Tom Time

The Nap

2006-12-05T21:09:00.000-05:00

Because the question has been raised, I expect to be taking a sabbatical from the blog. It's worked pretty well for youth ministry, with me growing and seeing the whole world differently.

right now it makes to most sense to focus on some private journaling and personal growth. As with youth ministry, I'll re-evaluate this decision in a few months. For now though Tom Time will be taking a nap.

Peace,
+Tom/Bob

Heat

2006-11-25T21:46:00.000-05:00

I've been playing a game called Evil Genius on and off for the past couple of years (mostly off). It's a humorous game where you are an evil genius, making a secret island and wreaking havoc while spies like 007 try to infiltrate and sabotage everything you do. Through everything you do there is a notoriety meter with each act of villainy you perform adding "heat" and making you more notorious. Right now I believe I'm vomitous.

In the real world it appears that my own heat level has recently picked up a bit. I don't know which posts are really doing it, but lately my own heat level has apparently spiked. This doesn't end up being such a good thing in the real world like it is in the virtual one.

As with anything that's written down, it can easily be misunderstood or taken out of context. This can lead to questions arising due to the integrity of the writer.

It is an interesting revelation that an individual's integrity is always up for re-evaluation, no matter how long you have known that person. There will be times at church where I may wonder about someone's motives even after I've known them for 4 years or more. Even friendships and family can fall into this trap. I wonder if we really can ever be trusted completely. I sure hope not everyone is looking to question the integrity of everyone else; it's a hard life not trusting others.

In Evil Genius if you want to lower your heat level you stop doing things that will get noticed.

Recently I've begun to follow this plan of action. The questions weigh too importantly on my life to let them continue. It's too hard to write for multiple audiences and assume it will not be misinterpreted. Even with an editor, I know how misunderstandings have occurred.

Here's my question to you all. Do you really appreciate what's been written in this blog? Would you like to read more, or would your life be unchanged if I stopped writing?

I ask for feedback other times but I would really, really appreciate you feedback this time.

Peace,
+Tom

The Beauty of the Internet

2006-11-20T22:42:00.000-05:00

Days like this really make me really appreciate the power of the Internet. I had some late night printouts to make at work after putting my daughter to bed. Once I finished up the work I was able to print directly to our printers in the office. As I drove on in the printers were spitting everything out for my meeting. After a bit of photocopying I was all set.

10 years ago this would have actually meant I had to drive into the office to do the work and get the printouts.

Sometimes it amazes me to recognize that the Internet has a lot of power far above and beyond simply shopping and research.

I wonder what else is out there in the world that can be used for some other purpose than it was designed.

Peace,
+Tom/Bob

Comfort Food

2006-11-20T22:30:00.000-05:00

Today began decently and ended up quite crappy. It's kind of amazing how one conversation and change the day.

So it only made sense that tonight should be a night of comfort food. Something to just curl up with and relax. I hadn't realized it until tonight (it's been a long time since I've really had a crappy day) but apparently my comfort food is an almond steamer (steamed milk with an almond shot). It'll warm you from head to toe on a cold night and loosen up a tight heart.

How about you? What do you indulge in on those days that just fall to pieces?

Peace,
+Tom/Bob

The Importance of Foreign Language

2006-11-17T12:05:00.000-05:00

It has taken me 31 years to finally understand why learning a foreign language in school is important. Yes, my 10 years of Spanish should have made it so I can talk intelligently to my Spanish speaking neighbors, but unfortunately, that's not the case. Today Erin showed me the true importance of learning a language.

She has been looking for help using Crystal Reports as it integrates with Microsoft Visual Studio. Every time she would go to the help it would have an error that the page was not found.

What's her solution (something I would never have thought of)? Try the French version which she learned in school. Sure enough, it worked (thankfully the code snippets are in English)!

The next time someone asks me why the heck they need to take Spanish/French/German/Japanese/Russian etc. I now have an answer. Study that language long and hard, you never know when the help you need is only available in your second language.

Peace,
+Tom/Bob

Virginia Theological Seminary Visit

2006-11-14T22:12:00.000-05:00

Today I went on a tour of Virginia Theological Seminary. I tell you, this school has it together. The program is so centered around the student, community and a close-knit with faculty that it’s almost impossible to fail. I think a lot about community and ho incredibly important it is in spiritual formation and acceptance. While I am so committed to community I also think it’s hard to find a way to couple a “fun community” with a deep relationship and solid learning. Moving from simply joining in to actually taking part and giving back. VTS seems to really have that together.

