@JayJayasuriya

Look what I got in the mail today! @ACLfestival #aclfestival #aclwristband #acl2015 #acl #atx — at Austin City Limits Music Festival (ACL). Look what I got in the mail today! @ACLfestival #aclfestival #aclwristband #acl2015 #acl #atx A photo posted by Jay Jayasuriya (@jayjayasuriya) on Sep 29, 2015 at 9:05am PDT What is ACL? The Austin City Limits (ACL) Music Festival is an annual music festival held in Zilker Park in Austin, Texas on two consecutive three-day weekends. Inspired by the PBS concert series of the same name, the festival is produced by Austin-based company C3 Presents, which also produces Lollapalooza.[1] The reputation of the ACL television show helped contribute to the success of the first festival. The ACL Music Festival has eight stages where musical groups from genres including rock, indie, country, folk, electronic and hip hop perform for fans. Approximately 75,000 people attend the festival each day. In addition to the music performances, there are foo...

Want a free ride to #ACLfest this year?. Here is $20 credits towards your first #Lyft ride! https://www.lyft.com/invited/JAYJAYASURIYA Are you ready 4 #ACL? www.aclfestival.com #austincitylimitsmusicfestival #aclfest #atx A photo posted by Jay Jayasuriya (@jayjayasuriya) on Sep 28, 2015 at 9:41am PDT

LifeWay Research finds Pope Francis has improved opinions of Catholic Church. More than half of evangelical pastors say Pope Francis is their brother in Christ. More than one-third say they value the pope's view on theology, and 3 in 10 say he has improved their view of the Catholic Church. Those are among the findings of a new study of 1,000 Protestant senior pastors, released this week from Nashville-based LifeWay Research. Overall, the survey found that many Protestant pastors have taken a liking to Pope Francis. Nearly 4 in 10 say the pope, known for his humility and concern for the poor, has had a positive impact on their opinions of the Catholic Church. Almost two-thirds view Pope Francis as a genuine Christian and “brother in Christ.” However, half of Protestant pastors say they do not value Pope Francis’ opinion on matters of theology. LifeWay asked 1,000 Protestant pastors in America about their views in a phone survey from September 8–21, 2015, shortly bef...

"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." —John Quincy Adams

I got a chance to catch the beautiful Brittany Shane play live at the WholeFoods @TheDomain Austin the other day. Here are some pictures that I posted on my Instagram account and a small clip of her signing a popular song by The Beatles. Go check out more of her music at www.brittanyshane.com . Watching #BrittanyShane live @WholeFoodsATX #livemusic #ATX A photo posted by Jay Jayasuriya (@jayjayasuriya) on Sep 17, 2015 at 4:27pm PDT Live music by @brittanyshane2 @WholeFoodsATX A photo posted by Jay Jayasuriya (@jayjayasuriya) on Sep 17, 2015 at 4:52pm PDT Jay Jayasuriya - Thu Sep 17 18:38:33 CDT 2015

I was in my final year at Gordon-Conwell. It was a beautiful morning–sunny, deep blue, not a cloud in the sky. I had an early morning class on that Tuesday. Maybe it was Minor Prophets, something with Hebrew I think. I made the short walk across campus to my dorm room and picked up the phone. I had to check with my church. Something about a bulletin announcement or the preaching schedule. The church was in between pastors at the time, and I was helping out with some of the scheduling and some of the preaching. As it turned out, I was glad not to be preaching the next Sunday. My friend on the phone asked me what I thought about the plane that had just crashed into the Twin Towers. I had no idea what he was talking about. This was 2001. I didn’t own a cell phone. I had no t.v. in my dorm room. Most of the time I went to the computer lab to check my email. We hung up the phone and I decided to figure out what had happened–probably one of these prop plane accidents. Didn’t John Denver...

Jay Jayasuriya - Tue Sep 08 22:54:12 CDT 2015

4 truths we can't ignore. I am a chronic idealist. Our culture’s messages of “save the world,” “lean in” and “YOLO” (You Only Live Once) are metaphorically tattooed on my heart, fueling a million and a half dreams I have to help change the world for the better. Continue reading here...