Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Wednesday Nights
O.K. bloggers, it's time to weigh in with your experiences and suggestions.
As we hurdle towards the Fall our leadership team has been looking at our Wednesday night format. In the recent past we’ve held individual classes for ladies and guys. This summer we’re doing a combined Bible Olympics that involves everyone from children to adults.
1. How many of your churches still hold a “regular” Wednesday night service?
2. How many of you (if you care to answer) regularly attend that service if your church holds one?
3. What is the best format you’ve seen for Wednesday nights?
4. Do you feel it is even important to have something at the building on Wednesday nights?
Monday, July 30, 2007
"Firsts"
It seems to be the time for “firsts” among this blog community. Of course the latest and greatest “first” is the arrival of “Peanut” Jackson England in beautiful Temecula, California but recently we’ve had Dee move into her new home, Greg changing both career and locale, Randy buying a home, John and Bobby both moved west, Terri has a new office, and I believe Donna is contemplating starting a new ministry.
My 17 year-old son had a couple of firsts for him in the past couple of weeks. The first one was applying for, interviewing, and getting his first job at a clothing store in our local Mall. He was quite proud of the fact that he had zero help from Mom and Dad and we were proud of him as well. In fact, he worked an evening shift on the very day he was called in to be told he had gotten the job.
Then he left for Pascagoula, Mississippi with our youth group to minister to the good folks there trying to recover from Hurricane Katrina. This ministry is overseen by John Dobbs and the Central Church. Steven’s firsts consisted of hanging dry-wall and using several different types of saws. Even after 2 years there are still thousands who haven’t been able to move into their homes. Steven told me the people of Pascagoula were very appreciative of their efforts, many stopping by to them personally.
I’ll leave you with the following – Steven told us that on the first night he worked at his job in the Mall, he was asked an interesting question. Apparently it is the practice of this store to ask all of it’s employees at the end of the day if they had stolen anything. He was told of this procedure during his interview.
When the Manager of the store asked Steven, “Steven, did you steal anything tonight” his answer was, “Only the ladies’ hearts.” Chip off the old block. Have a good Monday family.
My 17 year-old son had a couple of firsts for him in the past couple of weeks. The first one was applying for, interviewing, and getting his first job at a clothing store in our local Mall. He was quite proud of the fact that he had zero help from Mom and Dad and we were proud of him as well. In fact, he worked an evening shift on the very day he was called in to be told he had gotten the job.
Then he left for Pascagoula, Mississippi with our youth group to minister to the good folks there trying to recover from Hurricane Katrina. This ministry is overseen by John Dobbs and the Central Church. Steven’s firsts consisted of hanging dry-wall and using several different types of saws. Even after 2 years there are still thousands who haven’t been able to move into their homes. Steven told me the people of Pascagoula were very appreciative of their efforts, many stopping by to them personally.
I’ll leave you with the following – Steven told us that on the first night he worked at his job in the Mall, he was asked an interesting question. Apparently it is the practice of this store to ask all of it’s employees at the end of the day if they had stolen anything. He was told of this procedure during his interview.
When the Manager of the store asked Steven, “Steven, did you steal anything tonight” his answer was, “Only the ladies’ hearts.” Chip off the old block. Have a good Monday family.
Friday, July 27, 2007
AVID Atlanta
Hello everyone. Since last Saturday the hotel pictured above (Atlanta Marriott Marquis) has been the home for this West Cocoa Boy. The Marriott was the 50-story home of the East Coast “AVID Conference.” 
"AVID" stands for "Advancement Via Indiviual Determination." It is a program that (San Diego) started near Greg's new home. It targets kids in the "middle" who are typically not served by special Programs as are students who are “gifted” and those with “learning disabilities.” Students who qualify for AVID typically have test scores that are average to high but grades that are below their indicated ability. In addition they may come from a home whose parents did not graduate from College. The ultimate goal for an AVID student is college. They are helped in Middle and High School by enrolling in an AVID elective class, agreeing to do a set amount of homework each night, enrolling in Honors and AP (Advance Placement) classes, and receiving “AVID strategies” to help them be a better student.
Some of these strategies include “Cornell 2-Column notes, Socratic seminars in class, and tutorials via tutors brought into the AVID Classroom to help them with a variety of subjects. The goal of AVID is to “AVID-size” an entire school so that all teachers are using AVID strategies so that even non-AVID students are benefiting from these strategies.
O.K., at this point I feel like imitating the boring Economics Teacher (Ben Stein) from “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and asking, “Anyone, anyone, Bueller, Bueller?” What a way to end you your week (that providing anyone is reading today since I’ve been away for a while) reading a titillating exposé on an educational program! Yes, please pass the liver and onions!
Well, if you’re still with me let me give you some highlights. First, what would an Educational Conference be like without attending a Braves Game and what a game it was? The Braves beat St. Louis 14 to 6 with their lead-off hitter, Willie Harris; going 6 for 6 with a pair of triples and 6 RBI’s while Chipper (no relation to the psycho-puppy) Jones hit a homerun and had 4 RBI’s. There was a record attendance of 54,900-and-something at the game and most of us had “Braves Flags” which were quite useful with all of the “chopping” we were doing as the Braves seem to score at will.
Side note – I even had some of my colleagues who are Gator and Hurricane fans doing the “FSU / Seminole chop” before they knew it.
