Off The Top Of My Head

Last Two4Two of 2011

2011-11-13T16:42:00.001-08:00

Here is a sneak peak at the final Two4Two slideshow of the season. Thanks to all of the volunteers who do so much to make our Wednesday nights a time of coming together, eating, playing, learning, and worshiping!

Two4Two Slideshow!

2011-10-25T19:34:00.001-07:00

Hot off the presses (if you're reading this on Tuesday, October 25th)! Thanks to Beth Kilgore for taking so many excellent pics.

Two4Two Slides!

2011-10-12T04:55:00.001-07:00

Here is this week's slideshow (it's a mishmash of pics from the past two weeks).

Grandview is a great place to be.

2011-10-07T05:35:00.000-07:00

I haven't made the time to post these this past week. So, here is a sneak REVIEW of one of the Two4Two's slideshows from over a week ago.">

2011-09-19T17:43:00.000-07:00

Here is this week's Two4Two slideshow. Hope you enjoy.

2011-09-13T07:02:00.000-07:00

Our current sermon series is an attempt to look at what Christ-shaped love really is. We talked last week about what it means to love those closest to us. This week we will look at Jesus' definition of "neighbor" within the context of his command to love our neighbors. Next week we will ask ourselves what it means to love our enemies.

September 14th is the beginning of this semester's Two4Two program. We will be looking mainly at two symbols that add depth to our understanding of ourselves, life, the church, and the world: baptism and communion.

If you want to know more about the questions different generations of Christians have asked scripture, this class if for you. Jason Bembry (PhD in Old Testament from Harvard) will teach the first class on Wednesday, September 14th @ 7pm in the Virginia Street Room.

Want to see some old pictures from Two4Two? Catch a sneak preview of tomorrow night's slideshow.

Chasing After

2011-08-19T05:37:00.000-07:00

I'll be mentioning Jeb Corliss in the sermon Sunday, but only in passing. If you watch this video you'll a) be amazed, b) have a fuller image in mind when I mention him. If you have extra time, read Ecclesiastes 2 before watching the video (or, shoot, just read the whole book, it isn't long).

Church Picnic on Sunday

2011-08-18T09:32:00.000-07:00

The annual church picnic takes place this week at the Appalachian Christian Camp (5-8pm). We will swim, hang out together, and celebrate the ministries of Ruth Davis, Theresa Garbe and Ryan Bader.

Play Group is Back!

2011-08-16T06:07:00.000-07:00

Grandview's Tuesday Morning Playgroup is back. The gang meets from 9am-Noon in Grand Central Station. You'll get the chance to meet other parents while your children make new friends.

August is Here (with vengeance!)

2011-08-12T05:11:00.001-07:00

I'm determined to get some blogging in. If you're a facebook person, please know you can join the Grandview facebook page and get updates there as well.

Here are the updates.

Youth Minister Search:
We've narrowed the field to 5 at this point. The search team, led by Caroline Neal, has done a wonderful job. We've been overwhelmed by the number of good candidates. We are on target right now to be able to announce a candidate by the end of the month (but we make no promises). Stay tuned.

Worship Service Changes:
This past Sunday was the first Sunday of "the switch." The traditional service has returned to the original sanctuary. The service went well. The spirit was excellent. The singing was wonderful. We have things to tweak still, but I'm pleased with the feel of the service. If I were taller we would have fewer things to tweak!

The Sermon Series:
Now we move into the book of Ecclesiastes. I love this book. Paul Helphinstine, from Harrison Christian Church, and I are working on this series together. It's helpful to have someone struggling through the same texts!

Softball Team:
Lorna Crouch sent me this picture of the softball team. They did pretty well this year. The season is over. We have a trophy (for what place I don't know!), but I wanted you to see the picture.

Taking Shape

2011-06-17T04:46:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week the worship ministry team made a first attempt at placing the new chairs in the original sanctuary. I thought you might enjoy a peak at it. The room looked good. This configuration of chairs allowed for 164 seats (plus the choir loft). More could be added if necessary. This is setup allows for generous space between the rows and easy access to the middle seats.

The organ and the piano would be placed at the front of the room.

The cross (a joint venture between Roger Allman and Betty Taber) looks wonderful and the room has a warm feel to it.

This is how it looks from the front. There is more to be done, but we're getting there.

Time to Blog Again

2011-06-11T08:23:00.000-07:00

I haven't been blogging at all since the end of Two4Two. I've decided to try to preview the sermons on Saturdays.

We continue tomorrow with our Unthinking Series. This week's sermon is called "The Church Has Lost that New Church Smell" and is designed to help us rethink the importance of the church. In our contemporary world the church is seen by many as just another volunteer organization (one with HUGE flaws). The Apostle Paul saw the church in a very different light.
The sermon notes are done and ready. Here they are, just in case you're interested.

JustOne WeekTen Slideshow

2011-04-11T06:38:00.001-07:00

Well ... we're wrapping things up for the Spring session of Two4Two. A big thank you goes out to all of the many, many volunteers who made things run so smoothly. This was, I think, our best attended season of Two4Two.

Special thanks to our staff, Anna Jones kicked it off and then had to tend to newly born Eli and Bethany Lundgren stepped in and kept things rolling smoothly. Thanks, also, to Ryan Bader for his leadership.

JustOne WeekNine Slideshow

2011-04-06T09:53:00.001-07:00

This isn't the in-house version that we will be using tonight, but it will have to do for the blog.

JustOne Video Series: Erin Layton

2011-03-29T05:24:00.000-07:00

Here is the video from Erin Layton, Emmanuel recruiter and member of Grandview.

Just1 Series - Erin Layton from CrossEyed Productions on Vimeo.

JustOne Video Series: Michael Sweeney

2011-03-27T14:34:00.000-07:00

I'm running way behind on these. I really like how Micah Ridley and Alan Stengel have handled these. Here is the president of Emmanuel speaking about his path to the ministry he now stewards.

Just1 Series - Mike Sweeney from CrossEyed Productions on Vimeo.

JustONe WeekSix Slideshow

2011-03-14T11:46:00.000-07:00

My photographer was on Spring Break this week, so you'll have to suffer through my photos (but at least you get Tom Root's music).

JustOne Video Series: Adrian Fehl

2011-03-10T17:41:00.001-08:00

Here's the video we made with Adrian Fehl, longtime friend and missionary to Ethiopia.

Just1 Series - Adrian Fehl from CrossEyed Productions on Vimeo.

JustOne Video Series: Heather Hoover

2011-03-09T05:43:00.000-08:00

I'm finally getting these videos up on the blog. The idea behind this series is to encourage our youth to consider their calling as they imagine their futures. We're looking at a series of ministries within the church and church related institutions.

Last fall our Christian colleges asked us to spend a Sunday asking youth to consider vocations. We decided to spend the Spring semester of Two4Two on it.

Special thanks to Micah Ridley and Alan Stengel at Milligan for making these videos. They've been great to work with. And, of course, special thanks to Heather for being willing to share this way.

Just1 Series - Dr. Heather Hoover from CrossEyed Productions on Vimeo.

Four Wheel Drive?

2011-03-05T10:02:00.000-08:00

If you haven't seen this video yet, it's fantastic. Not being from the farm, I haven't seen how it looks when four horses have to work together.

Feel free to leave a title for this video in the comments section. If I were naming this video I would call it "The Four Horsemen of the Snowpocalypse."

JustOne WeekFour Slideshow

2011-03-01T11:11:00.001-08:00

I certainly hope you like it.

