Catalyst

Catalyst was awesome!  This is a leadership conference held here in Atlanta Georgia.  Most of all of our administrators go to this conference.  This year was awesome.  Andy Stanley of the North Point Community church was the opening keynote and also closes this conference out. He is my new hero.  He has an amazing insight to Leadership in our churches and our institutions.  

I actually needed this conference after our JV Volleyball season. I got the chance to go to the Preconference labs and the actually conference itself.   I am always introspecting and after this season I have done it more than I needed to but did it anyway.  Leading is hard!  No one wants to do it these days.  People are always second guessing the leadership.  I have to admit I question a lot in an attempt to make things better. I offer solutions, not just complaining about how things are going.

Many great speakers at this conference.  My favorite was Dave Ramsey.  He is on the radio and TV.  He talked about how Christians should not have that fear that exist now in our world.  We should be the model on how to handle things during this tough time.  I also got a chance to eat lunch with him thanks to Andrew Baker, a good friend who works for Harding's Institute for Church and Family.  I am very thankful to him(Andrew) in allowing me to join him for lunch/ He gave great insight on how he runs his business and shared stories that I will never forget about the atmosphere there.  I would love to one day run my own company with many employee's.  

The music was incredible.  I don't listen to a lot of contemporary christian music.  Strange for a worship leader, but I truly enjoyed the music this year.  I love to get lost in the praise.  As a leader, I had the opportunity to just praise God without thinking about anything but God.  I still love Acappella singing, this was one experience I will remember for along time.

I highly recommend this conference for ministers, educators, and anyone who would love to learn more and be encouraged while doing so.  They do a great job at Catalyst.  Hope to see you there next year!

I had a good week last week!

I had a very good week last week. I got to lead worship at my home congregation, during our faculty spiritual day, and an area wide in Houston Texas was my start of the week. I really enjoy returning to my home church. I love encouraging them, and visiting with lifelong friends.

We started back to school as teachers this week. I got the opportunity to lead worship as we return. This group loves to sing,and this is the Highlight of the week. We were in the throne room baby. It was awesome.

I got on a plane that afternoon to go to Houston for an area wide youth rally. Had to miss our day of service as teacher, but I got to serve and lead worship as Jeff Walling presented Grace in his usually great fashion. It was good to catch up with some friends there as well.

4am I leave for the airport to fly back to Atlanta and catch a plane to Dallas and then to Oklahoma City where I got an opportunity to speak to some very bright high school kids. I had a three hour lay over in Dallas, and got a chance to have lunch with two of my very good friends from there at my favorite Dallas area restaurant Red Hot and Blue. I got the Ribwich combo memphis style that included a two bone rib. It was goooood! I should have order a full rack of ribs. I love the food, the company was even better.

iDebate at Oklahoma Christian is where I was to speak Tuesday night. The kids responded very well and blogged about their experienceYou can find their blog here. Again, I had a lot of fun talking to them about Leadership. They thought I was very funny, but really listen to what I had to say. It was good to visit with another good friend there. We went back to my college days, and it was fun to think about those times.

4am again, I leave for the airport to return to Atlanta. I got back in timeto meet the boys of Junior High(male teachers) We meet for lunch once during our inservice to catch up and bond. I was glad I made it back for that.

Volleyball Wednesday thru Friday. I had to teach my team our serve-receive defense. We scrimmage the varsity and I saw they had learned a lot this week. We did not win against them, but played very well. They were focus.

It was a great week. I will attempt to include pictures in this post.

Leadership

It is time for leadership to stand up to those who can not handle a different point of view. One of my college professors and colleague when I worked there has made his public blog private. I am tired of the few always winning it seems. I have been in many worship wars where the few dictate what the majority has to put up with. I am tire of it. I am tired of the status quo. Mark Elrod's blog I find very refreshing and it challenges me to think about what is happening in this country. Do I agree 100 % of what is on his blog? No! I come to it everyday to challenge my thinking. I did not see his post change my middle name to Hussein on his blog. My prayer is that this has nothing to do with why he is making his blog private. Church people- Get over yourself! If you don't like what is found on his blog, then don't go over and read it.

This is also a generational thing I believe. I am not a letter writer if you can't tell on this blog. I like going to the person that I have conflict with. Many people have misunderstood me, until they have sat down and we talk about their issues. Why can't older people do this? I find this to be cowardice done by the greatest generation. I am one that is sick of it! Elrod going private won't stop these people. I used to be a part of the establishment, and defended on many fronts. I'm 37, and I am sick of it.

