Vote For My New Book Cover!

I would love your input on my new book cover.

Please tell me what you think!

Simply reply in the comments with 1, 2, 3, or 4.

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The 7 Greatest Sermons I've Ever Heard

I've been wanting to share this list with you for a while. These are the sermons God has used to change the trajectory of my life, or at least the pace.

Why 7 sermons? That's just how it is. Hardly a week passes that I don't think about the truths God revealed to me in these sermons. I see no reason to add more just for the sake of making it a top 10 list.

There's really no order for this, so I'm just going to go alphabetical by pastor.

JOHN PIPER:

Piper's sermons are dense with wisdom. He wastes no words, no pauses. When I listen to him preach, I find that I only absorb about 1/3 of what he teaches each time through. The "Battling Unbelief" series from which the first sermon comes is my favorite sermon series of all time.

1. Battling The Unbelief Of Anxiety

2. Getting To The Bottom Of Your Joy

3. If My Words Abide In You


MATT CHANDLER:

This doesn't even feel like listening to a sermon. Matt's teaching is so easy to listen to that I prefer it over music in my car on most days. And I recommend that you don't skip forward through his lengthy introductions or cut it off before his closing prayers, because his announcements alone carry more theological truth than entire sermons preached in many churches.

4. Heart Matters: The Question

5. The Art Of Prayer

6. Ecclesiastes: Approaching The Divine


TIM KELLER:

Tim was my pastor during my 3 years in NYC. He teaches with gentle authority, unpacking truth in a way that appeals to the intellect of the skeptic. Even after having spent my lifetime in church and in the Word, I had never come to understand this aspect of the fruit of the Spirit until I heard him teach on it. Gamechanger. Unfortunately, it isn't free. This is the only sermon that you will have to purchase. But it's only $2.50. (If I'm still thinking about it nearly 4 years later, I'd say it's worth that little.)

7. Led By The Spirit

I hope these will be helpful for you as you press on to know Him better. Enjoy!

D-Group Update

We've been up to a lot with D-Group. I can hardly keep track of where and when every group is meeting. But I'm posting this here as a means for any interested parties to access the information easily. This is a list of the D-Groups we're rolling out at the start of 2012. There will be more with the next 2 months. All groups are ladies only, except where specified otherwise.

ANDERSON
Monday 7-9pm
Wednesday 7-9pm
Wednesday 7:15-9:15pm (Women 40+)
Co-Ed Married D-Group coming soon!

GREENVILLE
Monday 7-9pm
Monday 7-9pm (Co-Ed Marrieds)
Tuesday 6:30-8:30pm
Tuesday 7:30-9:30pm

CHARLESTON
Tuesday 6:30-8:30

CLEMSON
Tuesday 7-9pm
Thursday 5:30-7:30pm

COLUBMIA
Tuesday 7-9pm

FLORENCE
Tuesday 6-8pm

MACON, GA
*leader seeking members*

MYRTLE BEACH
*leader seeking members*

If you're interested in being a part of D-Group or finding out more info, click here to visit an older blog entry explaining it in more detail.

If you like what you read and want to be a part of what we're doing (currently there are available slots in all our D-Groups), feel free to leave me a comment or send me an email through my website to let me know!

Slack.

Hey friends!

While I haven't been posting here lately, I've been busy writing many things elsewhere.

My new book, Orange Jumpsuit: Letters to the God of Freedom, the third in my Letters series, came out in 11/1/11. Hooray!

If you haven't picked up a copy, there are only 3 places you can do that. Click on the links for whatever your needs may be:

1. Print
2. Kindle
3. Nook

For those who've already read it: if you have 5 minutes (and 5 stars... cough cough) to spare, feel free to leave a review!

Since the book's release, I've been working on my 4th book, Mile Deep: A Practical Guide to Discipleship, based on my experiences with the Discipleship Groups ("D-Groups") that I lead. It's short and easy and very weird to write. Telling people what to do is way different than sharing my life experiences. Hopefully it won't come across as pushy. :)

I hope it will be out in March.

What are you up to so far in 2012?

Every Move I Make

Every move I make and word I speak should amplify the Gospel and serve to advance the Kingdom, even in my rest and leisure activities. So, here's a list of things to hold my actions up against and see if they measure up.

