Coffee - The Greatest Addiction Ever

For me, everyday begins with a cup of coffee.  I enjoy the flavor, the energy, the smell, and the feel of a cup of coffee in my hand.  If I get into office conversation, I find that I drink more.  And if my day finds time, I'll end up at a coffee shop reading with my wifey.  I have very specific coffee favorites such as Ethiopia Yirga Chefe!  Bold, Strong, Coffee!  Espresso is also a preferred taste of mine but it costs so much for such a little cup, so I stick to the bold cup of joe.  Since moving to Carrollton, I have used the same coffee mug everyday.  It is stained brown and has only been washed a handful of times, but I believe that it gives it character!  As I sip on my freshly brewed coffee for today, I encourage you to grav a mug and enjoy this video as you sip on God's gift.

Nicaragua

This past week I served in Nicaragua with Southern Hills Christian Church and the Mustard Seed Mission.  Here are my highlights:

• Traveling late into the night and getting to know our team better through Nicole's favorite questions.
• Seeing the beauty of the Perkins property.
• Mixing concrete with Scott and moving the ladder for Nicole.
• GREAT FOOD!!!
• Playing soccer and volleyball with the kids.
• Teaching VBS about how Noah sawed, and chopped, and he didn't stop.  And how Daniel obeyed God even though there were hungry lions and a mean king.
• Yelling Gloria Dios!
• Joy filled kids who have never heard Sunday school lesson stories and seeing them learn it for the first time!
• Seeing the kids love my wife and her blue hair.
• Mud/River "roads"
• Talking with Michael on the lounge.
• Playing soccer with Yader.
• The huge toads and scorpion.
• Serving the community a meal as they watched the Jesus film.
• Zip Linning and the boat cruze with Lucy.
• Crazy luggage people hitting the plane and resting in Fort Lauderdale for the day.
• Attempting to write a letter in Spanish and thinking of those far away.

Thank you for your many prayers, for your support, and for your love.  If you would still like to help with our expenses, that would be amazing.  Or if you want to join our golf tournament on June 20th facebook me!

For more photos click here,

Many great memories and totally glad to be a part of Nicaragua!

My Favorite Blogs

I currently follow 81 different blogs.  I enjoy information and reading the thoughts of great children's pastors.  I enjoy laughing at people failing.  I enjoy keeping up with friends.  And I enjoy being reminded of great things, like Lost, Batman, and Geocaching.  Blogs help me stay relevant with children's ministry posts, youtube trends, church stage designs.  And blogs challenge me with great sermons, podcasts, and webisodes.  My all time FAVORITE blog is hands down THIS ONE! 

I hope you enjoy my blog on blogs and feel free to check out some of my subscriptions from Google Reader:

(I typed them ALL out, and linked them but can't post because it's considered SPAM, and so if you want a full list, I'll have to email it to you, just ask).  

Here are some of my favorites:

Batman-News

Ben Terry

Children's Ministry Online

Failblog

Free CM Stuff

Kidologist.com

Latitude 47

Leader2Leader

MoreThanDodgeball.com

Neatorama

Perry Noble

Socialnomics - Social Media Blog

Stuff Christians Like - Jon Acuff

TeeFury Daily Tee

the Life of rich meister.

YEAHLOST.com

YouTube Trends

My Office at Southern Hills Christian Church

Most of my time in the week is spent in my office working on current projects and preparing for future ministry. I thought it would be nice this week to give you a sneak peak at where the magic happens.

When you walk in, you'll instantly notice that I like having an open office where you can walk in and feel welcomed. You can have a seat on the sweet couch, or maybe be a little more adventurous and sit in my massage chair. I almost always have some sweets on the shelf to encourage visitors and you may even notice that I like batman!

I will spare you from opening the closet. As a children's pastor I am always working on our future stage set, costumes, and object lessons to teach the kids about Jesus in creative ways and so it is FULL! I have a modest book collection, but have read pretty much everything on my shelves. I try to read at least a book a month now that I have graduated college.

If you notice on my desk, I am currently reading 9 Things They Didn't Teach Me in College About Children's Ministry, Leadership by the Book: Tools to Transform Your Workplace, and by recommendation of Perry Noble Choosing to Cheat: Who Wins When Family and Work Collide?.

So, there's my office. I must say, I really enjoy working in this room and especially love working at Southern Hills Christian Church!!!

Stop by sometime, grab a piece of candy, get a massage, and let's hang out. I would love to have you!

Planning A Luau

On Friday, Southern Hills Christian Church held a banquet for the 5th graders who will be moving from All Stars to the Fusion Ministry. Over the past couple of week, a lot has gone into planning this banquet and so I thought it would be fun to backtrack some. So starting with now and going to the beginning:

