Cool Commercial

I really like this commercial our church put out. I think it's the best one we've ever done. Which is a little odd since I had nothing to do with it. I guess there are other talented people in our office. Who knew?!? Props to my good friend Andrew for the closing graphic. Once again proving his mad skills. Enjoy! (Sorry for the poor video quality. It really looks much better then this, but this is the only copy Bill would give me. Looser!)


Love Came To Town from Bill Coffman on Vimeo.

Looking for something to do to kill time at work?

Try this:

1. Call a local grocery store

2. Ask for the meat department

3. Ask whoever answers the phone if they carry turducken

Better yet, try doing the above in person.  I guarantee you this is the reply you will get in either scenario:  “A what . . .”  and/or “A turducken . . . hold on”

It’s great fun!

The CCC Compost Pile

So, I built a compost pile at my house the other day.  As I was building it I thought to myself “Self, Community Christian Church is kind of like a compost pile”.  Basically a compost pile (or at least the one I did) works as follows:  You start off with a bunch of tree limps, branches and the like.  That forms your base.  You do this so that air can flow under the pile, which speeds up the process.  Then you make a “nest” out of leafs and grass clippings, that sort of thing.  This allows for airflow from the sides.  (Doing it this way you don’t have to turn the pile).  Then you pile in your garbage, which is just about anything but meat and dairy.  I think I had some egg shells, a few bananas, some lettuce and other various vegetables and bread product.  After you put your trash in the nest you cover it up with leafs and the whole process starts over.  Nest, trash, leafs.  Nest, trash, leafs. Etc.   Then the soil heats up, the bugs and microorganisms do their thing and before long you have great soil for your garden, to make things grow.  Then the stuff you grow eventually ends up back in the compost pile and becomes fertile soil for next years garden.  It really is amazing how it works.  You’ve got all this worthless left over table scraps that are magically converted to rich fertile soil.  Is the Church any different?  No, if it’s working right, not really.  We’ve got our base God.  Then we surround ourselves with a nest or support system: small groups, serving teams, friends that will help us.  Then we put ourselves in the nest.  Now, I won’t go so far as to call us “trash”.  But let’s face it, a lot of times there’s not much going on in us that isn’t trash, or I guess I’ll call it sin.  After we’re in the next we cover ourselves with Jesus and God’s amazing grace.  We learn to love God and love others.  And before long we develop into a rich fertile Christ follower.  Then we can remove ourselves from the pile and go out and help others grow.  And just like soil we eventually end up back in the compost pile, because we are always changing and growing to become even more like Christ.  CCC, bring your trash and compost with the rest of us!

Shameless Plug

Here is a link to a blog hosted by my good friend Andrew Marshall.  Of course, as I type this my guess is the same 6 people that read my blog probably got his e-mail about his new blog.  Then it dawned on me that we have quite the little incestuous blogging community.  Then it dawned on me that didn’t sound right.  What I meant to say is that there are about a dozen or so people that just all follow the same blogs.  And then it dawned on me all the people following the same blogs see each other all the time and could just talk about stuff instead of blogging about it.  But then it dawned on me that it’s more fun to be literarily cleaver on the internet then it is in person.  So my final dawning is that blogging is a good thing, no matter how incestuous it is.  Wait, that sounded bad again.  Well, you know what I mean.  Go look at Andrew’s blog, it is always entertaining.

Pass the potatoes

I thought this was interesting.  And I always thought my mom cooked us dinner because she loved us.  Come to find out she was just trying to ruin my teenage years.  Darn Her!  Guess my daughters (and son I guess) can expect home cooked meals from now until their 40.

Anonymous Comments

I want to thank the anonymous commenter to my last blog.  It's always nice to know that someone reads my mindless babblings.  However, you will notice I didn’t post your comment.  I’ve made it my policy to not post anonymous comments.  They’re usually very negative and sometimes nasty and obviously posted by people that have WAY too much time on their hands.  And I’m a positive person and try to avoid negativity if at all possible.  I’m not given to such things as anger and rants.  Give peace a chance is what I say!  Ok, those last three statements are a lie.

Anyway, I started to post the last anonymous comment I got, because it was positive, but thought that to be a double standard.  I mainly don’t post them because I’m the type of person that doesn’t mind expressing my opinion and doesn’t mind people knowing it is me that expressed it.  And, yes, that does sometimes get me in trouble, but I’m a pretty transparent guy.  I understand why some people comment anonymously:

1) They are too scared to put there name

2) It’s my mom and she doesn’t realize she can leave her name

3) It’s my mom and she doesn’t want people to know I’m her offspring

3) They don’t want people to know they wasted their time by reading my blog

4) Their name may in fact be Anonymous

So, to the 4 people that read my blog, keep sending in those comments, anonymously or not, and I’ll read them.  But if you want to share your wisdom with the world (or the other 3 people reading the blog) you gotta leave your name.

 

Hellfire and Brimstone

I had to have one of those tuff conversations with my son last week. He got busted doing something he should not have been doing. Of course I found out about it and had to sit him down and talk to him. At first he said he didn’t do anything. Then he said he did something but didn’t want to tell me because he was afraid he would get in trouble. Then he told me he was embarrassed and didn’t want to tell me. Finally, on his own and after many tears, he confessed what he had done. During this whole process I assured him that I was not mad at him. I simply wanted to talk to him about it. I wanted to answer any questions he might have. And I wanted him to understand that although I wasn’t mad at him and he wasn’t going to receive any punishment, what he did was in fact wrong and shouldn’t happen again.

Two things stuck me during and after our conversation. First I was reminded of all the times I’ve lied when I’ve sinned. I’ve lied to others and I’ve lied to God, as if you can really do that. I thought about all the great men in the Bible that lied to and tried to hide from God. We lie and hide because of fear. Fear of the consequence of our actions. I came to the realization that my son’s first instinct is to think of me in terms of punishment. Yes, there should be punishment for actions. But at the same time there should be grace and forgiveness. Now, by no means am I comparing myself to God, but I do believe He uses instances like these to give us a small glimpse of what He is like. He is able to dish out any punishment He pleases, and we deserve it. But instead, if we go to Him, He comes to us with love, grace and forgiveness. I could have severely punished my son for his actions, he deserved it, but I realized that instead of punishment he needed relationship.

