Random Tuesday

I am completely hooked. I have friends who watch "24" religiously. I had never watched it, so I went and rented the first season. It's keeping me up late trying to finish it. Sheer television greatness!

So my 12 year old daughter may have broken her toe this evening doing a high kick in the hallway. Why? Does that even make sense to anyone else?

Does anyone else think that chihuahuas are one of God's little animal jokes?

Steelers v. Seahawks....am I the only one that thinks that is weird? I can't root for the Steelers.
Sorry Jen and Bob and Tiffany and Joel...

Anyone that hasn't checked out Jeremy Camp's new live acoustic cd/dvd needs to go and buy it. Amazing!

Cap'n Crunch has got to be the best cereal ever created. Arguments?

Sanford and Son v. Good Times?

Florence v. Esther?

I know my students are too young to even know what I'm talking about....but trust me....more sheer tv greatness.

I am so looking forward to The Net starting back up in a couple of weeks.......lots of good things happening.

Here are some pictures from Focus Weekend......Enjoy.......I'm out.....

Focused....

Wow....what a great weekend. I know it's been 4 days since my last post, but the time and planning have paid off. Focus Weekend was a huge success!

Our theme was "the WORD." And we spent a lot of time in the word, finding out why we believe what we believe. Our students left empowered with biblical truth about their faith and encouraged to act on what they know to be true. Runks brought us a word that was needed in our ministry here at Springcreek. He left us with no excuses for not being able to share Christ with those we come in contact with daily. Greatness!

Some highlights of the weekend:
1. seeing our students worship in song like I've never seen them do before. they are amazing.
2. our first annual "ninja hunt" game.......winner---the juniors
3. two of our ninjas getting frisked by the cops and getting their picture taken with little kids
that thought they were real ninjas.
4. watching dozens of people literally cross a bridge into a a closer walk with Christ (we built
a bridge across our stage for "The Great Divide" series and people were invited to make
their decisions public by coming forward and crossing the bridge). It was awwesome.
5. the nap I had today

Pictures of the weekend by tomorrow night or Tuesday. I've got tons to download and go through. I'm out......

Happy Birthday....

Today is my daughter Brooke's birthday. She is 12 today going on 18. She cracks me up. She requested Babe's for her birthday dinner tonight, and after a day of looking forward to some chicken fried stizeak we get there and it's closed. Brooke's plan B was Red Robin.......very good choice.

I got my truck back today. The Body Shop did an awesome job of putting it back together, and making it look like new. The rent car was nice, but it's nice to have my ride back. I got new tires put on today too, so it's feeling pretty good.

Tomorrow is meeting day, and the beginning of a very busy week leading up to Focus Weekend. I'm really excited about the way things are coming together and I know it's going to be a great experience for our students.

Super Bowl XL.....two weeks......Seattle v. Pittsburgh..............I hate the Steelers.

I'm out....

The weekend...

Well....we survived. The slumber party was a success....tiring.....but a success nonetheless. Drama was held to a minimum while giggling and and goofiness were at their peak. I think they finally fell asleep around 5:00 a.m. I still haven't downloaded pics, but will probably do that tonight and post them up.....

We had a worship team meeting last night at Scott's house. We had 16 or 17 people there just to hang out and talk about vision and direction in our worship ministry. It was awesome! When a team is on the same page, moving in the same direction, with the same goals, much can be accomplished. When I was coaching that was usually the first order of business. Get the kids focused on why we're doing what we're doing, and the value of their participation and effort. We have a great team, and I can't wait to see who else God brings into the ministry, and how He uses us to accomplish the ministry of Springcreek Community Church.

Sunday's are long.....services this morning, The Net tonight, and today we've got a membership class at 3:00 that I need to be at before The Net. It is the most rewarding day of the week for me, but also the most tiring. I usually don't feel it until I'm on the way home Sunday night. I always look forward to Sunday night though because I come home and watch Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy with my wife. Say what you will, but they're awesome shows. We don't miss them. I'll stay up after the shows and watch the championship games that I TIVO during the day. Sometimes that helps me forget that I love Desperate Housewives and re-establishes my man card.

I'm out......

6th grade slumber party

Monday is my daughter's birthday....she'll be 12. So tonight we have 10 6th grade girls spending the night in our house. If you could please lift us up in prayer, it would be much appreciated. No drama so far, but it's only been 1 and half hours. We tried to do a scavenger hunt out at the new Firewheel Towne Center mall, but the mall security and management took all of the girls to customer services and shredded their list of things they had to do, made them sit on the bench outside of the building while they lectured them, and then had them call us. We were eating ice cream just down the mall and walked over to a crying group of 6th graders, and brought them home.

