• I love connecting

    I think I learned this little phrase from Jason Raitz, "I love networking with youth workers." I mean, we’re just wired a little differently than the average person. While most people flee working with teenagers there are a group of people who love it. God made us this way and I love getting together with youth workers… it’s hard to explain, but it’s just cool.

    I did this last week as I sat down with Andy, a former church member and graduate of our ministry. (It was a long time ago) Nonetheless, it’s great to see kids who grew up through our ministry involved in a ministry of their own. Even more so, it was great to get to know another youth worker.

    It’s obvious that he and I disagree on the methodology of ministry but I’m confident that we share the same heart for students and much of the same theology. It was really cool… and I hope that somone I felt was "feeling negative" about me and my ministry… I think he at least understands what we are doing better. I know from my perspective he blew a lot of my expectations out of the water.

    Every time I meet a new youth worker (to me that is), I get excited. I’m really excited about what God is doing with him in Lapeer and while I don’t know if we’ll ever be on the same page enough to do something together, I do look forward to hearing more about what God’s doing through him.

    It was well worth my time… and of course, Red Knapps is a great lunch any day.

  • Protect Yourself from Cyber Bullies

    Protect Yourself from Cyber Bullies

    The following is an article I’ve submitted for publication to the Romeo Peach. I thinks it’s a relevant topic for anyone who uses the internet for community purposes.

    The other day Kristen and I watched a Primtime special
    called, “How Mean Can Teens Be?” The investigation was about a new form of
    bullying that many students participate and experience, online bullying. “Cell phones, instant messaging and personal Web sites like
    MySpace and Facebook are now common weapons of “cyberbullying,” used
    to spread gossip, rumors and bequeath public lashings — leaving teenagers with
    painful battle scars.”     http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/story?id=2421562

    (more…)

  • Dog the Bounty Hunter Arrested?

    Duane_dog_chapmanThis just in, Dog Chapman… as in Dog the Bounty Hunter has been arrested.

    TV reality star Duane "Dog" Chapman and two
    co-stars on his show were arrested early Thursday in Hawaii on charges
    of illegal detention and conspiracy in an alleged kidnapping three
    years ago in Mexico, U.S. Marshals said.

    Chapman,
    53, his son Leland Chapman, and associate Timothy Chapman were taken
    into custody in an operation involving 15 officers, said Mark Hanohano,
    U.S. Marshal for the district of Hawaii. They did not resist arre
    st, he
    said.     [Read the rest]

    I don’t care what they say, that man is one of my heros.

  • A little thing I love about Romeo

    Now that we’ve lived here on Bailey Street about a year, I know what I like and don’t like. Two things worth mentioning that I love about where we live.

    1. We’re right in the village. When we were looking at houses we looked at stuff all over the Romeo School district. In our school district you can be in the village, in a subdivision, in the country, or "way out in the country." I think we looked at a little of each but we kept saying… "we want to be in the village." We looked real hard for a few weeks and then had to stop because I was going on a mission trip. Then one day Kristen sent me an email that I opened in an Internet cafe` in Fivemiletown, Northern Ireland. It was the listing of our house with the note "I think this is the one I want, I job by it every day and pray that God would let us buy it." It was clear that Kristen wanted this house and we decided to buy it before we were finished looking at the yard. We knew it was a perfect place to entertain and we knew it had all the things we were looking for. While it is sometimes a distraction, I love being "in town."
    2. Fred’s Market. It’s the traditional corner store. The store has been in the village "for ever" and it’s a lot of fun to see that it is still alive and thriving in the days of Meijer and Wal*Mart. I love nothing more than walking with the kids there, talking to Paul (the owner) and picking up something for my kids. He knows our name, we know his, and it’s just a great small town thing. At first, I wondered how he stayed in business at all. But after living near it for about a year I know he does a brisk business in liquor and lottery sales. He has loyal customers and there is almost always someone in there. I think Fred’s is most memorable to me for it’s hospitality. When I’ve dashed over there before he closes he’s often joked, "I’ll leave you the key." I think he’s joking but at the same time I have no doubt Paul would really give us the key if we needed it.

  • Presidential Address

    BushI watched the President’s address last night. Of course, his speach brought up all sorts of memories of September 11th, 2001 when he gave a similarly timed address to let the nation know we would respond. Much of what he said reminded me of how strong he was during those days immediately following the attacks.

    He re-enforced some strong reasons for continuing on with what we’re doing in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that some people see it as a purely political issue, but I really think that this strategy, and all of the terror plots that have been thwarted in the last severa, have proven that if we had done nothing… we’d be far worse off than we are currently. I don’t catch a lot of speaches by the President, but this was the strongest I have heard in quite a while.


    Across the broader Middle East, the extremists are fighting to prevent such
    a future.  Yet America has confronted evil before, and we have defeated it
    — sometimes at the cost of thousands of good men in a single battle.  When
    Franklin Roosevelt vowed to defeat two enemies across two oceans, he could
    not have foreseen D-Day and Iwo Jima — but he would not have been
    surprised at the outcome.  When Harry Truman promised American support for
    free peoples resisting Soviet aggression, he could not have foreseen the
    rise of the Berlin Wall — but he would not have been surprised to see it
    brought down.  Throughout our history, America has seen liberty challenged,
    and every time, we have seen liberty triumph with sacrifice and
    determination.


