Faith Engineer

Simplify

2008-12-01T15:24:00.002-05:00

We all need to simplify. Watch this video and think about how your family celebrates Christmas. It bothered me to read all the horror stories from the Black Friday shopping this past weekend. People trampled, people shot, people camping out for days just to get a few dollars off. All of it is so far from what Christmas is really about. I want to challenge you to think about what you could do with the money you typically spend on each other for Christmas.

The simple question we must continually ask ourselves is this, "Have we lost Christ in Christmas?"

At Cornerstone we have opportunities to make a difference both here in our hometown and around the world through our mission projects. Please consider partnering with us as we seek to share the love of Christ with a lost and hurting world.

How do you share files between multiple computers?

2008-12-01T13:31:00.002-05:00

I've recently started using free file sharing program that is working great for me. Dropbox is a cool application that lets you "drop" files into a folder that is then synchronized across multiple computers. You have to download a small client for your Mac, Windows, or Linux computer and enter your login info. The program then creates a folder on your hard drive that is used as the "shared" folder. Any file that you place in that folder is uploaded to your online storage account. The free account comes with 2 gig of online storage space.

You can access your files online through their website, or through any computer that you have linked to your account. You can also setup a public share folder. I use this for files that are too large to email. You can just send the html link and let the recipient download the file. I can think of tons of uses for this for churches. Here are a few:

Create a shared folder that is synchronized between the church computer and your home computer, or between your home desktop and laptop. Any changes you make on one would be pushed to the other.
Use your public folder to share large files that are too big to email. I'm constantly sharing large graphic and video files and this makes it easy.
Use the online storage space as a free backup for your important files
Place forms or pdf files here and then link to them from your blog or website. This is great if you don't have much storage space with your blog.

Check out the video below for more info.

Dropbox - Home - Secure backup, sync and sharing made easy. via kwout

We're ready to start Unwrapping '09

2008-11-29T00:03:00.003-05:00

We're starting a new series Sunday at Cornerstone called Unwrapping '09. We will be taking a look at some of the exciting changes coming in the new year. Here is a sneak peak to the video intro for this week's message. We're taking a look at our new membership covenant and we will be discussing what it means to partner together. I did this pretty quickly using iMovie 08 and Photoshop Elements. I used some stock footage from istockphoto as well. And here is a little trivia challenge as well. Where did I get the background music? .... Leave a comment with your guess and you'll win absolutely nothing!!!

Unwrapping '09 Series Opener from Mike Morris on Vimeo.

Thankful Thursday

2008-11-27T23:33:00.005-05:00

I'm going to borrow a tradition from my wife's great blog. Jenni regularly posts her "thankful Thursday" list. On this great Thanksgiving Day, we all have so much to be thankful for. I'm thankful for ...

My wonderful wife - I continue to fall deeper and deeper in love with her. She is an amazing woman. We started dating 18 years ago and our love is stronger than it has ever been.
My happy children - I had so much fun just playing with the kids today. They are all so special and fun to be around. Jenni and I are blessed to have such great kids.
My extended family - it was great having Jennifer's mom and dad, my mom and dad, my brother and his wife, and Jennifer's uncle all over for Thanksgiving dinner. It is great to have family that actually gets along and that enjoys getting together.
My church - I am blessed to have a church that actually believes we can make a huge difference in our city. I am thankful that they believe enough in me to actually pay me to do God's work. I pray that God will continue to bless our efforts and help us as individuals to grow closer to Him.
My health - I am thankful that everyone in my family is healthy. For me personally, this has been the longest time period in several years that I have been clear of psoriasis. I'm truly praying that God will heal me and that I won't have to go back on the biologic treatments again. But if that isn't his will, then I've enjoyed a great spring and summer with no pain and problems.
Our Thanksgiving meal - I am embarrassed by how much good food we had today. From the juicy turkey, to the mashed potatoes made with cream and 2 sticks of butter, to the pumpkin cheesecake, to the great southern gravy and rolls - everything was over the top awesome. It did make me stop and think about how blessed and spoiled we are in this country.

I realize that we live an incredibly blessed and comfortable life. I pray that God will continue to disturb us and challenge us to live our life fully devoted to Him. To everyone reading this post, I pray that you had a great Thanksgiving and I ask that we all take time to thank our maker and creator for our many blessings.

Psalm 100
Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth!
Worship the Lord with gladness.
Come before him, singing with joy.

Acknowledge that the Lord is God!
He made us, and we are his.
We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving;
go into his courts with praise.
Give thanks to him and praise his name.

