food, like:

Do you look at Cows differently now?  Can you still eat them?

Jon @ Stuff Christians Like asks a great question:

Your book, Mad Church Disease, is the kind of book that should be handed out with every diploma from seminary. Given the potential and deserved success of it, what plans have you put in place to avoid burning out from the promotion of a book about burnout? What are some ways we can expect you to be living out the great truth of this book as you hit the road, virtual or paved, in support of Mad Church Disease?

Jenni Catron (who’s on staff with me at Cross Point) reviews the book.

Crystal Renaud walked alongside me since day one of my ministry.  She shares her perspective.

Scott Hodge gives some mad church love.

Ragamuffin Soul shares a video he made for MCD a year and a half ago!

Brad Ruggles has the most amazingly designed blog posts.  He reviews MCD here.

So those were the bloggers in the big blitz yesterday!

But, wait!  There’s more!

Like to find new blogs? Here are reviews from other bloggers who were kind enough to post their thoughts.

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I know this may seem like a shameless I-want-to-sell-books promotion, but please believe me when I say it’s not.  One, it’s nearly impossible to rake in the big bucks as a writer and two, I believe in this message SO MUCH I don’t really care if you think I’m shamelessly promoting it.  I WILL shamelessly promote health.  LIFE.  Hope.  Sorry…you can’t shut me up about this stuff.

It’s my desire that as you read these reviews and conversations, you’ll see how God is using many different aspects of this book to help others, and that you will be inspired as well - or that you’ll pass it on to someone who you know who needs it.

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Preorder your copy today. It will ship in just a few days! Somewhere around February 1st! Woohoo!

I seriously can’t say thank you to you guys enough for your support!  It starts with each one of us individually, but together…we can be healthy!

Today, a group of about 20 bloggers are sharing their thoughts on burnout and the book.

If you’ve found your way here by one of these bloggers, I say welcome! Thanks! And I hope you’ll stick around.  We have a great community around here. You can subscribe to this blog by clicking here.

Some other cool stuff for you newbies: Enter to win Logos Scholar’s Library Bible Software here.  See if I’m coming to a city near you here.

And if you live in Southern California, click here for a free event where you can get a free copy of my book!

Now for the real post…

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I Wonder if I’ll Get Arrested

Is it breaking the law if I copy and redistribute something from my own book? I wonder if I’ll get arrested by the copyright police.

Hmmm.

Anyway, I can’t believe Mad Church Disease is actually going to be releasing in just a few days!

To celebrate all of these awesome things, below is one final excerpt from the book Mad Church Disease.

And a sample chapter too, if you haven’t read it yet.

Also, enjoy some early reviews and endorsements.

I hope and pray that God uses the words of this book to inspire and challenge us to look at the responsibility we’ve been given as believers to share the hope of the world.  If you haven’t preordered it, just click here and choose your favorite retailer.

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Code Blue (from Chapter 2)

When a Code Blue is issued in a hospital, any available medical personnel run to the room of the person who’s coding. It’s a matter of life and death. Milliseconds count. Politics, personal beliefs, hang-ups, grudges, and pride are put aside as the life of a fellow human lies in their hands. It’s an emergency.

Since the beginning of time, mankind has been facing a life-and-death emergency. We are separated from our Creator. All he wants is for us to be reconciled to him. He sent his own flesh and blood down to earth to restore us. And we’re to help guide others to that restoration.

The greatest commandments are what? To love God and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. In most cases, I don’t question our love for God. The passion and intensity with which we go about our lives are small indicators of our love. But we are guilty of not loving ourselves. The statistics don’t lie. And even if they did, I’m sure you could conclude from your own experience that, quite frankly, we’re pretty terrible at loving ourselves.

If we can’t love ourselves, we can’t love others in the way that God has designed us. We can care for others and can want the best for them, but to love them in the godliest ways is impossible until we can obey this great commandment.

We are in the midst of a crisis that needs our full devotion of mind, body, and spirit.

In Mark 12:30, Jesus declares, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”

Notice Jesus doesn’t say “love others with all your strength”; he says to “love the Lord your God.”

By loving God, we’re faithful to his commandments. And when we’re obedient, God will carry out his work through us.

Satan is out to annihilate hope and light, both in our world and in us, the body of Christ. He’s well aware of the crisis of the human race, and he will do anything and everything in his power to obliterate our efforts.

