Review: Free Prize Inside

Here's my relationship with books: I like them, I collect them, and once in a while I actually get around to reading them. At one point I had hoped to read a book a week this summer, with the included expectation that I would write a review here on the blog. I might have picked the wrong book to get started, because it's one that's challenging me to find a lot of application.

Right off the bat I want to acknowledge that a book like this may be a bit controversial in a ministry setting. Some folks aren't fond of taking a popular business book or concept and trying to apply it to the church or some other ministry. While I agree that the church is not a business, I think it would be foolish to ignore wisdom or ideas that could help us serve the Lord more effectively. While I do believe the Bible is the infallible authoritative word of God, I don't think it's the only place we can find useful knowledge. With that said, here are a few thoughts I have regarding this book and its author.

I got to hear Seth Godin speak in person at Catalyst last fall and was very impressed. He's not the most striking or dynamic speaker, but he understands that. So instead of his face on the video screen, he had the best powerpoint presentation I've ever seen. I don't know how many slides he had, but it definitely numbered in the hundreds. They were all (as far as I can remember) images, and if there was any text it would be a single word. The images were gripping, interesting and illustrative. In this particular book he includes some advice for making quality powerpoint presentations on pages 102 to 107 that would probably be worth the price of the book for a lot of people.

For anyone in the realm of business, especially in a non-leadership position, I think this would be a very useful resource. The second section of the book is all about championing an idea and getting those above you to buy into it. Well, I don't personally have to deal with that, since I have a great deal of freedom in my job to try all sorts of new things. The third (and final) section goes into great detail about finding the edges you can exploit to make your product remarkable. Again, I had a bit of a tough time finding a lot of application here, although it probably best serves as a long series of examples to help you better assess your own situation.

But I'm probably getting ahead of myself here. What is the main point of the book? Quite simply it is to make your product remarkable. By remarkable he means that which causes people to make a remark, something that people will talk about. His idea is that you do that by having a free prize inside, an unexpected extra, just like you used to find in cereal boxes as a kid. (Do they still do those today? We just buy cheap bagged cereal...) And when they get that free prize, they'll tell others.

I've seen this in action and know that it's true. Nowhere was this more evident than in our Dollar Dinner ministry last year. Getting a cheap meal isn't a new idea, and there are several churches/ministries in town where you can do that. But what started drawing in larger-than-normal crowds was the free prize: excellent homemade food. I found that we didn't have to advertise the event at all, because the food itself was the advertisement. It went above and beyond their expectations, which led them to tell their friends and bring them along. A second, lesser free prize was the amount of food that was provided (variety, not necessarily quantity), also much more than you'd think to get for a dollar.

The idea of practicing excellence in our ministries shouldn't be a new or difficult concept. The Bible says as much in Colossians 3:23, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men." The Lord is certainly worthy of the very best that we can give (and much more!) A similar statement would be that "if something is worth doing, it's worth doing right." Ministry is certainly worth doing! But some times we're so busy doing a bunch of things okay that we're not doing any of them with excellence. For some, it might be best to cut out what's just getting by and focus on hitting a home run with a smaller number of things.

While that's the primary thing I got out of this book, there were a few other ideas that got my attention. Here's one: "We buy what we want, not what we need." I think that statement has some pretty radical implications for ministry. How do we best meet people's wants in order that we can ministry to their (in our eyes) more important needs? And how do we do that without compromising what really matters? To not simply become a fun club for people to be a part of? I think it's a tough balance to strike, but one that we must seriously consider since all that ministries do is based on volunteer attendance and involvement.

Another big idea for me was this simple statement: "Fix what's broken." Sometimes the best way we can make something excellent (and therefore remarkable) is to simply remove the barriers that block its way. After all, we seem much more likely to remember that one thing that went wrong than the ten that went right. Maybe it's parking or a bad flow of people traffic. It could be as simple as the buzz in your sound system. It shouldn't be too hard to find out what needs fixing, just ask around or have a non-regular come and watch with a fresh set of eyes.

The last thing that I'm still working on is the idea that people have been trained their whole lives to do what they're told. He makes the statement that, "the easiest way to avoid pain is to follow someone else's lead." As a minister I want to empower others to make decisions, embrace their ideas and take chances. This isn't natural for very many of us, so I need to figure out how to help students do this more and more. Any advice or thoughts on that?

