I was part of the Communities in Transformation board meeting this morning. CIT is a part of the Chick-Fil-A corporation. It’s fun to think about ministry that could take place nation wide. Toni Branyon is the leader of the team and is one of my partners from Conyers.
Had fun at the Unite meeting of churches in Roswell at First United Methodist. I was on the immigration panel of speakers. I hope we can get more churches plugged into the community!
Then over to Marietta where I met with Joey Garner from Eastside Church. They’ll be hosting an Outreach Event at Concept 21–Delk in June. They’ll also be picking up kids from the community for their VBS at their church.
Kathy and I went to Stone Mountain for a swim. She was feeling kind of down. Caring for her mother definitely takes its toll on her.
Worked with my team from Pinelake Church this morning. I shot video at seven locations. I’ll post that later tonight if all goes well.
I had lunch with Bennett Ekandem, Terry Earl and Jeff Seeger. We discussed working in a Muslim environment. We’ll have a team from Operation Mobilization this summer in Clarkston and Chamblee.
I made the photocopies for the newsletter and picked up the stamps. They’re super cool Star Wars stamps. Can’t beat that!
Ran 4 miles this evening.
Ashley is writing the newsletter notes.
Worked on the Video Seminar lay out. I’m working on the High Resolution version of the videos now. I’ll post those on Google Video–it allows me to post videos larger than 100mb. The YouTube site does a good job with the smaller sized video. The Google video will allow users to see the course full screen–although it’ll take longer to download.
Lately I’ve had this Pillated Woodpecker in my garden. He’s become fascinated with these big mirrors I have in my back yard. They’re the birds that Woody Woodpecker was fashioned after.
I spent this morning with my team from Pinelake Church in Chamblee and Doraville. They are covering eight locations. I shot pictures of them all and had a good time visiting with the kids at the various missions.
The kids at Azlaea also helped me label the newsletters for this month. I couldn’t get the copies made nor the stamps bought because of the holidays. I’ll have one more thing on my to do list tomorrow!
Big news is that I got my Multi-Housing Seminar on line tonight! It was a massive job but the hardest part is done. I still have to format the page for the web site to get it in its final form, but the raw material is out there now. Take a look at the Mission Videos if you want to see what I’ve been working on. In many ways it’s the culmination of a decade of knowledge in doing this work.
Worked out on weights and walked 2.2miles with my wife tonight.
Watched Star Wars Legacy this evening. Love that stuff!
Kathy and I went to Rockdale Baptist Church this morning where we went to brief our team from Pinelake Church from Brandon, Mississippi. We had a great time together. Their choir sounded terrific.
This afternoon they did Backyard Bible Clubs in 9 missions around Chamblee and Doraville. They also hosted a block party at Huntington Station. The turn out was excellent. Pinelake will be be working for three more days. Excellent!
My jaw was terrible last night. Kept me up till about 2:30am. Hurting again now, though most of the day was pain free.
Today is the second anniversary of Kathy’s dad’s death. Sad day. My wife was really depressed. I spent extra time with her. We went to pizza and saw Johnny Depp. Cheered her up some!
I spent hours today working on my Video Seminar. I’ve created 20 short (5-7 minute) videos based on the Training pages from our web site. I think it’s really good stuff. I shot it so it’s just me talking but the information is is concise and complete. I have the all 20 edited now. I have the first 7 sessions compressed and ready to upload to YouTube. I’ll also compress them in a larger format for storage on our Google Video site–that’ll be a higher quality video for watching full screen. Of course the download will be longer.
Once the uploads are completed I’ll then work on making a menu and start burning DVDs of the project for people who want the material in the best format. The cool thing about this is that the dvds are so cheap (about .50/disc) and postage is less than a dollar. So I can send a complete set of the lessons for under $2.00 anywhere in the USA. You can’t beat that with a stick.
I’m not sure how many people would want the information. Last week I had a guy ask me if I “knew any good books on the subject.” I told him I don’t really read books about what I do. Mainly because the books focus on the reasons WHY we should be doing it. I have found VERY few resources that go into details as to exactly HOW to do it. The info that I’ve tracked down I have linked to on my Training page.
