The Highlights

Here are the highlights …not the kids magazine you find at the doctors office with pages missing and riddles which are unsolvable… but simply the major info happening in my life right now.

So I didn’t realize what would happen to my life as I moved to Chattanooga, TN.
I knew it would be the wildest ride of my life and so far it has not disappointed.

I wish I could write in detail every detail of what has happened since I last posted… but it would be long and not boring but really long so I will spare us both.

1. Northbridge Church
We are growing…challenging one another…gearing up for an incredible fall (the season!) The community is starting to take on its own personality. I can’t wait to see what God is going to do next. That is all I could ever ask in a church…one I WANT to invite people too!

..::aside::.. Those of you still struggling through with churches with no vision and no commitment to achieving said vision… well…you are perishing! Grab hold of Jesus and his vision for your community… and don’t stop until you reach it!

2. My Life
Here is where things are really changing for me. I am in love with an incredible woman, who challenges me…encourages me…forgives me… and best of all believes in me. I feel like a beggar at a feast…I have so little to offer and she has gives so much. Jessica, you are the love of my life. I can’t wait to marry you! Maybe a video blog is in order with Jessica and her wonderful son Taylor. Who knows what the future holds.

 

Oh Yeah… Blog This Punk!

 

Video Blog Part Two

 

Pre-Launch One: Practice

I set out on a journey several months ago to be apart of a movemet that would change the world.    I left a good job with good people risking everything to pursue a dream.  That dream is has been in the distant future…eclipsed by “real life” issues like getting a job, paying bills, and dealing with busted car windows and attacks from the enemy.

This past weekend was a full of peaks and valleys…emotional rises and falls that you would expect over the course of a year all happened in a mere 72 hours.  I wake up early Friday morning to get some needed overtime when I stepped to my car door I stepped on my window.  Someone had busted it out.  That turned out to be the lightest blow of the day.  A long time close friend of mine was arrested on incredibly serious charges.  I can’t and won’t express anything on here other than my heart breaks for all involved.

Then the pendulum swings high…

Northbridge Church… our first pre-launch was this Sunday… we showed up at the storage unit to load the first round of gear at 6am.  We learned so much about our new facility…that you can never have too many extensions cords..about how when the time changes alarm clocks don’t automatically reset…about how difficult this dream really will be.  We were lost…and totally dependant on God… seems like a scary and beautiful place to be.

 

No Pants

So that day just arrived.  That sad day when everything begins to go downhill.

Today I almost walked out of my apartment without pants on.  I never thought it would happen, but it did.

I was getting ready to go to the gym when it occured to me I needed to put shorts on before leaving the house.  Next I will be sitting in a home where pants are optional to gowns.  Yikes

 

25 Random Thing About Me (from Facebook)

1.  I had an invisible friend when I was 12.
2.  I wanted to be a Hip Hop star.
3.  I stole things a lot as a youngster
4.  I stole a Shaq rookie card from Josh, who is now my pastor.
5.  I slept almost a whole summer in an unairconditioned storage shed.
6.  I have read at least 50 pages of some book…I am sure of it.
7.  Right now I am loving Tyrone Wells…look him up!
8.  I am apart of a team that is launching a church in Northern Chattanooga
9.  I would sleep till 12pm everyday if I had my way.
10. I am a neat freak
11. Basketball is my first love, Football is now my current love…sports anyway.
12. I once stayed up all night and cleaned my best friend’s room
13. I use butt swiffers…post wipe flushable moist towelettes….you like it
14. Skylar and I are going to start a sports talk show where the top plays are recreated by Pee Wee Football Players
15. I hate having things in my pocket.
16. Some days I miss Youth Ministry…
17. At one point in my life I would eat an entire large Papa Johns Pizza in one sitting.
18.  As much as I love to sleep in I try to get to work early…real early.
19.  Peter Pan Honey Roast Peanut Butter is so good…if it were contaminated I would still eat it.
20.  I got told today that I don’t sound like a Youth Pastor…and in a cool way!
21.  I am by no means a good guitarist or vocalist…but I love to lead worship.
22.  I once convinced my roommate Mike to wear a TuTu and and tank top screaming, “I am a pretty pretty princess!!” He almost got beat up.
23. I got spankings when I was younger for things I didn’t do.
24. I love mid 90’s gangsta rap…if you don’t like it…I will bust a cap
25. I have a dog, Buddy, who could win the ugliest dog competition.

 

First Real Interview

So today I had my first real interview for a job with http://www.chattem.com/

I desperately need to find a steady, full time job.  Something with regular hours and maybe even a benefit or two…who knows…reach for the stars and you will land on a cloud right…this cloud maybe a storm cloud right now!

So I woke up in time to leave an hour early for a 20 min drive…and thanks to my inexperience driving in Chattanooga it took 55mins.  I was cutting it close.  After frantic phone calls to my sister for directions, I arrived at the office complex completely out of my element…I wore a tie as well.  I know it shocked me too.  I sat in a room full of Gold Bond and Kaopectate boxes.  It was hard not to snicker and make immature comments.

The interview process went well I think.  The only question they really had was, “What on earth are you doing here?”  They couldn’t understad how I would leave a church to try to work in customer service.  I said, “Me neither!”

The interesting part of the conversation was when I had to explain how I had customer service experience.  I had to convince them that working with irate, upset, and sometimes aggressive church people was just like listening to angry customers with Icy Hot burns in awkward places.  Very similar I thought!

Well the last few days I have been driving around the city and getting familiar with it. More accurately, getting lost in it!  Everyone has told us that this city is on the verge of something huge.  I think God has brought us to a place about to explode with opportunities to lead the city to Jesus.  Pray for us.  It seems like such a cool place and I can’t wait to get rolling with www.thenorthshoreproject.com.

 

Last Day of Amp Camp

 

Camp Journey

This will document my journey here at Amp Camp: Overdrive     I really enjoy the camp atmosphere and I hope I can bring some of this enthusiasm home with me! So here goes. 
 

• The trip from Chickamauga, GA to Plymouth, IN is an estimated 8.5 hours…due to an unexpected (and conveniently unseen by we travelers) rainstorm of epic proportions (Storm of Epic Proportions) we were re-routed 5 hours out of the way!! 
   
• Worship was good at Plymouth even though my mind was in Bessemer City. 
   
• I wore Brady’s pink polo today…it was a Large…that could be the first time I have ever worn a Large in a decade or so!!  
   
• We were dodging tornados and major rainstorms as the students arrived.  
   
• They were pumped to be here…service went really well I thought. I didn’t speak for long…so that is good. A few kids responded, but I think tomorrow night is gonna hit home to them more.
  

   
   

   
   

 

Real First Blog

 
 

Other Image Views

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=cat13506&type=page&skuId=8779404&productId=1204332257046&viewtype=Alternate%20View%202&h=387

Screen clipping taken: 5/6/2008, 5:53 PM

 
 

 
 

After much soul-searching….i discovered I am a “Malfunction Magnet”

Everything electronic I totally screw up…sometimes it is because of my neglect or mistreatment…but the major percentage of the time I am simply baffled as to why things malfunction…cell phones lose signal…lights blow out…computers shut down…etc…

 
 

Its makes me sad…but I still got a laptop…after 3 tries of having to take some back and exchange them for ones without my “malfunction” prints on it…so now I will be updating my blog from the coffee shop with my new investment (toy)