The First 6 Years...

This weekend, Michelle and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary! We went out to the Kemah Boardwalk for the first time, ate dinner on an outdoor balcony at sunset, rode the ferris wheel and the wooden rollercoaster, ate ice cream, and watched the sailboats come and go.

The weather was beautiful and the night was awesome, but I am most thankful for my beautiful wife and the awesome 6 years we've spent together! I am so lucky to spend my life with her as my wife!

At sunset, I asked her what she enjoyed most about the last 6 years... she's pretty good:

BEACH RETREAT 2009

What an AMAZING week at High School Beach Retreat! We took 334 students and leaders from our North Campus and saw 75 students follow Christ in baptism - 34 for the very first time!

Check out these pictures of the week:

BEACH RETREAT 2009

The best week of the summer! See what happens and what students say about Beach Retreat...

SHIFT STUDENT MINISTRY

SHIFT is the new title of the North Campus Student Ministry! Every one of us in on a spiritual journey. Some people are still stuck in the driveway with their vehicle in Park, while others have been on the road for years, seeing sights that they never could have dreamed of or described. Imagine taking this journey in first gear - you won't get far and you'll never be on a good pace. So many people get stuck in the same gear spiritually, and our desire is that students would SHIFT their faith into a new gear! For some that means getting out of Park and starting the journey. For others, it may be getting out of the same gear (spiritual rut) that they've been in for a while.

The Christian life is about constantly SHIFTing to the next gear. Our desire, purpose, and vision is to see students all over the North Houston area SHIFT their faith and enjoy the incredible journey that God has laid out for them.

Here is our vision in one statement:SHIFT STUDENT MINISTRY is building a generation of students who LIVE passionately for Jesus in a way that impacts others, who GIVE of themselves, and GROW in Christ's love!

Premiere Weekend

PREMIERE WEEKEND IS JUST ONE WEEK AWAY!

Join us February 6-8 as we roll out the red carpet for Premiere Weekend. Students will be in host homes throughout the Houston area for an incredible time of fun, fellowship, and growth. Our featured guest speakers will include Dr. Jay Strack, Alex Himaya, Brent Crowe, and the Student Leadership University team.

Premiere Weekend will feature high energy worship led by the ELEVATE BAND and Aaron Ivey (Spur58). The worship, small group times and activities will make this event one powerful weekend in the lives of the students who attend.

Cost: $65 to register and then bring $10 at Friday's check-in for recreation and fun. This cost includes a Premiere Weekend T-shirt, all food, our incredible speakers & worship bands and an amazing weekend to remember.

Schedule: Friday, February 6th at 6:00pm check in at your Second Baptist Church Campus. We will finish after church on Sunday, February 8th.

Information: High School Ministry: 713-365-6305

Download Premiere Weekend Registration Form Here

Simplicity

I read some great thoughts today about simplicity from Ken Blanchard, Phil Hodges (authors of Lead Like Jesus) and Lee Ross. Here are some of their thoughts on how to focus on simplicity:

• Buy things for their usefulness rather than their status.
• Reject anything that is producing an addiction in you.
• Develop a habit of giving things away: “de-accumulate.”
• Refuse to be propagandized by the custodians of modern gadgetry. Time-saving devices almost never save time, and must be maintained.
• Learn to enjoy things without owning them.
• Develop a deeper appreciation for creation. Get close to the earth. Walk whenever you can. Discover once again that “the earth is the Lord’s and everything in it.”
• Look with healthy skepticism at all “buy now, pay later” schemes
• Reject anything that breeds oppression in others. In a world of limited resources, does our lust for wealth and pleasure mean poverty for others?

A SHIFT IS COMING...

What Christmas is All About

Purple Cows

One blog that I subscribe to - and receive daily updates from - is Mark Batterson's. He is a pastor in D.C. and also is an author. If you haven't picked it up yet, Wild Goose Chase is his newest book and it is a must read. Recently, he made a post called Purple Cows. In part of it he says:

"One of my favorite marketing books is Purple Cow by Seth Godin. The book revolves around this metaphor: if you've seen one brown cow you've seen them all. But a purple cow, now that would catch your attention. One statement in the book has profound implications: "If you aren't remarkable you're invisible."