For the Lord is good.
His unfailing love continues forever,
and his faithfulness continues to each generation.

24 Tackles a Real World Problem

2008-11-24T12:52:00.005-05:00

If you watched 24 last night, I hope you were troubled by the images of the child soldiers in Africa. Unfortunately it's not just a movie, it's real life for many children around the world. In the past, most topics on 24 were things that could happen, but things that we didn't expect to really happen. One reason that I have always liked 24 is that it reminds me of a Tom Clancy novel, lots of technology, terrorism, and action packed into a compelling story. But the storyline from last night left me upset, because I know that it is real. I'm glad that attention is being brought to one of the great Human Rights issues of our time. My hope and prayer is that the church would be the catalyst to eliminate the use of children as soldiers around the world.

How can you make a difference? Check out some more info on child soldiers on World Vision's website. They list several ways you can help. Below is an excerpt.

The abuse of children as soldiers
Where does it occur? | Who are the most vulnerable? |
What are the driving factors? | What is the impact on these children? | What is World Vision doing? | What can the U.S. do? | What can you do?
According to UNICEF, more than 250,000 children — boys and girls younger than 18 — are involved in armed conflicts worldwide (1); some of these child soldiers are as young as 7.

In the past decade, more than 2 million children have been killed in conflict situations. An estimated 6 million children have been seriously injured or permanently disabled (2).

Children conscripted into military service are forced to become:
Sex slaves (especially girls)
Spies
Front-line combatants
Suicide bombers
Mine sweepers

Where does it occur?
In Africa, up to 100,000 children, some as young as 9, were estimated to be involved in armed conflict in mid-2004 (3). Children are also used as soldiers in several Asian countries and parts of Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East. For instance, in 2004, paramilitary and rebel groups in Colombia used an estimated 14,000 girls and boys as child soldiers (4).

It's about time ...

2008-11-21T13:44:00.004-05:00

Finally, my favorite show is back on. I'm looking forward to see Jack back in action. I think 24 helps me deal with pent-up frustration. Watching him kick some serious butt has a way of cheering me up. I'm living vicariously through him as he saves the world.

I also love the title of this season opener. Redemption is such a powerful word. The topic for this year seems much better than saving the world from terrorists. Even though it is a violent show, it still has a way of drawing you in. Anyway find out more at Fox's website.

Replacing our Sony Camcorder

2008-11-20T14:00:00.001-05:00

Our Sony DCR-SR300 camcorder that we purchased last year (see my post about it here) died after about 15 months. Of course the warranty was only one year, so our options are to have it repaired for $360, or to just toss it and buy a new one. The camcorder was in great shape, but something happened to the hinge that causes the screen to go black and turn off the camcorder. It's incredibly frustrating, but that's life.

I think we have decided to replace it, but with something much smaller and much cooler. Take a look below at the new Flip MinoHD camcorder. I've downloaded some videos that people have taken with this thing and it is amazing. It is much higher quality than my Sony, and you can literally take this thing anywhere. I like convenience and simplicity and this thing definitely exudes both. It only holds 60 minutes of video, but for us, that will be plenty. It also records in mpeg4 which is much more compatible with my Mac. And the best part is that it's only $229, which is much less than having our old one repaired. As soon as we figure out how to pay for this, it's getting ordered.

Seniors Breaking It Down

2008-11-20T11:50:00.004-05:00

I've seen this go around over the past few days. I really don't know what to say. This was actually used as an opening for a youth retreat. This would definitely make teens think about the songs they listen to. Watch through the entire video, it's interesting.

The Problem With Potential

2008-11-20T10:30:00.002-05:00

I really dislike the word "potential" The dictionary defines it like this

potential |pəˈten ch əl|
adjective [ attrib. ]
having or showing the capacity to become or develop into something in the future :

Here is my problem. When someone tells me that we have the potential to do something great, or the potential as a church to grow and reach more people, or the potential to impact our community, what they are really saying is that we are not currently doing it. Potential is all about the future and not about the present. I'm not a patient person. While I know God has great things in store for us in the future, we must continually take advantages of the opportunities that we have NOW. The only way to reach your full potential is to quit talking about it and start living it out in the present.

What I Learned From This Past Weekend

2008-11-19T23:13:00.003-05:00

I just posted about my crazy weekend. So what did I learn

Going to two services on Sat./Sun. is not hard from a preaching standpoint. It actually helped improve the second message. I was able to get a full nights sleep and wake up excited instead of anxious.
Children's Ministry is going to be the key to add a Saturday night service every week. We have to come up with a good system to not burn out our workers.
I have an awesome wife!! She truly respects and believes in me and that means everything.
We have incredible talent for a church our size. It is crazy that we have so many talented musicians!
This Saturday night service has the potential to reach people who would never step foot in church. It's the same truthful hard-hitting message, packaged in an environment that fosters discussion and relationships. I can't wait for the next one!

