A Dream Come True

Did you ever have a childhood hero? You wanted to be like him/her, you would do anything in the world to meet them? It might of been a basketball player, an actor, or even Santa Clause. There is some one who I inspired as a child to be like. I would even tell my family that my dream was to meet this person and go on tour with them.
That's right, I have the chance to see "Weird" Al Yankovic in concert.
He will be at the Fresno fair in a couple weeks and I have always (ever since UHF) wanted to meet him. As a kid I thought he was the funniest person ever.
On October 11th, I will make my childhood memory come true, I will see Weird Al perform in concert.

Weight Watchers Works

It really does. Training and running a half marathon, I was sure that I was going to lose a few pounds. But every time I look in the mirror, I just see this root beer belly like I am about to have a baby. I decided to give weight watchers a try. I have tried in the past, but due to the lack of my dicipline and my love for Mexican food, it didnt last long.
I have been successful for 8 days now and have lost 5 lbs. I feel a lot better as well. Not as tired. Lets see if I can make it another week.

New Crowder Album

Just received it in the mail today. It also came along with a little nifty bag.
The album is a typical Crowder album. (which means it is really good) Go buy it, you wont be disappointed.

A Long Weekend

We have had a student ministries staff training conference this weekend. It was a great time to connect with our volunteers and eat a lot of great food. The best part of the weekend was that our guest speaker was Dean White, who was the pastor of interns at Saddleback. We had a lot of time to catch up and even play some frisbee golf.
But now it is Saturday night, I am tired and I have to get ready for church tomorrow.
Good Night!

Im going for Reality Television

I am currently trying my best to get on Big Brother 9.
I just filled out the application and am sending it in tomorrow. It will be months before I would hear anything (if I hear anything) but my goal is to be on this show.
If you don't know the show, many strangers are put together in a house and have to vote each other out. Last one standing gets $500,000.
Its like Survivor but without all of the suffering. I wouldn't make it a day on that show.
I know its very unlikely, but Big brother always puts together the biggest variety of people they can find. In Hollywood, I would think a 27 year old Christian youth pastor would be pretty different.

Cowboys 37 - Dolphins 20

I think this is going to be a great year.
Cowboys have scored back to back 35 + games for the first time since 1987. Wasnt even done during the 3 superbowls in the 90's
GO COWBOYS!

Numbers...

I was eating at a Chinese buffet today, and I overheard two pastors from different churches discussing attendance in their churches. The conversation went on for a good 20 minutes, comparing and emphasizing the importance to have a large church.
This conversation kind of bothered me.
I have attended and worked at a wide variety of churches, from churches to a couple hundred to mega churches in the thousands. They both have their pros and cons, but I think that a lot of churches rate their success by their attendance. This conversation at the buffet is nothing I haven't heard before. I remember as a kid, every sunday after church, I would ask my dad (who is a pastor) how many people were there that Sunday. If it was a higher number I would be happy, if it were down, I would think that it would be shut down.

Although, new people coming every week is a great thing, I don't think any ones primary focus should be on "how many people do I have"

So where do you find the balance?
I believe that if you focus on having a spiritually health church body and teach the importance of evangelizing and reaching out to the community, God is going to bless the church in many ways. But to make numbers your #1 focus, I think the priorities are a little mixed up.

I will never forget what my old pastor, Rick Warren, once said.
"We count people because people count." Great quote!

It is important to know who you have and who you dont have, but dont rely on the numbers to decide if you are at a healthy church or not.

Time for a ride a long

The Chief of Police came to our church last weekend and spoke to our congregation about the gang violence in the community. Apparently, there are gangs here. I had no idea.
But then he let the staff know that if we ever want to see the dark side of the community that he would be more than happy to take us on a ride along. And I am totally going to take him up on this offer. He said he will try to keep me safe as best he can. That doesn't make me feel too great, but as long as I get to turn on the siren and wear a bullet proof vest, I will be happy.

Do you know your Bible?

Who was the 3rd man to walk on water?

The first one was Jesus.

The second one was Peter.

Then there was this guy, Jose.

A litte humor to start off the day

A cowboy, who is visiting Wyoming from Texas ,walks into a bar and orders three mugs of Bud. He sits in the back of the room, drinking a sip out of each one in turn.
When he finishes them, he comes back to the bar and orders three more. The bartender approaches and tells the cowboy,"You know, a mug goes flat after I draw it. It would taste better if you bought one at a time." The cowboy replies, "Well, you see, I have two brothers. One is in Arizona , the other is in Colorado.When we all left our home in Texas,we promised that we'd drink this way to remember the days when we drank together. So I'm drinking one beer for each of my brothers and one for myself."
The bartender admits that this is a nice custom,and leaves it there. The cowboy becomes a regular in the bar,and always drinks the same way. He orders three mugs
and drinks them in turn. One day, he comes in and only orders two mugs.
All the regulars take notice and fall silent. When he comes back to the bar for the second round,the bartender says, "I don't want to intrude on your grief, but I wanted to offer my condolences on your loss. "The cowboy looks quite puzzled for a moment then a light dawns in his eyes and he laughs. "Oh, no, everybody's just fine," he explains, "It's just that my wife and I joined the Baptist Church and I had to quit drinking. Hasn't affected my brothers though!"

Do you believe in miracles?

Yes, I am alive. I was going to wait until I got the pictures of me at the finish line but it was taking too long. But last Monday, Me and 15,000 other people completed a 13.1 half marathon. It was an unbelievable experience.
Here is how the day went down.
I had to be there at 4:30am to get ready. I was so excited the night before that I got maybe 2 hours of sleep. Not good before having to run a long distance.
Stocked up on pasta (the night before) bagels, bananas, gatorade, and an energy bar.
Got in position with the 3 hour group. (the slower ones) and then I just started running.
We started in Downtown Disney, went through disneyland, California Adventure, the streets of Anaheim, around the Pond arena, inside Angel stadium on the field, back into Disneyland where my friends Becky, Mike, and Nicole were waiting along with Mickey and Goofy at the finish line.
I also counted 5 different ambulances come get people while I was jogging. Thank God I wasnt one of them.
I received a huge disneyland medal and certificate and then went and ate a whole lot of food.
This was my goal for 2007
Now I need a new one for 2008. Im thinking scuba lessons.