Essenes, Zealots, and Herodians

A Child is Born

Are You Amazed?

Come Awake

March of the Unqualified

Mario 2 Speedrun

Donut Shot

American Dream

The Wall

Thank You God

Get out of Hell free

Is this your view of Christianity? Are you living only for heaven? Are you living for the magical kingdom or for a magnetic kingdom? (Questions from the TRiP tonight.) Bring heaven to earth today, do not wait for heaven until death. Jesus prayed your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.

God's Chisel

SY@TP 2010

videos from 9-8-10

pictures from 9-8-10

pictures from 9-8-10

HS Mission Trip 2010

Video from MS Mission Trip 2010

Videos from Rescued Series

Funny Pictures from 9-18-10

funny pictures from 9-25-10

Day 4 recap

Great day of ministry today. Let me first talk about our morning routine here. He have breakfast at 7:15 (Unless you are on the cooking crew or if you go for a run with me) and then we have our devo time. We then head out to our ministry sites.

The McChattys went back to Privet pulling today and then to the boys and girls club. The Conductors went back to Avandale Rec center in the evening, but this morning we went somewhere new. We go the chance to work at the Siscan developmental center for children with special needs. What a neat place. It would take to long to describe it here, ask me about when we get home. Basically it is a head start program for children with special needs to get the ready for real school. They have 300 students in the school aged from 3 weeks old to 6 years old. They spend around $26,000 per child per year. You would not believe the center, it was awesome. Check out the pictures.

We ended our day with a community cookout, club with a foot washing ceremony, and church group time. It has been an awesome week. You would be so proud of our girls. They worked their tails off this week. It has defiantly been a spiritual high this week and one of those moments that you will remember what God did through you by serving others. Can't wait to get home and start planning Putting Together the Pieces. It starts August 2 which is less than two weeks away. Time to apply what we learned by serving here and help out people in our own community.

More Courage, Less Fear; More There, Less Here; More Love, Less Ego; More Be, Less Go; MORE OR LESS YOUTHWORKS 2010 CHATTANOOGA!!!!!!!!!!!!

Day 3 recap

Day three was a blast. This was a repeat of day 1. The Conductors and the McChattys went to the same ministry sites as before. I showed up at Audobon Acres and guess what? The privet was still there, but we put a good dent in it. I had the girls share some stories last night, here are some:

One of the boys at one of the centers farted in Madison face. He apologized and said that he could not help himself.

Our two groups went to the same center yesterday. The McChattys in the morning and the conductors in the afternoon. When we got to the center in the afternoon, we were informed that they liked us better than the other white people (talking about the McChattys.) I do not think they did really, but these kids know how to work the system and to get played with. They are not shy.

The McChattys did the girls at the center nails for them. They returned the favor by doing some cornrolls in their hair.

We had the girls looking hard for the Statue of Liberty from Lookout Mountain. They never found it, but they looked for about 10 minutes.

I have told you about the mission sites, let me tell you about our typical nights here. After our evening activity, we come back to the church and have snack, club, and church group time. Club is a time where we sing some songs, get our announcements, see some silly skits, and have a bible lesson. You will have to ask us about the Hippo song. I am sure the girls will be glad to show you.

Alright that is all for now, I need to run of to devos and then to our mission sites. The Conductors is going to a new place today. It is a center for mentally handicapped kids. Pray that we will show them the love of Christ in our actions. The McChattys head back to Audubon to tackle the Privet. Pray for endurance. We will be home tomorrow, Yeah!!!

Day 2 pics

Day 2 Recap

We had a great day yesterday. Our two groups broke up again.

Group 1 (The Conductors: Wes Ford, Larry Blalock, Caroline Clark, Caroline Easterly, Chelsea Lawless, and Madeline Wood) went to the Chattanooga Food Bank and boxed up lunches for North Georgia kids. They feed the kids lunches during the summer when school is out. Each lunch bag got a sandwich, gummies, ganora bar, tooth brush, a drink, and applesauce. This place is huge. Check out the pictures. We packed over 1200 lunches in an hour and a half. We then got to go swimming with our kids from Avandale Rec Center. The water was very refreshing.

Group 2 (The McChatteys: Pam Stewart, Makenzi Bible, Jessica Luetjon, Grace Gass, Madison Shipley, Shelby Walker, and Kirsten Lawing) went to Avandale Rec Center and the to the Girls and Boys club. They played with kids all day and got to make some pretty cool bracelets.