Even the day visit was really well planned and executed. We each had one tour guide (I ended up with two actually). The morning prayer, class selections, small group organization and lunch (yes, even lunch) was all executed superbly. I have never been on a better college visit and, if I could go right now, I'd be a VTS student.

As a side note. At lunch I met a priest from Liverpool England who was doing a 4 week tour of different places to help support the Episcopal church and to see how others are accomplishing mission. Colin was a really great and interesting person. I am so blessed to have been able to share lunch with him, to the point where I was late to my next session. It was entirely worth it and I do hope God calls Colin to become the arch-deacon in Wales and really gets to fulfill his dream of leading people in life-changing missions. He's certainly in my prayers.

Peace,
+Tom/Bob

Focusing on Failure

2006-11-09T13:57:00.000-05:00

Last week we had a mid-term in my Old Testament class which I was positive I got 4 questions wrong and possibly as many as 7. On a 50 question test that's a pretty big deal. What's interesting is that over the week since that test all I can think about are those questions I know I missed. I sure will never forget what the Decalogue is (10 commandments).

While I've been focusing on these questions I got wrong (the last third of the Old Testament is called the Writings btw) I've pretty much ignored and forgotten the questions I answered correctly. Who was Adam again? He really had a wife named Eve? Okay, not that badly.

Recognizing this last night in class made me realize that I, and many people, are driven and expected to constantly improve. It's not enough to do well at something since you can always be doing better.

I've always considered improvement being the recognition and correction of failings. For example, every time I jump off the roof of our house I fall straight down and hurt myself. To improve I need to recognize this failing and better learn how to fly (or recognize that I can't fly on my own and should seek mental help - too bad I'm not Peter Petrelli from Heroes).

The problem with focusing on failure is that I tend to let that bring me down. I see how I may have messed up one section of a project, and really let that envelop me. I try to do everything I can to fix it immediately and to never let it happen again. I begin thinking I'm not really so great at this and could even feel like I don't belong. In reality it was one mistake that most people didn't even notice, and they have been impressed with all of the work I have done.

Here is one place I really struggle to make a balance. It's easy to let my failings get the better of me. It's also easy for me to focus on how good I am at some things and let pride take over.

In any case I got the mid-term back with a 48 out of 50. Also, that two page report I did two weeks ago. The one I forgot about until the night before and got the books the morning it was due? 30 out of 30! Thank goodness. Maybe I can write.

Peace,
+Tom/Bob

Credit card debt

2006-11-07T11:33:00.000-05:00

Here is why Americans are in debt. I decided to take the plunge and get a Shell MasterCard. Yes, the ads did me in, saving 10 cents minimum per gallon of gas, and with Shell being consistently cheaper than most places near me (including Costco) got me to take the plunge.

Before you go making any comments, yes, I am able to pay it off before we even get the bill.

In any case, I'm waiting for the cards, wondering if I was even approved. Then they show up and those fools have given me a $12,000 limit.

Seriously, anyone who knows me knows that I'm sure not rich. What would possess a company to offer so much money to any individual whose only knowledge of a person is their mortgage, credit rating and annual salary?

I can see so many people get into serious trouble this way. Right now I'm helping others get out of some deep debt, and I was wondering how it was even possible. Now I know.

It doesn't take much to decide that the $100 could be paid off this month, but may as well wait until next month...

I think it's time to call and lower that limit a bit.

Peace,
+Tom/Bob

NaNoWriMo

2006-11-03T21:23:00.000-05:00

In case you haven't heard about it, there is a big writing event going on this November called NaNoWriMo. The whole point is to write a Novel in one month. I keyed Christine and Kate into it, and I think they're actually giving it a try. Unfortunately, I am far to uncreative too write a novel in one month, I don't even know what I'd be about.

BUT. Christine had an away message that said

DON'T TALK TO ME UNLESS YOU HAVE A COOL STORY! :D

Therefore, I decided to put together a GOOD STORY in 10 seconds or less. For fun, here's what I came up with.

