Call and Response

Call and Respone

Call + Response

Watch for more info and visit the website callandresponse.com

Never Enough Time For DonkeyBall

It just seemed like yesterday that I shot my first basket from my burro. That's right. It's me riding a donkey playing basketball. Hee Haw

Bigger With The Glasses

It can't get any better than seeing the best band on the planet in 3D. It really could be "even better than the real thing."

Thus Saith, the Lord?

A friend of mine, Mark Raines sent this to me. You can always count on Alabama churches to keep it real.

Gratitude

My wife, Heather is preaching this weekend on the passage of the "Sinful Woman". I am so proud of her. She is on staff with me at our church, and I am loving that.
As I was reading this story, I was reminded of the courage and gratitude the woman had to have in order to even enter the room. Christ could have rebuked her, but he choose to forgive her sins.
I am grateful for my wife and our two daughters. I am grateful for a God who has brought us to this place.

I Can't "Bear" It

Here in Wisconsin, I am learning that hunting is considered a spiritual discipline. Although, not a hunter myself I am fascinated by the art of it. I mentioned to one of our friends that I would really like to see a bear (in the wild). It just seems like something I should do while living in a bear inhabited place. So I received a call to come and see the bear. Turned out the bear was going to be dinner later on. I still would like to see one that was a little more...alive, but this was pretty cool.

Think About It...

I'm just trying to make you smile and I think this will do the trick...

You Choose The Price

Go buy the new Radiohead album for "Whatever you want" to pay!

"Rockers Radiohead are using an interesting strategy to promote their new album, In Rainbows. The band is allowing fans to pay whatever they want for the record. Fans can go to the Radiohead website and pay as much or as little to pre-order the album before it hits stores on Oct. 10 ..."(Relevant Magazine)

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Remedy is Coming

I'm very excited about the new DC*B Album "remedy". Pre-order yours today. That's all I have to say about that.

Where Have All The Good Maps Gone

I ripped this video from my friend Josh Case's blog. I did so because this clip must be seen by all "US Americans".

Today's Tragedy: "Many US citizens do not have maps."

Bury Me Here

Just recently, my wife's grandfather passed away. During our time with her family the discussion came up regarding burial plots. The funeral home was offering her family burial plots at a discounted price at the cemetery. And I was faced with the question, "Where do you want to be buried?"

I had never been asked this question before. So I thought about it, and I'm still not sure.

The idea of having my ashes scattered in Scotland alongside some of my ancestors is certainly the more romanticized version. Then there is the more practical way of looking at it. Pick a place where my family can visit if they so choose.

I feel that even though I won't be around to care where my body is laid to rest, I still would like for it to be some place of significance. Then again I will never know.

Where do you want to be buried?

Quick Update

Whew! What a month! We made it to Wisconsin. Even though our moving truck was hit by an intoxicated motorist we were not discouraged. We are so excited about our new church, and our new home in Rice Lake, WI.

Shortly after arriving in Rice Lake we received the news that Heather's grandpa had passed away. So we loaded back in the car and drove to Marion, IN. It was so good to be with family again and the funeral was beautiful.

We are settling in and still unpacking boxes. The girls are getting adjusted very well. Ailee was chasing a neighborhood boy with a sword. So that's a good thing.

Red Cedar Community Church is the name of our new church. Heather is on staff as the Pastor of Spiritual Formation and I am the Pastor of Worship and Creative Arts. The other staff pastors are great and the people have been wonderful.

We do miss our friends and families, but rest assure knowing that God has brought us to a fabulous place.

What is the way of Worship?

In his book, The Dangerous Act of Worship: Living God's Call to Justice, Mark Labberton talks about "The Real Worship War".
"Our worship should lead us to greater mercy, to costly acts of justice, for those who are the least seen, the least remembered, the least desired" says Labberton.
What is the way of worship?
Is it more conferences?
Is it more choruses?
What will the Church do with the act of worship?
Labberton goes on to say, "We should not fool ourselves into thinking that it's enough to feel drawn to the heart of God without our lives showing the heart of God."
How should the injustices of our world be reflected in how we worship God?

Pardon Our Progress

The site is going through some changes. Thanks for your patience.

"Your Gonna Be Somebody" Part 4

[The Condensed Version]
Two years ago I resigned from the church I was working in and pursued a ministry position in Switzerland. I felt the winds of change blowing through the air. I was ready for change, I thought. However, we did not move to Switzerland. We did not move at all. We stayed in the same place. There are lots of reasons that people move and there are lots of reasons that people stay. I was really ready to move, but that just didn't happen.
The church I resigned from was also the church where my father-in-law is the Pastor. We decided that we would continue attending there. I decided that it would not be for long, but my decision was overruled. It was a difficult dynamic for me to attend the church after my resignation. I didn't want to be there. Not because of the church, but because I was supposed to be somewhere else.

