A Quote for Friday

"When you're in a hurry, slow down."

Italian proverb

Technorati tags: ITprov, speed of life

Same Story, Next Chapter, New Ministry

Beginning June 1, I will be taking a junior high ministry position at Statesboro First United Methodist church, working specifically with 5th thru 8th grade students. This is a new position for the church, but one that I think it will be a great asset to an already healthy and growing youth ministry.

The past several weeks have be a roller coaster of emotions; sad for relationships that will be changing, excited for the ministry and the new friendships that lie ahead, and, if I’m honest, even a little anxiety that comes with the ‘unknown’ of starting a new job.

I’m excited about the ability to focus on middle school ministry and the needs of this specific age group. I’m also excited about the opportunity to be part of a church staff that I think has the potential to be a super team of people.

All that said, there’s something bittersweet about transition in ministry. It always tugs at you a little bit to leave a church you love and people you care for and have poured your life into. I’m grateful for the memories and friendships that our family has made in Brooklet over the past two years. The people we’ve shared our lives with will continue to be special to us even as we move on. Brooklet UMC will always be the church that surrounded us with love as we welcomed Noah to our family. I’m glad to have been able to serve the families of Brooklet UMC and am hopeful for all God has in store for them in the years to come.

Technorati tags: moving

A Quote for Friday

"We don’t need to increase our goods nearly as much as we need to scale down our wants. Not wanting something is as good as possessing it."

Donald Horban

Technorati tags: dhorban, too much stuff

Short Videos Just Got Simpler

If you like doing much with pictures, you may want to check out animoto. Here's the formula:

((your pictures * stylish animations) + cool music) / 30sec. free = fun little video

Basically, it's a quick and dirty way to throw together an animated slide show. You can do 30 seconds free or pay for longer videos. Upload pictures from your computer, flickr, facebook, etc. Use their music or upload your own. It does all the animation and technical stuff, and just throws the 'animoto' logo at the end. You can then e-mail it, post it to YouTube, rip the embed code... And they claim the snowflake factor (that is, no two videos will be the same).

Here's one I threw together from the half-marathon back in February.



Other than just plain fun-ness, I can think of lots of applications for youth ministry stuff following trips or events. I would want to play with it some, but I bet you could save created images (with text) to make a preview or an intro for a teaching series, too.

Technorati tags: animoto

Tattoo wedding rings?

Would tattoo wedding rings be a cool idea?

Think of the benefits and the problems. Let's think pros and cons here:

• shows permanence of commitment : pro


• won't fall off at the beach or wherever : pro


• I bet that's a sensitive area to get a tattoo : con


• how does the ring bearer present that one during the ceremony? : con


• won't get caught on things or get in the way when working with your hands : pro


• would totally blow your cover if you were ever a secret agent spy : con


• never needs to be resized : pro


• might fade over time, though : con

Come on and help me figure this out. Other thoughts?

Technorati tags: tattoo, wedding rings

My Monday just got bad!

This sounds like something you'd find in the Onion, but it's FoxNews. (Please refrain from any comments relating the two to be similar. It's too obvious a punch line, and mostly not true.) Anyway, apparently Burmese pythons may be moving into the neighborhood!


Let's do the math:
a = I don't like snakes
b = I live in the green area

a + b = not good news for me!

Technorati tags: burmese pythons, crappy pet owners

A Quote for Friday

"Mixing church and state is like combining horse manure and ice cream. It may not do much damage to the manure, but it’s sure going to mess up the ice cream."

Tony Campolo (as quoted by Shane Claiborne)

Technorati tags: tcampolo, sclaiborne, church and state

The Importance of Good Numbers

Ah... the magic of church attendance figures. Umm... or not.
(btw, something like a billion people will read this blog.)

This is a Dilbert comic strip. Don't give me any money for this because it's not mine and I'm only sharing what I think to be good, funny humor. So, go see dilbert.com, and don't anybody sue me. Thank you.

Technorati tags: dilbert, numbers

i heart ewoks

Saw this yesterday and just had to share.




"I was surfing the Star Wars message boards."
"The tiny warriors... living like the Amish."
Love the soul. And the choir. And Billy Dee laying it down preacher style.
That's funny even for the casual Star Wars fan.
And if you don't know what an ewok is, we may be a little less friends until you get caught up. Do yourself a favor and go call your friends at Netflix.

Technorati tags: starwars, ewoks, totally ridiculous

Funny Enough to Puke

Warning: This may rank a little high on the Gross Scale.

Here's a short, funny story you only get from working with teenagers...

There was one time we were in a guys Bible study group and I had a boy laughing so hard during a Bible study he literally puked.

We had been outside playing football. As we headed inside, we stopped to get drinks and went on upstairs to our meeting room. We were all sitting around in a sort of circle, talking about the Bible study lesson. One of the boys had a plastic spoon he'd grabbed to chew on. (Don't ask me why, because I don't know.) Anyway, he was chewing on this plastic spoon. He had gripped the spoon between his teeth when suddenly it popped out of his mouth, flew across the circle, hit another boy in the forehead, flew straight up in the air, and then came down, landing in the cup of water the boy was holding. It was one of those moments when everybody just froze, amazed at the improbability of what we'd all just seen. And the silence was broken as we all started laughing.

There was one boy named Dalton. He was laughing so hard he got the hiccups and started burping, which made all the other guys laugh about that, which made Dalton laugh even harder. All of a sudden he started puking all over himself. The other guys quickly stopped laughing. Dalton finally stopped puking, shirt and lap covered in partially digested hotdog, all the other guys wide eyed and mouthes open not knowing what to say or do and then Dalton, sitting perfectly still, holding a handful of vomit, mumbles, "That was the coolest thing that's ever happened to me in my life."

The rest of the boys rolled with laughter. We got him cleaned up and he was fine, but we always laugh about that. Little gross I know, but... well... whatever...

Technorati tags: vomit, ythmin

A Quote for Friday

"It's fairly simple to cut away the clutter, but our default mode is to, out of guilt, strive to be in movement and that oftentimes covers up a lack of priorities. One of the most important things is determining this: which activity is the one activity, if completed, would leave you satisfied with your output for the day?"

Tim Ferris

Technorati tags: tferris, priorities