As the church, we need to take a good, hard look around and ask ourselves if we are ready to fight. To fight for our own love relationship with God through Christ, and for the world around us as well.

But I will sign your book.  Maybe.  To say that sounds really, really weird.

(But I guess signing your body parts would be a little weirder).

(And before I head into this, just in case you decide to skim it - please come back later today for the afternoon post. I have a HUGE giveaway that many of you would LOVE to win…trust me…okay…now, on to the show…)

Mad Church Disease actually releases in the next couple of weeks and as such, I am earning a lot of frequent flyer miles traveling around to introduce people to its message.

If I’m going to be near you, please stop by and say hi!

**Southern Cali people - please note the event on February 16!  I’ll be blogging about it a little bit later but there will be a limited number of seats so consider this your advance notice!  And if you’re one of the first 75 people to RSVP you get a free book!**

Anyhoo, I’ve noted the events that are open and/or free to the public if you’re not attending one of the conferences…

Hope to meet a lot of you soon.  Let me know if I’ll see you at any of these.  And if you’re interested in having me come to your part of the world, drop me a line!

By the way, be careful what you wish for.  About two and a half years ago, I felt I needed to release control about my promise to never speak in public…I prayed about it and committed that if God ever opened doors for me to do it, I’d walk through them.

Funny, huh?

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January 27, 2009

Innovation3Gathering
Dallas, TX
Bent Tree Bible Fellowship
3 pm-4 pm Mad Church Disease Workshop & Conversation
4:30-6 pm - Book Signing

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February 2-5, 2009

re:create
Nashville, TN
Thursday, 2/5 @ 10 am
Mad Church Disease: A Conversation on Ministry Health and Healing from Burnout

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February 12-13, 2009

National Pastors Convention
San Diego, CA
Thursday 2/12 @ 8:30 am - Mad Church Disease Discussion
Thursday Evening - Author Gathering/Book Signing
Friday 2/13 @ 8:30 am - Raising Pastors’ Kids Who Don’t Hate the Church - w/Rozanne Frazee

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February 14-15, 2009

Two42 Cafe & Bookstore
Central Christian Church
Las Vegas, NV
FREE & OPEN to EVERYONE!
2/14 @ 4:30 pm, 6:00 pm (Saturday)
2/15 @ 9:00, 10:20, & 11:45 am (Sunday)
Book Signing

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February 16, 2009

Mariners Church
Irvine, CA
FREE & OPEN TO EVERYONE!
First 75 RSVPs get a FREE COPY OF MAD CHURCH DISEASE (the book, not the disease!)
Mad Church Disease Book Reading & Gathering
Sponsored by Catalyst & Zondervan
With Musical Guest Shaun Groves
7:30 pm
RSVP HERE with how many will attend.

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February 26, 2009

Atlanta, GA
SAVE THE DATE!
An “Off the Blog” Special Event with More Details to Come SOON!!!
YOU WON’T WANT TO MISS IT!!!
Sponsored by Catalyst
7:30 pm

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April 19, 2009

FREE & OPEN TO EVERYONE!
University United Methodist Church
Wichita Falls, TX
Mad Church Disease Discussion

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November 4-6, 2009

National Outreach Convention
San Diego, CA
Mad Church Disease Discussion & Book Signing

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Remember - come back this afternoon for a giveaway you don’t want to miss!

the book is coming soon, and i’m thinking it would be fun to take a little day trip one weekend out somewhere kinda close to do a book reading/signing!

the question is…where?

i’ve put down a few options in the poll below.  if you’d actually come to a book signing in one of the cities, please cast your vote…and leave a comment if you’d like as well telling me why.  flattery gets you everywhere! :)

just wanted to let y’all know about a few behind the scenes things have been going on over the last several weeks! it’s only a couple of months until mad church disease releases (woohoo!) and so far, the endorsements and reviews coming in have been exactly what i hoped for - that this book will spark thinking and discussions about our health as we help others.

since it would be a wise choice, i decided to develop an author site to be the hub for all things anne jackson. it does not have a separate blog, but links here instead. anyway, many props to brad ruggles for his amazing design work on the site AnneJacksonWroteThis.com. go check ‘er out!

