Judy Gregory

This Blog has moved... Switching to WordPress

2012-01-13T10:19:00.004-05:00

Hey friends, switched my blog to WordPress. Why? Peer pressure! Everyone's doing it...3 years ago!

www.judygregory.wordpress.com

Jealousy strikes!

2012-01-11T08:36:00.004-05:00

Cain and Abel - Genesis Chapter 4
Cain brought the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. The Lord says to Cain, “sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.” But, Cain ends up killing his brother, Abel.

And God gives Adam and Eve another son, Seth. Eve attributes it to God. It goes on to say, “At that time people begin to call upon the name of the Lord.”

a. When we give God our “firsts,” it represents where He is in our lives.
b. When the Lord rebukes us, we can get BITTER or we can get BETTER. Cain got bitter.
c. Half-hearted devotion leads to sin.
d. While sin is out there, we have the POWER to rule over it but need to CHOOSE to.
e. Jealousy kills! Not just physically, but emotionally and spiritually. It cost Cain big time!
f. Eve attributes birth of Seth to God. Maybe after Abel and Cain, Eve grew up. Maybe she understand, for the first time, the pain of the Father’s (mother’s) heart.

Wow! That Hurt On So Many Different Levels

2012-01-10T06:19:00.005-05:00

[I am backed up on posting my daily thoughts, but here are the first 3 days of my actual reading of God's Word. At a minimum, I am shooting for a chapter a day. Chapter 3 was huge in my life and had a ton of GREAT reminders.]

Genesis chapters 1-11 could be described as a survey of the world before Abraham. Chapters 12-50 focus on one main family line in considerable detail. Other ancient nonbiblical stories do exist recounting stories about both creation and the flood. In ancient literary traditions, creation is a struggle often involving conflict between the gods. The flood was sent because the gods could not stand the noise made by human beings, yet they could not control it.

These chapters should act as eyeglasses so that readers focus on the points their author is making and go on to read the rest of the Bible in light of them.

Chapter 1
Day 1: Let there be light…and it was good. There was evening and there was morning, the first day.

Day 2: God created the expanse and called it Heaven (sky in NIV).

Day 3: He created the Earth (land in NIV) and Seas…and it was good. Vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed…and it was good. (multiplication)

Day 4: Sun, moon and stars to give light to the earth and to mark the seasons…and it was good.

Day 5: Fish/creatures of the sea and birds…and it was good. Told them to be fruitful and multiply. (multiplication)

Day 6: Livestock/creeping things/beasts of the earth…and it was good. Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth. And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plan for food.” And it was so. …And it was VERY good.

Chapter 2
Day 7: God rested and made it holy.

Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. He placed him in a garden. The tree of life and tree of good and evil were in the midst of the garden (the river of Eden divided out of it into four: Pishon, Gihon, Tigris, and Euphrates). Lord, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

The Lord had man give names to all livestock and to the birds of the heaven and to every beast of the field. But there was no helper fit for him. So, the Lord put him to sleep, took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And He made woman from the rib. Adam regarding Eve, “Bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become ONE flesh.

Chapter 3
Serpent to Eve, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” (Serpent playing dumb) Eve, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” Serpent, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desire to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.

Most of chapter 2, God is called “Lord God.” In chapter 3, the serpent only referred to Him as “God.”

It indicates Eve “saw” that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes. Tells us she might of checked it out for the first time with the serpent right then and there.

“And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” Adam blames Eve for eating from the tree and Eve blames the serpent. God specifically has words for the serpent, Eve, and Adam.

MY THOUGHTS (some very random):

1. SABBATH (Chapter 2):
I stink at it. I need to figure that one out.

2. OWNERSHIP (Chapter 2):
God had Adam name all the animals. Giving people ownership is not only a huge “How to get buy-in” leadership principle, it tells us…more importantly…God wanted to do this “with us.”

3. LOVE, OBEDIENCE AND A “HEALTHY” FEAR (Chapter 2):
God desires for us to REPETITIVELY CHOOSE to love and obey. And, I would imagine, as with all fathers, to have a “healthy” fear (or respect) of Him so that when our flesh (pride, selfishness, insecurity, whatever) wants to disobey, we will “choose not to choose” to go against His Will. He will not force us to LOVE Him or OBEY Him. God wants us to trust Him, as our heavenly Father, to have our best interest in mind.

Andy Stanley says, “When we see as God sees, we’ll do as God says.” When our eyes are selfishly (or fearfully) on ourselves, we can’t see as God sees, which makes it hard to do as God says.

One way to see as God sees is to know how/what He sees. Apart from the Holy Spirit, the only way to do that is by reading His Word. Luke 24:45 says, “Then He opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.” In my words, “Then He opened my mind so I could see how He sees (by understanding the Scriptures).” Well, that’s my prayer anyway.

4. WOW! THE FALL HURT ON SO MANY DIFFERENT LEVELS (Chapter 3):
Serpent to Eve, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” (Serpent playing dumb) Eve, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” Serpent, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desire to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.

a. First time I noticed it says “she also gave some to her husband who was WITH her.” Ouch! Oh the challenges of a divided heart.

b. “Did God actually say…” As if, should God not specifically prohibit it, it gives one permission. While different situation, I think we do that…figure out how to get around the “heart” of God’s intent.

c. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened.” Satan challenged Eve on whether God had her best interest in mind. She did not “choose not to choose” when tempted. The desire to “choose” not to live under authority will always lie within us.

d. “and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Jealousy of those stronger, faster, wiser, more gifted lies within us as well.

e. Most of chapter 2, God is called “Lord God.” In chapter 3, the serpent only referred to Him as “God.” How someone addresses the Lord should be a clear indicator of how “deeply” you listen to them.

f. “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes…” Adam and Eve took steps toward the tree. If you dance with sin, you’ll sin. Moral of the story: Flee, baby, flee.

g. God took walks in the Garden, presumably to hang out with Adam and Eve. Wow! Because of redemption, we can still walk with Him.

h. But unrepented sin will separate us from God, make us afraid and cause us to blame others for our mistakes. Repent!

i. Eve pulled Adam in. Adam was supposed to be stronger/the leader, but instead of preventing or fleeing he ended up succumbing. The smallest can take down the strongest if we fail to realize our status. Sin loves company.

j. God gave Adam the opportunity to confess by asking a simple question, “Where are you?” vs. just telling him “I know what you’ve done.” Adam ended up blaming, not confessing his part in the sin. He blamed both Eve and God (“the woman whom YOU gave to be with me”). How well do I blame-shift?

k. What an interesting question, “Where are you?” Maybe that’s should be the “question of the day” each evening, “Where are you, Judy”…not physically, but spiritually.

l. It sounded like Adam didn’t really seek to truly understand the “why behind God’s what”. Regardless we are to submit, but seeking to understand the heart of the Lord is a big deal.

m. God says to Adam, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you…” While we are to seek counsel from people, it should be secondary to seeking counsel from the Lord. And, if the counsel ever doesn’t like up with God’s word, throw it out.

n. The Lord still did not abandon, he made clothes for them out of skins vs. the fig leaves they had used initially (note: something had to die to cover up their sin), but things would change, especially when it comes to unrepented sin. The Lord must have been utterly devastated. Based on the verses, it sounds like his initial sadness turned to righteous anger.

o. The marriage issues that the fall created are disastrous. Both abandoned their roles, strife abounds.

p. One of the hardest things to do is ask forgiveness when we’ve failed God or another. No where do you see Adam swallowing his pride and saying, “I am so sorry, I was wrong.”

q. When we sin, we think God doesn’t want anything to do with us. But in the case it was quite the opposite, He purposefully puts Himself in a place to meet with them. It’s us who want to run.

r. While sin has it’s “moment” of pleasure (like with Eve, it looks good), the thought of “breaking the heart of the Father” (along with a “healthy” fear) should prevent us from “seeking or acting on it.”

s. Everything Adam and Eve were capable of, so am I. My decisions determine my destiny.

In the beginning...

2012-01-09T10:09:00.000-05:00

Genesis. In Greek it means “origin.” In Hebrew it means “In the Beginning.” Traditionally, like the rest of the Pentateuch, has been ascribed to Moses (challenged later on). Envision these stories being read to the people at the great festivals in Jerusalem, or recited by visiting Levites in the villages throughout the land. Christians call the first 5 books “the Pentateuch,” Jews call them “the Law” or “torah.” The overall theme of the Pentateuch is God’s covenant with Israel through Moses, which established Israel as a theocracy (a nation where God’s directives rule the civil, social, and religious spheres) for the sake of the whole world. Genesis is foundational to the Pentateuch and the Pentateuch is foundational to the Bible.

Divided into two major sections (1) primeval history of the world before Abraham; (2) history of the patriarchs. As Genesis describes how the earth’s population increases over many generations, the reader’s attention is constantly being directed toward one particular person in each generation and his descendants.

The theme is creation, sin, and re-creation.

Grasping the big picture of Genesis is very important. Central to this picture is the family line that forms the backbone of the entire book.

With the coming of Jesus Christ, the national theocracy of Israel is replaced by an international royal priesthood that includes, Jews, Samaritans, and Gentiles (1 Peter 2:9).

Intro talks about how long a “day,” back in the day…my interpretation of what they are saying, “it doesn’t matter.” Frequently, readers may ask questions, legitimate in themselves, that are not answered by the text. Genesis does not tell, for instance, how the serpent came to be God’s enemy or where Cain found a wife. Consequently, one’s natural curiosity must be correctly channeled, for the inspired author of Genesis intentionally communicates only certain things. Yet the text does not cease to be the Word of God simply because it is limited in what it tells the reader, it need not be exhaustive in order to be true.

The modern reader receives Genesis best, then, when he or she cooperates with Moses’ own purpose in writing the book. It is the front end of the grand narrative of creation, fall and redemption. The story is of a good world made by a good God and man’s role in that world, the story of how the stain of sin affects everything, the story of how God intends to reverse those effects.

10 Ways Your Children’s (Student) Ministry Can Influence Families by Dale Hudson

2012-01-05T21:53:00.002-05:00

Found on churchleaders.com website.

Influence a kid and you will change a life...
influence parents and you will change a home.

It's a given our children's (student) ministries influence kids. But are we influencing families? When our influence is expanded to the entire family, we can see exponential impact. Here are ten ways to expand your influence to the entire family.

1. Be prepared to minister to families when they are going through difficult times.

God wants to work through you to influence families when they are at the hospital...when they are seeking counseling...when they are mourning at the funeral home...when they are in financial crisis.

2. Give parents easy-to-use discipleship resources and tools.

Many parents feel like they can't effectively disciple their children unless they are a Bible scholar. Encourage parents by providing them simple, user-friendly resources.

3. Don't add too much to their already crazy, busy schedules and guilt them for not being there.

Families make choices with their time. If you are constantly expecting them to be at the church for extra programs or events, they can become disheartened and overwhelmed.

4. Strategically look at their family calendars when planning your church calendar.

Take into consideration holidays, days school is out, 3 day weekends, spring breaks, graduation dates, etc. when planning. Make sure you place key events, classes, etc. at times when it won't be competing with other family events.

5. Partner with other ministries.

Become best friends with student ministry, adult ministry, women's ministry, and men's ministry. Work closely with them and together create a strategy to influence families. Here's an example. We sat down with adult ministries and shared with them the child dedication class dates for next year. They purposely created parenting and marriage classes that will roll out of the child dedication class dates.

6. Set up key, family milestones you celebrate with them.

There are key times in a family's life when they swing the doors wide open and invite you to bring influence into their home. Set up classes and celebrations for milestones like child dedication, baptism, pre-teen passage, high school graduation, etc.

7. Be just as intentional about building relationships with parents as you are with kids.

Spend intentional time talking with parents, going to adult ministry activities, attending adult worship, etc. When you build relationships with parents, you open their hearts to receive your influence.

8. Find out their needs as a family.

What are they struggling with? What challenges are they dealing with as parents? What is their home life like? How can you best minister to them? This is done through the step above as you build relationships with families and spend time listening to them. You can also host a parent focus group a few times a year and intentionally ask these type questions.

9. Provide opportunities for families to serve together.

At church...in the community...families are looking for opportunities to serve together. Create family service opportunities and projects.

10. Provide events for families to enjoy together.

Family activity nights...family worship nights...family camps...family concerts...all great ways to get families together so you can speak into their lives.

Ouch! That's what they should be saying about me/Christians

2011-12-30T22:30:00.002-05:00

[FYI...For titles, I choose a line or a thought resulting from my daily reading. I am still in the introduction parts of the ESV Bible. Tomorrows reading is from the "Introduction To Genesis". It's long so I'll probably divide into two. I am defiitely a SLOWWWWWWW reader.]

12.30.11
The PENTATEUCH consists of the first five books of the Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy). The Hebrew term for it is TORAH (“law” or “instruction”).

The Pentateuch as Foundational to the Whole Bible
1. Orientation. Sets the tone, “polytheism” (multiple God’s) is not where it’s at.
2. Divine Purposes. Adam and Eve’s sin sets back the divine program but does not defeat it. God later calls Abraham.
3. Theology and ethics. Gives insight into God’s character and ethical standards. It illustrates both his benevolence and his righteousness.

Content
Center of gravity is the law-giving at Sinai. The central section suggests that at its core is God’s filling the newly built tabernacle as a visible demonstration of his choice of and intimacy with Israel—a restoration of the situation in the Garden of Eden, where God walked with Adam and Eve.

[My own thought: WALK WITH ME. Daily, God is still wanting to take walks with us like He did in the garden with Adam and Eve. Sadly, the chaos and noise of life fail to enable us to hear the daily invite.]

[My own thought: IT’S A BIG DEAL. The temple was a place of both beauty and fear. Beauty as God’s dwelling place full of silver and gold. The inner courts, as I imagine them, you did not enter into lightly. The last thing you would want to do is defile the temple. If I am the dwelling place of the Lord, how seriously do I take it…how much do I value it?]

Moses was only granted a vision of the promise land.

[My own thought: LIFE IS A RELAY RACE. We are clearly only running a portion of the race…and that race is NOT A SPRINT OR A MARATHON, but a RELAY RACE. The question is, “How well am I running my portion…and…how well will I had off the baton.]

The first avalanche of sin led to the universal judgment of the flood (Noah-before Moses).

[My own thought: LET’S TRY THIS AGAIN. Was the flood like a Second Genesis (or declaration of a false start) and in the end, after a failed second attempt, did God throw up his hands and say, “Ok, let’s just work with what we’ve got and we’ll tweek it/them along the way. Probably not. I am quickly understanding why it takes me FOREVER to read anything…mind-driftttttting]

Time Span
Archbishop User calculated the creation of the world occurred in 4004 B.C. Exodus is believed to occur around 1447 - 1270 B.C. [Really, no one knows]

Theme
God promises Abraham four things: (1) Land to live in; (2) numerous descendants; (3) blessing for himself; (4) blessing through him for all the nations of the world.

Each time God appears to the patriarchs, the promises are elaborated and made more specific. The fulfillment of these promises to Abraham constitutes the story line of the Pentateuch.

[My thought: Interesting TOUGH START: The patriarchs’ wives – Sarah, Rebekah, and Rachel – all have trouble conceiving. But when they take the first census, they total 603,550 fighting men (Numbers 1:46).]

The Pentateuch is a story of divine mercy to a wayward people. (Abraham lied about Sarah and allowed her to be taken by a foreign king, the pair escape, greatly enriched. Jacob cheats his father but returns with great flocks and herds to a forgiving brother. Israel breaks the first two commandments by making the golden calf, yet God still dwells among them in the tabernacle.)

However, alongside this account of God’s grace must be set the importance of the law and right behavior. The opening chapters of Genesis set out the pattern of life that everyone should follow: monogamy, Sabbath observance, rejection of personal vengeance and violence.

Israel was chosen to mediate between God and the nations and to demonstrate in finer detail what God expected of human society, so that other peoples would exclaim, “What great nation has a god so near to it…? And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law…?” (Deuteronomy 4:7-8)

[My thought: OUCH! THAT’S WHAT THEY SHOULD BE SAYING ABOUT ME/CHRISTIANS.]

To encourage Israel’s compliance with all the law revealed at Sinai, it was embedded in a covenant. These covenantal principles—that God will bless Israel when she keeps the law and punish her when she does not—pervade the rest of the OT. The book of Joshua demonstrates that fidelity to the law led to the successful conquest of the land, while the books of Judges and Kings show that Israel’s apostasy to other gods led to defeat by her enemies.

Jesus is the second Adam. He is the true Israel (Jacob), whose life sums up the experience of the nation. But preeminently Jesus is seen as the new and greater Moses. As Moses declared God’s law for Israel, so Jesus declares and embodies God’s word to the nations. As Moses suffered and died outside the land so that his people could enter it, so the Son of God died on earth so that his people might enter heaven. It was observed that the filling of the tabernacle with the glory of God was the center of the Pentateuch. So too “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory” (John 1:14).

The goal of the entire Bible is that humans everywhere should glorify the God whose glory has confronted them. Lost sight of in Eden, this goal reappears through Moses, on its way to final fulfillment through Christ.

I Got Red-Hot, Chili Pepper Mad This Week

2011-12-30T18:46:00.004-05:00

Earlier this week, I got red-hot, chili pepper mad! In fact when a friend mentioned the situation earlier today, I realized that I'm still "pretty warm" about it. What thoughts flow through my head during those times remind me that God's not done working on me yet. I wear an invisible sign on my forehead that says, "Under Construction...Excuse The Mess."

I am an HEIR TO, STEWARD OF and PARTICIPANT IN the story

2011-12-29T16:20:00.007-05:00

This round of reading through the Bible I want to connect the dots as much as possible, so I am still in the intro notes to the ESV Bible. Here is what I learned today.

12.29.11 The Theology of the Old Testament (OT)
The Components of the OT Story

1. Monotheism.
There is only one true God, who made heaven and earth and all mankind.

2. Creation and fall (Adam and Eve).

3. Election and covenant.
The one true God chose a people for himself and bound himself to them by his covenant. This covenant expressed God’s intention to save the people, and through them to bring light to the rest of the world, in order to restore all things to their proper functioning in the world God made. God’s covenants generally involve one person who represents the whole people (ex. Adam, Noah, Abraham, David): the rest of the people experience the covenant by virtue of their inclusion in the community represented.

4. Covenant membership.
In his covenant, God offers his grace to his people: the forgiveness of their sins, the shaping of their lives in this world to reflect his own glory, and a part to play in bringing light to the Gentiles. Each member of God’s people is responsible to lay hold of this grace from the heart: to believe the promises, and then to grow in obeying the commands, and to keep on doing so all their lives long. The spiritual and moral well-being of the whole affects the well-being of each of the members, and each member contributes to the others by his own spiritual and moral life. Thus each one shares the joys and sorrows of the others and of the whole. Historical judgments upon the whole people often come because too many of the members are unfaithful; these judgments do not, however, bring the story of God’s people to an end but serve rather to purify and chasten that people.