Weekend Reflection

2008-11-19T22:41:00.003-05:00

This past weekend was a blur. I'm just now getting to the point where I can share about it. Here's the day by day

Friday
On Friday night, our life group started a new Bible study based on the movie Fireproof. We had several new couples join the group so we had a great time finding out how everyone met. There were some hilarious stories. We had a good time laughing and sharing about all the crazy stuff that was in our past. The great thing is seeing how far God has brought all of us.

Saturday
This is when everything started getting crazy. This past weekend we had our first Saturday night church service. I was busy all day getting things together for the service, so the day really flew by. We didn't publicize it much because we wanted to just do a preview service and make sure we had thought through all the details. It turned out to be one of the best services we have had. The young adult praise band did an awesome job. We used a few more visuals than normal and I geared the message more toward young adults. We even brought out some lights (thanks Tyler) and moved the chairs. We brought all the tables and chairs from the Cafe and put them in front of the stage. It was a great environment to come interact and be challenged by the message.
Our worship time was longer than normal. Since the message was about being Fully Engaged in Our City, the band opened up with a Bon Jovi song about coming home. The music was absolutely awesome. We are blessed to have two great bands at church.

But it wasn't all fun. After the service, we had to clean up and reload for Sunday morning.

Sunday
Sunday morning was awesome. It was such a relief to wake up and already have one service behind you. You get a feel for preaching the message and I already knew what worked and what didn't. I always trust God to direct and guide the message as I preach, and by being better prepared, I felt the freedom to really preach and share. We had a great service and since we already had the Sat. night service, we actually had some extra room. We have been near capacity for several weeks, so it was nice to see people not struggle to find seats.

But my crazy weekend didn't end there.
After the service, we had a long administrative team meeting to start budget work. Then I met with one of the youth to work on some guitar stuff, and then we had our youth meeting. And finally after living at the church building for the weekend, I finally was able to crash at home. And guess what I did Monday. NOTHING. I just played with my boys and enjoyed the time at home with my wife.

Ladies, this is for you

2008-11-17T09:52:00.003-05:00

I've been listening to a sermon series for ladies at Newspring Church in Anderson, SC. It has been awesome and I encourage all the ladies and the men who pursue them to check it out. Our society puts so much pressure on women to be perfect, and you need to realize that God has made you beautiful. Check it out below.

NewSpring Church | Series

Cornerstone is Featured in the Galax Gazette

2008-11-14T14:43:00.002-05:00

If you haven't seen it yet, go grab a copy of the Gazette today. They did a great write-up about the church and our recent move downtown. Be sure and thank April Wright from the Gazette who did a fantastic job putting the article together. It's not on their website, so you will have to pick up a copy to read it. It's always great when we get to share what God is doing here at Cornerstone.

Thanks to all of our youth and children's workers

2008-11-14T13:10:00.003-05:00

This is a great video by the Skit Guys on what it's like to work with youth in the church. I appreciate all the people who teach and help with the youth ministry at Cornerstone. It can be a thankless job sometimes, but we know the reason we serve is to see lives transformed by the power of Christ. The Skit Guys have been at the Planetwisdom Conference for a long time, and our youth love to see them. They have a great way of taking something hilarious and using it to make a very serious point.

Enjoy

Skit Guys - The Chair from rockinyp on Vimeo.

thanks Tim for sharing

Are you sure you want to preach and teach?

2008-11-13T23:12:00.003-05:00

I love the book of James. It is such a practical and hard-hitting book of the Bible. James tells you straight-up and doesn't mince words. I was reading through the book yesterday and I just stopped when I came to chapter 3. For those of you in ministry or thinking about ministry, read and reflect on these words very slowly.

Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.

The weight of these words really hit me yesterday. I take very seriously the responsibility of standing before a congregation and teaching. Honestly, it really scares me sometimes. I have heard pastors say before that if you can do anything else besides preach then you need to do it. What they mean is that if you are not sure of your calling, if you don't have that fire burning inside of you that God has put there, then you don't need to preach. You don't preach because you want to, you preach because you have to.