we have also spiced up the MadChurchDisease.com site with a new look…wanted to keep it really simple and hopefully engage people in the interactive forum (which is obviously not complete yet) but i am really looking forward to the discussion that is stirred up in that arena. we point people to it in the book and i really hope it can be a place for people to share their stories, offer encouragement and pray for each other because we are NOT in this alone!

other fun mad church things would be some places i am speaking early next year, a soon-to-be-announced contest/partnership with relevant magazine and neue, that our friends in both the UK and australia can order the book online, and that it will also be available via audio book, ebook, and symtio.  oh, and if you’re signed up for the catalyst filter, you’ll be getting a copy of it inside the aqua box!

you can still get the book for $11.55 (that’s for a hardcover!) on amazon right now.

thanks for all the MCD love and support over the last year and a half. can you believe that?!  PHEW!!!

goodness. i need a nap. :)

i went and visited zondervan last week…i may or may not have gotten a few extra advance copies of mad church disease.

this contest is easy to win. it goes to the highest bidder.

(welp, ego…it was nice knowing you!) :-)

whoever donates the most pairs of shoes to the 50000shoes.com website between 6 am CST tuesday and 6 am CST wednesday wins. and i’ll even autograph it with your favorite bible verse, sprinkle holy water on it, engrave your name in gold, give you a bronze dove plaque, and throw in some snacks from my desk.

click here to read more stories of where your shoes are going!

oh, and here’s the icing on the cake. more truthfully, it’s probably the actual cake. be the highest bidder and not only will you get a hyper-anointed copy of MCD, you’ll also get an autographed copy of seth godin’s newest book, tribes. i know that’s nothing like snacks from my desk, but thought it might sweeten the deal. who knows? maybe he’ll throw in some snacks from his desk.

comment below (and yep, i’ll need proof if you are the highest donor if you do win!)

ready…go! how many shoes did you donate today?

I used Random.org to generate the numbers and here they are:

Therefore, congrats to:

Mike Mitrovich
Mike Shaw
TJ Reid
Susanne Reeder
Thom McGuire
Th.eophli.us
Randi (Seeds in my Heart)
Ryan Guard
Dan Lacher
Phil

Congrats! If you are one of the winners, please email Chris Fann (chris.fann@zondervan.com) and send him your name, blog name and physical address!

NOW…IF YOU DIDN’T WIN…you still have one more chance.

I will be having a special contest for the “Fight Mad Church Disease” FaceBook group that I will announce to them tomorrow morning, so if you are not a member already, jump in and join it (heck, even invite your friends for good measure!) and maybe you’ll win on Friday when the Facebook winners are announced! Ten more copies will be given away!

CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE FACEBOOK GROUP!

Thank you guys SO much for getting excited about the contest yesterday. I can’t tell you how encouraging your comments were to read. At the same time, my heart was broken by many of them. I am praying so much that this book will be a catalyst to start conversations about health and healing.

Mad Church Disease has officially been sent off to the printer and we thought we’d celebrate by giving you a full and free copy of it. Yep. You can be reading your own copy of MCD at this time next week!

Zondervan has made special “Advance Reader Copies” available and we have twenty we want to give away!

So…for the next 24 hours, ten copies are up for grabs.

HOW CAN YOU WIN?
Leave a comment saying why you want a copy and tomorrow we will *randomly* select ten winners. The books will ship out and you’ll have them next week!

The only catch is that if you win, you have to promise to review it on your blog and on Amazon. That’s not too much trouble is it?

I’ll announce the winners on Wednesday and then share how we’ll be giving the other ten copies away.

So…

Leave a comment & let us know why you should win. I realize that’s kind of silly since winners will be picked randomly, but just play along. Cool? :)

You can also download a free copy of the chapter “Processing through Pain” here…they did a really rad design on the interior. It’s amazing.

….but not now.

I will announce the secret URL tonight at 8 pm CST on the videocast at CatalystBackstage.com.

just a little incentive…

(p.s. - the interior design ROCKS!)

so…

if you ARE going to catalyst, a few things!

1. be on the look out for the cows. show them some love if you see them…

2. want a free, amazingly awesome t-shirt that’s will help promote mad church disease? promise to wear it one day at catalyst and it’s yours! email me your t-shirt size and cell phone number.

3. let’s meet! i’ll be at the deadly viper shin dig, thursday night, 8-9:30 pm. details and RSVP here.