The “law” given through Moses, plays a vital role in the OT. It is presented as an object of delight and admiration (Psalm 119) because it is a gift from a loving and gracious God. The law is never present in the OT as a list of rules that one must obey in order to be right with God; rather it is God’s fatherly instruction, given to shape the people he loved.

5. Eschatology.
The story of God’s people is headed toward a glorious future in which all kinds of people will come to know the Lord and join his people. This was the purpose for which God called Abraham, and for which he appointed Israel. It is part of the dignity of God’s people that, in God’s mysterious wisdom, their personal faithfulness contributes to the story getting to its goal (Deut. 4:6-8).

The OT develops its idea of a Messiah in the light of these components. The earliest strands of the messianic idea speak of an offspring who will undo the work of the Evil One and bless the Gentiles by bringing them into his kingdom (Genesis 3:15; 22:17-18; 24:60).

The OT is thus the story of the one true Creator God, who called the family of Abraham to be his remedy for the defilement that came into the world through the sin of Adam and Eve. God rescued Israel from slavery in Egypt in fulfillment of this plan, and established them as a theocracy for the sake of displaying his existence and character to the rest of the world. God sent his blessings and curses upon Israel in order to pursue that purpose. God never desisted from that purpose, even in the face of the most grievous unfaithfulness in Israel.

This overarching story serves as a grand narrative or worldview story for Israel: each member of the people was to see himself or herself as an heir of this story, with all its glory and shame; as a steward of the story, responsible to pass it on to the next generation; and as a participant whose faithfulness could play a role, by God’s mysterious wisdom, in the story’s progress. [I love this part]

The OT had looked forward to an internationalized people of God (Jews and Gentiles…all people), without explaining exactly how that would connect to the theocracy of Israel (the Jews, God’s chosen people). The theocracy defined the people of God as predominately coming from a particular ethnic group in a particular land (Jews). Gentile converts (“sojourners”) were protected but could not be full-status members. The NT abolishes the distinction, because the theocracy as such is no longer in existence and many of its provisions are done away with. At the same time, the character of the one Creator God, and his interest in restoring the image of God in human beings, transcends the specific arrangements of the theocracy; hence the moral commands of God apply to Christians as they did to the faithful in Israel.

12.28.11 Notes from ESV’s “Overview Of The Bible”

2011-12-28T22:05:00.003-05:00

What, you thought I was joking? I thought about breaking this post up, but then I'd be behind.

OVERVIEW OF THE BIBLE (these 4 1/2 pages of my new LARGE print ESV Study Bible took me 2 hours to read and write about WITH my READING glasses on...told you I was slow (and evidently blind). But it was sooooo good, I might go back and re-read tomorrow.)

How does the Bible as a whole fit together?

“For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope” (Romans 15:4).

Diving right in...

In themselves, the animal sacrifices of the Old Testament (OT) were not able to remove sins permanently and to atone for them permanently (Heb. 10:1-18). They pointed forward to Christ, who is the final and complete sacrifice for sins.

When Christ appeared to the disciples after his resurrection, his teaching focused on showing them how the Old Testament pointed to him.

Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. Luke 24:45

Old Testament
The Law of Moses: Genesis to Deuteronomy
The Prophets:
Former Prophets: Historical books Joshua, Judges, 1-2 Samuel, and 1-2 Kings
Latter Prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and the 12 Minor Prophets (Hosea-Malachi)
Writings: Psalms, Daniel

The OT as a whole, through its promises, its symbols, and its pictures of salvation, looks forward to the actual accomplishment of salvation that took place once-for-all in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

In what ways does the OT look forward to Christ?

PROMISES
First, it directly points forward through promises of salvation and promises concerning God’s commitment to his people.

Salvation: Christ as the Messiah, the Savior in the line of David. Through the prophet Micah, God promises that the Messiah is to be born in Bethlehem, the city of David (Micah 5:2), a prophecy strikingly fulfilled in the New Testament (Matthew 2:1-12). There are also general promises concerning a future great day of salvation, without spelling out all the details (ex. Isaiah 25:6-9)

Commitment to his people: To be their God (Jeremiah 31:33, Hosea 2:23; Zechariah 8:8; 13:9; Hebrews 8:10) – comprehensive commitment to be with his people, to care for them, to discipline them, to protect them, to supply their needs, and to have a personal relationship with them. If that commitment continues, it promises to result ultimately in the final salvation that God works out in Christ.

“For all the promises of God find their Yes in him (Christ)” 2 Corinthians 1:20. Sometimes God gives immediate, temporal blessings. These blessings are only a foretaste of the rich, eternal blessings that come through Christ.

WARNINGS AND CURSES
God’s relation to people includes not only blessings but also warnings, threatening, and cursings. These are appropriate because of God’s righteous reaction to sin. They anticipate and point forward to Christ in two distinct ways. First, Christ is the Lamb of God, the sin-bearer (John 1:29; 1 Peter 2:24). He was innocent of sin, but became sin for us and bore the curse of God on the cross (2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 3:13). Second, Christ as his second coming wars against sin and exterminates it (final judgment against sin).

COVENANTS
People’s commitment and obligations to God. Noah, Abraham, and others whom God meets and addresses are called on to respond not only with trust in God’s promises but with lives that begin to bear fruit from their fellowship with God. A covenant between two human beings is a binding commitment obliging them to deal faithfully with one another (as with Jacob and Laban in Genesis 31:44).

“I will be their God, they shall be my people.” By dealing with the wrath of God against sin, Christ changed a situation of alienation from God to a situation of peace. He reconciled believers to God (2 Corinthians 5:18-21; Romans 5:6-11). He brought personal intimacy with God, and the privilege of being children of God (Romans 8:14-17). This intimacy is what all the OT covenants anticipated. In Isaiah, God even declares that his servant, the Messiah, will be the covenant for the people (Isaiah 42:6; 49:8).

OFFSPRING
Through Christ believers are united to him and thereby themselves become “Abraham’s off-spring” (Galatians 3:29). Believers become heirs to the promises of God made to Abraham and his offspring: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise” (Galatians 3:28-29).

CHRIST AS THE LAST ADAM
Christ is not only the offspring of Abraham but the last Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45-49). Like Adam, he represents all who belong to him. And he reverses the effects of Adam’s fall.

SHADOWS, PREFIGURES, AND “TYPES”
1 Corinthians 10:6 indicates that the events the Israelites experienced in the wilderness were “examples for us.” Greek word for “example” is typos (aka “type”). A “type,” in the language of theology, is a special example, symbol, or picture that God designed beforehand, and that he placed in history at an earlier point in time in order to point forward to a later, larger fulfillment. Animal sacrifices in the OT prefigure the final sacrifice of Christ. The temple, as a dwelling place for God, prefigured Christ, who is the final “dwelling place” for God.

CHRIST AS THE MEDIATOR
The Bible makes it clear that ever since the fall of Adam into sin, sin and its consequences have been the pervasive problem of the human race. God is holy, and no sinful human being, not even a great man like Moses, can stand in the presence of God without dying: “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live” (Exodus 33:20). Sinful man needs a mediator who will approach God on his behalf. Christ, who is both God and man, and who is innocent of sin, is the only one who can serve: “there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all” (1Timothy 2:-6). In a much smaller/subordinate way, Moses serving as a mediator for the Israelites prefigured Christ’s ultimate mediation for us. So understanding of the unity of the Bible increases when one pays attention to instance where God brings salvation, and instances where a mediator stands between God and man.

Instances of mediators in the OT includes PROPHETS (bring the word of God from God to the people), KINGS (bring God’s rule to bear on the people), and PRIESTS (represent the people in coming before God’s presence). Also can look at them as WISE MEN (bring God’s wisdom to others), WARRIORS (bring God’s deliverance from enemies), and SINGERS (who bring praise to God on behalf of the people and speak of the character of God to the people). Mediation occurs not only through human figures, but through institutions. COVENANTS (bring God’s word to the people), TEMPLE (brings God’s presence to the people), SACRIFICES (bring God’s forgiveness to the people).

In reading the Bible one should look for ways in which God brings his word and his presence to people through means that he establishes.

You Probably Aren't Going To Want To Read This

2011-12-28T21:46:00.003-05:00

I found myself recently saying out loud, “I hate the word LEADERSHIP.” As it came out of my mouth, I knew it was a complete dramatic overstatement. I don’t hate “leadership,” I actually love it! John Maxwell, Andy Stanley and Bill Hybel books have changed my life…for real!

You might be wondering, why such strong words Judy? It’s just that the Church’s (note Big “C”) and my own UNQUENCHABLE THIRST for it and its use as a MEASUREING ROD for worth and success makes it so unappealing as of late. Somewhere in the midst of our pursuit to be great leaders, it “feels” like we’ve lost Jesus. I don’t know about you, but I miss Him.

So, I’ve decided to fire up my blog again. It’s going to break all the “blogging” rules. Most posts will be way too long for anyone to read, but that’s ok…it’s not for you really, it’s for me. 2012 is going to be about getting back to the basics of God’s Word and finding Jesus again. It’s not that I lost Him, He just got a little blurry there for awhile…partly due to my own leadership pursuit, partly due to other things I won’t go into here, but maybe someday (relax, no sin issue here…except in my overconsumption of chocolate and Diet Mountain Dew). Anyway, as of today, I began another reading of the Bible from cover to cover. While there will be leadership nuggets mixed in, this blog’s primary focus is on what God is teaching me on my reading journey.

Why am I posting this? I am a “doer,” not a “reader.” My favorite way to learn is by doing things and watching people. When it comes to reading, I’m super slow and often spend more time chasing rabbits off the page and/or dosing off, leaving me frustrated and having to go back and re-read what I just read...multiple times. If I didn’t love to learn so much, I probably never read…EVER (just being honest). If God would have left us 66 videos, instead of books, I’d be more than happy. But He didn’t, pen and ink were His methods of choice (or rock and chizel if you count Moses). So, I shall read (and re-read haha). Oddly enough, when I write as I read, while slowing me down even more, it multiples my comprehension. Plus, as stupid as it sounds, I’m much better at follow through when I make a verbal (or written) commitment. So, with that being said, going to give it my best shot, 3 days before the New Year.

Wish me luck :-D On your mark, get set, go!

Effective Ways To Regain Attention In Large Or Small Group Settings by Dale Hudson

2011-12-28T10:02:00.002-05:00

These are some great ideas if your students do VBS-type meetings on mission trips or if you're involved in children's ministry (found on churchleaders.com). Also, if you're a ministry leader with little time for corporate meetings, these are examples of tips you can send out via email (like with a small group guide).

1. Say in a normal tone of voice, “If you can hear me, clap once.” Wait for a response. Repeat and say a little softer, “If you can hear me now, clap twice.” Wait for a response. One final time, lowering your voice to a whisper, “If you can hear me now, clap three times.” Wait for a response (by that time you should have their attention).

2. Use a simple hand motion. Before the lesson, tell the kids, “Anytime you see me raise my hand, I want you to raise your hand too and listen to what I have to say.”

3. Use silence. Just stop talking, in a few second it will catch on.

4. Use a noisemaker, like a toy train whistle. Teach the kids what kind of sound a train makes when it’s pulling into the station (Shhhh shhh shh). When they hear the whistle, they are to make the “Shhhh shhh shh” sound.

5. Buy a small music box (wind up before class) and tell the kids before you teach, “Anytime you start talking without permission, I’m going to open the music box and let it play as long as you keep talking. When you stop talking, I’m going to close it. At the end of the class, if there is any music left, I will reward you with a small prize (like a piece of candy).”

6. Say, “Give me five.” Hold up your hand and have the kids count backwards with you, starting loud with “5” and lowering your voice with each number until you’re whispering when you hit “1”.

7. Some type of simple rhythm (ex. smack legs twice, then clap twice). Eventually all the kids will be joining in and you will have their attention.

Retreat Budget

2011-10-27T06:41:00.005-04:00

Conptemplating Entering The Blogging World Again. Until Then Here Is A Budget Worksheet For Retreats...

RETREAT BUDGET
Category Specifics Amount

Retreat Venue:
Cost to Rent Camp, Hotel Rooms, etc.

Speaker and Band:
Speaker and Band Honorarium
Speaker and Band Transportation
Speaker and Band Lodging
Speaker and Band Gift Baskets
Speaker and Band Meals
Speaker and Band Water

General Transportation:
Buses
Gas for Drivers (those not riding bus)
U-Haul (Luggage and Equipment)
Gas for U-Haul
Gas for Vans
Gas for Set-up/Tear-down Team
Gas for Errands

General Food:
Food for Retreat
Food for Set-up/Tear-down Team

Discussion & Small Group Gatherings:
Discussion Book Paper and Printing
Disucussion Guides Paper and Printing
Discussion Book Envelopes and Supplies
Tokens
Brown Bag Supplies (Discussion Group Supplies)
CD's and Paper Sleeves (Music for Environment)

Technical and Performing Arts:
Light, Sound and Media Rentals
Cords, Batteries, Video Tapes, Gaffers Tape, Etc.
Retreat Skit/Drama Props
Electrician/Other Skilled Labor

Set Design:
Foam Board, Paint and Supplies
Black Plastic Tarp

Promotion:
Paper and Printing of Flyers
VIP Night
Promo Registration Booth and Skit Props

Administration:
Posterboard, Tape, Etc.
Paper, Paper and More Paper (Permission Slips, Profile Forms, Covenant Handouts, Job Descriptions, Schedules, Etc.)
Misc. Supplies (Notebooks, Folders, Pencils, Etc.)

Miscellaneous:
First Aid Kit
Trash Bags and Cleaning Supplies
Game Supplies
Unexpected

Grand Total:
Cost Per Student (Divide Grand Total by Expected Amt. of Paying (NOT ACTUAL) students):

11 Lessons Learned Doing A Cadre In The 2011 ATL Ice Storm

2011-01-17T21:25:00.004-05:00

1. Doing ministry alone is never fun: It’s like something was holding back the ice and snow and it just unleashed in a 30 minute time span. The minute it hit, we called off the Master’s Commission Atlanta (MC ATL) students driving but unfortunately a few were already at the airport or on their way back. I immediately headed by myself toward the airport around 285 East and sent Rey with the van down 85 South. I’ve been around the block too many times, I typically don’t get scared. But guess what, I was petrified. Cars were spun out in the ditch before me, then I was weaving around a 6 car pile-up, then a 20 car pile-up. It was nuts! I think if someone had been riding shotgun next to me, we would have still been nervous but felt the peace of having each other (yes, yes, I know Jesus was with me). I was glad Rey had Angela, but don’t you know the tipping ease of a 15-passenger vans was going through my head. I limped along to the airport and finally made it about an hour later, Rey about a ½ hour after that.

2. Know your limits: I had to make the call at the airport. Put these 7 ladies and 4 MC in a van and head 25 miles up 85 to the apartments or find a hotel. I had confidence I could make it, but zero confidence in the hundreds of ATL drivers currently stuck on the road. The 2 drivers who had a head start back took 3 hours to get there, who knows what it would have taken us an hour and hundreds of accidents later. Dumb, dumb, dumb are the only words to describe ATL drivers as I watched them slam on their brakes on the way to the airport. And, I know the 8 Atlanta salt trucks weren’t going to be of much help either.

My sis works for Marriott, so she was quick to get us some rooms, but unfortunately the shuttle couldn’t get up the hill. Oops. For those that don’t know it, navigating the hills of Georgia is different than the cornfields of Indiana. Called another hotel, when we went to get on the van there were a good 20 people in front of us. I would have weaved my way through, but there were 12 (7 ladies, 4 MC and me) of us. I am good, but not that good. Plus, that hotel was not taking reservations, if you made it on the van, you got a room.

3. You take your fun with you: We normally go all out on Cadres. There were 20+ MC girls at Jeanne’s and 20+ MC guys at my place waiting to serve the 52 ladies coming in. The roads were treacherous and the hills going up to both the apartments and Jeanne’s house were virtually impassable during the daylight. We had to move the Cadre from Jeanne’s house to the MC apartments since, while we might get them to Jeanne’s, it would be impossible to get them back to the apartments that night. Initially, we thought about doing one big slumber party at Jeanne’s and my house, but 70+ women and 20+ guys with 7 bathrooms and 5 showers between us is a bit much. So, we had one shot to get everything, along with a small team of people, to the apartments on the people mover. So, off went the food, tokens and a team of 12 in the Beast (our people mover). Andy followed behind in his truck with the chairs. The 12 on the people mover and a handful of MC students at the apartments worked their hearts out. As I say, “they did their very best.” And you know what? Their “very best” was AMAZING! They killed it because they “chose” to bring their fun with them. People sacrificed sleep, their apartments, their everything. I’m not sure if my favorite Kodak moment was seeing Anders put together the cheese tray on the bathroom sink or the bathtub lined with towels being used as a cupboard for the pots and pans. If I had seen it, it probably would have been Rey carrying a stack of chairs up the icy hill only to have them fall on his head (no, I’m not cruel, he laughed too).

4. Rey will live down the jokes: Four MC students and I slept in one hotel room. Rey was the lone male. He got the floor. He’s only been teased a few times about sleeping with four women that night. Rey is one of the manliest men out there. I don’t think there is anyone else I would have rather had by my side. His very presence brings peace.

5. If you stay calm, everyone stays calm: Once we were all together at the airport, there was a lot of laughter. The laughter eased the tension and made everything ok.

6. Sometimes things just don’t make sense: Planes that would have landed well before the storm were cancelled. In the midst of the worst part of the storm, ones that should have been cancelled were still landing. My only conclusion (i.e. story I could make up that made any sense) was that the airlines had to strategically figure out where it wanted the planes after the storm was over. Thus, they cancelled some and let others go.

7. Wear a stickin’ coat: I am an idiot. When it comes to everyone else, I play a game with myself called “worst case scenario” and plan accordingly. When it comes to myself, I have a tendency to wing it. Dumb, dumb, dumb.

8. Pay attention to details: I was so rattled when I got to the airport, I didn’t notice that I had hit the wrong button and rolled down part of my back driver’s side window. 12 hours later I had a nice pile of snow in my backseat.

9. Sometimes things work and other times they don’t: I was worried about ice and morning traffic during rush hour on our airport runs Wednesday, so we sent two groups via the Marta (train) with an MC travel assistant. One group got there just like anticipated, the other not so much. They still made their planes with time to spare, just wasn’t so smooth because Marta was still trying to get their act together. After that we opted to take everyone straight to the airport ourselves. The Marta was worth a shot, just not a second one.