Now for some comments about “M.A.R.T.A.” which is Atlanta’s subway and bus system. By the end of the week I think I had MARTA figured out. It is a great way to get around Atlanta but like any subway to a citizen of West Cocoa, it could be intimidating at times. Such as my Tuesday night experience.
A group of 9 of us rode MARTA to “Underground Atlanta” to eat and do some shopping. Well, the ladies were determined to shop. I was determined to eat and then get back to our hotel. The Hilton across the street had a roof-top basketball court on it’s 4th floor and it was calling my name. Not only was the court nice but the views of downtown Atlanta were spectacular.
When we finished eating I told everyone I was going to ride the MARTA back to the hotel. As I started to leave one of my colleagues who is African-American asked me to take his bag back to my room. Being the nice guy that I am I agreed. I quickly hustled to the MARTA Station in the hopes that I would have little time to wait for the train back to Peachtree Center and my hotel. As I came off the escalator I saw the northbound train pull away from the station which meant I had a 12 minute wait for the next train, by myself in the bowels in the subway station.
As I stood there by myself those 12 minutes seem to go on forever. Further compounding my nervousness were the stares that some were giving me as they walked by me. I began to wonder if anyone riding the MARTA had seen a boy from West Cocoa? Why are all of these folks staring at me? I checked my fly but it was in it’s “full and upright position.” Then I remembered!
I looked at the bag that Karl had given me to take back to my room. It was a large bag with big bold letters advertising the name of the store which happened to be, “African Pride.” Yes, this overweight white boy from West Cocoa was standing in the subway with a bag that read, “African Pride.” I thought to myself, “I’m going to kill Karl when I see him.” We all had a good laugh about it later.
The other memory I’ll take away was feeling like an “educational Rock Star.” Our school (Kennedy Middle School) is the only “AVID Demonstration Site” in the State of Florida. I knew this was a big deal and that it had taken a lot of work most of which was done at the hands of our AVID Teacher and Director, Stacy.
On Tuesday we were asked to go to the Room that Hillsbourgh (Tampa Area) County Meeting Room. Hillsbourgh is planning on implementing AVID in each of their Middle and High Schools next year. The “room” ended up being a “Ballroom” with a couple of hundred teachers and administrators from Hillsbourgh. As we (about 9 of us) entered the Ballroom the Facilitator said, “Look, its Kennedy Middle School” to which we received an ovation. We then spent the next 45 minutes answering questions on what it takes to become an “AVID School.” I was proud to be a teacher representing our school.
So there you have it, I’m a “legend in my own mind.” It’s good to be home and blogging again. Oh, I did take my laptop but the Marriott was charging $12.95 a day for Internet service so I opted out. I missed all of you and hope you’re well.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Tired and Encouraged
“Tired and encouraged.” Are those two terms ever used that much together? It’s late Monday night and I’m tired from the events of the last 24 hours. We invited the boys of the youth group yesterday after church to come to our home last night. They ate copious amounts of pizza and chocolate chip cookies, played, held a devo, prayed, and no doubt stayed up very late.
We have an unfurnished mother-in-law’s apartment on the second floor of our home whose stairs wore me out as I assisted the boys in bringing up a T.V., a x-box system, air mattresses, pillows, sheets, and blankets for their enjoyment. They’re a great group of teen boys most of which will be heading to Pasgolua, Mississippi to work with John Dobb’s church in the ongoing Hurricane Katrina recovery work in about a week. My son will be one of the guys going and I’m bummed out that I couldn’t get out of an Educational Conference I’ll be attending in Atlanta, Georgia the very same week.
If that wasn’t enough exercise we started the process of painting our master bedroom as well as laying down laminate. Steven helped me pull up the carpet and it’s padding as well as pulling up all of the carpet strips. My father-in-law came over and we painted our bedroom as well as pulling and painting all of the baseboards. Tomorrow’s task will be to lay the laminate and then start the process of putting our bedroom back together again. O.K., enough of the “tired” (someone cue up “Lilly” from the movie “Blazing Saddles” singing “I’m Tired, So Tired.”) part, lets move to encouragement.
Many of you know that our church was involved in what could have become a historic moment in our history. This work unfortunately will not come to fruition and it was my task to inform our church family yesterday during what we call a “Family Talk.” I told our church family that despite this project coming up short I was proud of them for several reasons:
1. In most coC’s, the very talk of our project would have split most coC’s wide open. We did not lose one single member due to this attempted project.
2. Our church has put their proverbial “mouth” where the Bible speaks and doesn’t speak. The unscriptural notion that the use of an instrument in worship is a sin has been studied and rejected by our church family.
3. At some point down the road I can see us still adding an instrumental service to go with our acapella service. I relayed a conversation I had with Milton Jones of the Northwest Church in Seattle. Early in our project I called him to ask his advice. He was actually nice enough to talk to me for well over 30 minutes despite the fact that we had never met. I’ll never forget what he said at the end of our conversation.
He asked me if I had any kids so I told him about Steven making some kind of statement that at times he probably feels he is the second coming of Peter Frampton. Milton then said, “Look at it this way – our kids are drawn to music and when they get out on their own statistics say they will more times than not, look for an instrumental church. There are plenty of instrumental churches out there with very questionable doctrine. If your church adds an instrumental service then you can be sure that your kids will stay in a church that tries to be as close to Scripture as humans can be in their flawed efforts.” Enough said there.
