Happy Thanksgiving

Well, Cyndi and I have made it home to Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Actually we got here Tuesday and have been running around like crazy since we have gotten here. But, I have gotten to spend quite a bit of time with friends and family.



Tuesday we went to our alumna mater, Taylor Univeristy. We stopped in to see some of our friends that work there as well as mentors, professors, and anyone else we can hunt down on a quiet campus. And then off to dinner with friends of ours Tim and Beth. Which I was so happy that Cyndi's sister, Crysta, and my brother, Zach, joined us. After dinner we caught a Taylor men's basketball game.



Last night, I got to watch my baby brother start for his freshman basketball team. He is a great ball player! I will post a couple of pics at the bottom of this post.



Well, today is turkey day and I can't wait to eat! May go see a movie later tonight too. Oh well, I may post more later. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Guess What I Did Last Night

Last night Cyndi and I spent the evening babysitting our friends' 2 year old, Andy :) We had a great time, I now think he is hooked on a mac. SMART BOY!

Quick Shout Out

Hey I wanted to say to all of you out there reading my blog!

I did notice I have frequent visitors from about 28 different states and from about 4 different countries.

I would love to know who you all are, where you are from and what brought you to my blog. So be sure to leave that stuff at the comment section.

Talk to you all later.

Road Trip

I love traveling! And no, I'm not being sarcastic, I really do love going to new and exciting places.

As many people know I love traveling to Jamaica...it's one of my favorite places in the world. I have been to several other places: Mexico, Cayman Islands, Honduras, Belize, Canada, and I have even visited many of our 50 states (not all 50, but one day I will).

Cyndi and I are even taking off on a Road Trip next week as we head home to Fort Wayne, IN for Thanksgiving. We will be spending at least 12 hours (each way) together in a car. I really can't wait to spend that much time with her. I know she isn't looking forward to it. She hates traveling, she loves just getting there.

All that said, I have currently been in a Road Trip. You see I want my Spiritual Journey to be an Adventure, sorta like a Road Trip. So I want to share with you my Road Trip from the Book of Acts. Why the Book of Acts? Well, recently I have felt like I need to gain an idea on church growth, because our church is experiencing some major growth right now.

Acts 1-
verse 9-11: Jesus just left earth, in a not so typical fashion. (Isn't just like Jesus to do things totally different?) And the disciples are just standing there, staring up to the clouds, were Jesus just was. He isn't there anymore. Kinda like Criss Angel, there one minute gone the next. I too, would probably be in awe, standing there with my mouth wide open, totally shocked!
But there the disciples are just staring up in the sky (like many Christians, just standing there waiting for something to happen, instead of doing something). But these two angels appear and I can totally imagine them making fun of the 11 disciples, okay its not anywhere in the Bible but I can see it in my own head.
I imagine the angels telling the disciples, "Hey guys, ummmm, stop looking up there. He's gone! Remember, He told you this world isn't your home, nor is it His. Remember, He's gone to prepare a place for you. He told you all of this, so why are you so shocked? Stop staring up there, He promised you that He will return one day so go! Go spread the news about what just happened, to make other disciples! GO!"

*One thing this first chapter really points out to me is that the disciples had a strong desire and a commitment to reach everyone! They didn't care who it was they wanted to share that Jesus is the One they all had been waiting for. And then when they would reach one, they built that person up, they trained them so that they too would reach. They weren't going to stand still, so that the world will stand by. They got out there BOLDLY, COMPASSIONATELY, FAITHFULLY, and most of all LOVINGLY, and shared the grace and love of Jesus. They reach out, and then built up so that more can be brought in.

Sunday Night Thoughts...

Today was such a great day, here are a few of my thoughts:

• We seemed to have a packed house in our Sunday Morning Experience (there were a ton of kids)
• Everyone seemed to be shocked by the major project we've been working on this week...we completely demo'd our current welcome room. We busted down a ton of cement walls, my old office, and an old storage room to make one big ginormous welcome center. It really is going to be great!
• Tonight was our annual shoe box wrapping party for Operation Christmas Child for Samaritan's Purse. I have to say, Teresa Spell really does a great job organizing this event. There were tons of volunteers and a ton of shoe boxes were packed and wrapped. I really enjoy having Teresa and her husband Ricky in our church. Their son, Ryan, is in my youth group and Ricky and Teresa always chaperone, volunteer, lead...they are great servants!!
• Pastor Chris rocked my face off with his message today...we are still in our SiMPLE church series and today was GiVE iT. The message was all about serving and reaching out to people. It was a good reminder that we don't do church for us, its all about people who don't know God.
• Splitting the Middle School and High School has been the best thing we have ever done! In one week we have already grown 75%!
• Andy, one of our student ministry volunteers/intern, spoke tonight in our Jonah series. He did a great job! Really related how he is very much like Jonah.
• I'm sitting here watching some stupid commercials on TV and the new mac ad came on, I LOVE IT. You can watch it here. It's so true. I hate the new Vista on the PC. Cyndi and I had to get a new PC (for her school stuff) and it came with Vista...it sucks! As soon as we have the money I'm buying her a mac (or maybe getting me a new mac and giver her my current one-she hates when I do that)
• This seemed to be a losing weekend for all of my teams (except Clemson!), Lions lost, Michigan lost. On a plus, Ohio State loss and so did South Carolina (I'm still trying to figure out why in the world would you want a Chicken as your mascot?)

Well, Cyndi has the day off tomorrow and so we are going to hang out, but for now I'm off to bed.

Sometimes I just need to SCREAM!!!

Okay, this has to be one of the busiest weeks in my life!

Last week began Cyndi's birthday celebration...her birthday was Thursday Nov. 1.

Normally in my family we celebrate birthday's one day...on your birthday! Oh no, not Cyndi. We had to celebrate her birthday Thurs-Sun. :) It was great! We ate way too much with our friends.

Friday, I spoke 3 times at C.E.Williams middle school...I was about to lose my voice.

Saturday, our church rented out some space at the local paintball place. A bunch of us got together and had a great time...I realized my need to get back into my exercise routine because I am still sore! I got shot a couple of times but no bad war wounds.

Sunday, was a busy day! It started out with a lower number in church...

But, we finally split our high school and middle school. Overall it went pretty well, I think the student are really going to reap the benefits.

We did issue a challenge to all of our students as far as numbers go...if our middle schoolers can have 25 students for at least 3 consecutive weeks I will dye my hair any color they wish! And by the sounds of it, they want pink hair with green highlights...oh yeah I have to keep it that way for one month. For the high schoolers, we issued a similar challenge 20 students for 3 consecutive weeks. Their reward will be that Mr. Andy and I will do anything they wish. Josh Beam said I will have to wax my chest hair...lol.

Overall, it has been a great few days! This week I should have some time to post my thoughts on the book of ACTS and hopefully more from my upcoming books I want to write.