Once, when I was younger, I decided that it would be fun to see the world. I first thought, maybe I could fly around the globe. So I went and to my pilot's license. Unfortunately I couldn't afford to keep the license and I couldn't afford the plain, so that plan went astray. Then I considered riding in a space shuttle and seeing everything in and outside the world. So I went to space camp and applied to be a pilot. Nevertheless, I couldn't keep all of the controls in my mind and my eyesight getting worse kept me from that solution. Then I tried to travel. I visited Spain, London and Scotland. But I can't afford to keep that life up and prefer to stay near my family. So now I frequent sushi restaurants, Thai restaurants and other ethnic foods in the hope that I can taste their culture in some small way.

By the way, everything in here is false besides the fact that I want to see the world.

This was fun though, maybe I can write a novel. How about you all, what story can you come up with in 10 minutes or lest (call it the opposite of NaNoWriMo).

Peace,
+Tom/Bob

Communicating Vision

2006-11-02T14:46:00.000-05:00

I was just reading Teresa's post on Tony's blog on finding out what people are really looking for in a visit to a church. The main thing that struck me (besides that they have a full time paid staff person in charge of getting people involved after Sunday morning) is the visitor's question about where the money and time goes. This question wouldn't come up if someone really understood, even before they walked onto your campus/through your door, what you were all about.

People don't get why they should be investing their time and money in church. They don't understand why they'd invest in your company either. They need to see exactly why your company/church/friendship will make a difference in the world and how their participation will help make that real.

Why should I buy a Robek's smoothie or shop at ColdStone? Why should I go to St. Matthew's over St. David's (besides it being hard to find St. David's Web site)? Why would I be friends with Bill, who seems aimless, when I can be friends with Bob who has a clear vision and plan that I understand and support?

Communicating vision has got to be one of the most important things we do. The organization (or ourselves) needs to identify, understand, communicate and live that vision.

What's my vision? Honestly, I'm still working on it and it changes all the time. Right now my vision is to:

Impact lives by helping people feel accepted, comfortable and loved and to make my family feel as though I spend too much time with and energy on them. I want people to see the benefit of serving God through my own actions.

So, do I really live that vision? Do people hear about that vision even before they meet me? Does it mesh with the church/store/friends that I surround myself with? As a church, do people know that our focus is to get every individual learning and talking about God to their friends and strangers?

I'm really thinking that this whole vision thing is one of the most important items to execute. Once we have that, it's easy to focus on making things happen.

Peace,
+Tom/Bob

Midterm

2006-11-01T23:04:00.000-05:00

Here's what I've learned from taking my first midterm in 10 years:

1) Listen to the teacher. She said use the CD and I did. 80% - 90% of the test came almost directly from that CD.

2) I am more aware of what I know I got wrong and what I did right.

3) After 10 years I still take tests blazingly fast (I was 10 minutes late and the second to finish). But that never means I was right.

4) I finally figured out how to study key terms. Instead of memorizing the term, memorize the definition and match it to the term. The term takes on it's own life and has it's own hooks to stay relevant in my mind.

5) It's not as stressful when you've had some real conversations with the professor and understand their reason for teaching the class.

6) 1/2 of what I study will not be on the test... Darnit!

7) Theophany - The manifestation of God on earth.

In the end I know I got 4 questions wrong, I think I got 5 or 6 wrong, so I'm expecting to have gotten 7 or 8 wrong. Out of 50 that's not so good, but a solid B isn't bad either.

Peace,
+Tom/Bob

Feeding the 5,000

2006-10-31T13:07:00.000-05:00

Ok, so most people have heard the miracle Jesus performed by feeding 5,000 with just 5 loaves of bread and two fish (John 6). I've always found this amazing, especially since, in the end they still had leftovers after each person had eaten their fill.

Today I was reading something which talked about how, for $6 you can get 21 loaves of bread from the day-old store. Finally it hit me! I know how we can reproduce Jesus' miracle.

We'll take 5 fresh loaves of bread and bring them to some bakery. We'll turn them in for day-old bread. I figure one loaf of bread should be worth about 50 loaves of day-old, right? Then there's the fish. No one really needs fresh fish. I bet you can trade in two excellent fresh fish for boxes and boxes of frozen fish sticks (or even fish just past the expiration date). With all of that we can feed 5,000 people, no problem. So I ask you... Was it really a miracle? I bet Jesus just sent James and John off to the day-old fish and bread store.

