Scott Freeman

I’m in Houston on a short family vacation. Don’t know how much I’ll be able to blog, but I had to share this.
YouTube has a goal of making every music video ever made available on its site. For someone like me who lived on MTV in the 80′s it’s a goldmine. I thought from time to time I would share with you some of my favorites from a bygone era.
This is a great song from Honeymoon Suite called “What Does it Take?” I remember this one particular girl I was hanging out with back in the day. I wasn’t sure how to take it to the next level, if you know what I mean. She thought we were great friends, but I was interested in more.
One night she was talking about this guy she was dating and wanted to read me the words to a song that he had written her. She began to read these lyrics. The dude had passed this song off on his own.
The dilemma? Tell her the truth, that the guy was a liar, hoping that it led to a break-up and an opening. Or keep quiet.
Yeah, I told her it was a Honeymoon Suite song. Didn’t get me anywhere though.
The funny thing is, it’s pretty cheesy lyrics.
But I still love it.

It’s another college football season and tonight my beloved Arkansas Razorbacks take the field. We haven’t had much to brag about the past two seasons but I am hopeful that this season we will begin to right the ship.
We have a heralded freshman quarterback, the best running back in the SEC, and 19 returning starters. And most of our tough games are at home. We should return to a bowl this season.
As always, we have a tough schedule but I believe we will come out fairly strong. Here’s the way I see it shaping up:

Sept. 2–USC: They absolutely embarrased us last year and Pete Carroll showed less class than Steve Spurrier in running the score and throwing late in the game. Although we won’t forget their poor sportsmanship I’m afraid we won’t have the manpower to take this one, especially with Darren McFadden doubtful. I hope I’m wrong but this one looks like a loss.

Sept. 9–Utah State: I wish that this was game one on our schedule as we could use a game to shake off the jitters and get McFadden back before taking on USC but wherever this falls on the schedule it’s a win.

Sept. 16–@Vanderbilt: There is nothing more embarrasing than losing to a team that has no business in the SEC. Last year, that’s exactly what we did. We exact revenge here with another win in Music City.

Sep. 23–Alabama: This game is at home which tilts it in our favor. This should be a win unless Alabama has increased their payroll. And yes, I’m saying they cheat. A lot.

Oct. 7–@Auburn: We get a week off to prepare for this game. Auburn should be among the BCS contenders this year so it’ll be tough. I think the Hogs have the stuff to pull off some upsets this year. However, I don’t think that this is the week. Loss.

Oct. 14–SE Missouri State: A great way to heal up a little after what will surely be a tough game the week before. Win.

Oct. 21–Ole Miss: Not the class of the SEC. Win

Oct. 28–Louisiana-Monroe: Playing for bowl eligibility in our last non-conference tilt. Win.

Nov. 4–@South Carolina: I’m not buying in to the Spurrier hype. Barring a let-down, I think we go in here and pull out an important contest on the road. Win.

Nov. 11–Tennessee: Obviously, the Vols are looking to bounce back from last season’s aberration. This is a tough contest that, I believe, will pit two of the top teams in the SEC playing for major bowl positioning. This game could go either way. I’m taking my boys in a squeaker. Win.

Nov. 18–Mississippi State: Still fighting to return to days of glory this team will be luck to avoid the west cellar. Win.

Nov. 25–LSU: We are lucky to have them in Little Rock. But I am straining at the boundaries of logic by having them at 9-2 at this point in the season. Loss.

So, I have them finishing 9-3. A great return to form. At the worst I think they will struggle at SC and drop one to either Tennessee or Alabama. Even 7-5 will be an improvement.
But I’m banking on the 9-3.

I talk a lot about social justice and caring for the poor and marginalized in our society.  Jimmy Dorrell does more than just talk.  He is making a difference in the Waco community.

14 years ago, this month, he began meeting with homeless people underneath a bridge along I-35 in Waco. Before long it became a weekly church service.  Today that church meets weekly under the bridge, providing hope and redemption to the forgotten souls here.

Here is a YouTube video of The Church Under The Bridge. Jimmy’s vision has spawned other movements under bridges in other cities as well.

Jimmy’s work is contained in the most vital ministry in the Waco area called Mission Waco.  I have had the honor of getting to know Jimmy, eat with him and participate in a group of urban ministers concerned about being the Kingdom in the midst of the lives of the “least of these.” He knows them and he loves them.

Today sees the release of his book: “Trolls & Truth: 14 Realities About Today’s Church That We Don’t Want to See“

This is a book that you will want to read.  Will you support this ministry? If so, click the link above and buy it today. 

Read this summary from the promotional copy of the book:

Every city has a group of troll-like rejected misfits. They are the homeless, the prostitutes, the greedy, and the addicts. These are the people on the fringe to whom churches close their doors, the ones you move away from on the pew. They are the marginalized, rejected, and forgotten cultural lepers who lurk outside your church. They are the most unlikely prophets of all.
 
Trolls & Truth is the story of a local church of homeless people; college students; middle-class Christians; some poor and some rich; black, white, and brown; drunks; materialists; mentally ill; and former inmates who meet beneath the noise of 18-wheelers and rushing traffic under an interstate bridge in Waco, Texas. As they live out biblical mandates across cultural barriers and institutional baggage, they remind us that the gospel cannot be shaped by socially accepted values and remain “good news.” Through their testimonies they reveal the mystery that such a diverse group without buildings and traditional expectations are finding the power of the gospel in ways that brings cultural validity to the skeptics and unbelieving world. They have a wake-up call for the American church.
 
Transformation in the church must come. In new wineskins and perhaps through the life of an old wino, our ecclesiology must be upended by the “least of these,” the hungry, imprisoned, sick, and stranger. Intentional efforts in local congregations must be made to reconnect the rich and the poor; the black, white, and brown; those educated in the university; and those educated on the streets. Only then can we wrestle with the values of the kingdom and learn the lessons that this God of the little people wants us to know.