Kathy and I arrived into McDonough last night.

I was glad to not have to worry about driving an hour early this morning! Our hotel was comfortable, but the lobby smelled like cat pee. That’s not zesty!

We got up early this morning and went to church to set up our display and prepare for the service.

I thought the building was one of the most beautiful I’ve ever preached in.



Charlie did a wonderful job with the music. He sung several of my favorite missions hymns.

Had a great time with an enthusiastic congregation. I’m sure I was the wildest thing they’d seen in a long time!

It was good to see my partner Matt Johns there. He preached at their West Campus.

Afterwards, we had a good lunch together with the mission committee. Always fun to spend more time with people who are interested in outreach.

Also great to see my friends Jeff and Julie! I went with them to India last year. Their kids look great too!

I’m trying to set up a weekend for them to come and see more about our ministry.

GREAT to be back home with Jesse!

Ashley and I had a wonderful time with our team from 12 Stone Church today!

We gave them a briefing on how to do block parties, then went to Olde Salem, Alexander Mill and Greens at Hillcrest to help them round up the kids.
This was our group that served at Greens at Hillcrest!



They started out the morning with service projects.

It was a cold day (41!) but lots of warm hearts.

Admin duties now. Then rest.

Early evening Kathy and I will drive to Mcdonough, GA to get ready for their missions conference early Sunday morning. It’s over an hour to get there. I’m always really uptight when I have to drive that far and then preach. So I decide to get a hotel near the church so I’ll be ready go at them full speed in the morning!

Had a fun day with my family! Enjoyed some good burgers together.

Ashley and I went to Best Buy while J and K looked at Barnes and Noble. I got a call from Best Buy that the other camera sent off to be repaired was a “junk out.” That means that they give us the money that I bought it for to buy another camera. I’d already done that two weeks ago.

The money I got back exactly replaced the new one! So basically I got a brand new, upgraded camera for the price of my warranty which is $50/year! Not bad!

Picked up K and J, went home, changed clothes, then Ash and I rode out to Roswell to beat the traffic.

We were about an hour early for the Missions Conference, so we enjoyed looking at an antique shop.

I liked this bell. TRUE!

Then on to the conference at Roswell United Methodist Church to mingle and talk about missions!




I enjoyed spending time with Pastor Mike! Great guy!

This is a pastor friend that I met from Kenya!

Came home to work on admin duties and spend time with Kathy. We enjoyed watching the first season of Downton Abbey. We’re enjoying it!

Do you think I look like Lord Cummins?

I thought this was interesting.

Ashley and I had a fun time with Mark Burchek and Tim Swanson from Briarcliff Baptist Church today!


We had a good time talking about the history of their church and the future of where the congregation is going! The delicious Ethiopian food was also great! I wondered what happened to their sink in the bathroom.

I love living in a place that has letters in Amharic on the wall. Groovy!

Ashley and I went to our office to work on getting the newsletters folded and ready to put in the mail.

I took them over to the Post Office to give Ashley quiet time to work on the new TeamWhirlwind.com site!

I took thirty minutes to wander around one of the antique stores in Chamblee—which is known for antiques and internationals! I always see weird and head scratching stuff.

Ashley didn’t even know what this was! Remember card catalogs from the library?

I went back to the office and spent time editing the text and giving suggestions on where I think it should go. At the same time, I don’t want to be TOO overbearing on what I think. I prefer to have Ashley’s input too, because she’s AWESOME, baby!

We went to the mission to help with the kids. Always fun and rewarding.

It’s Thursday so we had our Story Time. I talked about Abraham, Esau and Jacob today. I made it fun and interesting, so the kids seemed to like it.

Miles came to help today too! We always miss having him around. The girls went crazy playing with his hair.

Had a good family supper together. It’s wonderful to have the whole family there!


I thought this sticker was funny on a Smart car!

Had an especially productive day!

Started out with cleaning the fish tank.

The big tree fell this morning. Bam!

Then to shopping!


Ate a quick lunch, then met up with Ashley to go to Lawrenceville to put the final touches on the outreach for this weekend with 12 Stone.

We enjoyed seeing Danny Mejia who is one of the 12 Stone leaders. Took him to Alexander Mill to introduce him to the management and show him where the group would be working.

Then all the way over to the other side of the Metroplex to Roswell!

We stopped at an antique store before going to the church. I thought this picture was funny!

I liked Ashley in these hats.

We always enjoy the Missions Conference at Roswell United Methodist Church!


They’ve been great partners over the years and recently have really accelerated their work in the Hispanic community!