10. Prayer works: My car that I haven’t made the first payment on yet didn’t get hit. The MC students caught in the storm on the way back from the airport didn’t get hit. Brian, the toothless wonder and driver who took us to the Econolodge (yep, can you say last resort) made it to the hotel safe after nearly driving us into a ditch because he was following another driver too close. I prayed against bed bugs at the Econolodge and, to my knowledge, no one saw or got bit by any. I successfully weaved through a 6 car pile-up, 20 car pile-up and a whole lot of jack-knifed semi’s. And the list goes on…

11. Some things happen for a reason. Is it God? I don’t know, but too Him be the glory regardless: In October, somehow the MC gang popped 3 tires and bent a rim on the red van within a week. Taking it off road by the ball fields probably didn’t help. Were the tires bad and totally unrelated to them? Probably, but at the time, as the keeper of the budget, I wasn’t a happy camper. But rather than put used tires on it again (we thought old red was about to retire, but she came back to life), I told the boys to get new ones all around. It is probably the very thing that kept the van on the road during Rey’s trek down and back up 85.

Two ladies came in at the crack of dawn on Monday morning. When they told me they would make it in, I secretly thought “I’ll hope and pray it in, but fat chance.” Because the hotel was near the airport, the pickups were a cinch and I didn’t have to worry about anyone else making a run. Had we had to run after them from 25 miles North, it probably would have taken awhile.

MC Atlanta 2010-2011

2010-12-21T11:47:00.005-05:00

The random people I get to do life with and see roaming the halls every day. They make me laugh more than should be allowed by law. I am a blessed woman.

Interview Questions

2010-11-30T00:52:00.001-05:00

A friend just emailed me seeking advice on some of the questions we thought he should ask in an interview process. The top things that came to my head are below. I would probably word some more carefully and make sure I wasn't just firing the questions at them (i.e. use a more conversational approach), but the bottom line of some of the basic things I would want to know is there.

1. What does a thriving youth ministry look like to you?
2. Tell me about the person that was in this position previously. Regarding what he/she did, what did you like and what do you wish they would have done more of?
3. What are your strengths? What are some areas that maybe you not so strong in that I could help with when it comes to leading the church?
4. What would a true armor bearer for you look like?
5. What’s your vision for this church?
6. What’s your dream team to accomplish the vision look like?
7. When it comes to the church, what are you most proud of? Excited about?
8. Find out the leadership structure. Is it a one-man show or are there a significant number of volunteer teams?
9. When it comes to discipling and training your staff, what does that look like to you?
10. What are your pet-peeves when it comes to your staff?
11. What do you feel the role of spouses is? How much are they expected to be involved?
12. I am a harder worker and go above and beyond, but how many hours do you expect me to put in each week? How many nights, on average, do you anticipate I will be away from my family each week (i.e. at church)? (I would probably word it differently than that, but get the answer somehow)
13. Beyond youth ministry, what other responsibilities would I have?
14. Financially, how is the church doing? Has the recession resulted in any major budget cutbacks or layoffs? (If the job is going to require a significant move, I would ask a whole bunch of financial questions)

Secretly, I would figure out how long other staff have been there. If they have a high turnover rate, something is up. If it doesn’t feel too uncomfortable and someone was in the position previously, I would ask if I could contact them. I would also ask if I could sit down and talk with the current volunteer team to get a pulse on the ministry/church.

It's A Lot Of Hard Work

2010-09-14T04:55:00.008-04:00

God is doing some amazing work in and through the Cadre. If I sat down and told you the story, you'd think "Wow, that is so God and so good." While it's Jeanne's ministry, the pictures and strategy God has deposited in my head and heart are undeniabley detailed and clear. The pieces of the puzzle He has ochestrated in my life blow my mind. I honestly believe it's going to change the nation. I call it a "new kind of revival."

I think people long for that ... the visions, the dreams, the impact. However, in all it's beauty, it's a lot of hard work. A lot ... a lot! And, I think that's where the bump in the road lies for many. Things in ministry don't typically "just happen." God puts His super on our natural and His extra in our ordinary to make things supernaturally extraordinary. But, I don't know of a successful ministry that has ever "successfully" bypassed the hard work. Even with MANY workers, as we are fortuate to have, it's still A LOT of hard work because people are messy, teams are messy, churches are messy and leadership is messy. God knew it, but said "they're worth it." WHAT DO YOU SAY?

Ok, let's try this again.

2010-09-07T21:43:00.008-04:00

Evidently I wasn't meant to live in the city. So, here is the new house I just dropped a bid on, along with $1,000 earnest money.

Trying to buy a house during the busiest season of work is the not my smoothest move. It makes it very difficult to concentrate, but I am excited. I might just finish the lower level and use the main floor for a basketball court, it's ceilings are more than high enough and defitinely a good 3/4 court.

My House

2010-08-19T18:40:00.003-04:00

It's official. The bank accepted my short-sale offer on this townhouse. 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths and it's sooo close to the church that if I had a good arm I could throw a rock across the highway and hit it (ok, that might be a slight exaggeration). It's got upgraded everything in the kitchen (like it matters given the amount I cook, but it sure looks pretty). However, I'm more excited about the amount of gas and time I will save. Not having to sit in Atlanta traffic should add at least a couple years to my life.

It was built in 2006, so I'm thinking the inspections should go smoothly. Right ... hopefully ... maybe?

Ahhhhh ... vacation

2010-07-09T23:42:00.003-04:00

I just got back yesterday from 4 days at Hilton Head. Here are my reflections...

1. 2 months ago, the week I spent moving my niece out to Orange County was definitely not a vacation. The 35 hours in the car, 47 gazillion emails and texts to launch a new ministry long distance and countless all-nighters before, just left me beat and a little on the angry side (at one point almost launched my cell into the sea).

However, 4 days at Hilton Head with little cell reception and being too cheap to pay for internet access at the Marriott was good for the soul. I think I tweeted once the whole time. The vacation from social networks was more important than I care to admit.

2. It took until day 3 to truly rest, which means I probably should have stayed 7-10 days and not 4. Good to note for future. The call to pay an extra $25 a night to stay oceanside was well worth it for the porch alone.

3. I am vacationing again in late August and am spending a couple of days alone at Manowe with Jesus first. Then, celebrating my mom's 72nd birthday. Time with both growing more important to me with each passing day.

4. When I lose perspective, time away helps me to find it again. I truly believe my greatest days are ahead.

5. My continual reflection and prayer was/is to master being "for people" regardless of the surrounding circumstances. Reading The 4:8 Principle during vacation was a HUGE help.

6. The crazy stuff that washes up on shore each morning makes me not want to swim in the ocean. Watching the crab feast on the dead jelly fish was cool and discusting at the same time. The baby sand sharks were cute on the end of a fishing line, but probably wouldn't be if I stepped on one or had it cruise by me while swimming.

7. Napping is an essential ingrediant when it comes to vacation.

After Day 2 of Master's Commission Staff Retreat

2010-06-29T22:29:00.004-04:00

Fun observations after Day 2 of MC Staff Retreat

Nothing beats having a staff truly "for each" other, where you celebrate strengths, shore up weaknesses and major on the majors. We genuinely love and like to be with each other.

We fight for our students and each other.

You can't improve until you are willing to voice what's not working. Hitting the pause button to reflect makes us better. This year was AMAZING, next year will be even more so.

Our calendar is nuts. Balancing the Master's Commission world, with Oxygen's Youth & Young Adult Ministry, the Tabernacle Church, Jeanne's traveling schedule, Cadre and Youth Leader's Coach would cause most to tremble in fear. I remember thinking 3 years ago when I started, "Is this even possible?" Now it's normal. It's made me better and in relentless pursuit of keeping only the things on my plate that no one else can do.

My people observation is that when we hit an area that we are passionate about, our voices change. It's pretty funny, cool and scary at the same time.

Meet The AMAZING Chris Infalt

2010-06-08T02:06:00.007-04:00

Chris is flat out amazing. She is pictured here with her husband Dave and oldest son Mike. Here are 10 things you need to know about Chris.

1. Before our Youth Leader's Coach days, she was my friend and will always be. She was my right hand ... and left hand ... at Granger. She encourages me in my writing and to pace myself ... one of which I appreciate (haha).
2. Her and I are hard-to-beat as Euchre partners (if you don't know what Euchre is, you're probably not from IN, IL or MI). Likely because she's worked with me so long she pretty much can read my mind.
3. She is an incredible mom and wife. She has 3 sons I adore and 1 husband that I think the world of, who too watches out for me.
4. If all of that weren't enough, she single-handedly took customer service from about a 5 to a 10 at Youth Leader's Coach. She is the voice, email and smile behind making our resources look good and helping us enter the digital age, alongside the dynamic duo, Brett and Terrence.
5. She puts up with me and all my OCD and perfectionistic tendencies.
6. She is full of grace, grace, grace when life gets the best of me and I can't email or call back right away.
7. She answers my calls, whether it's at 7 a.m. or 7 p.m. (I try not to call after 9 p.m. to be nice). She knows life in Atlanta doesn't always hit "office hours."
8. She preached at her mom's funeral, which, in part, gave me the courage to do my dad's.
9. She is an armor-bearer like no other.
10. She enables me to do what I do, without her I would not and could not.

Just thought you should meet her.

Meet The Assistants

2010-06-04T19:38:00.004-04:00

The 3 people you see above, well those 3 people kept my world glued together this year. Learning to navigate multiple ministries at the same time (Cadre, Source/YLC/website, Alliance, Middle School, Childrens Ministry, MC Atlanta 3rd year Interns and the Accounting Department) has been fun, horrible, wonderful and challenging at the same time. Next year, after I empower a few more people along the way, I add on support staff discipleship.

Let me introduce them to you...

Ben - Lead Assistant (4th year support staff) - Some of my fondest memories with Ben have been our late night conversations. He is a quiet giant. Ben doesn't talk a ton, but when he does, everyone listens...everyone. He has huge influence and walks with enormous amounts of integrity. His calm nature brings peace to a room, regardless of the circumstance going on within it. Ben is going to go rock the world somewhere next year doing ministry or playing basketball.

Bridget - She is an administrative giant that might stand 5'2" at best. She knows how I like things done and delievers. Bridget doesn't mind doing the spreadsheets and putting notebooks together...for that I am incredibly grateful. In other words, she understands the glamorous and non-glamorous parts of ministry and is great with all of it. She also makes me laugh, which I am always in need of. She isn't coming back next year, but the girl will always be near and dear to my heart.

Jordan - Jordan loves to do everything I hate, especially phone calls. I think I have a phone phobia, Jordan does not. He always makes me feel like a million bucks by telling everyone he has the "best boss in the world." I thought Jeanne and I loved the Cadre the most, but I think Jordan is in the running. Not once have I ever seen him in a bad mood. He is blasted consistant, which I love and value. Thankfully, Jordan will be back for a 3rd year.

All 3 of my assistants have been AMAZING armor bearers this year. I know they are "for me." They know I am "for them" and will fight for them. They bring peace and joy to my world. I told them at our final lunch together that, with such different personalities, the fact that we still love each other well at the end of the year is incredible. I wasn't sure if I could have 3 assitants without drama, but have had ZERO drama between them and me all year long. They make my day, world and universe.

Meet Master's Commission Atlanta Graduating Class of 2009-2010

2010-06-04T00:29:00.002-04:00

I've don't think I've ever invested more spritually, mentally and emotionally in a group of people. Watching them leave, knowing some of them aren't returning, has been painful. The only thing helping me to survive is knowing God has greater days ahead for all of us.

Meet the Interns

2010-06-02T19:10:00.004-04:00

The hightlight of my year was my time spent with the interns and support staff (or as the guys call themselves, manterns). Their last official day is tomorrow, when most of them will go off and do ministry in some other part of the country. It will be a sad (but happy) day for me. One of them left yesterday and it nearly ripped my heart out. I guess that's a sign of investment and heart deposit. I am beyond proud of them. If I had the money, I would hire all of them.

Today they gave me the coolest token ever (a machete) with a tag (tied with raffia of course) that reads "Thanks for cutting through the pretenses of ministry and preparing the way for our ministry success. You taught us both the pragmatics and heart of what a God honoring ministry should look like. We are better, stronger and braver becasue your machete has gone before us! THE INTERNS OF 2009-2010

Among other things, I challenged them this year to be grateful people who know what it means to live under authority ... so glad it was, is and will continue to become more and more a part of their dna. They are beyond good, they're AMAZING!

Thoughts on the AMAZING Newspring and Elevation Churches Through My Filter

2010-05-31T09:05:00.002-04:00

If I lived “there” (Matthews, NC or Anderson, SC), I’d probably go there.

Perry can preach up a storm like no other and his message was laced with scripture. Loved it. It made me want to listen to every one of his messages he’s ever preached and read God's Word once again cover to cover. However, I also realized that I am becoming acclimated to and enjoy some of my AG tendencies (or maybe it’s just southern). In our church we talk back to the preacher…not like, scream and shout stuff. For example, if they say something is good, we say “that’s good”. Perry was hitting on all cylinders and there was nothing, not a word. I’m sure it was 100 percent out of respect, but man I missed it.

It was vision casting day at Elevation, so it was a different kind of message … nevertheless, crazy inspiring. It “felt” like it took Steven about 10-15 to get into the flow. He didn’t “feel” fully present in the whole live and taping for the next day’s audience at the same time attempt. But, when he figured it out, he figured it out well and you wouldn’t have had a clue he was taping. Afterwards, to prevent the students from judging, it was fun to point it out first and tell them “He had a church blow up (in a good way), I’m sure he’s still trying to figure out some things. Oh how easy it would be to slice and dice people, but always remember we are ‘for each other.’” Learning how to evaluate churches when going places is huge. If there is something I’ve done right with the interns, I think it’s that.

Elevation church tore it up when it comes to First Impresssions. Everyone got a free t-shirt and was consistently met by encouraging, helpful people. We also all got a follow-up letter. A couple of us even got a hand written postcard and phone call. I am assuming newcomer names got split into volunteer teams, that’s why some of us got the “extra” touch and others didn’t. Regardless, they killed it. This particularly hit home because I was in the midst of editing Jeanne’s “How to make great first impressions” Youth Leader’s Coach.

Newspring’s First Impressions were great as well. If you were new, you turned on your flashers and got VIP parking. Everyone got a cup of coffee, which I heard was better than Starbucks from some. Where they really knocked it out of the park was with the tour we were given afterwards. A guy named Chris Dunagan gave us a million dollar tour, when I only expected a nickel one. While I am sure he would rather have been somewhere else, you would have never known it. In the tour, the only thing I didn’t understand was why the ages of the kids rooms were not marked at all. Maybe the goal was to “make” me stop by and meet someone before service, not sure. I asked Chris what kind of database they use. He said they just switched from Fellowship One to Arena, can’t wait to do the research on Arena to see what it’s got going for it. I laughed when Chris said they bought the system then hired the sales person to manage it. Thought that sounded like a great idea.

Found out NewSpring uses live internet feed (as opposed to Satellite, which Chris said was much more expensive) and Elevation tapes for their other campuses. Interesting thoughts on the “feel” it would give me. Psychologically I think I would like the idea of knowing that while I am watching a screen, someone is preaching it live to me somewhere at that exact moment.

Newspring’s student ministry area was to die for, part of which is open every day (volunteered staff) for students to hang out in and do pickup games, homework, etc. in. In the tour, we briefly met Brad Cooper, the youth pastor, in the hallway. Even though he was with some people, he stopped and asked each of my students’ names…very impressed.

In both instances, you can’t go back into the auditorium if you go out. Maybe it’s for taping purposes, maybe it because the dark room gets flooded with light by the door. Not sure what I thought about it. Part of me thought, “good for them, people can figure out if they have to ‘go’ beforehand and need to put on their ‘big boy’ pants” and the other part was “that’s just weird and would feel rude if I really were a newcomer to church.” My final thought is that it’s great either way, but if I can’t come back in, would love to know the “why” behind the “what.”

I loved Elevation’s worship, the floor was pounding and the people truly super engaged. I wished I would have looked around at the men in the audience. I forgot to do it there, but didn’t forget at Newspring. Newspring’s worship wasn’t my style, but a particular style isn’t for everyone so that’s all good. What has me pondering though is that when I looked at men in the room, probably 60% were standing with their arms folded not singing a word. I’m trying to figure out what to think about it. Because of it, do you sing less or instruct in worship more …. no clue. It made me grateful for Corey Leak, our worship pastor, who is perhaps the best “teacher” of worship I’ve ever encountered.

The woman’s bathroom (yep, checked it) at Elevation was amazing, at Newspring less amazing. Made me laugh and remember the talks Mark used to have regarding why it is so important to have an amazing woman’s bathroom. Definitely not a make it or break it deal at either campus, but appreciated and definitely noticed the nice one.

It is obvious both churches want to be a teaching church to other churches, I so appreciated that and, as a result, my students learned a ton and were fired up like never before.

Spiritual Mothers and Fathers

2010-04-22T04:33:00.002-04:00

People are hungry for them...intentional ones that is. I think the rise in the use of the word "mentor" is in direct proportion to the hunger and felt need for them. You can use the word mentor, but I think the real need is spiritual mothers and fathers.

There are 3 occasions lately that have my heart stirring:
1. I was sitting across from a young man I adore in a Chili’s in Monterrey, Mexico. I had some of our team of 20 share about their hang out time with Jesus right before dinner. This young man spoke and it was profound, but he was so insecure about his sharing that it made it a little more challenging to grab a hold of the enormous amount of wisdom that could be found in his words. After the sharing was over, I leaned across the table and encourage him in regard to what he shared...as well as challenged him in his delivery for which he was grateful. Because this young man knows I love him, I was pretty straight forward on the challenge. What I didn’t realize was that the guy sitting next to me overheard our conversation, to which he whispered into my ear afterwards, “Judy, I want you to talk to me like that. I need you to love me enough to slap me around a little like that. I can take it.”

2. I had a young man who is gifted beyond measure walk into my office today. Past experience has taught me that he is one who appreciates you going through the front door (i.e. saying things directly versus using vague language in hope that they get it (using the backdoor)). He asked me to intentionally mentor him over the coming months. He said that those he trusts, trust me...therefore, he wants me to shoot straight with him and challenge him to be the best he can be. He said he’s asked people before, but they never follow through. We are both thinking and praying what that might look like. I told him I would, but he has got to be able to take it. By “take it,” I don’t mean harsh words, but for him to realize that some of the things I say he might not like to hear...he would have to be strong enough at times to maybe even “agree to disagree”...but willing to walk away from our talks, leaving the discussion behind and the relationship intact. Our mentoring journey began when he walked out the door, I told him I loved him, to which he responded, “I love you too” very fast...to which I said, “in the future slow down saying ‘I love you.’” From my own personal journey, we say “I love you” fast or just “love you” when we have said those words so few times that it’s still uncomfortable. I am a firm believer that the church has gotten too far away from using the “love” word out of fear of being misunderstood and lawsuits, to the point they’ve allowed Satan to rob them of the most powerful word ever spoken. Of course, I don’t ever want the word to become “cheap” to the point we don’t really mean it when we say it.

