Author: Adam McLane

  • In case you missed it

    Here are the highlights and lowlights to Notre Dame’s victory over Michigan State. [Text version]

  • Ghost Ride the Whip, part 3

    I don’t want to put words in anyone’s mouth. But I’m pretty sure that there is a Dave Luke connection to the new Vendetta film by David Lehre. This is some high quality Ghost Riding mockery.

  • GroupLink was Hit

    GrouplinkToday was the much anticipated debut of GroupLink. Simply put, GroupLink is an event that the church puts together that connects people looking to join a small group to a new small group.

    As a GroupLife leader, I was anxious about this because I wasn’t certain I was going to have very many people in my small group. So I was very pleased to see 40-50 people there today after church. I don’t actually know who is in my small group, but I trust that I now have an adult small group to lead and that it’s populated with real, breathing, people. So it’s very exciting for me personally and I hope for the whole church.

  • Ryder Cups Woes

    Rydercup06logoI’m not really watching that closely, but I am noticing that the United States is once again getting their butts kicked in the Ryder Cup. I think that if they want to win this thing they will probably have to move it to a place on the schedule where U.S. golfer are in prime condition. Honestly, this is a post-season thing for PGA Tour players and it doesn’t look like they are at their best.

  • Fall prep

    Cutting_tressIt’s no secret that Fall comes quickly in Michigan. With the leaf duty just weeks away it’s time for us to start preparing what we can now in the house and around the house. Here’s a little list that we’re out to tackle this weekend.

    1. Trim more trees. This morning we hacked at a birch tree and cut down 75% of the cedar tree in the backyard. Our simple theory is that less trees is better for the house.
    2. Put summer stuff away outside. Not a lot to do there, but we need to start moving summer stuff to the back garage and winter stuff to the front garage. Dare I say that I need to get the snow blower ready?
    3. Take out Megan’s window air conditioner.
    4. Install Paul’s new heater.
    5. Start removing summer plants and putting down ground cover.

    Fun times, eh? Kristen loves Fall, and while I like it plenty… there is much to do. Winter in Michigan is absolutely inevitable.

  • Game for next weeks Light Force

    In an attempt to bring you the very best in youth group games, this is a preview of the game for next Wednesday night.

  • It’s the weekend

    Nothing deep here. It’s the weekend and I’m happy it’s here. It was a good week… but time to PARTY. Oh, wait… I don’t really party. I’ll bet I’ll be bored within 20 minutes, but it’s the weekend and I’m happy nonetheless.

  • Starting to see it…

    A lot has been said and talked about, to me at least, with the church’s "new vision/direction/whatever you’d like to call it."

    Here is one place where the results are starting to show through. Light Force

    We’ve been measuring our nights by this phrase, "Are our small groups having meaningful conversations?" When I’ve talked to the small group leaders over the past 3 weeks, the answer is progressively getting to be "Yes!" It started out with "I went well, not there yet." To "we’re getting there" To last night some of the leaders were saying "We’re getting meaningful." It’s a progression that is fantastic because as the leaders and students begin to trust one another more and more…. those meaningful conversations will happen. Students and group leaders will know they are safe and life-change will happen.

    That’s really encouraging churchwide. As this weekend GroupLink happens and adults start learning who their small groups will be… I can look into the future (not with a crystal ball but through my lenses of the Light Force experience) and see how fantastic GroupLife is going to be for our adults.

    Can I insert my little old school Toyota commercial leap here? (Dating myself there, right?)

  • Light Force Talk Notes

    Lightforcelogo_blue_greyA few people have asked about this, so I want everyone to know. I’ve updated my talk notes link on the blog. On the right side is a category called "My Life" where you will find a link to "My Talk Notes." This will take you to the Light Force website and you can download all of the transcripts from my Light Force talks.

    I think the truth is that Ryan Neilson is secretly using my note for his group each week. I won’t tell your pastor Ryan. 🙂

  • A classic Paul day

    Paul_flowers_1
    Today Paul and I got to hang out since Kristen is volunteering in Megan’s classroom.
    It’s always for to have "boy time" in the McLane household as I will readily admit that I’m not home as much as I’d like.

    We started off with a movie. But A Bugs Life ended up being too scary for him so he lost interest. About 30 minutes into it he decided that we needed to go somewhere. He told me (get this!) to get the keys and get in the car.

    I was bored, so I was game for Paul’s adventure. We got our shoes on and I kept asking him, "Where should we go?" He just told me that we would talk about it when we got in the car. So, boys buckled in and car started we sat in the driveway and the guessing game started. "Where?" Somewhere. "Somewhere where you buy things or somewhere where you play?" Buy stuff. "What store should we go to?" I don’t know. "Do they sell food?" Yes and other stuff. "OK, tell me what that place is like." You drive there and you walk around in carts and look at stuff. "Is it Meijer?"No, somewhere else. "OK, is a place near here?" I don’t know. "What do you like to buy there?" Well, they have some things that you buy that if they are on sale mommy will buy but only when it’s on sale. "Oh, so there is something you want daddy to buy?" Maybe if it’s on sale. "I see." (Thinking of all the things a 3 year old may want to buy. By this time I’m just driving and not sure where we are going.) Not really frustrated I just told him where I thought we should try. "Do you want to go to Kmart?" I think so!

    So, this is when I realized I was being set up. He had seen something with mom and mom had told him, "Let’s wait until it goes on sale." Paul had decided that this minute was the time to cash in because daddy is a softie. (It’s a shame that they already know this about me!)

    As we got in the store he made it clear about the cart thing. Then we started going through the store and I had no idea what he wanted. Torturing him, I skipped the toy aisle. But he didn’t care! So, we headed towards the back of the store and he started to talk about Halloween candy. Two seconds later, we were at the Halloween aisle, completely snookered by a 3 year old I knew he had set me up. He said, "Look daddy, they have Batman costumes, maybe there is one in my size this time." Uh-huh. Yeah, I walked right into his evil plan.

    So, we got the costume… and since I was getting the wool pulled over my eyes he scored a Sprite and some chips too. Mom came home and I was left sitting here… completely bamboozled by a 3 year old.