Let me make myself very clear: Dissenting point of view is not a bad thing. I want to hear from a racist in order that I can understand his perspective and hope that he/she can understand mine one day. If he does great, and if he doesn't also great. I am not for abortion, but I can have lunch with someone that is. I am the only Christian in my family, and I have made a lot of mistakes trying to share the gospel with them. I feel guilty today thinking I may be the cause for them not to believe. Hearing the other side is a good thing. I did not do this earlier. I attend and minister at a Church of Christ. I have been to all kind of churches. I am not afraid nor do I think this will shake my belief in Jesus. Mark's blog was also very entertaining as well. No more!

Leadership- It is time to lead. Stop listening only to the few and look at the bigger picture. This was a great day for me until I went to view my normal blogs. What do you think?

Life is pretty good!

I am about over my cold I think. I only cough once today so far.

Leadership camp went very well. I want to do it again before the summer is out. I love talking and guiding people thru leadership experiences.

I have made an offer on a house. Hopefully, I will hear something back really soon. It is a condo not very far from where I live right now. I just want to close before I go to uplift would be great. We will see.

12:11 is ok for now. We are starting out really slow on one hand and really fast on the other. I look at this service as a church plant. Many of the members right now come from East Cobb. We have had visitors, but it is early. I will be away from this service for about 3 weeks. Jay Collins a good friend of mine will be leading. He does such a great job! He needs to be leading worship somewhere I believe. I am glad he will fill in for me.

Short Vacation this week! I will leave to go somewhere after Sunday morning services to return on Wednesday hopefully in time for church. Now that I am buying a house, vacations will be short this summer. I will take them of course, but they will be short.

My niece graduated last night. Ashley Nicole Stewart is my niece who graduated from Forest Park High School. I am soooo proud of her. She has done an incredible job in school and also in life. My prayer is that she will have continue success in college as well. The whole family was there to witness. I continue to tell my nephews and nieces that they will break the cycle in our family by graduating and going to college. I am so proud!

That's all for now!

Leadership- Teens/ Adults

I have spent the last couple of days catching up on many things. One, would be spending quality time wth my nephews and nieces. I have learned so much this week about leadership with teens. They are still watching the adults. We have to be honest with them. We forget sometimes they are still very young. I love quality time with my nephews and nieces when I am not in a rush to go somewhere. I needed to catch up. It has help me in my preparation for the Oklahoma Chrisitan Leadership Academy that I am speaking at next week. I am so looking forward to this gathering. I get to visit with some friends I have not seen in a few months while there. Anyway, be praying for teens all over the world. The adults still have a role in helping the teens lead. They would still like for adults to lead them now while they are still learning. Let's never forget that! Be Good!

Random Thoughts

Well, It has been a pretty good day today. It was my last sunday for awhile to lead singing since I will be taking some time off. I will be trying to find a house to buy since my deadline of finding one is quickly closing in this summer.

This morning, I shared with the worship team that I have a hard time tending to those who are already saved. I think my ministry is with those who are either leaving the church or never have been to church. They don't have all the issues those growing up in the church has regarding those who lead. I have worked for many churches and have found this to be sooo true. They are trying to maintain the church they knew while growing up. I have always had a spirit that cause me to think outside the box. I hope that I was not offensive in my delivery this morning. I have been told I can be cruel when I am very passionate about something. One day, I will blog about how singles are treated in the church compared to the world. Let me tell you, it would be so much easier to just be in the world, but wait where I would spend eternity stops me! Oh well!

I was stopped in the hallway at church by an older gentlemen who wanted me to know that I could not leave this church unless he goes with me. He was very appreciative of my work at East Cobb. I was very appreciative of his comments to me. Most of the time, adults don't share that way. I was glad meet this gentlemen today. Ministry is sooo hard. I believe it is because you spend 90% of your time dealing with issues brought up by members. I thought we were supposed to be evangelizing the world.

I shared with the teenagers this morning John 3:16. Wanting them to define God, love, belief,perishing, and everlasting life. The easiest one for them was everlasting life(promise of Heaven). Defining God and love was the hardest. I would like for you to pray for this youth group to continue their quest in finding God and love. They are precious to me because I spent about 8 months with them.

Adults, I want to in the near future talk about being an Adult. I work with teenagers(my preferred group) over Adults for many reasons. I will tell you about them soon.

I am going carless(no car) this week. I let my sister borrow my car to carry my mom to her appointments in an Air conditioned vehicle. I get to walk to work. Don't be too sad for me, it is just a 5 minute walk.

I went to Campus church tonight to hear John Alan Turner. He was at GAC when I was. He did a great job. I know that he is committed to making families better. Major point tonight was that learning the bible is the Home's responsibility not the church. The church should support what is already happening in the home not vice versa. Good point! May it help you today!

Right now the only thing stolen was this cybershot camera. I will miss it. I don't know what they will do with it without the cords, and battery charger. May they find all the happiness with my camera. I hope to have another one before school starts back. I did not know how much it was worth till I searched for a new one. I closed a credit and bougbt it with the points. Anyway, I'll get another one, but not this one. It was expensive.

Have a blessed week!