JustOne WeekThree Slideshow

2011-02-23T11:05:00.001-08:00

Enjoy ... this week is in high definition.

The Roots

2011-02-21T18:14:00.000-08:00

I just saw this piece in the Johnson City Press. It's a nice glance at the new venture of Tom and Peggy Root as they launch Root Studios.

I've known Tom and Peggy since my Jonesborough days and I have nothing but appreciation for their art, their faith, and their kindness. May they thrive in their new venture as art teachers!

This Week's Slideshow

2011-02-15T04:44:00.001-08:00

We have new photographers this week, which means that you aren't having to rely on my limited camera skills. Enjoy!

The Seminary Boom

2011-02-14T04:26:00.000-08:00

It must be the dawning of the age of Aquinas!

Time Magazine and CNN are reporting that aging Baby Boomers (what a phrase! it's as though people don't start aging until they retire) are going to seminary now that they've either stalled in their careers or have retired. The reporter speculates that some of them wanted to go to seminary when they were young, but were too saddled with their kids' tuition and their mortgages. Now, in their retirement, they have the freedom to do what they've always wanted to do.

The article's vision of the Boomers doesn't match with my own. I don't remember hearing about the great yearning of Boomers to go seminary when they were young. I seem to remember hearing more about a desire for free love than for free tuition. I remember hearing that a bunch of Boomers put off careers while they tuned in, dropped out, and some other sloganeering.

I hope the article is right, though. I hope Baby Boomers feel free to go to seminary and to serve the church. My suspicion is that the trend may be exaggerated in the article, but that's okay. We'll take all the help we can get.

The article suggests that it may be better to have older ministers than younger ones. The author wonders what a young person really knows about life, grief, deep disappointment and failure. Ironic, isn't it? The same generation that refused to trust anyone over 30 now questions the wisdom of trusting anyone under 30.

Here's to the new seminarian! I can hear their evangelistic chanting now, "Hell. No! You won't go!"

Get Ready, Grandview!

2011-02-04T14:47:00.000-08:00

Two4Two returns on Wednesday night. Here's a preview of the slideshow and the theme.

Night at the Improv

2011-01-27T08:36:00.000-08:00

Great turn out for the Night at the Improv. If you want a sample, just watch the video. If you don't want a sample, thanks for coming by anyway!

What an Adorable Little Doll

2011-01-07T05:48:00.000-08:00

I opened my email last week to discover that as a graduate of Asbury Theological Seminary I had first dibs on getting a free John Wesley stuffed doll (for at least a $15 donation ... grace is free, dolls cost money).

Not being a Methodist, I don't know how most of them feel about John Wesley dolls. I'm pretty sure, though, that Alexander Campbell dolls wouldn't become terribly popular with people from my own Stone-Campbell churches.

Here are the Top 5 Reasons I wouldn't want an Alexander Campbell doll:

5) It might be too prickly.
4) The "Old-Light, Anti-Burgher, Seceder Presbyterian Dollhouse" would be too cumbersome for my play room
3) I'm afraid that if I pulled the string it would only speak where the Bible speaks.
2) Instead of coming with a birth certificate like Cabbage Patch dolls, it would come with a Last Will and Testament.
1) It wouldn't really get along with my Barton W. Stone doll.

PS: If you "get" any of this, I hope you enjoyed your time in church history classes.

You Still Here?

2011-01-04T04:25:00.000-08:00

Blogging Vacation is over. The irony about blogging is that when the most interesting stuff is happening, you have the least time to blog. The holiday season was super busy, but good, around the Wymer household and at Grandview Christian Church.

I hope your entry into 2011 was wonderful. I'll try to be a more faithful blogger for at least a week or two.

Here are the top things I would have blogged about it I had time in the previous months:

1. The Cold!

It has been a cold, cold winter so far in East Tennessee. People used to talk about the weather to pass the time, or as a way of saying "Hello, how are you?" I've noticed that the Global Warming issue has changed that, however. Weather discussions can easily become tense. I've heard people say, "Hey what about this global warming?" as a way of denying the reality of it (this, by the way, is closer to my own jaded, cynical view of anything that gains political momentum). I've also heard people say, "Global warming causes these kinds of cold snaps." In either case, it used to be easier when we just said, "Cold enough for ya?!"

All I know for sure is that I shoveled a lot of snow on Christmas night at my home and at the church. Then I shoveled a bit more on Sunday morning (along with Roger Allman) while we waited upon the the snow plow.

2. The Babies!

We're on a baby run at Grandview. Baby runs warm my heart. On the First Sunday of Christmas I got to use lil' Charlie as part of my sermon on the incarnation (during the 9:30 service). I can't even express what a joy it was to hold him while talking about how God feels about humanity.

But the baby run isn't just at Grandview. Below is a picture of my new niece, Esther, and her adoring cousins and aunt. New life around Christmas time is such a wonderful gift!
3. The Gators
Did you think I wouldn't have mentioned the loss of Coach Meyer? The weird thing about his retiring is that he is well loved by all of the Gator fans I know. But we could all see that his heart wasn't in it the it used to be, so we're not devastated by his leaving. We have high hopes for the next victim ... er ... coach of the University of Florida.

I find myself in a conundrum when it comes to college athletics these days. For a coach to be successful it appears he has to sell his soul (family and all) to the school. I contend that Tim Tebow ruined Coach Meyer. I watched it happen (through the articles I read while he was coach, so my version is 5th hand at best). Because of his interaction with Tebow, Coach Meyer began to take his Catholic faith more seriously. He even went on a short term missions trip with his church (to Costa Rica or Honduras, I can't remember which).

I think his enlivened faith awakened the conflict between family and football for Meyer and led to his retiring to be with family. He may be the first coach to quit during his prime who actually meant it when he said he wanted to spend more time with family.

We Gators wish you all the best, Coach.

4. Tim Tebow
Speaking of the Gators, if you have a few minutes I recommend watching this trailer for an upcoming documentary to air on ESPN about Tim Tebow. If follows him from his final Gator game through the NFL draft. I'm anxious to watch it.

Tim Tebow Documentary from FCTN on Vimeo.

Children's Christmas Program

2010-12-06T10:03:00.000-08:00

I can't wait to watch this again when these kids are in high school. What a blessing it is is to be around them during this time in their lives.

Special thanks to Anna Jones and Ashlee Graham for putting together such a great program! Also, thanks to Lorna for taking a bunch of the photos I used for the slide show.

Hanging of the Greens

2010-11-30T10:57:00.000-08:00

I wasn't able to get as many pictures as I wanted, but such as I have give I thee:

Take Your Pick

2010-11-21T05:06:00.000-08:00

Today we will show a recap of the Fall Semester of Two4Two. If you've watched the weekly slideshows there will only be a couple of pics you haven't seen. The last pic is the logo and theme for the Spring Semester. See you February 9, 2011!

I have two versions. The second one has more pep than the first:

Same pics, different tune:

Wow.

2010-11-20T07:06:00.000-08:00

You'll need a little extra time to watch this video, but you'll be glad you did. I don't know who this little girl is, but she is a gifted storyteller.

The story of Jonah from Corinth Baptist Church on Vimeo.

Two4Two's Final Week

2010-11-17T10:56:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the final Rendezvous slide show. The pics move quickly because there are so many. I guess you can pause it if you want a longer look at one of them.

It's been a wonderful semester of Two4Two. Special Thanks to Anna Jones for doing a great job on her very first go-round!

Week Nine Slide Show

2010-11-10T05:05:00.001-08:00

Make sure you catch the great shots of Jude and then Miles toward the end. Great pics, Joe!

