Baptismal Tailgate Party and Gametime

September 11, 2007 by Leave a Comment

I mentioned here that NewSpring was doing a tailgate party for the next Baptismal service. It was Saturday and it was as big as the tailgater scene at a football game. I can’ t even begin to describe it. The parking lot was full of vehicles all the way around the building (including some large RV’s – one of which was probably worth over a million dollars) and there were grills and tents and plenty of playing around – until the Baptizing got started. It was awesome – over 500 people Baptized, some of which I know personally and that is always special to know and share in someones proclamation that they are a Jesus freak – like we all are at NewSpring. Check out some pics here on Tony’s blog – he didn’t even get the RV’s though. Will has some shots from the County Sheriff helicopter that was there for the festivities – it circled overhead several times taking pics. Also, here is an article from the local newspaper. This should have been on the local TV news…

Also, the Game Time series was started yesterday. And as I write this and check for references on other blogs I’m noticing that I’m not saying anything new, so here – check Tony’s post for the details of what is next for NewSpring, which is what Game Time is all about. The only concern I have that might have already come up is – Is the plan for 1000 seats in the youth facility too small?? I thought the same thing about the Greenville campus but Perry said we would just add another one when that one fills up. But what about the youth facility? I think that thing will be full before it’s finished. Am I the only one who thinks that? 

Filed Under: Faith

Chick-Fil-A Cow Commercials

September 10, 2007 by Leave a Comment

Unless you’ve been living in a bomb shelter since the the cold war or something you know about Chick-Fil-A and their popular ‘save the cows’ advertising campaign. Whoever came up with that ad campaign is brilliant and hopefully has made a lot of money and advancement in their career.

However, lately I’ve begun noticing the use of the cows to deliver a message is less and less effective (at least in my opinion). It’s almost like they’re running out of creative ways to use the cows.

One day last week I traveled to Raleigh, NC and back all in one day for three meetings I had up there. Altogether I was in the car about 10 hours that day (and worked about 7 – it was a long day) so I listened to quite a bit of radio. Therefore I heard a lot of commercials – the good, bad, and ugly ones.

As I make the drive from my house to Raleigh I have to tune in to at least three, maybe four, different radio stations because I drive out of range of them. It is amazing to me how the worse a radio station is the worse their commercials are. It’s like an unofficial rule of radio and I can almost anticipate it as I flip radio channels and hear the type of music and the DJ. I’m usually not surprised and therefore rarely disappointed – just normally bummed that I’m in an area with nothing better to tune in to.

But I was so disappointed to hear the Chick-Fil-A commercial where the cows are supposedly suing somebody for something – I don’t even remember what it was but it was stupid. (There you go – I’m drawing a blank and can’t even remember what they were suing about – that’s how ineffective the commercial is). In my opinion it was probably the worst cow commercial I’ve ever heard on the radio. I’m not sure why I hate that idea so bad. Is it the fact that they are making the cows take an offensive against people or just the fact that they’re using an already abused system in our country – lawsuits… I can’t pinpoint what triggered in my mind, but I didn’t like the commercial at all.

I love Chick Fil A, their food, their philosophy, the Truett Cathy story, their success in general… I like that it is upscale for fast food dining, the service is good, the environment is clean and comfortable, etc. Anyone can appreciate the cow campaign and how creative someone was to even come up with that. As for me personally I really hope they can find ways to keep that campaign alive with more of the simple creativity that made it a success in the first place – cows basically begging for mercy with their signs and mis-spelled words by desparately attempting to persuade humans to Eat Mor Chikin. Keep it somewhat simple – they’re cows. At least don’t make them do something stupid like sue people. 

Filed Under: Business

Listen To Passionate People

September 4, 2007 by Leave a Comment

Who are you listening to? What are you listening to? I choose to listen to people who are knowledgable and passionate about what they’re speaking about. That is why I love to hear Perry Noble speak about Jesus and introducing people to him. That is why I love to hear Jake Beaty speak about marriage and relationships. That is why I love to hear Joe Sangl speak about finances.

If you’ve read my blog much at all you’ve probably seen me link to Joe before. Now we can all experience Joe’s passion, experience, and knowledge via podcast. Click here and pick which link applies to you. You can hear the passion in his voice and I can tell you from my own personal experience with him he knows what he is talking about and he’s smoking what he’s selling. Check it out.

Filed Under: Faith, Money, Personal Growth, Relationships

Also In Football…

September 4, 2007 by Leave a Comment

I’m already following the teams I pull for more this football season than I have in probably the last five seasons combined so I’m going to share all their scores…

– I already mentioned FSU lost to Clemson 24-18. Bummer.
– How about GA TECH over Notre Dame 33-3. Go Jackets!!!
– LSU over Miss. St. 45-0. Booyahh!! Looks like LSU is gonna be hot again this year. Currently ranked #2. Go Tigers – LSU Tigers that is!
– Ole Miss edged out Memphis 23-21. Go Rebels!

I can be happy now that I look at it this way – Three out of four of my teams won.

Filed Under: Sports

Go Florida State!!!