It’s like the forum I started. Haven’t seen anthing like that either.
I meet with my large team from Mississippi tomorrow morning at Rockdale Baptist Church. We’ll also do a block party at Huntington Station and then Backyard Bible Clubs in 8 more locations.
Went to Conyers this morning to set up a Backyard Bible Club with FBC Conyers in June. I met with Rusty, Sheldon and Gloria at church and we went over to Pinewood in Lithonia. The manager was in a pretty bad mood but the visit still went well. We checked out the location, hugged on a few kids and made plans for the future.
After lunch I went to visit with Tommy Hinely a dear friend of mine that I’ve know for over 20 years. He’s been working at a local church and was recently let go. It’s hard to work at a church. Hard to please everyone. I think he’s a great minister and the Lord has good ministry left for him.
Went to the bookstore to look for info on marketing. The last book I read was called “Your Attention, Please!” Short and sweet. Comes down to focusing on the needs of your audience and keep it concise. Always good advice.
Got some hard news about my friend Carl Barrington. His last cancer tests look bad. I know that the Father is more than able to take care of any problem. Pray for him!
My neighbors of 11 years are moving out of their house. That makes us the longest term family on the whole block. Transitional America!
I spent several hours at the doctor’s office today. Even though my jaw/ear was feeling better I felt like I better get checked out. I had some agonizing times in Texas. Dr. Pat put me on some meds to help clear out my eustation tubes into my ears that are probably clogged up. We’ll see what happens.
Keep praying for my partner Carl Barrington. He’s had to have more tests for cancer. Some suspicious test results came in a couple of days ago. I’m praying that those test results were in error.
Had a great conversation with a partner from Crossroads on our work.
Ran 4 miles today.
Peace.
May 23rd, 2007
I worked on office stuff today. Was really tired after the trip. My jaw/ear had been hurting and I didn’t sleep well.
Big news is that Ashley graduated this evening! How exciting to see my little girl all grown up! She’s such a beauty and a blessing to everyone she comes into contact with.
May 22nd, 2007
I made my way back to Atlanta after a morning of fellowship with my folks. It was a great time in Texas!
Sure was glad to see my sweet family! Everyone seems to be doing ok.
Had a great time this morning walking around the historic district in Georgetown. This little city is where I went to High School. I was a bicentennial senior~ Man, was that ever a long time ago. Now my kids are graduating!
I really enjoyed looking at the shops around the square. Many are renovated have have arts and crafts. I love that kind of cool art work. Bought some stuff for my folks to remember me by when I leave. Got this owl made out of metal for my dad–Al. The Africans often thought his name was “Owl.” I always that that was funny. So I got him one. He’s a hoot. Get it?
I’m looking forward to this evening. My mom has cooked curry and I have a couple of old friends of mine for Kenya coming over to eat with us. Because of my background overseas and moving around so much, I don’t have a lot of old time friends. These guys I’ve known since I was in elementary school. Sweet! We had a great time together talking about the old days in Nairobi and back in Austin together.
I’m working on editing the video project. I got all 20 sessions onto my hard drive last night. I stopped working around midnight and my ear/jaw started hurting so badly that I had to get up and take another three tylenol. While I waited for the meds to kick in I went back to work. Guess that’s one good thing, eh?
I spoke this morning to a Senior Adult Sunday School class at First Baptist Church in Georgetown. This is the church where I received my call to full time Christian service. A very special congregation indeed.
Then I spoke at the Worship Place, the congregation that my Dad pastors. They are such a terrific group and gave me a really warm reception.
My folks and I ate at Duke’s BBQ for lunch. Love that place!
I went out to look for fossiles and Indian artifacts this afternoon. Hiked about three miles in deep Texas bush. I like walking around better in the winter. This area has some of the largest Diamondback Rattlesnakes in the world. So I’m always watching where I’m walking. I’m also keenly aware that no one has any idea where I am and if I did have a problem I would be really up the creek. So I’m always super careful, but that’s why you call it an “accident.”
I think I must really give my guardian angel a work out. Texas bush and Atlanta traffic. Don’t get much worse.
Been working on the video seminar. I have seven sessions on my hard drive so far. Back to work!