Over the last few weeks, I have spent some time really looking inward, examining my heart and my motives to make sure that I'm staying focused on Christ. There are some things I need to change and there are some things that I think I am doing alright on, but the important thing is that I continue to hold myself to God's standard. If we are faithful to do what God has called us to do, then we can be assured that we are relying on His strength and not our own.

Do you know what you have to do?

2008-11-13T22:53:00.005-05:00

It seems lately as if I've got a million different things to do, and not enough time to do half of it. I've tried using the tasks in Apple mail to keep track of my to-do list, but quite honestly, the program just doesn't work that good for a task manager. Not enough options, and not an easy way to sort or categorize them. I'm simply not getting things done.

I've said for a long time now, that the one killer app that Google is missing is a great task manager. One that would sit inside of Google Mail and Google Calendar. One that could even sync up with you mobile phone. And even though I've given up on Google to come up with one, I finally found an app that does everything I want and more. Remember the Milk is a great task manager that gives you many different ways to track you tasks. You can check you to-do list from anywhere on the web, you can check and sync it from your phone, and you can even embed it in all of your Google products. From gmail to google calendar to igoogle to ical, Remember the Milk ties in seamlessly with all your apps. It also lets you create different lists, tag tasks, add notes, and set priorities. I've been using it for about a week now and it ties in perfectly with what I'm doing. And did I mention that its free? I'm a sucker for free web apps and this is one that I highly recommend.

If you want to check out all the different ways you can use RTM, then check out this page. I like programs like this that give you many different options on how to access your data. Online and Offline, through the web or through your phone, this is a great way to stay on top of everything you are working on.

At Catalyst, I think it was Jim Collins who recommended that we start a "not to-do" list. For everything you put on your to-do list, you need to put something on your not to-do list. I need to figure out how to set that up now. Although, if you're not doing it, when do you check off that you've not done it? Just a question.

Saturday Night Fever

2008-11-11T16:57:00.006-05:00

We have been talking about starting a Saturday Night service at Cornerstone for a long time and we are finally pulling the trigger. We have decided to do two preview services, one of which is this Saturday night, November 15th. We will do another one on December 13th and then determine if we can do it every week. I am super excited about the opportunity to do a service that is geared toward young adults and youth and that is a little edgy and modern. Our young adult praise band, Scattered, will be leading the worship for this service.

We are starting the service at 7pm and we will be offering child care as well. If you are interested in helping this week, please let me know. The message will be the same as Sunday morning, although it will be "presented" in a slightly different way. There will be more movie clips, more interaction, and a higher use of technology. We are using this as an outreach service to the many young people in our area who have nothing to do on Saturday nights. It will be high energy, relevant, and fun, but I can guarantee that it will have the same hard-hitting Bible truth that I am passionate about.

You can download the flyer here and print it out and distribute around town. We aren't doing much publicity for these preview services, so it's up to you to get the word out. Thanks

Destination: Planetwisdom

2008-11-07T11:08:00.004-05:00

We are driving down to Charlotte tonight for the PlanetWisdom Conference with a bunch of great teenagers from Cornerstone. Mark Matlock provides the teaching, the Skit Guys provide such much needed laughter, and the band Dutton will be there to lead us in worship. I have been to all the major youth conferences, but I keep going back to Planetwisdom. I appreciate Mark's focus on teaching the Bible in a way that the teens can relate to and understand. My teaching style is similar to Mark's, and that is probably because he has had a great influence on my ministry. I also like this conference because it isn't hype. It challenges the teenagers, but it also supports the local church. We'll try to post some pictures and I might even post my updates on twitter.

PlanetWisdom Unlikely Heroes via kwout

Great Post on the Election and Fear

2008-11-06T17:36:00.003-05:00

I have been working on a post about the election for a couple of days now and I still haven't finished it. I don't even know if I will finish it, but the election definitely has people talking. One of the things that has bothered me the most is the fear that many Christians are feeling. If we stop and think about fear, we would realize that fear does not come from God. It is an emotion straight from Satan. Mark Matlock from Planetwisdom had an excellent post about this today on his blog. He said it better than I can. Read his entire post here.

I was shocked. While I may have preferred one candidate over another, I've never been in fear of either one becoming president. What is shocking most, is that much of this "fear mongering" came from those who would call themselves followers of Christ.

As Christians our confidence lies in the sovereignty of God. We do not need to fear anything or anyone. But rather in humility and grace live our lives respectfully in the world.

...

How do you think the world will change most? By changing the government or helping others follow the Gospel of Jesus Christ ? Let's not put our effort into changing the world through government let's change the world through the hope they might find in the way of Jesus Christ.