We capped the day off with a trip to Coolige Park downtown with some clumpy's ice cream and playing in the fountain.

Day 1 pics

Day 1 Recap

We had a terrific first day. Our group split into two groups. Group 1 went to a Native American Trail of Tears site and worked with Ms. Cleot and Digger. We got introduced to our new enemy Privet. It is an invasive root that can grow into a 25 foot tree. We spent the morning pulling it up and carrying it off. Youth works has been doing this al summer and we added to the pile of pulled privet that is already 6 feet high, 30 feet wide, and about 60 feet long. We then went to Allandale Rec center and played with kids the rest of the afternoon. Group 2 went to Allandale center in the morning and got to play kickball with the kids. They then went to a boys/girls club and played some more. For our activity in the evening, we went for an enchanted stroll through Rock City. If you are curious there are 62 gnomes in rock city.

It was an excellent day of ministry. The girls did awesome serving the Chattanooga community. Pray for strength to be able to pull out another day.

Pictures from New York

videos from the trip

videos from the trip

Do Something

We started a new sermon series tonight called "Do Something." We are going to learn, pray about, and participate in missions. Here is a breakdown of the series.

Each week we will be collecting goods for a ministry:

week 1 we collected can goods for the Greene County Food Bank

week 2 we will be collecting items to make a basket for the Hope Center (Greeneville's Crisis Pregnancy Center)

week 3 we will be collecting Bingo items for the nursing home

Each week I will send out a text/email describing in particular what items we need.

We will also have a group challenge each week:

week 1 I challenge you to go barefoot as much as you can tomorrow. It is National Barefoot Day raising awareness for the poverty in the world. You can read about and get info here http://www.onedaywithoutshoes.com/index2.php.

week 2 I challenge you to fast on Thursday 15 to raise awareness of world poverty. This means that you will not eat any food, liquids are fine. You can find information about it here http://www.30hourfamine.org/.

week 3 I challenge you to come to Mission: Greeneville on Saturday April 24 from 9-12. We will be helping out the food bank, a nursing home, and be doing a rest stop ministry.

We will also have some individual challenges each week. Consider these extra credit for those who want to do more. Here are this weeks individual challenges:

• Get some fresh air. Ride your bike to a place you'd usually drive.
• Re-use. The next time someone hands you a plastic water bottle, use it 5 times before tossing it in the recycle bin. (The amount of plastic that can be recycled from a plastic bottle is only 10%.) Better yet, buy an ultra-hip high-quality water bottle and use it all the time.
• Learn...Visit the website www.350.org and learn about climate change. Agree/disagree? Talk about it.
• Get a cuppacoffee...Bring your own mug. Most places are stoked if you bring in your own cup. Get your double-espresso-caramel-soy- machiatto-venti no whip in your own mug that you know and love.
• Cut that meat! Meat is one of the most environmentally taxing foods to produce. 1 pound of beef requires 12,000 gallons of water! (60 for a pound of potatoes.) Skip one serving of beef this week.
• Hurry up in the shower...Take 2 minutes to get squeaky clean. Set the timer. Get your suds on! Try it for a week. Chances are, you'll find you don't need 10 minutes to get un-stinky.
• Unplugging is better than the off-switch. See which appliances and chargers in your home could be unplugged when not in use. Only plug them in when they needs to be used.
• Buy something vintage and give it a second shot at life... If you need a new something-or-other, consider something from a thrift store. Old Stuff doesn't require manufacturing processes.

Pictures from Ridgecrest video

videos from the trip

Ridgecrest update day 2

Yeah, this is post #100 for the blog.

Sitting in the hallway chatting with Shelby and Katie at 11:42 at night and talking about how awesome the retreat has been. Matt Papa has been great and Clayton King, the speaker, preaches like a hog eats. Sorry that is his quote not mine. Clayton talked about discipleship this morning. His three key points were Foundation, Focus, and some other F word that I cannot remember at this late hour. After breakfast (biscuits and gravy with grits,) we split up unto our school groups.

This afternoon Leigh Ann and I ran a 5 K that actually turned into a 2 K. You can see the pictures. We had matching uniforms. We then went to a Matt Papa concert. It was great fun and some awesome worship. You rock, Papa Shababy!