Seriously though, this did get me to thinking. Jesus made very clear that we would perform all the miracles he has done and more. We do that by working together to really help others.

As I thought about this ridiculous joke above, I did think about the Atlanta Bread Company and Panera. Both companies give away day-old bread. My friend Linda from church goes each Sunday and fills her car with bags and bags of bread which she brings to the local soup kitchen. Here you have a company working with individuals to make a serious impact on hunger in our local community. All for the cost of gas to drive the bread (probably cheaper than 5 loaves and 2 fish would cost).

If that's not a miracle, I don't know what is.

Peace,
+Tom/Bob

Forgive

2006-10-27T22:12:00.000-04:00

I've been walking through the gospel of John (Message Remix version) in my journal. something jumped out at me and I decided to post an abridged version.

When Jesus came back to visit the disciples in John 20.22-23 one of the first things he said was

If you forgive someone’s sins, they’re gone for good. If you don’t forgive someone’s sins, what are you going to do with them?

If you took just the first sentence, it sounds like by being a disciple you can forgive someone’s sin just as God does. I think that second sentence really makes the difference. If we aren’t willing to forgive someone’s sin, what are we going to do with them?

We need to forgive the sings of everyone, no matter how hard it may be. While this gives me hope for some of the stuff I’ve messed up in life, it also makes me nervous. Do I really forgive someone whose maliciously hurt me or someone I care about? Thankfully, at the moment I can’t really think of many people this may apply to. That doesn’t mean it won’t ever apply.

Really though, what do we do with people we don’t forgive. What’s the alternative to forgiveness? Stay estranged from the person? Be cordial to them while inside I can only think about how much the wrong they did to me bothers me? Why do I want to live like that? I don’t think Jesus would approve.

Anyway, I thought this was pretty interesting. While it is Jesus and Gods gifts to forgive everyone, it’s also our job to do the same. That’s pretty hard sometimes.

Peace,
+Tom/Bob

The Church You Know

2006-10-26T11:06:00.000-04:00

I love those NBC "The More You Know" ads where they have famous people get on the TV and say things to help the family.

Reading to your child lets them dive into another world with you. So, read to your child

Ok, I don't know if that's really one of them. But I've been thinking about reading since we read to Rachel all the time and since I read Michael's blog entry on warfare.

The ChurchMarketingSucks Web site had a post about The Church You Know. They have these short spots just like the NBC ads, but about church, and crazy funny. The two I'd definitely recommend seeing is the Attendance video and the Tithing video.

I don't know if they'd ever be appropriate to show in church, but man they are great. I'm definitely thinking of getting the Christ is the head... I am the Rectum shirt for someone.

Boiling this all down brings me to one big thought for the day. Being Christian and talking about faith should never be boring. These guys have made it interesting and fun.

Peace,
+Tom/Bob

More Brochures?

2006-10-25T11:20:00.000-04:00

Seth Godin remarked recently about marketing cliches done wrong. This one particularly stuck out as the one which impacts our organization and our church the most.

We need a bigger marketing department. Probably, you need everyone in the organization to do the marketing... from scratch. More brochures aren't the answer.

At church we've been talking a lot about marketing, what to put together that we can give people when they walk in the door. Whether we should advertise in the paper, in new home guides or somewhere else. Should we advertise each sermon series? How would the ads be designed.

I still think all of these are important and need to have some focus.

At the same time Seth's comment has reminded me again that spreading the word about your product is about the stories people are saying.

A co-worker of mine almost went to Wegmans the other day because she was in the area. I guarantee you that two weeks ago she never would have considered it. One day though we had a team meeting of about 10 people to do introductions. After I mentioned Wegmans the entire room became animated and shared their experiences with the store. Those stories (plus my constant talk about it) has at lease one person thinking about the place and stopping in.

Stores market to people. The story is told by someone that the listener trusts.

What is it about your life that's worth telling? What are your stories? What do you support so much that they don't need to make a brochure or place an ad to get people to come?

Peace,
+Tom/Bob

Smoked Salmon

2006-10-25T10:38:00.000-04:00

In case I wasn't sure about it, I definitely am now. My wife is pregnant.