2010-11-09T17:44:00.000-08:00

Carter did a great job. I, of course, misspelled "brokenness". It's late. We have to live with it.

Slide Show is Ready

2010-11-03T06:14:00.000-07:00

There are some cute worship pictures of the young'ns toward the end (and some goofy pictures of the old'n).

One Sweet Ride

2010-11-02T05:36:00.001-07:00

Carol Norris sent me a link to this video. She promised it would make me smile.

She was right!

This one is funny.

2010-10-26T05:01:00.000-07:00

After I post this I'm going to google "diesel jeans". Man oh man. I'm out of touch! Deke Bowman drew my attention to this video.

Ready Early...

2010-10-25T17:16:00.001-07:00

This week's slide show is ready early. Again, special thanks go to Joe Wise for his photography.

Success, Baby!

2010-10-22T17:50:00.000-07:00

This has been a week of many meetings and no blog posts. The meetings culminated with the European Evangelistic Society board meeting where we voted to affirm the merger with TCM. There are still a few details to hammer out, but the board affirmed the merger unanimously.

The talks were held right here at Grandview. I got a few pictures. I hope you like them.

Bruce led the way.

The view from my side of the table.

OttieMearl Stuckenbruck, David Wright and Tony Twist.

Me, David, Tony, Wye and Bruce pose after the meeting.

This has been a long process with lots of questions to be answered. I'm so pleased that we've reached this milestone. The EES has new life and TCM has the chance to expand their mission.

Two4Two Week 5

2010-10-13T10:39:00.000-07:00

This week's slide show is ready ....

My Interview with Jonah

2010-10-06T19:09:00.000-07:00

Jonah did a great job. Hope you enjoy ....

Preview this week's Two4Two Slideshow

2010-10-05T10:28:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Joe Wise and his awesome photography acumen, this week's slideshow is really good

Logan's Rendezvous Interview

2010-10-04T05:33:00.000-07:00

I'm just getting around to posting this from Two4Two/Rendezvous. This is the interview from two weeks ago. Logan did a great job.

Rendezvous Interview: Week 3

2010-09-30T05:39:00.001-07:00

Here's this week's video interview (I haven't uploaded last week's yet ... but will soon).

Yup ... Musical Slideshow

2010-09-28T17:08:00.001-07:00

I wasn't here for Two4Two last week. Here's what I missed:

Now in Germany...

2010-09-22T06:12:00.001-07:00

My uploading has begun to go south. So I'll stop with these photos for today.

This picture is from Austria, not Germany, but I wanted to give Carol a peak at the place where her son, Mark, once found himself on thin ice (he broke through). Don't worry. It isn't deep.
This is a passage under the castle in Tuebingen.

This is Steph and Chirs, part of the Globalscope team and wonderful city guides.

My favorite pic so far.

This Dr. Beth, the interim director of the institute and ANOTHER Beth who established the Tuebingen Globalscope team.

A view of the city.

Okay ... there is ONE meeting picture.

2010-09-21T02:40:00.000-07:00

I've got more pictures to post, but this is will have to do for now. My time in any one place is kind of short. I'm in Tuebingen, Germany now. But here is a sample of the past two days. The pictures are out of order, but quick is better than chronological right now.

Vienna is full royal palaces (and such).

I was pleased to run across a fellow Beeson Pastor in the middle of Vienna. Paul Clines was a student 10 years before me. We had never met. Good thing he wore the shirt!

Aaron is on guard duty.

Back at Haus Edelweiss

We went to Baden before Vienna. This is the house where Beethoven wrote the 9th Symphony.

It really is a beautiful time of year to be here.

Drs. Bruce Shields and Peter Penner.

Here's the meeting to discuss the merger. Left to right: Wye Huxford, me, Bruce Shields, Peter Penner, Julie Yeats, Tony Twist, and Donna Pohr. The discussions went well and I'm hopeful that the future of the EES looks bright.

Arriving in Austria

2010-09-18T22:43:00.000-07:00

I'm here! My luggage isn't, but that's not all that unusual. By the time I'm done wearing what I have on now ... hooo boy!

You are welcome to my new blog entry. I'm pretty sure this sign, though, means "Please don't enter." It's the door of a monastery here in Heiligenkreuz. I walked down to the monastery and took a few pictures.
But first, Haus Edelweiss and the TCM property for training pastors in Eastern Europe (and points east). There are students here from all over the area. I had breakfast with a couple from Moldova. I had supper last night with Dr. Peter Penner, who teaches here. He is German, but with some former Soviet-bloc raising (I think Uzbekistan) .

In this pic, left to right, we have Wye Huxford (stateside director of EES), Bruce Shields (president of EES), and Tony Twist (president of TCM). This is soon after we arrived.

Haus Edelweiss is as Austrian (actually, the house is of Bavarian style) as they get, I suppose. It was originally built as hunting lodge in the late 1800s. When TCM bought it, the building had fallen on hard times.But it looks great now. The building on the left is part of the original purchase. The building in the back was built in 1988.
The original house has residence upstairs, dining facilities on the main level, and a classroom downstairs.
Now to the monastery at Heiligenkreuz ... this is a view from outside the walls.
This is the view of the surrounding houses.
This is just a gate inside the monastery.
And now to a monument that commemorates the plague. These things are in just about every population center...
The prayer chapel and one of the main buildings. I'll try to post more later, but now it's time for Sunday morning worship here at Haus Edelweiss. It will be a wonderful experience, I'm sure. I'll be hearing German, Russian, and who knows what else.

You Saw It Here First

2010-09-15T04:17:00.000-07:00

Tonight's the night for Two4Two's return. The theme this year is "Attending". The first video is on attending God's glory and it stars our own Colin Blowers (thanks, Colin).

Thanks, thanks, thanks, to Matt Buckner for graciously providing his time, talent, and equipment for the making of these videos.

Two 4 Two returns!

2010-09-14T04:42:00.000-07:00

Oh how I wish I had taken more pictures when I first arrived at Grandview! I went back as far as I could for some of these pics. If you're new to Grandview, your kids aren't in this slideshow. Sorry. But you will see some fun old shots of our kids.

On Burning Symbols

2010-09-08T04:55:00.000-07:00

The government of the United States of America has appealed to churches and church leaders to condemn the Dove World Outreach Center (ironic name when compared with their current purposes) for their International Burn-a-Quran Day.

I'm only too happy to comply. I would condemn this action even if our President made no such request. I am confounded by any Christian who interprets the gospel as a call to badger, instead of love, our enemies. You see, at the very core of our faith is the belief that Jesus died for us while we were yet sinners. At the very core of our faith is a sermon in which Jesus tells us to love our enemies. At the core of the Apostle Paul's teaching is the call to bless those who curse us.

If we Christians believe in absolute truths (and I do) then we need to keep loving our enemies in the canon of absolute truth. If the cross is at the center of our faith, then so is blessing those who hate us.

That's my foundation for not burning the Quran. I have no other foundation than that one. I understand Terry Jones' frustration with the Islam community and their symbols. The truth is that factions of Islam are mixed up in the violence. If I were to view the problem from the standpoint of self-preservation, tribal-preservation, and national-preservation then I would be on board with Jones.

And that's my frustration with our government's appeal to the church. On what basis do they want our cooperation? On the basis of national preservation? That's the very ideal that is driving Jones.

Is it on the basis of respecting others? Okay, but I grew up in a time when hard working people and veterans were being told to shut up and let agitators burn the American Flag. I was told by the government and the media that I would be an obnoxious rube to be offended by the act of flag burning. I was told not to be so sensitive. It's only a symbol.

