Please permit me to change pace a bit for a post and do some self reflection.

Here I am in an ancient Russian church tower

Looking Old

It seems surprise people when they learn I’m only 24. There are two ways to take this. Either that I look old or that I seem seem old for my age. Is this caused by sorrow, weight or wisdom? I don’t know. Probably a mixture.

Looking forward to my future I wonder if this will continue or if I will linger at an age.

Thanks to Frank Ball for sending me this cartoon for my birthday

Knowing Less

I know now less than I thought I knew at 14. For instance, I thought I knew apologetics until yesterday when I preached on the UT campus. Most of the audience was hardened atheists with pre-prepared questions.

While on campus I saw an apologetisist presenting to probably 200 students who sat raptured by the eloquence of his words. He took anyone’s objection and gave a reasoned and winsome answer. He inspired me to know more than I do and helped me realize I know less than I think.

Enjoying Life

My cousin Tim asked me one Christmas if I had “destination fever.” Am I so focused on the goal that I forget to enjoy the journey?

A strong goal focus may help my leadership ability but it can also make me a miserable person to be around, especially when I am in a focused state.

My clients have taught me that the best authors enjoy brainstorming, outlining, drafting, writing, editing and promotion. Every stage of the writing process has its own joy.

The authors who just want to “be published” are miserable and often never get published.

I want to be someone who enjoys each stage of life’s journey. I am optimistic about the future but I want to also be content with where I am now.

Embracing Freedom

As a self employed single man I have a great degree of freedom. This is a season to embrace! Not a season to squander  on worry or speculation.

Blogging

Some of you have asked me why I don’t blog much anymore. I actually blog more than ever just not as much this site.

I write once a roughly week for the following sites:

• Practical Courtship
• Author Tech Tips

You can get updates to these sites by, RSS, email, or Facebook. Perhaps one of the best birthday gifts you could give me would be to subscribe and or comment on one of those sites. PracticalChourtship.com has received an amazing number of comments and I love reading them.

Repenting from Apathy

Last Sunday we had a meeting at eHarmony where we repented of apathy. I realized that I had been apathetic about finishing my book. Other folks were repenting from political apathy. Kristine, my editor, and I have committed to finish editing Digital Cancer by the end of the year.

Please pray for us as we do this because it is a lot of discouraging work.

Thanking God

I am thankful for:

• My family. The older I get the more I come to understand what a precious gift each family member is.
  • A father who speaks identity.
  • A mother who loves unconditionally.
  • A sister who can dance, laugh and sing.
  • A brother with worlds in his head that can only been seen through visualizing his words.
  • A brother with a heart for people.
  • A brother with a heart for the Kingdom.
• A job that allows me to make enough to live on.
• A community of believers who have a passion for Jesus. I get to storm the gates of hell every Monday with prayer ninjas.
• My roomates: all three of them. They are each so different and so awesome. We have funny one liners every day. Any house named eHarmony has got to be a lot of fun

My grandfather, who passed away last year.

No related posts.

Here is a quick video with some of the cool people we met at the ACW conference .

I’m in St. Petersurg now and will post about that soon.

No related posts.

Married people often tell me how they miss the freedom they had when they were single. Well I am single and I have done very little with this supposed freedom.

Well no more.

Russia

Antioch Belton is sending me to Russia from Feb 25 through March 25. I will be working with Mir a Russian charity that serves orphans. I will be shooting a documentary, building websites, fixing computers, teaching about technology, and sharing the Good News with everyone I can.

I am excited to see what God is going to do. The last time we went to Russia we went with few plans and then tried to hang on while God did amazing things. I expect He will do the same this time. This blog will be the best place to keep up with what is going on. I’ll be posting videos, photos and prayer requests as often as possible.

Scotland and California

After Russia I will visit Joe Ewen, the Mings and Jessica Heaton in Scotland. I will build their church a website and do some tech training. After leaving Scotland I will swing by Mount Hermon for a writers conference. This is the biggest Christian writers conference in the world and it is my last best chance to get a traditional publisher for my book . If they turn me down, I will publish Digital Cancer without them.

I will also be seeking the Lord about the next season of my life. When I get back I don’t know where I will live. Belton, New Zeland, Austin and California are all on the table. Maybe I’ll fall in love with Russia or Scotland and want to stay. I have no idea where God will call me to next.

God willing, I will be back in Austin April 8th.

Please Pray

• Boldness to share the Gospel.
• Grace and time to learn Russian.
• A heart submitted to His Lordship.
• Provision
• A publisher
• Ears to hear.

My budget for the missions part of this trip is $2600, including the flight across the pond, which is not bad for over a month over sees. Mount Hermon will cost another $1200.  If you would like to help send me to Russia you can make the check payable to:

Antioch Community Church
C/O Thomas Umstattd Jr.
P.O. Box 972
Belton, TX 76513

If you would like to get email updates from me please sign up for my email newsletter .

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New Business
I now setup websites for Author’s and businesses. Many of them are paying to much for golden handcuff sites. Others have no site at all. What I like about WordPress is that my clients can update the site as easily as they can ask me to do it for them. They like this too because they can keep their site current.

Some wordpress sites I have made include:

• PeerlessRoofing.com Great roofing & remodeling company in the Temple Belton TX area.
  