4. Bible Camp. When we were un-invited from our previous Camp due to our project I was hurt personally. Then God opened up Camp Ithiel to us and we were able to leave the legalism that now engulfs our former camp. We were able to invite Brother Pat Pugh and what an effect he had on our kids. Many of our teens told me that in all their years of attending camp our week was the most spiritual week of Bible Camp they had ever attended.
Can a “loss” ever be a “win?” In this case, I think it is. We will now pour our efforts into effective body ministry and reaching out into our community in the name of Jesus. Many of you have been praying for our “project” and I want to personally thank you. They were felt. If you want more details feel free to email me. God bless.
We have an unfurnished mother-in-law’s apartment on the second floor of our home whose stairs wore me out as I assisted the boys in bringing up a T.V., a x-box system, air mattresses, pillows, sheets, and blankets for their enjoyment. They’re a great group of teen boys most of which will be heading to Pasgolua, Mississippi to work with John Dobb’s church in the ongoing Hurricane Katrina recovery work in about a week. My son will be one of the guys going and I’m bummed out that I couldn’t get out of an Educational Conference I’ll be attending in Atlanta, Georgia the very same week.
If that wasn’t enough exercise we started the process of painting our master bedroom as well as laying down laminate. Steven helped me pull up the carpet and it’s padding as well as pulling up all of the carpet strips. My father-in-law came over and we painted our bedroom as well as pulling and painting all of the baseboards. Tomorrow’s task will be to lay the laminate and then start the process of putting our bedroom back together again. O.K., enough of the “tired” (someone cue up “Lilly” from the movie “Blazing Saddles” singing “I’m Tired, So Tired.”) part, lets move to encouragement.
Many of you know that our church was involved in what could have become a historic moment in our history. This work unfortunately will not come to fruition and it was my task to inform our church family yesterday during what we call a “Family Talk.” I told our church family that despite this project coming up short I was proud of them for several reasons:
1. In most coC’s, the very talk of our project would have split most coC’s wide open. We did not lose one single member due to this attempted project.
2. Our church has put their proverbial “mouth” where the Bible speaks and doesn’t speak. The unscriptural notion that the use of an instrument in worship is a sin has been studied and rejected by our church family.
3. At some point down the road I can see us still adding an instrumental service to go with our acapella service. I relayed a conversation I had with Milton Jones of the Northwest Church in Seattle. Early in our project I called him to ask his advice. He was actually nice enough to talk to me for well over 30 minutes despite the fact that we had never met. I’ll never forget what he said at the end of our conversation.
He asked me if I had any kids so I told him about Steven making some kind of statement that at times he probably feels he is the second coming of Peter Frampton. Milton then said, “Look at it this way – our kids are drawn to music and when they get out on their own statistics say they will more times than not, look for an instrumental church. There are plenty of instrumental churches out there with very questionable doctrine. If your church adds an instrumental service then you can be sure that your kids will stay in a church that tries to be as close to Scripture as humans can be in their flawed efforts.” Enough said there.
4. Bible Camp. When we were un-invited from our previous Camp due to our project I was hurt personally. Then God opened up Camp Ithiel to us and we were able to leave the legalism that now engulfs our former camp. We were able to invite Brother Pat Pugh and what an effect he had on our kids. Many of our teens told me that in all their years of attending camp our week was the most spiritual week of Bible Camp they had ever attended.
Can a “loss” ever be a “win?” In this case, I think it is. We will now pour our efforts into effective body ministry and reaching out into our community in the name of Jesus. Many of you have been praying for our “project” and I want to personally thank you. They were felt. If you want more details feel free to email me. God bless.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Working Man
Hello one and all. I’ve been “busy” (yes, the school teacher out for the summer has actually been working – more) these past couple of days.
I did have a nice lunch with my son this past Wednesday. He came home from weight-lifting hungry and I offered to make a trip to “Mickey-D’s,” AKA – McDonald’s. Steven informed me he was trying to eat healthy. I informed him that “Oprah’s” (I happen to be home one day at 4pm / anybody buying that?) Doctor or Nutritionist said “Mickey-D’s” was attempting to offer healthier foods. So we loaded up the Expo and purchased 2 salads. Yes, a couple of West Cocoa boys were having a leisurely lunch feasting on a couple of salads.
Yesterday was my day to help the “boys” (I was the youngest boy there) cut our church yard. I actually did all of the weed-whacking / edging. Our Deacon of Youth / Mohawks called me around 11am to ask if I wanted to work with him in the afternoon. I accepted so yesterday afternoon we headed to Melbourne to repair a rack and install another Alignment Tower. Brett informed me that the cameras didn’t cost $3,000. He said “each” camera cost $3,000. That bit of information put a little more “rut” in my “rut-row.”
We were working at the “Imported Car Store” which mostly dealt with BMW’s and Volvos. I was thinking that surely this Service Center would be air-conditioned to handle the cream of European ingenuity. I was partially right. The main service area was but we were working in an adjacent un-air-conditioned building. It was a shorter day than Tuesday but I think I sweated more.
Steven has a game tonight with a team we lost to in 8 innings this past Monday. We’re headed to Indian Harbor Beach. Have a good weekend family.