When Serrano (editorial remix, Thanks, Tom) the submerged a crucifix in urine, photographed it, and called it art I was told to relax (didn't tax money help to underwrite that one?). He was just practicing the American tradition of free speech. I was told to quit being a religious bumpkin, grow up, join the 20th century.

I've been conditioned from a young age to let people burn, piss on, and demean any and every symbol in the name of tolerance, maturity, and enlightenment.

Now they want me to speak out? Okay. I'll speak out.

Please don't do it, Terry Jones. In the name of Jesus of Nazareth who offers grace to all of us despite our sinfulness, please don't attack your enemies. Love Muslims. Bless Muslims. The nature of the Gospel you proclaim demands it.

Let me add this, though:

Please, Mr. President and Mrs. Secretary of State, be just as vocal regarding the powers that be in our culture, ask them to stand up against people who unnecessarily attack things that are sacred to Christians. We're growing weary of being demeaned at every turn while being asked to be the pillars that keep our critics in place.

Nerd Alert (but I'm cool with that)

2010-09-02T11:00:00.001-07:00

I really like living in Johnson City, but we're not exactly known for our museums (well ... we're not exactly KNOWN). That's not to say we don't have an unknown gem, however. My daughters roll their eyes and think I'm crazy whenever I recommend people visit the Brick Museum at General Shale Brick.

General Shale Brick is a major player in the commercial brick market and their headquarters is nestled in the N. Roan split (go right, like your heading to Bristol). They have a nice new brick (surprised?!) building.

Their patio has a nice view of the mountain range east of Johnson City.

In their lobby they have three display cabinets filled with ancient bricks from all over the world (and from all over history). You should check it out. It's free and it only takes a few minutes.

You'll be treated to a 10,000-year-old brick from the walls of Jericho. Those indentations were made in order to give room for mortar to help secure the bricks in place. Those are 10,000-year-old finger prints!
This "hog-backed plano-convex brick is from a pre-pottery neolithic settlement found beneath the city of Jericho. It's the from the oldest brick wall ever found.
This brick was made by the Roman soldiers who destroyed Jerusalem in 70 A.D.

You can read the tag on this one.

This brick is "scored" with fingers as well. It was found in a church called "St. John's" in Ephesus, Turkey (it's 1400 years old).
This brick dates back to the time of King David in Israel and was found in a Philistine fortress in Ashdod.

If you get the chance, stop by. Unless you hate history and archaeology, you'll be glad you did.

Water Slide Night

2010-08-30T06:55:00.000-07:00

The annual Night of the Bizarre water slide was last night (thanks to Emmnanuel School of Religion and Doug Theobold). It looked like all were having a great time.

Two Great Tastes

2010-08-23T05:25:00.000-07:00

I meant to write about this last week, but never got around to doing it. Our family crossed one of "those" thresholds just over a week ago when we took Meghan to Milligan as an entering freshman.

Things were done in a first-rate fashion. Milligan had students (and some faculty) there helping new arrivals unload their cars and carry things into their new rooms. On Saturday night they held a matriculation service in which the new students signed their names into the entering class of 2010. It was all very nice. This picture is from Mark Peacock's blog (it's linked on the right side of this blog. He's an excellent photographer and a good guy. Definitely worth your time to jump over to his blog.).

Here are the students preparing to enter the building for the matriculation service.

Now to the story of the arrival. We placed Meghan's things in their new places. I did what little heavy-ish lifting was needed, then I left pretty quickly. I didn't want to drag the moment out.

There are different kinds of sadness in life. There are the overwhelming kinds with a deep and painful permanence. They do such damage that they take a long time to assimilate into our new ways of being.

The sadness of dropping a child off at college is not that kind of sadness. It's a natural order sadness. You experience it with the full knowledge that it's the best thing that can happen. You experience it with the full knowledge that countless numbers of people have been through this. You also realize that at that very moment there are people with much worse circumstances.

All of that sure knowledge, though, doesn't relieve the moment of its difficulty. It may not be the worst pain you'll ever feel, but it's still your pain.

All that's just to say, I didn't linger. I went home and left the setting up of the room to Cindy and Meghan. I stopped at the grocery on the way home to pick up supplies and as I passed through the cookie dough aisle I saw the dough with the little Reese's Cups in it. They looked really good. I bought the dough, went home, and gobbled down a couple chunks of it.

Cindy got home later and I asked her if she was sad. "Yup," she said, "but I stopped by Sonic and got a Reese's Blast." We both laughed. On Sunday we told Meghan about it.

The story isn't over yet.

When Meghan got back to her room on Sunday evening, her new roommate was sad that her parents had left to return home (many states away from Tennessee). In her sadness she walked over to their new mini-fridge, opened it, and offered Meghan a Reese's Cup from a small pile of individually wrapped Reese's.Who knew we would all be turning to chocolate and peanut butter? Some sadness needs counseling. Some sadness just needs two great tastes that taste great together.

Sometimes a Great Notion

2010-08-21T06:50:00.000-07:00

Have you ever had a really good idea ... that just didn't work?

PS: Special thanks to Herbie Miller for linking this video.

Must See Photos

2010-08-12T05:02:00.000-07:00

The Grandview Youth had their Fall Kickoff at the lake this past Sunday. We had a good turnout. The annual kickoff at the lake is a popular event that Youth Minister Extraordinaire, Ryan Bader, hopes will carry over into the more serious moments of teaching.

This year Sam Vaughn took pictures. The first one (below) is my favorite. It is the picture of youth and just brings a smile to my face. The young man in the picture is from a family that has been visiting Grandview lately. His first name is Ryan.

Have you met high flying Jonah?

How about Cory?

Here's Ryan again.

He's not Joshin'.

Emma slides with smiles.

The whole gang.

Newspapers and Churches

2010-08-04T05:01:00.000-07:00

In the late 80s I was a student in the College of Journalism and Communications at the University of Florida. The buzz in our journalism class was that something had to be done about newspapers. The world, some of our professors told us, was about to change and they feared newspapers would be left behind.

Their words seemed odd to me because we were meeting in Gannett Auditorium. Gannett was the publisher that had triumphantly introduced a national newspaper called "USA Today". Technology had finally risen to the point where a national newspaper could be printed and distributed overnight. It seemed to me that newspapers had arrived at a whole new level; but the new technology was about to throw a menacing monkey wrench into the machinery.

One professor, trying to embrace new fax (!) technology, believed one possibility for the future would be blank sheets of white plastic which news consumers would place in fax-like machines in their houses. Every morning the news/fax machine would print off a newspaper, cutting printers and paperboys out of distribution process. The white plastic could be washed at night and reused in the morning. When my professor floated that idea I thought it was cool, but I doubted that I (or most of the people I knew) would bother to wash ANYTHING every night. The idea turns out to have been too limited because technology would soon stick the fax machine in the basement with the typewriter and the adding machine.

I was listening to a podcast of the Tony Kornheiser Show recently. He was lamenting the fall of newspapers. Kornheiser used to be a columnist but now makes his living in the broadcast media. Anyone who listens to him knows his heart is still with print media, even though his wallet has migrated to broadcast. Kornheiser commented that more than a decade ago one of his bosses at the Washington Post refused to take the threat to newspapers seriously. The newspaper industry was too "fat and happy" to worry about the impending downward trend.

The news bosses are now wide awake to the collapse of newspapers under the weight of free and instantaneous news-like reports on the internet. The entire industry is wishing they had taken time to think more creatively about the future of newspapers while they had the luxury of greater cultural clout.

