FaithEngineer

If you have multiple computers running Microsoft Windows to keep secure and virus-free at home or at church, you know how much of a pain it can be. Churches can get in a tough spot, because some of the “free” programs like AVG anti-virus are not free for non-profits and churches. The cost of keeping multiple computers current on virus subscriptions can be high with both Norton and McAfee. Both have good products, but they can also slow your computer down significantly. I wanted to let you know about a new free option that seems to work well.

Microsoft has released the free Security Essentials program to provide both spyware and virus protection. It is a small program that doesn’t take a lot of your system resources. It is not fancy, but it seems to work well.  And did I mention it’s free

You can download it at Microsoft’s Security website. Here is some info about it from CNet’s review

Microsoft Security Essentials is a lightweight security app that people might turn to for a number of key reasons. It’s easy on the system resources, it’s easy to figure out how to use, and it comes pre-configured. It only works on legally licensed Microsoft computers, which is understandable but potentially leaves a large segment of the unprotected population still unprotected. You can’t opt out of contributing to SpyNet, which isn’t understandable at all. Overall, it’s recommended for those who want something to set and ignore, but users who want more robust configuration choices or don’t want to contribute to the cloud should look elsewhere.

As with any virus program, you still have to be careful installing programs. Don’t trust pop-ups on your screen while you’re browsing the internet. Most are links to malware programs that will only cause problems. If you are on a mac, you don’t have to worry about all of this at the present.  But there will come a day when more viruses and spyware writers will start attacking Apple as well, so don’t get careless. It is also a good idea to run some type of filtering on your internet access as an added layer of protection. I’ve written before about the free OpenDNS service here on the blog, and I continue to use it at home and at church with great results.

I’m not a huge fan of curriculum for youth.  I’ve seen far too many lessons that were long and culturally irrelevant, and most of the time they didn’t even make sense. If I see another youth lesson where they ask people to dress up in Biblical costumes I think I will drop kick the writer into the 21st century!  For the most part, over the last thirteen years of working with youth, I have written my own lessons.  I like getting ideas from others, but I couldn’t find the right mix of Biblical teaching and conversational questions that fit my teaching style.  With our recent changes to our youth ministry at Cornerstone, I knew I needed to come up with a plan for equipping and preparing our different youth leaders.

We have made the change from one large youth meeting each week to multiple smaller groups meeting at the same time.  We all meet together for announcements and some activities, but then we split up into different age groups.  I did want all the groups studying the same thing each week, so I started looking at several different options.  I really liked the content and messages from the XP3 curriculum by the reThink group, but it is geared for one teacher to teach a large group and then break up into smaller discussion groups.  We have tried that before and it is tough to teach a lesson that connects with a large group of students ranging from 6th to 12th grades. The lessons were also very long.  I looked at some others that I won’t mention here that seemed like they came straight out of 1980, and then I finally found what we we’re looking for. Simply Youth Ministry just recently released a curriculum for small groups called the Live Curriculum.  I talked with another youth pastor who was using it, and we made up our mind to jump in.  So far it’s been great.

The lessons are easy to customize and share.  It is online based, so I can login, make any specific changes that I feel are necessary, and then share with the rest of our leaders.  They can then customize the lessons for their group and teaching style, and print out the lessons and student sheets, all from their homes.  The lessons are intended to create discussion, and there are even text message questions and parent emails you can send during the week.  You can also choose the order in which you teach the lessons.  The cost sounds a little high ($499), but you are buying into a four-year plan so it really becomes cheaper than all the other options that I have seen.  I’m not easily impressed, but I think this will really help our youth ministry and save some valuable time for our leaders.

When choosing a curriculum, don’t choose something because everyone else is using it.  You have to evaluate your ministry and style, and then find something that will be a good fit.  In many cases, you may have to write your own, but don’t rule out looking at all curriculum.

If you are a leader, then let me share with you a great source of free leadership lessons.   Andy Stanley’s Leadership Podcast is great for both those in the business world and in the church world.  Each month a new 20 to 30 minute lesson is posted and every single one of them has been exceptional.  Click here to subscribe to this podcast in iTunes.

If you’re not familiar with podcasts, let me share a little instruction.  You don’t have to even have an iPod, but you will need to have iTunes installed on your computer.  If the links in this post don’t work, it probably means that you don’t have iTunes installed.  It is a great free program for managing your music, and there are thousands of great Christian podcasts that you can subscribe to for free. While you’re there, you’ll want to check out our sermon podcast for Cornerstone as well.

At Cornerstone this week, we continued our New and Improved Series by looking at Ephesians 5.   If we want to have a new & improved marriage, then we have to be willing to do whatever it takes.   I shared about understanding our commitment, about fighting for our marriages, and about protecting our marriages from sin.   It was a tough sermon to preach, and I could tell it made many people uncomfortable, but it was a message that we all needed to hear.  It is impossible to share everything you need to know about marriage in a single sermon, so I wanted to give you a few links to other sermons that helped me prepare for this past week.  I encourage you to check out these sermons, and I pray that you will have the courage to do whatever it takes to improve your marriage.