And that brings me to the second thought I had. I thought about all the people out there that won’t set foot inside a church because of the fear of the consequences of their actions. They are so far from God that they 1) can’t imagine God accepting them, and 2) if He does except them, what form of punishment is God going to cast down upon them. And if that doesn’t get them then there is the fear of how others in the church will view them. There are broken people out there that have no hope of becoming whole because of fear; fear that has been put into their head from Christians and the church. Because the God that I read about is not known as a god of fear, He is a god of love.

If my son continues to view me only as a father who only dishes out punishment I have no hope of training him to become the Godly man I know he is. There will always be a great chasm between us. In the same way, if people only think of God as a person only interested in dishing out punishment they’re going to stay away from Him and the church. Trust me when I say that God is much more interested in having a relationship with you then punishing you. Yes, there are eternal consequences for your actions, but we must first give people the opportunity for relationship. Let’s present the God of love instead of the God of punishment. How do I know He would want us to do that? Because He did it. When we deserved nothing more then an eternity in Hell, He sent Jesus. He had every right to send punishment, but he sent love. God is love. No matter who you are or what you’ve done, God is love.

For Your Listening Pleasure Kind Sir

	Make your own at MoreCowbell.dj

Who You Gonna Dunk?

Here’s one thing I don’t understand: Churches that have the audacity to tell people they can’t be baptized for one reason or another. For instance what about a pedophile? Would you feel comfortable baptizing a pedophile? What about a young unmarried pregnant girl? Someone that is stoned or drunk? Someone that is gay or lesbian? How can you look at those people and say “We don’t baptize people like you”. We tell them they’ve got to change. For some reason their sin is worse then ours. I went into the water when I was 13 years old a full fledged sinner. Unfortunately when I came up I was still a sinner. But I thank God that he sent Jesus to die for my transgressions. I thank God that He gave me the gift of the Holy Spirit when I was baptized. For it is only through God’s power and the guidance of the Holy Spirit that anyone can truly change. So in effect, when we deny someone being baptized we are in essence refusing them the only thing that can bring about change in their life. It’s like yelling at a kid for not doing their math homework but refusing to give them a pencil. Church’s think that by baptizing someone we are somehow condoning that person’s sin. When what they are actually doing is providing the only means by which the person can rid themselves of the sin they are so appalled by. Now if a person refuses to grow and to change that is a different matter all together. But we’ve got to provide ALL the tools necessary to change. And no tool is more important then the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

How was your weekend?

I had a really good weekend. Friday night I got to babysit for two of my best friends so they could have a fun night out. That was good. Saturday I had a meeting at church, which was good. Then a wedding, that was fun. And then Saturday night I got to help my good friend Bill set up the portable baptistery at our Madras campus. As I drove home that night I reflected on how awesome it was to have the privilege to do that. To know that the next day someone was going to take the most important step of their life. Sunday morning I got to direct. I have one word to describe that experience: INSANE! But I got to work with a smoken’ hot Assistant Director, Sarah, and my good friend Andrew, and the always crazy Matt Brown. So of course it was fun. (Plus someone brought biscuits and sausage gravy to the green room. Yummmmy). Then Sunday night after group I had a teenager walk up to me and say a phrase that I can never hear too much “Hey Kelley, I want to get baptized.” So to sum it up, I got to:

Help two of my best friends
Hang out with a bunch of people dedicated to God and reaching those who don’t know Him
Watch a friend get married
Help another friend set up a baptistery so a person I don’t know could get baptized
Direct and eat biscuits and gravy at the same time
Have a teenager tell me they want to get baptized

Pretty good weekend if you ask me.

My Presidential Endorsement (as if you care)

Turkey Olympics Come to Sharpsburg!

Meet me, again.

Guess Who?

I think this is a great quote. Can you guess who said it?

In order to form an immaculate member of a flock of sheep one must, above all, be a sheep.

I think for me, as a long time Christ follower and now as someone who gets paid to work at a church, I loose site of the fact that first and foremost I’m a sheep. I get so tied up in doing my job I forget that I’m a sheep. And since I grew up in church I take a lot of things for granted. I’ve read the bible plenty, why should I do it EVERY day. Or, I just spent all week writing a sermon and three different DVD teachings, I think I’ve studied enough this week. I’ve got to remember that I must live a life that I’m inviting other to live. My goal in life is to be like Jesus. But in order to get there I must be the best follower of Jesus I can be.

TV For The Rest of Us

If you’re a guy and don’t love Thom Beers you need to have your testosterone levels checked. The guy is pure genius. Don’t know who Thom is? Ever heard of The Deadliest Catch, Ice Road Truckers or Axe Men? I’m currently in talks with my congressman to pass a bill to make the Thom Beers Channel. All Thom Beers’: All the time. The man has done a phenomenal job of taking obscure manly jobs and presenting them in such a way that you can’t help but stop and watch. Deadliest Catch is by far my favorite. I love spending Tuesday nights with Sig, Phil, Jonathan and all the other boys. Trust me; I’m aware that I know WAY TOO much about the show. But I just can’t help myself. Then last night I’m flipping past TruTv, a channel I didn’t even know existed (I think it used to be Court TV) and stumble upon Black Gold. It’s a show about roughnecks on oil rigs. All I can say is WOW. There’s nothing like watching a bunch of high school drop outs work on an oil rig, go home and shower, head to a bar and stay until 4:30 AM only to roll back out to the rig at 5:00 AM. No teeth, no sense of morality and no clue as to the proper use of the English language (not that I’m much better). If that’s not good TV I don’t know what is. Basically Beers said to himself: “I’m gonna do shows that guys want to watch. If you’re a kid, teenager or women and don’t like it, I don’t care!” And it’s worked. Sure my eight year old loves Deadliest Catch. Yes my wife doesn’t mind watching it. But the show is done for me, your typical 30 something male. And I love it. He’s kind of like the Community Christian Church of TV land. TV For the Rest of Us. Guys hate Project Runway so Thom gave us Verminators. Guys hate singing I Surrender All * seventeen times so CCC gives them Jesus Bad Room Mate (oh just wait!). I think Thom Beers would like our church. Besides, with his last name he can’t be all that bad!

