G.I. Joe

I was G.I. Joe last night at our costume party...pictures will be coming soon.

try this one...

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got it?

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Outreach Event - Last Night

Last night was an all-clovis outreach event. The speaker was Stephen Lungu - his story is amazing! You've got to read or hear it for yourself. Because of what God has done through him approximately 40 students walked forward to give their lives to Christ. Wow. Amazing.

Now thats hungry! « This sort of Amazing Life!

Now thats hungry! « This sort of Amazing Life!

Click above to read a ridiculous story about a 6-year-old driving himself to Applebee's!

Wildfire 101 at Pepperdine via CNN

Wildfire 101 at Pepperdine

If you visit the link above you're going to see some remarkable imagery of the wildfire currently raging in Malibu, Ca. The Malibu Castle, Malibu Presbyterian Church and several other private homes have burned down. Students on Pepperdine University's campus were "evactuated" to the field house, library and cafeteria. Nathan Rix, senior, was there to report it all.

Nathan was on CNN. He'll be on FOX News and Hannity and Colmes later today. Click above to watch his CNN interview.

Erica's 24th Birthday

On Oct. 13th, last Satuday, Erica turned 24 years old! We had a week long celebration. She has had several gifts for her birthday. The first of which was partially the Wii system that we bought for my birthday. However, that gift was mostly for me. I've also bought us tickets to the Chris Tomlin Concert here in town. A couple of weeks ago I bought her a season pass to download Grey's Anatomy from iTunes because we're not home to watch it on Thursdays. But the best gift of all, well I'll have to make her write about that one. Bottom line, I got points for the last one.

More later...

How Many?

This is a picture of Tokyo taken by Matthew Clark Photography.

Look at all those lights! It's crazy. I wonder how many of those lights represent the people who follow Christ in Tokyo. I've been thinking about the shear mass of people on the planet and the percentage of that mass that actually follows Christ.

On a typical Sunday morning I think, "Wow, that's awesome that this many students chose to come to our student ministry environment today!" But lately I've been attending some high school football games and it has opened my eyes. We have just a few handfuls of the students that are in our community. There are actually thousands! Thousands of lost souls, thousands of empty-dying people, thousands of people Christ loves and wants to be close with!

I want to start praying this prayer: "God, give us Clovis. Not for our glory, but Yours!"

Keeping It Fresh

I'm addicted to iTunes New Music Tuesdays! Every Tuesday I look forward to opening the program and browsing the store. Why? Because I'm looking for something fresh, something new, all the time. When I find that sound...you know the one...the one that makes your soul want to scream (but you can't because you're in the office and that might be weird). Today I'm buying Michael Olson's cd Where Fear And Faith Collide. I know, I know...it's not new. But I only had one song off the cd and wanted to check out the rest of it. Here are some other suggestions for those of you who crave a new song:

Fee - We Shine
Robbie Seay Band - Give Yourself Away
David Crowder Band - Remedy
Leeland - Sound of Melodies
Jackson Waters - Come Undone
Tim Hughes - Holding Nothing Back
Hillsong United - All of the Above

Church Conference Webcast - Free

Watch the Innovate Church Conference Online for Free | churchrelevance.com

I've been catching snipets of this webcast. Basically they put the entire conference ("Innovate") on the web for free. You didn't even have to go to be a part of the conversation and see what creative things churches are doing. Check it out, it's awesome!

BIG WIN

Check out this email I received from someone who visited our church for the first time yesterday! Awesome, eh?

"Hi, my name is __________. I am a senior at Clovis West. I attended New Harvest for the first time today and, I must admit, I fell in love. For the first time, I really opened my heart up to Jesus and felt the power and grace of our Savior. I am looking forward to joining the youth group and was hoping for some information about that. Where do you meet? What times? And any other important information. Thank you and God bless."

Not Up To Par

Last night's concert at the local fair was not at all what I expected. Casting Crowns and Leeland are awesome bands, but it just wasn't great. Something was missing. Perhaps that's the nature of fair shows and outdoor concerts, but I thought Kutless did a great job last year. Anyway, here are some pictures. We had fun anyways.

Give Us Clovis!

I just came back from a lunch with some youth workers (Northpark, Mountain View, New Hope, FCA, Youth For Christ, EV Free the Bridge) in the area. They invited me to Fugazzi's for a free lunch...how can I say no? Evidently the bistro is owned by a Christian and gives free lunches to this network of youth pastors and workers when they meet there. (So, go support them, it's good food.) The purpose of the meeting was for Red Ribbon Week, which is a big deal in the Clovis Unified School District. Since these churches and organizations support what the schools are trying to do through RRW, they capitalize on the events they do. Locally, we're bringing in Stephen Lungu to speak at several Clovis and Fresno schools. Following those assemblies, there will be two huge outreach events. The Clovis even is scheduled for Oct. 24th @ 7pm-8:30pm. It will be at Clovis Hills. Basically the goal is to hook students through the speaker and assembly, offer them free pizza if they come to Clovis Hills that night and then while they are there...share the gospel. The follow up work will be done by the youth workers that volunteered to help. We're praying for God to give us Clovis. Give us the hearts of these teens so that we can point them toward Jesus. It's a pretty cool event and opportunity.

Courage

Tomorrow morning I'm speaking at Mountain View Christian School's Wednesday morning chapel service. I've done it three times now and it's one of the most rewarding guest-speaking engagements I regularly accept. The students know me by name there. Only the problem is, my name is not my real name...they know me as "the cheez-it guy." I guess if you tell something memorable to elementary school kids, they remember it because it was funny. Evidently, I was funny that first time I spoke about what I've found in my couch cushions.

Tomorrow's topic will be Courage. I'm going to use Deuteronomy 31:1-8 as my story. But the main verse is famous, "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you." In my elementary years I had many instances where courage was required...don't you remember being afraid to be in the dark? On the side bar I'm going to create a poll of fears, please click the ones that have applied to you.

Culture: Physical Fitness

On Saturday we joined a gym here in Clovis, Ca. It's called GB3. It's the first time I've ever done this sort of thing. I'm not a very fit person and I don't regularly workout. But now, now that we've spent...I need a return on my investment. We're going to try to get to the gym for an hour four times a week. I'm starting out on the tredmill. Yesterday we went for about fourty-five minutes and I ran 1.5 miles and biked. On their bikes, as long as you pedal you can surf the net. It's a great feature. I checked up on the blog world while I biked! Love that!

Part of the reason I wanted to join a gym is because it's a huge part of our culture here in Clovis/Fresno. Most people here spend an average of ten to fifteen hours a week at the gym. (statistic totally and completely fabricated by my own perceptions) Seriously though, the students I work with are fitness crazy. They won't eat donuts or candy (much) because they know they'll have to work harder in the gym! I was not that way. I was a McDonald's once-a-day kind of guy while I was in High School. So this whole healthy thing, it's new to me. But I know it's better in the long (and short) run.

Check back to see my progress.