Sermon Links

• Cornerstone did a series on building healthy home a couple of years ago.  Check out the love and respect messages that I shared for the husbands and wives.
• It’s Just Sex sermon by Perry Noble – Great for singles and married couples.  Perry Noble preaches a powerful message about sexual purity.
• I Want a New Marriage series by Perry Noble – This is a 4 week series about what it takes to have a successful marriage.
• How to Commit Adultery sermon by Craig Groeschel – Craig shares a message on how to prevent adultery from happening in your marriage
• For those of you who have gone through a divorce, let me recommend a great sermon on Divorce by Greg Surratt of Seacoast Church. Check out part 16 of their series on Ephesians here
• And finally, check out the series from Lifechurch.tv called Going All The Way, Preparing for a Marriage that Goes the Distance.  It covers everything from dating to marriage and is great for teens, singles, and married couples.  I have used it with our youth, and I use the book that came out of this series in my pre-marriage counseling.

Update: One last thing, I did mention a book that several have asked about. Check out the The Love Dare based on the Fireproof movie. It’s a great way to get your marriage back on track.

I shared about our walk with Christ this past weekend at Cornerstone.  How our life is full of small steps that determine our direction. I also mentioned Andy Stanley’s new book, The Principle of the Path.   He makes the statement that our direction, not our intentions, determines our destination.

I was in New York City several years ago for a wedding.  My wife and I managed to get around by using shuttle services and the train system.  We were up in Long Island for the wedding and arranged for an airport shuttle van to get us back in time for our flight home. When the driver arrived, he asked me to sit up front with him. I had trouble understanding his Jamaican accent, and he struggled to understand my hillbilly accent, but he finally got across that he needed some help. He wanted me to be his navigator and tell him how to get from where we were to our next stop to pick up the other passengers on the shuttle ride. He handed me a map and a list of five addresses and asked me where to turn next. I had this sinking feeling that it was going to be a long afternoon. I realized very quickly that a map is useless if you don’t know where you are and if you don’t know where you are going.

The same principle is true in our walk with Christ. I want to urge you to think about where and where you need to be in your spiritual life. Listen to this short clip from Andy Stanley about this principle of the path.

It’s been a long, long time since I ran in a 5K.   It was actually my senior year of high school when I was part of the cross country team.   I have ran off and on over the past several years, but something always comes up and causes me to quit.   Whether it was a kidney stone, ankle problems, my psoriasis, or just plain laziness, I seem to always find an excuse.  Well, I am officially out of excuses. I have signed up to run in the Susan G. Komen Lowcountry Race For the Cure in Charleston, South Carolina in October.

This will be a special day because I am running with several family members. My mother-in-law was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 35 and has been blessed to overcome this disease. She will be running the race as well, joining with my wife and my sister-in-law to raise money to help others in their fight against cancer. I will be running  with the team from Bambu, the restaurant in Mt. Pleasant where my brother-in-law serves as the executive chef.

Although this will be my first 5K in almost 20 years, I am excited about running for such a great cause. I don’t ask for much here on this blog, but I am asking that you consider making a tax-deductible donation to support breast cancer research.  You may donate online with your credit card by clicking the “Support” button at my personal race page. Your support helps us get another step closer to a world without breast cancer.

The blog here has been a little slow this week. We have added a second Sunday service at Cornerstone and have kicked off our new youth ministry structure. I have been busy with all the details of getting everything off the ground. I did want to share with you a new youth website that we will be using to let our teens know about upcoming events. I had to bring myself back up to speed on a CSS formatting and working with html templates, but I’m happy with how it turned out. We have added the ability to subscribe to announcements by email or by txt messaging. We have also created a church facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/mycornerstone, so if you’re on facebook, become a fan of what God is doing at Cornerstone!

Youth Overview | cornerstoneyouth

I was honored today to officiate a wedding for a former student.  It’s something that I really enjoy doing and today was no exception.  It’s great seeing old friends and seeing them take a huge step of faith.  Since Jennifer and I have been married for 14 years now, I also feel like I can share some advice on what it takes to have a great marriage.

I think all marriages should be celebrations and I could tell everyone had a good time this evening. Two funny things stood out.  First, the best man acted like he couldn’t find the ring.  He asked the next groomsman and it went all the way down the line until the last guy pulled it out of his pocket.  I knew they were going to do something, but you should have seen the look on the faces of all the parents and the bridesmaids. The second thing that I am still laughing about is a conversation I had with the groom before the wedding.  I had given him a copy of Joe Sangl’s book, I Was Broke, Now I’m Not, so I asked him if he had read through it yet.  He was excited about it and told me that he was taking it on his honeymoon for his bride to read as well.   He couldn’t wait to share what he had learned about budgeting and financial responsibility.  It struck me funny that he was taking it on his honeymoon.  I know Joe’s book is good, but it must be seriously awesome to take on the honeymoon.