I suppose you knew I was about to bring this around to the church.

The church in America has been fat and happy for generations. We've lived with the "build it and they will come" mentality. We thought we could stand on the street corners and shout about truth. We thought people would overlook the anger in our faces because we had cornered the market on where to go when people looked for meaning in life. When people wanted to get married or buried they came to the church. When people wanted to raise good kids they endured the bother of Sunday morning worship and stewardship emphasis Sundays because they felt that it would be good for the family.

Christian prophets have been shouting about a cultural change that is marginalizing the church. They've protested that the church has been drifting in the lazy river instead of the River of Life. They've protested that the church has been inwardly focused, even in her attempts to be outwardly focused. The church has evangelized for God, but also for the sake of growing bigger and feeding its own overblown machinery.

The change has already happened in many areas of the country. If you look closely you can see it happening here in East Tennessee as well. We're in that spot where we will wish, in future years, that we had thought more creatively about how to be the church while we still had some cultural clout.

I'm not predicting the death of the church. I'm not into alarmism (alarmism will kill us all!). I'm simply predicting that we will regret our myopic habit of making life better within our walls without regard to the community in which we live. The church doesn't exist to make life better for its members (though that is a byproduct of doing church well). The church exists to be a sign of the reign of God according to the actions and life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. The church exists to heal the community and to share the peace, grace, and justice of God--all as an act of worship to God. We don't share God as information alone, we share God in relationships that demand our time, our energy, our patience, our grace, our kindness, our long-suffering, our self control, and our love.

It's past time to think about how to do this right here in East Tennessee.

Family Photos

2010-07-31T04:42:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine sent me a link to this article/these pics from the Huffington Post. I didn't include them all, but I thought these were so funny that they had to be shared. The comments above each pic weren't part of the Huffington story.

"Mom, dad, you're going to have to give me some space."

Next year we're getting dad pajamas, too!

"Can't sleep. Doll will eat me."

I don't recall the last time I saw a single picture that told such a long and painful story.

Are You a Leader?

2010-07-23T05:15:00.000-07:00

My friend, Scott Wakefield, introduced me to this video on leadership. The video is short and if you're at all interested in what it means to be a leader, you'll want to watch it. It's fun and instructive all at once.

Take A Quick Break. Look at Three Pictures.

2010-07-21T05:24:00.001-07:00

This week's sermon is on the horrible, horrible text from Judges 19 and 20. The book of Judges ends with a nation in chaos and it's hard to find enough scraps of redemption to bring this to the pulpit.
So we'll talk about something a little less intense in this post.

This sign at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway made me chuckle (I didn't laugh out loud, though). We've all heard British characters in movies or plays tell people to "sod off". This sign just made me think of that. I don't think I've seen a "Keep Off Grass" sign like this one before.
I saw this book in a bookstore last week. Forgive me for judging a book by it's cover, but I can't imagine David Archuletta has been through all THAT much. When did American Idol start water boarding their contestants? I don't think a cancer survivor or someone who has been through the loss of a child would shed too many tears for David as he confesses that he was really, really, really hurt when Simon didn't affirm his singing talent.

Am I wrong on this? Has he been through something horrible that I don't know about? (don't tell me to read the book to find out because ... well ... I'm not reading this book).

IHN Volunteers Needed

2010-07-12T04:45:00.000-07:00

Imagine you've been charged with staffing a ministry to homeless families for one week. Now imagine that when you put sign-up sheets out in the foyer. People think about signing up, but eventually breeze past the sheets. You KNOW their hearts are in the right place and they want to help. You KNOW they want the ministry to homeless families to bear fruit. You KNOW they just need a gentle nudge.

If you've imagined that scenario, then you might hope the minister would provide a gentle nudge on his blog.

Gentle Nudge.

Call the church office, please, if you can help. This ministry, in my opinion, is the most gospel-centered ministry the church of Johnson City offers. Please participate if you can!

The NACC Wednesday Morning Sesion

2010-07-07T10:40:00.000-07:00

First the pics ... I'm not staying in downtown Indy this year. I miss being able to get back to the hotel and shut the noise out, but the BONUS this morning was the sunrise as I was leaving my brother's house.
This is as close as I got to the stage today. I took this pic during worship. The music was excellent.

Here is a quick pic from the back/top of the room this morning.

Greetings to you from a dark corner of the food court at the Circle Centre mall in Indianapolis, Indiana where Day 2 of the North American Christian Convention is in full swing. Ben Cachiaras delivered the opening message last night and did a fantastic job of challenging folks to go BEYOND (the theme for the week as you ... hopefully ... will remember). He ended his sermon with a touching story that looked back at his Greek grandfather’s fidelity to his calling and the ministry that his life had spawned.

Good job, Ben. Keep up the good work.

Now to my assigned task, which is to blog about this morning’s 9:30 am session in which Brian Jones delivered the message.

We opened with prayer and worship, singing Today is the Day, Blessed Assurance, Glory to God Forever, Take My Life and Let It Be, and ending with a Matt Redman song called Shine. Then Paul Williams introduced Brian Jones, who is the planter/preacher at Christ Church of the Valley in Philadelphia.

Brian’s task was to preach on the Great Omission, which is the phrase we’re using this week to talk about the penchant of some churches to stress evangelism at the expense of teaching and discipleship once someone has accepted Christ. Usually we just get fussed at for not evangelizing. This year we're getting a more balanced fussing!

Brian arranged his material around three main points:

Undiscipled converts might fall way.

I have to admit that my favorite thing he said today was under this heading. Brian gave proper respect to John Piper (who is a fantastic preacher) and to Mark Driscoll (whom people say is good and I believe them) but then made it plain that he disagreed with their stance that people can’t lose their salvation. Thems fightin’ words to some folk. I love my Calvinistic brothers and sisters, but I’m glad to have someone remind our folks that we aren’t the spiritual descendants of Calvin.

Ancient theological battles aside, Brian hit the nail square on the head on this one.

I would have appreciated hearing how he addresses the need to disciple and deepen at CCV in Philly. Should churches be like AA where you have to have a sponsor? Not a bad idea, actually. When it comes to deepening and to discipleship there is no substitute for personal, one-on-one attention--for prolonged periods of time. Hence the difficulty.

Undiscipled converts might eventually become bad PR for God.

If you've ever been embarrassed by unChristian behavior from a Christian friend then you totally get this one. Brian quipped that he has known people he wished he could offer $10 in hopes that they would never admit to being Christians.

The bad press we Christians give ourselves by behaving in ways that are contrary to the gospel can be devastating.

Undiscipled converts might become polite church members.

Here is where Brian challenged us to be aware that we are following someone who died for the cause of faith. Jesus doesn't call us to be good ladies and gentlemen. He calls us to be followers who pick up our crosses daily and offer our lives to God. Our lives. Not just our time and talents and dollar bills. Our lives.

This morning's session was a good one. I'd say more about it, but I'm supposed to have this posted soon and I'm running out of free internet and battery power.

It is really good to be here at the convention. It's good to be back in Indy. It's good to see friends.

God is gracious.

Arriving in Indy

2010-07-06T13:05:00.000-07:00

The convention center in downtown Indy is half springing to life today. The convention doesn't begin in earnest until tonight, but the exhibit hall is open. I've gotten to see a host of our Grandview folks including the Greers, Brent Nipper, Bob Hall, Dan Lawson, Erin Layton, Bob and Loretta Hull, Phyllis Fox and her daughter (one of my favorites), Katy.