August 31, 2007 by Leave a Comment

I will probably lose 3 of my 4 readers (I really have no clue how many people read this) because I am surrounded by Clemson Tiger fans. The problem is I lived in FL as a child and I have some uncles who taught me to love the Seminoles. I don’t follow sports nearly as much as a dedicated fan would but I still root for the teams I grew up with, and moving all the time as a preachers kid I rooted for several (Ole Miss, LSU, FSU, Ga. Tech). Since I live in SC now I like to see Clemson and Carolina win, but this Monday night I’m cheering Go Seminoles!!!

Filed Under: Misc

Greedy People

August 31, 2007 by Leave a Comment
A couple of weeks ago I was reading an article by Michael Masterson. Every time I mention this guy somebody asks me who he is. Click the link. That’s his blog. Do a google search on him and you’ll see he’s a pretty impressive guy.

Anyway, the article I was reading was about doing business favors and how that’s good practice and some poeple are good at it while others aren’t. He talked about how it’s important to not be taken advantage of and not to take advantage of others – to basically be smart about how you do business favors and manage good relationships. But what really struck me at the moment I was reading the article was one paragraph where he described greedy people who aren’t good at having favorable relationships. Here’s what he said:

Greedy, self-centered people believe they can live a better
life by taking advantage of others. What they fail to realize is that the people
they dupe have memories. And influence. Eventually, the world of greedy people
gets smaller. They have very few friends. Fewer business colleagues they can
count on. Little credit. And the high-pressure climate of the bad feelings
they’ve stirred up. They may have a considerable store of material things, but
they haven’t the faintest idea how to enjoy them.
Do you know anybody that matches that description? I know I’ve had some exposure to people like that. They weigh down everyone around them. What’s even more sad is they can sense something isn’t right in their life or their circumstances but they don’t know what it is and they’re too self-centered to think it has anything to do with them. You have to hope they come around and change. Usually after they lose something. Hopefully before they lose everything. Or maybe they’ll just wake up one day and realize how much more they have to gain by being kind, caring, thoughtful, honest, generous, etc. as opposed to being greedy and self centered.
Filed Under: Money, Personal Growth

Tailgating at Church

August 28, 2007 by Leave a Comment

Check out what the homegroups ministry is doing.

Hey Homegroupers! Football season is steadily approaching…so, we are having a HUGE tailgating event for the HUGE Baptism on Saturday, Sept. 8th to celebrate the several hundred people who have recently received Christ.

We are asking you and your homegroup to celebrate with all of us! Please bring food, grills, coolers, footballs, etc and any cheers that you want to perform with you!! There WILL be a prize for ‘Best Tailgate’. Tailgating starts at 3p and Baptism at 6p.

See you there!

Isn’t that a great idea?? I think it is. Those folks at NewSpring sure are creative.

Filed Under: Faith

Baby News & Government

August 27, 2007 by Leave a Comment

We went to the doctor last week. Well actually it’s a midwife. Shawna has decided to take on a new experience this time and give birth to this baby at a midwife center. The biggest difference being there won’t be any anesthesia.

Anyway, all is well. The baby has a healthy heartbeat. The due date is estimated to be February 26th. We should know in about 5 weeks if it is a boy or girl.

The midwife was very nice and has a much different approach to doing things than the typical OB-GYN. Our great friends Lenny & Tathie used this midwife’s services for one of their children and that has a lot to do with Shawna’s choice to go this route. It seems like it will be a good experience.

Of course we’re conscious about the cost but we’re trying to not let that be too much of our focus. There have already been tears in our house because it is just so wrong how much healthcare and insurance costs in this country. A hospital birth with a cash discount would probably cost about the same as the midwife even though we’re probably going to try and get a discount from the midwife’s regular pricing too, but I’ll talk more about those numbers in a later post. (I want to share later some things we’re doing to raise the money to prepare for it since it is what Joe Sangl would call a “known upcoming expense”.) For now I’d like to share something on the humorous and political side.

The midwife is smart. She sends her patients to Greenville Tech for free ultra sounds, so that’s where we’ll go for that. She also uses the public health department for blood work. She drew Shawna’s blood samples last week and we took them to the public health department lab for testing. This is where the political humor comes in. We had to dodge people in the parking lot and walk through several people just hanging around waiting in different doorways and hallways on our way to the lab. We were the only white people in the place. Now I’m all about our free country and cultural diversity and all that so don’t think I’m going down a prejudice trail.

The reason we were the only white people in the place is because everyone else was Mexican. Well I take that back – most of the workers were African-American, but I’m not talking about my fellow citizens. What I want to talk about is all the Spanish-only speaking Mexicans that were there. I say Spanish-only speaking because that’s all they can speak – no Engles (or however they spell it).

Now I don’t want to come across prejudice against any ethnic group because I’m not. Some of my best friends on my soccer team in high school were Mexican – English speaking Mexicans or at least some that were learning English. I’m on a friendly first name basis with the owner of one of my favorite Mexican restaurants here in town – he’s a nice Catholic family man, and he’s Mexican-American. I don’t have a problem with Mexicans in general. I have a problem with the illegal aliens we allow to live in our country and exploit our idiot government programs at we the taxpayers’ expense.