So all in all I found the book to be very interesting and somewhat helpful and challenging. For those in the business sector I think it would be a great read. For those of you in ministry, I tried my best to pick out the best parts so you could just read this blog post instead =)

Discipleship Essentials

Next year we're strongly considering using the book Discipleship Essentials by Greg Ogden as our small group discipleship material. In order to test it out, I'm going through it this summer at a quicker pace with one of our student leaders. Tonight is technically our second session, although the first may not have really counted since we did it via Facebook while I was in Turkey.

The second session is on being a disciple, and it's a very good one. Two separate passages of scripture are examined, using an inductive method of asking good questions and requiring the learner to think. The "right" answers are never given, so there's no chance for peeking or cheating - real thought and prayer must be applied.

It's always good to be reminded that to follow Jesus is to "deny [your]self and take up [your] cross daily, and follow." If anyone is looking for some good discipleship material, this is definitely worth checking out. Thanks to Jason Allen and Brian Lautenschlager for pointing me in its direction.

Bible in 90 Days

A while back I began doing my daily Bible reading on Biblegateway.com. Just before leaving for Turkey, I saw that they were going to be starting a 90 day reading plan on June 1. If today's reading is indicative of the whole plan, it looks to be about 16 chapters a day.

I generally don't like to read the Bible in giant chunks like this, mostly because I like to take a small section and dive in as deep as I can. But this is a nice change of pace, and will likely help me remember a lot of stuff that I've forgotten or have neglected in the past.

If anyone wants to join me or just wants to learn more, you can do so here.

Creative Anti-Smoking Campaign

When I went to Turkey back in January, I was surprised to see some of the cigarettes for sale in the Ankara airport. Specifically, I didn't expect to see over half of the carton's packaging to display the words "SMOKING KILLS." Not being a fan of smoking, I was happy to see this truth displayed a little bit larger than the American Surgeon General's warning we have.

Well, this time around I found a whole new set of statements on the cartons, going into greater detail than simply saying, "Smoking Kills." Here are some samples for you to enjoy.

Quick Shots

Here are a few photos Andrew has taken, presented without commentary:

Culture of Chai

I never got around to posting a lot of thoughts about my first trip to Turkey, here's one of them:

Of course there were many cultural differences to be found, but I've been thinking a lot lately about chai. In some parts of the world chai is a milk/tea/spice drink, but in Turkish it is simply the word for tea. After every meal they sit and have hot chai. I was only there in the winter, so I don't know if that's just a cold weather thing or an all the time thing. I suspect it's the latter.*

* It is, in fact, the latter. I was very happy to find this time around that chai has nothing to do with the weather at all. It's just as popular in May as it was back in January.

What strikes me about being a chai culture is what it represents. Why would anyone sit around after a meal (and we're talking all three meals of the day here) just to have tea? To sit and visit, of course! Relationships are highly valued there, so sitting and talking is a great way to spend more of your time.

It's not that relationships aren't important in America, but we seem to have something we value even more: efficiency. Most of us don't sit around and visit after a meal because we don't have time for it. There are just too many other important things to do with the time. At my house the process of eating dinner together might not take more than ten or fifteen minutes. I know others are so busy that they often don't have time to sit and eat at all - it might simply be grabbing something from a drive through and eating in the car on the way to somewhere else.

In trying to invest in international students at Northwest, I've found that the most important issue is simply spending time together. Sure it's great to help meet a need like providing furniture or a ride to WalMart. But then what? Is that the end, or is it a means to something more?

Maybe this is so intuitive to others that it's laughable to even post this. But while we're so busy trying to squeeze the most out of our time, we too have this same cry for relationships. It's almost as if we have competing desires, between being productive and connecting with people. Unfortunately our schedules are packed with important commitments which usually mean we have to sacrifice the relationships first.

I'm realizing more and more that I need to trim some responsibilities from my plate so I have more time with people. And even when I am around people, I need to make a greater effort to actually connect with them, and not simply be "around" people.

A second trip to Turkey has simply reinforced this truth.

Seriously?