I also got to talk to Ethan Magness, Lee Magness, Karla Cachiaras, Greg and Becky Johnson (of Generations Christian Church near Tampa), Wye Huxford (of the EES), and David Wright (of TCM). It's been a nice afternoon. Part of the fun of attending the NACC is catching up with folks we don't get to see on a regular basis.

The girls and I arrived at my brother's house last night. Anna and Cora are spending the day with their Aunt Missy and their cousins. This morning Meghan and I were able to visit my dad and his wife. Dad is looking good after his surgery! The recovery seems to be kicking in. After visiting my dad we went to see my grandfather. He was looking well.

On our way downtown we took a detour to the Indianapolis 500 (it was more of a stop than a detour ... my grandfather lives in Speedway). Here is a picture of Meghan from inside the first turn of the Indy 500. We also took a van ride/tour consisting of one lap around the track. We traveled a blazing 30 mph.

Then we hopped into our own van and drove to the convention center (driving faster than 30mph).

I never promise a next post, but tomorrow is a pretty sure bet. I've been asked to blog the morning session by speaker Brian Jones. I'll try to take some pics.

Bend Cachiaras Visits Grandview

2010-07-01T12:47:00.000-07:00

My old friend, Bend Cachiaras, visited Grandview today. He must have been on his way to the 2010 NACC in Indianapolis where he will spend most of his time in the Emmanuel School of Religion booth (#601), posing for pictures.

He arrived on his purple, Minnesota Vikings motorcycle.

He even let me take it for a ride on what was a beautiful day here in East Tennessee.

Then we sat down in the lobby of the church and enjoyed a little coffee clutch.He wanted me to hear his new song that he wrote for the worship services at Mountain Christian Church in Joppa, Maryland.
Then he preached a great sermon that he's hoping to preach at the convention.

The sermon was so good that he convinced himself that it was time to be baptized.

Since I was the only other person around, I got the honors of participating in his baptism.

I know he's been thinking of getting baptized for a long, long time.

After the intense spiritual experience, he has emerged as a major ecumenical figure. He even embraces Packer fans now.

Yikes: the sermon series

2010-06-26T04:50:00.000-07:00

Following The Prodigal God series we will have a series that looks at some of the more scandalous material in scripture. I haven't finalized my list of texts to include. This is a huge challenge because, quite frankly, some of the material in scripture isn't fit to preach in mixed company (especially with children present). I know some branches of Christianity have a history of book burning, but I doubt any of the charred remains top the Bible when it comes to outrageous material.

This is your chance to help me out. I'd be happy for you to post a comment (or just email me) letting me know what text you think I should include. Remember, there are a few that I'm just not going to touch from the pulpit. Some texts are better examined in smaller Bible studies.

Examples of what I might, might not, or won't preach:

Judges 11--Jephthah's Daughter (Rollin Ramsaran preached a good sermon on this one back when I was in seminary. I may try to get him to re-preach it).
2 Kings 2:23--Should Elisha Bear Children? (have no idea what I'll say about this).
Genesis 38--Oh No, Onan! (I'm on the fence about this one, but will probably include it).
1 Samuel 18:25-27--(probably won't use this one).
I will use nothing from Ezekiel 16 or 23. Don't even suggest those.

Okay ... I'll take your suggestions. Thanks!

Amateurs.

2010-06-24T08:35:00.001-07:00

This is a cartoon by Truong Son that I am thinking of projecting during the sermon on Sunday. It's an oldie, but a goodie.

Just so you know ....

2010-06-23T05:53:00.001-07:00

The youth are in Mexico and the daily reports are on the Grandview website: link.
It sounds like they're working very, very hard!

Oh, no ... Big Butter!!!!

2010-06-16T04:44:00.001-07:00

How could I not blog about the untimely demise of the 63' tall statue that comedian Heywood Banks dubbed "Big Butter Jesus" (the song "Big Butter Jesus" is linked at the bottom of this post)?

I remember the odd feeling I got when driving along I-75, north of Cincinnati, and seeing Big Butter Jesus for the first time. I am at once pleased and repulsed. I'm pleased that church would attempt such a grand gesture. It takes a visionary group of people to attempt to do something like this.

I'm repulsed, though, because it just doesn't work. The statue plays into every silly cliche' ever uttered against cultural Christianity. Also, despite the grandness of the idea, it just looks silly.

Interestingly, Jesus has always been a lightening rod for controversy [insert rim shot]. Christians are torn over whether or not the statue is a good idea. Non-Christians (I suspect) just find it ridiculous.
Well, as many of you already know, the statue caught fire last week.

How apocalyptic does this thing look after being hit by the bolt and catching fire? Let the jokes begin. Who is responsible? God or some sinister power opposing God? This is the problem with heavenly signs. They can be interpreted in soooo many different ways.
Regardless where blame is assigned, all that's left is the skeleton. The church has pledged to rebuild it. I think I would leave well enough alone. I throw no stones at Solid Rock Church. They will do what they will do. I suspect they've tied their identity with the statue and that without it, they will feel adrift (I don't KNOW this. I suspect it. I don't know a single person who goes to this church).

That's the problem, though. If Solid Rock can't be the church without the statue, things need to change. Any church that ties its identity to a statue, a building, a song, a style of song, a preacher, or ANYTHING other than God as God is revealed in Jesus of Nazareth needs to rethink its vision.

At Grandview we don't have a big statue, but I'm sure we have a few idols....

Here's the song by Heywood Banks. The song isn't exactly reverent, but the comedian who sings it is lampooning the statue, not Jesus.

Bad Blogger

2010-06-05T07:43:00.000-07:00

I don't blame you for failing to stop by lately. I just haven't had the time I would like for blogging. But I will interrupt the sermon prep this morning to post some pics from the past few weeks (some older than that).

Meg graduated from Science Hill High School last week. We're proud of her for being dutiful and for loving her parents (even when we aren't the best parents ever).

Here she is with her great-grandfather. He's 93 and she loves him, too.

All of my siblings and their kids were here for the event. It was great seeing them all. I guy couldn't ask for a better family.

I forgot to wish Cora a happy birthday in the blog. We went to the Firehouse (her favorite) to celebrate. She even got a birthday desert!

We start a new series tomorrow. If you want to do any advanced reading on it I recommend Tim Keller's book, "The Prodigal God". He gives a compelling and faithful interpretation of the Luke 15 and the story we usually call the "Prodigal Son." It's a short book and well written. Thanks, Tim (and Scott Wakefield for hitting me up to it).

The Downside of Johnson City

2010-05-20T05:38:00.000-07:00

NOTE: I wrote this last week, but am only posting now.

I enjoy living in Johnson City. I'll admit it's a bit smaller than I would prefer. It's also a bit more out of the way than than I would like (but there are good things that come along with living in a smaller town).

I would like downtown Johnson City to look more like an "is" place than a "was" place, but we seem to be making some progress on that.

I've gotten used to drivers who seem to meander in fits and starts, who pull out in front of you like they're in a hurry, then travel at 20 m.p.h.

I've gotten used to the elevators at the hospital, where more than a few some local folks stand before these magical rising cubes, but aren't at all used to elevator etiquette . These are people who don't come into contact with elevators anywhere but our seven-story hospital, folks who regularly jump on the first elevator that opens, regardless the direction it's heading. I watch them hit the "up" button, scurry to the "down" elevator, then magically reappear before me as they look around wondering how I made it to their floor before they did.

Last week there was a lady who did just that. When I got onto the elevator she turned to her friend and asked what happened. The friend figured it out.

"We got on the DOWN elevator."

"Well, why was it going down when we pressed the up button?"

