Congratulations to Todd Meadows!

Todd was named partner to Huddleston-Bolen law firm in Huntington, WV.

Todd is an outstanding man! His God-given gifts and strong work-ethic have enabled him to accomplish amazing things over the years. As I read the announcement (below) I noticed the repetition of the word “named”.  When Todd graduated WVU, he was named - magna cum laude. Later on, he was named ”a Rising Star” by WV Super Lawyers. And now, Huddleston-Bolen named him partner! Wow! What an accomplishment! But the best name of all is the one God gave him – God named him “son” because Todd named Jesus “Lord.” He loves Jesus with all his heart, he is a serious student of scripture, and he quietly goes the second-mile to serve people who need help. He does this often. He is my nephew and I am very proud of him. We all are! Congratulations Todd! We are happy for you and Theresa and sweet little Cooper.

Huddleston Bolen’s Announcement is below:

Huddleston Bolen has announced that Ashley French, Cindy McCarty, Todd Meadows and Alex Ward have been named partners in the firm.

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Todd R. Meadows’ work has a heavy emphasis on defending corporate clients against allegations of personal injury. Mr. Meadows also has experience on a variety of cases, including those involving products liability, transportation law, premises liability, work related accidents, toxic torts, and insurance bad faith. He has been named by West Virginia Super Lawyers as a Rising Star.

Mr. Meadows graduated, magna cum laude, from West Virginia University in 2000, and obtained his law degree from the West Virginia University College of Law in 2004. Prior to coming to Huddleston Bolen, He worked in the Kentucky Legislature, where he acquired various leadership skills, tackled complex issues, and learned valuable lessons about successfully advocating for constituents

George Barna on leadership, modeling and family

George Barna on leadership, modeling and family (from his Homiletics Online interview).

Barna: We’re happy to take the label of Christian and not have to deal with the responsibility. Part of that is because of an absence of leadership in churches. You see, most of the churches in America have no God-given vision that they’re centered on. And so what do we wind up doing? We revert to playing the religious game. Let’s have more programs, let’s get more people in the seats, let’s build a bunch of buildings — all the things about which the world would say, “Ah, that’s success.” This has nothing to do with God’s equation of “Are you holy? Are you obedient? Are you serving? Do you want to be like Christ?” So we’ve missed the boat there. We’ve got to have the leadership component.

Secondly, people have to see it modeled. A lot of educational research has come out in the last five to seven years that shows that 60 — 70 percent of the behavioral change that takes place in a people’s lives in America is based upon finding someone that they know, and that they trust, watching what they do, and imitating their behavior. So modeling is huge. Where in the church do we see this being modeled for us by high-profile, trustworthy, credible individuals? So this is another missing component.

Then, we could get into the whole discussion about the family. Is there such a thing as a Christian family? We know that less than 10 percent of all Christian families ever spend time studying the Bible and praying together. Less than 10%. So what does that mean? It means that most Christian families are saying to the local church, “Here are my kids. You deal with them and I’ll do my best to get them there next week. That’s my contribution.” So that’s not enough.

Then we need to look at the whole element of “What is it that actually influences people’s thinking and behavior?” This is the focus of the research we’re doing right now. I don’t know the ultimate answers. But the preliminary insights would suggest that when we look at the major sources of influence in people’s lives, the church is not on the list. The major ones are movies, television, the Internet, publishing, public policy officials, parents and —

Click  here for the transcript

Lynn Anderson’s battle with Cancer – Inspiring!

Lynn Anderson is one of my heroes. I love him!

The video below was prepared last year (Feb 26, 2010) for the Oak Hills Church in San Antonio Texas where Max Lucado preaches.

Lynn came to Norway Ave last month (Jan 2011) – his strength and health had improved. He was in remission and God blessed us – Lynn was healthy enough to come to Huntington WV and inspire Norway Ave.

50 years of ministry, rock solid integrity, preaching, prayer, teaching, mentoring discipling, writing and on and on – spiritual disciplines with unwavering consistency.   That’s inspiring!

Lynn is my Moses – my Paul. I will always be his student – and friend.  Before Lynn left Huntington he wrote a little note  on the inside cover of “Talk Back to God”. I’m not going post his note on this blog – but it meant so much to that I copied it - laminated it and taped by my desk for inspiration – notes like that help keep me straight & sober – makes me want to be like Lynn.

My admiration for Lynn has grown even more during battle with cancer.  I was with him in that San Antonio Hospital when he began his chemo & radiation treatment. We walked around the hospital hallway -we laughed, cried and prayed. I listened to him explain his amazing perspective e.g. “Jeff, the big “C” is not “cancer”. The big “C” is Christ, Carolyn and our Children.”   Wow! That’s the kind of faith I need Lord – make me like Lynn. Just go all the way and make me like Jesus!  Lynn is full of Jesus – that is were the inspiration comes from – that’s what makes Lynn’s face so radiant (2 Corinthians 3:18). Shines longer and brighter than Moses.  That is why Moses had to keep going back up on the Mountain – to get his face all glorified-up again. But look at Lynn’s face – no veil and no fading – He just keeps shining brighter and brighter – even as he fights cancer – still smiling and shining because of the glory of God in the face of Jesus .

That’s why Lynn is such an inspiration – he’s full of Jesus!