Tag Archive - magician

Sunday Mind Dump

March 22, 2009 in Confessional, Mi Vida Loca, The Connection Church with 2 Comments

  • Today was amazing!
  • I can’t remember ever seeing such a huge response from people in a church service. It looked like every person in the room responded. The response time was straight up youth group style. Write your sins on a red sheet of paper. Be specific. Walk tot he front, fold it up, throw it in the trash and tell sin “you sin are NO LONGER my master. JESUS is!”
  • I got nervous about speaking this morning. Not sure why. I usually just get the adrenaline rush, but today it was different. Maybe because its been two months since I preached. As soon as I walked on stage the nervousness disappeard and turned into adrenaline. Booyah.
  • Starting off the sermon inside of a trashcan was a blast. And gross. But going back to the trashcan over and over throughout the sermon was a perfect illustration of what we do with our sin. See pics below…
  • Yes, I said the word “GAG-A-MAGGOT” in the sermon. Gag-a-maggot is what my dad and I say when something is just nasty.
  • There are stinking JUNE BUGS on my porch. Isn’t it march?
  • The band was ON today. They opened with my favorite song, Alive and Running by Kristian Stanfill. Check it out here. AMAZING.
  • Cole (yes, our lead pastor) had to step in on bass guitar today. He did an absolutely incredible job! And, I’m pretty sure he didn’t mind too much. ;)
  • If you are an iPhone user, be careful. If you try to text your wife that she is a “hottie” iPhone won’t help you out much. It corrects it to “Hogtie.” Oops.
  • I went to Surge, our middle school ministry tonight. The girls in that ministry amaze me. They know more Scripture by heart than most pastors I know. Sad, and incredible at the same time!
  • I feel that God told me to do something crazy cool today. I don’t know how I can do it financially, but everytime I step out on faith, He is always FAITHFUL to me.
  • Glad that spring break is over. Everyone should be back in the office tomorrow. I won’t lie…it absolutely STUNK last week to be completely alone at the office. I especially can’t wait to see Nic. Miss that guy big time.
  • The buzz right now at The Connection Church and the anticipation that you can feel in the room are unreal. People are ready to see God do some crazy stuff at Easter.
  • We have a deaf woman coming named Kristine Waltman. She has brought at least 3 new friends with her every week now for as long as I can remember. All of these friends are other deaf people. God keeps blowing my mind with the ministry that is springing up at TCC for the deaf! WOW!

trash

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Your Heart Knows

January 13, 2009 in GOD, Life Change with Comments Off

I heard something earlier this week that resonated with me.

“Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” – Steve Jobs

Awesome. Get out there and give yourself a chance. Go for it! Don’t wait! Follow your heart, your intuition, and your deepest dreams, no matter how crazy they sound or how many naysayers there are.

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2009 Goals List – A WHOLE NUTHA LEVEL!

January 5, 2009 in Goals, GOD, Leadership, Life Change with 7 Comments

In 6th grade, I started writing out my life goals list. Each year, I make adjustments and go for it.

I am big on goal setting. I just refuse to drift through life. Most people spend more time planning their summer vacation than they do planning their life out. I think that’s a tragedy. Chris Brogan came up with a cool new idea for goal setting in 2009. I am going to borrow from his concept for my personal use, but I still have to set concrete, measurable, specific goals if I am ever going to accomplish them.

These are not resolutions.  Resolutions stink.  These are GOALS.  This list isn’t all of them, it’s not all of the details, and they are not in any order. That would just be too personal…so, here are my 2009 goals that I feel like sharing:

  • Take Amber out at least 26 times.  That’s every other week. And not just for dinner and a movie. I’m talking stinking awesome, knock her socks off dates. Shower her with affection and always put her before myself. Always.
  • Spend good, quality time with Couper every day. Some days it might be 10  minutes; others it could be 10 hours. I refuse to miss my son grow up.
  • Lead our church to an average weekly attendance of 1,000 people…this goal has a HUGE sub-list of smaller goals.
  • Lead our set design, tech, lighting, etc area to a WHOLE NUTHA LEVEL.
  • Read 40 books. See my 2009 reading list here.
  • Pray. A. Lot. I have to figure out what God wants me to do long, long, long-term ASAP and start working towards it, intentionally. Its eating me up inside.
  • Send more personal, handwritten notes to people
  • Go on a mission trip out of the country. No idea how this will ever happen financially.
  • Continue to run a lot and knock out a few races. Also, in the area of fitness, I would like to start biking more and bulk up a little. That’s right, everyone else wants to lose 10 pounds…I want to gain 15. :)
  • Cut back on some of our “dumb expenses” like cable tv. We blow money on all kinds of stuff we don’t need in this country, just because we can. I’m not going to do that anymore. We will be “trimming” this year so that we can save for the future. Live like no one else now so that you can live like no one else later.
  • Beat Steve Etheridge in a game of washer pitching. :) Now THAT is a goal.
  • DJ on the radio for a day. For some reason that is on my life goal list. I’ve just always wanted to do it. Maybe if I beat Steve at a game of washers he’ll let me do it. Heck, if he wins, he can have my job for a Sunday. :)
  • Re-invent The Connection Church on the web. I’m so sick of our website I could puke. That makes sense though. I have to look at it and work on it every day. Its a great site…very functional and simple. But, we’ve had it almost 4 years and its time for it to go.
  • Help Cole find a hobby that helps him relax. “Going to church” isn’t a hobby.
  • Build a porch swing. I’ve wanted to do that for years.
  • Not punch anyone at my 10 year high school reunion.
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I Could Feel It…

December 2, 2008 in GOD, Leadership with 2 Comments

Over the Thanksgiving break, we spent some time in Lubbock. While there, I got to hook up with Tim Beal. I served with Tim at a church in Wolfforth, TX early on in my ministry. My first years in ministry were extremely frustrating.

I could feel it. That gut feeling that church could be and should be different. Didn’t Jesus love the unlovable and accept those who were beat up and broken? At the time, I couldn’t really verbalize it. At the advice of what I thought were “mentors” in those days, I pushed forward ignoring my gut feelings. Eventually it ate me up inside so badly that I eventually reached a point where I was ready to quit.

Enter Tim Beal. Just as I was about to throw in the ministry towel, Tim came on our staff and brought those gut feelings to life! God used him to awaken my soul and re-energize me for ministry.

My gut feelings were right. Ministry IS ACTUALLY all about Jesus. Its all about people. And, its all about making the two intersect.

When I met with Tim this past week I finally got to look him in the eyes (6 years later) and thank him. It felt good. I think he maybe even cried a little. And now, I just wanted to thank him publicly.

We wrapped up by praying together and committing to pray for each other. God is using Tim in some BIG BIG ways. The church he is now at has been around for about 2 years and has grown to over 1,200 people meeting on the weekends. I am pumped up about how God is going to use Tim next.

Who has been your Tim Beal? Who re-energizes you for the mission you have been given?

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