Root Beer

It's not often you find a delight such as pure, unbottled A&W Root-Beer.  As nicole and i were sipping on the tasty delight yesterday we were wondering...how could we create such an extravagant experience in our own home.  For the next couple of hours we spent trying to make this happen.  I guess tapping root-beer in the home is not a common experience, who would have thought?  So after taking lots of time to even find something educational we have given up for the time being.  How many people are seeking to get involved with your ministry have given up?  How many people have seen something they connected with, but had no way of connecting?  I think its not often as Christ followers, or even potential Christ followers we find that group or ministry we really resonate with.  So the question...have we designed ministries that are open to those experiences; experiences when that certain person that fits walks in the door, can they plug in easily?  Comfortably?  I was heavily contemplating the ins and outs of church on my drive in this morning.  You see i have a brother that has a growing, vibrant ministry in a large city that is heavily conservative.  I happen to be a part of a growing, vibrant ministry (totally not in part to me) in a large city that is heavily...innovative (thats a good word for balls out right?).  The key factor is not who we are, but what we do, and i think what we do is create opportunities for people that walk in to get connected.  You see, not everyone who walks in the door needs to be there.  They won't fit, they wont align with vision, its just not the way they relate.  But the ones that do...how many have you missed lately by having things in place that were less than excellent, something "you'll get to" or just non-existant?  Realizing priority, for once lets drop some of our fluff and make the more important happen, connecting people to what they really want.  I'm fairly certain if there was a way to get root-beer on tap in my house yesterday i would have jumped in, i was passionate for the cause.  Today i have logic and reason fighting my way, its Sunday lets not get to Monday and have people that passionately wanted to get involved sitting on the sidelines.

The Deed Is Done!

It just so happens that when we moved into our house in OKC the previous renters left us a present.  It never fails that your welcoming gifts never quite meet your expectations, and this one took the cake.  On our screened in porch was a magnificent couch, its a really large porch so we have never paid much attention to it and certainly never sat on it.  Its kinda off to the side (noticeable still) but not in the way of any activity we need the porch for, so we've just kinda left it there.  Well, every day when Hunter goes outside to his large backyard of a bathroom/play area he walks by this wonderfully blue couch.  Just the other day as he was walking inside he casually stops, lifts his leg and gives a quick spirt to the couch then continues to walk in the door.  The whole process for him took less than 5 seconds, and as funny and disgusting as that might be, i've really been intrigued as to the "why."  It's been there for months and he hasn't paid attention to it, then one day he just has to stop and do his thing, i really searched on this one.  You might think this is weird, but we have couches INSIDE our house too...i didn't want him to make some weird dog correlation between the two.  I've landed on this idea, but feel free to share your own...   Hunter is tempted to mark his territory anywhere he can, he's a man dog and has a good size ego..ok he thinks he's pretty awesome.  But the reality of it is, whether its a dog or not when you put some kind of temptation in your path eventually your going to break.

I've seen it all

So yesterday we had to deliver some t-shirts to another campus.  We're driving less than a block away from our campus and notice a homeless man on the corner.  Nick (guy i work with) and i both look at him, Nick looks away back at the stoplight.  I'm stuck looking at this homeless person all by myself.  This may not seem important, but it is.  Plus for clarification we have a large community of homeless people in our area and we frequently help them out.  (one named Monty frequents and is a big fan of silver spray paint....)  So I'm watching this guy and two seconds later he falls stiff as a board directly back and hits his head on the concrete....this guy is OUT, i mean O..U..T OUT!!!!!  Plus, I've just seen his head literally bounce off the concrete and waaamo he is gone.  As I'm gasping for breath and doing the pointing cant seem to find something to say dance in the front seat of the car nick calmly looks over.  The next few seconds will be ones i will never forget in my life..... Nick calmly states the name of the individual, gives me a quick background and how the campus has tried to invest in his life.  As he is dialing the phone (no time for a phone call by the way) he states that he is just drunk and passed out.  Turns out he is calling the police, who know the guy by name and head out to pick him up.  Needless to say nick finished the quick 30 seconds of a timeless piece in my life by letting me know that he has seen this before and I'll probably see it again.  If that wasn't enough of a culture shock on perspective for me, today we're in wal-mart grabbing some drinks and we see none other than "Doc" from Back to the Future.  As I'm telling some of our volunteers this they inform me that the day before they had both on separate occasions seen a delorean with stuff on the back, just like from Back to the Future....life is certainly getting interesting.