The friend decided not to bother explaining, letting the comment pass. Then the first lady looked up at the monitor that the hospital uses to tell the captives how advanced their medical techniques are and said, "Look! They have cameras in here now. They're watching us!"

I'm used to those things here in Johnson City. I even find them endearing most of the time. All of these aspects of Johnson City are either minor annoyances or humorous diversions. But there is something troubling about living in Johnson City. It's something I don't think I will ever get used to.

By living and ministering in Johnson City I come into regular contact with some of the greats of our churches. I get to know them and appreciate them in ways I could never access if I lived far away from here. That is a great and wonderful thing.

But then I have the bittersweet task of knowing some of these greats as they leave us behind. It's so sad to experience, and it never stops. I've learned from and lost so many fine role models and teachers. Owen Crouch. Bob Fife. Charles Taber. Bill Norris. Howard Shaffer. Earl Stuckenbruck. And now Ray Giles.

If I were ministering in Florida I would hear that these men had died and I'd think, "That's too bad. I've heard he was a fine man."

The honor of knowing fine, Christian role models precedes the pain of saying goodbye. We, of course, grieve as people with hope, but when we live in Johnson City we grieve a lot as people with hope. Last week's was as tough as any I've experienced here.

Farewell, Ray. May God Bless Effie with the comfort only the Spirit can bring.

Growtivation

2010-05-13T17:00:00.000-07:00

Okay ... I had to post this. I just made me laugh. It comes from North Point in Atlanta and is tongue-in-cheek in nature. I'm not making a big statement here. I'm just receiving the video in its intended spirit. Many of you have already seen it, but if you haven't then please enjoy1

"Sunday's Coming" Movie Trailer from North Point Media on Vimeo.

Bloggable Week ...

2010-05-08T07:20:00.000-07:00

The most bloggable weeks are also the busiest (which makes it hard to find time to blog). So, here is my quick synopsis!

First (and saddest for us) is that Isaac and Maggie Schade said goodbye to us as they packed their bags for their westward move. The Sunday night farewell was a nice night, even though we were saying goodbye.

Logan Bembry was one of the speakers and he said one of the best things a young man could say (I'm paraphrasing here) "Isaac, you make me want to serve God in the church."

Dirk DiSantis and Jeff Miller made us laugh while they paid tribute to Maggie and Isaac.

By Wednesday I was in Indianapolis where I attended meetings involving Christian Missionary Fellowship, TCM International, and The European Evangelistic Society. The picture below was one I took while TCM and EES made it official that we will seek merger. We still aren't sure it will happen or how it will look once its finished, but I'm excited to see the potential for both groups to benefit from working together (mostly under TCM's banner).

Picture below, from left to right: Bruce Shields, Tony Twist, and Wye Huxford.

Then I got to see family. We had supper at my brother's house. Nephews Gideon and Ethan are pictured here while Ethan shows me that he can play "Yellow Submarine." It was a wonderful night and I enjoyed myself very much.

I didn't get a picture of my drive home, but I did get to spend about an hour and a half in Wilmore talking to Dr. Ellsworth Kalas, one of my preaching professors at Asbury. I got some pointers from him about how to teach preaching, what to look for, and what how to critique in a constructive way.

On Friday we had a baptism. Luke has been thinking about baptism for awhile. He called me while I was on my way to Indianapolis and said he wanted to do it as soon as possible. Friday became the time. I am so pleased to welcome Luke into the Grandview family.

A nice day...

2010-04-30T05:32:00.001-07:00

I've been too slow to get this picture on the blog! We are excited to have Anna Jones on board as our new Minister to Children. This Sunday is her first official Sunday on staff. Welcome, Anna! Ryan and I are looking forward to working alongside you.

I didn't see Anna yesterday because I finally got to take a real ride on what may have been THE perfect day to ride a motorcycle. There was a slight chill in the clean, Spring air. The sun was warm, without being hot. The leaves on the trees are still a greening, while some of the trees have the bright, early Spring, pink flowers.

Riding a motorcycle is a great way to spend a day off. I decided to ride to Mountain City because I wanted to enjoy the views of Lake Watauga.

After Mountain City I took a right turn and cruised over to a burger joint in Boone, NC. It really was a nice, nice day.

Meet Sandwich

2010-04-24T06:32:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow's sermon isn't completed, but it's getting close (in between meetings!)

This week has been a busy one in terms of meetings. We opened with the Emmanuel trustees meetings, which included a nice supper where we got to hear from Emmanuel students from Haiti and Chile.

Then we sat in this room and talked.

Then the European Evangelistic Society met in the same room, but we had a nice lunch at Frieberg's German Restaurant. It was great to eat lunch with Beth Smith, Ethan Magness, and Ben Cachiaras all at once. That's a rare treat.

Then, on Friday night, I got to hear Cora in the choir concert that was a joint effort between the ETSU Chorus and the East Tennessee Children's Choir. They were fantastic.

Fire

2010-04-14T07:32:00.000-07:00

Some of you saw the house across from the church this past Sunday. It burned about 3am on Sunday morning and I've been unable to make contact with the residents (we have talked in the past, but not very much). I haven't heard what caused the fire.

Not much is happening to begin the clean-up and things from the house are beginning to blow around the neighborhood.

The irony of the scattering litter is this Contents Page I found in our parking lot yesterday.

Chapter 1: When Loss Saddens Your Life
Chapter 2: When All Is Not Well
Chapter 3: When the Darkness Won't Lift

Very sad. We'll keep trying to make contact. I don't know if the residents rented or owned. We may not see them again.

In other news, Cora's friend, Nora, broke her arm at the BRAT PAC event last weekend. She gave new meaning to Spring Break. We went over last night, gave her a little gift, signed her cast and told her how sorry we are. As you can see, she's in good spirits.

The McGospel

2010-04-12T04:29:00.000-07:00

Due to popular demand (okay, it was two people) I decided to post the McGospel from yesterday's sermon. The background on this is that I wanted to highlight the need for the church to preserve the language we have been given that allows us to discuss truths in rich and nuanced ways. I decided to use a place mat from McDonald's (the big piece of paper they put on their trays) as my lexicon for trying to convey the gospel. The exercise was more fun, and more difficult, than I imagined. I really liked how it came out, though:

The McGospel

Information found for you is from the 1 derived from none before. The 1 derived from none is the suppliers of resources of nutrition for each of you. The 1 publishes: I’m lovin’ you. The 1 publishes: I’m serving you. The 1 publishes: I’m not snack size lovin’ you. I’m large, ranch size lovin’ you. I’m deluxe, premium, Big-N-Tasty, triple thick shake lovin’ you. The 1 wrap you in lovin’!

How about lovin’ the 1? In seasonal the 1 saturated the 1 in “you” packaging. The 1 is derived from pre-consumer materials, and change formulations for you.

The 1 whipped for you. The 1 on hot McGriddles for you, in hot McSkillet for you throughout.
The 1 iced for you.

The 1 Reverse it! The 1 recycled for you. Learn it! The 1 appear for you. The 1 publishes: I’m not cooking you in oil.

The Powerade found from the 1 recommended for you.

Tonight's Slides Show

2010-03-31T05:31:00.000-07:00

Enjoy your preview (you will if you're a fan of 10,000 Maniacs).

Fave Five and New Zion Church and

2010-03-30T08:33:00.000-07:00

We're participating with Johnson City Ministerial Alliance Holy Week. It's our first year and I'm really excited to be a part of it. Last night's service at New Zion (near Carver Park) with Hopwood's choir and with Tim Ross preaching was wonderful, and a cultural experience as well.