I did have a nice lunch with my son this past Wednesday. He came home from weight-lifting hungry and I offered to make a trip to “Mickey-D’s,” AKA – McDonald’s. Steven informed me he was trying to eat healthy. I informed him that “Oprah’s” (I happen to be home one day at 4pm / anybody buying that?) Doctor or Nutritionist said “Mickey-D’s” was attempting to offer healthier foods. So we loaded up the Expo and purchased 2 salads. Yes, a couple of West Cocoa boys were having a leisurely lunch feasting on a couple of salads.
Yesterday was my day to help the “boys” (I was the youngest boy there) cut our church yard. I actually did all of the weed-whacking / edging. Our Deacon of Youth / Mohawks called me around 11am to ask if I wanted to work with him in the afternoon. I accepted so yesterday afternoon we headed to Melbourne to repair a rack and install another Alignment Tower. Brett informed me that the cameras didn’t cost $3,000. He said “each” camera cost $3,000. That bit of information put a little more “rut” in my “rut-row.”
We were working at the “Imported Car Store” which mostly dealt with BMW’s and Volvos. I was thinking that surely this Service Center would be air-conditioned to handle the cream of European ingenuity. I was partially right. The main service area was but we were working in an adjacent un-air-conditioned building. It was a shorter day than Tuesday but I think I sweated more.
Steven has a game tonight with a team we lost to in 8 innings this past Monday. We’re headed to Indian Harbor Beach. Have a good weekend family.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Church Parking Lot - Full or Empty?
Good morning family. Before I get to the main subject of today’s post I would be remiss if I didn’t give you a brief account of my day yesterday. How about a photo a couple of pictures:
Now before anyone says, "Hey, Cecil lost some weight and had a hair transplant," that isn't me in the pic. However the tower with the digital cameras mounted on each side was part of what we installed yesterday. As we were lifting the pole with the digtal cameras on each side into place, Brett said to me, "If you love you won't drop this pole. It has about $3,000 worth of cameras inside it." Talk about your sweaty palms. Now for pic #2:
This is a picture of the lift we installed and it doesn't do it justice as to length and size. Our day started at 9am and didn't end until around 6:30pm with a break for lunch. So, if any of you have been having "school teacher off for the summer" envy, you can say, "Yeah, the boy worked his butt off yesterday."
O.K., now for the main subject. As I alluded to a couple of posts ago, my good blog friend John Dobbs wrote a great post entitled, "Transitions." (http://johndobbs.wordpress.com/)
Here are a few of his points:
* Some informational / relational class offered every night of the week to help people cope with the dilemmas of life. We currently have addiction recovery and divorce recovery classes meeting. A parenting class will be offered starting next week.
* A consistent youth-night offering for fellowship, learning, fun, music, and to plan service projects.
* A coffee-house type event with light refreshments, live entertainment, candle light, lots of opportunity to sit around and enjoy the company of those who are present. Here’s an idea that is singing my song! Excellent!
He then sums all of this up by saying:
* There ought to be cars in our parking lot seven days a week.
These are just a few of his excellent points he makes so please go read his post. John’s post spured me to ponder and to now ask a couple of questions:
1. Should our church parking lots have cars in them each week? I’d like to know if you disagree (and I know all of you will be nice) with this statement and why? If you do disagree then there’s no reason to go to question number 2.
2. If you answered yes, what are some things we can do to make this happen? John does give many examples of how this could be accomplished.
As for me, you’ll probaby figure out that I’m a “yes” on number 1. I do have a concern about our church becoming a one event / one day a week church. I’m not concerned that our church will implode fighting over the rules and “regs” of our corporate worship. What I am concerned with is our young church being committed to Christ and to be the Body of Christ throughout the week. I want to give them more teaching, more chances to be ministered to, and to be ministers to our community. I want to balance that concern with not over-stressing our young families with young children.
So, how do you make that all work? I’m interested in your responses. Have a good day family.
Now before anyone says, "Hey, Cecil lost some weight and had a hair transplant," that isn't me in the pic. However the tower with the digital cameras mounted on each side was part of what we installed yesterday. As we were lifting the pole with the digtal cameras on each side into place, Brett said to me, "If you love you won't drop this pole. It has about $3,000 worth of cameras inside it." Talk about your sweaty palms. Now for pic #2:This is a picture of the lift we installed and it doesn't do it justice as to length and size. Our day started at 9am and didn't end until around 6:30pm with a break for lunch. So, if any of you have been having "school teacher off for the summer" envy, you can say, "Yeah, the boy worked his butt off yesterday." O.K., now for the main subject. As I alluded to a couple of posts ago, my good blog friend John Dobbs wrote a great post entitled, "Transitions." (http://johndobbs.wordpress.com/)
Here are a few of his points:
* Some informational / relational class offered every night of the week to help people cope with the dilemmas of life. We currently have addiction recovery and divorce recovery classes meeting. A parenting class will be offered starting next week.
* A consistent youth-night offering for fellowship, learning, fun, music, and to plan service projects.
* A coffee-house type event with light refreshments, live entertainment, candle light, lots of opportunity to sit around and enjoy the company of those who are present. Here’s an idea that is singing my song! Excellent!
He then sums all of this up by saying:
* There ought to be cars in our parking lot seven days a week.
These are just a few of his excellent points he makes so please go read his post. John’s post spured me to ponder and to now ask a couple of questions:
1. Should our church parking lots have cars in them each week? I’d like to know if you disagree (and I know all of you will be nice) with this statement and why? If you do disagree then there’s no reason to go to question number 2.