3. Speaking of love … I love, love, love many students in Master’s Commission and would take a bullet for any one of them. But there are two in particular that have captured my heart. In recent days, they call me “mom” and I call them “sons”. Both of these young men know that I would turn the world upside down for either of them, but they also know I will be quicker to correct them than anyone else. In fact, we laugh because one of the two prayed for dinner in Mexico and it was so quick of a prayer because we were tired and hungry, I made someone else try again. Had anyone else prayed that prayer, I would not have said a word but because it was one of the two, I did. Some would say it was harsh, but my presentation style was such that we laughed about it in the moment, but he heard me deeply. I love him so much that I don’t want him to have to navigate his spiritual journey alone, to have to forge it on his own … I want to leave fingerprints on his heart.

I am still a far cry from having this spiritual mom/mentor thing figured out … by a long shot, but I am determined to change myself, then change my culture. I am not sure of our future otherwise. Big words? Maybe.

A New Challenge ... Children's Ministry

2009-12-15T00:10:00.006-05:00

I recently took over leadership of our Children’s Ministry. I am doing leadership like I’ve never done before. Not sure how it will play out, but we will see. Because it’s only one of eight leadership roles I participate in (Cadre, 3rd Year Master’s Commission, Financial Analyst, Youth Leader’s Coach Website/Product Development, Middle School, Media Oversight, NYLC and Children’s Ministry), everything is empowered/delegated to others. I just provide oversight to the individuals, who in turn provide oversight to the teams.
So far, …

1. Our Executive Leadership Team is meeting every Sunday through January to develop unity, strategy and communication. After January, we will probably move it to a semi-monthly meeting. These are the coolest nine people you will find on the planet. Seven are MC students and two are home team (Tabernacle regulars). We need to up the ante on home team and, hopefully, will in time.

2. We renamed the ministry from Kids for Christ (always abbreviated KFC…not sure who thought that one up) to 4:12 KidStreet. We are in the midst of a strategic redesign and relaunch. Everything is being overhauled. Nothing was ever bad, it just wasn’t great. We are trying to bring greatness to the Kid’s Ministry.

3. We are working on branding the ministry.

4. We are launching small groups on Sunday mornings in late January. I am more interested in talking “with” kids, then forever “at” them. Talking “with” them enables us truly to know if what is being “taught” is being “caught.” In addition, it allows us to know them by name and love/care for them at a deeper level. Given that we have a two hour service on Sunday mornings, we can accomplish the small group time within the Sunday morning experience.

5. Picked the brain of my Indiana friends at GCC. And, took the team to an Orange One Day conference (we're using the 252 Basics curriculum). Figured I might as well put myself and them in the presence of greatness.

6. Set the rotation for teaching each week, including ensuring each teacher is evaluated to "make us better." Since I consider us to be a "teaching church," I am willing to take a few more chances here AS LONG AS we have a system in place for evaluation. Without it, I'd probably just rotate through our top four naturally gifted communicators. However, that limits us from discovering new ones or pulling it out of others. The one thing I want to do is find a few videos or develop some short teachings to increase the chances of a "win" before they step up to the plate.

7. We’ve divided up the responsibilities. This will need continual retweeking. Some of our Master’s Students already have a TON on their plate. Time will tell if they can pull this off. My priority is them…and while they will probably never live balanced lives while in the ATL (or anywhere else for that matter), I do want them to live healthy ones. Here is a look...

4:12 KidStreet Executive Team:
Adrian, Austin M., Austin S., Brady, Brian, Judy, Marissa, Megan, Tiffany G., Tiffany J.

Executive Team Lead: Judy
Leadership meetings, leadership development, all other Executive Teams’ direct report, helps problem solve, etc.

Tab Leadership Development Leads: Brian and Tiffany J.
Intentionally develops relationship with Tabernacle family and invites them to be a part of 4:12 KidStreet.

Student Leadership Development Leads: Austin S. and Megan
Works with Adrian, Tiffany and Rey to develop a track for junior high and high school leaders to run on in the form of leadership development.

Sunday Morning Programming Lead: Brian
Make sure Cue Sheet is done and keeps service order going. Stays in weekly communication with Creative Arts Lead.

Creative Arts Lead: Brady
Determines and works with various teams on creative element needs and makes sure they are ready on appropriate weeks. Stays in weekly communication with the Sunday Morning Programming Lead.

Communications Lead: Brady
Ensures team members know what they need to know before Sundays and leadership meetings. Connects with various leads to ensure everyone is on the same page.

Character Development Lead: Austin M.
Develops live/video characters and provides leadership to actors used in various aspects of the service.

Video Leads: Brian, Adrian, Brady and Tiffany J.
Finds and/or gets videos created for various aspects of service, including worship and filler time when service goes long.

Small Groups Leads: Tiffany J. and Judy
Develops small group material and communicates it to small group leaders, makes sure all supplies are provided.

Tech Team Lead: Brian
Sets rotation schedule for volunteers and communicates tech needs.

Boys Discipleship Lead: Adrian
Creates ways for the boys to grow in their relationship with Christ could be thru games, challenges, events, etc.

Prayer Lead: Adrian
Creates two minute intros that set the tenor for prayer time.

Pre-Service Lead: Austin S.
Makes us better and ensures all supplies are on hand.

Administrative Lead: Austin S.
Updates database, counts offering and ensures all slides are ready for service (including expectations, total recall, virtue, memory verse, announcements, etc.).

Teaching Leads: Adrian, Austin M. and Brady
Evaluates whoever is teaching each week, including prayer and worship mini-teachings. Currently all Executive Team leads, except Tiffany J and Judy rotate through teaching. Provides written summary of what they communicated to teacher each week.

Visitor Follow-Up Lead: Tiffany G.
Makes sure we have visitor cards for new kids.

“You Rock” Lead: Tiffany G.
Publically and individually acknowledges students that are taking steps and making a difference.

Worship Lead: Marissa
Creates two minute intros that set the tenor for worship time.

Puppetry Leads: Marissa and Megan
Develops puppet ministry.

Girls Discipleship Lead: Megan
Creates ways for the girls to grow in their relationship with Christ could be thru games, challenges, events, etc.

The need for your friends and family's encouragement and approval

2009-12-11T21:43:00.005-05:00

I had forgotten how much you always want your friends and family's approval. Seth, a phenom of a leader and, more importantly, amazing friend is part of Cadre Kairos. He was in Sunday night, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday morning for the Cadre. Because of a couple of minor behind-the-scenes glitches, some catch-up work needed from going home for the memorial service and prep necessary for my meeting with some Group Publishing friends in Colorado the day after the Cadre, I didn't get to talk with or check-up on him as much as I'd have liked. But, my eye would go his direction every once in a while and I knew he was doing well. He's always friendly and a networking genius. When we talked on the phone this morning, he bragged on the Cadre and the MC gang. It put a smile on my face. My smile just grew when I read his Facebook post to the world. Here's what he had to say, "Can't stop thinking about the Cadre in ATL this week. Jeanne Mayo, Judy Gregory, and MC students blew me away! I've been to every major YM conference and the Cadre Advance easily added more spiritual, relational, and practical value than anything I've experienced." Thanks Seth, for being an amazing friend, leader and encourager.

It's ok Charlie Weis... "That" win/loss record isn't what "really" matters anyway

2009-12-03T01:00:00.001-05:00

I was on Notre Dame’s sideline watching #52 warm up a week ago. #52 is Braxton Cave, an amazing young man whom I’m so very proud of. I’m not gonna lie, it’s kind of fun to be able to say that kid was in my middle school youth group when his whole body was about the size of his current bicep.

My sis had gotten field passes to the Notre Dame vs. UConn game, so it was awesome to be able to see Braxton up close. In fact, it was cool to see the whole game up close. But that’s it…it was just “cool” (and cold, my Indiana blood has thinned since moving down to Georgia). In fact, my exact thought on the sideline that day was “The ND field is cool but few will remember the feats performed on it. Your true legacy is the deposits you’ve made in the hearts of men before your lights truly go out.” I remember it because I thought it was a profound thought, plus I had tweeted it from my phone and Twitter shot me back the “Oops! Your tweet was over 140 characters” reject message. So much for sharing my profound thought with the world.

Fast forward five days later to Thanksgiving night when I get a panic call from my mom saying, “Judy, the nursing home called and Jimmy is not doing good. They think that he’s dying, will you go with me?” Within minutes, I met her there and we were walking in the door not really knowing what to expect. Fortunately before we got there, they had given him a morphine shot, so whatever breathing distress he might have been in had ceased. His breaths were quick and shallow, but not difficult. For nearly two hours we stood there, holding his hands, watching him breathe. His breathing slowed and then it just stopped. Jim died at 1:40 a.m. on Black Friday.

On Saturday morning we’ll tell stories and celebrate Jimmy’s life, but by the end of the day I’ll probably be helping my mom go through his things to give to his daughter and grandson before they fly home. It will be the same as when my father died two years ago, some of the stuff will get distributed among the kids but most will get thrown away or sent to Goodwill. Which leads me to this thought, “What will get my focus this holiday season…the latest, greatest gadget at Best Buy or the hearts of my family and friends? For one is “cool” and the other “eternal.” Jimmy’s life…and death…reminds me that I get to pick where I make my deposits.

Charlie Weis got to pick too. After three consecutive dismal seasons, he got his walking papers from Notre Dame (and a few million dollars). Jack Swarbrick, Notre Dame’s Athletic Director, says he believes Weis will have a successful future. “He will go on to have great success, he’ll add some Super Bowl rings, no doubt, to the ones he already has…” Jack’s not bad, he’s not even wrong…I love football, but Charlie’s true legacy is the deposits he’s made in the hearts of his players when it comes to this real game called life. My prayer is that they were ginormous, especially for #52 who goes by the name of Braxton Cave.

If you're going to survive ministry, you better know how to respond to your valleys

2009-11-16T21:44:00.003-05:00

Summer was AMAZING! My time with Jesus was extraordinary. But, then it came…the end of August. August is the beginning of a 10 week push, that is long…and hard…and wonderful…and long…and hard…and wonderful…and hard! It’s a ramp up time for Master’s Commission Atlanta (80 students) and Cadre (135 youth pastors), both at the same time, all while doing everything else we do. For me, that means directing the website, Source, Youth Leader’s Coach, middle school ministry, accounting department, 3rd year MC ministry enrichment and children’s ministry. I literally have a piece of paper posted to my computer of my job responsibilities, along with 10 questions I frequently look at to see what needs my attention.

1. What meetings need to take place?
2. Who can be entrusted with a hand off?
3. What do I need to do so those around me can do what they need to do?
4. What needs inspected/reviewed/reminded about?
5. What deadlines are fast approaching that are likely to bite me?
6. Who can I encourage and/or coach a little today?
7. Are there any systems that can be established to make this whole thing run smoother?
8. What must I do that no one else can?
9. Have I ripped off Jesus today?
10. What am I willing to fail at (or as I say to my 3rd years, take the “F” in)?

What made these 10 weeks harder than normal were the Atlanta flooding (which totally jacked up the MC schedule, including my 3 assistants) and the fact that we have nearly 25 additional youth pastors in the Cadre (which means more paperwork, more emails, more payments, more emails, more questions, more emails…). Because I’ve got great people around me, it’s do-able as long as the end is in sight. For me, I know the end is November 5. During those 10 weeks, sleep is elusive, work is abundant and deadlines are plentiful. People ask me how I do it and it’s simple. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE what I do (even throughout the 10 weeks) and I know, know, know that November 5 is coming.

But when November 5th hit, I was spent…completely gone. For the first time in my life, I even think I fell asleep at the wheel (that will never happen again), fortunately as quick as I went to sleep, I woke up. I was ready to quit and go flip burgers for a living. Was I serious? Dead serious, more than you could ever know. BUT then I slept and slept some more, played tennis and played some more, talked to Jesus and talked some more, talked to a friend and talked some more, got caught up on some work and caught up some more. I heard myself say to Jeanne some amazing words of wisdom, you know the kind afterwards that you think “those weren’t mine.” I said, “I just have to realize the end of the 10 week push marks the beginning of a tough month. November is ‘head game’ month ever since my dad died. Each year is better than the last, but still not great.” I needed to say that out loud.

All that to say, if you haven’t figured it out yet, “know your peaks and valleys” and “verbalizing the tough stuff (to the right people) disarms it.” Today was a great day, 12 hours of sleep, 2 hours of tennis in the warm sunshine, lunch with some friends, now a little worky work…

Vision Casting Day

2009-09-25T01:58:00.002-04:00

It was a vision casting day today...
Cast vision for another Back2Back Mexico Mission Trip this morning
Cast vision for Cadre and Youth Leaders Coach this afternoon
Cast vision for some random things at the church board meeting tonight
In between tried to teach the 3rd years MC students a point or two. I've got a new line when I'm speaking to the masses and want the 3rd years to take note. I like it.

This week and last week was totally devoted to ramping up the new Cadre and preparing for the YLC board meeting next week. In addition to the 50 second years, we have 85 first year Cadre members representing 29 states. You want to know the power of a life one person who wields his influence? We have 8 youth pastors coming from Oklahoma! That's a big deal.

5 Alabama
2 Arkansas
1 Arizona
2 California
1 Connecticut
6 Florida
6 Georgia
1 Illinois
5 Indiana
1 Louisiana
3 Michigan
1 Minnesota
2 Missouri
2 Mississippi
3 Montana
1 North Carolina
3 New Jersey
3 New Mexico
1 Nevada
2 New York
3 Ohio
8 Oklahoma
2 Pennsylvania
2 South Carolina
2 Tennessee
10 Texas
4 Virginia
2 Washington
1 Wisconson

Random 2 a.m. thoughts

2009-09-24T02:02:00.003-04:00

Blogging seems to be down all around ... especially on mine. But, it's 2 a.m. and I'm in the mood (or maybe I'm just avoiding reviewing the financials for the board meeting tomorrow). Did you ever feel like you were on the edge of something and the very next step was going to take you into unchartered waters? That's where I am. I've got 15 lives depending, in part, on me to prepare them in a big way for their next step in ministry. I've got thoughts, plans and dreams ... yet nervous that I won't live up to the expectations, not their expectations but my own. The juggling act of Cadre, Sunday School Teacher, Middle School Director, Children's Ministry Oversight, Financial Analyst, Youth Leader's Coach and 3rd Ministry Enrichment Director leaves me wondering if success will be possible or elusive.

I'm well aware I will have to be more focused and intentional than my life has ever required. I think I'm up for it ... I hope my three Master's Commission Assistants are too. I'm on day 24 of a 40 day JuDaniel fast (Judy's pathetic version of Daniel's fast) in preparation for it. I've told some of the MC students that I've declared that this year will be the greatest year of my life. Hopefully by day 40 (or 365), I will have figured out why those words even came out of my mouth.

Jeanne Mayo

2009-09-11T02:29:00.002-04:00

The queen of youth ministry has FINALLY entered the blogging world ... she is already making her mark here.

Tears

2009-08-31T23:15:00.002-04:00

Seldom am I moved to tears, but when I was home, it was truly a kiss from Jesus. I saw a number of people, including a bunch of my Oasis kids at Chris’ house. It was truly a testimony of the beauty that unfolds when you stick around long enough to see it. Only God could have brought out of those middle school years of utter awkwardness what I witnessed.

Kira had a rocky pre-adolescent time to say the least. The incredible, gentle young lady she’s become is completely mouth-dropping. I’m sure she is not without teenage drama, but wow she is amazing! Plus, the beauty in which she reads and writes is a sight to behold.

Whitney, where in the world did that amazing voice come from? The girl doesn’t even need a musical instrument to back her up. Some might think, “Judy you’re just being nice.” Nope, I say what I mean and mean what I say. As a 15 year old, I’d put her voice on any stage. I was sooo stunned, I told her if she did two trimesters with a “B” average, I would give her my Baby Taylor. I’m not sure what I was thinking, but at the same time felt compelled to invest in her future. Watch out world.

Watching Scotty play guitar is an art form all to itself. Words cannot describe it, only seeing it does it justice. Seriously, I’m without words just thinking about it.

Neil is the self-proclaimed perfect child. If there ever was one, he would be the poster child for it. He’s kind, a servant, and as smart as all get out. He dreams big dreams and I’m pretty confident he will achieve them.

Hilary’s art form comes through hair styles. Her personality and skills will make getting your hair cut healing, fun and an experience. She’s not just good at it, she’s AMAZING!

I remember when Zach was so spacey, you’d always have to keep your eye on him. Not anymore. He’s a grown, serving, young man with integrity and song writing skills.

Evan M, the boy with a heart of gold, has had his moments in recent years. But, the words that came out of his mouth in just the few brief minutes I had with him let me know, “Evan, the man, will do just fine.” Part of his destiny will be the faithful friend you can call any hour of the day when in need. He will be the poster child for the Good Samaritan one day, if he isn’t already.

Evan B, I’m pretty convinced will be the shocker of them all when it comes to transformation. When we talked about his heart to go into youth ministry, I was not talking to the awkward boy of yesterday but the God-honoring, reflective, man of today.

With Kyle, you will never meet a young man of his age more pure of heart. There is a stability he walks with that you just can’t quite put your finger on. He is about as steady as they come.

And when did the Wolfram boys go from toddlers to pre-teens…and Vanessa from a baby in my arms at the hospital to a lil cheerleader? It was so fun seeing them out on the football field. However, I know the days ahead for Don & Roxanne as the kids begin to enter middle school. How formative, how amazing…how rough! Just hold on Roxanne, the other side will be a sight to behold.

I could go on and talk about the amazing young ladies the Marzke girls are (I’m so jealous of their track and field skills and am stunned at how the two youngest have grown, all three are so very beautiful), the humor and intelligence that Corey still possesses, the beauty of Azaria… but I’m sure if I do I will leave someone out so I’ll stop.

Others post-party…
I absolutely loved hearing my nephew, Josh, talk about the passion he has for the Spyder. I haven’t seen that twinkle in his eye when it comes to serving in the sweet spot of his shape in awhile.

Seeing Trevor in his Penn football gear was way too fun. I could only stay for a few minutes so I didn’t get to see him play, but I know it’s nothin’ but passion on the field. But, I have a feeling someday you’ll find him the most happy catching waves oceanside on a surfboard.

Hearing Tristan say he is playing drums at the Elkhart campus made my heart smile. I remember the beginning days of Oasis where he led the band from behind the drums. Who does that? Like Scotty worships with his guitar, Tristan worships with his sticks. He’s a fun drummer to watch. I will always hold the late night talks with Karissa and him near and dear to my heart.