By now I'm sure most people know that Manny Ramirez tested positive for a banned substance and will be serving a 50 game suspension from baseball. I realize I only have a few selected clips from the paper, but I want to throw this one out there:

In a statement, Manny said, "Recently I saw a physician for a personal health issue... He gave me a medication, not a steroid, which he thought was okay to give me. Unfortunately, the medication was banned under our drug policy. Under the policy that mistake is now my responsibility. I have been advised not to say anything more for now. I do want to say one other thing; I've taken and passed about 15 drug tests over the past five seasons."

What's the deal here? Are we really supposed to believe Manny had no idea what was going on? Apparently the substance is "a female fertility drug that can also be used as a antidote to diminished testosterone levels at the end of a cycle of steroid treatments."

It's quite possible that everything he's saying in there is true. He had a "personal health issue." The doctor gave him "medication, not a steroid" that the doctor though "was okay to give." Those could all be true statements, and yet still be a complete cover to hide what was really going on.

And the way he says "that mistake is now my responsibility" makes him sound like a victim. Yet he's not going to appeal the results or the punishment dealt out by MLB. It's hard to believe an innocent ballplayer would sit back and take something like this quietly, which further leads me to believe it's true. Especially one who has "taken and passed about 15 drug tests over the past five seasons."

It's amazing how easy it is to own up to something without really owning up to anything at all.*

* Yes, I realize this comes off a bit self-righteous, and who knows what I would do if I were a professional ballplayer. And yes, I do have plenty of struggles of my own, so it would be perfectly legit to say something about planks or stones. I was just struck by this statement this morning and wanted to throw some thoughts out there.

New Family Fun

We picked up a new game the other day that has turned out to be a lot of fun. It's called Slamwich and here are the rules. It's one of those types of games that requires pattern recognition and quick hands and lots of slapping the table!

Productive Day

At 8am this morning, Zach and I began moving furniture around and proceeded to tear up our old carpet and pad. Then we spent an hour or so pulling staples out of the floor along with random nails and things. When that was finally out of the way, our local flooring expert Kevin came over and helped us install laminate flooring! We wrapped up our day right at 6pm, knocking out the living room and dining room. Tomorrow we're going to try and finish the kids' rooms.

Here's our wonderful old carpet on its last day:


Here's a shot of the amazing tile that was hiding under the carpet in the dining room:


And here's a glimpse at the finished product:

Ah the Memories

So here we are getting the kids ready on Wednesday morning. One of the kids makes a comment about peaches, which naturally leads Karin to sing a song. I had to load up the video on YouTube so they could enjoy the song in all its glory. The ninjas at the end are classic!

Quick Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• Go Royals! - when I signed up for DVR last spring, I only did it because the Royals had a new deal with Fox Sports KC that would put almost all of their games on TV. Last year was fine, but this year it's really turning out to be a great decision. I don't know what's going on with the team, but it's a lot of fun! They're winning games they never would've won in the past, including last night's slugfest against Chicago. I was really tired and went to bed at the end of the 10th, but I'll catch the 11th on DVR here real soon. Great job out of the pen last night by Jamey Wright!


• Greinke Fun Facts - If you read my blog, you know by now that I'm a big fan of Joe Posnanski. Much of what he writes is must-read in my book, but you've got to check out these stats on Greinke so far. I especially like 5, 6 and 8.


• Worth Repeating - I hope to see a few more of these this season, but the other night Billy Butler had an outstanding game: a single, a double and two home runs. Once again, Joe Poz comes through in splendid fashion, giving me a genuine laugh-out-loud moment, terming such an accomplishment as a "Billy Cycle." To quote Joe, "Billy is a terrific young hitter but, to be brutally frank, that triple probably isn’t happening." I'll take a Billy Cycle any day!


• Cool Hand Luke? - Like many others, I'm wondering what in the world Sydney Ponson is doing as a continuing member of the Royals rotation. Interesting stat today: Royals without Ponson = 16-6. Meanwhile, Luke is tearing it up in AAA with a 5-0 record and a 1.13 ERA. What I really don't get is this quote from Trey: "I’m thrilled for Luke. I hope at some point we do get to see him, but I don’t want it to be because somebody is not performing or because we have an injury." Uhhh, is there a third option? Death? Abduction by aliens?


