Monday Over Coffee: "The Courage to Encourage"
Posted May 1, 2023 by Greg Funderburk in Monday Over Coffee
Having just arrived for my first year in college, I was assigned to a small orientation group with seven other freshmen like myself and two friendly seniors who knew their way around campus. Over the next several days, we all got to know one another as the seniors led us through a series of discussions about where we were from, the challenges of college life, and what we might come…
Monday Over Coffee: "The Fullness of Reality"
Posted April 24, 2023 by Greg Funderburk in Monday Over Coffee
Imagine that you've just now joined an elephant, a mouse, a robin, an owl, a bat, a snake, a spider, a mosquito, and a bee inside the confines of a cavernous high school gymnasium. Do you have the picture? There you are—each in your own way—exploring the space together. Now: imagine the lights go out. This is how Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer, Ed Yong, opens his terrific book, An…
Monday Over Coffee: "Landing Instructions"
Posted April 17, 2023 by Greg Funderburk in Monday Over Coffee
Do you remember your yearbook quote from high school? Or if you haven't graduated yet, are you thinking of one for when the time comes? A number of publications and websites offer help with this momentous task, whether you're going for something funny, something inspirational, something sweet, something random, or something that's just memorable. Here are a few suggestions I found:
Monday Over Coffee: "Mistrust the Rush"
Posted April 10, 2023 by Greg Funderburk in Monday Over Coffee
A few weeks ago I was speaking to some friends about a controversial topic. And, as is often the case following such dialogues, the next day I replayed the conversation in my mind, thinking of all sorts of great things I should've said to make my points more emphatic and effective. Had I just been better able to marshal my righteous arguments, my fanciful thinking went, that rush of adrenaline…
New Role for Jennifer Gribble
Posted April 4, 2023 by SMBC in Discipleship, Missions
As Midtown Houston continues to experience a transformation, South Main's relationships with our neighbors are evolving. To help keep up with these changes, we are excited to announce that Jennifer Gribble will serve as South Main's Community Outreach Director. This brand new role on the Communications Team will focus on the surrounding community as well as guests that visit South Main.…
Monday Over Coffee: "Calories that Count"
Posted April 3, 2023 by Greg Funderburk in Monday Over Coffee
I don't have a pedometer on my watch, but I know a lot of folks who do. Many of them judge their day as a victory or a defeat based on whether they hit their 10,000 steps or not. We all utilize somewhere between 1500 to 3000 calories to make our way through a typical day, and the number of steps we take and how much exercise we get makes a big difference as to whether we end up on the low or…
Monday Over Coffee: "Legibility"
Posted March 27, 2023 by Greg Funderburk in Monday Over Coffee
I like cemeteries, and there are some remarkable ones in our city. Glenwood in the Heights and Forest Park Woodlawn south of town are the most visually interesting. I recently visited Trinity Churchyard in Manhattan (where Alexander and Eliza Hamilton are buried) and always feel edified after a visit to historic Arlington National Cemetery outside of Washington, DC. The City of…
Monday Over Coffee: "Jude and Revelation"
Posted March 20, 2023 by Greg Funderburk in Monday Over Coffee
It was midnight on a Friday night when a local radio station began rolling out the Top 100 songs of all time. I was about ten and staying overnight at a friend's house with five others. We all played on the same youth basketball team, and despite the fact that we had a game the next morning at 8:00 AM, while the others began to doze off, I found myself mesmerized more and more each hour by…
Monday Over Coffee: "Please Remain Seated"
Posted March 13, 2023 by Greg Funderburk in Monday Over Coffee
Once it was for surreptitiously shuffling a serving of stewed squash off my dinner plate through the window of our kitchen and into an adjacent flower bed. More than once it was for quarreling with my sisters about the phone—there was only a single line for the whole family back then. Quite a few times it was for fighting with my brother. But each instance of misbehavior like these would lead…
Operación San Andrés Update
Posted March 7, 2023 by SMBC in Missions
The ministry efforts of Operación San Andrés (OSA) in Peru are built on the four pillars of Family, Education, Church, and Service. Within these pillars, educational enrichment of children and youth remains at the core of OSA's mission to alleviate the effects of poverty in Peru by transforming families through the love of Christ.