Seeing the incredible young woman my niece, Ashlyn, is becoming is amazing as well. She’ll graduate with two degrees in May – Biology and Psychology. I won’t hold it against her that they are from Purdue. She makes fun of my I.U. Accounting degree, but I’m ok with that as long as she makes more money than I do My starting salary out of college will be hard for her to beat. My salary in ministry…not so much. I wouldn’t miss her college graduation for anything.

This is way too long of post, but just thought you should know and, since I don’t journal, thought I should record it somewhere.

The heart of our students

2009-08-17T23:55:00.002-04:00

I'm cleaning my office. It's a tradition to have a clean office before I go on a week of vacation. I'm 3 trash bags in and about 1/2 done. I just came across what the students wrote the last time I preached in Oxygen.

I asked "If you were transported to heaven and were face-to-face with Jesus...and only had time to ask one questions...what would it be? Most of the questions you would expect...what is my life purpose, when will the world end, why do you allow sin in the world, etc. But there were a couple that really got me...

1. Why did you allow the terrible things in my life to happen?

2. Jesus, could you give me a hug?

3. Why did you take the ones I love away from me?

4. Do you accept me for being gay?

5. Can I come home to you Lord?

6 Does my dad have kids we don't know about?

7. If my dad knew that I was around, would he love me?

The thoughts and questions that are bouncing around in our students heads are important. Are we giving them adequate time to voice them?

Willow Creek's Leadership Summit

2009-08-07T02:12:00.002-04:00

Get a play-by-play of Willow's Leadership Summit on Rob's blog here.

New Granger Series Trailer

2009-08-06T01:25:00.000-04:00

GCC out did themselves with this new trailer. It's incredible!

Ravi Zacharias

2009-08-04T00:11:00.004-04:00

Great video post by Ravi Zacharias here. It's got my brain on overload. Here is part of what I attempted to transcribe.

"The emergent church, at it’s core, lets the consumer be the definer of what is relevant and what is appropriate.

There is a point you have to be relevant. But it is Truth that makes relevance, relevant. Without Truth, relevance is irrelevant. So really you cannot strip anything of the Truth. They are focusing more on form than substance. So propositional truth is minimized, felt truth is maximized. How did this come about? Sometimes church preaching and communication got so out of touch with the listener, we hurt those who were already hurting, feed the pride of those already proud…and were just not meeting the needs of the people where they were. So there was a problem, but what they’ve done is sacrificed content in the process.

Jesus always questioned his questioners, to open them within their own assumptions and then determined the entry point of the discussion…but got them to the truth to where He wanted them to be. “Why do you call me good? There is nothing good but God? Are you calling me God? If you are calling me God, are you going to listen to Me?”

“Is it alright to play taxes to Caesar?” Jesus says, “You got a coin? Whose image is on this?” “Caesars.” Jesus, “Give to Caesar that which is Caesar, unto God which is God.” At this point, the questioner ought to have said, “What belongs to God?” Jesus would have said, “Whose image is on you?”

Jesus took people from where they were to bring them to where He is.

The emergent church is not that new. Some of it started in the Garden of Eden when the enemy of our soul said, “Has God really said…did God really say this?” Causing doubt on the propositional revelation of God. So, I think the Emergent church is flirting with a lot of danger. It is flirting with the obliteration of the revealed Word and making a felt reality, ultimate reality. My experience is not what is ultimately real. God’s Word is eternally true and I have to alter my way of thinking to conform to God’s Word, not the other way around.”

Spiritual Mothers and Fathers

2009-08-03T22:51:00.004-04:00

Great post by Craig Groeschel on spiritual fathers here. It not a term that I heard much in the north or United Methodist church ... not sure which was the reason, north or UM. Anyway, now that I'm in the South and at an AG church I here it all the time. While I've experienced many pros and cons on the complete denominational flip, it's one of the things I've really grown to appreciate in the transition.

Latest Article - Forecast Your Future

2009-07-31T16:00:00.001-04:00

FORECAST YOUR FUTURE
By Judy Gregory

July and August are the times in which Atlanta lives up to its nickname…Hotlanta. Playing two hours of tennis yesterday in the 95 degree heat and sunshine just about took me out. Had I listened to the weatherman the day before, I might not have been so quick to hit the court.

Back in my northern Indiana hometown, January marks the annual concern over the amount of “lake-effect snow” a storm will bring. During the Blizzard of ‘78, the “lake-effect snow” did not just threaten to take us out, it did! With snow drifts up to the roof, our world came to a complete stand still for nearly two weeks. While it was decades ago, I remember as if it were yesterday when our meteorologist, Dick Addis, foretold – before the first flake hit the ground – that there would be no school the next day. He was right!

Some things are just predictable, the signs are everywhere…youth ministry is no exception! Just like Dick Addis, you too can learn to forecast the future…YOUR future, both personally and professionally! If you simply pay attention, not only will there be less surprises, you’ll have a fighting chance of winning the game, set, match and title.

When it comes to the future, the past 15 years in youth ministry has taught me…

· You don’t program a serious, come to the cross moment the day before middle school students get out for Christmas Vacation or Spring Break. They are like Energizer Bunnies on steroids before they even hit your door!

· If your Wednesday night program takes on a different look over the summer, you need to fire it back up by rallying your leaders and veteran students before you re-launch it with a special fall kick-off.

· If you have a bump in your momentum due to a snow storm or school break, you typically will experience a negative bump (i.e. reduction) in your attendance the following week. Momentum is everything. It’s just like a car, even if your foot is only off the accelerator for a few seconds, it takes a moment to get back up to speed.

· Obey your gut out of the gate when it comes to questionable leaders. It’s a whole lot easier to never bring them onboard, then to get rid of them once you’ve got them.

· Eighth grade is one of the most physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually turbulent years ever! You would do well just to encourage your parents “to hold on” and occasionally remind them “it will be ok.”

· The more senses you engage when speaking, the more likely students will remember the message.

· If you can get the ring leader of the group of troublemakers on your side, it makes all the difference in the world.

· The minute your favorite kid goes spiritually south, you’ll feel like your heart just got ripped out. But, if (big “if”) you stick around long enough, in a couple of months…or years…there is a high likelihood he will come back around.

And the list, while a little on the random side, goes on…and on…and on. But, your ministry isn’t the only thing predictable, so are you! Here are a couple things to watch out for…

· There is something I like to call the three year itch. I’m not sure what causes it, but I know after about three years in a position, you’ll get an itch to move on. I’m not sure if it’s the point where boredom sets in, the senior pastor’s flaws become glaringly obvious, you get fed up with church politics, or what…I just know at the three year mark you can expect the itch. I remember the conversation I had long ago with a youth pastor in Iowa. Almost bragging, he was giving me the list of churches he’d been at over the previous decade. No joke, he concluded by saying, “I don’t know what it is, but every three years I feel God calling me to move on.” It’s not for me to say, but I’m not sure it was God. The only cure for the three year itch is to stay put.

· This personal pattern of mine took me a little longer to figure out. Yours might not look exactly the same, but you need to guard against it. The first week of August for a number of years, I’d hit a “low” that bordered on depression. It was like clockwork. It left me wondering what the heck was going on. But then, it was as if someone flipped the light on as to the reason. Let me try and explain. I feel there is no greater cause worthy of my life, outside of my family, than youth ministry. It drives me to get out of bed in the morning. But you can only be driven so far before you have to refuel. I had worked hard all school year preaching, teaching, planning, counseling and taking care of leaders, and then, without skipping a beat, I’d move right into summer camps, mission trips, events and Bible studies. When August hit and it was time to plan for the upcoming school year, there was nothing left in me. I wasn’t driven to get out of bed, but seriously just wanted to pull the covers over my head. I learned to call it quits the first and second week of August every year. No appointment, event or meeting was planned for that two-week period. Unless it was absolutely necessary, I wouldn’t ever respond to phone calls. I’d spend the minimum time possible in the office. Sometimes, when I needed to pick something up from the church, I’d send a friend after it just so I didn’t have to hear “Hey Judy, you got a second…” I didn’t work “less,” just “differently.” Sometimes I would take a week of vacation and sleep part of the “low” off but it’s not always ideal to blow your vacation trying to “recover.”

I could continue, but I think you get my drift. It’s time for you to check the radar. What’s brewing on the horizon? Based on past experiences, what can you forecast about the future? I guarantee if you take the time to reflect and begin writing some of it down, it will make riding out the storms so much easier.

Houston...we have hair

2009-07-26T00:04:00.006-04:00

Sarah turns 2 soon and the hair is coming in. Looking at this pic reminds me how this little apple of our eye came at just the right time. Her and I go for a lil prayer walk everytime I'm home.

Baby Sarah

2009-07-16T22:30:00.002-04:00

Pint size baby Sarah when I was home last month. We were making faces at each other. Word on the street is that she's finally got an appetite. But I think she's holding out until she's 2 on the hair, at least that's what her dad did.

Leadership vs. Discipleship

2009-07-14T20:14:00.002-04:00

Jesus and I have been spending a lot of time hanging out on my mini-deck lately. He's been stirring some things up in my heart for awhile in regard to discipleship vs. leadership (both are great, neither bad). But, I've come to the conclusion that I've been a better leader than discipler a good chunk of my Christian life. In the coming years, I hope to rectify that by bringing the pendulum back into balance through focused effort. In fact, I wrote an article on it. It's rapped around a story, but this is the nuts and bolts of where I'm at...

What does a great “discipler” look like? Beats me. I do know it goes beyond encouraging someone to have a quiet time, creatively preaching a message and orchestrating a few events. Studying Jesus’ life, the ultimate discipler, I know He did more teaching in circles, than preaching in rows. I know He asked a lot of questions, some of them uncomfortable, that forced those around Him to verbalize the thoughts bouncing around in their heads. I know He studied human behavior enough to know what people were thinking and, as a result, drew a few lines in the sand and forced them to choose a side. I know the first words He spoke to the disciples collectively in Luke 6 included challenging choices they would come face-to-face with that would, depending how they responded, either catapult them forward like a slingshot or derail them like a freight train. Choices they would later see Him make up close and personal as they did life “beyond the not so comfortable surface” together.

Coming out of hibernation

2009-07-01T22:36:00.002-04:00

The good ol' blogs been silent for awhile. I decided it needed to be when I started to hang out more with it than with Jesus. But, I'm back. Probably less frequent, but back.

I've discovered the coolness of the deck of my apartment. It's become Jesus' and my favorite place as of late as I discover what it looks like to be a better discipler than leader. Long story, but maybe I will post what the Lord helped me to spill out on the computer screen a week or so ago.

I've also discoved the coolness of Logos Bible Software. One of our board member's wife gifted me with the Gold Edition. It was like a kiss from Jesus himself. The discounted price is a grand and it's supposedly the largest electronic theological library ever assembled with $11,700 in equivalent print editions. I don't know if its claims are true, but the software is off-the-hook. It's taken my Bible study up about a thousand notches. Having it reminds me of something God laid on my heart a few years back, which lines up with what He's laying on my heart now .... hmmmm, wonder if I should do something with that.

Profound Leadership Day

2009-05-08T23:47:00.003-04:00

What a great leadership day...full of wisdom. It began with MC "Envelope Moments" with Jeanne. Won't share why, but this is a special day each year. Her message was golden. The notes are below, but my favorite line was "Your gift-set will be ready for ministry long before your character, your endurance, your wisdom, or maturity will be."

Then after a little afternoon work, it was off to a post-NYLC meeting with Mike, an incredible man of God, full of wisdom regarding business and Jesus ... then dinner with some of the NYLC team ... then sat in on the MC meeting with Mike where he shares his wealth of experience whenever he's in town.

Leadership Nuggets from Jeanne, the queen herself, this morning...

An envelope moment is when you feel another person or circumstance are in control of your life and you feel powerless regarding the outcome
A loss of relationship with the Lord isn’t sudden, it is a slow process that goes bit by bit
Most of the time it will be, “wow, feels like a curveball hit my face”
It takes more faith to have a right response and trust God when circumstances don’t go as planned than to go along merrily when they go as planned
People and circumstance will make or cause countless decisions that will cause pain in your life
Never confuse man’s decisions with God’s directive
Unforgiveness is like drinking a poison and expecting someone else will die
You need to get nervous when the coaches in your life get quiet
The degree to which you are able to trust God with heavy envelope moments is parallel to the degree of anointing on your life
A goal of “finishing well” may not be impressive to people, but is to God
Do not focus on the why of the envelope, but rather on the what
Not, “Why Lord did You do this?”
You probably won’t ever really figure out the why
Say, “Lord what can You do with this in my life?”
Success in life comes not from holding a good hand but playing a tough hand well
Never let a good crisis go to waste
Faith doesn’t mean its always going to be pretty
Never doubt that ultimately God is bigger than any envelope in your life…SO much bigger
Plan B can become plan A when envelope moments occur if your spirit and heart are right
The Father heart of God wants to take care of you when you go through hard things
During those envelope moments, refuse to give in to the narcotic of self-pity
Be above society and don’t get the victim mentality
All of life really is suck it up, because if you don’t suck it up, it will eventually suck you up
Many people build their identity off of what people did wrong to them
Compassion is the adrenaline for acts of mercy
Self-pity is a narcotic that leaves its addicts wasted and alone
SELF – Satan’s Exact Location Forever
There is a difference between compassion and picking up another persons offense
Finish the race with the wind in your face
The object is not getting over the finish line, the object is getting over the finish line with a spiritual passion and the fire still burning in your heart (illus. olympic marathon athletes in old days)
A double minded man is unstable in ALL his ways
Your gift-set will be ready for ministry long before your character, your endurance, your wisdom, or maturity will be.
Don’t turn a deaf ear to the messages when you say you want coaches in your life
Don’t be too quick to be done or you will forfeit all who you could be
In God’s economy no sin is worse, the problem is some sins cost more
Story of boy opening the cocoon too early to see the butterfly but the butterfly wasn’t fully formed and developed so it ended up crippled and couldn’t fly
All the other kids had their experiments done and all that was left was his
He saw the rip and made it bigger
The boy didn’t want the caterpillar to strain and work an go through this hard ordeal so he snipped it to make it easier, it seemed better at first and the butterfly had come out, but really it wasn’t done growing
Relate to this
The only thing that gave the butterfly the strength in its wings to gain the altitude was the struggle
Only through difficult times do your wings ever find the strength to fly
If you want to be real good you won’t take your wings until you are saying to people around you and say, “Am I really ready for this?”

Leadership nuggets from our amazing board Mike (caught without a pen on this one...stink!). Three memorable ones...

Come September, after the summer, will the team come back stronger or weaker? Will you be stronger on September 1, than you were on June 1? Challenge, spiritually what are you going to do over the summer to get better? It was meant as a challenge to the students, but because of some staff changes, I'm owning it for myself. We are going to the team approach for teaching our MC clasesses and I'm on the rotation. Game on. I'm pretty excited to get back behind the music stand on a more consistent basis.
Some are given the vision, while others are given the provision (for the vision). I think there is a sermon in there ... "pro" vision ... "for" vision.
Some of you think because circumstance changed, that God changed His mind.

That's one for the books

2009-05-07T22:34:00.002-04:00

Aaron Hill, one of our MC students, let me rip off his notes from the Leadership Lessons that Jeanne taught a couple of days ago. In it was a quote from another MC student, Adrian Taylor. I thought it was a pretty profound leadership one. In my paraphrase, it was "when the coach goes quiet, that's when you should worry."

Here are some of the other notes Aaron took (they're kind of random, but some real golden nuggets in there):

Give the why behind the what
Don’t let there be negative perceptions of the people
Don’t freak out but have faith and wisdom in finances
Use the situation to make everyone better
Start out saying that’s its all going to be all ok then go to the worst then to the least worst
Don’t do it when it's convenient to you
If you treat people right, God will treat you right
Bring the info. In a clear tangible way
Set your people up for success and failure.
Live a life with Jesus and integrity and go above and beyond.
Present a solution with a problem
There is a God outside of Master's Commission
Many ministries mean well but the picture they give is that if they aren't with them they wont be ok
Don’t make people feel less or stupid
You may feel the pressure but don’t show it
The Lord lets you learn how to do the small stuff then you can build to the heavy stuff
Each year get a little better
A great leader assesses a situation then takes care of it.
Masters will take care of the church because without the church there is no Masters
A good leader looks into the future to see what the enemy could use as grounds.
Bring the news, but mentor as well. Show how to present it as a good leader.
Make the meetings comfortable. Have a voice tone that this is important but you're not in trouble.
To get respect you give respect
Always give a strong finish
You impact others around you by the attitude you have
God's plan for your life is bigger than the mistakes of men.
Deal with it, feel it and go on. God is bigger than the mistakes that the executive team can make.
We are more rewarded now because we handled things well
Don’t pace yourself by other people give your personal best!
It gives more hope when a leader can say that they get worried
Every good leader knows first they've got to sort things out in their own head before they make everyone else ok
The longer you walk with Christ the less faith it takes to have faith.
The more you walk with God the more faith you will have because you have seen God come through so many times.
Answer questions before people have them
When I'm yelling you're ok but when I stop talking then you should worry.
Character will always out weigh charisma
Churches normally applaud charisma not character
Security is built by a loving mom and dad and you
All wise parents know there has to be disciplines. That gives your children security.
Don’t judge others unless you are judged
Live a life that is not perfect but is so Christ like it is tough to disrespect you.
Remember Jesus Christ is inside of you watching and listening to the media you listen or watch

May they remember

2009-05-05T22:31:00.004-04:00

Just came out of a 2 1/2 hour meeting and watched my hero/mentor "do her thing" masterfully. She is a brilliant communicator, leader and wife to her hubby. The meeting was full of teaching moments ... and I mean FULL of them. Having lived a lot of them, the only words that kept going through my head are "that's good"..."that's real good." Unfortunately most of the MC students haven't lived them to know their true value. My prayer is that when they are in the midst of the twists and turns of life, they will remember.

Marking Moments

2009-05-01T16:48:00.002-04:00

Walking through marking moments in life with young men and women hungry to hear from Jesus has to be one of the greatest privileges in life ... those marking moments are some of the sweetest and, sometimes, the most painful.

Twitter

2009-04-28T01:58:00.001-04:00

Ok, signed up for Twitter months ago ... now I am going to try and use it.

Cleveland Hospital

2009-04-24T17:17:00.003-04:00

I've spent the last two days at the hospital in a waiting room. They've come a long way, but I still hate them. Cleveland Hospital is cool in many ways though ... they have a Subway and McDonalds (along with a bunch of other food places in it). It's kinda of a hospital and art gallary all wrapped up in one.

Modern day medicine is truly a miracle that I am grateful for. Wendy came through surgery with flying colors. The pain medicine is making her sick to her stomach though, so please pray for her. A long road to recovery is ahead for her, but she's stubborn enough to do just fine. I've got a thousand and seventeen things I need to be doing, but I'm sooo very glad that I am here. It's been great hanging out with friends the last few days.