Why is it so hard to sit still?

After several failed attempts at finding a ministry job, we decided to stay until my wife, Heather finished her Masters at Nazarene Theological Seminary. She still had two years left. Could I wait two years? It didn't matter. It really wasn't up to me. It took me some time to figure that out.

After a year had passed, I would love to say that I spent my days walking with God and soaking up his infinite wisdom. Instead, I kicked and screamed and threw a toddler sized tantrum. Why? I guess for the same reason my 4 year old throws a "hissy fit". I didn't get what I wanted.

God was patient with me. My family was patient with me. I love my wife. That has not been a very hard thing. I can say that it has been hard to love me, and she has. She has loved me through the most difficult place of my life thus far.

God took me through not just one year of solitude with him, but two years. Two years without the feelings of "purpose" and "significance" I had been so accustomed to. I don't say that as a martyr. It was good for me to disconnect from everything that I felt was so important to be connected to. I needed to connect with my wife and my two fabulous daughters. I needed to connect with my God and allow him to connect with me.

Everything that happened in the last two years, good or bad, consistently communicated who God is and who I'm not. We were in a different place although we had not moved.

This past May, Heather and I received a call from a pastor in Michigan regarding two positions at their church. This was it. We both felt that we were ready to take the step. We wanted to take the step together. This was the turn in the road. After interviewing and being offered the jobs, we accepted and began making arrangements to relocate. A couple of weeks after that the pastor called us during lunch. He regretfully apologized and withdrew the job offers. At least he didn't say, "It's not you. It's me."

We were stunned, shocked, and stupified. What now?

I don't believe that trusting God is easy. I do think it's necessary. That is all we could do. Trust.

An emailed showed up in my inbox a few days before the employment reversal. It was from a pastor in Wisconsin. I informed him of our move to the neighboring state and wished him well in his search. Shortly after the Michigan mishap, I emailed the Wisconsin pastor with hopes that the positions were still open. They were. Heather and I accepted the jobs at the church. It could not be a better fit. I am so humbled and in awe of the way God works. I sincerely mean that. I have been a skeptic. I have been a critic. I can honestly say that as I am typing I know God cares about me and my family. Not because everything "worked out" for me, but because of how it's working outside of me. No doubt.

Your gonna be somebody, but who?

Pink Mermaid Music Review

Things are kind of crazy around our house right now so I haven't hit the blogosphere as much as I would like. We are looking to move to Wisconsin sometime next month, and that whole thing is consuming a lot of our time right now.
I just know how much I appreciate updated blogs and how infrequent my visits are to those that are not. So here is the first official "Pink Mermaid Music Review".

This band is the complete package of great lyrics, great melodies, and great vocals. I love every song on the album, Twilight. These guys are not new to the scene, or to the listening audience. I promise you that this is not just a repackaging of more of the same. Yes, you can hear some of their influences, but they have a sound all to their own. It's a big sound with big vocals and anthems that will elevate the audience to follow this band as long as they will allow it.

I absolutely love this band and this album. Get it. Listen to it. Listen again. Eat. Sleep. Listen to it. Sing loud along with it. Then send me many thanks.

4 out of 5 Mermaids


Future of Forestry
Twilight

The Natashas - Inside The New Global Sex Trade

I've been reading The Natashas by Victor Malarek. It's taken me a while because it is so brutal and so wrong what is happening to women and children in the sex trade industry. This is an issue that is gaining more attention, but unfortunately is met with more blank stares and shrugged shoulders. Please educate yourself on the issue of Human Trafficking and get involved in ending slavery. People should not be bought and sold.

"In "The Natashas: The New Global Sex Trade" (Viking Canada, $36 Canadian; negotiations are under way for a U.S. print run and an international film), Mr. Malarek estimates that of the 1 million young women sold worldwide for sex every year, one-quarter come from Eastern Europe, including about 100,000 from Ukraine alone." - by Christopher Guly Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

www.stopthetraffik.org
www.worldhope.org
www.notforsalecampaign.org

The World Really is Getting Smaller

Somewhere in the world David Lee Roth is crying in his Martini singing Garth Brooks to a group of farm animals. Random, right.

About This Photo- 2007 Food Bank of New York Can-Do Awards Dinner Honoring The Edge and Jimmy Fallon.