• Idol Rocks - Last night was Rock Night on American Idol, and it was AWESOME! I definitely enjoyed it more than any other Idol so far, I think it was enough to completely wash the taste of Country Night out of my mouth. I agree with Randy that Kris and Danny sounded AMAZING together in their duet, even if they didn't do so well individually. Hard to guess who goes home tonight. Danny's never been in the bottom three and is probably safe. Adam was in his element last night and is probably safe. At this point I actually like Kris more than Allison, although that's like saying you like peanut butter cookies more than chocolate chip. They're both really, really good!


• New Project Today - We spent a sizable amount of money yesterday on laminate flooring, and today the project begins! We ended up getting a great deal, so we decided to go ahead and do the kids' rooms as well. We've heard of many, many people that have done this themselves, hopefully it goes as easily as we are expecting it to. It will be nice to have some guys helping out, too, especially Kevin who has a background in flooring.


• Spoils of War - I got my new set of Wow Minis, and I'm really excited about these figures. Even better was the fact that I got several loot cards I could sell on ebay. One went for over $100! I don't know why someone would pay that much for a Foam Sword Rack, but it's a great trade for me!!

Adventures In St Joe

Quite awhile ago we got connected with Dave Ramsey's financial advice and have been big fans ever since. In that time I've also seen Dave speak in person twice at the Catalyst Conference and thoroughly enjoyed him both times. In fact, the first year I went he was the best speaker there.

Dave has some very simple steps to get people headed toward financial freedom, and it's something I wish we would've learned before we got married. First off is to set up a $1,000 emergency fund. The reason for that is that if you decide to immediately try to get out of debt, what do you do when an emergency comes up? You likely get into more debt. So you do whatever necessary to get your $1,000 emergency fun in place as quickly as possible.

After that you start working on paying off your debt. Dave suggests the "debt snowball" method, which is a very good idea. Basically you pay the minimum on all your debts except for the smallest one. On the smallest one, you pay as much as you possibly can each month. Once that one's paid off, you take the amount you were paying on the smallest and apply it to the new smallest. As you pay off debts, the amount you're paying toward each one snowballs until you've got them all paid off. Sweet!

After you're debt free (except for a mortgage, that comes later), you start working on an extended emergency fund. The amount depends, but it should cover four to six months of living expenses. We've had this done for several months and have been dragging our feet in moving on to step four: investing for retirement.

The main thing about investing is that I don't know anything about it. It seems like you could go in a thousand different directions, which left us paralyzed. Where do you start? A few weeks ago a Dave-approved financial adviser was at our church to talk about investments and we set up an appointment with him for yesterday.

Things didn't start out so well. Our appointment was at 9am in St Joe, so we took Allison to school and then hit the road. The office is in downtown St Joe, which is an area we're unfamiliar with. That being the case, we arrived early since we were able to find the place with no problems. He wasn't in the office yet, but the secretary assured us he would be there at 9am. No problem, we'll just wait for ten minutes.

9:00 comes and no adviser. 9:05 rolls around and the secretary starts to act surprised, so she tries tracking him down on his cell phone. No luck. 9:10, she tries him at home. No answer. 9:15, I decide to start reading some of these Forbes magazines laying in front of me. I now understand what's wrong with Nascar's financial set up! Finally, at 9:30, we decide to leave. This is very disappointing, as we've set up somewhere for Allison to go after school just to make this trip, and now we'll have to do it all over again.

So we take off, and after we're about five minutes down the road, I get a call on my cell phone. Somehow he thought the meeting was at 10 and promised he would be at the office soon. We turned around and got there at about 9:45.

As we pulled back in to the building, we parked at the same two hour parking we'd been at before. The exact same spot. I wondered aloud if that was a good idea, but was already a little bit annoyed at having left and returned, so I was just eager to get inside.

Once we finally connected at 10am, things went quite well. I'm now the proud owner of a Roth IRA with a pretty diversified portfolio. It's not worth much, but it feels good to finally be started. He did a very good job answering our questions and I think he gave us some great advice.

Our initial plan was to hit Home Depot and Target while we were in St Joe, but we were now out of time and would simply have to head back to Maryville. As we're walking back to the van, what's that on the windshield? It can't be! Yes, it is. A $7 parking ticket. Apparently leaving for ten minutes in the middle of your 3 hour stint doesn't keep you from getting a ticket.

