I just read on MMI’s blog that Kyle Lake passed away this morning after accidentally being electrocuted during a baptism. Kyle Lake was the Pastor at University Baptist in Waco, TX. He was a father and friend. He wrote Understanding God’s Will and (Re)Understanding Prayer. I know that his family, friends and congregation will miss him but also will all the those who were influenced by his writing.

Check this post out on 43folders.com it great. Get lots of things done during your day, get to take breaks frequently and have something there to keep you on track (the timer). Read the article and get more done during your work day.

Procrastination Hack: “(10+2)*5″

A lot of talk has been been going around about churches blogging as a tool to communicate with their congregation. But why aren’t more people using blogging software as cheap CMS. It takes a little effort but its not that hard. I have been working on a site that not quite ready but uses Wordpress as a back-end and has static and dynamic areas for content. You can also easily set up a RSS feed for iTunes to pick up your sermon audio as Podcasts. As soon as we are finished I’ll post a link for you all to check it out.

I miss blogging but my days and nights don’t make it as easy to find time and topic to write about. Being a stay at home dad for now and with a few design projects in the oven and getting ready to finish up my time is gone. I was able to start a new book that we are reading along with rest of the congregation at church and Robbie is preaching through call Jesus in the Margins by Rick McKinley.

This Friday I get to sit down with the new Campus Pastor for Tomoka Beachside a multi-site location that is part of Tomoka Christian Church. Dawn, Chloe and I have visited Beachside twice since being back in Florida when we aren’t traveling. Robbie the Campus Pastor invited me out to lunch to talk about the church. This is great I loved talking about church and church stuff. This is a church that is doing it right from what I have seen. Casual atmosphere, relevant massages, real worship, flip flops (come as you are attitude) and real people, being real and having a great time. The attitude of this new church is great. I really think they are going to be able to reach the beachside of the greater Daytona area and bring people into a relationship with Jesus Christ which is what it is all about. I am really looking forward to talk with Robbie about what is going on and I’ll report back Friday afternoon with how it went.

This week is BiketoberFest in Daytona Beach so there are bikers every where. This last week the guy who owns Daytona Harley Davidson opened his new Daytona location that is a big as a Super Walmart, 109,000 sq. ft. It is really amazing, its like Bass Pro Shop for bikers. While we were looking around and buying a t-shirt for my collection and talking to a salesman about the new Street Bob he tells me that Steven Tyler of Aerosmith is about to walk through the door and sure enough he did. It was pretty cool but I’m not a big freak out kinda of person. Like most people I have meet a few famous people, I went to high school with the Vikings Quarterback Duante Culpepper and my wife went to school with Nets Forward/ Guard Vince Carter so famous is not such a big deal. Steven Tyler didn’t say anything to us by standards which was fine with me it was just cool to be that close, with in 7 ft.

Since we are still awaiting God’s timing I’ve had a lot of time to devote to my daughter as the stay at home dad. Today my mom took my newfews and cousin with their homeschool group to St. Augustine to see their light house and the Castillo de San Marcos. It was great to see and visit this old Florida history. I first got to tour St. Augustine as an 8th grader and have been back a few times and it is always so amazing to this old fort. Here are pictures of the light house and fort for those of you who have never been.

Do you take time to spend with your children out of your busy lives? I have to ask my self this question a lot to make sure that I do. I encourage you to open your date book and see how many entries are for family time.

Now that we are back in Florida, going home for a short visit isn’t as taxing on the ride home. We went to my mom’s on Saturday afternoon and stayed till last night. For me going home and getting to go to the church I grew up in is a real treat. To be reminded about the church that nurtured me and helped me see that ministry is where God was leading me and to go back and see how well they are doing, to see friends and youth sponsors still there. It was great. Worship was awesome, the new music minister does a great job of being the lead worshiper. He does an amazing job of getting the congregation involved and crafting a worship experience. The preacher Roger, who came to Central as a youth minister as really become a great preacher. I love to hear him preach. He has gotten so good at story telling that really hits the message home. For me it was a real treat. I love knowing that the church that sent me into ministry is still strong and focused.

On a side note: the sermon was about getting others involved in ministry and how even what can we think of as little jobs really make a difference in the kingdom. It reminded me that as ministers we need to work hard not to where the black eye mask and mount our steady horse Silver.

Did any one else stay up to watch U2 on Conan? I can’t believe that I did. I know Scott Hodge did. The performances we great the Future Seeing Skit was hilarious. We’ll anyways. It was great to hear Bono talk about the One Campaign and all the work that is being done for debt relief, HIV/ Aids, and keeping courrption out of the whole process.

I have a been battling this idea or revelation that I had sitting in a church called Tomoka Beachside. Now I know that my thoughts of God’s creation of fellowship and worship have not always been positive. I can sit around with they best of them and complain about poor leadership, selfish church members and gossips. But is it right for us to think like that? As I was sitting in church Sunday morning, out of no where this thought that the opportunities that we have as the body of Christ, the church, are they not the perfect way to flesh out the Great Commandment?

Jesus quoting from Deut 6:5, “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” (NIV)

Jesus is asked about the Greatest Commandments by a teacher of the law trying to set Him up so that He would say something wrong so they would have a reason to arrest Him. Now we know that the church is God’s creation for us to gather but think of the main aspects of what they church has to offer people seeking God. We can express the Great Commission of loving the Lord our God with all our heart through worship, we can love Him with all our soul by pumping in good things which we can receive through the message, and with all our strength through serving in some form or fashion. Can we really tear the church down because of imperfect people working out their salvation in the journey of life or should we focus our attention to how perfect the church really is a manifestation of what God intended it to be, the working out of the Great Commission.

I hope this came out coherent. I have been chewing on since Sunday and wanted to post about it before I forgot.