2. If you answered yes, what are some things we can do to make this happen? John does give many examples of how this could be accomplished.
As for me, you’ll probaby figure out that I’m a “yes” on number 1. I do have a concern about our church becoming a one event / one day a week church. I’m not concerned that our church will implode fighting over the rules and “regs” of our corporate worship. What I am concerned with is our young church being committed to Christ and to be the Body of Christ throughout the week. I want to give them more teaching, more chances to be ministered to, and to be ministers to our community. I want to balance that concern with not over-stressing our young families with young children.
So, how do you make that all work? I’m interested in your responses. Have a good day family.
Monday, July 09, 2007
Old School / Thats a Good Sign
I’m going to save my “Parking Lot – Full or Empty” post for tomorrow. I want to talk about my church. You know there are times when our corporate worship can be inspiring. You can be in an auditorium full of people and through yours and their worship you can be driven to both joy and tears. If I had to describe our worship yesterday I would use one word – sweaty!
Let me start over. As I was getting ready to leave for Sunday School, Chad – our youth guy, called me up to inform me that some of our power was out at the building. We had a series of bad t-storms roll through Saturday evening and apparently it had knocked a number of trees and branches down thus bring some power lines down with them. Our church’s power is fed by 2 phases, one that comes down the River Road by the Indian River and the other that comes down U.S.1. Invariably the phase that comes down the River Road is the one that is usually knocked out and that happens to be the one that controls are a/c units and most of our lights.
Arriving at our church building I could hear the sound of generators in the background. I couldn’t help but think I hope that isn’t a sign of things to come. Even though the building was becoming already toasty at 9am we decided to drive on and have both Sunday School and Worship. As folks were entering the building we told them encouraging things like, “We’re calling today “Old School,” or we said something like, “The elders have decided to invoke the “Law of Silence” so there will be no A/C today.”
I taught the Adult class down in our basement/ fellowship room and at the start of class we had a couple of lights and ceiling fans that were working. In the middle of class the other phase coming into the building was cut off by FP&L taking out my 2 lights and fans. I looked over at Ron who is a good friend and works for FP&L. Ron could see (and probably smell) that I was perplexed but he answered, “That’s a good sign.”
I’m thinking, “How can ALL the power going off be a good sign?” Ron explained that it would be the next logical step before the building’s power was fully restored. I wanted to buy that but I was worried nevertheless.
Worship started and it looked like a scene out of the “Color (anyone remember Whoopie’s country church) Purple.” If you weren’t fanning with a bulletin you were wishing you were. As we were taking up our collection someone made a comment to Ron who I’m sure had to do with the lack of power and a/c and the timing of taking up a collection. He then turned to the entire church and said, “O.K. family, lets’ really gives well today so we can pay the bills around here to get the power back on.” It broke the place up.
I was proud of our church for persevering and worshiping in a powerful way. I’m also thankful to Chad who was able to end a church service that started at 10:15 at 10:58! Maybe we should cut the power more often?
Speaking of sweating, I’m working with our Deacon of Youth and Mohawks today. He has his own business installing hydraulic lifts and alignment machines. He said we’re working in an un-air-conditioned shop today. You see, the Lord was preparing me for today’s challenge.
Stay cool family.
Let me start over. As I was getting ready to leave for Sunday School, Chad – our youth guy, called me up to inform me that some of our power was out at the building. We had a series of bad t-storms roll through Saturday evening and apparently it had knocked a number of trees and branches down thus bring some power lines down with them. Our church’s power is fed by 2 phases, one that comes down the River Road by the Indian River and the other that comes down U.S.1. Invariably the phase that comes down the River Road is the one that is usually knocked out and that happens to be the one that controls are a/c units and most of our lights.
Arriving at our church building I could hear the sound of generators in the background. I couldn’t help but think I hope that isn’t a sign of things to come. Even though the building was becoming already toasty at 9am we decided to drive on and have both Sunday School and Worship. As folks were entering the building we told them encouraging things like, “We’re calling today “Old School,” or we said something like, “The elders have decided to invoke the “Law of Silence” so there will be no A/C today.”
I taught the Adult class down in our basement/ fellowship room and at the start of class we had a couple of lights and ceiling fans that were working. In the middle of class the other phase coming into the building was cut off by FP&L taking out my 2 lights and fans. I looked over at Ron who is a good friend and works for FP&L. Ron could see (and probably smell) that I was perplexed but he answered, “That’s a good sign.”
I’m thinking, “How can ALL the power going off be a good sign?” Ron explained that it would be the next logical step before the building’s power was fully restored. I wanted to buy that but I was worried nevertheless.
Worship started and it looked like a scene out of the “Color (anyone remember Whoopie’s country church) Purple.” If you weren’t fanning with a bulletin you were wishing you were. As we were taking up our collection someone made a comment to Ron who I’m sure had to do with the lack of power and a/c and the timing of taking up a collection. He then turned to the entire church and said, “O.K. family, lets’ really gives well today so we can pay the bills around here to get the power back on.” It broke the place up.
I was proud of our church for persevering and worshiping in a powerful way. I’m also thankful to Chad who was able to end a church service that started at 10:15 at 10:58! Maybe we should cut the power more often?