Congrats to the newly married Brian and Meghan Norris.   May God Bless your marriage. In honor of your wedding today, I present to you three of my favorite youtube wedding moments.  Be sure to watch all three videos in the youtube playlist below.

Goodbye, so long, farewell.  It was nice knowing you MySpace, but it’s time to go.  After not even logging in to Myspace in the last six months, I decided to cancel my account.  It’s a little sad, because at one time, everyone was using and talking about it. But over the last few years, facebook has really taken over.

I have justified staying on myspace just so I could checkin and communicate with many of the youth, but they are mostly on facebook now.   It will be interesting to see what happens to both facebook and myspace over the next few years.  Will another website come rise up and displace both? Or will the facebook juggernaut continue to grow?

Over the past few years, I’ve really neglected reading fiction books.  So when I had a chance to read and review The Noticer by Andy Andrews, I jumped at the chance.   This is a book that people are talking about, and I can see why.  It’s an encouraging book that is easy to read.   It was also the first book that I read on my Kindle, so I was surprised to find myself so caught up in the story.

Great fiction stories have the ability to transport you into another world.  I love the feeling I get when I can’t wait to turn the page.  I read through this book in one day, and I had trouble putting it down.  The Noticer tells the story of a mysterious, almost angelic, man who notices when people need advice or encouragement.  He is able to share his life changing “perspective” with the different people he encounters in life.   His advice is part encouragement, part Bible teaching, and part motivational, but in every situation, he seems to have the very words that people need to hear.  It’s easy to read a book like this for pure enjoyment, but there is much here for us to consider and study.  How do we respond to those people around us?  Do we notice when they are hurting, when they are alone, and when they need encouragement?

The book has also spawned a website called the Noticer Project where you can list out who has been influential in your life.  After reading this, it has definitely made me more aware of those around me.  I want to be the type of person who makes a life changing impact on others.  I also want to make an effort to read more fiction books.  Because sometimes, all a person needs is a little perspective.

A moving story of common wisdom from the bestselling author of The Traveler’s Gift.

Orange Beach, Alabama is a simple town filled with simple people. But they all have their share of problems – marriages teetering on the brink of divorce, young adults giving up on life, business people on the verge of bankruptcy, and many of the other obstacles that life seems to dish out to the masses.

Fortunately, when things look the darkest – a mysterious old man named Jones has a miraculous way of showing up. Communicating what he calls “a little perspective,” Jones explains that he has been given a gift of noticing things that others miss. In his simple interactions, Jones speaks to that part in everyone that is yearning to understand why things happen and what they can do about it.

Based on a remarkable true story, The Noticer beautifully blends fiction, allegory, and inspiration.

I’m always on the lookout for new websites that share high-quality graphic files.  Here are two places you can find

First, I’ll share the free stuff.  Elevation Church in Charlotte, North Carolina is offering their high quality graphic files for absolutely FREE.  Check out http://resources.elevationchurch.org/ I love their Kingdom focus of helping other churches.

Second, Floodgate Productions has launched a new site offering sermon graphics for sale.  Sermolicious has some great print and video media for sale.  These are great for youth or adults.  Here is a video that shows more about their website.

Sermolicious Promo from Floodgate & Sermolicious on Vimeo.

And finally, don’t forget about Lifechurch.tv Open Resources. I’ve talked about them before, but they are another great source for free graphic files and sermon ideas.

We have wanted to make the leap to a digital board at church for a long time, but we haven’t found a board that had everything we needed and was easy to use.  I think we have finally found one that meets our needs and is inexpensive.   This is definitely on our wish list right now.  The PreSonus StudioLive is a 16 channel, digital mixer with Firewire recording capabilities.  It would be perfect for smaller churches who want to have a nice live mixer, but also have the ability to do multi-track recording of their services.

For praise bands, this is awesome.  You can record your practice onto a computer through the firewire interface, then go back to the board and mix the sound just like you want it using your actual practice.  You can save your setup so that on Sunday morning, it’s as simple as hitting load to dial in your sound.  If you have ever wanted to do a live worship CD, then this is a great way to easily record the band. The board offers all the great benefits of a digital board, including EQ, compressors, limiters, and gating on all channels.  PreSonus has a blog for the StudioLive with great instructional videos that really highlight some of the advanced features.  If you need more than 16 channels, they offer the ability to join up to four mixers together.  This means that you can physically bolt the boards together and have the board function as a 32, 48, or even 64 channel mixer.

The best thing about this board is price.  You can find the board for purchase for under $2000 at Sweetwater or Northern Sound and Light.  I get excited when I see a product with high-end features for a price that puts it in reach of new & smaller churches.  The best way to understand how it works is to get on the blog or check out the many videos on YouTube about the StudioLive.  Now if only someone would get excited enough about this board to buy two for our church