I'm probably going to get in trouble for this.....

I had no idea that Greg, Brian, Eric, and Scott were part of an 80's Glam Band!




Wanna see it bigger? Click here.

Bait and Switch

This video is hillarious! The Bible certainly has it's share of soap opera style drama.....this story is a good example.

Cafe Java

I am in Toccoa today. I spent the morning with a home inspector checking out our new digs. The inspection went pretty good. Then I went by here to see some friends. The rest of the afternoon, I have been sitting in Cafe Java, sipping a cinnamon carmel latte (delish!), eating a piece of homemade chocolate cheesecake (incredible deslish!), and working (engineering work). I have a feeling this is going to be one of my favorite hangouts. It is very cool....easy going.....great music.....very cool vibe. I am meeting this guy in about 45 minutes to check out some locations in Toccoa for our new site.

Geekin' ain't easy....

I admit.....deep down I am a geek, nerd, brainiac.....choose your term. I mean really....you don't become an electrical engineer because you think it's sexy! So when I saw this Dilbert comic, I realized "That was me once upon a time!" Luckily I found Amy who has a strange attraction to my geeky side!

Toccoa Life Group

I finally got to make it to Toccoa to meet with one of the life groups that we have there. It was awesome! I met Bryan and Kelda at Bryan's office and followed them to Stacy's house.....which turned out to be a very good idea. If I had tried to make it there on my own, they probably would have had to send out a search party for me 'cause I would have gotten lost for sure! Bryan gave me a respectable amount of crap because I was late which I graciously accepted but was quick to push off onto some Sunday afternoon drivers on Hwy 123.

Anyway, the people in this group were so cool! It wasn't long that we were chatting away, joking, laughing and really having a good time together. I love meeting new people and these folks made me feel totally welcome. Besides Bryan and Kelda (whom I already knew), there was Stacy (he was the host home), Robin, Doug & Lisa, and Jason & Jennifer. We had a great time....and I can't wait to get back together!

I think I was the only GA TECH fan in a room full of GA BULLDAWGS.....and they still accepted me! Need I say more?

"No, how about $Y?"

Wooooo Hoooooo! We have a contract on a new house! God is good! The counter offer took awhile....but it was a very good counter and we took it.

Once again....God had it all under control!

STILL waiting!!!!

Can you believe it......we made an offer on a house nearly 48 hours ago and still have not heard anything! I just don't get it.... When you are selling something and someone offers you X dollars, you have one of two responses. "Sure...I'll take it." or "No, but how about Y dollars." It really is that simple. It certainly isn't 48 hours tough.

So here I am....waiting.

Waiting

I hate waiting! Whether I am waiting for an answer to an email, or waiting in line or waiting for my kids to get their stuff and into the car to go to school....I hate waiting. (Notice I never made reference to waiting on my wife.....I am getting a lot smarter in my old age!) But here I am today, waiting. We made an offer on a house yesterday afternoon and as of now, Thurs @ 12:45 we have not gotten a response. Aaaaaaghhh! I don't do this well do I? I have been praying all day that God will step in an make this happen....and I am confident that he has a plan here....but in the mean time he wants me to wait. God knows my tendency to take control and "work it" all on my own. I think making me wait is God's way of saying "Back off Jack! I've got this one....take second to chill, relax, and refresh. It's under control." I think this is what he is trying to teach me.


When have you had to wait on God?

I'm calling you out CJ!

I told you I was going to do this CJ!

You see, my friend CJ started blogging a couple of months ago. You can see his blog here. He was writing some pretty cool stuff....good insight....thoughtful....I, at least was enjoying it. But if you go back and look at his blog, you will notice the last post is March 21!

So, I'm calling you out CJ! I dare you to post!

What now?

What to do?

I love this quote by Craig Groeschel the lead pastor of LifeChurch in Oklahoma.

“To reach people no one else is reaching, we must do things no one else is doing”

What does that look like? I want to reach the people that no one else is reaching. It is what fuels me. It is the vision of my church, Foothills Community Church. But what is it that no one else is doing. I am particularly interested in the community of Toccoa, Georgia where we are planning on launching our first multi-site video venue location. So how do I know what others are doing so that I can do something different? Do I just guess? Assume that I know what they are doing? Do I ask people? Do I visit other churches in the community?

I think probably some of all of it....but I think I might like to visit some of the other churches. Every community is different and there may be churches in the area doing things that I already have in my head....but they are ineffective. Our church in Toccoa has GOT to differentiate itself to be successfull!

Is it "spying" or wrong somehow to want to know what other churches in the community are doing so that we can make sure we offer something different?

Please comment with your opinions.....I would love to know what you think.

in Dallas

I am in Dallas today and tomorrow. I am attending a conference on Multi-site Churches. Today's sessions were awesome! Matt Chandler of The Village Church spoke in the opening session. There was a breakout session. And then there was a session by Larry Osborne of North Coast Church in CA. They were all great...and tomorrow looks to be as good or better than today.

I will blog details of what I am learning later....tonight I am just too tired and tomorrow I have to get up and running early.