*Editor’s Note: I personally like the song I Surrender All (not the version I linked to). But I grew up singing it, so it stands to reason I would like it.

Board Monday Afternoon Thought

Why is it one thing can bring a person so down so much? Why is it when a person has so much going for them that one missing piece can make them feel empty and useless? Can a person be truly content? Is it even healthy to do so? I’m content with many things. Most people aren’t content with money and positions, for the most part I am. Do I enjoy money and the things you can get with it? Sure. But do I obsess over it? Not really. I’m pretty happy with my job and the stuff I’ve got. But there are other areas of my life that I’m not content with. But on some level I think that’s not a BAD thing. If I was content with where my spiritual life is I would have no motivation to improve it. If I were content with myself as a father I would have no motivation to improve it. If I were content with my health I would have no motivation to improve it. Get the picture? The problem I have is when I’m not content with a relationship I have with a person. Even if I have the motivation to make things right, but they don’t, can things improve? Or do I just have to be content with the fact that I can’t change the situation? The writer of Hebrews reminds us that God is always there. And if God is there I should be fearless and not worry about what other people can do to me. But what if that other person is someone you need to care? What then? Some people you can’t just write off. Prayer, prayer and more prayer. That’s the only answer I have. Oh well, I’m sure the six people that read my blog are scratching their heads because of the lack of obscure parallels to Kroger or Hardee’s. Sorry, I haven’t been inspired lately. Maybe soon.

Really Good Post

I thought this post was really powerful. It's a short read, which goes without saying if you know anything about me.

Anything for FREE food

Well, my three kids and I spend most of last Friday driving from one Chick-fil-A to another enjoying free food. We hit three in all. My conservative estimate is that we got somewhere in the ball park of $60 in free food Friday. Cow Appreciation Day is BY FAR my favorite holiday. Sure, Christmas celebrates the birth of our Lord and Savior, but you don’t get no free chicken on December 25th do you?

So the family and I are finally in our new house. It’s very exciting. Hopefully I’ll have some pictures soon. The last month has been one crazy ride; being out of town for two weeks straight, (selling our old house between the two trips), being “homeless”, not having any of our stuff. It was a real pain at times. However, as I look back over it there were some good things that happened. My wife and I actually sat on the sofa and just talked (because we had no TV, and the kids were in the only bedroom trying to go to sleep). That was nice. My kids had a blast playing with some friends they don’t normally get to hang out with much. We ate out A LOT. And if you know anything about me you know that is my all time favorite thing to do. Well, not my all time favorite thing, just my all time favorite thing that I can type on a blog for public view. But most of all it made me appreciate what good friends I have. A friend of mine once told me: “A friend will help you move, a good friend will help you move a dead body” (gotta love Dave Bialik). But I can tell you this: A friend will help you move, a good friend will store all your crap for you and let you live in their basement for three weeks. My wife and I have six such good friends. Friends who were willing to open up their garages, basements, backyards, homes and hearts to me and my family. They did so without hesitation. They did so because they had friends in need. So I want to say publically (or at least publically to the 6 people who read my blog) THANK YOU to the Duckwalls, Parkers and Coffmans. We could not have done the last month without you! Our crap should be out of your house sometime this week. In closing, I would like to dedicate the following to all of you. Enjoy. And try not to cry . . .



Oh, and we stored some stuff at my parents house, but they’re my parents, so they don’t really count. I mean, if you can’t store stuff at your parents house where can you? That’s what parents are for. Besides, they don’t even know what a blog is or how to access one, so they’ll never see this!

Speaka da English

I thought this was funny.

Spending Too Much Time on Youtube

Actually, I'm really not. But I do love coming across gems like this. Between this and Japanese game shows I may just have to move there. And I've really grown to like Sushi!

Prayer

In my HYPE small group Sunday night all my guys say they struggle with having regular conversation with God. I think that is something everyone stuggles with from time to time. My guess is, some of my faithfull readers (all 4 of them) might have the same issue. So in order to help everyone I found this motivational video. This is how I use it. If I forget to do my daily time with God, I have to watch it. If I remember, I am spared. It's worked pretty well so far. After one viewing you realize you would much rather be praying. Hope it help you too:

My Favorite Kind of Food

FREE!

Click here for details.

Down Right Creepy

Ok, if you know me and my kids you'll get this. Look at the girl on the front of this book. I saw it in Target the other day and did a major double take. Look familiar?

I Think I'm In Love

Ok, not really. I have a smokin' hot wife that is way too good for me. But there is something to be said for a chick that can do this:

CCC Medical Center

If Community Christian were in the buisness of men's health (physical that is), this would be our web site! Enjoy!

Moving On Up

Moving sucks! Actually it’s not the move so much as the packing of boxes an a 98 degree garage. No, I’m not packing boxes with Nick Lachey. That would be weird. Actually what’s weird is the fact I knew Nick Lachey and the band 98 Degrees. Anyway, while packing boxes you realize how much “crap” you have. Now I use the term crap loosely. One man’s crap is another man’s, well, you get the point. However, I can’t seem to part with any of my crap. I have ticket stubs from Braves games I went to in the early 80’s. Why can’t I throw those away? I also have quite an extensive Coke collection. Again, why can’t I throw that stuff away, or give it to someone? I keep telling myself that one day my collection will make me rich. Odds are it won’t. Unless I find some eccentric idiot Coke collector to buy it all. (If you are an eccentric Coke collector please ignore the idiot comment and contact me ASAP). I just can’t seem to let go of crap. I want to, but I can’t. So I am forced to take all my crap with me, and make my friends come over and help me move it all. Making My Friends Shift My Crap Around, isn’t that a name of a country song?

