Kid encouragement

I was not feeling so thrilled about going to work today. I was still tired from driving home from Chicago yesterday, I am behind on some things at home and just wasn't feeling it. Then there was a wreck right in front of the road I need to turn onto to go to work, so I had to go way out and around and come in another way. Then a couple work-related things happened. So needless to say I was in a bad mood. But then I went to my mailbox, and there were 5 notes that kids in our Awana program had created to appreciate the staff. They were so cute and heartfelt that I couldn't help but feel a bit better. Below is one of my favorites.

Acoustic Ninja coming to town!

I am so pumped about this!! Trace Bundy, aka the "Acoustic Ninja," is playing at the Uptown Theater Nov. 3 at 7:30. I've seen Trace play several times and it just about defies description. He plays a style of acoustic guitar unlike anything you've ever seen, and the best suggestion I have is to go to his website, www.tracebundy.com, and watch the videos.

He's coming to the Uptown with a band called Urban John, and they are described as an ambient, groove-driven trio, which sounds interesting to me!

Tickets are only $10 and you can get them here.

Real beauty...or not.

Sometimes there are email forwards worth looking at...I thought this was one of them. Thanks, Emily, for sending it on.

Wonder why our image of beauty is so distorted? Here's a clue...
http://campaignforrealbeauty.com/

Spencer's First Homecoming

For those of you who remember Spencer as a small child or perhaps a small child in a turtle costume...he went to his first homecoming this weekend. Here's a picture of him before the dance. Hipness is obviously the major criteria for his outfit. He went with a group of friends.

Feel old yet?

Slow blogging week

Sorry it's been a slow blogging week. I can think of lots of interesting things during the day but then when I sit down and think "OK, now write something interesting," it's all gone!

OK, here's something...we had a lunch workshop yesterday with a speaker who came to talk to us about building volunteer teams. Here's the main takeaway, and if you're like me and pretty "achievement oriented," it's a bit of a mind-blower: The goal is not achieving the task, it's building the team. So in other words, you may end up with the perfect product, but if you haven't developed the team and the people along the way, you have not succeeded. Or, you may have a less than perfect product, but if you developed the team and people are closer to God because of the way you've led them through the project, you have succeeded.

Much processing to do on that one, and probably much changing of the way I do ministry. But the key point of why we are supposed to do it this way is, as the speaker said, "Everything else will fade away except God's Word and people." Bulletins will not last, banners will not last, brochures will not last, the website will not last, but people will last. Hmmm...

In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day

One of the speakers we heard from at the MinistryCOM conference I went to last month was Mark Batterson, pastor of National Community Church in Washington, DC. He's got a book coming out tomorrow, Oct. 2, and it sounds like an interesting read. Here's a synopsis...


Your greatest regret at the end of your life will be the lions you didn't chase. You will regret the risks not taken, the opportunities not seized, and the dreams not pursued. Stopping running away from what scares you most and start chasing the God-ordained opportunities that cross your path.

In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day is inspired by one of the most obscure yet courageous acts recorded in Scripture: Benaiah chased a lion down into a pit. Then, despite the snow and slippery ground, he caught the lion and killed it (II Samuel 23:20-21).

You can check it out here.