Every church needs to paint itself purple. I'm not talking about gimmicks. I'm not talking about being different for difference sake. I'm talking about making such a remarkable difference in our communities that we are unignorable."

Never thought I'd want to be purple until today...

Sexy Shows and Students

This is an interesting article from the Chicago Sun Times...

SEXY TELEVISION SHOWS LINKED TO TEEN PREGNANCY
November 3, 2008
By Monifa Thomas
Health Reporter
CHICAGO SUN TIMES

Parents who think there's too much sex on TV have good reason to be concerned, groundbreaking new research suggests.

Teens who watch television shows that have a lot of sexual content are more likely to become pregnant -- or to get someone pregnant -- by the time they turn 20, according to a study in the journal Pediatrics.....

click here to read the rest of the article

Texans Game

We got a chance to go to the Houston Texans game yesterday with Jeremiah Ramer (West Campus High School Pastor) and his wife Tessa.  It was a great game, PERFECT weather, great seats, and we had a blast hanging out with Jeremiah and Tessa (always fun to get to know our staff better outside of work).  Here are some pictures of our view and all of us enjoying the game.

FALL RIOT was an incredible night in the High School Ministry! We had tons of students from all the local schools come out and be a part of a quarterback challenge with local HS QBs, a hot dog eating contest between football players, cheer squads, and drill teams, awesome music and worship, and tons more.

Most exciting, we saw 8 high school students commit their lives to Christ for the very first time!

Here are a few pictures to give you an idea of what the night looked like...

FALL RIOT

Next Wednesday, October 1 at 6:30pm, tons of students will come together for for one huge night we call the FALL RIOT!

- Quarterbacks from the local schools will do a QB challenge!
- Linemen will take on cheer squads and drill teams in a hot dog eating contest!
- The night will be filled with music, prizes, games, free food, tons of school spirit, and more!

We want to see every student in the area join us for

FALL RIOT!
Can't wait to see you there!

Hurricane Ike

I haven't really had any power or internet at the house in a week, but for those who have been in a hole for the last week, here are some pictures of the damage from Hurricane Ike:

Our neighborhood:

Our community:

Here are some other pretty incredible pictures:

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/09/the_short_but_eventful_life_of.html 

WEEKEND SCHEDULE

Power has been restored at the church and we will be having all normal services and Bible studies this weekend!

SERVICES:

  Sat @ 6:00pm

  Sun @ 9:30am & 11:00am

BIBLE STUDY:

  Sat @ 7:15pm

  Sun @ 9:30am & 11:00am 

Baptism Night

God continues to do AMAZING things in the High School Ministry at Second Baptist Church!
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Last night, we got together as a student ministry and had over 235 students and leaders out for a Wednesday night under the pavilion.
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We saw 15 students make first-time decisions for Christ, as well as 12 students choosing to follow Christ by taking that first step of baptism!!!
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Here are some pictures to help you see a little of what happened!

The Vision...

I read this years ago and came across it again this week. Yes it's long, but I promise you it's worth the read...

The Vision - by Pete Greig

So this guy comes up to me and says:
“what’s the vision? What’s the big idea?”
I open my mouth and words come out like this:
The vision?
The vision is JESUS – obsessively, dangerously, undeniably Jesus.
The vision is an army of young people.
You see bones? I see an army. And they are FREE from materialism.
They laugh at 9-5 little prisons.
They could eat caviar on Monday and crusts on Tuesday.
They wouldn’t even notice.
They know the meaning of the Matrix, the way the west was won.
They are mobile like the wind, they belong to the nations. They need no passport.
People write their addresses in pencil and wonder at their strange existence.
They are free yet they are slaves of the hurting and dirty and dying.

What is the vision ?
The vision is holiness that hurts the eyes.
It makes children laugh and adults angry.
It gave up the game of minimum integrity long ago to reach for the stars.
It scorns the good and strains for the best.
It is dangerously pure.
Light flickers from every secret motive, every private conversation.
It loves people away from their suicide leaps, their Satan games.
This is an army that will lay down its life for the cause.
A million times a day its soldiers choose to loose,that they might one day win the great ‘Well done’ of faithful sons and daughters.
Such heroes are as radical on Monday morning as Sunday night.
They don’t need fame from names.
Instead they grin quietly upwards and hear the crowds chanting again and again: “COME ON!”