Shawna couldn’t help but laugh as I walked through the place and out loud said “my baby is going to cost me thousands of dollars but I bet his is free” and then as we passed some more people “hey – I bet I’m paying for his baby too”. I was saying it loud enough for them to hear me. You might be thinking what an aweful jerk I am for saying things like that right in front of these people. I have to remind you these were Spanish-only speaking Mexicans. They didn’t understand me and if they did they wouldn’t dare act like it because if they get caught speaking English they might get treated like a citizen.

I’ll stop ranting about this now cause I could go on and on all day, and forgive me if I’m offending someone who is actually trying to become a citizen, speak our language, and work to fund our government for those who really need it. I commend those who are making a better life for themself here without doing it at everyone elses expense. But during those moments the other day I just had to make humor to keep from getting furious that I had to wade through people from another country to get to my own US government funded health department. What is wrong with our leaders?

Filed Under: Family, Money

Relationships ARE Important

August 24, 2007 by Leave a Comment

Worth sharing about how important relationships can be even in unconventional ways…

How Success in Relationships Can Make You a Success in Other Areas
By Steve Kroening

So often in business you hear about the guy who makes it to the top because he ran over everyone to get there. While people who use these types of win-at-all-cost tactics still find a way to succeed, more and more of these people are getting fired, moved to the sidelines, or left behind. Why? Because people have found a better way to win. And it’s a tactic that can help you regardless of your occupation or calling in life.

This tactic is called “pursuing in love.” And here’s an example of how it works:
I recently heard a story about a man who ran for the Georgia State House of Representatives. To win his seat, he had to beat out seven other candidates from his own party. But the next time he ran, he ran completely unopposed. When asked what happened in the years between elections, he said, “After I was elected, I pursued all of the candidates I beat out. I got to know them, and tried to help them in any way I could. When the next election came around, they all knew me and liked me, so they didn’t want to run against me.”

He turned his enemies into friends simply by pursuing them and serving them. He could have snubbed his nose at them instead, and said, “I won, so I’m obviously better than you.” He didn’t have to pursue them. But doing so won them over to his side.

Taking the initiative with other people is a vital part of relationships that most people miss. We’re all too busy hoping others will pursue us. And when they don’t, we complain about it. We all have a desire to be pursued, so think about how others will feel when you pursue them. You’ll make their day.

Here’s how you can get started. Make a list of 5-10 people who you would like to pursue. They might be business associates, neighbors, visitors at your church, or people you meet at a social function. Once you have the list of people, find their phone numbers and write them down beside their names. Then, schedule a time to call them and talk. Don’t call for a favor or to get something you need. Call to serve them and find out how they’re doing.

If it’s possible, stop by and see them or invite them to lunch or breakfast. Pour your life into them. As you develop these relationships, find other people to add to your list and begin to pursue them. You never know where the relationships will take you.

Filed Under: Relationships

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

August 20, 2007 by Leave a Comment
  • I watched my neighbors dogs last week while they were gone on vacation. It was simple but they insisted on paying me. Does anybody else need me to watch after your dog?
  • I’m selling some stuff on ebay lately but I’m not making any money because I’m spending what I make on stuff I see on ebay.
  • You might remember several months ago Skyler had a dance recital. We just went and picked up our copy of the DVD yesterday. I’ll just say they need someone to do a professional video. This is a good business opportunity for anyone with a good camera and some editing capability – call The Dance Warehouse in Anderson, SC. I could have done a better job with my own home video camera. I was pretty upset about the poor quality for several reasons. They insisted that no one could bring cameras into the auditorium (even though many parents did – they must have already known of the poor video quality that would be provided for sale on DVD). So they lead us to believe the DVD on sale would be worth buying. It wasn’t! I won’t buy one next time unless I see about 3 professional videographers in the auditorium getting good shots from more then one angle and with more than a home video camera! Also, they were charging $15 for these DVD’s. If they were selling something of value it would have been worth $15, maybe even $25. But through most of the show the quality is so bad you can’t even tell who is who, and the song titles that were edited in had mispelling (heaven forbid they should have put the name of the class that was performing on the screen or even the names of the dancers – no, just the song titles). The only way I knew which kid was Skyler on one of the videos is because she does this one little leg move uniquely and when I saw them do that move I could tell which one was her. That’s bad. Somebody made a lot of money selling those DVD’s and what they should have done is refund everybody’s money. Now I’ll stop ranting about that.
  • Perry’s message yesterday made me feel better about this crazy post from last week. In fact he could have used it as an illustration.
  • I don’t want to be negative about anything that ain’t none of my business but when is Lee gonna let Orion play drums again? I haven’t talked to O in several weeks. O – If you’re reading this tell me when you’re scheduled to play again. Is it next week?
  • Next Sunday is going to be unbelievable at NewSpring for a lot of reasons – other than O might be playing drums.
  • Somebody anonymous left a comment last week something about thanks a lot for letting them know we are expecting. Sorry I haven’t called or emailed everyone personally or I might have even failed to mention it when I saw you anonymously in person. I’m still trying to wrap my own brain around it – we’re going to have 3 children in our house. The 18 year counter is going back to 0. 
Filed Under: Misc
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