Beautiful sunset on the way home!

Admin duties now and rest!

Rivers of air in the sky!

They ran into him while reading the sign.

Had another 1 1/2″ of rain yesterday. Excellent!

Worked on email the morning. Got a call from Hattiesburg, MS and from Cumming, GA! Looking forward to working with those two teams! Glad Ashley is there to handle the logistics with the teams. She has wonderful people skills!

Went to the Post Office to get stamps for the newsletter.

Worked on my newsletter. Wrote it, produced and emailed it to my partner who prints it for us. It’s a good one!

Also helped Ashley and Jesse get the new www.teamwhirlwind.com site rolling.

Actually, Jesse did the tech stuff and Ash did the layout, and I made witty comments and said “Good work!”

Then over to Azalea to help with the homework. Not much going on today. The kids helped us do the labels.

We were glad Josh was there to help!

Bought everyone doughnuts. Whether they help or not doesn’t matter, they all get goodies!

Had a nice visit with Ernest! He’s from my original youth group from 1996! He’s doing tech support now. Wonderful young man!

Dropped by Plaza Fiesta to pick up some pants that Jesse was getting repaired. I couldn’t believe this underwear I saw there!

Then back home to finish up my admin duties.

Enjoy watching some TV with K!

I find beauty everywhere I look!

Especially sunsets!

Had a fun lunch with my family today!

Came home to work on the new www.teamwhirlwind.com site with Ashley and Jesse.

Recorded a new podcast! I always enjoy that!

Then over to the mission to work with the kids!

Had supper with Ashley and Jesse. She liked the corn I bought her.

Devil Shrimp?

Then home for admin duties and to enjoy talking with Kathy!

Had a big tree in our back yard start to fall. Looks like it’s going to hit one of our fences eventurally.

Had a fun lunch with my family today!

Ash and I then went to the ACCCN to visit with their missions committee.

We needed to give their leadership a briefing on what would happen at the event three weeks from now.

I enjoyed seeing my partner Jonathon at the church.

He showed me the pictures he’s taken of his group at the mission at Azalea.


We had a good time sharing with them.

Ash and I also spent time roughing out the home page for the new website. We actually changed the name from www.whirlwindmissions.com to www.teamwhirlwind.com. We both like that better.

Jesse worked on the themes for us. We hope to get it roughed out soon and completed by March 1st.

Went to the park to spend time with J and K. Jesse wasn’t feeling well today. Pray for him.

Admin duties now and looking forward to time with Kathy.

Been rainy around Stone Mountain. Nearly 2″!

Took care of writing checks for bills.

Had fun recording a new podcast this morning! “Deep End Thought!” Perhaps my best effort EVER!. Check it out!

Enjoyed a good lunch with Jesse and Kathy in Lawrenceville.

Resting this afternoon. Great weather for that!

Had a good talk with my Mom this afternoon. I purchased the gene test for both of my parents. The kits are heading to Texas. I’m looking forward to knowing even more about our family history. I think that in the future having the genetic code of my parents, Kathy and me will help OUR kids and their children know what to look out for. PLUS I think it’s interesting to think about where my ancestors came from.

If YOU are interested in having your genetic code researched, I’ve found the best deal is with www.23andme.com. Currently they have a special for $99/person. I think that’s amazingly cheap to have that genetic database!

Looking forward to hanging out with my family this evening.

I thought this sticker was funny.

Had a fun day with Jesse today!

We enjoyed lunch and a great conversation.

Then went to the Post Office.

I needed to mail some more prayer cards to my Mom in Texas. She’s speaking at a conference about NAMB, and of course our ministry will come up!

Been working on the new website for Whirlwind Missions. We came to the decision that it’s best to keep the original www.whirlwindmissions.org site intact and create a new site: www.whirlwindmissions.com. That site will be dedicated to JUST working with the teams. The main site is absolutely gigantic. It contains most of what I’ve created over the years, which is a LOT. Most folks that look at the site are just concerned about the Team information. So it makes more site to revamp and streamline that end rather than reinvent the whole site. I feel good about that!

We also started thinking more strategically about how to host more teams. I realized that it’s the churches with the biggest youth groups that have the hardest time finding places to work. Can you imagine a group of over 100 kids serving at one place? It takes an organization with an infrastructure as large as ours to handle that kind of group. So I googled the largest churches in America and we’ll start with them.

I’m enjoying a quiet evening with Kathy! Just watched the latest Castle. Yow! What a nail biter!

I taught her how to run the TV clicker! Now THAT’S a challenge!

Admin duties now.