• RenaeBrumbaugh.com An expository daily devotional.
• AustinRhetoricClub.org My favorite debate club ever
• GreatShalom.org An Austin radio show about healing, homeschooling & health. A podcast is coming soon so that you non Austinites can listen in.
• CaltarionChronicles.com David Umstattd’s blog about a book he is writing.
• JenniferLackey.com A friend of mine. She is smart and too busy to update her blog.

Thomas Camp
I have started an internship program with my businesses called Thomas Camp. Paul Hastings is my first attendee. He is learning about marketing, web design, book keeping, organization, cooking and vacuum repair. Follow his blog for day by day rundown of Thomas Camp.

BrookAudio.com
We will be launching BrookAudio.com today! If you love Audiobooks you will love this site. Brook Audio: Turn your car into a classroom by bringing to the classic audiobooks on the road.

Writers Conference
By God’s gracious provision I have pulled together the funds to go to the Glorieta Christian Writers Conference in New Mexico next week. It is the second biggest writers conference and my best chance to get a publisher all year. At the conference I will get a chance to "pitch" my book to publishers.  Pray that I get favor.

Courtship Blog
Over the last several weeks I have talked to dozens of homeschool moms and a handful of homeschool dads from all over Texas about courtship.  Many of them are concerned that courtship is not working very well to get young people married, particularly young women.

I have also talked with people from all over the world including a member to the Chinese underground church to an Indian who grew up in Singapore about different methods of courtship in other cultures. I have heard about betrothal, courtship, Christian dating, arranged marriage, and even "dateship."

I will start a new blog soon that will examine the obstacles to modern courtship and then discuss solutions. My hope is to spark a dialogue as we pioneer this new approach to marriage. I will post a link once the blog is up and ready to go.

Grandfather
On a sad note we are concerned that my grandfather is dying. Please pray for him. He is not born again as far as we know.

I think thats it. Let me know if I forgot anything. Sorry for all the personal posts.

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What has happened?

We hear echos or war, the clash of resounding arms and we long to be a part of something greater than ourselves.  The drumbeat for battle echoes the beating of our hearts. But, we can’t see the battle because it is fought not with guns but with words and deeds. The war is not in trenches but in the arena of ideas. Our enemy twists the truth to steal, kill, and destroy.

Will we stand to fight him?

Throughout the centuries men of God have stood up against this unseen foe. They carried the torch of truth and now hold it for us to take. But, for many of us, the only battle we fight is against an enemy that doesn’t exist. Why invest hours trying to beat level thirty when a spiritual war wages all around you? If we, the generation of today, fail to take up the torch of truth, who will pass it on to the generation of tomorrow? Will history remember us as those who let it die?

All my life, adults told me that my generation would be the one that God would use to usher in revival. Yet, when I look around I see Christian youth sitting idle, getting entertained by their TVs, computers and youth groups. Where are the warriors training? Where are the strongmen who long to run into battle? Where are the warrior poets holding the torch of truth for all to see?  Most of them haven’t even signed up for boot camp. Encouraged by their mothers to value safety over obedience they are still boys. Boys living in men’s bodies. 

This is your invitation.

For you, boot camp can start today if you are willing. The only cost of admission is total commitment. There is no room for double mindedness among the soldiers of light. Those who sign up and then look back have no place in the Kingdom we fight for. Our General shares our allegiance with no one. We are either all His or not His at all. God has no grandchildren, step children, or part time warriors. We must follow him alone and with our whole hearts or admit we follow a different king.

But our journey does not end with bootcamp. Some of you reading this are already trained beyond your obedience to God.  If that is you, the next step is to do something with the hundreds of hours of sermons you have heard. Take the Gospel out of the church and share it with the lost. Feed the poor. Care for widows and orphans.

God has not called us to play defense against evil. We can’t win if the game ends with the score 0-0.  We won’t win by attending weekly Sunday training and then seldom showing up for the battle. God is calling boys to become men of God .

Will you be one of them?

Are you ready to put away childish things and get about your Father’s business? If so, there is a place for you. This book isn’t about helping you quit gaming. It’s an invitation to an adventure that is better than gaming.  This book will change your life, if you will let it.

You have been reading an excerpt from a chapter in my book Digital Cancer. What do you think?

No related posts.

In the movie The Lord of the Rings, Aragorn takes a risk by going into the mountain of the dead. He went in hopes of securing for Gondor reinforcements to aid in the fight against evil. The dead while an unlikely ally in this cause ended up making the difference.

I have been thinking a lot lately about why I am writing a book about the dangers of digital gaming. And frankly, it’s not about the games. My heart is to see a generation of young men rise up as men of God and start living kingdom centered lives.

Imagine what would happen if thousands of gamers suddenly dropped their nets and started following Jesus like the men in the New Testament. I see gaming as an area filled with bound men who have huge potential for changing the world.

Many of my friends have hearts that burn for various nations around the world or even for the nations in general. My heart is to see the world reached but my heart burns for the United States. The U.S. church is withdrawing from society so quickly I am afraid we are quickly on our way to becoming another England or Europe.

If we are to see victory we need to gain small tactical victories that can lead, through Christ, to bigger victories and I think setting gamers free from gaming is one of those areas.

Like Aragorn I want to go into a place unlikely to yield greatness and find mighty warriors for the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. I don’t hate video games. But, I love Jesus and I want to see an army raised up that will make a change for good.

I want to see men of God run after Jesus whole heartedly. Thats why I am writing this book.

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