One fairly new blog I've been digging lately is LifeChurch.tv:swerve. It's put together by Craig Groeschel (senior pastor at LifeChurch.tv) and Bobby Gruenewald (innovation leader at LifeChurch.tv). I'll be honest, any church with the phrase "tv" in it makes me a little leery. But these guys are the real deal. My friend John is a former LifeChurch guy. They've been total innovators in the area of multi-site churches as well as doing very focused, targeted ministry.

LifeChurch has six campuses in Oklahoma along with campuses in Florida, Arizona, Tennessee, Texas, and newly-announced in New York. They also have an internet campus. Again, when I first heard about all these campuses thousands of miles apart, I was skeptical. But it seems to be out of a heart to reach people, not world domination.

The more I hear from Craig Groeschel the more I'm impressed. He seems to have a genuine heart for God and for reaching people. In fact, I'm listening to a Catalyst podcast interview with him right now and he's impressing me even more.

Check it out for yourself.

Labels: blogs I dig

For anyone who uses Feedburner....

I just switched to a Feedburner feed but in my reader it shows up as "Untitled Subscription". Anyone with some insight want to help me get that fixed to have my actual blog title in it.

(if you have no clue what I'm talking about, just assume I'm a geek....and move on)

Labels: nerd talk

Jon posted this awesome story about his apartment. Here's a clip:

It started a month or so ago. My roomate TIM WILSON, managed to unscrew each and every light bulb in our apartment, then flip the breaker that supplies our entire apartment with power. My other roomates and I had gone out for some midnight Wendy's. Upon our arrival, we noticed that the lights didn't work - and then that they were uncrewed - and then that the power was off. We had no idea what was going on. After a few creepy moment I realized that the breaker was in the downstairs closet. AJ and I walked timidly over to the door and opened it. It was normal - having only our hang up jackets, a bike, surfboard, 2 snowboards, sleeping bags, and other closet stuff. A moment after feeling safe about the closet, Tim jumps from behind the hung up clothes scaring both the Holy Spirit and our recently digested, waiting to be released food waste out of our bodies. He got us indeed.

Fast forward ...

Click here for the rest of the story.

Labels: funny stuff

Evidently this has been around for a bit, but I just saw it today. Pretty stinking funny.

charlie the unicorn

(SO to Lucas)

Labels: funny stuff

Had a good time tonight visiting Saddleback with several of the students from my youth ministry class. I offered them some extra credit if they cruised down to check out a jr. high or high school service. Got to run into a ton of random people, including some that aren't normally there (read: Josh Treece). It was weird going to observe services at the place where I worked for two years. I sat in on the high school service since I was always in jr. high all the time when I was there. It was pretty simple and pretty cool.

Labels: CBU, youth ministry

This is my office post-Mexico Mission Trip.

Labels: random, youth ministry

We made it back from Mexico on Saturday night and I'm trying to take a couple days off to relax. I had to turn my cell phone off when I kept getting calls (none of which I was answering). Then, a little bit ago the phone at home rang and the caller ID said it was the church office. Again, I ignored the call. My theory: whatever people need to tell me can wait until tomorrow.

Labels: random

Well, it took them just under two weeks of us living in an actual house, but we got TPed Thursday night. We were actually pretty shocked because our bedroom window is right next to our front yard and we stay up pretty late. We're not sure who the culprits are yet, but our strategy is to not mention it to any students. We figure they won't be able to stand us not recognizing their handiwork and will eventually be dying if they don't have bragging rights. My money's on the seniors.

Labels: random, youth ministry

We had a student leadership meeting at our house the other night and several students thought it was hilarious that I had this book on my shelf. Any illusion of coolness I may have had is now gone.

Labels: nerd talk, youth ministry

I've been a little bit of a slacker lately and will probably continue to be for the next week or two. We head to Mexico on Monday and are in the midst of all that comes with that. Life's also just a bit crazy right now. All that to say, enjoy what you get from me this week.

Labels: nerd talk