No, $7 isn't a big deal, it's more of the principle of the thing. We were never there for more than two hours and shouldn't have a ticket at all. Of course we'd have to go back to St Joe to protest the ticket, and it's cheaper to pay $7 than the gas (and time) we'd lose otherwise.

It's funny how annoying something like that can be. A simple mix up of our meeting time kept us from getting to Home Depot (to buy some laminate flooring) and also got us this irritating ticket. But what happened today? Since we missed Home Depot, we decided to try our local Sutherlands out. Not only did we get a better deal (who knew?) but the stuff we bought ended up being on sale as well! That right there saved us another $100.

So now I'm glad we got detained in St Joe yesterday, but I still wish it hadn't cost me $7 :P

Wednesday Bullets

Some random thoughts on this overcast Wednesday:

• A Good Morning - It's really been quite an interesting day. At the start I was very discouraged and frustrated, which tends to happen this time of year. As the school year ends, my schedule undergoes shock as I try to figure out what to do with myself without the structure that I've had for the past nine months. I've been feeling that for a few days, wondering what I should be doing, feeling quite useless and unmotivated to do much of anything.
  
  This morning I had a good heart-to-heart with the Lord, and as He always does He Himself encouraged me before dropping someone in my path who did a great job with more of the same. It sure is great to know the Lord.


• Whitlock Suggests Adding Barry Bonds - As I've said before, I know his primary job is to stir the pot. In my last commentary on a Whitlock article I pointed out that very little journalism seemed to be happening. Well, in his most recent work, he actually appears to have talked to a lot of Royals players. Good job! It was very interesting to read different players' takes on Barry Bonds and the possibility of him joining the team. While I may have missed on my Tony G prediction, I feel quite confident in this one: Barry Bonds will never play for the Royals. There's simply nowhere for him to play, as he'd be a major liability in the outfield and the Royals are already stuck with two DH's that barely play passable 1B defense (Mike Jacobs and Billy Butler).


• Zackkkkk Greinkkkkke! - Man, this guy is really becoming a national story. He's going to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated (which hasn't happened to a KC Royal since David Cone in 1993!) and there probably aren't any good adjectives to describe his season thus far. If it weren't for an unearned run, the best word would likely be "perfect."
  
  Anyway, if you don't know anything about Greinke then you need to do some reading. Great story. But today I simply wanted to share a quote from him that I found both refreshing and extremely encouraging:
  

  “We’re not even a month in, not even a month. Everyone has hot streaks. (Mike) Aviles was the best player for a week a couple times last year. (Brian) Bannister was the best player for a month a while back. The good players do it all year long, and then all year long the next year, and the next year after that. The key isn’t one week or one month. You have to do it longer.”

  
  Here's hoping he can do it for a lot longer. Both he and Royals fans deserve it!


• Deep Thoughts - I have way too many half-written blog posts sitting here, waiting to be finished. I will try and get those done before I leave the country on May 17!

That Figures...

"I have no idea what will happen, but I expect Tony to stay and retire as a Chief. Just wanted to get that out there in case he's part of a blockbuster trade tomorrow and I'm way off." - Me, February 24, 2009.

Well, the trade didn't happen the next day, and it didn't turn out to be a blockbuster either. A second round pick in next year's draft is a little frustrating in exchange for Tony G. I like the idea of getting a second round pick, we clearly are a team in building mode. It's just too bad that pick won't come until 2010.

I can't say I'm all that on board with this trade. Tony still has a few quality seasons in the tank and would be a great target for new QB Matt Cassel. The fact that we didn't acquire any picks in this year's draft* means we don't even get anything in return this year. That's a gaping void to fill, and taking Michael Crabtree means you don't address your offensive line or your defense.

* Of course Pioli seems to be a major wheeler/dealer, so it's quite possible the Chiefs will still move around in the draft this weekend and pick up some additional picks. And maybe they'll even move that pick they just got from Atlanta. I hope so.