As I was flying to San Francisco Sunday afternoon I was reading my favorite book of the Bible, James. If you have never read it please do. It is slap full of good stuff. Anyway, one of my favorite verses in James is 1:23-25. It’s the whole look in a mirror verse. Everyday I look in the mirror and see all the crap I have in my life. And by crap I mean stuff that I do that I shouldn’t. Sin. Separation from God. I see all that stuff, figuratively speaking, but most of the time I don’t do anything about it. I just can’t seem to let go of crap. I want to, but I can’t. So I choose to take all my crap with me, and sometimes my friends are forced to deal with it too. I need to do better about looking at the perfect law that sets me free. I’ve got to change. I’ve got to move. Problem is, moving sucks!

Who needs Noah Webster when you have Crosby!

So there’s this really cool little dude named Crosby, he’s about 2 ½ years old (I think). Anyway, beyond being one of the easiest kids to get along with he came up with a phrase that I think (along with the entire Madras campus) is just great. The phrase is: Nexterday. You and I would say Tomorrow. So I plan on using nexturday in lieu of tomorrow from now on. I would challenge you to do the same. Who knows, maybe one day the phrase will make it on to CNN, Fox News or even more impressive Family Guy or South Park. Maybe we can come up with an entire set of new vocabulary words. Comment and leave some suggestions for new words you’d like to see me and the rest of the world start to use. If I get some good ones I’ll be sure to use them nexturday.

To All My Anonymous Fans

Let me clarify the illegal download comment. It’s not so much an illegal download as it is the MP3 is just out there in cyber space. I guess it would have been more accurate to say I don’t pay for the MP3. Is that “illegal”, I don’t know. You can find just about anything out there you want these days. If you’ve figured out how to hit the “Anonymous” button on Blogger you can probably find free music. Give it a try. And there are much worse things that I do that I don’t post on the Blog. As a youth minister am I supposed to be perfect? I hope wherever your student attends (if he/she does) that their youth minister is perfect and never screws up. As for me I screw up. Yes, let it be public knowledge that Community Christian Church hired a sinner. Run for the hills all you “Christians”! I admit it, I struggle with it and I strive to become a fully devoted follower. Furthermore if your kid does, in fact, find himself/herself struggling with something I would hope he/she could find a place that would accept him, love him and help him grow to be more like Christ. That’s what we try to do here at CCC. We’re all messed up, we all love each other in spite of it, and God doesn’t love us any less. By the way, if you’re looking for some MP3’s try skreemer. Unless you’re that perfect youth minister, then splurge and pay the 99 cents on iTunes.

Miley's Achy Breaky Pictures Part 2

Some of you may argue that Miley is someone that kids look up to and want to be like (see previous post). Here’s what I say to you. My kids may emulate Hannah Montana from time to time, but they don’t aspire to be her when they grow up. Ask my five year old to describe what she wants to be and shell say: I want to be tall, pretty and have dark hair. Who’s she trying to imitate? Her mom! My son wants to cook dinner and build things. He wants to take after his old man. My youngest daughter would rather help her mom with the laundry then watch Hannah Montana. We also spend A LOT of time with our kids. Wonder why they would rather be like us then Miley Cyrus? Unfortunately I see a lot of my bad habits in my kids too. So instead of being the moral police for Miley maybe I should start with myself. Of course, I’m sure I’m the only parent that screws up. Once I fix myself I’ll join all you perfect people and help criticize Miley.

Miley's Achy Breaky Pictures

Ok, I realize I’m really behind the times by just now posting about this, but believe it or not I have better things to do. Anyway, what’s up with the whole Miley Cyrus picture thing? Let’s all agree that it was a mistake. The only difference between the mistake Miley made and the mistakes average 15 year old girls make is that millions of people see Miley’s mistake. She says she lives on Christian principles, so that means she’s not allowed to screw up? Here’s a big shocker: 15 year old Christians screw up. I know, that comes as a HUGE surprise to many of you. Tell you what, if you’ve got huge issues with Miley and what she did let me post your next screw up in a national publication with a circulation of 1.1 million.

Ultimately here’s my point. I have two daughter that love Miley Cyrus a.k.a. Hannah Montana. (Now you can argue that I shouldn’t let my daughters watch the show, but that’s a discussion for another time.) Her posing in Vanity Fair made NO impact on my daughters because they don’t read Vanity Fair. They’ve never even seen it. Now does that excuse or make up for what Miley did. No. But I would worry more about the parents that let there kids look at such magazines. I would argue that Vanity Fair is worse then Playboy. Take out the naked pictures in Playboy and all you’re left with is articles about sports and cars. (Or so I’ve been told). Open the pages of Vanity Fair, or GQ or even Seventeen and you see articles like “How to Please Your Man”, “Seven Ways to Use a Popsicle Stick” or “Guy or Girl, The Tough Decision”.

What I don’t understand is how her dad sat there and watched it. That would just gross me out. Of course this is the man that brought you “Achy Breaky Heart”. I think people are just pissed off because they didn’t have the idea to put their 15 year old mediocre singing/acting daughter on the Disney channel to make millions of dollars. I guess I just have more things to get upset about. Like $4.00 gas prices, war, raising my own kids, you know much LESS important things. Maybe one day I’ll get upset at Miley. Until then I guess I’ll have to keep downloading illegal copies of her songs to my MP3 player so my daughters can listen to them in the car. Yes I said illegal! But give me a break, it’s not like I’m letting my kids pose for magazines.

You're Invited!