Speaking of sweating, I’m working with our Deacon of Youth and Mohawks today. He has his own business installing hydraulic lifts and alignment machines. He said we’re working in an un-air-conditioned shop today. You see, the Lord was preparing me for today’s challenge.
Stay cool family.
Friday, July 06, 2007
Heavy Friday
The following is a quote from a post on Adam (http://adamellis.blogspot.com/) Ellis’ blog on April 11. Adam is the youth minister from the Grand Central Church in Vienna, WV. “The curious thing about Churches of Christ is that generally, we are have become fairly anti-historical. Somewhere along the way, we developed the idea that we were the 1st century church. Some of our church buildings are even adorned with plaques declaring that we were “founded in A.D. 33”! I was in my early 20’s before I ever even heard of the American Restoration Movement.”
Adam has stated something that has baffled me for some time. Like Adam, it would be years between my association with our movement and the introduction of our historical heritage. Being a frustrated student of History I have to wonder why? Thankfully I’m at a church that from time to time enlightens folks about our Restoration Movement Heritiage. Like any family heritage it is a heritage that we have people and moments to be proud of and then there are the people and moments that make you go “oy vey.”
All of this brings me to two questions which are kind of heavy for a Friday so let’s designate today as “Heavy Friday.” Question #1 – Why do some Churches of Christ ignore our historical heritage? Is it due to trying to hide those “oy vey” moments?
Question #2 – Maybe some of you know when and why our fellowship began to think of itself as (they say in Ohio – “The Ohio State University”) “The” first century church. My question is, what are some of the effects or results of this thinking, both good and bad?”
O.K., boys and girls, lets put those thinking caps on and have a good weekend in the process.
P.S.
Monday's Post is courtesy of an excellent post from John Dobbs ( http://johndobbs.wordpress.com/) called "Transitions." The title will be "Parking Lot - Full or Empty." See you then.
Adam has stated something that has baffled me for some time. Like Adam, it would be years between my association with our movement and the introduction of our historical heritage. Being a frustrated student of History I have to wonder why? Thankfully I’m at a church that from time to time enlightens folks about our Restoration Movement Heritiage. Like any family heritage it is a heritage that we have people and moments to be proud of and then there are the people and moments that make you go “oy vey.”
All of this brings me to two questions which are kind of heavy for a Friday so let’s designate today as “Heavy Friday.” Question #1 – Why do some Churches of Christ ignore our historical heritage? Is it due to trying to hide those “oy vey” moments?
Question #2 – Maybe some of you know when and why our fellowship began to think of itself as (they say in Ohio – “The Ohio State University”) “The” first century church. My question is, what are some of the effects or results of this thinking, both good and bad?”
O.K., boys and girls, lets put those thinking caps on and have a good weekend in the process.
P.S.
Monday's Post is courtesy of an excellent post from John Dobbs ( http://johndobbs.wordpress.com/) called "Transitions." The title will be "Parking Lot - Full or Empty." See you then.
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Fly-by
Do you remember the scene in “Top Gun” when “Maverick” requests to do a “fly-by” the Control Tower at the Top Gun Training Facility? In the scene he isn’t given clearance but he decides to do it anyway. The “Air Boss” ends up spilling coffee all over himself and then later on as he’s coming out of the Top Gun’s C.O.’s Office he looks at “Mav” and “Goose” and says something to the effect of, “I want some butt!” Those “fly-by’s” can be frustrating.
This past Sunday one of my fellow elders experienced the frustration of “fly-by invitation responses.” At our church each month, a different elder will stand at the front of the church and await anyone who responds to the Lord’s invitation. As we were singing the invitation song a lady got up and approached Curt.
My brother Curt has been blessed with the gift of encouragement. Curt can not only encourage you with his words but also with his smile and body language. So as this sister comes forward Curt smiles, hugs her, and they begin to talk as you would expect at that moment in a church (now my memory is fading just a bit so bear with me) service.
After a few moments this sister leaves Curt and walks out one of the exit doors. 2 more sisters respond to the invitation and each like the first, hugs Curt, speaks a few words, and then walks out of the Auditorium. After our service Curt came up to me and shared his experience with me which made me flash back to Mav buzzing the Tower.
He said the first sister needed to go downstairs to help with a fellowship meal we were having. The second sister needed to go to the restroom and the third sister was coming up to support the first two who had “responded” to the invitation. I think Curt felt the same sensation I feel when I need to sneeze, I breathe in, and nothing comes out. So my Brother had his tower buzzed 3 times but he hung in there.
Hope all of you had a great 4th. I’m looking for the “Ben-gay ointment” due to helping the “boys” cut our church yard on the 3rd with some serious weed-whacking. Then yesterday on the 4th at the home of our Deacon of Youth and Mohawks, I threw the football, played volleyball, played horseshoes, and swam so my soon to be 49 year old body is talking to me this morning.
Have a great day.
This past Sunday one of my fellow elders experienced the frustration of “fly-by invitation responses.” At our church each month, a different elder will stand at the front of the church and await anyone who responds to the Lord’s invitation. As we were singing the invitation song a lady got up and approached Curt.
My brother Curt has been blessed with the gift of encouragement. Curt can not only encourage you with his words but also with his smile and body language. So as this sister comes forward Curt smiles, hugs her, and they begin to talk as you would expect at that moment in a church (now my memory is fading just a bit so bear with me) service.