I understand that Tony is disgruntled and wants to play for a winner. It's arguable how many wins he'd add to the team right now given the state of last year's defense, but he was an absolute blast to watch play. I understand that if he had retired here you would've gotten nothing in return for him, and maybe he wanted out so badly that he left the team with no other choice. Either way it's no fun for the fans. Maybe I'm just more attached to Gonzo than I was to Jared Allen, because that trade really didn't bother me too much. But then again, guaranteed first ballot Hall of Famers are rare for any team, especially the Chiefs.

Great pick up for Atlanta, I'm sure it will be a big boost to their offense and fantasy football players better target Matt Ryan early. The only thing I know for sure is that I'll miss Tony and hope to pick up my first ever Atlanta Falcons jersey before the season starts!

Get Smart

Joe Posnanski writes all kinds of great stuff, but I found this to be particularly interesting. If you're a baseball fan, you'll want to read this article. It details different pitch counts and what is likely to happen in each situation. Very educational!

• The Count of Counting Counts

Sweet Mexicutioner

While the weather in April is a constant source of frustration for me, there is one thing that's always a certainty: the return of baseball. I'll admit that while I've always maintained allegiance to the Royals, it's been pretty tough to be excited about the team in the past. Since Dayton Moore came on board things have been getting better, and there are legitimate reasons to be excited about the team and the direction it is heading.

As you probably know, the Royals were postponed on Opening Day due to bad weather in Chicago. So Tuesday was their first game, and I managed to watch the first 7 1/2 innings. Meche was great, and the offense showed some signs against Buehrle, even though they were unable to capitalize with runners in scoring position.

The Royals held a 2-1 lead going into the eighth inning, and as all current fans know, Jim Thome hit a three run bomb off of Kyle Farnsworth to ruin the game for us all. Yes, it nullified Meche's great performance. Yes, it displayed some questionable decision making by manager Trey Hillman. But the worst thing of all: it kept us from watching Joakim Soria.

So last night, while unable to watch the game live, I did get to watch Soria pitch thanks to DVR. I've never enjoyed watching a pitcher as much as I like to watch this guy. He's absolutely unshakable and relentlessly attacks hitters. The other Royals pitchers will almost guarantee that every first pitch of Soria will be a strike. I expect the ones that aren't are on purpose too, just to throw off the hitters!

There were a few Soria stat gems last night from Ryan Lefebvre that have to be passed along:

1. Soria had more saves last year than hits given up. That's crazy! He notched 42 saves while only giving up 39 hits. So he was more likely to save the game than even give up a hit. Not a run, a hit. Outstanding!


2. This is even crazier, and is tied to the first. Last year's saves leader (which was an MLB record) was Francisco Rodriguez, with 62. In those 62 saves, he had a 1-2-3 inning 21 times. That's 34% The NL leader, Brad Lidge, accomplished that feat 25 times in 41 saves (61%). Not bad! So how about Soria? Oh, just a meager 36/42. That just blew me away. 86% of the time he just mowed them down, 1-2-3. No walks, no hits, just pitching dominance.
   

Naturally he locked down his first 1-2-3 save of the '09 season last night. But even that's not the best part of watching Soria. No, the best part is when he gets two strikes on a hitter. The first two guys he faced last night, Carlos Quentin and Jim Thome, popped out before getting to two strikes. That's probably a wise thing to do, because getting that second strike typically spells disaster for a hitter.

But Jermaine Dye was not so lucky. I love what Rany wrote about last night's encounter between Dye and Soria: "When Soria worked the count to 2-2 on Dye, it was clear that the Mexicutioner was about to unleash the Guillotine, as I call his vicious (and delicious) slow curveball that he dispatches his victims with. I knew it was coming, you knew it, I imagine Dye knew it, and we all knew that there was nothing Dye could do about it anyway." Yes, I knew it, and I couldn't wait to see it. It was a thing of beauty.

As I said earlier, there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the Royals this year. Meche is very good and Grienke could be amazing. The lineup has considerably more pop this year and the team has a newly renovated stadium to play in. But the best thing will still be hoping for a close game in the ninth and seeing the Mexicutioner dispatch his victims with ease.

Spring Break Recap

Here's a reprint of an article I wrote for the MBC:



Including myself, 28 of us spent our spring break at Mission Arlington in Arlington, TX. How we ended up spending our spring break there is another story - an interesting sequence of events orchestrated by the Lord.

