Wednesday Morning

SWITCHFOOT ALBUM
My favorite band growing up and still today is Switchfoot. For a lot of reasons that I won't bore you with, I just absolutely love these guys. They have been churning out song after song the past few years since getting free from Columbia Records too. They have a new album coming out Nov10th called Hello Hurricane. They started streaming the entire album for free yesterday on myspace. To listen to it click here.

My favorite tracks so far are the title track (Hello Hurricane), Yet, and Bullet Soul. Its a great album. Here is the video from the first single Mess of Me.




HS Retreat
We just reserved the weekend of March 12-14, 2010 for our High School Retreat at Woodland Lakes Christian Camp. We are hoping to find a couple of other churches that want to team up and go together.

Now comes all the fun, exciting, and hard work to make it a solid weekend for our students. Time to start really focusing on the questions like: What is going to be the focus of the weekend? How do we want to challenge our students? How can we give them tools to use and takeaway? God how can we prepare for what you have for us that weekend?


1 Peter 4 and 5
^4:7The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. ⁸Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Growing up my mom always prayed that I would be self controlled because I was a pretty hyper kid. When I read this yesterday it jumped out to me. I need to be self controlled so that I can focus and pray. Verse 8 is just awesome because it makes you think about how Jesus' amazing love covers us. Redemption is a beautiful thing. ^5:2Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care, serving as overseers—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; ³not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock This is a challenge to us as leaders, and a call to be challenged to Christians who need to step up and lead. We need to be eager to serve, to shepherd, and to be examples to others. That's discipleship, and true discipleship lasts.
^5:5Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."^a]">[a] ⁶Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. ⁷Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
This passage is especially poignant coming on the heels of verses 2 and 3. There are so many levels to true humility and God has a way of teaching them to us. We need His grace and that should humble us. If we are humble it says that He gives us Grace. I am so glad that he cares for me.

NO SHAVE NOVEMBER
Yesterday Clayton (the children's minister) asked me if I was going to do No Shave November. I told him I was up for it, but I really knew that Alicia would be the one to decide that for me. Luckily she told me I could if I shaved at the beginning. So I shaved late last night and I wont shave again until December 5th (30 days). Here is the picture from day 1. Today I look like a 5th grader. Hopefully by the end of the month I'll look like I am at least 17.


LOGOS BIBLE SOFTWARE
Logos has some incredible Bible Software. It can be pretty pricey, but its definitely quality. Especially if you want to dig deeper into what theologians etc have to say about passages without having to do tons of research. The reason I mentioned it is that they just came out with an IPHONE application that is FREE and it is pretty quality too.

Alright that's it. Go Phillies let's make it to a game 7!

Another Wednesday Morning Thoughts and Ramblings

If you want to waste 2 hours of your life

Here is something cool to check out on youtube. Pick out one of your favorite youtube videos and then take watch out of the url and replace it with warp.swf and then hit enter. Its pretty cool what happens. Let me know if you try it.

Work, Life , Parenting: The Ultimate Juggling Act

I went to the Anderson Town Center for the first time last night. It is an incredibly beautiful building. The theatre is gorgeous. The Area Chamber of Commerce held a seminar on parenting. I thought it was a tremendous and even courageous effort on their part. I have it said that Parents just don’t go to things like this (its hard because their so busy). I know its true, because in Student Ministry we have to make a really big effort to get a good parent turnout for a seminar or a panel. All that to say I really applaud the Township for putting something on like this. The speakers, Sharon Guard (Anderson Hills UMC), Dave Brewer (Beech Acres Parenting Center), and Sherry Gibson (Fifth Third Bank) all had good things to say. Alicia asked me afterwards what I took way from it. My first response was that parents don’t have time for things like this (Sadly the event was poorly attended). This morning though I went back and looked at my notes and here are the nuggets I came away with:

• Take every opportunity to point out your child’s strengths
• Don’t miss life’s wake up calls.
• Children and Student Ministers get 40-50 hrs a year with the average child. Parents get 3000 with their child.
• You have got to make sure your family is having regular meals together

Thanks again to the Anderson Town Center for putting this together. I really appreciated them putting the emphasis on Families.

Yankees vs. Phillies

The World Series starts tonight! I am excited. As much as I detest the Yankees, I am not super upset they are in it either. I will only get upset if they when. There are a couple things I am really looking forward too. First I am looking forward to the former Cleveland Indian’s Aces Matching Up. How did the Indians not win a Series with Cliff Lee and CC Sabathia as their 1 and 2? Also, I am hoping that A-Rod gets into like a 1 for 25 rut (Am I bad person?). Finally, I am looking forward to seeing two incredibly potent offenses facing off against 2 pitching staffs that are good but not great. It should make for a great series with close games. I am calling Phillies in 6 games.

1 Peter 2:1-3 (NLT)

¹ So get rid of all evil behavior. Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech. ² Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment, ³ now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness.

I read this today during my devotions. I talked with my guys this morning at breakfast of how being grateful affects your life. Its easy when you have all your physical needs being continually met to feel like you really don’t need or crave anything. It’s a simple thought, but we can not let the taste of God’s Kindness fade in our memories. If we do we will slide back into old habits and behaviors and forget just how much we crave spiritual nourishment.

Check out Clayton’s Blog

Our Children’s Minister Clayton Hershner is great guy. He has been sharing some pretty heartfelt stuff and cool stories on his blog. Check it out.

Middle School Retreat

The retreat was a blast and it was amazing to watch our students connect to God and each other. Look for a blog entry with photos and stories sometime in the next couple of days.