Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Jon Acuff - the man, the myth, the legend

Many of you may not even know who Jon Acuff is. I know I have written about him before though, so I hope you at least know his name.


I was honored to stand in line at Launch Out to meet him. I only had a few minutes, and honestly I told him something silly for two reasons. #1. I did not want to cry. #2. I wanted him to remember me.

A few years ago, with his START book, he was here in town speaking at a church. I went to their service just to hear Jon. Then I ran over to second service at my church.

During Jon's message, his pant leg was in his sock.

Jon is a very funny guy to me. His whole career got started with a site called "Stuff Christians Like". He talks about really funny things. So I knew that he would laugh at himself, if he knew that his pants were in his sock. I really wanted to take a picture that day, but he would have seen me because I was pretty close to the stage.

Anyway, Jon spoke to us at Launch Out. What he has built is a community of Dreamers and Builders. He said when he goes places and is interviewed, they ask about us. They want to know how he built this amazing group of people. I say it's all God. There is no other explanation.

Please check him at out at Jon Acuff's website

Here are a few highlights from Jon's talk:

"Use your influence for others." That's huge to me! I am not a selfish person by nature, so I do not struggle with this one, but I 'm sure some people do.

"Invite people on your path to do things with you." God designed us for community. He never wanted us to be alone. So, even if it's internet people, invite people to walk with you in what you are doing.

"Say no to the right things." It is not always smart to say yes to everything or to say no to everything. Find the balance.

"Be careful with the invitations that keep you from dreaming."  That's HUGE!

"Don't perform for strangers." Jon talked about when he took his daughters to the American Girl store while on vacation. He was going to post a picture with a nice caption about what an awesome dad he was to have stopped there for his girls. Then he realized that he was only wanting people to think he was a good dad, all while he was not spending time with his girls to post and caption the picture. He said something awesome about not creating moments to look good, but I didn't write it down and couldn't find it. Sowwy.

"Be present with the people you are with."  I think this speaks for itself, but I will add to it. Let's put down our phones, people. I do have amazing internet friends because of Jon Acuff, but when I am with my children or my real life friends, I need to BE THERE. We all do.

Jon Acuff has NO idea how this community has changed so many lives. He has done something that God has used for many many reasons. I am so blessed and thankful to be a part of it all. 

Launch Out in Atlanta, 2016 is going to be fantastic!

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