The slogan of the ministry is "Taking church to the people" and we got to see it first hand. They have over 280 different Sunday morning outreaches, some rather small while others number over 70. As far as I know these all take place in various apartment complexes throughout the city. Some of the workers live in the apartments and work very hard to connect with the residents and share Christ with them.

The ministry also does a lot to meet the practical needs of the people. There was a constant rush of activity, as people swarmed the medical and dental clinics, furniture came in and out, and the food and clothing areas buzzed. Most of the workers are there from 7am to 7pm, continually giving to those in need. That in itself was a great example and challenge to us as a group.

We spent our week helping in each of these areas as needed, while a lot of the time ended up being spent at some of the apartment complexes where Bible studies are being planted and relationships are being established. We got to clean apartments (including one that had just flooded that day with sewage!), help with minor repairs, deliver food and furniture to people in need, deliver fliers and invite people to Bible studies or other events, and also help with after school programs with kids.

Many of the kids we worked with had very troubled home lives and were just longing to be loved. Several in our group had a difficult time parting with them.

One of the more powerful experiences for the group was connecting with one of the local workers. He is a former youth pastor in Johnson County who left behind his five bedroom home there to move into the apartment that, as he said, "Used to be where people did drugs or had sex." He had an overwhelming heart to give to the people and do whatever was necessary to share Christ with them. Working with him was a blessing and by itself would have made the entire trip worth it.

So far I've only heard back from a few students as to what they took away from the trip, but here are a few quotes:

"The trip helped show me that there are a lot of people out there searching for something more. Before, I had the mentality that people would just brush me off if I tried to talk to them, but in reality, most people do want to hear about it."

"I feel that it kind of reaffirmed my passion for children. It also reminded me that mission work or something similar may still be a possibility for my life."

"Well, I just got reminded of how powerful the spirit is. How when i'm walking in the spirit, sin has no reign on me. I found that getting away from TV, computer, internet, etc, I was set free from most of my struggles. So, for me, now i'm just trying to remember what I put into my body, and keep out what isn't good."

For me personally it was a week of consistently relying on God to come through and provide answers to a wide variety of questions and challenges that faced me. He was faithful to work things out in every single circumstance (including driving home through the remnants of a blizzard), even though I would prefer to simply avoid trials altogether :) And of course seeing a ministry that goes to the people rather than trying to get them to come to us, and then figuring out how we can better incorporate that into the BSU.

I would gladly return to work with that ministry again and give them a whole-hearted recommendation for any other group.

Late to the Party

I'm sure I've never been mistaken for a trend setter, so I guess I tend to be a little late when it comes to what's current or cool. I know many others have already heard and appreciated Lecrae, but I just got my first taste of his music over spring break. It's too bad too, because I just missed him in concert a few weeks ago here in Maryville. (I had a prior engagement at the time, although I would've worked around it had I known better.)

There were a handful of his songs that became unofficial theme songs for the week of spring break, here's one of them:




Here are links to a few others:

Fanatic
Represent
Praying For You
Take Me As I Am

Thanks, Andy

I've never met Andy Stanley and have no idea what I would say to him if I did, but I might simply thank him for being used by God in my life. He's my favorite author (I love that he helps me figure out the questions I should be asking rather than trying to tell me what I should be doing) and is a very gifted communicator. His books on leadership and ministry have been extremely instructive for me, and I've learned a bunch about communicating by listening to him as well as reading another one of his books.

Even though I don't know him at all, he seems like a pretty down to earth guy. Through Twitter I came across this video and wanted to share. Hopefully now that spring break is over, I can attempt to get back to some regularly scheduled blogging.

Say What?

Going along with my last post about getting frustrated, I've realized how often I make negative comments (most often to myself) or mutter things that are neither encouraging nor edifying. Usually in those moments the best thing for me to do is just keep my mouth shut! The word of God is nodding its head vigorously in agreement with me. It might be wise to simply let it do the talking:

"When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise."
- Proverbs 10:19

"Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue."
- Proverbs 17:28

"A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control."
- Proverbs 29:11

"Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen."
- Ephesians 4:29

"My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires."
- James 1:19-20