Monday Over Coffee: "More"
Posted March 6, 2023 by Greg Funderburk in Monday Over Coffee
Carey Grant once said, "It's better to buy one good pair of shoes than four cheap ones. One pair made of fine leather," he continued, "can outlast four inferior pairs, and if well cared for, will proclaim your good judgment and taste no matter how old they become." Based on this sound advice, a few years ago, I purchased on sale from a local department store, a pair of size 8 black dress shoes…
Monday Over Coffee: "Hubris"
Posted February 27, 2023 by Greg Funderburk in Monday Over Coffee
One of my favorite stories, which suggests how we might think not only more deeply about contemporary art but more charitably about the work and effort of one another, involves a husband and wife walking through a museum featuring a modern art exhibit. The husband glances at one of the canvases, shakes his head ruefully about what he perceives to be the childish simplicity of the…
Monday Over Coffee: "Approaching Lent"
Posted February 20, 2023 by Greg Funderburk in Monday Over Coffee
After my first year in law school, interested in the field of sports law, I took a summer job with the Texas Rangers baseball club. Though it was an unglamorous entry-level position during a losing season for the team, it gave me an opportunity to gain some basic knowledge about the business side of sports. During the day, I toiled in the box office selling tickets, and in the evenings I…
Monday Over Coffee: "Epic"
Posted February 13, 2023 by Greg Funderburk in Monday Over Coffee
A few years ago our little family traveled to Europe for a week-long trip starting in Barcelona—surely one of the most beautiful places in the world. The first night, though a little jet-lagged, the four of us shared a delicious Spanish meal along what's called Las Ramblas, the famous boulevard which runs through the middle of this remarkable city. In the morning, we took a bus into the…
Monday Over Coffee: "It All Accumulates"
Posted February 6, 2023 by Greg Funderburk in Monday Over Coffee
A few years back, our church began offering a series of summer Sunday morning classes to our school-age kids—a variety of hour-long courses that touched on vital life skills, introducing them to different vocations and professions, and prompting their imaginations to explore such things further as they matured. There were meal-preparation demonstrations for those curious about cooking. Police…
Monday Over Coffee: "The Curse of the Close Facsimile"
Posted January 30, 2023 by Greg Funderburk in Monday Over Coffee
I admit their television commercial had the sound and feel of a Ronco kitchen appliance sales pitch, but this company—TEJ Records—was offering something more—a double album chock-full of terrific early 1970's billboard hits including "Bennie and the Jets," "Band on the Run," "Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing," as well as "many, many more" per their persuasive spokesperson.
Monday Over Coffee: "Furthermore, I Propose..."
Posted January 23, 2023 by Greg Funderburk in Monday Over Coffee
The Roman senator known to history as Cato the Elder for a long time ended every speech he gave like this:
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.
"Furthermore, I propose that Carthage must be destroyed."
It didn't matter what topic Cato's speech actually concerned, he would invariably conclude in this way before taking his seat. If the question at hand was about a…
Monday Over Coffee: "Anger"
Posted January 16, 2023 by Greg Funderburk in Monday Over Coffee
I heard a story once about a writer who landed an opinion column in a big city newspaper. While very pleased he got the gig, he immediately became concerned about coming up with compelling topics to write about twice a week throughout the year. A mentor suggested to him that if he focused his attention rightly, he wouldn't find this to be difficult at all. "At least a couple of things every…
Monday Over Coffee: "Ephemeral"
Posted January 9, 2023 by Greg Funderburk in Monday Over Coffee
Several years ago I went to New Jersey on a business trip then traveled back into New York City for the night, preparing to fly back home the next day. With some time on my hands, as the sun went down over the city, I decided to go to the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts because I'd never been there before.
Monday Over Coffee: "Single-Tasking"
Posted January 2, 2023 by Greg Funderburk in Monday Over Coffee
I regularly listen to a podcast called The Rewatchables, which lightheartedly revisits popular movies of the past, focusing on the power they have to entertain us even—and perhaps especially—on a second viewing, or third, or even a tenth. The show recently turned its listeners' attention to a 1982 movie called The Verdict starring Paul Newman in which Newman plays Frank Galvin, once an up-and-…