Right now, they're doing cheers in my living room and having a good time, so I'm trying to disappear. The over/under for drama is 4 hours. Chances are it'll happen about 2 a.m. and I'll feel sorry for my wife having to take that kid home. I just don't understand jr. high girls sometimes.....they just confuse me. They're funny......yet annoying, loud....yet eeerily quiet, sensitive......yet mean......I don't know. Boys are just much more simple creatures.

I'll have pictures for you tomorrow maybe.....I'll try to get one of my wife dragging some poor girl out of my house at 2:00 a.m. crying and snotting all over the place (it'll probably be my daughter). Right now though...I'm going to go sit down with my son, eat some popcorn and watch Cops, or wrestling, or something.

I'm out....

Ramdon Tuesdays....

For years I dreamed of having a job that I could just talk ministry with friends and watch all of the ways God could work in a church and in the lives of people. I'm there.....

I had the weekend off Sat.-Mon. and came in today ready to hit the road running. We've got some good stuff coming up and there are some great ideas floating around the office that are going to be slammin'.

I just watched the first episode of American Idol 2006. Hilarious! There was a new show on tonight that I really liked a lot. "Love Monkey" is a new series about an A&R guy with a small New York record label. Very funny, and very good. It'll be a regular on my TIVO from here on out.

Found out that my truck should be out of the shop, and lookin' brand new by Friday. I like my rental car, but I'm ready to get my ride back. It could be worse I guess....I could be Ahmish and my ride could be at Mordecai's body shop getting put to sleep.

I just found out today that my Assoc. Student Pastor, Jay, studied mime in college. WHAT? I'm not sure what to do with that.....but I'm sure I'll think of something.

You know, I think I'll start making Tuesdays just a day to write random thoughts and happenings. Too many things went on today to organize them into any sequence, so maybe Random Tuesdays will work. I'm gonna go laugh at David Letterman until I fall asleep.

I'm out......

Favorite hangs....

Yesterday I had the chance to hang out with my buddy Scott as we went to the airport to pick up his friend Marshall. Marshall is leading worship this weekend at Springcreek while I enjoy a weekend off. Usually hanging out with Scott means good conversation, laughing my head off, and eating some good food. Yesterday did not disappoint.

After picking up Marsh at the airport we made a trip to Uno's in Ft. Worth for some awesome pizza. With Scott, a trip anywhere east of I-35 means Pappa's pizza, west of I-35 is Uno's. But that's okay...at least he has good taste. In the book of Acts, chapter 2, Luke speaks of the importance of breaking bread together. I'm sure he would've loved hangin' out with Scott.

On that note, it's just fun hangin' out, and talking about things that are going on in our lives. God works in so many ways, and puts so many people in our lives for so many reasons. It was great meeting Marsh and hanging out with him too. We talked marriage, music, tv shows, worship, and just hung out. It was great.

I focus a lot of time on trying to reach people that may not believe in the same God I do, may not go to church, or may not be sure what they believe. God gives us people to hang with that are heading in the same direction, with the same outlook, and same beliefs to provide us with encouragement and fun.

Think about those people in your life that make things fun and encouraging. Take the time to "break bread" and hang out with those people. Now I've got to go try and figure out why Marsh is so much higher than me on Scott's list of "favorite hangs."

I'm out...

A beautiful stinkin' day in the neighborhood....

Every day is a new day right? I'm sitting here on one of those mornings that I woke up early thinking about all of the things I need to get done today. I fell asleep last night watching Law and Order after a very long day that started out great. 24 hours ago I woke up looking forward to getting into the office and getting my fairly long to do list done. A list that included lots of things to finish up for Focus Weekend, taking my truck in at lunch for new tires, preparation for this Sunday, and finish it off with "the Merge," our junior high service.

It was a great morning. A driving with the windows down, listening to some new worship tunes, eating my donuts, and drinking my diet coke morning. Then it happened........she just pulled right out in front of me. I had a green light, she was sitting at a red light, and she just pulled out. It all happened in slow motion, but yet in a flash. I could see her face as I nailed the front end of her brand new, paper tags, little Kia Sportage with my beast of a Dodge truck.

I couldn't believe it....my light was green, hers was red.....I just sat there. I couldn't look at her. So many questions....such as....should you really be driving when your head is up your butt? I sat there in disbelief and finished my donut.

I was lucky though....the lady was one of the nicest people I've ever met. She took full responsibility, could not stop apologizing, was fully insured, and repeatedly referred to herself with names that made me laugh.

My truck was drivable unless I tried to turn left. But by afternoon it was at "The Body Shop" in Garland, I was in a Dodge Durango rental car (very nice), and I'm thinking about changing my car insurance to State Farm. I've got to get ready to go to work....

I'm out...

Random Thoughts....

Paulio's Pizza.....I've been waiting for a sit-down pizza place in Rowlett, other than CiCi's, for 6 years. This place is great! Thin crust pizza, cheese bread, and cherry limeade on tap. Stinkin' awesome!

Why do some people put the toilet paper upside down on the roller?

Why is every light in my house on right now, but I'm the only one not in bed?

Why did I ever agree to get a beagle?

Who decides what stories make the 10 o'clock news?

Is it possible to maintain a "glass half full" attitude when there are 4 half full glasses of milk in my den right now?

Speaking of milk....I need some Nilla Wafers

How much money do people get paid to test the side effects of new drugs, and do you get paid according to the severity of the side effect?

Skating with Celebrities? Are you kidding?

Did that marketing genius also come up with New Coke?

Predictions on how many times we'll watch Vince Young score the winning touchdown in the Rose Bowl between now and the NFL draft in April..........I say 8 cajillion.

Who told Alanis Morissette that she would look good as a blonde?

Why am I still awake? Oh yeah, it's because I'm eating Nilla Wafers and milk.

I'm out......

Connecting

Man....I have got to get on top of this blogging stuff. I was doing so good when I first started and now I go days without posting.

Today was my day off, and it was good. I got some stuff done around the house, and got to hang out with a couple of friends for lunch. After the kids got out of school I played some football with my son. That was awesome! We've got plays and everything, and you should see his endzone celebrations. Good stuff.

Last night was our first student service in two weeks. I've got to brag on a couple of my students. Meghan and Ashley are two of my high school girls. For several weeks we've been talking about connecting to God, connecting to others (believers and non-believers), and how to use the power that God gives us to love others and what that looks like. These two girls have taken huge steps to make that happen in their own lives and in our student ministry. They are impacting people, and they don't even realize it.

I've had some conversations recently with some of our students. They've ranged from questions about beliefs and faith, to confessions of sins and asking for prayer and healing. It has been great. Our "Focus Weekend" is coming up at the end of the month, and it is going to be awesome. God is moving, and I'm just having fun watching it all happen and being someone that He chooses to use.

Look for ways to connect with someone today and work hard to show the love of Christ in dealing with others.

I'm out....



This is Meghan and Ashley.....they're awesome!

back in the groove...

We had our first staff meeting in a couple of weeks today, and it felt good to get back together and talk about doing ministry. We've seen some amazing things at our church in the last few months, and I just know that we are going to see great things happen at Springcreek in 2006.

We also have programming meetings on Tuesdays to discuss upcoming sermon series and how to program our services to be most effective in ministering to the people of our community. When we get together like that and talk about ideas for ministry I just get pumped.

We recently talked about community, and fellowship with other believers at "The Net" (our sr. high ministry). I was a teacher for 15 years, and I can honestly say that I never got excited about faculty meetings. But there is something about meeting with other believers, and talking about doing ministry, celebrating the things that God is doing, casting vision, and just hanging out that gets me excited about Tuesdays.

In Acts 2: 42-47 Luke expresses the importance of community. There were basically 4 things that this community of believers commited themselves to:
1. Teaching
2. Fellowship
3. Breaking bread together
4. Prayer

The importance of hanging out with other Christians cannot be overlooked. Should we reach out to non-believers? Of course....no question. That is our mission. Showing others the love of Christ is something we should do daily. But the encouragement, and confidence we receive from hanging out, and sharing with other believers is what empowers us to continue in the daily spiritual battles of life.

Evaluate the relationships you have with other believers and take the time to develop those into a community that encourages and empowers each other to do the ministry that God has called us to as the body of Christ.

To those of you who I have the privilege of serving with at Springcreek, thank you. To my students.....you're awesome!

I'm out....

What lies ahead?

Wow..starting a new year. Looking back on the last year gets me so excited about the coming year. My wife and I were talking about all of the things that have transpired over the last 12 months, and I just can't help but wonder what's in store for us in 2006.

In January of '05 things seemed to be plugging along just as we planned. We were unbelievably busy most of the time but were happy with our lives. We had goals for the new year and dreams of what we wanted to achieve. As we set out to pursue our plans, it only took a little while to realize God had something much bigger planned.

I never figured that God would lead me into a full-time youth pastor's job at a church that I had never even heard of when the year started. It only proved once again that even the best plans that Kelly and I could come up with could never match up to God's plan for our lives. Why He would choose me for this position, I don't know. The opportunity to serve on a church staff like the one at Springcreek is incredible. I could never have imagined this one year ago.

As we look at 2006, I am trying real hard to allow God to lead without having to pull me back from chasing my own dreams. I would encourage you to remember that God has a unique plan for each of our lives. Regardless of our mistakes, shortcomings, flawed reasoning, and whatever else we still get a uniquely designed plan for our life. I want to make sure that this year I work at recognizing the opportunities that God places in my life.

There are plans for your life that you can't even imagine right now. Regardless of where you are, what you've done, or what's going on in your life, there is a plan for your life. It's more amazing than you could ever imagine, and nothing you come up with on your own will match up. The design for your life is in fact, uniquely yours and the rewards will be amazing.

Happy New Year.......I'm out....