Perspective

Nicole often tells me i have some serious issues.....and maybe she's right!  (See attached picture)  So the other day i was thinking to myself, Hunter (our dog) really likes his kennel, like to the point where sometimes he doesn't even want to hang out with us so i thought as a good Dad, i would join him for a stay in his world.  The room looked a lot bigger from his kennel and he was ticked i was in there...i also learned he is d..i..r..t..y and needs to start cleaning his own dang room or wiping his own feet off from coming inside!  Fast forward to our staff meeting we're having at one staff members houses (LC gotta love it)!  One staff member makes comment to other staff member, "he's a new christian, he doesn't know some stuff is cliche, as long as its spiritual its all alright"  Put that in the back of your head and chew on it, one more to come...So im driving home in my wife's car which is an odd experience for me because its a jetta and guys tend to look at me funny when i drive it, probably not but im "self aware" if it ever were to happen (does that make any sense?)!  Long story short, i drive a lifted jeep, she drives a lowered jetta...if you ever want to feel like your butt is dragging the ground make that leap.  On to the point here-i make the turn towards our neighborhood knowing its the right turn as soon as i make it i immediately panic thinking i've taken the wrong turn.  It takes three consistent road signs to tell me im heading in the right direction before i start to believe anything.  Needless to say the rest of the short drive i had left was one that was continually focused on making sure i was heading in the right direction.  Her car had given me this totally different perspective on the things around me!  One thing i've learned is that we need to constantly be evaluating things around us, trying to gain a new perspective in order to ensure that things are going in the best possible direction (or for some, the right direction and others...a direction at all).  Whether it be after years of having my dog and the same kennel realizing how dirty it is, or how much room he really has, or how safe it feels i learned something...next time he goes in his kennel i understand why.  Whether its driving and realizing things you never realized before, needing to check the signs around you to make sure your heading in the right direction, re-directing our focus on what we really need to be focusing on or just that once-in-awhile feeling of confirmation that we are heading where we need to head.  Whether its that new christian that hasn't settled into american christian culture that still finds anything spiritual more captivating than not, the hunger that resides in that.  The new christian that walks into our ministry and sees volunteers, staff, and other attenders less than captivating, less than spiritual what's their perspective?  I'm constantly evaluating my christian ideals and perspective, checking to make sure first im heading in a direction and then making sure its the right one.  And finally im always checking to make sure my place is all cleaned up (you make the connection), there's no dirt hiding anywhere and that there's a place that's safe and comfortable for me to relax and jump into the arms of a God who cares!  How long has it been since you just checked where you're perspective is at?

Rain for Rent????

So im driving down the interstate today, and i see a semi pulling this really odd trailer....on the side it says Rain for Rent!!!  I'm thinking to myself, even God is feeling the recession thats pretty bad then i thought im pretty bad for thinking that to myself (enough random in head conversations)  Then the pastor in me comes out wailing and screaming, i've actually landed on something spiritual for me.

Since moving to OK Nicole and i have felt our fair share of life poking us around.  I'm thinking this as im driving home from the auto parts store because my jeep is broke, in fact both my jeeps were broke the other day and nicoles car was in the shop today....trivial i know, but still seriously????  It's been a season that we've experienced the least amount of income in our marriage, the worst place to live (its not bad, we're just used to better), being sick, missing major family events, and really growing a lot spiritually which always hurts a little.  It's been the most trying time for us, a time where we really have had to rely on God a lot.  In fact its a season of pretty intense spiritual stuff for us, from the moment we sat down and really prayed together about coming to the constant moving of people at good ol' L...Church.  This got me thinking, for the first time in our marriage we're spending time together and growing a lot and in the midst of everything God has granted us way more than joy about life...let's just call it rain.  

So what happens when this season is over?  Do we go back to a place where we were before, or have we truly grown in the midst of everything?  Did we just rent the "Jesus factor" for a bit, and when we're done with it we'll send it back on its semi home?  Is this just our trend in life, in ministry, in our journey or are we truly learning, growing and connecting more with who and what God has in store for us?  I'll be evaluating this "rain for rent" idea a little more, feel free to join me!

Seriously?

At a funeral today, doing the final stuff at the cemetary and someone broke the window out in my jeep and stole a purse (not mine thankfully)!  Happens that i wasnt the only vehicle missing a window, a couple others had the same "problem"  So if you know Satan's address im looking to send him a bill for a window and kicks his....butt......  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

A Break is Coming!

Ever had a brief but long season of ministry?  We've had a ton of stuff going on over the last month, every weekend has been booked solid...and we still have one more!  We had an overnight event for our SwitchGroups and did a mission project this weekend.  Next weekend we finish up with our leader retreat, another overnight weekend!  Overall its been great and developed our team a lot but at the end of it i'm tired and ready for a breath before we gear up to finish out the school year.  Today was great, no groups meeting this evening and i left as the 1:00 experience started so i got to go home this afternoon.  Nicole and i took the opportunity to take the jeep out to a local place and just hang out a little bit, something that has been lacking this past month with her starting her new job!  We have a date planned for tomm. night (no pictures of that) and im really looking forward to it.

Volunteer 101

So i've found that i can never hear enough about how to take care of or empower volunteers.  It seems as though every couple months i need a lesson on how to do this effectively, and a couple just hopped my way this week.  Our "Spring Crash" is coming up this weekend, its an overnight small group event that will include packing some lifepacks to send out to kids in Iraq.  Pushing our volunteers to see this as a launching pad into our small group ministry, i've challenged them with individual goals for how many students outside of their normal crowd i want to see involved.  This wasn't genius, it was just a way to motivate them to think outside the box and really recruit some new students.  Two volunteers stood out this week, both relatively new in our small group ministry (less than 3 months).  First volunteer works with middle school girls comes into the office first thing Monday morning and asks to include a personalized letter from the 3 ladies that lead the small group to their small group students!  Not only that, she had printed maps and given cell phone numbers for the parents to contact with any question before the event then hand wrote all the invitation envelopes!!!  Second volunteer, middle school guys, calls me today and says he was inviting a lady to church while he was at work.  Happens to be she goes to our campus and is involved in our adult small group ministry.  Amazingly she has a middle school guy that has been wanting to get involved but due to work schedules of his mother cant get a ride.  Gets the information, signs him up for our event this weekend and was calling to see what kind of arrangements we could make to give him a ride every week!  These are pretty standard practices to people who do ministry as a job, but for the new volunteers they had gone above and beyond taking the challenge of recruiting some new students to another level!  Oh sure theres more, like the volunteer that handed me almost 50 sign-ups she had personally recruited over our wednesday night program, the guys leader that hosted a barbeque at his house this weekend so the guys could see where they were staying, or the group that went on a mission project this weekend.  There's two guys that are starting small groups in lieu of the event, the groups that want to be a part of the process, including leading worship....sometimes it feels like maybe they are getting it!!!