And this is the sound of the underground.
The whisper of history in the making.
Foundations shaking
Revolutionaries dreaming once again
Mystery is scheming in whispers
Conspiracy is breathing…This is the sound of the underground

And the army is discipl(in)ed.
Young people who beat their bodies into submission.
Every soldier would take a bullet for his comrade at arms.
The tattoo on their back boasts “for me to live is Christ and to die is gain”.
Sacrifice fuels the fire of victory in their upward eyes.
Winners.
Martyrs.
Who can stop them ?
Can hormones hold them back?
Can failure succeed?
Can fear scare them or death kill them ?

And the generation prays
like a dying man with groans beyond talking, with warrior cries, sulphuric tears and with great barrow loads of laughter!
Waiting. Watching: 24 – 7 – 365.
Whatever it takes they will give: Breaking the rules. Shaking mediocrity from its cosy little hide. Laying down their rights and their precious little wrongs, laughing at labels, fasting essentials. The advertisers cannot mould them. Hollywood cannot hold them. Peer-pressure is powerless to shake their resolve at late night parties before the cockerel cries.
They are incredibly cool, dangerously attractive
Inside.
On the outside? They hardly care.They wear clothes like costumes to communicate and celebrate but never to hide.
Would they surrender their image or their popularity?
They would lay down their very lives - swap seats with the man on death row - guilty as hell. A throne for an electric chair.
With blood and sweat and many tears, with sleepless nights and fruitless days,they pray as if it all depends on God and live as if it all depends on them.

Their DNA chooses JESUS. (He breathes out, they breathe in.)
Their subconscious sings. They had a blood transfusion with Jesus.
Their words make demons scream in shopping centres.
Don’t you hear them coming?
Herald the weirdo’s! Summon the losers and the freaks.
Here come the frightened and forgotten with fire in their eyes.
They walk tall and trees applaud, skyscrapers bow, mountains are dwarfed by these children of another dimension.
Their prayers summon the hounds of heaven and invoke the ancient dream of Eden.
And this vision will be.
It will come to pass;
it will come easily;
it will come soon.

How do I know?
Because this is the longing of creation itself
the groaning of the Spirit
the very dream of God.
My tomorrow is his today.
My distant hope is his 3D.
And my feeble, whispered, faithless prayer invokes a thunderous, resounding, bone-shaking great ‘Amen!’ from countless angels, from hero’s of the faith
from Christ himself.

And he is the original dreamer, the ultimate winner.
Guaranteed.

SLEEP!

For the first time last night, Brayden slept through the night!!!  He finally went to bed at midnight and slept until about 7:30!  Needless to say, it was amazing!

Also, for your enjoyment, here is a video of him smiling last week.  Michelle filmed this on her phone and sent it to me at work.  (I watch it about 10 times a day)

Expecting Great Things

I like to look back through certain "heart check" documents periodically, and recently came across this one about Keys to Expecting Great Things...

ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS

     WHO am I focused on?

     WHAT is my motivation?

     WHEN am I available?

     WHERE is my heart?

FOUNDATION STONES

     Someone must lead the way!

     We base it all on the Bible.

     Relationships rule!

     We craft character and make memories.

     We must do the usual unusually well.

     Our excuses can kill our opportunities.

Non-Negotiables for Life and Ministry

One of our pastors on staff - Don Anderson - led a meeting with our interns this week to talk about having non-negotiables in life and ministry. Don is a great leader - he led massive teams of sales people for AT&T - and now is over our volunteer ministry. Incredible man of God with incredible discipline. Here are 10 of his non-negotiables:

1. Integrity in personal and professional conduct
2. Start each day by spending time with God
3. Time with family is priority over work/ministry
4. Commit time each week to exercise and nutrition
5. Respect others - be on time
6. Be prepared - know your audience and your product
7. People are more important than processes or programs
8. Give back to the community
9. Tithe
10. Always safeguard and protect yourself from any hint of sexual impurity

VBS / VBX

VBS week here at Second Baptist Church is always exciting. This year, thousands of kids have come out to the North Campus for VBS and VBX (for 5th and 6th graders). It has been an exciting week and we have seen hundreds make decisions for Christ. Here are a few pictures of the incredible BIG SHOW: