Chi-Town

Just got in from a night in downtown Chicago. Very cool....

We hit Gino's East for dinner........unbelievable pizza! Went to the top of the Sears Tower.......110 stories and 1400 feet above the street. WHAT? Saw Soldier Field, Wrigley Field, and Navy Pier. But we had another brush with greatness. We actually stood outside of Harpo Studios within feet of Diane Keeton, Emma Thompson, and Oprah herself. Of course they were inside the building and we were outside where it was 28 freakin' degrees. But we did talk to two really nice security guards, 1 limo driver, and a pimp.

Yes..Jay and I now know Chicago pretty well. We stopped in a 50's style diner in Wrigleyville (that's what us locals call the area around Wrigley Field) and had some good conversation with some of the clientelle and a really nice waitress. We were just there to warm up, so I had a vanilla shake.

I know what you're thinking....I thought Doug and Jay went to a conference. We did, and we heard some really good stuff today from Bo Boshers. He is the Director of Student Ministries at Willowcreek. He spoke on leading and mentoring. He had some excellent stuff. He is also from a teaching/coaching background and I was able to have a really good conversation with him after the session. I also spoke with Jim Mellado for quite a while. Jim and I went to church together, sunday school, etc..when we were in church together in Katy, Tx. back in the early '90's. I left there to go coach in Nederland, TX when he left to go to work for a growing church in the Chicago area. He's now the President of Willowcreek Assoc. We spent some time today catching up and talking about our families and stuff. He's an awesome guy and it was good to catch up with him.

Well....we're flying back tomorrow and I get to baptize my son Beaux. I am pumped! I'll also be a year older when I wake up tomorrow. 38! Wow.....suddenly I feel tired and achy. And did I mention that I got my picture taken with Mac Powell from Third Day? I'm out.....

A Real Moment....

Check this out....
















Oh yeah.....that's me and Mac Powell of Third Day. WHAT? When I left Dallas I told my wife that I was getting my picture taken with Mac Powell. Today...Jay and I are leaving the building walking to our car, and there he is coming down the sidewalk right towards us. WHAT? I just went....OH MY GOSH! Jay started laughing at me, and I think Mac was a bit scared. I just said can I get my picture taken with you? He obliged, and then let us interview him on video to bring back to our students. AWESOME!!! This my friends......is a moment!

The Third Day show tonight was great, as was the conference. We met some friends from a Menanite church in Kansas. We had dinner with them and hung out for a while. We were late getting back to the church from dinner for the concert, but managed to talk our way down to the 10th row and had a blast.

One last question....why did Travis choose Sara? And did I mention I got my picture taken with Mac Powell? I'm out..........

Sweet Home Chicago

It took a while...but we're here.

Jay and I left after the music part of the 11:30 service to catch a flight to Chicago. We were too late to check our bags at the airport, so they had to put us on standby. Fortunately the lady liked us, so she got us on a 2:00 flight instead of the 1:30 that we were supposed to be on. The weird thing is that it landed at the same time as the 1:30. Needless to say...we're here.

We got our rent car and made it to the hotel by 6:00ish. The hotel was so nasty. We just dropped our stuff off and drove to downtown Chicago. It only took us about 20 minutes to get down there, but then it took us about 45 to find a place to park. It's crazy down there. We finally parked and walked around looking for a place to eat and happened upon Ditka's. Very cool place....very good food. It was fun.....but we missed Grey's Anatomy, so Kelly has it TIVO'd for me when I get home.

We made it back to the hotel and that's not necessarily a good thing. It was just gross. So this morning as I'm standing in the shower that has less water pressure than someone peeing I made the decision to find somewhere else to stay. We're now in the Amerisuites, and it's great.

The conference starts in a bit so we're about to leave. It should be great. Third Day is in concert tonight, and my goal is to get a picture with them. Jay wants to stay at the hotel and watch the Bachelor.....but I'm not doing it. I'm still trying to earn my mancard back from watching it the last time and learning way too many details about the whole thing. I'm sure more will happen while we're here so stay tuned.....I'm out....

Everybody's workin' for the weekend....

S-A-T-U-R.....D-A-Y NIGHT......nothin' wrong with a little Bay City Rollers on the weekend.

We went and saw "Eight Below" last night. Good story....good movie. We took my two daughters to see it with us. The boy was spending the night with a friend. Ashli (my oldest), and I have a little game at the movies. At a totally stupid time during the movie (previews, feature, whatever), she screams like something in the movie scared the dog out of her. She gets lunch, a snow cone, or something like that and I laugh my head off. It's great fun.

I don't know of anything much better than sleeping in a thunderstorm. Last night was an awesome storm! Rain, lightning, thunder....it was great. It woke me up about 3:00 a.m....and I laid there for a little bit, then rolled over to the cool side of the pillow and slept like a baby. A really big baby, but a baby none the less.

I'm sitting here with my son, waiting for my wife to get back from my middle daughter, Brooke's dance competition. Their awards ceremony started at 10:30 p.m. WHAT? Somebody help me understand the whole dance team thing. I'm really trying, but I just don't get it. It's not the dance thing in general....she's really talented. It's just the attitude of a lot of the girls and their moms. Oh my gosh. It's really mind boggling at times. And the costumes don't help either. I do know one thing.....if I started over again and it was all about the money. I'd open a dance studio. They make some serious jack.

Well....it's about time to go to bed. Services tomorrow......awesome!

I'm out....

Tonight was PTA meeting night. Can you say whippin'? They tactfully scheduled this meeting in front of the 3rd grade choir program, as they always do, and then slammed us with a PTA meeting. The 20 minute choir program was actually a welcome break from the PTA business. I think if someone would have hit me in the face with a 2 x 4, I would have actually enjoyed it as a welcome relief from discussion of PTA Lifetime Membership Honorees................WHAT? LIFETIME? Why would you not quit once your kids are out? There was a lady there that had been a member of this school's PTA since it started.......20 years ago. WHAT?

Oh well.....my son was brilliant in his speaking parts and that's why I was there. I've been watching my calories and I'm down to 259 from 272. The 5:00 a.m. workouts and calorie counting are starting to help. I celebrated tonight with a vanilla shake. 1st one in over a month......don't judge me.

I'm out....

Wrapping it up...

Just watched American Idol. My personal early favorites:
Girl....Melissa McGehee (i think that's her name)
Boy....as much as I want Chris Daugherty to win....Ace has the whole package and the female backing.

I am really looking forward to a good night's sleep. I woke up this morning at about 4, and couldn't get back to sleep. I was just thinking about the day in front of me. Well, that day is over. I'm just hangin' out right now while my wife grades some papers.

Tomorrow is a busy, busy day. My daughter Brooke has the lead in a melodrama at school plus she is portraying Ashley Olson at the school's living museum. These two events are happening at the same time. Someone didn't plan real well. At the same time my son has his first choir program. He has a speaking part and everything. So my wife and I will be splitting duties tomorrow night.

At times I forget to sit back and rest. I think sometimes, in today's fast paced lives that we lead, rest is something that is sacrificed all too often. On the way home from church tonight I tried to gear down from this long day and just clear my head. I love my job, and I love the opportunities that God has given me here at Springcreek. But I also love the time He gives me to rest and plan on taking full advantage of that right now.

I'm out......

Random early Wednesday...

I know it's early Wed. morning, but it was a long day yesterday, and I didn't get around to writing anything yesterday.

Here are some thoughts....

Why am I up right now?

Watching SportsCenter and all of their NBA highlights makes me realize something......I miss football season.

What's a nuget and why is it in candy bars?

Is there anything that you cannot find at Walmart?

I just saw a commercial for a reality show on ESPN that follows a New York high school basketball phenom on his "difficult journey" to declaring for the NBA draft..........WHAT?

Right after that Walker Texas Ranger did a commercial for a home gym........he needs to "go Walker" on his plastic surgeon....WOW...

Well...I'm going to the gym now. A lot of my friends workout at night. I just can't do that. It helps me get going for the day when I workout in the mornings. Plus, I just saw Peter from the Brady Bunch on an AbLounge commercial and if he can do it, so can I.

I'm out....

Your my boy Runks...

My boy Runks brought it home tonight at Footnote Dallas. His message on being made right in God's eyes, and standing before Him as a righteous person was awesome! I likes me some Runks.

Tomorrow is going to be a looooooong day. 9-5 training on the new computer system at the church. It is much needed, but it is one continuous meeting...all day.

I've got to go watch the ice dancing highlights from last night again..........stinkin' hilarious! Here are some pictures of the carnage. The Canadian crash was the best (bottom).

Tomorrow is Random Tuesday, but right now I'm trying to figure out why my boy is sleeping in his jeans that he wore all day today. I'm out....

Ready for Monday...

Monday morning......when I was teaching these were the hardest. Now...it's my day off and I love it.

What a great weekend. I had the opportunity to spend it with First Baptist Church Arlington, TX. It was their student ministry's Wake-Up Weekend. This is the second year I've had the chance to help out with this weekend. It was so much fun, and I really enjoy hanging out with that group. We got to worship together, talk about the different ways that Satan tries to "punk" us, how to identify God's truths and desire for our lives, and how to apply those things to our lives. They're just a great group of students with incredible adult leadership. Curt, thank you for inviting me to be with you guys again, and I look forward to the next time we're together.

I watched some Olympic action last night. I've never laughed so hard as I did watching ice dancing. There were more crashes than you see in a NASCAR race. It was great. If you didn't see it, watch the highlights.....greatness.

As part of my day off...I get to go grocery shopping. In order to do that well, I need to go eat breakfast or I will buy all kinds of stuff. I cannot be hungry when I go grocery shopping. It's just not a good scene.

Here are a few pictures from WUWE.....I'm out....

Wakeup

I'm at First Baptist Church Arlington's Wake Up Weekend right now. We had a great night last night, and this morning was awesome. The kids are doing various service projects this afternoon so I'm hangin' out at the hotel.

I'm lovin' this weekend's theme and how everything is coming together. The whole "Punk'd" theme is great. As I've been studying and preparing I've been seeing all the ways the world punks us when we're not prepared and paying attention. All the different "untruths" that are thrown our way and made to look appealing and needed can destroy our lives slowly. The danger there is it's kind of like gaining weight. You don't see it happening until you've put on 20lbs, and then it's like where did that come from?

The students are really engaged with the worship and discussions we're having and I enjoy hangin' with them. I can' t wait to get back to my students tomorrow night and worship with them. When I get the opportunity to teach, the passion for teaching and ministering becomes stronger.

I'm going to go watch the Olympics and try to figure out what in the crap Curling is......I'm out..

WUWE

I leave work today and it's 80 degrees.....I drive to Arlington, stay 'til 9ish, walk out of the building and it's 40.....what the crap is that about?

I'm hanging out with my friends at First Baptist Arlington this weekend. It's their Wake Up Weekend (WUWE), and they've asked me to preach it, and asked Envoy to lead the worship. We did this weekend with them last year and they are a great group. Curt Grice, the youth pastor there, is one of my favorite hangs. He's probably a little higher than Scott Harper on my list of hangs. His wife Kim is awesome. I'd say Curt out punted his coverage when he married her.

Anyway, their theme this weekend is "punk'd," and I'm really excited about the whole thing. I hung out with them tonight for the kick-off party and it was great. We'll start tomorrow night and go through Sunday morning.

On that note...I've got to make sure I've got clothes for the weekend. I'm out...

The topper...

I got to pray with my son as he asked Christ into his life. I couldn't top that with anything.

I'm out....

Not so random Tuesday

Well.....today is the day. The day hated by men everywhere. It is pretty common knowledge that Valentine's is a highly commercialized holiday. It is driven by the card, flower, and candy industries around the world.

Don't get me wrong....I love my wife. I bought her a card today and she bought me one. But I spend time telling her that the other 364 days of the year as well as Feb.14. I am so thankful to be married to a woman that realizes the unnecessary spending that takes place on February 14 and expects me to do things for her at various times for no reason. We buy the kids some candy, and a small gift, and we get each other cards. Oh, there have been gifts in the past.....good ones. But there really is no sense in it.

I'm not being unromantic, but I think it's probably more romantic to buy her flowers, take her to dinner, and get her gifts on days that she's not expecting it. Why emphasize it just one day out of the year?

Now...that being said. I bought each of my daughters a dozen roses today with a card. I just wanted to be the first guy in their lives to buy them roses. I know I won't be the last, but I am the first. I spend many days trying to teach them about things to expect from guys. Guys that buy them things on Valentine's Day and don't mind their p's and q's the other 364 days of the year will not be accepted.

Change of subject.....I'm trying to eat better. Cutting the junk food, fast food, etc..So today I'm at Quizno's with Scott Harper. I order a SMALL sandwich, get some chips, and a small drink. I get to the register, and what happens.......they made me a LARGE sandwich. It was as if they heard my lips say "small," but my body language was saying "I want the biggest stinkin' one you've got." In Scott's words...they were thinking "there ain't nothing about him that says small sandwich." However, I ate half and wrapped up the other half to go for tomorrow.

I know this is long and a change from my usual "Random Tuesdays." Happy Valentine's Day Kel.....and you mean just as much to me on Feb 15 as you do today.

I'm out....

Super Size....

So I watched the movie "Super Size Me." Oh my gosh! That movie has taken away something that I have held dear for my entire life. McDonalds has been a favorite of mine since I was a boy. I just can't bring myself to look at the place the same. If you have not seen the movie, you need to watch it. I'm not saying I'll never eat fast food again, but I'll definitely think a little harder before I order.

Grey's Anatomy is on right now, so I will not be long here. What a great show.

I have to take care of Valentine's stuff tomorrow. The most commercially created holiday in the stinkin' world is upon us again. It totally confuses me and causes me anxiety that is completely unneeded. Candy, flowers, jewelry, dinner, kid's stuff, teddy bears.......what? It's just not right......I'm out...

Busy Week...

I fully intended to get to this more consistently this week, and I've just been busy. Things will happen that I say to myself, you have got to blog about that, but then as the day goes by......it falls on to the back burner.

We have "The Net" this week for the first time in two weeks. This will actually be the first one since "Focus Weekend." We'll be starting a new book this week. For the next 6 weeks will be covering "Spiritual Growth." Working to be like Jesus in all that we do. That excites me. Having the chance to look at ourselves and identify our strengths and weaknesses and how we can use each other to encourage and strengthen our spiritual walk. I'm pumped!

Speaking of pumped....I had a four hour meeting yesterday about camp. It's going to be awesome. My buddy Van Minter and his group from Lake Ridge Bible Church are going to camp with us this year. We'll be going to Cloudcroft, NM. It is going to be great. We hashed out a lot of great ideas yesterday, and some not so good ones too. But it's all good and camp is going to be something you do not want to miss.

Well....the weekend is on us and we're kicking off a new series..."The Death of Religion." It should be a great one. This week we'll be talking about some of the problems with "religion." Sometimes it just seems that we, as the church, shoot ourselves in the foot by how we treat others and how we allow "religion" to get in the way of ministry. If I haven't already invited you, come hang out with us this weekend.

I'm leading a new series at my house titled "The Death of a Chihuahua" where I'll be talking about the systematic elimination of our dog the next time she pees on one of my socks. It doesn't matter that my sock should not have been in the floor...........pee goes outside. I'm out...

Super Start......

Okay....so a great weekend ended on a down note with the Steelers winning the Super Bowl. Our services were great. Pastor Keith's message was solid, and as different as the rest of the service was programmed, it was a great weekend. I just can't get over Bob's version of Janet Jackson's "Control" dance. Classic! Check out the clip at springcreekchurch.org.

Nobody at my house had to be at school or work today, so it was nice hanging out with the fam. We had lunch together and stuff, and just hung out.

Shiloh Terrace Baptist Church in Mesquite, TX has a service called Footnote every Monday night. My friend Michael Moers, the youth pastor at Shiloh, is the man in charge. They did it for 6 weeks in the fall, and it will run through April 24 this spring. I get to lead worship at these services with my band Envoy. They are really cool services. It's a lot of fun having the opportunity to lead this service with Dave Edwards (davetown.com). It's just a very worshipful time for me personally to be a part of these services with 3 of my best friends (Greg, Michael, and Scott) and have the chance to be a part of these services. Needless to say, Monday was a good start to the week.

There is something a little concerning though. I caught myself watching "The Bachelor" with my wife tonight for the second week in a row. I know their names, and was getting mad at certain girls for the way they were acting. I was voicing opinions out loud and getting into commercial time conversations about the show. It was a total brokeback moment and I apologize to all of my guy friends for my lapse. I'm going to watch "Tombstone." I'm out.....

Brokeback.....

Why Men Hate Church......this is the title of our service this week. It's going to be great. I can't think of a better weekend than Super Bowl Sunday to address concerns that men have with coming to church. There are so many things about church that I never realized were more feminine than most men care for or want to be a part of on a regular basis.

For quite obvious reasons the term brokeback has become an adjective describing things that may seem more feminine. I'll not say much more, but we don't want our men feeling like they're involved in some sort of brokeback worship. I now have a folder on my laptop for brokeback worship songs and there will be an attempt to mix them with a good bit of rockin' stuff.

I'm going to go watch "24." Not a brokeback show.......I'm out