The switch just clicked in my head.

No, it wasn't from hearing the baby's heartbeat yesterday at the doctor's office (though that was pretty incredible and affected me more yesterday than it did with Rachel for some reason).

No, it wasn't that we've moved Rachel's crib into the new baby's room.

What did it? I've just realized I have a craving for some smoked salmon (no thanks to Melissa sending some to Rob so we've talked about it).

While my wife goes through a pregnancy with little or no cravings, mine kick into gear almost immediately. So far it's looking like a couple months of smoothies and salmon.

Peace,
+Tom/Bob

Battlestar Galactica

2006-10-22T08:05:00.000-04:00

I've just gotten through the 3rd episode of Battlestar Galactica Season 3. When the new Battlestar began I watched, but it was just so different from the original I wasn't sure I'd click with it. It just seems that for some reason Sci-Fi has a whole lot of dark stuff, and this was no different. On top of that a female Starbuck was just weird.

Over time I've figured out that I am really connecting with the characters. I really care about them and their plight. This season really made this click in my mind, as I watched a really, really moving interpretation of the Holocaust.

I spent almost 6 hours in the Holocaust Museum in DC, and it really got me to think hard about what happened. That coupled with a History Channel documentary I saw a few years ago and an exhibit at American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore has made it stick in my mind. I can't look at snow quite the same way again.

Somehow all of that information moved me intellectually but I could never connect or completely understand what individuals went through. No two hour movie or factual documentary really got me to care deep down about the individuals and what it meant for the family.

Battlestar has made that connection.

Seeing the individuals that I've followed for three years go through the atrocities people have suffered has really got me thinking about what's happened in our past, what's happened in Rwanda, and what will happen to individuals under the oppressive rule of an extreme leader.

Say what you will about TV or even Science Fiction. It's those books and shows that have given me a connection with an individual deeper than a movie or short book ever can. I love having my heart changed.

Peace,
+Tom/Bob

Would I Miss It If I Lost It?

2006-10-16T22:15:00.000-04:00

When it comes to parenting, I am the one who apparently gets to enjoy the firsts with Rachel. I was the first one to let her fall on her head (she slipped right off the bed and plopped right on her head). Poor Erin missed out on that fun.

Well, today I got to have yet another first with Rachel. Once again, Erin wasn't around to see the glorious moment.

Rachel knocked over some chili on the ground in a parking lot. I picked it up, having her help out so she'd stay close. As I put the remaining chili in the car (a process that took at most 1/2 of a second) I turn and she's disappeared. I immediately get crazy nervous. I run to the back of the car... Guess what? No Rachel. At this point my heart is racing, I look around frantically, and tears begin to form. I hop 1 step to my left and I see her walking to her door to the van, ready to get in.

You always hear about the parent who loses their kid when they looked away from just one second. I can't believe it was me, and that I lost her in a parking lot. Thankfully my kid is a genius and knew exactly what she was doing the whole time. I'm also glad God has graced me with a short memory and healing heart so I won't be paranoid every time Rachel is out of my sight for one second.

On the way home I was thinking about what a great story this actually is. If you lost something, how much would it matter to you?

If I lost my keys, No biggie, get them replaced, I'm out at most $100 (car keys are expensive to replace).

If I lost my wallet, just cancel the cards, I'm out the gift cards.

If I lost my job, I'd be pretty upset. In the end though, there are other jobs.

If I lost my house, being homeless you suck. It would be hard, probably the hardest thing I've ever done. When it comes down to the wire though, the things I lost can be replaced. 5 years later I wouldn't really miss that old stuff. All of it.

What if I'd really lost Rachel?

It's moments like these that really make me recognize what love means. We always talk about love as something you can't quite quantify or describe in detail. Here's what I can tell you.

You will know you love something the moment you think you have lost it. You'll know that it can't ever be replaced, you'll wonder if you can live without it and you'll ask what to do with you life now. You'll also realize that you would give up the keys, the wallet, the job and the house just to get that thing back.

God gave me a huge scare and an even greater gift tonight. I'm glad it ended quickly and happily.

