JC & Kristen

Some very good friends of mine were in town this weekend and this happened. I can't explain it, you will just have to watch!!!!!

Hanging with cool people

Every couple of months we get to hang out with some of our best friends in the whole world. Who by the way, has a new myspace page now. Check it out here. We are hanging out all day and moving this girl out of her dorm. I am so thankful for great friends that love Jesus.

I Love My Pastor

I am so excited to be at Brookwood Church. My pastor is amazing. He took this guy and I to lunch yesterday. I was expecting that he had something that he wanted us to talk about, but in reality he just wanted to hang out. It was pretty cool just hanging out. One thing however was very interesting to me. During our meal, all of our glasses were getting pretty empty and it was evident that we all needed a refill. Perry looked over and asked us what we were drinking. He then left his glass on the table and went over and got Mike and I a refill. He refilled our cups before he did his ownI know that this does not seem like that big of a deal. But, how he demonstrated servant leadership to us in that moment was pretty awesome. I hope, like my pastor, I will never become so filled with myself that I forget that I am a servant.

Thoughts about Wednesday Night

• Well it's over.
  
• Wednesday night was the last night of our SEX_ED series.
  
• I think we had a kicking night.
  
• This Girl was our MC and did a great job.
  
• We have a great team of people making Wednesday nights happen- They rock.
• We went to Pop's and had all you can eat wings and pizza. It made me very happy.
  
• Taylor More took home the Nintendo Wii and I am sure she was up all night playing it.
  
• I will not eat another piece of pizza for at least 10 years
• I don't always have to be in the spotlight
• I can't do everything
• I am surrounded by people who are more gifted than me (Praise the Lord)
• I love my Job
• Jesus is Awesome
• I love watching people walk from death to life

I hate cutting grass

Yesterday I spent most of the afternoon cutting my grass. I hate the process, I get all dirty and sneeze a lot. I get so bored sitting on my lawnmower. I know there are those who really love it' but not me. I would rather sit inside and watch other people work in the yard wile I am playing my Xbox. Even though I don't like working in the yard, I do however love to walk out my front door on Sunday mornings and look at how great the yard looks. It is pretty much the same way in our lives. The process of becoming more like Jesus is hard and I would rather spend my time playing Xbox. But after I have come through a very difficult portion of my life, it is great to look at what God is doing in me. This is why most people stop growing in their faith. It is hard and we are lazy people. I don't ever want to miss out on what God id doing because of my unwillingness to be shaped into God's mold for me.

God is so cool.....

I am very excited about all the crazy stuff God is doing. Sometimes I just sit back in awe and amazement at how unbelievable God is. Trust me, there is some stuff happening right now behind the scenes in the MS and HS ministry here at Brookwood Church that could revolutionize the student ministry. I cant share any details at this time but there will be more to come in several weeks.

"Broke Leg Mountain"

The second day on our retreat to Awanita has been sort of interesting. I decided I would be adventurous and do lots of crazy, exciting, dangerous, stuff this weekend. It all started out pretty well when I set out to go horseback riding. First of all, I haven’t ridden a horse in about 15 years which pretty much makes me very inexperienced. This was not going to be good. We all loaded up and went to go “get” the horses across the mountain. We got there and the first battle was actually getting on the horse, this is not as easy as you might think. I tried to get on the horse in the most common way by placing my left foot in the stirrup and raising my body up on onto the horse. This method was not working as well as I had hoped mainly because my feet would not fit in the stirrups. The only part of my foot that would fit in the stirrup was the tips of my toes, so I could not lift myself up no matter how hard I tried. This presented an issue because I was not planning on admitting defeat especially with eight students and three adult leaders all watching my every move. So I decided that I was going to beat this horse, whose name was “Trigger” by the way, no matter what it took. So we lead “Trigger” over to a near bye gate and tried to get him close so I could get on. Trigger, however had different plans. The horse would not cooperate in coming close to the gate so I could place my tiptoes in the stirrup and get on. We got the horse as close as possible and I did what any normal human being would do. I climbed to the top of the gate and leaped off onto the horse’s back like Jackie Chan in Shanghai Nights. This plan was working a lot better but the trajectory of my approach was not as accurate as I had hoped. I had landed on the horse’s butt. This is much better than standing on the ground but the goal of actually riding the horse had not actually been attained. I was lying across the horse praying that it would not take off with me hanging on for dear life. I managed to pull myself across the horses back and into the saddle all the while I am sure “Trigger” was asking God what he had done to deserve a 333 lb man leaping from a very tall gate onto his back. The remainder of the ride was uneventful with me hanging on most of the way with just my tippie toes. Half way through a nice gentleman named cowboy, brought me some stirrups that my feet could actually fit into and it made the rest of the ride more manageable. Dismounting the horse could have been a problem because I thought I might have to transfer to a smaller horse and then to an even smaller horse and then to a large dog to get close enough to the ground not to kill myself. But, again I jumped from the horse to the ground with no problem at all, minus the permanent injury to my left knee from holding on to the horse with a “thigh hug” since my feet would not go in the stirrups. I think that I will leave horseback riding to people with smaller feet, and smaller bodies. I have posted several pictures of this event for your enjoyment.

