Our trip to the Dominican Republic went well! But…we are so happy to be back home. Here are some quick hits about it and some pictures:
* Patty adjusted over 200 people in two days!
* I learned that Hot Pockets is the official sponsor of Latin American Idol.
* Isaiah flirted with all the Dominican women. One even asked him if he wanted to go home with her. He’s already a ladies man.
* Patty woke up in the middle of the night with a cockroach crawling on her.
* We met two guys from Haiti and it really impacted our life. I’m praying that one of them, Johnny, will email us. His story is something else, and I hope that we can somehow find a way to help him and his family.
* I didn’t realize that Hatians were so looked down upon by the Dominican people.
* We couldn’t put toilet paper in the toilets. You had to put your used toilet paper in a trash can next to the toilet.
* It was definitely an incredibly beautiful country from what we saw.
* Isaiah’s favorite drink is the Bahama Mama (with no alcohol of course).
* It really put things in perspective for us. We are so blessed to be living in the U.S. and all of us don’t need to take it for granted.
Isaiah’s First Plane Trip
The fam on the beach
Drinking a Bahama Mama
The beach at our resort
Us with a Hatian name Johseph
Patty, Isaiah and I are going to be in the Dominican Republic for the next week. Patty will be doing Chiropractic missions in the Dominican and Haiti. I’m sure it’s going to be a blast. If I have a connection, I’ll post updates so check back here!
I have had some thoughts that have consumed me over the past few years. It may not be on my mind all of the time, but it’s definitely on my mind a solid majority of the time.
Have you ever had dreams and goals that you cannot shake? What things are constantly on your mind and constantly in your heart? Whatever those things are, those are most likely the vision that God has placed within you. So many times as Christians, we take the safe road whenever we are making decisions. We typically don’t like to take risks and we love to take comfort in what we know will “work.’ Yet, I can’t help but think that when we play it safe, we’re disobeying God. Hear me out. That doesn’t mean that we are to do things completely on a whim, and know that God’s dreams will never contradict values and concepts set forward in the Bible (i.e. neglecting your family, using people to get what you want, etc…). But it does mean that we do need to pursue His dreams no matter what.
So I ask again, what is it that God has placed on your heart?
Maybe it’s time for you to pursue that career that you have always wanted (even though your current one is safe)
Perhaps it’s time to help that person that you can’t get off of your mind (even though you don’t know what’s going on in their life).
It might be time to go ahead and adopt an orphan (even thought you can’t afford it—but miraculously have the money to make payments on a new car).
Whatever it is…pursue God without reservation.
I forgot to post this the other day but I guess it’s better late than never. There are so many new technologies out there that we can use in ministry…or simply in real life. The hardest thing is figuring out which ones are worthwhile. Here are some things that I think are worthwhile and I am currently using (or about to start using):
1) Twitter- I have been using twitter for about eight or nine months now. For those of you that don’t know, it’s a “microblogging” service that allows you to tell everyone what you’re doing at any given moment. I use it update my Facebook page, as well as the “what I’m doing” part of my website (over on the right). It’s interesting to see what other people are up to. I also use it to contact others in ministry that I honestly haven’t even met in person (kind of like sending them a text, only I don’t have their cell phone number).
2) 12 Seconds- I’m just starting to test this out, but it’s kind of a video version of twitter. Basically, you have 12 seconds to record video updates of what you’re doing from your computer or your cell phone. You can then share it online and even link it to your twitter account.
3) Remember the Milk- I am one of the most unorganized people in the world, so this site is a Godsend. This site allows you to keep track of any lists, events, or tasks that you need to keep up with. There are so many features of it, but the main thing to me is that you can keep up with everything via email, text message, and tons of other methods. It can even create a map of where your tasks will take place! Check it out for all the features.
4) Seesmic- Seesmic is a site that you can use to microblog, but it allows others to post video responses. I was amazed on Monday when I did a quick recording on Seesmic and less than 10 minutes late I had a response from a guy in Holland. Once again, you can even link it to twitter (see a pattern here).
All of these things have tons of features that I didn’t get into. Check them all out for yourself! Are any of you using these tools?
1) You say…”Give 110 percent.” I say…”You suck at math.”
2) If I ask people to give 110 percent, am I setting them up for failure?
3) If I ask people to give 110 percent, am I setting unrealistic expectations?
Discuss.
Yesterday was a great day! I experienced two things yesterday that I have never experienced before. First, we took our student leaders to NewSpring Church’s Greenville campus for church. It was the first time that I have experienced a video venue first hand. I have to admit, it was incredible! I’ve heard some people say, “well…it just can’t be as effective without the pastor physically standing there and teaching. With the quality of teaching and the quality of technology, it was as if Perry (the pastor) was standing right there. Heck…I even heard people respond to his comments out loud as if he were standing there.
The other thing that I experienced was part of a collaboration between Life Church and Carlos Whitaker called LifeShare. Last night, our whole family watched the LifeShare event and sang along to a live worship stream. It was simply ‘Los leading worship from the downstairs of his house and with over 100 other people joining in from around the country. Some say you can’t have community online, but I beg to differ.
I think that the web is revolutionizing the way we do ministry. We can reach more people than we ever could have imagined if we take advantage of what’s available.
Tomorrow I’m going to share some new tools I’ve found online, but I’d love to hear your response to this question: Do you think that the Church can develop true community online? Either leave a comment by clicking “Comments” below, or if you have a webcam, post a video reply to the video below. This might get interesting.
So I found this website that archives content on the internet. If you go to this site, you can see what was on a lot of websites up to 10 years ago! Long story short, I looked up my site and found some posts that I had thought had been lost when I changed blog hosts. Anyways, here’s a flashback to October 22, 2005. It’s a post that I had written after going to a Byrnes football game called “Freddy and the Byrnes Game.” As a side note, it was also right when Patty and I started dating and when Robin Hunt had just moved to the Upstate.
Tonight I went to see the infamous Byrnes Rebels beat the snot out of Dorman. The crowd was huge so we had to sit in the grass towards the endzone right in the midst of an interesting variety of people. Anyways, there was this dude that was sittin’ down in front of us that was going ballistic whenever Byrnes was doing something good. He would fling his arms around and give people high fives. SO….I decided that my the goal for the football game was to get a high five from this guy at some point before the game ended. I am pleased to announce to you that I got not only one, but TWO high fives from the man, who informed me later that his name was Freddy. I had no clue who the guy was before the game, but I started talkin’ to him cuz he seemed like a dude that would be interesting (that’s an understatement). After a while, Freddy was tellin’ me about how he played football (and two or three other sports) in high school, loved Nascar, and I heard countless stories about sports and life in general. It was hilarious!
Freddy is just another example of something that I have noticed lately. I’ve noticed that people generally will open themselves up to you and tell you about their life if you take the initiative and strike up a conversation. It has happened with me in so many places lately that I can’t help but sit back and think of the possibilities that could result if believers would invest themselves into the people around them. I’m not talking about a fleeting “hey…how are you” conversation, nor conversations that must include a gospel presentation. What I am talking about is breaking the ice with people and listening to their story. I’m talking about not seeing them as a target for conversion or for church membership but rather listening and interacting with them wherever they are in life. Heck…you can even (gasp) end your own masquerade and reveal who you really are to them (but that’s a whole other topic).
By the end of the night, I felt as if I had made a real connection with Freddy and with some other people that were with him. I listened to their stories, laughed with them, exchanged high fives, and genuinely had a good time. And to think, I would have missed out on all of that if the ice hadn’t been broken. Just somethin’ to think about.
