Tag: new

A Few Changes Are Coming

October 22, 2025 / / 2 Comments

There’s a shift coming to the blog next month. Don’t worry! I’m not selling essential oils or becoming one of those skinny jeans wearing worship pastors. No offense to my essential oil (aka voodoo oil friends) or you skinny jean wearing peeps! Those have their place but it isn’t likely on this blog. I’m just tired of pretending that “pastor” is the only hat I wear.

Somewhere between the pulpit and my zero turn mower, God’s been reminding me that faith isn’t meant to live only in the sanctuary. It’s also in the sweat, the soil, and the sips around a backyard firepit.

For years, derrickhurst.org has been mostly ministry-focused. Like sermons, church leadership, discipleship, the usual “pastor stuff.” And I love that. I’ll keep writing about faith and leadership because that’s who I am. But it’s not all that I am.

I’m also a guy who loves lifting weights and the way it preaches discipline louder than most devotionals.

I’m a guy who likes a good bourbon not for escape, but because slowing down long enough to actually taste something is a spiritual act these days.

I’m a guy who finds God in dirt under the fingernails, broken tools, and the slow redemption of a half-dead garden.

And maybe that’s the point,  God is just as present in the mundane as He is in the miraculous. So, you’re going to start seeing a bit more of those mundane moments here. Posts about working out, working the land, coaching pastors, and wrestling with what discipleship actually looks like when the Bible closes and Monday shows up.

If that sounds too “earthy” for you, there are more blogs out there. But I’d love to have you hang around anyway. You might find that Jesus was far more earthy than we like to admit.

If that sounds like your kind of thing, then good. Grab your coffee (or whatever’s in that cup, depending on the hour), and let’s dig into what a full life of faith really looks like.

Because following Jesus was never meant to fit neatly in a church bulletin. It’s meant to invade everything from the gym to the garden to the glass in your hand.

So we’ll see you in a week or so with a little different focus and a better rhythm. Until then meet someone new. Share your name and one thing unique about yourself. Then see where the conversation goes. You might be surprised how who you are actually is interesting to someone new.

Power of Habits

September 26, 2023 / / 0 Comments

I’ve been back on a kick of listening to podcasts and books on my drives to the gym and work. One of the concepts that came out of my drive time listening this past week was about the power of habits. This isn’t like some power of positive thinking or self help kind of deal. But the consistency of doing small things well as part of a regular regimen. Really the goal is to build momentum.

Momentum is a powerful asset in life but you can’t have momentum without the small steps getting started.

All too often we tend to look at a lofty goal and want to achieve it. We tend to think as long as there’s a goal, we should be able to just push hard enough and get it done. But that’s not really the way things work.

Think of a big goal or vision statement as a ladder. The end result is the top rung of the ladder. We’d never grab a 30 foot ladder and just jump to the top step. It doesn’t work that way. We need to find the lower rungs to help us get started. Each rung on the ladder is another step toward the top. Each one helps us build momentum to get closer to that final goal of reaching the top.

The same is true for some of the goals we make in our daily lives. Often it’s not about the top rung of the ladder. The greatest differences can often be made on the short, seemingly small steps taken one after another to get there.

Ok so here’s a real life example. Many people have a goal to lose a few pounds after the first of the year. We’ve packed on some holiday blubber and want to lose a bit of it so our pants fit better. We buy a gym membership and new gym clothes. We pick up a new water bottle because this is the year we’re going to drink a gallon of water a day. We get all the right things and set the goal of dropping 25 pounds. But how often does it actually happen?

The problem is we miss the small rungs on the ladder. Sure getting the workout gear and the gym membership are helpful but we haven’t created a habit yet. We haven’t set the daily steps we’re going to take to get there. What if we set alarms on our phone to tell us when to get up and walk throughout the day? What about getting one of those apps that reminds us to drink a glass of water now please? Those are steps in the right direction as well.

But a habit isn’t about ideals or intentions. Habits are about actions. Consistent actions taken over time. This is what a habit is all about. This means that when the alarm goes off earlier than you like to wake up, you still get up. You find someone to hold you accountable to being at the gym. Because we all know letting someone down is harder than just not showing up yourself. Every day we take these small steps to create a habit that one day will do more than help you lose 25 pounds. It becomes a lifestyle where those 25 pounds come off and muscle is formed in their place.

The same can be said for most anything. It’s about the small steps we need to take regularly to get us to the intended destination. Habits are powerful but a word of caution. They can easily be derailed if we don’t keep ourselves accountable. As hard as it is to establish a habit, unfortunately it’s super easy to fall out of it. This is where we have to be intentional about each and every step along the path to that top rung of the ladder.

To sum it all up, habits help but habits are more than thoughts. They’re actions done repeatedly over time. They eventually become part of who we are. What habit do you need to start today to get you where you’re going?

New Year, New Look

December 30, 2022 / / 0 Comments

Coming to the blog roll this year are going to be a few additions both old and new! The year ahead is going to be focused on growing in three distinct areas. Spiritually, relationally, and in areas of service to those around you. We’ll take time to honestly evaluate our spiritual health. We’ll spend time evaluating the health of our relationships, just because someone is in your circle doesn’t mean they have to stay in your circle! And then we’ll look at those outside our circle and how we can be better humans in this world that is in desperate need of good humans!

The first thing to change is the theme layout of the blog. Nothing major just a shift in color, layout and images. Sometimes a quick surface change helps get the mojo running to make the more significant changes going as well!

The layout was chosen because it’s simplistic. The header image is not my property but a pic of that will likely replace this one eventually. The reason for this stock photo is the calm and quiet that it demonstrates. One goal for this blog site is to provide a place for honest reflection on life and allow space to challenge the status quo.

Another change is that we’re bringing back the Music Monday posts! This was a fun way to hear new songs and use them as small devotions or whatever you choose!

I’m also going to start adding back in a book review at least monthly. I got off track with my book reviews over the past couple of years but we’ll bring those back here as well.

Finally, there will be a section for practical tools to use in your walk of faith. Things for bible study, relationship tools, parenting and family tools. I’m even going to provide some discipleship tips for church leaders and members alike.

I hope that your 2022 ended with a wonderful celebration of all the amazing things God has given you! I know that 2022 was a great year for me! As I’ve said in another post, a great year doesn’t mean everything went “right” but that you can see the right in everything that happened.

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