    At the start of this young century, America looks to the day when the
    people of the Middle East leave the desert of despotism for the fertile
    gardens of liberty, and resume their rightful place in a world of peace and
    prosperity.  We look to the day when the nations of that region recognize
    their greatest resource is not the oil in the ground, but the talent and
    creativity of their people.  We look to the day when moms and dads
    throughout the Middle East see a future of hope and opportunity for their
    children.  And when that good day comes, the clouds of war will part, the
    appeal of radicalism will decline, and we will leave our children with a
    better and safer world.     [See the full transcript or watch the video]

  • Next 10 songs on my playlist

    I was just mowing the lawn and listening to some tunes. As I get ready to do more yard work (edging the yard is fun, really) here are the next 10 tunes on the iPod. (My rating is there are well, lots of music in the evaluation period)

    1. I Hate Everything (But You) Derek Webb *
    2. Forever (Live version) Chris Tomlin *****
    3. Alle by Chris Tomlin ***
    4. Listen to the Music by the Doobie Brothers ****
    5. Still by Hillsong *****
    6. The Potters Hand by Darlene Zschech ***
    7. Consuming Fire (bootleg version) Third Day ***
    8. Unchanging by Chris Tomlin ****
    9. Revolutionary Love by David Crowder Band ***
    10. Goodbye, Good Night by Jars of Clay ***

    Thankfully that wasn’t too embarrassing.

  • Metro Detroit Youth Workers Lunch

    Friday afternoon I had the joy of connecting up with a great group of people for my second Metro Detroit Youth Workers lunch. This one was much smaller, but much cooler than the last one. Man… a good atmosphere is everything.

    Things I liked…

    • Talking to some of the same people from last time. I met up with Jim Stoltz again… he’s a youth guy in Commerce. (Wherever that is) I just like the guy, he’s pretty cool. Of course, I have a Moody connection with him, so that’s always a good start.
    • I liked hearing from the old timers. They had good stuff to say. I needed to be encouraged and I was.
    • I got to talk to people about what God is doing at my church and what God is doing with youth workers through YMX. It was cool because I was worried I would talk to people about YMX far too much. But in fact I got to talk about things in the right order… I talked to people the most about my family. I got to talk to people the "next most" about my ministry. And I got to talk to people a very little about YMX. That made it 100% worth my time.
    • I loved hearing about what God is doing in and through so many ministries and businesses. I left encouraged that we are just a little closer to overcoming a satanic oppression of church competition that exists in the Metro Detroit area. I want to be used by God in playing a small part in overcoming it.
    • It was very cool that Dave over at Faith Lutheran seemed somewhat interested in being a part of a local network again. It’s been far too long and we really need to figure out how to make it happen.
    • Of course, it was great seeing Jason Raitz. Can’t put a finger on the "why" parts of it, but I just think he’s a great guy.
    • It was fun hooking up with the guys from YFC and talking about 3Story. I don’t know if they are serious or not… but I’m interested in helping them teach adults in Metro Detroit 3Story.

    Most of all… and I can’t explain this excitement… I’m geeked about seeing a lot of these same folks in Cincinnati this November. The YS convention should be oodles more fun and I should get a lot more out of it because I know so many more people. I’m really looking forward to this in November.

  • A fantastic Sunday

    Today was the first time we ran two services under our new format. Overall, unofficially, I’d rate it a B+. There weren’t any major problems that have to be fixed. We had musicians in both services, both services ran on time, the resource/welcome area did exactly what we hoped it would do, KidsTown happened and went pretty well, on and on and on.

    About those problems… honestly, I don’t even want to think about them right now. (Minor picky stuff mostly)I took notes, we’ll deal with that stuff in our staff meeting… right now I’m just glowing with excitement for the extremely good day today. Everything we needed to go well, went well. Phew! Now, getting at church at 7:30 am for worship team practice… that just leads me to the next thing I need… a nap.

  • Deep thoughts for a Saturday

    I don’t think I have any complete thoughts today… but I do have several partial ones.

    1. It is prematurely freezing here in Romeo. Current temperature at our house is 62.2 F. And it feels colder than that. Leaves are falling as I type this in my front yard. Far too early to think about raking or finding out why our leaf blower won’t work. And far too soon to think about getting the snow blower ready.
    2. I’m excited for the football game today. I heard 35,000 people showed up for the pep rally tonight and rumor has it that the Notre Dame vs. Penn State game is the toughest ticket ever at Notre Dame Stadium.
    3. My Fantasy Baseball team is in the playoffs. Heading into the last 48 hours the two teams are tied.
    4. We’re hosting the churches Bonfire tomorrow night. We aren’t anywhere near being ready and the backyard closely resembles a wheat field before harvest. Today’s cold and rain is not helping matters.
    5. It’s a fact, the elevator is open for business at the church. I think I was one of the first unofficial riders. I rode downstairs with the general contractor minutes after we passed our inspection. When the doors opened downstairs I yelled for Chris to come give it a try. It was a simple pleasure as she ran over and we rode upstairs. I’m extremely happy it’s up and running.
    6. Two services in the morning. When I got here 3+ years ago we ran two services. It’s nice to be bringing that back. In fact, I think by doing two identical services we’re doing things much better than the old way.
    7. The kids are going to see Lassie. In case you didn’t know, there is a new version of the old classic in theaters. I don’t think Paul will be into it… but Megan will fall in love with the story.

    I have other random thoughts… but the weather has me desiring a nap.

  • A photo a day…

    And the spoof is even better…