If you serve anywhere at Community Christian Church (not just Student Ministry) check this out:

Why Blogs were invented

I am convinced that blogging was invented to give people something to do when they don’t feel like working. Right now I have a drama to write, two scripts to memorize, a music video to cast and story board and a sermon to look over for this Sunday night. I have plenty to do; I just don’t feel like doing any of it. So, instead of doing work, I blog. Sure blogs are useful, there’s lots of good stuff out there. There is much wisdom to be gleaned from blogs. But being a blog writer isn’t a job. Well, maybe it is. It wouldn’t surprise me if someone gets paid to write and keep up with a blog. I want that job. If that were my job then I wouldn’t feel like doing it. And instead of doing my blog job I would get the drama written, the scripts memorized, the music video done and spend the rest of the time looking over my message.

If you’re interested here is the real history of Blogs. It’s actually very interesting how they came about.

Look, I found God

Yesterday we had a world religions panel at our church. We had representatives from Judaism, Islam, Hindu and Christianity. I found it rather fascinating. I love stuff like that. I can sit down and watch panel discussions and documentaries until the cows come home (no offense to our Hindu speaker). I really tried my best to go into the whole thing with an open mind. Of course growing up Christian, and working at a Christian church, it was hard for me to be totally objective. After listening to everything I came to two conclusions. First off, after listening to all four speakers, if I was seeking a religion Christianity would be the hands down choice. For no other reason then, out of the four, it seems the least complicated. The other three religions have no less then three texts you’ve got to keep up with. I have a hard enough time reading the Bible, let alone having to keep up with two or three others! I know that sounds stupid, picking a religion just because it’s easy. But I’m trying to approach this from a “I have no religion and I’ve got to pick one” angle. Also, the other religions seem to have a bunch of “do’s and don’ts”. They seem more about what you do as opposed to who you are. Now, as a Christian I certainly believe how you behave is important, there are certain things I do and don’t do based on my faith. But those “do’s and don’ts” come out of a relationship with Jesus. It’s through my relationship with Christ that I decide I do certain things or don’t do certain things. It’s not out of obligation or fear of spending an eternity in Hell. Sure, I know that’s a possible consequence for my actions, but it’s not the motivating factor. Anyway, as I listened to the other religious viewpoints, I just kept thinking “man, that just seems too complicated”. Again, some of you may mistake my attitude for laziness. It’s actually the opposite. I just don’t think God makes things that difficult. I’m not saying being a faithful Christian is easy, but having a relationship with God is. The second thing that struck me is what an amazing and loving God we have. And in light of light I’m embarrassed of how I honor God. I’m ashamed of the amount of time I spend in personal devotion and prayer. I looked up at that stage and thought how lucky I am to believe in the one true God and His son Jesus. Then I thought about what a poor job I do of continuing to grow and know Him more. I’ve been given and accepted the greatest gift in the world, and I don’t do much with it. That changes today.

Take me out to the ballgame

In light of yesterday’s post, Who’s Your Daddy, I would like to say that since then I have learned a few more things about being a dad. Although in many ways I still feel inadequate, I did learn 10 valuable dad things last night I want to share:
1. If you have an eight year old son it should me mandatory that you take him to a baseball game. Charlie and I went last night and it was a blast.
2. Boys can last as many innings as their age (i.e. a two year old can last two innings, five year old five innings, etc.) By the eighth inning Charlie was more interested in catching bugs then watching the game.
3. Dad’s should be more interested in taking their son to Tooner Filed then watching the game.
4. Every eight year olds favorite player (if a Braves fan) is Chipper Jones. Not a bad choice.
5. Eight year olds have no concept for what an accomplishment it is to achieve 3000 strikeouts.
6. Drunk people shouldn’t try to start the wave, especially during the singing of Take Me Out to the Ballgame.
7. Don’t worry about spending $7 on a hotdog, it’s well worth the look on your sons face to have a hotdog bigger then his head slap full of chili and cheese (jalapeños on the side for dad)
8. Don’t worry about spending $10 to park right next to the stadium.
9. Eight year olds have a better concept for money then you would think. They understand the logic behind NOT spending $5 on a bag of cotton candy.
10. Talk to your son during the game. Teach him the proper and non-obscene way to belittle the umpires and other team. Try until you’re blue in the face to explain basic concepts of balls, strikes, outs and foul balls. Make sure you do every tomahawk chop, Adam’s family clap and every “Budabubumpbaba CHARGE”. Promise you’ll take a three row, head first, bear handed dive for any foul balls that come close.
Baseball is a great game. There are so many things about it that make it great. Add an eight year old boy and it becomes perfect. Especially if that boy is as cool as my son!

Who's Your Daddy?

So yesterday my son lost his first tooth. I’ve never seen a boy so excited. He’s not big on the whole pain and blood thing, but he did great. He wanted me to yank the thing out. Here’s the thing though: I couldn’t remember how to pull a loose tooth. I know that sounds stupid, but as I was thinking about it it’s probably been 20 years since I’ve had to do it. And that was my own tooth, not someone else’s. So last night was another “dad right of passage”. It’s one of those things they never think to teach you in school. Sure they tell you where babies come from, and make you and some random girl carry around an “egg baby” for a school day, but they never think to say “Oh, and one day your kids will have a loose tooth, this is what you do . . .” Anyway, after about an 30 minutes of trying various methods to get the tooth out (yanking, string, tweezers, I couldn’t find my needle nose pliers) we finally just wiggled it enough that it came out. And there stood my son, with a huge bloody smile. Its times like these that make me question my adequacy as a father. There’s so much stuff you seem to have to do and know, and nobody ever thinks to sit down and tell you how to do the stuff. You kind of just learn on the fly, doing the best you can. In service Sunday we talked about God as Abba or “daddy”. It really hit me Sunday as Jason was speaking and I watched the Mailbox video what a loving Abba I have; an Abba who has all the right answers, who knows how to do everything. How different would I live my life if I truly trusted, talked to and listened to my Abba? My son put his trust and faigh in me when it came to his tooth. From time to time he had a look of fear and pain in his face, but he stood there, trusting his daddy to take care of him. And in the end we go the tooth out and he got $3 under his pillow. Jesus calls us to have the simple faith of a child. Adults get so muddled down in making God complex. He’s really not. Do we ever get to the point that we put our trust in God like my son put in me? Like my son had faith in me, I hope to one day always have that same kind of faith in God. More importantly, I hope my son takes the faith he has in his screwed up earthly dad, and have that same faith in his Abba.