"How To Deal"

Today has been pretty crazy as we spent most of the afternoon filming for our upcoming series, "How to Deal". We are going to be speaking on four issues that are difficult to deal with, Anger, Pressure, Divorce, Death. The filming went very well, we shot for about four hours and got enough footage for about one and a half promos.
Wednesday night went very well with the first of three messages in our Sex_Ed series. It is always interesting when you speak on Sex. But it went very well. One of our guys came up to me afterward and put his arms around me and hugged me. It kinda caught me off guard, but I realized how much it had effected him as he kept telling me thank you. The night got more interesting, as we all went to Wendy's afterward. I sat down and had a conversation with a guy who told me he was an atheist. We had a great talk as he told me all about his life, and some of the pain he had experienced. I realized that it was great to talk to a guy who was struggling with the existence of God. It is definitely more exhilarating to engage in conversation with someone who is not sure about God than someone who claims that God is real and lives as if he is not. I am excited about what God is doing in his life, and it is always awesome watching someone walk from death to life. I have the best job on the planet.

Crazy Week

There is so much going on this week. I am loving every minute of it. We start our new series this week SEX_ED. I am so excited, it is going to be pretty crazy. We start preparation Wednesday night with all the actors and production crew for the "How to Deal" Series. I can't wait. This coming weekend we are taking 30 middle school students to the mountains to hang out for a few days and it is going to rock. We are going to race through the mountains in a HUM V at about 60 mph. I hope I don't die! I am sure that if I live through the HUM V ride the zip line off the mountain into the lake might take me out, this weekend is going to be interesting. There are some cool things coming up for the summer and believe me, it will be amazing!

Mighty To Save

"Mighty to Save" by Hillsong United might be the best song ever. It blows my mind! I know this sounds crazy but when I hear this song it makes me feel safe. I know that sounds weird, but it is how I feel. Here are some verses that are freaking awesome!

• Joshua 22:22 “The Lord, the Mighty One, is God! The Lord, the Mighty One, is God!
• Psalms 68:34 Tell everyone about God’s power.His majesty shines down on Israel;his strength is mighty in the heavens.
• Psalm 77:13 O God, your ways are holy.Is there any god as mighty as you?
• Psalm 94:22 But the Lord is my fortress;my God is the mighty rock where I hide.
• Ephesians 3:4 By God’s grace and mighty power, I have been given the privilege of serving him by spreading this Good News.
• Revelation 7:10 And they were shouting with a mighty shout,“Salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne and from the Lamb!”

I love the word of God it is awesome and the truth that it points to sets us free. God Rocks.

I Can't Sleep.....

I cant sleep right now and I have about a million questions running through my head. Here are a few of them.

• How can I make a greater impact in the lives of people?
• Is it important to be important?
• Why does it matter if anyone knows who I am?
• How do we determine "success"?
• Did Jesus do an event recap?
• How can I loose more weight faster?
• Will Sanjaya win American Idol? If so I will permanently block FOX on my television, except for when 24 is on.
  
• Did the University of Florida's Athletic Department sell their souls to the devil?
• Why do I care what I am wearing to work tomorrow?
• Who is the guy that died while filming "The Wizard of Oz"?
  
• Why is Christian Radio so bad?
• How is it that our Student Ministry is growing and we don't have a facility?
• Will a building make anything we do better?
• Is there anything better than seeing someone walk from darkness into light?
• What if Christians were to see lost people like Jesus does?
• Will I look weird after I loose another 100 lbs?
• How long will that take?
• How can we get more people to Jesus?
• Do most Christians know that most people are dying and going to hell.
• How many people will see the vision?
• How many will act on what they see?
• How awesome will it be when they do?

I am so excited about what God is doing here in Simpsonville, SC at Brookwood Church. I can't wait for the world to know!

Spring Break

There is no one at work today. The office is empty, and I am getting caught up on several projects I have put off for months. Praise the Lord. I am kinda jealous that I am not at the beach with the rest of the planet but that is OK I guess. We shot the first footage for the "How to Deal" series yesterday. Josh Martin our Worship Leader is a card magician. He came in and preformed for us for about an hour and we got some great footage for our message intro. Next week we begin our SEX_ED series and I am so excited, we will be giving away a Wii the first night and I hope it is me that wins it. I will see you guys next week.

Very Sleepy

I did not sleep very well last night and today I feel like I got hit by a bus. For some reason in my dream I was a star on some kind of hit reality TV show. All night long a camera crew was following me around as I was doing whatever I was doing. The funny thing was that the entire time I was prancing around town without wearing a shirt. It was really crazy. So I took a nap today for about two hours and I feel a little better but I can't wait to go to bed early tonight. This week is going to be crazy, we are getting ready to shoot four full length commercials for our "How To Deal" series coming up in may. They are going to be unbelievable.