After a few moments this sister leaves Curt and walks out one of the exit doors. 2 more sisters respond to the invitation and each like the first, hugs Curt, speaks a few words, and then walks out of the Auditorium. After our service Curt came up to me and shared his experience with me which made me flash back to Mav buzzing the Tower.
He said the first sister needed to go downstairs to help with a fellowship meal we were having. The second sister needed to go to the restroom and the third sister was coming up to support the first two who had “responded” to the invitation. I think Curt felt the same sensation I feel when I need to sneeze, I breathe in, and nothing comes out. So my Brother had his tower buzzed 3 times but he hung in there.
Hope all of you had a great 4th. I’m looking for the “Ben-gay ointment” due to helping the “boys” cut our church yard on the 3rd with some serious weed-whacking. Then yesterday on the 4th at the home of our Deacon of Youth and Mohawks, I threw the football, played volleyball, played horseshoes, and swam so my soon to be 49 year old body is talking to me this morning.
Have a great day.
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
Together
One of the memories I have from the Workcamp are the invitations during the Camp wide worship. Invitations for me bring back a couple of memories. The first was when I was growing up in the Baptist Church. In my particular Southern Baptist Convention church the invitation was like a “Nielsen Rating” of the sermon. If someone or “someone-s” didn’t immediately respond to the invitation we were in for a long one. It was not unusual to sing all of the verses to “Just As I Am” multiple times until someone responded to the invitation. There was always the standard “every head bowed / every eye closed” technique as well. I can remember thinking as a kid, “Will someone please walk forward so we can get out of here.”
As a teen and somewhat into “adulthood” that was now worshiping at a Church of Christ, my thoughts turned to lunch. My thoughts were more along the lines of, “If we can get this invitation over we’ll beat the Baptists (apologies to my Baptist friends) to lunch.” Both of these perspectives are childish and un-Christ like but I was there for a time.
Now I can’t say that I “enjoy” invitations but I’m not in a hurry to get them over either. Each Sunday you know there are multiple people dealing with things such as being lost or sin in their lives that need to respond to the Lord’s invitation which brings me (finally) to my subject. I love the way teens handle an invitation.
At the Workcamp and at most teen functions I’ve been to, no one ever responds alone to an invitation. If someone in the youth group responds, the entire youthgroup goes up with them. They surround that person or persons, lay their hands on them, cry with them, and pray with them. To me it is real and tangible way for that teen to know that they are not alone.
The first night Pat Pugh spoke at the Workcamp there must have been easily over 50 teens that responded to the invitation. Most were up to support someone in their youth group who had responded to Pat’s powerful message about change.
I think the message for us as an adult is; don’t let someone respond to the invitation alone. Do like the teens, go up there with them, sit beside them, and as best as you can, touch them. As Jesus did when he touched the Leper to heal him, touching someone who has responded to the invitation conveys love and healing.
This isn’t your typical “4th of July” post but this was on my heart this morning. May we all remember the sacrifice our men and women in uniform and their families have given for not only the defense of our country but for the world as well.
God bless all of you. Tomorrow we’ll continue our “invitation theme” with a post entitled, “Fly-by.”
As a teen and somewhat into “adulthood” that was now worshiping at a Church of Christ, my thoughts turned to lunch. My thoughts were more along the lines of, “If we can get this invitation over we’ll beat the Baptists (apologies to my Baptist friends) to lunch.” Both of these perspectives are childish and un-Christ like but I was there for a time.
Now I can’t say that I “enjoy” invitations but I’m not in a hurry to get them over either. Each Sunday you know there are multiple people dealing with things such as being lost or sin in their lives that need to respond to the Lord’s invitation which brings me (finally) to my subject. I love the way teens handle an invitation.
At the Workcamp and at most teen functions I’ve been to, no one ever responds alone to an invitation. If someone in the youth group responds, the entire youthgroup goes up with them. They surround that person or persons, lay their hands on them, cry with them, and pray with them. To me it is real and tangible way for that teen to know that they are not alone.
The first night Pat Pugh spoke at the Workcamp there must have been easily over 50 teens that responded to the invitation. Most were up to support someone in their youth group who had responded to Pat’s powerful message about change.
I think the message for us as an adult is; don’t let someone respond to the invitation alone. Do like the teens, go up there with them, sit beside them, and as best as you can, touch them. As Jesus did when he touched the Leper to heal him, touching someone who has responded to the invitation conveys love and healing.
This isn’t your typical “4th of July” post but this was on my heart this morning. May we all remember the sacrifice our men and women in uniform and their families have given for not only the defense of our country but for the world as well.
God bless all of you. Tomorrow we’ll continue our “invitation theme” with a post entitled, “Fly-by.”
Monday, July 02, 2007
Memory
Have you ever been (Greg excluded) lost? Recently? Being lost is a most disconcerting feeling. On the last night of the Workcamp, Chad (our youth minister) and I decided to make sure we got enough sleep to drive the bus safely the next day. Thursday night is usually a very sleepless night. Everyone’s house is painted, it’s the last night for everyone to see their new and old friends, and most if not all the teens are not driving the next day so they engaged in the usual teen shenanigans of slamming doors, running up and down the dorm halls, screaming and yelling, and the new game this year, shooting folks with some kind of aerosol guns. Our “sleepless” fears were confounded by a youth minister who was staying close to our room whose youth group had rented a charter bus hence none of the adult chaperones had to worry about driving.
