My community group hit the jackpot

Last week our community group tried to go hang out at the beach, have a picnic dinner, and watch the sunset together with all the kids. But alas it is summer and it rains on us almost every afternoon down here in the tropics.

So we all went to Dave & Busters instead. The kids had an absolute blast. I spent most of the evening in race car games with Gavin. One of our group members hit the ticket jackpot. It was awesome to see everyone in the place staring at her. Then what did she do? She used the tickets to buy some crummy GT bumble bee (go Gators!).

What’s the moral of the story? Join a community group and you too might just hit the jackpot!

“GoOrange” Contest

Painting the town orange

Jacksonville is going orange this summer.
See how all of the mayhem ensued…

I need rocks

I know this is kind of weird to ask for rocks.
But I need rocks: pebbles, boulders, flat, chunky- and lots of them.

Does anyone know where I can find a bunch… for nothing, zip, zero, freebie?

Braveheart Day!

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm…” Galatians 5:1

All Access- tools I use

What tools do you use in your daily life? Here are a couple I’ve been using, find super helpful, and think you might like, too (even in a non-church setting)…
* Flock- it’s a web browser that has all kinds of ways to keep socially connected and makes blog reading quick and easy.
* EverNote-Evernote allows you to easily capture information using any device, and makes this information accessible and searchable at any time, from anywhere.
* ProPresenter- If you make presentations and want to make them great, then this is for you. I love the ease, power, and flexibility.
* iPhone- this isn’t a joke folks. I use this bad boy as much as my MacBook. But I guess anything Mac is a great tool in any environment.
* ExpenseWire- This is a great way to handle expense reimbursements. Great thing is it is web-based.
* PlannignCenter- This scheduling program was designed for planning worship, but we use it for all of our Family Ministry environments. I’d die without it now.
* Needle-nose pliers for fishing, reef flip flops as standard footwear, and Al Merrick surfboards. Kristen is bragging about her KitchenAid mixer right now, too.

So what tools do you use (not just digital) that are making life great for you?

All Access- a week in the life

One of the questions I get asked a lot is, “What does a typical week look like for you?”

The short answer is that there is no typical week for our staff. We work hard, but we also work smart. We laugh and joke, but we also get down to business. I’m learning to work smarter and not just more. The truth is, I love what I do and I could do it all the time. I don’t feel like I have to work, but I get to work.

Because we don’t have offices, it means there is a lot of flexibility. I have a home office where I do a lot of my reading, thinking, studying, and administrative work. Not having offices puts me out in the community. Hardly a day goes by that I don’t run into someone I know or meet someone new.

Here’s as typical as it gets for me: I work Sunday- Thursday. I’m a morning person and that means we’re up and going early for a family breakfast together and a cup of coffee with Kristen. Mornings are usually prayer, Bible study, email, blogs, and office type work.

I love lunch meetings. Afternoons are different depending on the day. I wish we had staff meetings in the morning when I’m most creative, but I got out voted. Staff meetings happen at 2pm on Mondays. Our creative meeting is Wednesday at 2pm. I have some individual staff meetings throughout the week.

I bet I could count on one hand the number of evening meetings I’ve had in the past year. Evenings are reserved for the family. We eat dinner together at home 9/10 nights. We also play, go swimming or ride bikes. Our kids go to be bed pretty early and that is great time for Kristen and I to catch up on the couch. Our community group happily gets one of our nights during the week!

Fridays are date mornings for Kristen and me (during the school year) for breakfast and bumming around. Weekends pretty much involve anything outdoors: beach, surfing, fishing, hunting, yard work, and more beach.

Sundays are killers. I get up at 3:45am to be at setup at 4:30am. I’m usually done with everything at church and heading home around 1pm. Then it’s shower, lunch, NASCAR/ golf, and maybe a nap if I’ve been good.

I love my schedule. In one sense it’s very flexible and free. I really am in control of it. In the other sense, it is highly guarded, and certain times are carefully protected. “Simple church” has its perks. I also believe that Jesus meant it when he told Peter, “I will build my church.” What is your schedule like? What does your schedule say about you and your priorities?

I went old school tonight

That’s right. I said it. Old school. I kicked it old school style tonight.

Brian Reese brought back some of the absolutely best tasting red snapper ever today (more on how he doesn’t deserve points for catching 48 fish last weekend at a later posting). I can’t imagine anything better than blackened red snapper. And thanks to Brian, Kristen and I had some after the kids went to bed.

Kristen made spicy cheese grits- hows that for old school in the dirty south? And I busted out a cast iron skillet that is now on its third generation of cooking. Yep, that bad boy right up there has been making fried chicken and cornbread (and now fish) in my family for generations. And anyone who knows anything knows you can’t blacken fish without a cast iron skillet. So out it came. I went old school with cast iron on an open flame grill. It was amazing!

What else is better when you go old school?

Oh yea, Brian, you’ve earned your blog link back with this love gift of fish.

Button pushing school

Look at how adorable they are!

As Kristen and I were getting ready in our bedroom this morning back, we head the sounds of a five year old, big brother pushing every one of his two year old sister’s buttons that he knew how to push.

So we’re just wondering, which one of you took him to button pushing school? How did he learn to taunt and tease her with such ease and accuracy? How does know when it is the exact right moment to walk in front of the tv? How did he hone the skill of calling her a name that is true but makes the hair on the back of her neck stand up? Brian Reese, did you do it while I wasn’t looking?

Is this a learned thing or was John Calvin correct with his doctrine of total depravity?

oh yea, where did this cute, little, two year old sister learn to provoke with such precision?

Guess what I’m doing…

Some pastors actually go to church on Sunday mornings. Not the case with me this morning. I was downtown with guy. But why? What is the interview for? Who is that bureaucrat- looking fella that is all spiffied up with me? Any guesses?

Oh yea, show up to Access On July 6th at UNF at 9am or 10:30am to find out the whole story.