1. Is it beneficially to me personally and to the gospel generally?

2. Does it make God look glorious?

3. Will I lose self control and be mastered by what i participate in? Can I handle it?

4. Am I doing this in front of someone who will stumble because of it? (Sometimes it is best not to exercise your freedom. Christian maturity is laying down your freedom and not demanding to walk in it.)

5. Is it illegal?

6.If I fail to do this will I lose an opportunity to share the gospel?

7. Am I doing this to help other people or am I just being selfish?

8. Can I do this in a way that glorifies God?

9. Am I following the example of Jesus to help sinners be reconciled to God?

Thanks to Matt Chandler at The Village Church for this list. D-Group has just wrapped up our Colossians series from The Village Church, and this is from sermon 19. By the way, sermons 19 and 20 are game-changers.

When I Was In Prison...

I hope your summer is wrapping up nicely! What did you do? Where did you go?

Apart from eating a few too many fried things at a county fair, I had a great summer, working hard at a new project that is both terrifying and exciting. Here's a quick update on that:

NEW BOOK!

I spent much of my summer living in the empty homes of friends and strangers, while they were away on vacation, writing my 3rd book. It's much like my previous books, written from a personal perspective in the memoir style similar to Anne Lamott or Donald Miller -- and it's about freedom from fear, about learning to walk in the fullness of what Christ purchased for me on the cross.

It's called Orange Jumpsuit: Letters to the God Who Frees (hence the title of this blog entry) and it is the 3rd in my series of spiritual memoir / essays. If you're interested in reading part of the introduction, I've posted it on my KickStarter page:

http://www.tinyurl.com/orangejumpsuit

In order to release the book, I need to raise $5500 before Oct 3 through KickStarter. If you feel led to donate or even just to pre-order a copy of the book, that would go a LONG way in helping make this happen! (NOTE: KickStarter requires that ALL the funding be pledged before they draft it. So if I don't meet my goal, none of the money is taken from sponsors, and I don't get any funding at all.)

FALL/WINTER/SPRING TOURING:

I'd love to come speak at your college chapel service, or to your youth group, or lead worship at your singles retreat, or perform a concert at your house. Or whatever works! If you're interested in putting something like that together, please let me know ASAP, so we can get rolling with that! Booking a show is super easy. Just send me an email saying you're interested: booking@taraleighcobble.com

I hope you're all doing well, and I can't wait to see you out there soon!

Much love,
Tara-Leigh
http://www.taraleighcobble.com

Writing Tour

46 Days
65,000 Words (give or take)
1 Book
10 States
7,951.4 miles
1 Shuttle Launch

This trip taught me many things, but the greatest and most obvious was about the Body of Christ, how much we need each other, how brilliantly He fashioned us to fit together.

Say It Ain't So...

This mug is my souvenir from the launch of Atlantis STS-135 on July 8. Seeing a shuttle launch was a dream come true for me. But the last American shuttle comes home to earth in less than 24 hours. I am replete with nostalgia, overwhelmed with frustration.

When I was five years old, I met Buzz Aldrin, who landed on the moon at the same time as Neil Armstrong, then took communion on the moon (!!!), before walking on it. When I met him, he knelt down and asked me my name, then scrawled on a glossy 8x10 color photo of him by the American flag:

Jesus walking on the earth is more important than man walking on the moon.
- Buzz Aldrin

Thus began my fascination with the moon, space, NASA, planets, nebulae. I still haven't gotten over Pluto's dismissal as a planet. We can't just give it away like that... it's not fair. Our solar system is a family--like first cousins once removed (Jupiter's moons) and crazy uncles with big facial moles (Jupiter itself) and the aunt who has been married too many times (Saturn).

So it's hard for me to watch this season come to an end. Grounding the shuttles and sending them off to museums... it's like saying we're not going to have family reunions anymore, because it's too much trouble for grandma to make the trip these days. So, instead, let's just be Facebook friends with everyone. What's the point?

It's so hard to move backward. Obama says we're moving forward. Maybe to Mars. Unmanned. Unmanned? Those expeditions are the facebook photos of space travel. I want more than that. I pray to God that other countries keep people in orbit if we can't. Do it, Japan. Go for it, Russia.

My poet's heart says space will take it hard. It will feel like the black sheep and will pack up the moon and the stars and all its things and just disappear because we have rejected it. I don't want to look up at an empty sky on the 22nd.

The space program costs the average American $93 per year. I would gladly pay astronomical gas prices (pun intended), if Obama would just give us back the sky.

I really, really hate this. Seriously, desperately sad about it.