The plan was for Chad and I to spend the night in a hotel room off campus following our last devo with the kids. We ended up at the hotel around 11:30 with a wake up call around 4:15am. Chad had gone into town earlier that day and procured our room. After he led me to our room I emptied my pockets as we prepared for bed. Chad then said he was thirsty and I quickly volunteered to bee-bop downstairs to score a couple of Sprites. I grabbed some changed and headed down to the first floor vending machines. Upon retrieving our Sprites I realized I had a problem.
In my haste to get our drinks I had neglected a very important fact – noticing my room number. All I knew was I was staying on the second floor and that was it. I couldn’t remember which side of the hall my room was on attributing it to the “fog of war” or in this case the “fog of painting homes in 90 plus heat” for four days.
My first step was to go to the second floor, guess which side of the hall my room was on, and then to proceed to go to each door yelling, “Chad, its me, your long lost elder.” After several rooms I quickly realized this was getting me nowhere. I headed downstairs to throw myself on the mercy of the Front Desk.
I explained to the Clerk that I had been working at the Mid-Ohio Valley Workcamp and that I had left my I.D. and cell phone in my room. I guess my red eyes were a dead give away because they gave me my room number. When I arrived back at our room Chad asked, “What happened, did you get lost?” The simple answer was, “Yes and lets get some shut-eye.”
So there you have it sports fans, if you ever need to leave your hotel room always check for the room number.
The plan was for Chad and I to spend the night in a hotel room off campus following our last devo with the kids. We ended up at the hotel around 11:30 with a wake up call around 4:15am. Chad had gone into town earlier that day and procured our room. After he led me to our room I emptied my pockets as we prepared for bed. Chad then said he was thirsty and I quickly volunteered to bee-bop downstairs to score a couple of Sprites. I grabbed some changed and headed down to the first floor vending machines. Upon retrieving our Sprites I realized I had a problem.
In my haste to get our drinks I had neglected a very important fact – noticing my room number. All I knew was I was staying on the second floor and that was it. I couldn’t remember which side of the hall my room was on attributing it to the “fog of war” or in this case the “fog of painting homes in 90 plus heat” for four days.
My first step was to go to the second floor, guess which side of the hall my room was on, and then to proceed to go to each door yelling, “Chad, its me, your long lost elder.” After several rooms I quickly realized this was getting me nowhere. I headed downstairs to throw myself on the mercy of the Front Desk.
I explained to the Clerk that I had been working at the Mid-Ohio Valley Workcamp and that I had left my I.D. and cell phone in my room. I guess my red eyes were a dead give away because they gave me my room number. When I arrived back at our room Chad asked, “What happened, did you get lost?” The simple answer was, “Yes and lets get some shut-eye.”
So there you have it sports fans, if you ever need to leave your hotel room always check for the room number.
Sunday, July 01, 2007
Fear
My next few posts will be generated by some of my thoughts and experiences at the Mid-Ohio Valley Workcamp (MOVW). One of the comments I made to the teens in my workcrew had to do with fear. When kids sign up for the MOVW they do so with the understanding that they will at the most, be with one or two members of their youthgroup. This means that the vast majority of an individual teen’s workcrew is comprised of kids they do not know.
For a teen to agree to work with people he or she doesn’t know on a home that could be large (as mine was) in my mind demonstrates an act devoid of fear. Is there a lesson to be learned from 500 teens that demonstrate that they are available to be used by Christ to minister to those who can’t help themselves? I think so.
I believe that when it comes to church leadership the biggest hindrance is fear. This fear that can grip and paralyze church leaderships can evidence itself in the form of statements such as, “What will brother or sister so and so think” or “will be lose “x” number of members if we do this” or the big one, “What will the brotherhood think and do?”
I can tell you this, it is liberating when you turn your back on fear. Jesus himself said in John 14:
1"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God[a]; trust also in me. 2In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4You know the way to the place where I am going."
I am convinced family that when we free ourselves from fear, God can truly use us. For my teens, they were able to paint a home in the name of the Lord for a couple that otherwise could not have had it done. For you and I individually, when we free ourselves from fear God through the power of the Holy Spirit God can use us to accomplish things that we could not do ourselves. As for our churches when we free ourselves from fear we can truly become autonomous groups of believers functioning as the body of Christ.
For a teen to agree to work with people he or she doesn’t know on a home that could be large (as mine was) in my mind demonstrates an act devoid of fear. Is there a lesson to be learned from 500 teens that demonstrate that they are available to be used by Christ to minister to those who can’t help themselves? I think so.
I believe that when it comes to church leadership the biggest hindrance is fear. This fear that can grip and paralyze church leaderships can evidence itself in the form of statements such as, “What will brother or sister so and so think” or “will be lose “x” number of members if we do this” or the big one, “What will the brotherhood think and do?”
I can tell you this, it is liberating when you turn your back on fear. Jesus himself said in John 14:
1"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God[a]; trust also in me. 2In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4You know the way to the place where I am going."
I am convinced family that when we free ourselves from fear, God can truly use us. For my teens, they were able to paint a home in the name of the Lord for a couple that otherwise could not have had it done. For you and I individually, when we free ourselves from fear God through the power of the Holy Spirit God can use us to accomplish things that we could not do ourselves. As for our churches when we free ourselves from fear we can truly become autonomous groups of believers functioning as the body of Christ.