Close out expenses for this year.
Evaluation and planning for next year.
Thank you's.
Sleep.
Clean up.
Pray.
Give out gifts.
Shannon speak.
Coaches speak.
Speak.
Games.
Food.
Welcome.
Enjoy the event.
Greet guests.
Start music and slides.
Final preparations.
Final food.
Finalize music.
Finalize slide show.
Print name plates for bibles.
Double check spelling of names.
Clean up mess from decoration.
Decorate the room and tables.
Table clothes and layout.
Purchase game equipment.
Create and Print tshirt vouchers.
Purchase gift for Abby.
Clean off the stage.
Hook up computer/sound/lights.
Set up the room with tables and chairs.
Create alphabetical list of kids.
Finalize RSVP's and pictures.
Get bibles from Shannon.
Give bibles to Shannon.
Write in gift bibles.
Purchase music.
Create slide show.
Get prizes for the games.
Give Shannon room layout sheet.
Purchase last decorations.
Determine layout of the room.
Finalize food.
Give numbers to Susan.
Finalize number estimates.
Send followup emails.
Call and email for RSVP's.
Finalize coaches who will attend.
Create RSVP database.
Announcement in connect.
Graphic and info to Andrew.
Remind kids and parents with reminder cards.
Order Bibles.
Think of prizes for the games.
Order decorations and bonus food stuff.
Inform coaches.
Meet with Susan about food.
Announce the event.
Put event in bulletin.
Permission for bible purchase.
Bible research.
Send out information and RSVP's.
Proofing, printing, mailing.
Create reminder cards.
Create RSVP cards.
Create event invitations.
Graphics and look for event.
Create list of 5th grade prospects.
Create schedule for event.
Meet with Susan about food.
Ask for decoration equipment.
Talk with CM team, Shannon, and Susan about ideas.
Food Ideas.
Decoration Ideas.
Tentative Schedule.
Game Ideas.
Meet with CM staff for ideas.
Determine the theme for the event.
Reserve the facility.
Give dates for food and to other staff.
Pray about the event/purpose/goals/ideas.
Talk with Shannon about the event in past, event now, and purpose.
Talk with CM staff about the event in past, event now, and purpose.

Set Budget.
Set Date.
Finalize Event.

Well, I'm sure that I'm missing something, but this is a look at what goes into planning an event. While it may seem like a lot of work, it is definitely worth every second of it!

Here are some pics/graphics and stuff:

Screen It

This weekend I went with Nicole to watch Thor. I'm a geek and really like comic book style movies and so I was very excited. Overall it was a great movie, but one thought that I had throughout a lot of the movie was, "Why are there so many young kids here?" The movie wasn't one of those "bad" movies, but it is about War and there is significan violence therefore is rated pg-13 (curious why? see here).

Anyway, this got me thinking about our rating system for movies and games. The Motion Picture Association of America sets the rating for movies. This is a system set up in America. And you may have noticed that America is not the most pure system. And so when this system even says that you should not take your kids and you do...there seems to be a problem there.

Also, in talking the kids, even church kids, most of their favorite video games are Rated Mature...which means you need to be 17 to purchase...so why let them play?

Anyways, just a few thoughts from my weekend and my I just encourage you to think twice and check out a site like http://www.screenit.com/search_movies.html before bringing the kids along.

Sunday Checklists

Sunday mornings are very busy for me. I get up early and begin thinking through a mental and sometimes written checklist. There is a lot going on all at once and so it is sometimes difficult to manage. Recently, I began thinking about how busy I feel on Sunday's and how while there is a ton going on, I need to stay focused.

Who do I need to talk with today? What area's need evaluation? Who needs encouraging? What needs delegated? What needs done this week? Who needs prayer? And then all of the stuff with lessons, skits, main points, memory verses and everything in between.

I don't remember where I read about this struggle, but since reading about it, I have placed a lot of emphasis on making sure that I connect with people. Making sure I take the time to connect, build others up, and listen. This has made me feel much better come Sunday afternoon and I will continue with this priority.

Blogging and Networking

I have to start with a confession. I follow and read 77 different blogs...

I love information, I love hearing the inner thoughts of others, I love watching people get hurt (failblog ;), and generally I love people...and so I read their blog posts.

I just finished reading the chapter on networking in Ryan Frank's new book 9 things they didn't teach me in college about children's ministry. And came to the conclusion that I need to keep up with my blog better. I would like help others in the ministry and write about things that I'm working through. I want parents in my ministry at SHCC to know me better, beyond the 30 second interaction we have on Sunday morning at pick up and drop of of their children. And I want to gain some clarity in thought through writing things out.

So anyways, I'll probably need to cut back on the blogs that I read, and find more time to write my own. So read my blog and make it worth it ;)

My brief thoughts for the week, or at least what I wrote on my whiteboard:

Who did I connect with this week?

Who did I encourage?

With whom did I share creative ideas?

Who did I share Jesus with?

Geocaching

Over the past few years I have taken very strongly to the hobby of geocaching. I love the adventure and thrill of finding the cache! There is nothing very special about the container, or even the swag, but most of the time the location is something to highlight. In Carrollton GA so far we have gone caching twice. The first time we found a really nice trail that goes around a large lake with a fountain in the middle...we also found a small tuber ware container with some fake coins. The second time we found a very cool trail that goes through the woods. There we found a couple different containers and an ammo case, as well as some deer, a button, and a travel bug.

Geocaching is a great excuse to get outside, to hang out with friends, and to go places that you usually would overlook or say, "we'll check that out someday."

If you are ever in the Carrollton area, or if we come visit you, we would love to go on an adventure with you!

Check out my Geocaching profile and become my friend!

An Update on Life

We moved to Carrollton Georgia!

New town, new ministry, new home, new computer, and new coffee maker ;)

At the beginning of the year, Nicole and I moved away from everyone and everything we are familiar with. Why? Because we really felt God's call to not just the ministry, but to a specific ministry in Western Georgia.

I am now the Children's Pastor at Southern Hills Christian Church and have been loving every minute of it! The transition has been smooth, meeting new people exciting, and getting back into the ministry fun. It has been exciting to see how God has prepared us for this ministry, at this specific time, and I am stocked to see what God has in store for our future!

It is crazy thinking about how God completely shut one door...about how upset this made us...and about how this whole plan fit together into such a bigger plan! Very exciting!

Anyways, Nicole mentioned that it had been a while...and while I'm an avid blog reader, I would like to post more...so here's an update.