Accidents, Cadre and Open Heart Surgery

2009-04-22T23:58:00.004-04:00

Jeanne totalled her car on Saturday and tried to break by putting her head through the windshield. It didn't work. I've never seen two more swollen black eyes in my life...no exaggeration. To let you know what a warrior I work with, she still did the 2 day Cadre on Monday and Tuesday (11 hours on Monday and 14 hours on Tuesday). Cadre plane tickets had long ago been purchased, so the thought of canceling on 35 youth pastors didn't seem like an option. So, I watched my boss and friend nail it despite the intense pain. She was 110% fully there and fully on. Impressive.

I jumped on a plane after I made sure the majority of the Cadre guys and girls had made their way back home. A friend of mine is having a five hour open heart surgery where they will stop her heart for two hours to replace two valves. I think I already blogged about it, but there are 5 families I am committed to do life with from Indiana, along with my family, for eternity. Wendy's is one of them.

Hurricane Clean Up

2009-04-13T21:05:00.005-04:00

Getting everything back on track after NYLC is a little (stress little) bit like cleaning up after a Hurricane. For the month prior, everything got put on the back burner. Now that we are home, everything is red hot front burner stuff. We have 4 conference call, 3 Cadres, a Spring retreat and 2nd year iterviews over the next six weeks, including all the clean up from NYLC. Exciting days are ahead. We have over 200 new Source and YLC subscribers, along with over 200 people interested in the Cadre.

On a side note, we had Reunite tonight to celebrate the MC students coming back from Spring Break. Glad to have them back in the house. It's way too quiet here without them.

On a final note, I hate power surges/outages. As a result of Friday's storms, we blew the ethernet chip in our motherboard and have no access to the Youth Leader's Coach storage area. UGH! I don't know who the Kernal is, but without the Ethernet chip he won't load. So much for surge protectors. Plus, battery back-ups are of little use when you don't plug the stupid thing into it. The cost of silly mistakes drive me insane.

NYLC 09 - Fully Between Someone Else And Jesus

2009-04-09T19:48:00.003-04:00

The conference was a smashing success. How do I know? Because countless have told me. And after spending part of my vacation watching it, I know why they are saying what they are saying. It's funny, but there is so much work to do in the moment...to make what is happening around the people seem effortless, that I didn't catch most of the conference. It can be disheartening if you let it...that is until you ask yourself the question of "why do you do what you do anyway?" There is a time for it to be "fully between you and Jesus," but then there are times you make the sacrifice for it to be "fully between someone else and Jesus." That's what NYLC 09 was for me. However, it wasn't without countless personal highlights, like...

1. Watching youth pastors get real honest on some tough issues using 2,000 key pads that registers audience responses.
2. Watching Jeanne be able to do what she does best without much concern for the details that our team had well covered.
3. Doing my two breakout sessions despite the fact that I lost 80% of my voice day one.
4. Praying with people on Wednesday night at the conclusion of the evening service.
5. Watching the MC Atlanta team in action. Wow, they were off-the-hook impressive.
6. Seeing what a difference the Cadre makes when it comes to a conference. The day after the conference was truly like a family reunion with all of them. However, typically you're ready for family reunions to come to an end, but I wasn't ready for this one to.
7. Seeing some typically quiet MC Atlanta students rise up and own some things that were ginormous ... they nailed it.
8. Each night I would steal a few seconds away and go to the top balcony area where there were these cool side sections. From there you could see countless worshipping...most with hands help high, while others were praying. It was a site to behold and the mental Kodak moment of the conference for me.
9. Hanging out with my sister, Carole, Chris and Karen. I miss them. They were and still are my armor bearers. Hopefully, I am for them as well.
10. Knowing the impact the conference had on the "youth ministry teams" present. There are times when it's just plain good for your team to hear someone else say the exact same things you've been saying. Plus, it's good to steal away three days for teams to be together when nothing else is pulling at you (or them) and all the work is being done by someone else. I remember the impact a trip my team took at Granger to a Saddleback youth conference. I loved being able to provide for others what they provided for me. Also, the diversity of the speakers (Ed Young, Judah Smith, Chris Hill, Greg Stier, Craig Gross, etc.) ensured the different personalities on the team would connect with at least a few of the speakers, if not all.

After the conference, and months of sleepless or little sleep nights, we went on a five day cruise. Sounds glamorous, I know. However, I literally slept 17 hours or more each day for 4 of the 5 days. Sounds like I'm exaggerating, but I so am not. Crazy...I know. I think I was on the verge of exhaustion and didn't know it. I could tell it in my emotions, but no place else. That's a whole lot of sleep for someone that typically sleeps 4-6 hours tops a night. It was good for my soul and great preparation for this weekend when I've set aside time for it to be "fully between me and Jesus."

Leavin' on a jet plane

2009-03-26T01:22:00.001-04:00

Leavin' for Dallas at 6 a.m.
Whohoo.

You know you're close when...

2009-03-22T07:51:00.004-04:00

You know you're close to your big event when....

You can look at weather.com and the dates of your big event are in the 10 day forcast...77 and sunny baby! Lord Jesus, please make it so.

It Is Finished!

2009-03-21T02:33:00.002-04:00

We are in a mad dash to get some product done before we leave for NYLC. The last 2 1/2 days I've been writing small group discussion guides for Jeanne's DVD curriculum covering the sex chapters in her Uncensored book. It covers the topics you seldom, if ever, hear in the church world. I wrote 7 small group guides covering porn, homosexuality, lust, pre-marital sex, masturbation...yep, even that one....,God's intent for intimacy and how to live a life of sexual and emotional purity. My discussion creating skills were diffently challenged, especially in the midst of all the other NYLC and Cadre prep going on those 2 1/2 days. There is now about a 4,000 pound weight off my shoulders. The titles you ask...

Guy Meets Guy, Girl Meets Girl
Solo Sex
The Dragon Of Imagination
Don't Set Off The Fireworks
Chew And Spit Romance
Where Are You Getting Your Sex Education?
The Masterpiece
The List

I am a freakin' idiot

2009-03-18T00:57:00.004-04:00

So after I posted this morning, I jumped off and went into the sanctuary to pray with the MC students. Well not exactly "with," we all pray individaully...some stand, some walk, some sit, some are in the balcony, some on the back row, some on the front.

Mornings are not usually my prayer time, but since I was up, I thought I'd join them. I think it was my first time in there at the same time this year. I was inspired and encouraged, yet at the same time told myself how dumb I was for not being more intentional about being in there at the same time as they are.

My boss champions me, so much so that when I told her how much I felt like an idiot, she tried to cover for me. She said, "Mornings are just not your most exciting hours. Your rhythm matters." While she is sooo very much right, my desire to be with them and model for them trumps my hatred for those early daylight hours. Today, tomorrow and the next 2 1/2 months will be sponsored by the word "intentional."

It's 8:30 a.m. and I love that sound

2009-03-17T08:34:00.003-04:00

It was actually a little before 8:30 just a few minutes. As I sat outside my office, I heard the sound of voices, laughter and all out fun. The MC students were pouring in for the day. It's after 8:30 right now and as quickly as they came in, they are gone. They start their mornings here in the sanctuary in prayer. It's a non-negotiable in this place, the time is set-aside, the time is given (of course once in the sanctuary, they have to choose how focused they are). I love this place! My mind just raced forward to the middle of June, when the sound of 80 plus students won't be here for the summer...when it's so quiet you could hear a pin drop. I dread those days. I'm not sure I could ever go back to business (youth ministry) as usual...go back to the days without MC or interns. The raising up of the next generation of church and business leaders is good for my soul. It brings life to these aging bones.

Just thought you should know

2009-03-15T21:35:00.003-04:00

I have been starring at a screen for days, my eyeballs are about to burst into flames. T-15 days until game day! The question is can I cram 5 months worth of work into 15 days. Ummm...probably not, but giving it a shot.

On a side note, the day after the conference, at our Cadre reunion ... it's gonna be flippin' sweet. Two days after that, I leave on a 5 day cruise. I'm ok with that.

Now Those Are Some Great Stats

2009-03-09T23:24:00.004-04:00

Right now 112 of 269, 42% of first year Cadre members are coming to NYLC '09 at the end of the month. Even better, 70 of 117, 60%, of second year Cadre members will join us. I can't wait to see the numbers in regard to how many are connected to them. Once we get the data on those that used the Cadre Codes to register, I will give you an update. As I said a few months ago, the world has yet to see the impact Cadres can having on a conference...let alone the world. Multiplication at its finest.

Below is a picture of what God laid on my heart many months ago (I don't say that lightly, for I know that's a huge statement). It all started my last day of Oasis, when 1,066 middle school students and leaders squeezed in together for a roof top photo. Somehow that blob of people in 2 minutes accidently formed a picture where most people who see it say, "Did you try to make it look like the United States." Ummm, no.

Where did that come from

2009-03-09T21:08:00.003-04:00

Life is crazy busy with NYLC...crazy busy. As I posted on my facebook, it feels like I'm being chased by a dog and he's gaining on me. I am ridiculously excited about the conference at the end of this month, but have SOOOOOO very much to do within the next 20 days...it's not even funny.

However, first things first, we had to take time out for our annual church business meeting...can you say LOOOOOONG, but necessary...I guess. Anyway, Jeanne comes over right before we start and says that Pastor wants me to say a few words about our cost saving efforts. I say, "really?" (insert a reluctant tone of "I really don't want to, please don't make me do this"). She says, "Judy, he's proud of what you, Vicky and Sobrina have accomplished." "Ok." So, about 15 minutes later, I stand up and say something like, "Our nation has hit an economic iceburg. As you know, when it comes to iceburgs, you don't wait until you're upon them to try and turn the ship ... we saw it coming and have and will continue to analyze line by line where cuts can be made ... here are a couple of examples..." Anyway, all that to say, I love the iceburg anology, just can't remember where I stole it from.

Group Conference

2009-03-01T00:19:00.004-05:00

Here's a couple of observations:

Group puts on a great conference period.

Just got back from the Friday night session where Kay Warren brought it! She's AMAZING. It's so cool to watch someone with all out passion and vision. She talked about being disturbed, afraid and ruined for Christ. Seriously incredible stuff. I will post my notes of her tomorrow. I typed them on Lucy's PC and for some reason my Mac is not playing friendly with the jump drive. Glad our MC girls were able to see another incredible woman of God on stage. It's not that they are rare, it's just rare to see them in that capacity.

I sat behind our Master's Commission gang with a couple of the girls. They rocked today in Jeanne's breakout session. They were fidgety up until Kay (I think because they sat all day), but when Kay started talking they were all ears.

A new portion of our store front went live today and ten minutes later we previewed in on the screen for all of about 3 minutes. While short, got great, great, great feedback from the breakout participants

Jeanne's session was incredible. I love the work she puts in behind it. It literally takes the team of 16 of us to pull it off. After four decades, I love that she chooses not to coast.

Group has these cool little pins to put on your lanyard and the most comfortable sack chairs ever. They create a great environment.

Speaking of environments, Group is great at creating network ones. It's been awesome seeing some of the gang I've met throughout the years.

Josh and Matt seriously make the most funny videos ever. Total weird transition to it tonight though...still very funny. It left me pondering this thought in my head, "Where do I stand on altar calls? Right now, I think AG does way too many of them and everyone else not nearly enough. It's as if one is scared not to do it and the other scared to do it. Weird, I know. It's messing with my head...a little.

I've had a total of 5 hours of sleep the last two nights, going to bed...over and out.

10 Random Things Floating In My Head

2009-02-26T15:33:00.003-05:00

1. Pastor's (pastor's don't have first names in the south) mother passed away over the weekend. Her funeral was today. The funeral was very old skool and beautiful. Would loved to have known her.

2. Taught Life Lessons for second year Master's students yesterday. Totally had a great time.

3. Learning about merchant accounts and payment gateways. Which word best describes this learning: cool, ugh!, confusing, expensive...all the above.

4. Leave for the Group conference tomorrow. We are taking a fun team of MC students with us...should be a blast. Jeanne's breakout group is full and they are having to move people out. Cool problem. The team made 250 tokens for it last night. Word on the street has it they finished at 4:15 a.m.

5. Our new section of the store should be up next week. Brett did an amazing job! Him and his wife are the bomb.

6. Finalizing some details for our conference next month today. Nothing is as easy as it should be.

7. I have so much work to do today that I don't think I will be going home tonight...it makes me sleepy just thinking about it.

8. The Kindle 2 is the coolest.

9. My cell phone has 8 messages on it and my office phone 13. I need to check them all and want to check none.

10. I'm tying this at my desk while I sit here in a dress...a rarity.

Kid In A Candy Store

2009-02-25T18:01:00.002-05:00

Just got my new Kindle 2 today...way to go AMAZON...underpromise and overdeliver (I wasn't supposed to get it until March). Gotta go play. Over and out.

Eight Secrets To Weight Loss

2009-02-24T00:56:00.010-05:00

Me writing this post is a joke. It’s way too early for me to be writing about any “secrets.” But, just in case my theories work, I will risk writing prematurely. Why? In hopes that in some way, shape or form saying this out loud keeps me accountable. Also, because a friend asked me how I am doing it today. So, here you go…

1. Conquer the Dew. First, the departure from Diet Mountain Dew to Vitamin Water and G2 was a huge boost. It’s not a secret to weight loss (it actually adds calories), but it’s the CONQUERING OF THE MIND. No one in their right mind would think I would even attempt such a feat. Most of my closest friends would have told you Diet Mt. Dew ran through my veins, not blood. After I made the switch, I felt like I pretty much could conquer anything. Have I totally eliminated “soda” (you know, gotta adjust with the culture…in the south they don’t say “pop”)? Heck, no. I still love McDonald’s Diet Coke or a bottle of something. However, I drink one a day vs. a six pack of Diet Dew.

2. Comfort food. When I’m stressed, it truly releases the pressure valve a little. Today, was a great example. The work load is almost overwhelming right now. I anticipate it to be all through NYLC and the Cadre Reunion (i.e. April 2). I am a little addicted to the adrenaline rush, but when I’ve got so much work to do that I am almost paralyzed to do anything, comfort food helps. So, I indulge, but nothing like before. Today it was a pint of cookie dough ice cream, but that’s it for the next 4-6 days. However, if I want to, I will allow myself to sneak one of the little mini ice cream cones from Jason’s Deli when I eat there. It’s about 4 inches tall, but makes me feel like I beat the system. In the past, I think I tried to eliminate ALL junk food, which was stupid and increased the likelihood of feeling like a failure.

3. One meal a day. I know, you think that’s dumb and unrealistic. It would be if that’s all I ate, but I don’t. When the hunger pains hit at other times, I fill the gap with apple sauce, peaches, pickled beets (I know…weird, right?) and other vegetables. I hate, hate, hate salad (seriously, hate), so that’s not an option for me. In regard to the one meal, it’s whatever I want. I love Chinese, Jason’s Deli, Subway and McDonalds, so I eat it. If I denied myself of what I love, there is absolutely no way I would lose weight and ever have a chance of keeping it off. I know myself. In fact, the thought of going without the food I love made me not even attempt weight loss in the past. I don’t believe in the roller coaster methodology (i.e. starve yourself of what you love, lose the weight, start eating what you love again, only to gain the weight back), it depresses me to even think about it.

4. The reality of hunger pains. I guess I had not taken the time to ever realize this or maybe I just forgot, but you know when you’re so hungry you feel like you have to have food right now? You don’t. Sometimes if you drink something or do something, they go away without you realizing it. I don’t go a whole lot longer without eating anything because I do believe it’s your body’s way of talking to you, but I do wait a bit. Why? It’s that whole conquering the mind thing. If I eat the moment I feel hungry, my mind has a tendency to CREATE more of those “I’m hungry” moments before they really exist.

5. Delayed exercise. Last year when I tried to get more fit, I started with exercise and decided “I would adjust my eating habits later, after I got the ‘exercise thing’ down.” That was dumb. All that I did was gain two pounds. Sure I might have lost some fat and gained muscle, but looking at the scale ticked me off and I gave up. Just in the last couple of days I began walking again. But, I really needed the shot in the arm on the scale side first. Lowering food intake, at least for me, will always drop pounds faster. I’m smart enough to know I need both but also smart enough to know trying to start both at the same time is hard. Last year was a great attempt, but I just had the order backward, instead of exercise then less food, I needed less food then exercise.

6. Periodic motivation. I remember a line I heard Oprah make a few years ago, “food will never taste as good as how being thin feels.” The thought of giving it a shot, motivates me…so does watching a periodic summary of an episode of The Biggest Loser on hulu.com. I have no time for tv, but the little snippet of the episodes help.

7. I already know I will fail. I know I will fail a day here and there, maybe even two or three in a row. However, I'm determined not to let a day or two of failure result in me being a total failure at even trying. I'm bent on not beating myself up when I fail, but making the CHOICE to try, try again.

8. Sleep. I don't even like to admit this, but I can't deny it. The more you sleep, the more you lose weight. Lack of sleep leads to weight gain. This totally bites because I think sleep is overrated (I'd rather take 3 naps than sleep a long period of time), but it looks like I might be wrong. I literally can lose a pound if I sleep six consistent hours, even though most of the time it won't totally stay off throughout the day. I find that both interesting and frustrating.

So, there you have it. I started to try and shed a few pounds around January 15 (a little late start to New Year’s Resolutions). I’m now up to 17 lbs. which is far more than my goal of one pound a week. I think the first few pounds have come off easily because they haven’t been there for that long. However, I think the next ones will be a whole lot tougher since I’ve carried them for years.

Only time will tell if this even remotely works and/or is sustainable. However, if I can do this during peak season when it comes to workload, I think I just might be on to something.

Choices

2009-02-21T17:18:00.004-05:00

This week we made the final edits on Jeanne's book. It's brilliant in so many ways. The words, however, that stood out to me time and time again were: "choice", "choose", "chose".

Choice is written 35 times in the NIV Bible
Choose 66 times
Chose 42 times

One of the most pointed verses that sticks like glue in my head is, "choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve"
(Joshua 24:15).

Among other things, life really is a series of choices. Choose wisely!

Today's A Price Break Day

2009-02-20T21:26:00.003-05:00

The freight train is rolling ... we're well over 1,000 registrants for the National Youth Leaders' Conference and heading toward 2,000. What an honor! Big, big deal!

A Great Day

2009-02-20T02:02:00.005-05:00

Today was AMAZING ... long ... but AMAZING!

10:30 - 12:00 JEANNE TIME
I started off by coming in early for Jeanne time (10:30 a.m. is early when you leave at 3:30 a.m.). It's an hour and a half every Thursday morning that the MC students have with Jeanne, mostly focusing on a mix of character and leadership development. It was off the hook. One of the many profound things she said is...