Top Ten Ways to Get Out of Praying

First of all let me say that this is not a anti-prayer post. I totally believe in the power of prayer. That being said, it does annoy me sometimes when I have to pray in public, or at family gatherings. My wife’s grandmother, who I love to death, thinks that for some reason, since I grew up a PK (preacher’s kid) and am now myself a preacher, my prayers carry some special weight. Same thing at Charlie’s cub scouts. Point is, anyone can pray. Preachers (or PKs) don’t have a special one way line to God. So on occasion I get annoyed when asked to pray. That may not be very Christ-like. Sue me, write comments to me, and think less of me, but sometimes I just don’t want to pray out loud. My friend Wes and I were talking yesterday about this very subject. He felt the same way. His mom makes him pray at all the family functions. So, in order to help Wes, myself and all you other not so crazy about praying out loud people, I offer the top ten phrases to say that will guarantee you won’t be asked again:

1. “Dear Lord, I want to first thank you for clearing up that touch of gonorrhea I had last month... “

Ok, so I don’t have ten. But I think that one will suffice.

Great Week of Serving

The Great Week of Serving started out slow. This was our first attempt at something like this. I was riding with a friend of mine from work and he asked if we had a good turn out. I told him we had four. On average we have about 80 students that I would call active in our student ministry. So when you look at the number that showed up for that first day it doesn’t exactly WOW you. Five percent isn’t anything to brag about. But here’s the thing. On that first day we had four teenagers that gave up their life for a few hours to serve. Four students went against the grain and decided to give up their first official day to sleep in and show up at the church at 9:00 in the morning. Personally that does WOW me! The next two days proved to be a little better. On one of those days we had the chance to serve some people at a home for abused women and children. We painted, did yard work and played with kids. In all we had 19 students participate in the great week of serving, one student came to all three (yeah RaShaan). Five leaders also came out, our Sharpsburg Campus Director, the lovely Becky Martin, stepped up and lead the way (since her lousy boss, a.k.a. ME, decided to schedule a bunch of other stuff). Thanks to everyone to helped out.

Now when you look at it we only had 19% of our student ministry (students and leaders) participate; overall, not a great number. I really didn’t have any idea how many we would have. Like I said, we’ve never done this kind of thing before. But here is what I do know. We had 19 students make a sacrifice this week. In our day and time I don’t think we know what true sacrifice is. But to a teenager, time out of school is one of their most precious possessions. And to a teenager giving any of that time up is a sacrifice.

2000 years ago 12 men made huge sacrifices to follow some guy from Nazareth that just said “Follow me”. That guy and those 12 men changed the world forever. Proof that numbers don’t matter; it’s what’s in the heart that counts. Nineteen students didn’t set out to change the world this week, but some change did happen in their hearts. I believe that heart change can and will change the world. Twelve did it 2000 years ago, there’s no reason we can’t do it today. Besides, we’re 7 up on them. Piece of cake.



Thanks to everyone that came out. I love you guys!

What's with all the blanking blogging?

Ok, so I’ve been blasted for not bloging but once every two or three weeks. Well, not so much “blasted” as much as someone said “Hey, you don’t blog a lot”. I don’t understand people who have the time to blog every day. Sure the computer geek college student has time, and most high school kids, but the average working person with a family doesn’t or shouldn’t have the time. In my opinion anyone who blogs more then two or three times a week either A) Has way too much time on their hands or B) Has a big head and assumes people want to hear what they have to say. Of course it is a free world and people can choose whether or not to read a blog, but the only reason people to blog is so people will read it. If I didn’t think anyone read my blog I wouldn’t blog. Now, there is a difference between reading and caring. I don’t think anyone cares that I don’t blog, they just enjoy reading it. Now I have been accused of relating everything I blog about back to my church or Christianity. Not accused in a “hey, you shouldn’t do that” kind of way, but more of a “you ever noticed . . . “ kind of way. That’s just they way my brain thinks. If I’m not thinking about sex I’m thinking about how everyday common things can relate to and remind me of God and how he works. Which, when you think about it, is pretty cool. Sex was created by God and I guess if I’m thinking about sex with my wife that’s ok. So if I’m thinking about sex, and I’m thinking about how things relate back to God, I’m basically thinking about God ALL the time. Wow, I’m a really good Christian! Enough blogging, I’ve got to get back to work and think about sex.

In the world of fast food Hardee’s is by far my favorite. Now, it's not my favorite because I eat there. I think I’ve been to Hardee’s a total of 1 time in the past 20 years, and that was by necessity only. So you may be asking yourself “Self, why does Kelley love Hardee’s so much but never eats there?” The answer is simple: They give the proverbial “Up Yours” to the fast food world. Think about fast food for a second. Fast food chains do nothing more then present mounds of calories, fat and sodium into recognizable eatable products. That’s what we love about them! It’s their job to put fat on a bun, cover it with cheese and special sauce and serve it to us quick and cheep. However, there has been a movement over the past few years to get fast food chains to offer healthier choices on their menu. Healthy fast food is an oxy moron. It’s like asking a German not to invade France, it just can’t be done. What I love about Hardee’s is that they have turned the health food nuts on their heads. They say not only are we going to continue to serve fat on a bun, but we’re going to make it as un-healthy as possible. Now, I’m not saying people should eat as un-healthy as possible. But I think it’s idiotic to expect a fast food chain, whose business it is to sell fat, to do otherwise. Check out Hardee’s Monster Thickburger compared to what can arguable be considered the Granddaddy of fast food burgers:








If that’s not saying “Up Yours” I don’t know what is.