4. don’t forget - catalystbackstage.com will be launching soon!

i seriously cannot wait for next week. i am not a conference person at all, but this isn’t just your everyday kind of conference. i haven’t been able to sleep i’m so dadgum excited.

who all from this little community IS going anyway?

I need a couple people who live in Atlanta area that have three days to spare from October 8-10 and want to go to Catalyst for FREE.

We have a top secret marketing plan that we need help with for promoting Mad Church Disease. You’ll get a free copy of the book, and a very moooving experience. And again, you’ll get into Catalyst for free.

Interested?

Email Zondervan Marketing Genius Chris for details @ chris.fann@zondervan.com. I promise you will never experience anything like this any other time in your whole entire life ever forever.

This message will self destruct…

this should be posting at 7:10 am CST on wednesday, which is the time my flight from nashville to oklahoma city will be departing. this is the first of many, many trips over the next six months.

i’ll be speaking (well, it’s more like leading a discussion) at ministrycom08 on thursday and friday on burnout…and i would love your prayers. i have said it a million times and i’ll say it again…the whole speaking thing makes me really nervous!

please pray that god will use this time to really bring an awareness of need to the people who listen…that we need to continually stay connected to him, that it’s okay to say no, and that if someone is burned out, that they’ll receive some wisdom about what to do.

it’s not a super fun creative topic, but it’s necessary and i am praying that god will use the information we present in a meaningful and unique way.

updates to follow…i’ll be updating my twitter frequently, i’m sure. so follow me if you’d like!

i am reading this amazing book right now.  here are some things i’ve highlighted so far…it’s truly enlightening. i realize it’s a bit long, and it takes a little time to read, but it is so rich, i really recommend you invest a few minutes in absorbing this.

• technical civilization is man’s conquest of space.  it is a triumph frequently achieved by sacrificing an essential ingredient of existence, namely, time.  in technical civilization, we expend time to gain space  to enhance our power in the world of space is our main objective.  yet to have more does not mean to be more.  the power we attain in the world of space terminates abruptly at the borderline of time.  but time is the heart of existence.
• there is a realm of time where the goal is not to have but to be, not to own but to give, not to control but to share, not to subdue but to be in accord.
• we have often suffered from the degradation by poverty, now we are threatened with the degradation through power.  there is a happiness in the love of labor, there is misery in the love of gain.
• many hearts and pitchers are broken at the fountain of profit.
• to retain the holy, to perpetuate the presence of god, his image is fashioned.  yet a god who can be fashioned, a god who can be confined, is but a shadow of a man.
• time to us is sarcasm, a slick treacherous monster with a jaw like a furnace incinerating every moment of our lives.  shrinking, therefore, from facing time, we escape for shelter to things of space.
• the bible is more concerned with time than with space.  it sees the world in the dimension of time. it pays more attention to generations, to events, than to countries, to things; it is more concerned with history than geography.
• the sabbath is not for the sake of the weekdays; the weekdays are for the sake of the sabbath.  it is not an interlude but the climax of living.
• it must always be remembered that the sabbath is not an occasion for diversion or frivolity; not a day to shoot fireworks or to turn somersaults, but an opportunity to mend our tattered lives; to collect rather than to dissipate time.
• labor without dignity is the cause of misery; rest without spirit is the source of depravity.

and i am only 18 pages in…

this is what gets me though

• two things the people of rome anxiously desired — bread and circus games.  but man does not live by bread and circus games alone.  who will teach him how to desire anxiously the spirit of a sacred day?

the answer? it’s supposed to be us.

this jacks with me big time.

because we can’t teach how to desire something we don’t ourselves yet desire.

i need your story. more importantly, others need your story.

they need to know they’re not alone.

so…i need your video.

nothing fancy. you and your iSight and YouTube or vimeo.

i am putting together some clips of church leaders who have burned out, think they might be, or have recovered for a small workshop i am teaching. what do you feel? what are the pressures you experience? do you miss your family? your relationship with christ?

or, are you a spouse of a church leader and you’re afraid your husband or wife is burning out? please share, too…

videos will be shown and only your first name will be used.

please shoot me an email or leave me a comment if you think you could sum up your story in about a minute’s time. i’d need these by next friday.

i would really appreciate it.

thanks!