Dang, Jenni hit it out of the park with this post. She is such an awesome mother and wife. We do have an incredible responsibility as parents and we need to be continually reminded of it. I’m glad she’s blogging now so that others can get a glimpse into whats she’s thinking about.
Archive - August, 2007
Catalyst Conference
I made my reservations yesterday for Catalyst in Atlanta. I have never been, but I’ve heard great things about it. It’s a leadership conference for next generation leaders in the church. I’m looking forward to hearing from Erwin McManus, Andy Stanley, John Maxwell, Craig Groeschel, Dave Ramsey, Rick Warren, Francis Chan and tons of other great leaders. Jenni and I are going to make the trip to Atlanta together. I’ll be in Hot-lanta with my hot wife at a church conference. What else could a preacher want?
Instant Library
I got a call out of the blue yesterday from a local pastor who resigned a few weeks ago and is now moving out of town. He asked that I come by his old office because he had a few things for me. All he told me was to bring a box. I did, but it sure wasn’t big enough. He loaded me up on tons of pastoral books from his library that he didn’t have room for anymore. I am blown away sometimes at how God provides. I absolutely love to read and this is a real blessing to now have tons of research and sermon books and resources. I hate to see him leave, but church politics left him with no choice. It makes me sick to see how pastors are treated, especially at this particular church since it was the one I grew up in. After seeing the inner workings of many churches over the years, I can understand why the following statistics from focus of the family occur
- 1500 pastors leave the ministry each month due to moral failure, spiritual burnout, or contention in their churches
- 70% of pastors consistently fight depression and do not have a close friend or confidant
- 80% of pastors and 84% of pastors wives are discouraged with the ministry
Statistics like these make me even more determined to be a part of a church that is dangerous and different. A church where people are challenged to actually live by what the Bible teaches. And it also makes me realize that as leaders in a church, we have a tough job ahead of us, and it doesn’t always turn out the way we plan. But I am thankful for the advice over the past year and now the gift of so many books to help me as I start full-time in the ministry. Thanks Pastor Strickland and we wish you all of God’s blessings as you continue your ministry.
It’s a baby boy!!!
Our great friends Boni and Travis had a baby boy on Sunday!! I wanted to wait and upload some pictures but Jenni has the camera with her. I’ll post some later this week. They came home from the hospital today and everyone is doing fine. I love it when our friends have babies. It gives Jenni and me our baby “fix” without having to have any more of our own! Their new son was 7 lbs, 12 ozs, and they named him John. I’ll find out tonight if they have picked out a middle name. Ava is now the big sister and is not even 2 years old. Boni and Travis have been blessed with two wonderful children, and it’s exciting to know that they will raise them in a strong Christian home. God is good
Quiet House
Jenni took our kids and met up with some of her girl friends and their kids at a cabin yesterday. All moms and kids, and there are a bunch of kids. They won’t be back until tomorrow afternoon. So that means I will have two nights and almost three days of quiet. I’m not the most extroverted guy, but man it sure seems weird being at home without Jenni and Emma and Luke and Drew. I have been able to get some things done, but not that much more than normal. They have been having fun swimming, going down the waterslides, doing paddleboats on the lake, and playing putt-putt.
I am so wonderfully blessed as a husband and a father. I have been working on a message for Sunday about love and respect based on Ephesians 5:33 and the book by Emerson Eggerichs. Even though occasionally Jenni and I have some “intense fellowship”, we always know that our love for each other is strong. What I do love about our relationship is that there are no secrets, we openly share our feelings, thoughts, and struggles. I couldn’t ask for a better wife. Jennifer knows me and respects me as a husband and a father. I’m a blessed and lucky man.
Our Visitor Last Night
We had a great camping trip and we got back last night. I’ll have to share later about what it’s like sleeping in a tent sauna. After unloading the car at home we went out for supper at Applebee’s. Here’s where the story gets interesting. We got back home and the kids went to bed early. I had closed the garage doors, but I heard something out in the garage. I opened the door slowly, and guess what was in our garage. A skunk, and a big one at that. And did I mention that both garage doors were closed. 
It must have wondered in sometime after we got home but before we closed the garage doors. So I quickly opened both garage doors and shut the door leading into our kitchen. We beat on the door and made some noise trying to scare the skunk, we walked out into the garage and tried to talk him out, and we tried leaving the lights both on and off, but nothing worked. The skunk found our stash of bird seed and was having a gourmet meal. So finally we gave up and went to bed and left the garage doors open. Having a skunk in my garage really freaked me out so I didn’t sleep worth a darn. I just kept waking up thinking about that nasty thing. I even woke up early at 6:30 wondering if he was still out there. So, I just checked and all looks clear except for the huge mess he made in our garage. But he never sprayed so I guess we’re lucky. I want to tell the kids about it, but if I do, Emma will be afraid to go in the garage at night. I don’t ever remember learning in school how to scare skunks out of a garage. And colleges say that they prepare you for life.
Going Camping with the Kids
Jenni and I are getting out the tent and taking the kids camping. We’ve been saying all summer that we wanted to go camping and we kept putting it off. So last week, we decided we better hurry up and do it before the summer is over. So we’re headed off to Fairy Stone State Park. It’s about 60 miles away and we’ve heard that it is nice, so we’re trying it out. That’s one great thing about living in the mountains. There are great camping areas all around us. So let’s pray for no thunderstorms and temperatures less than 90. I’m sure we’ll all have a blast.
Our Youth Experiment
After our youth meeting Sunday night, some of the youth started talking about trying the diet coke & mentos experiment. So one of the guys drove down to the gas station and brought back some 2 liters and several packs of mentos. We got some advice on how to set it up from the site eepybird and tried it out. The camcorder did survive this experiment, but it was close.
Cornerstone Sermons
- Powerful Prayer May 14, 2012
- Which God do you serve May 9, 2012
- The Making of a Man of God May 1, 2012
- Living a Missional Life April 24, 2012
- Building a Discipling Culture April 16, 2012
- Death Brings Life April 10, 2012
- Looking Back April 7, 2012