I like to think of Community Christian Church as the Hardee’s of the church world. Most churches decide that hunkering down and taking care of their own is the way to go. Sure they like visitors, but only if they look, smell and act a certain way. Oh, and they can’t be sinners either. They say that in order for a church to be “healthy” they need only serve “healthy” people. If we went with the flow and did what most churches do we’d be no different. But, just like Hardee’s is not in the health food business, we are not in the business of serving healthy people, we’re in the business of serving spiritually unhealthy people and letting God make them healthy. We go against the flow. Our church is full of spiritually unhealthy people, from the senior pastor all the way down. And we want more spiritually unhealthy people to join us. It is only through God’s grace that we can one day be completely healthy. And if we don’t provide a place for everyone to get to know God then we have failed as a church. Now, if I could only find a way of getting them to serve the Monster Thickburger after communion. That may truly be Heaven on Earth!

HYPE United! Part Deux.

We had our second United this past Sunday night at East Coweta High school. Once again the student ministry team came through in a BIG way. When we opened the doors teenagers just flooded in. I don’t know why that shocks me so much, God is truly at work.









We played Deal or No Deal. The kids really got into it. One stinken’ kid took us for $250 (which was the top prize for that games) in the FIRST game! When I thought up the idea I was thinking “Nobody ever picks the million dollar case”. Opps. Everybody had a great time, including our “Howe” and and the lovely “Case Holding Girl”.

The HYPE United Band was awesome as usual.

Looks like this crazy idea might work after all. Yeah GOD!

I dare you to find a better job then mine

Yesturday here's what I got to do. At 10:30 I got to baptize three family memembers at our Sharpsburg campus. At Noon I got to drive over to our new Madras campus and worship with the guys over there. I wish every Sunday were like that.

I Wanna Be the First to Get the News Out part 2

The 171 is great news, we're all pumped about it. However, I wonder why we're all pumped about it? Should we be supprised by what God can and is doing? He know there would be 171 there. Oh well, I guess that's the difference between us and God. Ok, there's a bunch more, but you know what I mean.

I Wanna Be the First to Get the News Out

Jason just got a text message from Bill Coffman at our new Madras Campus that they have 171 people at their first service! WOW!

I can take 22 five year olds in a fight

I can take 22 five year olds in a fight. I'm pretty proud of this number; I thought it might be a little higher. I've already gone through one five year old (my son) and now have a five year old daughter. BUT, I also have a 3 year old (almost 4) daughter that fights like a 12 year old. Given the practice I get at home I thought my number would be closer to 30. Anyway, if you want to see how many 5 year olds you can take click the link below:

22

Oh, and to the person that always gets upset with my post: I DO NOT EVER OR WOULD EVER FIGHT A FIVE YEAR OLD. WHEN MY KIDS AND I WRESTLE IT IS FOR PURE FUN. I MAKE EVERY EFFORT NOT TO INJURE MY CHILDREN. Unless my three year old decides to do a flying knee drop from the sofa on my head, then all bets are off.

Don't Go To Kroger . . . at least for a while.

So I’m on my way to church Sunday and I have to stop at the grocery store to pick up food for the HYPE small groups that meet on Sunday morning. My grocery store of choice is Kroger. Now, I’m not one of those freaks that pledge allegiance to a particular chain of grocery stores. I choose Kroger because it is A) On my way to/from work and easy to get out of, and B) When I spend $100 I get ten cents off a gallon of gas. I think Wal-Mart is probably cheaper on groceries, but I have made it my mission in life to avoid Newnan’s Wal-Mart at all cost. I may spend a little more on food, but it’s probably counter balanced by the amount I save on gas and grey hair. ANYWAY, I stop Kroger at 7:45 in the morning. Not an unreasonable time seeing how it is a 24 hour grocery store. As I walk in (AFTER getting all three of my kids out of the car) I’m stopped by what I can only assume is a manger. He proceeds to inform me that they are closed until 8:00 so they can have their “Grand Opening” (they have just recently remodeled the store). Needless to say I was less then pleased. I expressed my displeasure by informing him that was the stupidest thing I had ever heard and that a company that would do such a thing must be run by complete morons. He said, and I quote “I’m sorry, but we’re sure glad you decided to stop by this morning.” WHAT?!?! He wasn’t glad at all. By the fact they were not open they were hoping nobody would walk in the door. When the powers at be decided to close the store in order to have a grand opening they were hoping and praying no one showed up. Anyway, I proceeded to tell him that he was in fact NOT glad I showed up or else he would have let me buy my dozen doughnuts and gallon of milk. He then tells me I’m more then welcome to come back at 8:00, IN 10 FREAKIN’ MINUTES. If I hadn’t been on my way to church with my three kids I would have happy to stand there for another 10 minutes, insulting him and his company, and then made my purchases (still need that $100 to get my discounted gas). Alas, I didn’t have the time. So I just went to Publix, the most expensive grocery store in the world.