To that I would add simply "AMEN!"

New Comments on FaithEngineer

2008-11-06T10:57:00.006-05:00

I want to apologize for those of you who have been unable to comment on the blog. Blogger has had a lot of trouble over the past week with embedded comments, so I finally took the plunge and changed the way you can comment here on the blog. I changed to the free Disqus service which offers a lot of cool ways to comment. I really want this to be a place where you can share your thoughts and join in on a discussion about life, ministry, and technology. Disqus allows you to reply to other comments, it allows you to post video comments, and it allows me to easily track the different conversations going on throughout the blog.

What is Disqus? Glad you asked, here is the info from their website:

Disqus, pronounced "discuss", is a service and tool for web comments and discussions. The Disqus comment system can be plugged into any website, blog, or application. Disqus makes commenting easier and more interactive, while connecting websites and commenters across a thriving discussion community. Disqus is a free service to the general public with absolutely no inline advertisements.

I want to encourage you to comment on the posts you read here. A blog is forum to discuss things, and an opportunity to get to know some other people. I do have a few ground rules since this is my blog.

This is not the place for personal attacks. If you have a problem with another ministry or ministry leader, then take it up with them personally. That is the Biblical way to handle conflict and I will delete your comment if you cross that line
This is not the place for you to sell your stuff. Please don't post a comment linking back to your store.
Watch your language. I have all types of people who read this blog, including kids and teens, so if it is inapproriate, it will be deleted.

Now that you know the rules, feel free to post your comments. I would love to hear from you. To post a comment on the blog post, either click the title of the post or click the number at the top right of each post that shows the number of comments for that post.

Fireproof Your Marriage

2008-11-04T19:17:00.001-05:00

Our Life Group from Cornerstone recently saw the movie Fireproof together and it had a major impact on all of us. As a pastor, I see so many couples who are struggling in their marriage and this movie has a powerful message of forgiveness and hope for couples. I would recommend that all couples see it, even if you think your marriage is strong. It is now playing in Galax at Twin County Cinemas and will be playing through at least November 13th. I strongly urge you to see this movie. The movie was made by Sherwood Baptist Church in Georgia, the same church that made Facing the Giants and even features many people from their church. It is great to see churches create instead of complain.

Our Life Group will be starting the Fireproof Bible study on Friday nights at the building. Shoot me an email if you are interested in joining us.

Enough Said

2008-11-04T10:23:00.003-05:00

Your vote counts. It is our responsibility and privilege, and your vote can change the future of our country. Don't take it lightly, please be informed and vote the way that God leads you. Pray, seek God, and then vote. If you don't vote, you forfeit your right to complain about Washington. It took me about 5 minutes to vote this morning, so cut out the excuses and vote!

Response Card From This Sunday

2008-11-04T10:20:00.002-05:00

I received this response card this week. It makes me thankful to be part of a church where people are being challenged to be more like Christ.

Just so you all know, I love this church. All of you, my church family, encourage me and inspire me so deeply. Every day of the week, I look forward to coming to Cornerstone ... this is wonderful!

Youth Worship

2008-11-03T10:05:00.005-05:00

We had a great time at the youth meeting last night. Jenni came up with tons of great activities, Matt shared a lesson, Todd and Matt led the discussion time, and our awesome youth band led the worship. Chad has done such an awesome job getting these guys together and I was able to jump in and play acoustic guitar with them last night. The entire band is still in their teens, and I feel OLD. Playing with them last night did allow me to live out my secret ambition of becoming a rock star. Check out the playlist below to listen to Abi, Ritchie, Mark and Luke do an awesome job. I am so proud of these guys for allowing God to use them. Check out all four videos.

STOP Using Media!

2008-10-28T20:20:00.001-04:00

Collide magazine has been sharing an excellent series of posts on their blog about why we shouldn't be using media and technology. Now for a magazine that is subtitled, Where Media and the Church Converge, this sounds like the exact opposite of what they would normally promote. But I love what they are doing. They are using this series to make sure their readers don't lose sight of the most important truth, that we must be clear on what we are communicating. All the videos, gadgets, and technology are useless if we don't have anything to say. Check out their blog posts below, and if you aren't already subscribing to the magazine, then definitely check it out. It's full of media and tech reviews that will help you communicate the message of hope and forgiveness that is found only in Jesus Christ.

This is the first installment in an ongoing and open-ended series devoted to convincing you, the church leader, not to use media.
Stop Using Media (Part One)
Stop Using Media (Part Two)
Stop Using Media (Part Three)
Stop Using Media (Part Four)