You won’t want to miss the Catalyst West Conference, happening April 18-20, 2012 in LA, where 3,500 young leaders will converge, including high-octane speakers, powerful worship, innovative programming, and an experience unlike any other. Hear from leadership authorities including the one I’m most excited about–my beautiful wife Lori Wilhite and Brandi Wilson, who will be leading a lab!! There are many incredible speakers like Andy Stanley, Marcus Buckingham, David Platt, Erwin McManus and Craig Groeschel, along with several innovative thinkers…

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Kylie Bisutti has recently hit the news because she stepped down as a Victoria Secret lingerie supermodel to honor her faith, her husband and to be a role model to other girls. In her teen years Kylie attended Central and was very involved with our Fuse Student Ministries. I’m proud of her and the stand that she has taken in her life. Hear more of her story on this Good Morning America clip:

I’m fired up to begin a new series this weekend at Central called Relationship Bootcamp. Here’s a preview

Hey Centralers, I’m so excited about this weekend! Lincoln Brewster will be with us to lead us in worship at the Henderson campus and to bust out a little suprise from his days with Steve Perry (of Journey fame). Our other campuses will have some surprises of their own. I’ll be teaching on The Game of Life and there will be some tailgating going on around the weekend. Plus everyone will be wearing their favorite jerseys. I’ll be wearing a…

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Hey Communicators and those who want to be, Coming up March 15 is a 180-minute online conference you should check out on how to prepare and deliver better messages. This event is hosted by Jeff Henderson and will be very helpful. I’ll be teaching the nuts and bolts of message preparation along with some of my favorite communicators like Andy Stanley, Dr. Charles Stanley, Perry Noble, Louie Giglio and Vanable Moody. Best of all is that it is FREE. You…

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Have you ever walked into a church and felt like you were at some odd version of a Christian prom? Everybody gets dressed up, smiles, and acts like everything is cool. Never mind what’s really going on behind the scenes in life, we feel pressure to keep up appearances. Maybe this is why I love this challenge from Fil Anderson: “My highest hope is for all of us to stop trying to fool others by appearing to have our act…

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My wife, Lori, and the ladies at Leading and Loving It are hosting the JustONE Virtual Conference for Pastors’ Wives and Women in Ministry! If you, your wife, or your co-worker needs encouragement … challenge … connection … and inspiration … All while sitting comfortably on the couch with a Latte in hand, then check this out. The JustONE Conference is a free for all Pastors’ Wives and Women in Ministry. This 4 week conference will include over 20 speakers…

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I just finished Brennan Manning’s memoir All Is Grace. It is a moving read about a broken person who has taught me so much about God’s love in his writing. Many of you know Brennan’s story, but if you don’t, he’s a great writer on the theme of grace that became well known for his book The Ragamuffin Gospel. Brennan is in his late 70’s now. The crowds that packed out his speaking tours have long gone. He has to…

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This morning I saw Ricky Gervais on one of the morning shows. He’s not my favorite comedian by a long shot, but I resonated with what he had to say about the work we do. He implied that the real joy in life is not in all the success, but in the work itself, in loving what you get to do and doing it with excellence. He spoke of never working just for a paycheck and not coming into money…

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Happy New Year everybody! It’s crazy that we are in 2012, but here we are. This year with resolutions and everyone gearing up for the future, I’m remembering what a counselor told me in a very important appointment. He listened to me talk about my life and history and asked question after question. After he heard me talk for a while he said, “Jud, let me repeat back to you a phrase you used, because I think there is something…

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