After supper with Bill and Dianne Woody, we had another group time. The adults got the pleasure of meeting with Dr. Richard Ross. He was one of my professors at Southwestern and one of the most profound people that I have ever met. Every time he speaks, it changes and grows your awareness of what God is doing.

Our nighttime session with Clayton and Papa was epic. Clayton brought his wife on stage and they talked about relationships. Our youth were really challenged to honor God with their relationships. Treat every date like they are a potential mate.

Coming home tomorrow, great weekend, God has done some amazing things. I am renewed and the youth are too. God thank you for the glory of Your Son, May you live through us as we leave this place. May we never be the same again, never to be satisfied with this world. Enflame our hearts with the power of the gospel and compel our lips to tell everyone that we see of your majesty. Good night all.

Pictures from Ridgecrest

Ridgecrest update day 1

We got here safely riding in the ultimate comfort. Greene Coach brought us on their brand new 47 passenger bus. I think that it rides smother than my car. The bus has satellite TV with about 75 channels and wifi on the bus while you travel. Very nice! After we got here yesterday, we got settled in our room and then went to eat in the cafeteria. We had a youth trip staple, spaghetti. After supper, we split into school groups. All the kids from Greeneville High and Middle school, were in one room. We prayed for our school, teachers, and community. After our school groups we headed to our first big group setting with Matt Papa and Clayton King.

This is the first time that I have heard Matt. He was at Student Life 3 years ago and a lot of our girls remember him. He is from Raleigh, NC and he passed his first test with me. He said that he is a Duke fan. Go devils! Clayton spoke last night out of Romans 10. He talked about what it means to believe in your heart and to confess with your mouth. Good stuff and great first day, pictures to follow.

videos from the trip

It is nice to know that I get paid to chill ... Video shown at the TRiP tonight.

Games from the TRiP

We played 3 games tonight taken from NBC newest game show "Minute to Win it." If you have not seen it yet, you should check it out. We had three High schoolers face off against three middle schoolers. Here are the videos of how to do them.

music from the TRiP

Some of you were asking what the new song was that we sang at the TRiP on Wednesday. It was Softer to Me by Reliant K. Here is two videos with the song for you. The acoustic version is of their Creepy EP and the rock version is off their title album. Enjoy!

Crazy Bible Stories Series

Last week in the TRiP we finished our Crazy Bible Stories series. It was a great series! We studied 3 Old Testament prophets: Elijah, Elisha, and Ezekiel. Our point was to show how interesting and unique the Bible really is by highlighting some weird stories in it. I wanted to do some Bible stories that you really do not hear too often. The three week series broke down like this:

Week 1 - Elijah and the Ravens - 1 Kings 17:1-6

Week 2 - Elisha and the Bears - 2 Kings 2:23-25

Week 3 - Ezekiel and the Poop - Ezekiel 4:12

We used the strange aspects of each story to spark interest, but ended up taking about the entire ministry of each prophet and what God did through them. It is amazing the complete nature of God that you see through combining all three prophets ministry.

Elijah's ministry centered around big acts directed to the Baal worshipers. All of his miracles were huge acts: the three year drought, the fire on Mt. Carmel, soldiers' being consumed, etc. God was showing that He is the one true god. He is the Almighty Creator of the universe. He is God and He alone is in control.

Elisha's ministry was more personal. A lot of his miracles small and individual: multiplying a widow's oil, healing Naaman from leprosy, making an ax head float, etc. Elisha showed that God is a personal god. He cares about our day to day needs.

Ezekiel's ministry was the completion of the two. He was telling the people that because you chose to sin and rebel that you are going to be punished. But if you will repent and turn from your sin, God will restore you.

So combing all three weeks we learned that God is an all powerful being that is the ruler of the universe. But even though He is a big God, He still cares about us as individuals. He still wants to have a intimate, personal relationship with each one of us. He is a big God, but also a intimate God. He loves us, but He is also a God that punishes sin. If we chose to disobey Him, we will have to suffer the consequences of our choices. But if we will just turn from our sin and return to him, we find that He is right there waiting to restore us. What an awesome God we serve! He holds the universe together and is interested in our daily ives. Like a good father, he disciplines our disobedience but welcomes us back with love when we return to Him.

Pictures form the TRiP

Some pictures used during our Ezekial talk during our Crazy Bible Stories series at the TRiP. Examples of modern day street evangelism.