Mark Brunott of First Free Lincoln Asks What is Your Bucket List?

The senior pastor of First Free Lincoln, an EFCA Church in Lincoln, Nebraska wrote about his bucket list a few years ago. This is what Mark Brunott came up with. The Wondering Eagle wrote my bucket list in the context of this blog and its life. I ask you in return, what is your bucket list? It can be anything from personal, professional or spiritual. 

“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”

George Bernard Shaw 

“In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.”

Abraham Lincoln 

Either way, Christ’s love controls us.^[a] Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life.^[b] 15 He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.

2 Corinthians 5:14-15 NLT 

Washington, D.C. Metro 

This past week I did a couple of heavy and dark posts. One was about a former Sovereign Grace Church here in the Washington, D.C. area and the other dealt with Liberty University. For the next post I wanted to do something a little lighter and allow people to think about something. This post comes from Mark Brunott’s blog. I have written about Mark before in, “Mark Brunott of First Free Lincoln on What to Say and Do in Times of Profound Loss” and “Do Evangelicals Make Studying the Bible Idolatry? Some Thoughts from the Senior Pastor of First Free Lincoln.” Mark Brunott is the Senior Pastor of First Free Lincoln which is in Lincoln, Nebraska. The name of Mark’s post is called, “Bucket List from a Different Perspective.” This deals with a bucket list and I want to ask you what is your bucket list? What do you want to do, or see in your lifetime. Mark’s take is spiritual and I will keep mine in that context. But feel free to change this and run with this as you want. 

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I read a blog this week that is so good I have to pass it on to each of you. It is the blog of James Emery White, Founding and Senior Pastor of Meckleburg Community Church in Charlotte, NC.

He read a book entitled, “The Before You’re Forty Bucket List.” This book is about the things you want to do before you “kick the bucket.” The book prompted him to come up with a bucket list for followers of Christ. This bucket list matters because of the eternal value.

I was so moved by his list that I am going to implement these things in my life before I “kick the bucket.” Would you be willing to join the adventure with me?

1. Build a relationship with a non-Christian and share your faith in Christ.

2. Trust God financially in terms of giving.

3. Take at least one bungee-jump of faith related to obedience.

4. Love someone to the point of sacrifice.

5. Discover your spiritual gift(s) and serve accordingly.

6. Make one spiritual pilgrimage (see A Traveler’s Guide to the Kingdom, InterVarsity Press, for some ideas).

7. Read the Bible in its entirety.

8. Mentor someone new to the faith.

9. Find a church home and invest yourself in its community and mission.

10. Serve the poorest of the poor.

James Emery White concludes “if I can have those ten things crossed off…it would have been a good and God-honoring life.”
Blessings,

 

What is my bucket list in the context of this blog? Or in the life of this blog? Its multiple perspectives and I am going to list them in a 1 to 10 format. They are not listed in the order of importance, but here it is. 

1. Get involved in a secular humanist church and learn more about them and hear different perspectives. Learn more about the atheist movement and look at them from a different light as they are deeply misunderstood. I spent time searching for myself from 2009 and 2013 in that environment and I deeply appreciate it as it helped me to find myself. 
2. Continue to write about churches in the nation’s capitol so that people who move to Washington, D.C. can be spared of some of the garbage that I have dealt with.
3. Write about the Acts 29 movement and continue to investigate and learn more about it. Also be willing to build some bridges if possible to have discussions.  
4. To close Jordan Kauflin’s and Eric Simmons Redeemer Arlington. To make sure that my life is the last hurt by that questionable entity. 
5. To keep this blog in perspective and be willing to step back if I need a break. To keep my family in California first and foremost in my thoughts. And to continue to support them and assist during a time of pain in my family. 
6. To calculate the growth of Neo-Calvinism inside the EFCA. To write about the EFCA and apply the research skills I have to the organization and help make it stronger and healthier. For the EFCA to know that I am not here to tear them down but to offer a different perspective as an outsider. Companies sometimes pay good money to research firms to study their culture or organization and offer feedback. The EFCA gets me for free 🙂 
7. To build bridges with those in the Neo-Calvinist movement so that I can learn and understand. Hear them out and write about them while always having known and interacted with them. 
8. To get to know people behind the scenes. Continue to email them, talk to them and meet them when I can. To travel to some of the places I have written about. I have done that in Kansas, California and the East Coast and continue to do so. To also be open to criticism and feedback whether it be good or bad. In giving feedback I need to make sure that I am open to it myself. 
9. To help reconcile people behind the scenes. To help people find peace and closure. For me that peace and closure was denied. Its why I am psychologically stuck. I want to help others find peace so they can live their life. 
10. Be committed to truth in my writing. To be honest first and say what may be difficult. Admit error when its made and to be apathetic about the stats and numbers. To not let this get to my head. If I am going to say something to be consistent in what is said. 

That is my bucket list for the life of this blog. What is your bucket list for your life? Career or more? This is a different post but its something different that I wanted to do. Love you guys!