Now, you may be saying to yourself “Self, what is the point of Kelley’ little tirade?” Here it is: Kroger dropped the ball. They work all year to get my business. They remodel, they build gas pumps, and they reward me for buying food for them, they advertise, they run specials. I depend on Kroger to come through on what they say. I then I show up and they turn me away as if my needs don’t matter. I was really ticked at Kroger and honestly don’t want to shop there anymore. Here at Community Christian we kind of do the same thing. We advertise, we encourage people that call this their home to invite there friends. But if everyone here isn’t on mission we might as well turn people away at the door. Sure there are times that I want to take it easy, I want to just hang out with my friends and not talk to anyone else. Sure it’s a pain to drag my kids up there at 7:30 AM and have the sit for an hour and a half while I practice a drama or get stuff ready for small group. But I know that there is someone out there that will be walking in the door because of the church’s efforts and we better be prepared for them. Unfortunately the term “comfort zone” just doesn’t exist in our church. If we all stick to our comfort zones the mission won’t get accomplished and people go to Hell. It’s true that only God can turn a person’s heart and once a person walks in the door they have to be open to listing to Him. And if WE think WE did something great when someone makes Jesus the leader of their life we are fooling themselves. But we’ve got to get them in the door and decide that we’re ok with doing things we may not otherwise like to do. Ultimately Kroger has no choice in where my grocery money goes, but they sure know how to entice me to spend it with them. If they do in fact entice me into their store they better sure as heck back up what they’ve said. We better do the same. We say we’re a church for the Rest of Us. Stop thinking about what you and you husband and your kids like, and think about what the Rest of Us likes. It’s not about you, it’s about lost people. It’s about reaching unconnected people and together growing to Christ, regardless of location, time, leader, music and friends. Kroger dropped the ball, but eventually I’ll end up back there at some point giving them my money (need that gas). Unfortunately, people aren’t as forgiving of churches as they are grocery stores.

In light of Disney’s release of 101 Dalmatians . . .

I’m breaking into the Disney vault! Who’s in?

23 minutes into Lost...

23 minutes into Lost best episode ever. Wow. listen

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Shut down the city,...

Shut down the city, it's snowing. listen

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Cool HYPE United Story

Well, our first HYPE United was this past Sunday night. I’ve just now had the chance to really sit down a process everything. I must say it came off better then I expected. Everyone did their part, especially God.

I just want to relay one really cool story that came out of our first United. A friend of mine has been trying to get a lady she works with to come to church. The woman has a daughter that is in 6th grade. According to my friend, this girl is really into wicken, witchcraft and all that stuff. Now, I don’t know if she’s like a practicing wicken or not, or if she just thinks it’s cool. Point being this girl (and presumable her mother) are FAR from God. Well, she ended up coming with my friend to HYPE United, and she LOVED it. She can’t wait to come back. My friend was so excited! I was too. Now, here’s the really cool thing for me. This young girl happens to go to the same school as my kids go to. This morning when I dropped them off this girl, who I’ve seen several times but has never spoken to me, yells from across the room “Mr. Kelley, Mr. Kelley”, I see her and say “hi”. She then says “That Mr. Roboto video was weird!” At first I have no idea what the heck she’s talking about. Then it dawns on me she’s gone on-line and voted for our upcoming VMAs. Sometimes I get so engrossed in planning activities and worrying about what our regular kids will think about them that I lose track of why we do all this in the first place. This young girl now has a connection to our church because of a silly music video we put on line.

I wonder sometimes, at the end of the day, if God looks down and sees all the stuff we’re doing and says “Well, that’s certainly one way to do it. I guess I’ll just have to use that to get that 6th grade girl I’ve wanted to reach out to.” Here’s the really freaky thing that crosses my mind: Did God put that song in Dennis DeYoung’s (founding member of Styx) mind 25 years ago with the sole purpose of reaching this young lady? I know, that sound like a stretch. But, how else would an individual figure out a way to work the lyrics “Domo arigato” into a rock song?

VMA Voting

The voting for the 2008 CCC VMAs is now open. Click here to cast your vote!

Senior High Retreat (Sorry it's so long)

What a great weekend! We had a total of 36 students (29 from CCC, 7 from a church in Columbus). The first thing they heard from the stage (after a song) was me standing up and saying “Welcome to the retreat. This weekend we’re going to teach you guys how to be UnChristian”. All the kids just kind of looked at me with blank stares. Not what they expected a youth minister to say. If you have no idea what I’m talking about check out the UnChristian web site. We took these young men and women on a journey of what Christ really had in mind when he established the Church and Christianity. I pray that they’ll really take to heart what we talked about and apply it to their lives. That being said here are a few highlights from the weekend:

1) John Martin, Nathan McKnight, Zach Boswell and Nathan Martin did an incredible job of leading us in worship. Along with playing for the main sessions they put together an all worship service Saturday night (started at 10 PM) that was amazing. I challenged the teenagers to just show up, leave all their baggage at the door, and just worship the God that created them. And they did. Thank you band. We’ll see you at the next retreat (I hope!).

2) Lawrence Moore put together our fun activities. He did a great job of just getting the kids to loosen up and get to know each other. He did a scavenger hunt Saturday night that took a lot of planning and preparation and the kids really liked it. Good job my man!

3) Cathy Hooker came through again in the kitchen. Truth be told, I only do these retreat so I can get eat her cooking the entire weekend. If anyone came away from this weekend hungry it’s their own fault.

4) Small group leaders. Holy Cow! I can’t imagine doing this stuff without you. I always tell students that the leaders enjoy this stuff more then the students. And we do. Watching you guys play games with the kids, eat with them and lead them closer to God is almost too much for me to handle. I know one leader just sat and talked with a student for an hour or so after our campfire. I think as adults we don’t realize how much of an impact we can make on a young person’s life by just sitting and listening. This leader gets that and did it. WHAT WE DO WOULD NOT BE POSSIBLE WITHOUT YOU. I love you all so much.

6) BJ Parker took some of the load off of me this weekend. He might think what he did wasn’t that big of a deal, but it was. He helped set up the topics every night by leading the students in activities. He did a great job!

7) Becky Martin. Enough said. If you know Becky you know what I mean. If you don’t know Becky you’re missing out. She basically does all the work and I just walk around pissing people off. But we make a good team. I could go on, but I don’t have the time or space.

8) My wife. The main session wouldn’t have happened without her. She takes all the jumbled mess in my head and somehow makes it look like a well oiled machine. I don’t know how or why she puts up with me but I thank God she does.

To All My Fans

Alas, my job is very hectic right now. I'm way to busy to blog. Darn these people for wanting me to work! So hold tight. I should be back to regular blogging in a few weeks.