Peace,
+Tom/Bob

Paper Perfection

2006-10-13T22:07:00.000-04:00

Ok, it wasn't perfect. I even found a big dividing line in the middle of my third page (thankfully the teacher said not to worry about it). If some of you were wondering though, I did get my paper done and in on time. I failed to mention that in the 5 hours I had to finish it there was a 1 1/2 hour meeting (which actually lasted 2 1/2 hours) plus the drive home (thankfully I could work on the paper during that).

Anyway, it got done and isn't half bad. Erin proofed it and had very, very few changes. Thank goodness for her and Ann giving me a paper to use for formatting (I couldn't have cheated off it; I didn't even read her title or content. I barely understood her citations) and her advice on going to the Perdue Web site.

In any case, it's together and out. I think it came out relatively well. We'll know more next week when I present it to the class. That will be so much easier, I love talking.

Thank you all for your prayers. It's been a crazy week, but everything is catching up nicely.

Oh yeah, and why the heck did she choose Dr. Shepherd over the vet guy. Insanity I tell you, I'd marry the vet guy if I could. :)

Peace,
+Tom/Bob

A Good Shepherd

2006-10-13T22:00:00.000-04:00

I've been working through the book of John in the Message bible as a personal journey and journal. There have been a bunch of things I've found interesting but it's been late and I haven't quite decided how to write a public blog on it (yep, believe it or not I don't wear my entire world on my sleeve).

Tonight I came across John 10.11-13.

The Good Shepherd puts the sheep before himself, sacrifices himself if necessary. A hired man is not a real shepherd.

The good Shepherd is willing to die for his sheep and puts the sheep before himself. A hired person can’t be that Good Shepherd.

I’m not exactly sure, but somehow this teases my mind about hiring people to do jobs in the church before finding a volunteer who is qualified or willing to be trained to do it. The volunteer does the job because their heart is in it. While that may very often be true of the employee, there will always be a financial piece which makes it easier to think of as a “job” instead of a relationship.

Say the parish decides to cut your salary, or drop the position all together because of financial issues beyond your control. Do you leave? Volunteers do the job because they care for the people they are impacting and the God they are serving. Sometimes I think that gets muddied when money comes in the middle of it.

Peace,
+Tom/Bob

Paper Nightmare

2006-10-11T13:33:00.000-04:00

Have you ever had this nightmare? You get ready for class and realize that you have a paper due that day which you didn't know about? You didn't read the resources and the library is closed. You didn't think about the thing at all and you don't even remember how to write a research paper, forgetting what a topic question and conclusion is or even how to write a bibliography?

Yeah, that's my life right now. The paper I thought was due next week is actually due today. I realized it late last night. Yes, even the "don't remember how to write a research paper" is true. I had to ask a friend who's in school to send me a paper so I could see if you still indent paragraphs and what a bibliography (er, works cited now I understand) looks like.

So, yeah, I'm kind of freaking out. But it's been fun. I've found the library, figured out how to get money on my card to make copies and begun writing. Thank all the gods that there may be (ok, really I know there's just one, and He IS watching over me) that this paper is only two pages double spaced and the teacher gave us the works to cite.

In case you didn't know what to pray for, this thing is due in 5 hours and I only have one sentence done. Thankfully they are the hardest. Time to get back and stop letting my mind free-flow.

Gift Mixes

2006-10-05T23:09:00.000-04:00

I have met some incredible people in my life. Some of what I've done in this blog is to talk about them. That's not to say anything like "nyah, nyah, my friends are better than your friends". It's not even to say that there's hope for the world in us human beings, though there is.

The reason I share these stories is to remind myself and get others thinking about real practical ways that we can make a lasting difference in this world. Ways we can be remembered by others for the incredible ways (both big and small) we change the world.

This story is about Christine. I was over at her place working on their computer. I had to bring Rachel, who was about six months old at the time, since Erin was off someplace else.

While I'm playing with the computer (thank goodness they've since gotten rid of it) Christine was holding on to Rachel and settling her down from a bit of crying. How did she do it? She began to hum/sing to her. For the Merola's though, not just any song would do. Rachel was regaled with the theme from the Mario brothers (the original Nintendo version). Needless to say, while I couldn't settle Rachel, Christine's rendition of the Mario Brothers worked immediately.

Soon we were both singing along. Doot-doot-doot-du-doot deet-da-deet (see, it's not humming, but it's not singing either, really Christine was beeping in key to Rachel).