"You want to be a leader who walks with such integrity and authentic love that it makes it hard for anyone to rebel against you." Good stuff.

We closed by talking about NYLC. She asked Anne and I to talk at the end. More and more, I love the one word quick sermon/coaching session...followed by a few lines. My word today was INITIATIVE. In a nutshell, in the coming days we will be peddling just as fast as we can. Because even with NYLC coming up, we will still have church, Oxygen will still happen and Master's Commission will go on in the midst of it all.

I challenged them to...
Take the initiative to fix a token that you see is messed up, even if you weren't the one who made it (we're about to head into token season for NYLC).
Take the initiative to flip off the lights given the economic crunch all around.
Take the initiative to bring the van seat left out in the rain back in.
Take the initiative to do things with excellence...to go the extra mile.

If you can get the initiative thing down, you will be a better employee, husband, wife, parent...

12:00 - 1:00 EMAILS, EMAILS, EMAILS AND CONFERENCE CALL PREP

1:00 - 3:00 CADRE INVICTUS CONFERENCE CALL
Jeanne talked about helping the ladies in your life be all they can be. Great stuff. The guys asked great questions.

3:00 - 3:30 SET UP A VOICESHOT
Reminded all the Cadre peeps that after tomorrow the price goes up for NYLC.

3:30 - 7:30 NYLC MARATHON MEETING

8:00 - 1:30 a.m. JEANNE, BETHANY AND I COMPILED THE FINAL ILLUSTRATIONS FOR JEANNE'S NEW BOOK
"Finding God when He feels far away" will hit the shelves at NYLC. It's been a mad dash to get the editing done in time. As I drew stick figure after stick figure, all I could think of is "Mark Beeson could do sooo much better." He's the Stickman Master. I hope the artist who has to make sense out of all of our drawings does better than we did.

We entered the board room at 3:30 p.m and left at 1:30 a.m. Literally, we only came out to use the bathroom and watch the final run though of a human video for this Sunday at church.

Kindle 2

2009-02-18T07:39:00.006-05:00

Some people buy Wii's, some clothes, some cars...my toy of choice is the Kindle 2. Ordered it today, should get it in March.

It's my reward to myself for shedding the 15 pounds I put on in the last 15 months. That works out to about $25 for every pound. I'm very generous to myself.

The Race Is On

2009-02-17T22:54:00.002-05:00

41 days and counting ... counting every one of them.

The race is on to be ready for our conference. What lies between now and then are two national conferences that we are trying to ramp up for. Group's conference is at the end of this month and should be AMAZING and James River's is next month. We are peddling just about as fast as we can to have part of our new store front up by then. After a 2 1/2 conference call between Brett (our incredible web designer), Josh, Jeanne, Chris and myself, I think it just might happen.

Tomorrow night at 9:45 p.m. we are doing the final edits on Jeanne's new book that will be hot off the press for NYLC ... Finding God When He Feels Far Away. Crazy hours for everyone else, primetime for me! Can you tell our schedules are filling up fast?

Snap...Literally!

2009-02-13T05:04:00.004-05:00

Nearly 40 first year ladies Cadre came to the ATL to enjoy some spoiling and get some coaching. Ladies Cadres are composed of male Cadre members' wives and female Cadre members. Right out of the gate, I knew it was going to be a fun time...and that it was, all but about two hours of it.

Envision this, we walk right next to Jeanne's house to take a picture by this grassy open area near the lake like we always do. There is a fence there and, as they were lining up for the photo, a couple of them jump on top of it to create a taller row. When I see them do it, it was no surprise, they always do. Then, I say out loud to a couple of people near me, "some day that fence is going to break." I didn't think break, break...just crack. Not two minutes later, it didn't crack, but it broke, broke. What I didn't realize was the drop behind it is at least nine foot straight down. Four girls fall forward and two back. One of the two goes all the way down...doing a few flips along the way. Honestly, had she not landed right, she could have died. At the bottom is a cement slap. Well, thank you Jesus she didn't die, but ended up with a beat up elbow and whole lot of bruises, including a major one on her heel requiring an ankle brace. I honestly think God healed it in route to the ER, I would have laid money her heel was broken, if not shattered. I had a deja vu moment when we were trying to assess her injuries. It wasn't quite like the guy who broke his leg at camp that I talked down from going into shock on the way to the hospital, but it felt like it. I was nice and calm on the outside, but totally freaking out for about 15 minutes on the inside. When she began to shiver and her eyes started to roll a little, I just kept talking and asking her questions about life and ministry. She is an incredible young lady, she was back from the hospitial within a couple of hours and ready to roll for the evening session.

To top off the day, Old Red (our 15 passenger van) needed a jump start before the girls left to go home for the evening. I tell Robby, "if she dies in route, don't jump it...it's probably the alternator and you'll kill the battery." Robbie takes off and 3 minutes later I get a phone call. It's living up to it's FORD reputation once again - Found On Road Dead. Three of us jump in our cars to the rescue. Two hours later I'm back at Jeanne's house making "new" pick-up plans for morning at midnight.

I always say the impact of Cadres are in direct proportion to the difficulty it takes to pull them off. This was no exception. Apart from those few moments, it was an AMAZING couple of days. I had the greatest journey group ever, in fact we are working on our own little reunion in Dallas next month.

Here is a snapshot from a few of the lines one friend wrote today, "Words cannot express what the Cadre, Masters, you and Jeanne mean to me... Our youth service last night was so awesome. I can feel a boldness in me like never before and it comes from Jesus and what you guys are imparting into my life."

I am grateful for all the post Cadre notes of encouragement that come in. It's a big deal and reminds me every push to get itineraries in, every transportation run, every housing reshuffle and every kink in the schedule is sooooo more than worth it.

Oh, by the way, it was the alternator.

Diet Mountain Dew Free

2009-02-04T15:15:00.002-05:00

It's been almost 3 weeks without a Diet Mt. Dew, just want those who thought I might fall out and die to know I'm still alive. I had no withdrawals...crazy I know. The #1 question people ask is "do you feel better?" First, I never felt bad, I did it for kicks (I know weird sense of humor). Second, if I did feel bad and didn't know it, I feel no better. However, I must confess I have had about four Diet Cokes in that time frame while out at restaurants.

For My Indiana Family and Friends

2009-02-04T06:23:00.004-05:00

It's currenty 15 degrees in Atlanta and with the windchill feels like 1. It is currently 2 degress in Indiana and feels like 2. Now is your time to rub it in...it "feels" colder in Atlanta than it does in Indiana. Hurry, you don't have much time, it's supposed to be in the 60's all next week.

14 Months Ago

2009-02-03T23:35:00.004-05:00

14 months ago my dad died ... 14 months ago my quiet times with Jesus were buried with him. I remember someone whom I love screaming at me in tears and pain late the night before I preached his funeral, "Where was your fu$%in' Jesus when he put the noose around his neck...where was he Judy!?!?" I had all the right answers for him that would have made all of my current and past spiritual mentors proud. But deep inside, I really wasn't smokin' what I was sellin,' as Rob Bell would say. I didn't get it anymore than he did. All the "right" answers, while right and true, didn't help...not even kinda...not even a little bit.

For the last 14 months I've done a lot of great things FOR God and read a lot of great books ABOUT God, but didn't have it in me to read GOD'S WORD for myself. You might be thinkin', are you telling me you haven't cracked the Bible in 14 months? Nope, not for myself anyway, not once...I did for some messages and Sunday School lessons, but I'm not sure that counts. It took the difficulties of last month to come to the end of myself, at least I think I'm there. Have I prayed? Yep...good Christian prayers, saying the words I know to say. I tried to do what I knew to do despite how I felt (that's what I've always taught), but it wasn't working so good for me.

As I posted, the last week my office has been like a revolving door late into the night, students coming in and chillin' in my office just to talk. (While I may not have cracked my Bible, I have become a better listener and question asker...most days). A couple of times, while they were talking and I heard myself give some great "Godly" advice, my mind swirled elsewhere. Believe it or not, it was a prayer..."God help me not to be the poser I currently feel that I am." So, with resolve, I've been spending time with Jesus each day. The first two were like trying to kick myself out of the grave, but tonight the wall I built around my heart began to crack.

Here's what I was reminded of in James this week so far...

Consider it pure joy my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. (When I read that, I didn't find it fun, funny or even inspiring...I wasn't off to a good start)

If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. (found comfort in that, so I asked God for it)

But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. (totally could relate, felt pretty battered)

But each one is tempted when, by his own evil desires, he is dragged away and enticed.

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. (when you're not right with God, you jump to anger much quicker)

Do not merely listen to the Word, and so deceive yourselfs. Do what it says. (hmmm, great advice, easier said than done by far)

If anyone considers himself religious and yet doesn not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. (big statement)

Don't show favoritism (period)

Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?

Mercy triumphs over judgment!

What good is it, my brother, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?

Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?

"Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called God's friend. (How cool would that be! I hate the song "I am a friend of God." Each time it makes me think, am I?...would He really call me that?" I guess you can sing it in hope and faith.)

We all stumble in many ways. (what an understatement)

It (the tongue) corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire... (take junk thoughts captive, do not let them come out of my mouth)

The very moment you separate body and spirit, you end up with a corpse. Separate faith and works and you get the same thing: a corpse. (I had the works down the last year, didn't do so well on the faith...felt pretty dead, thus pretty true statement)

Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or DENY the truth. (I always caught the don't boast about it, but not sure I ever caught the "or deny the truth." While not sure it pertains to bitter envy or selfish ambition, this verse reminds me about how confessing things out loud disarms them...probably why I published this post).

19 Months Later, Still My Hero In Ministry

2009-02-02T23:09:00.004-05:00

I started working for my boss and friend 19 months ago today. I'm not going to lie, I didn't expect my mentor and hero to live up to my expectations. I know better than to put people on pedestals. However, 19 months later, I am grateful my respect for her has done nothing but grown. We've lived a whole lot of life in 19 months, to the point it feels more like 5 years. We've experienced some of the highest highs and lowest lows. Two words that best describe her were spoken by her son years ago, they are "blasted consistent." Consistent in her call, love, devotion to Jesus and commitment to be there for her husband, family and staff. I remember her once saying that one of her goals was that "those who know me (her) best, would love me (her) most."

I consider myself a low maintenance employee, which can be ones greatest blessing and greatest curse. But, one of things that Jeanne's taught me by watching her life is that sometimes when you most need encouragement, no one will realize it so you just have to ask for it ... so I did. January was a rough month for me, because of the added stress of the flood, budget, refinancing the church, board meetings and rebidding contracts on the church side, everything on the Youth Leader's Coach side got behind. I felt like I was juggling a dozen balls in the air at the same time and was dropping them all...not really, but it felt like that big time in my head. So, I asked to go out for a quick coke, but instead she gave me a two hour lunch and helped me clear my head. Because she's fought the battles, she can speak about to the ministry mind games like no other ... the mind games no one ever talks about. Through it all she's been faithful and "blasted consistent"

The Revolvoing Door

2009-01-29T00:53:00.006-05:00

Last night was a trip and reminded me how much I love our students at MC Atlanta. My office was like a revovling door from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., as one student left another would come to hangout and talk. First it was Jorge, then Rey, then Scotto, then Phillip and then when we had a power outage Nathan, Daniel and Scotto came in and chilled for awhile. I called it quits a little after 2 a.m. before my lamp died (it is plugged into this big old surge protect that operates as a back up battery for my computer). My relational tank was on full when they left ... I talked with one about his friend, another about youth ministry, another about family and another about his outstanding work. All the conversations were amazing but the two most memorable ones were with Rey and Daniel.

Rey got a whole years worth of youth ministry training in one week. One of our middle school students threw a fist at youth group last week. Instead of handling it myself, I coached Rey through it. He did an incredible job from talking to the boys involved to the mother of the kid who threw the fist. He felt the victory of one of the student really hearing him and, as a result, making positive choices...and the defeat of the other who really didn't get it. Rey is an amazing leader and will rock the world as a youth pastor some day (actually he really is one now, but someday will have the official title).

I had never really had much of a coversation with Daniel until last night. I learned about his wonderful parents, how his family is rallying in difficult economic times and that his church home back in North Carolina is Steven Furtick's Elevation Church. Daniel is an amazing young man full of optimism and Jesus. I am feeling the need for a road trip to North Carolina with a carload of MC'ers soon.

They are all incredible young men of God that if I had a kid, I would want them to hang out with. Right now we are in the midst of Experience where we showcase MC Atlanta to 60+ potential students next year. The hallways have been full of energy all day. Tonight is quiet though, our students are back in their apartments spoiling our guests like only MC Atlanta can spoil them.

Who Is Asking The Questions

2009-01-28T17:49:00.003-05:00

And the survey says... we have been taken for a ride by American Express, Pitney Bowes, Nuvox and Milner phone systems. Seriously, it's enough to make me beat my head against the wall. However, it's not their bad, it's ours for not asking the questions years ago. I think churches have a tendancy to just pay the bills and fail to obtain adequate information. The ongoing question should be why and if you can't answer it, do your homework and figure it out? Why is this interest rate so high? Why do we have this elaborate postage meter that is so fancy it should be able to spit nickels? Why is our T1 line so expensive every month...have we ever thought about telling them we are switching to a different company just to see what they say? Why are we leasing our phone system and who signed this stupid contract anyway with hidden costs that are lawsuit worthy? Because of the economic times, my amazing team and I are going over every reoccuring payment that goes out of that place. While most of them are totally legit, some leaving you scratching your head. No more...it's a new day.

When You Can Scale Back No More

2009-01-27T15:58:00.003-05:00

I hurt for some friends back home who lost their jobs this week. While I know God holds them in the very palm of His hand, it still leaves a knot in the pit of my stomach. Being the creater and keeper of the church budget at the Tabernacle, I know the feeling of waiting for the numbers to come in each week. It's a point of GREAT confusion for me. While I feel it's a lack of faith to hold my breath, it doesn't prevent me from doing so. When I see the email from Vicky reporting the weekly figures, I literally suck air while clicking it open. This week I rejoiced that we exceeded budget by 19 bucks ... I had that feeling in the pit of my stomach last week when we didn't ... historically January is a tough month for us. I scaled back everything I could for 2009. I'm rebiding contracts, cutting out the little fat that there is and helping to get the church refinanced. By doing so, it might give us a pinch of breathing room. Without it, our bottom line will be zero at the end of the year. However, if there is much in the way of out of the ordinary expenses (like a flood and deductibles), weather that affects attendance, etc., it will jack us up. There are times I feel the weight of the world on my shoulders. While I won't be the one to determine who, I know the very jobs of friends who are like family are on the line. So, I pray, I cut and I watch.

Time Out

2009-01-24T23:11:00.005-05:00

The ramp up to Epicenter NYLC 09 is fun and exciting, but beginning to take on an incredible pace. In the midst of creating and preparing product, overseeing exhibitors and a number of other things we had the flood (ie insurance adjusters, contracters and industrial hygienist), been refining the 09 budget, getting bids on phone systems, refinancing the church to take advantage of the lower rates and two ladies Cadres (one last week and one Feb. 9-10) ... all of which is good and right. However, yesterday I took a time out and left the office at 4 p.m. and said enough is enough. I spent last night and all of this morning chillin at Jeanne's by the lake before lunch with Kayla and "Find Your Leader" at the mall with my middle school 02 group. It was good to just breathe and sleep. Jeanne's words to me a few emails ago from out of the country were "don't forget my porch is annointed." So, you will find me and Jesus hangin' there tomorrow afternoon. It was in the 60's today, hopefully it will be tomorrow but it's feelin' a little chillier tonight.

Diet Mountain Dew

2009-01-22T04:18:00.003-05:00

So, I gave up Diet Moutain Dew for a few days. Most would have thought I'd fall over in convulsions dead, but I've faired pretty well. I haven't had the "no caffeine headaches" that I would have thought. I replaced my drink of choice with orange "Vitamin Water." I think I've been sucked into a marketing ploy. It's really melted orange popsicle at twice the cost of the Diet Moutain Dew. However it does say "water" so I'm claiming it as so.

Freebies

2009-01-19T23:07:00.002-05:00

Cool free resource for youth workers at...
Youth Leader's Coach: www.youthleaderscoach.com/vault/
Southeast Christian Church: www.vineresources.com
Simply Youth Ministry: www.simplyyouthministry.com/freebies.html

When Tragedy Strikes

2009-01-19T15:18:00.005-05:00

Our little "when the rain came down" inside the building episode this weekend reminded me of the importance of having people who will rally around you when things get tough. About 20 MC students stuck it out for 14 hours on Saturday, another 20 for about 8 hours, to ready the church for Sunday. The final crew left about 3 a.m.

The ServiceMaster man is here and complimented us up on our clean up. However, our efforts didn't negate the fact that everything behind and underneath the surface is saturated. He is telling me that the floorboards are wet, the walls are wet...everything is pretty much wet... and needs to be ripped out.

None of that pales in comparison to what two friends are going through...

One just lost pretty much everything in a house fire in Illinois. Thankfully, his church is rallying. However, it doesn't fix the fact that his life is a whirlwind right now. Pray for the Raitz family.

One of our MC students was related to the four killed in the grisly Oklahoma slayings ... where the boyfriend killed the girlfriend and her four kids. Most of the kids were from a previous marriage to the MC student's brother. The MC gang rallyed, including one driving him home so he can go to his nieces and nephew's funeral. The MC student driving him also happens to be the one who oversaw putting in all the ceiling tiles for us on Saturday. We've got an amazing crew.

It's raining ... inside the building

2009-01-17T20:53:00.005-05:00

Crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy day. About 12:15 p.m., all heck broke loose. A water main to the sprinkler system split in half. Seriously, a four or five inch connecter joint thingy busted in two. It was pouring inside the building like I've never seen before. Coming out of the ceiling, down the walls, right through to the lower level. All while a funeral service was going on in the Sanctuary. It was an ugly site to behold.

Fortunately, over half of our MC gang were on hand. It's 9 p.m. and 14 of them are stilling sucking up water and shampooing the carpets. They are my heroes tonight. They will be here well after midnight and becasue of them we will have church tomorrow. Like pretty much every church in America right now, economically we can not go without a Sunday's offering. I know that sounds unspiritual. However, the keeper of the budget, thinks of such things.

