Friday, May 16, 2008

Teach my smart phone a lesson

I have a pretty smart phone, Motorola Razor to be specific. It can do anything. Well, I once tried shaving with it, but it was not so good. But here is my dilemma, Why don't smart phones know it is 3:17 A.M. when the battery gets low. Last night the phone starts whimpering like a 6 month old, and you know it wont just go back to sleep so you get up and plug it in. I am telling you I was ready to plug it into the trash can, but then I would still hear it annoyingly beeping from the depths. And while I'm on the subject.... When you put the little sucker on vibrate and the battery is low it does the same thing. it vibrates, draining your precious little battery every 2 minutes until it dies. Well, I feel better getting that off my chest. Maybe I need a smarter phone that when the battery gets low it can tell me and I can say, I know my dear, I will take care of it as soon as we get home. To which the phone will reply... "Are we there yet?"

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Obama Claims He's Visited 57 States - FIFTY SEVEN!

I am trying very hard to stay out of the political scene. But here is one that we cannot overlook. Watch this video from one of the three liberals I won't be campaigning for in November.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Reproducing Churches

Met with some of the guys from Reproducing churches today. Learned a lot from Jim and the lessons he took away from an unsuccessful year in TN planting a church. Bottom line, he said, "make sure that the people you plant with are on the same page with your vision." Apparently he had been misled as to the vision of the people who wanted him to come and lead them, and when the church began to develop in a way that differed with their preconceived idea, they bolted. It is my guess that this is probably the most common of all reasons for a church to fail. "where there is no vision." or the unwillingness to follow a particular vision, the people perish.

Mark Wieble had some great stuff to share and much of our conversation centered on funding for new churches and how much is too much. It is hard to convey to established churches that they must reproduce, especially when they think that it takes tons of money and people resources to do so. If we waited until we could afford kids, most of us would never get pregnant. (God has a remedy, for humans) In church world, it is a different story, but in the end, a baby church is just as rewarding.

Some Questions to consider...

What if we decided not to fund church plants?
Would we be willing to plant?
Would planters still obey the call of God on their lives?
What are we teaching churches by the way we start them that makes it hard for them to reproduce?
Why are we so afraid to release people to launch?
How many churches could we start if we funded only evangelism?

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Please Pray for the Pollock Family and Bell Shoals

Word has come that both Pastor Pollock and his son were killed in the plane crash. Please keep their family and church in your prayers. - Joel

Pastor Forrest Pollock Missing

I received news this morning that Forrest Pollock, the Pastor of Bell Shoals Baptist church in Tampa is missing. Apparently, he was flying his private plane to North Carolina and then on to Texas. A search is under way for him in the Mountains of NC. This is one of the great pastors of our state, and has done some amazing things at Bell Shoals. Although, I do not know him, I greatly admire Bell Shoals. Find updates from the church website here.

Monday, May 12, 2008

Day with Amy

Today Amy took a personal day and we will be spending the whole day together without the kids!
We will be going to IKEA in Orlando. It opened several months ago and neither of us have been to see what everyone is talking about yet. Then it is off to the Cheese Cake Factory for lunch. I have never been and Amy has a gift card!