Weekend Madness

• Friday I went out to a friends house to get the low down on how to feed there dogs since they were headed out of town and Laura and I were going to have to take care of them.
• Saturday I had to work at the funeral home. The funeral was for a guy that I went to high school with that was killed in a car crash. This is the part of the job that never gets easy.
• Saturday night I headed out to James and Mel Browne's house were Laura was house sitting and cooked dinner and helped with the dogs for a while before I got called back into work.
• Sunday I headed to Hope Creek early to prepare for the day since we were having a program wide Kidz Cove meeting.
• Did not have to do much teaching Sunday cause my homie Kim Ferrer taught as Gina and he did an awesome job talking about Moses.
• Back in Kidz Cove we also played a game called Pick your Moses not your noses.
• Sunday in main service we continued our series "30 days to Live". And Scott just rocked it. He was not at 100% but God still used him to help changes lives Sunday. Isn't God GREAT!!!
• Chris and da band were on fire with their killer worship set. They lead off with Tim McGraw's " Live like you were dying"
• In the Kidz Cove meeting we talked about Vision and how important it was to have it. We played a cool game in which we had 2 teams. Tappers and guessers, the tappers had to tap out a song which I gave them on the guessers shoulder and the guesser had to try and guess the song. This is a very very hard game. But the image it gives is that is how it feels when you only have 1 piece of the puzzle for vision. People, parents, volunteers, and staff walk around trying to guess what you are trying to say.
• Sunday night was Real Life Live where teens bring their parents to youth. Not sure how it went cause I had a major headache and slept for most of the rest of the day and night

Hurray up and lead

If you read this blog and are a leader in your church, company, choir, club, or country ( little to far I know) then now is the time for you to hurray up and lead. After a phone call with a friend and mentor, this thought just hit me. He asked, "What do you think other youth programs are doing cause I want to see if I'm on the right track with my program". And I thought WHO CARES what other people are doing. I might not be the smartest person, the sharpest knife, or the brightest bulb in the box but I do know this. Instead of asking what others are doing, ask what have they not thought of yet. Don't get sucked into what the biggest or "best" churches, companies, choirs, or clubs are doing. Do something different, be your own program or maybe more important do what God has called you to do. Not what He has called others to do. Leaders it is not to late to grab a group of folks and brainstorm. Think about what kids, teens, and adults like to do and then somehow do it in a way that shows them God's unbelievable grace and love. But hurray up and stop being copycats and lead like no else has ever lead before.

HOOPS

Now this is some old footage of me and some of my killa b ball skillz. Hope you enjoy!!!

No Weekend Madness

I am not going to do a Weekend Madness this week but I promise it will be back next week.
Today I wanted to share where my mind and heart are right now. I think God has used Hope Creek Church here in Durham, NC to open my eyes. When I was a teenager I thought the church as a whole was dying. I mean in my small Methodist church there were little to no visitors, there was a handful of kids my own age and the number on Sunday keep getting smaller and smaller. So I become one of the people that lift and turned my back on the church. 7 years later I found a place here in Durham that had "IT". There is where God worked in my life big time. He showed me that church can be different from what I was used to. He showed me that church can be fun. He showed me that God's word could be taught in today's terms. He showed me that my heart longed to serve him. After 5 years of hard work, blood, sweat, tears, highs and lows. I decided to leave to take a larger part in God's Kingdom. I became a Family Pastor at Hope Creek. It was clear on that first day they had "IT" as well. There is something special about this place even through we are smaller in size than some places there heart for lost people can't be matched. The folks that make up Hope Creek are not perfect, to be honest they are a bunch of sinners but that is OK cause so am I. But they get "IT" they understand that it is not about them. But we do EVERYTHING we can to still make them happy and still focus on the lost. That is the tight rope we walk as Pastor's at The Creek to make sure we don't sway one way or another. That has been the eye opener I have learned in my first year on the job. It is hard to walk a tight rope, something you fall, something the rope cathes you between the legs, and sometimes you make it all the way to end only to turn around and do it all over again.

Great Quote

When God calls you to do something, he enables you to do it.
- Robert Schuller

The Real Deal

David Crowder is the real deal. He is truly blessed with a gift from God and he uses it to please him daily. What gift did he give you that you may or may not be using. Hope you enjoy

Bubba or Nolan

So as I am sitting here watching the Duke-GT game I am faced with a question. Is Duke guard Nolan Smith Bubba from Forrest Gump. I think so but you be the judge.

Weekend Madness

• Friday night there was not much going on so I headed home and caught up on some reading and prep work I needed to do for Hope Creek
• Saturday I cleaned house and finished taking down the Christmas stuff.
• Saturday night Laura and I headed to a coffee house to hear my good friend and co-worker Mike Poole sing. Mike has a really nice voice and he does the classics really really good.
• Sunday was a crazy day at The Creek. I was there before the sun was up to prep things for the day.
• Sunday was also week 2 of our new series "30 days to live" and I can tell you there was not a dry eye in the service after Scott got done speaking.
• Chris and da band were spot on this week as well. Nailing the tune "Time" by Hootie. And the worship set was just killer.
• Back in Kidz Cove we talked about being more like Ants and not Slugs. We also dove down more into the value of resourcefulness.
• Sunday night was also the return of Big Rock and it was ROCKIN. If you are in grades 6 -12 you don't want to miss next week. I promise you Big Rock is the coolest things happening at 5:37pm on Sunday nights
• Carolina lost again...... it is OK I think they may lose 2 or 3 more times this year but I still believe we will cut down the nets in March

Weekend Madness

Crazy crazy crazy is the only way to describe the past week and weekend. So here goes:

• Friday after Christmas Laura, her family and myself left to head to Disney for a week of fun in the sun with the mouse.
• Monday was our first day at the park and we spent it at Epcot
• Tuesday was Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios
• Wednesday was Magic Kingdom all day (15+ hours)
• Wednesday was also of cause New Years Eve and the fire works were amazing
• Wednesday was our last day at Disney
• Thursday was Universal Studios
• Oh yeah I also got in engaged on Thursday
• Friday I had to get up at the butt crack of dawn to be at the airport at 5:30am
• Flew home and got unpacked and cleaned up and headed to Moncure, NC for practice in one of my best friends weddings
• Saturday I spent most of the day packing up the Christmas stuff and then headed back to Moncure for Kevin and Rebecca's wedding.
• We laughed, cried, danced, and had one of the best times ever
• Sunday was a GREAT day at Hope Creek. Lots of folks, lots of Worship, lots of FUN
• Scott just ripped it up with "30 days to live"
• oh and I got engaged. I love you Laura