Why, after almost two years, do I bring this up? Well, Rachel likes to sing songs to herself when she's going off to sleep. I am almost positive I heard her singing a little bit of the Mario Brothers song. Two years later Rachel still has that buried deep in her mind.

What little gift that you have inside of you every day can you use to make an impact that lasts for years on another person? God has done some amazing things through Christine's gaming experience and her singing voice. He just amazes me sometimes with how it all comes together.

Peace,
+Tom/Bob

Catalyst: Day 2 Highlights

2006-10-05T22:47:00.000-04:00

You can do some huge things by simply stepping out into the community and tapping those resources.

In the morning there were 5 absolutely incredible break dancers (I mean, these guys and girl were absolutely amazing and defy gravity and some speed records). Then there was the percussion section from a local high school band. Later there were English flags, horses (yes, 5 horses in all) and some amazing humor, even if none of it applied to the conference except to make things unclear. Later on Lanny came out with a monkey on his back, again, he sure got that from someone in the community. To top it all off (I'm glossing over the horn guy, the be-bop guy and the woman who spoke words backwards) Lanny brought in his friend form the community.... Jeff Foxworthy.

This makes me think that we're not tapping into the community nearly enough. Maybe we can never tap them enough.

The low of the conference was probably being told "You are blocking the aisle and have to move. You certainly can't plug in [your laptop] here." and getting kicked out of the auditorium.

I was later told by another organizer when I came back, "I know this stinks, but I'm going to have to ask you to move. They need to keep the aisles clear." What a difference, I was happy to listen and follow him.

Another low (albeit minor) is that the concert they were plugging tonight actually cost even more money to go to. Needless to say I enjoyed dinner with the rest of the group and tried to find a ColdStone (which was closed) instead.

While the conference has been interesting so far, I'm looking forward to getting back home and having a lot less sensory overload. Though I do have to say, Catalyst puts on one amazing and unforgettable show.

Thought for the day? What's the difference between story and show? If done right are they interchangeable? (Thank's to Rob for that question).

Peace,
+Tom/Bob

Catalyst: Jeff Foxworthy

2006-10-05T22:15:00.000-04:00

There was a surprise guest this afternoon at Catalyst. Ok, the title of the post probably gave it away. Jeff Foxworthy came out and was just hilarious. Mark Batterson was actually able to catch some of his redneck jokes (he got about half of them, I counted 15... Yes, I am a nerd counting jokes).

What surprised me more than anything about Jeff's talk was that it really was a talk. there was some deep insight to go along with some incredible humor. Here's what I took away:

Jeff defines a redneck as someone with a glorious absence of sophistication and education. He knows them well because he's unsophisticated and uneducated. Everyone in the room is the same way, or has someone in their family who is.

His main point came down to this though. Every one we want to reach as leaders is going to be a redneck. These are the people we need to build up as leaders. They are the people who will be the arms of God, to bringing the good news of Jesus to the world.

These people aren't going to be the scholars of the world. We won't be sitting behind a desk reading about how to save people. We'll be out doing the work with the gifts God's given us to use.

These people aren't going to be sophisticated. We aren't going to be at all of the posh parties. We may have a "flyswatter in the passenger seat of the minivan so that we can reach the kids while we're driving".

When you're looking for people to build the kingdom of god, it's not going to be the experts, it's going to be through growing the rednecks of the world into followers.

Catalyst: Gary Haugen

2006-10-05T17:56:00.000-04:00

Gary Haugen is the leader of the International Justice Mission which works to free children from prostitution in Rwanda.

Stuck at the visitors center. We're traveling with jess but we're staying safe and missing the adventure.

We can see a life of joy, and enjoy the glory of God. We just won't go, the visitors center looks so much more safe and appealing.

How do we, as leaders, help get our people out of the visitors center?

We must prepare our minds for action.

We need clarity about where Jesus is headed. Jesus is not headed to the visitors center.

Clarity about the nature of the world in which Jesus is heading. It's a world of rock and ice, a world of short breaths because it's a struggle with a world of hurt and human need in the world.

What's God's plan for making things good in his ways?

It turns out that we're the plan. And he doesn't have another backup plan.

Injustice is about the abuse of power to take from people those things god has intended for them.