Lessons learned today:
1. Instead of buying shop vacs, rent shampoo machines...they can suck up the nasty water first, then you can use them to clean the carpets afterwards.
2. Don't forget to rent the blowers to dry the carpet too. Fortuately we remembered.
3. In a staff meeting, devote an hour to walking the building and showing staff where the water main, gas main, circuit breakers and server are located. Even if they don't shut the water/gas/electricity off, they can show the fire department where it's located. We could have avoided a few hundred or thousand gallons pouring out if we knew where the water main was right away. We didn't even realize it, but the majority of the water was pouring down about ten feet away from the room where the serve resides. Thank you Jesus it didn't hit the $3,500 additional back up unit we just installed the day before.
4. Have a list somewhere of the telephone numbers for plumbers, electricians and whoever else might be helpful in an emergency situation. If your "go to" person can't be found, you should still be able to handle the crisis.
5. When the water sprinkler pipe breaks, there is a nasty odor that smells like gas ... in this case it wasn't, the water just stinks bad.
6. Boards warp really fast.
7. Know who you can count on in a crisis. The MC students rocked the house. I am like a proud mama right now.
8. We might of shot ourselves in the foot with the insurance company becasue we cleaned it up. Hopefully, the video and pictures we took will suffice. Regardless, had we not cleaned it up, we couldn't have had church. That wasn't an option.
9. You can't clean part of any carpet. It's an all or nothing deal. When the damaged area ended up being cleaner than the rest of the carpet, all had to be done.
10. How people respond in a crisis is a test of character. Our students passed with flying colors. This really is a special place. I am living amongst furture (and current) worldchangers. They give me hope for the church of today and tomorrow.

Winter

2009-01-16T00:34:00.001-05:00

It's midnight and it's only 20 degrees here. I'm thinking I shouldn't have left my winter coat in Indiana. That's what I get for braggin' how much warmer it is here.

2009-01-07T21:36:00.004-05:00

Busted open this little gem and finished it while on Christmas break. It is a MUST read. Totally brilliant.

It was as easy to read as the 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. Which, whether you're a Maxwell fan or not, is brilliant as well. Sooooo brilliant, that once again I am junior highizing it and teaching it to them on Sunday mornings.

Week 1: Who is standing next to you ... a gorilla or a slug?

Ugh!

2009-01-05T22:10:00.003-05:00

Can it get any my dreary? Today...
1. Was my dad's birthday
2. I crunched numbers and finished the Tabernacle's 2009 budget
3. It rained most of the day (although can't complain too much, at 9 p.m. tonight it was 65 degrees)

The saving grace was that the MC students came back from Christmas break this evening. We played a fun game where staff, 3rd and 4th years disguised themselves and walked around the mall. The 1st and 2nd years had to find them and get them to sign their card. Pictures to follow...at some point.

Welcome home, we missed you

2009-01-03T21:03:00.002-05:00

Those were the words of a about a dozen people yesterday. The transition over the last year and a half has been interesting. For the first year of living in the ATL, Indiana still felt like home. The last six months, neither felt like home. Now, Atlanta truly feels like home. The #1 question people ask me when I come back to Indiana is, “do you like living in Atlanta?” The answer is that “I do.” Here’s why…

1. I love who I get to work with and for. My boss is amazing … a leader, visionary, coach, mentor and friend. We/I throw the “friend” word out pretty easily, but she truly is one. You should do life and work with people you love and who love you. If you are going to do this thing 50-70 hours a week, it matters.

2. I love MC Atlanta…seeing and working with 80+ God seeking, Jesus lovin’, hope filled, funny and fun 18-22 year olds is a hoot. We’ve mastered what it is to live in a “family environment.” I so believe in this program that has a foundational year of character and integrity building before its second year of leadership development. I’ve come to believe leadership without character is incredibly dangerous. I think in the church world we’ve lost sight of that a little. We build leaders and hope they catch character along the way. It’s a risky business.

3. I love diversity. As I mentioned, I go to a church that is comprised of 50 different nationalities that are predominately black in skin tone. I would love to say it didn’t affect me when I first moved down here, but honestly it kind of freaked me out. However, I went from immediately noticing that I was often times the only white person in a room, to seeing past skin tone. People are people, color really is just skin tone. I need to sit down and figure out how to put the transformation within me into better words.

4. I love to be stretched when it comes to leadership. I have my hand in a number of things right now. It breaks all the “less is more”, “laser focus is better” and “do only what you do best and hand off the rest” leadership principles I’ve learned along the way. However, that’s not an option right now and I’m great with it for this season. Plus, in my ear from the get go, I feel like God has been whispering “as you step into your future, this stuff will be important.” I’m not sure why, but am embracing the opportunities.

5. Words cannot express how much I learned at Granger from watching Mark, Rob, Dr. Bob, Ed, Mel, Georgia, Dave and a whole bunch of others too numerous to mention. I learn best by watching, not reading. So, all that stuff I absorbed by people watching is needed here. If you ever wonder “why they do what they do,” just go somewhere not doing it and you’ll be quick to know “the why behind the what.” Between that and the fact there is plenty of new stuff to learn here, it keeps my mind busy processing. We’re more denominationally tied here, which I love and hate with about the same amount of passion.

6. I’m a big fan of three seasons – spring, summer and fall. The average in July is only 5 degrees warmer here than in Indiana, but the average in January is 20 degrees warmer here than in Indiana. So, the summers aren’t much hotter, but the winters are much warmer. For someone who hates to be cold, that and the fact that the sun shines a lot more here is good for my soul. At 7 p.m. tonight it was 60 degrees. Last week in Indiana, for the life of me I couldn’t get warm. And when I was out at 7 p.m., my words were “why does it feel like I’m sitting in the middle of a freezer?”

So, life in the ATL is good for me. The second question I get asked when I’m in Indiana is “when are you coming back to Indiana, we miss you…we need you?” Probably not anytime soon, I am home.

Rachel Leazenby

2009-01-03T07:49:00.008-05:00

Did you ever write a post that was about five times longer than you expected, breaking all "posting" rules, but just don't care and are going to post it anyway?...well here is one for you.

Rachel Leazenby

It was a wonderful holiday in some ways, horrible in others. On Christmas Eve, one of the leaders who served alongside of me in Oasis died in a car accident. Rachel always had a smile on her face – she was full of life, laughter, adventure and vision. Her smile was contagious. As I got to know the family over the years, I think it was one of four things that are a pre-requisite for all their family. Rachel’s life is marked by a family that…
(1) smiles
(2) loves Jesus
(3) uses their God given talents for the Cause, the King and the Kingdom, and
(4) leans in

As I sat through the funeral, I thought of the affect their family has had on my life and ministry over the years.

Before meeting Rachel, I met her brother-in-law, Jeff Banicki, when he first came to play drums for us at Oasis. I was glad he had mega skill because just watching him play was a site to behold. I love watching people who can play (sing) and smile at the same time. Like Rachel, Jeff had that same contagious smile as he’d “lean in” to the drum kit while he played. His face helped to lite up the stage and it kept beaming when he stepped off of it as well.

I then met Rachel’s sister, Leah Banicki. Leah would come and sing solos for us at Oasis. Her voice is indescribably AMAZING…seriously. I remember time and time again giving God thanks for her ministry, especially to our girls. I loved that they were able to watch her “lean in” to the microphone, smiling as she sang, using her talent for God’s glory. She inspired us with her music and her life. In fact, I’m sure there are many high school girls singing into school choir microphones because of her.

I then met Rachel and Leah’s mom and dad, Gene and Mary Ort, at Camp Adventure. They would come and set up camp with their trailer so that we could have the most superb sound ever to be heard at camp. Gene’s talented beyond measure when it comes to many things, especially sound. He could have been making a lot of money somewhere that week I’m sure, but instead he gave it up to run sound for a bunch of middle school students free of charge. Often I’d look over and see Gene smiling as he would “lean in” to the board to twist a knob, push a button or raise a slider, as nearly 200 middle school students and leaders were jumping all over the place during worship. The fact that Mary would come to our “rustic” camp was beautiful. I know many of wives who would have simply kissed their husbands on his way out the door and said “see ya next week.” She didn’t “have to” spend a week fighting off dear flies and showering in rusty/iron/sulfur water, she “chose to” in order to “lean in” to her husband with love and support.

Then, Rachel came on the scene. As I would walk around checking on small groups, Rachel could always be found sitting with a smile on her face as she would “lean in” to her circle of girls in order to listen well. It, among other things, made her a great leader. Her imprint will remain on the lives she touched forever … and, if you haven’t heard, forever is a really long time.

You’d think it would end there, but it doesn’t … Along comes Rachel’s husband, Jon. Jon was one of the coaches for our annual flag football tournament. Jon was a great coach. He’d huddle up his players tight, arms stretched across each others back, and all would “lean in” to hear his voice of wisdom and encouragement. Rachel would be right in there next to him. Their passion for the sport and, more importantly, our kids ran deep.

Like I said, it’s a family thing. For some reason, while sitting through the beautiful service that celebrated her life, I was in my own little world celebrating and giving God thanks for their family. All throughout, those two simple words, “lean in”, kept washing over my mind like the ocean’s tide. They all do it so well. While Rachel went on ahead of them to warm up their section of the dance floor with Jesus, they will continue to mark people on their journey with their love for Jesus, smiles and use of their talents for Kingdom purposes. This week I continue to give thanks and pray for the Ort-Leasenby-Banicki family. May you “Lean in” to Jesus my friends, now more than ever.

And I Am Going Home Why?

2008-12-22T03:43:00.002-05:00

Ok friends and family, it hit the 70 degree mark a few times this week ... and will be in the 60's next. Right now you have a negative 18 windchill factor. Why are you not coming here? My loyalty will last at least another year, but after that there's no guarantee I'll be back home in Indiana ... at least not in December. Good grief ... I'm getting goose bumps just thinking about the ride home tomorroow.

Marketing Exponentially

2008-12-20T05:08:00.003-05:00

What happens when you and 268 of your closest friend across the nation have buy-in and promote a conference all at the same time? ... registrations start rising at an exponential rate. I told our board the world has yet to see what kind of affect something like the Cadre has on a conference. We're beginning to see some of it. I still hold to my prediction that NYLC09 will sell out by our second cut-off date on February 20. Jeanne thinks I'm delirious, but you just wait...

Baby Mayo

2008-12-18T05:40:00.004-05:00

What fun. Elijah Mayo was born today. Jeanne's first grandkid. He's a cutie. Congrats Josh and Monica!

Random Highs and Lows

2008-12-18T04:09:00.005-05:00

Interesting Day ... Random Highs and Lows

1. Saw this video on DC's blog yestday and I'm hooked. I must have watched it a half a dozen times today. If you watch it, make sure you watch the WHOLE thing.

2. Took Brittany out to dinner before Oxygen for her birthday. Good times. I love mentoring moments and coversations with MC students.

3. Jim is back in the hospital after another serious episode. While in the hospital, the nursing staff allowed his blood pressure to rise well above 200 and then he proceeded to have another major seisure. Between Jim and them yanking my dad off all meds and sending him home, I'm losing confidence in our medical professionals ... but what choice do you have?

4. I'm creating the 09 budget for the church and with a two minute calculation think I just saved the church $10,000. Most of my salary comes from Youth Leader's Coach, but a little of it comes from the Tabernacle. I texted Jeanne that the Tab got a good deal when she hired me for YLC. She texted back that it was the "understatment of the universe!!!!" An exaggeration on her part for sure, but felt good nonetheless.

5. I'm a simple learner. Today I was reminded how we have a tendency to circumvent protocol without much consideration for those affected. Then, when you become responsible for those people and areas affected, you get a little more touchy. I was more than a little frustrated today.

6. Today we had our 02 small group night with our students and I had to do #4 on my previous post afterwards ... correct and redirect. We did not come with our "A" game ... or our "B" game for that matter. We "coasted" into Christmas Break tonight after a great weekend ... not good! But, I love, love, love my team so we sat down and had a little pow wow afterwards. I tried to put it in the most positive encouraging way possible, but the room was still verrrrry quiet. I could have waited until after break, but didn't think that would be effective. One of my team members commented privately afterwards that she was grateful. Regardless, it was a tough call. Ugh!

7. The fire alarms just went off ... smoke detected on the first floor. No smoke, so we reset the alarm and called the alarm company. They indicated the fire department had not been dispatched. As I hung up with them, Robert called and said the fire department was at the front door. Go figure.

That's my cue to go home!

Everyone needs...

2008-12-17T00:04:00.004-05:00

As I learn to help give oversight to nine people in six different departments/areas, along with a bunch of MC Cadre and Middle School leads, I'm reminded of some things "everyone needs." A few I had already learned, a few are new and few were realized out of my own longings through the years. Here you go...

1. Everyone needs to know they are cherished/valued by you and those around you
2. Everyone needs a champion … someone who will defend them
3. Everyone needs a cheerleader … someone who will shout their praises to others
4. Everyone needs corrected and redirected on occasion, none of us are perfect
5. Everyone needs to know that when they are corrected and redirected, your love for them hasn’t changed
6. Everyone needs to be communicated/met with, even if only a few minutes a week by phone
7. Everyone needs to know they are heard … even if you don’t agree, let them speak
8. Everyone needs you to know what it’s like to live in their shoes … try doing their job, even for a day. I guarantee you will be surprised at what you learn and often times your compassion level will go way up.
9. Everyone needs a random act of kindness
10. Everyone needs to know what they do and who they are matters ... you know it, you see it, you proclaim it.

For the Cause, for the King, for the Kingdom ... I will get these ten down better with each passing day.

70 Degrees

2008-12-15T21:15:00.003-05:00

The good news is that it's supposed to hover around 70 degrees all week, the bad news is that I'm sick as a dog (however sick a dog is). I have the MC Cough and we are dropping like flies around here. If I would stop trying to cough up my lung, I think things might get better. In the meantime I'm OD'ing on Mucinex Maximum Strength and Aleve Cold & Sinus. Mucinex has the most discusting tag line, but it got me to buy it ... Mucinex In. Mucus Out. Just thought I'd share that with you and the fact that between the two drugs, I dropped $35. I was telling Nathan how horrible I felt and he said "horrible enough to go to the doctor?" My answer, surprise ... surprise, "no way, not yet."

I never get tired of youth ministry

2008-12-15T13:55:00.003-05:00

On Saturday, we did an event blitz. We went and bought Alee, the six year we adopted for Christmas, a skateboard and some other fun presents and took it down to the Atlanta Dream Center. Then my small group of girls, all 17 of them, piled in cars to go to my apartment where I made dinner for them, we watched I'll Be Home For Christmas and Elf, played spoons and made Christmas cookies. Well, we kind of made Christmas cookies, they looked more like cookie blobs. I remember how it used to drive me nuts the way they never used to look like Christmas cookies, but I've chilled out a lot since then :-) We had fun making every funky color of frosting imaginable. It was a cheap night and fun was had by all. I don't think I'll ever get tired of hanging out with kids. I think sometimes we make events too complicated when in reality they are longing for simple traditions.

Crashing Like A Freight Train

2008-12-04T23:47:00.003-05:00

I taught at Oxygen last week and was high (spiritually) as a kite afterwards for a couple of hours and then it happened ... 1/2 way between Atlanta and Nashville on my drive back to Indiana ... the adrenaline, or whatever it is, dropped so fast it made my eyes lids feel like they had weights in them. When I began to slap myself to stay awake, after singing at the top of my lungs, after drumming on the steering wheel, I knew it was time to pull into the rest stop to take a snooze.

Tonight, after creating the NYLC 09 Exhibitor packet (among other stuff) for three really, really, really long days and getting 280 ready for mailing, I was higher than a kite. My team celebrated by going to dinner and then, not five minutes after we got back, it happened ... the adrenaline, or whatever it is, dropped so fast I had to lay down. This time I couldn't sleep, but just laid there with the lights out for a 1/2 hour. Then, I celebrated by eating 1/2 a pint of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. I'm better now and ready for round two ... Cadre Catch Up! However, that whole adrenaline drop is a trip.

Plates Spinning

2008-12-02T01:58:00.003-05:00

Between the economic crunch, being at a smaller church (around 800-1,000), need, skill and whatnot, I wear a lot of hats (like nine of them). With many of them, I simply serve as a direct report and have fantastic people to do the detailed work required in the various departments.

Most would say I'm stupid for even trying to juggle all the balls in the air, but (for now) I find it interesting and challenging (and sometimes tiring). It is definitely stretching my ability to both lead and manage. As I processed with Mike on the way home from Indiana and alone with just myself late this evening, here are nine questions I think I am going ot ask myself at the beginning of each day ... and then again at the end of each day in terms of evaluating how I did.

THE BIG NINE
1. What meetings need to take place (and how long do they really need to be)?
2. Who can be entrusted with a hand off (empowered/delegated to/etc.)?
3. What do I need to do so those around me can do what they need to do?
4. What needs inspected/reviewed/reminded about?
5. What deadlines are fast approaching (that are likely to bite me)?
6. Who can I encourage and/or coach a little today?
7. Are there any systems that can be established to make this whole thing run smoother?
8. What must I do that no one else can?
9. Have I ripped off Jesus today?

Honestly, I think nine are too many ... but I will try them out and see what works.

You know ... they're just Northern

2008-11-24T22:26:00.005-05:00

I had so much fun just hanging out with James and Brittany tonight. All the students had the day off, but James and Brit came into work since we're heading into a six day MC weekend and, frankly, there's things that just need to get done. I'm proud of them and their work ethic.

Anyway, we took some time to chill over dinner and I got the biggest laugh of my day when Brittany said, "you know, they're just northern." What was so funny was that no explanation was needed. Having lived in the south for 17 months now, I can honestly say they are just NATURALLY more friendly and loving. No disrespect to the Northern'ers meant, especially since I am one of them. But, if there was one thing I wasn't used to when I got here, it's the Southern hospitality ... I get it and, hopefully, one day got it.

Am I Doing Ok?

2008-11-21T20:05:00.004-05:00

I had a friend step into my office today and ask that question, "Am I doing ok?" An unintentional comment was said by a staff member that stung. Understandably, it lead to the question, "Am I doing ok?" My resonding answer was "By all means, yes!" ... then I added the "but..."

He's in a very unique line of work that people don't necessarily understand all the hours it takes to perform his job, nor do they understand all the "side jobs" he gets asked to do "real quick that will only take a second." Nothing only takes a second, nor a minute.

So, my advice to him was to journal/log what he does each day ... not second by second, but the chunks that take awhile. I warned him though that most people give up on the process rather quickly because it's incredibly revealing...

1. They realize they really are wasting a lot of time
2. They realize there is a lot of stuff they should be delegating and empowering others to do.
3. They can only account for about 6 of the 8 hours.

All of that is hard to swallow. I challenged him to fight though it. We'll see what happens.

That's Our Girl

2008-11-21T02:48:00.015-05:00

Next week marks the one year death of her great grandpa (my dad). This little girl (my great niece) will never know the hope that she brought our family in the middle of the darkness. For two years running, she'll rank #1 for what I'm most thankful for this holiday season.

She softens hearts with her giggles.
She reminds us of her daddy (my nephew) with her slow growing baby hair.
She brings out the tenderness in her grandpa (my brother).
She reminds us that God is still on the throne.