Tonight's service is at Bethel Christian Church in Jonesborough. It will feature our own choir and I will be preaching. Should be interesting.

Two4Two faves:
Alyssa and Cora

Ethan and Luke

Cassady and stained glass.

Patience.

Mia.

Tonight's Slide Show

2010-03-24T04:45:00.000-07:00

Here is your preview of tonight's slide show. I have to thank two Sams this week (but one of them is Samantha). Thanks everybody for your help in putting these together!

My Fave Five from Last Week's Two4Two

2010-03-23T04:55:00.000-07:00

Finding my Five Faves this week was rough because I just didn't take great pictures last week. Someday I will invest in a real camera instead of using my cellphone (although I am thankful for what I have).

Mr. Luzadder looking dapper on St. Patty's Day.

Charles decided to grow a goatee. Hmm... he reminds me of another Charles whom I liked very much.

Meghan goes to battle with Abby in Carpet Ball.

Abby is obviously up to the challenge.

And Miss Nipper awaits the baking of the bread.

March 17th Two4Two slideshow

2010-03-17T10:04:00.000-07:00

Here is tonight's video. Sorry I didn't get around to posting my Fave Five pics from last week, but they're all in this slideshow.

Tonight's Slide Show

2010-03-10T08:29:00.000-08:00

Sam did a great job creating this week's video/slide show for Two4Two. Hope you enjoyed it.

Taking the Church Seriously

2010-03-09T05:35:00.000-08:00

I'm preparing to read the following devotional thought at staff meeting this morning. It's from my hero, A.E. Whitham and his essay, "Taking the Church Seriously". Whitham wrote in the 1930s ... this one hit me right between the eyes today.

My plea is that we take our Church seriously--her prayers, fellowship, sacraments, and preaching. We may have a different conception of the Church, of her functions and the scope of her authority, from that of others. But the Divine necessity for a Church, its spiritual uniqueness as an institution, the belief in a special grace through her sacraments, the conviction that her preaching and teaching are of things revealed to men supernaturally in Christ, these seem to me to be the only justifying grounds for the elaborate and expensive machinery of the Church, the costly demands upon her sons and daughters for sacrificial service, the rituals and observances, whether ornate or simple, the punctual and regular attendance we exhort people to make at her services, and the distinction we feel between her gatherings and that of any other society on earth.

The Church that exalts to the highest degree her importance and necessity, her Divine validity, may or may not survive in popular esteem, but this is certain, that a Church will never survive, and does not deserve to survive, that belittles herself, and qualifies her claims until they cease to be claims and degenerate into weak and apologetic invitations. This pathetic effort to win men into the Church by echoing their own unthinking indifference and disparagement of the Church has gone so far that to speak with respect, not to say reverences, of the Church, calls forth angry retort and remonstrance from the members of the Church itself, as though you were accusing her of sin.

Fave Five from Two4Two Last Night

2010-03-04T18:08:00.001-08:00

The ballet ladies.

The Smiling Bread Makers: Brynn and Elizabeth.

The other bread makers!

AJ and Ryan

Miles cheeses for the camera.

2010-03-04T04:48:00.000-08:00

I haven't had the chance to upload photos from last night, but here is last night's slideshow.

My Fave Five from Last Night's Two4Two

2010-02-18T06:10:00.000-08:00

I'll try to keep this up, but you know how blogging goes. On again. Off again. Last night's Two4Two was another good night and I'm very glad snow didn't prevent us from gathering.

I received a couple of requests to repeat the Amena Brown video I showed during Rendezvous. You'll find that video at the bottom of this post. She sure has a powerful poetic voice.

Now to the photos:

I told Brooke and Abby to look unsure about each other.

I told Ashley and Talulah not to look at each other.

I told Seth to look pensive.

I think my daughter was feeling competitive during dodge ball.

Austin took time to pose for me as well.

Celebrating a Ministry

2010-02-16T07:04:00.001-08:00

Grandview showed up en masse to celebrate Dana's decade long ministry on Sunday night. It was a tribute to her hard work and dedication. As one person told me, "One of the things we learned last night was that our fellowship hall isn't large enough."Dirk led the festivities with his typical wit and charm. Becky Swain did her usual brilliant job of bringing humor and appreciation to the event (I'm sorry that I didn't get a picture of Becky and Meredith dressed as Larry the Cucumber and Bob the Tomato).

And here is Dana with just a few of the kids whose lives she has touched.

In Lieu of Two4Two

2010-02-10T12:11:00.001-08:00

With the cancellation due to snow I wanted to give you a chance to see the slide show we WOULD have viewed together during Rendezous. Thanks to Sam Vaughn for creating it. We will watch it together NEXT Wednesday (Lord willing and the snow doesn't rise).

Grandview's Own Artist

2010-02-06T09:23:00.001-08:00

First, here's Bob Hall's prayer for the 11am service tomorrow: link. It was delayed a week because of weather.

If you get a chance to go downtown to the Johnson City Arts Council rooms in the King Center, please do it. You'll get to see a wonderful showing of Peggy Root's paintings. If you've been around Grandview very long you already know that Peggy (link to Peggy's website) and Tom (link to Tom's website) are fantastic artists, but you still owe it to yourself to stop in and see Peggy's art.

In this picture you see Peggy and her mother-in-law chatting with admirers.

Gwynn takes a break from dancing to smile for me.

How can you not smile at Charles. Admit it ... you're smiling right now.

My favorite painting in the show (my iPhone doesn't quite catch the beauty, but you get the idea)

Scenes from Two4Two ... Week One!

2010-02-04T05:13:00.000-08:00

The return of Two4Two and Rendezvous went well on Wednesday night. These are my favorite pics of then night, beginning with Ryan and the band leading the worship time.

I love this picture of the Ross Ladies!

And Sosie's picture is my favorite of the night. This little girl is bursting with personality.

Logan and Anna are table mates during the meal time.

I'm thinking Travis has his hands full with Thomas.

Here's Thomas smiling for us again.

Jack is in the house.

You is in this picture with Jonah.

Seth strikes a pose.

In a biblical anachronism, Samuel blesses Isaac.

And check out the smile on Mihail! This picture is my shining achievement of the night.

The foyer bristles with the incoming.

Get Ready For Sunday

2010-02-03T11:29:00.000-08:00

Youth minister extraordinaire', Ryan Bader, sent me the link to this video. I thought you might enjoy it as much as I did.

It's baaaaaAAAccck!

2010-02-02T19:29:00.000-08:00

Here's tomorrow night's Two4Two slideshow ... enjoy the sneak preview!

Good Things ...

2010-01-12T05:20:00.000-08:00

Back in September I posted a blog entry about the closing of the Oasis Coffee Shop on the southside of Johnson City. The Oasis was a good meeting place. There were two guys who, when they were there, always made me glad. One of the men would often bring his small daughter along in her little car-carrier. He would place her next to him on a chair and then he and his friend would pull out a chess board and begin playing chess. When I saw them I always had a feeling of all being right with the world.

I haven't seen these guys since the Oasis closed. But last week they resurfaced at Panera. One of them is a teacher in Sullivan County, so he can only come when school isn't in session.

They invited me to play (they have a board that allows for two to four players). I didn't accept their invitation because I would have dragged the group down. The teacher (Dave, I think) is starting a chess club at the school where he teaches.

When I was in high school I would have scoffed at the idea of joining the "chess club". My age is showing, though, because now I think it's cool.

Aspect #4: Communities Entangled

2010-01-08T11:16:00.000-08:00

Before we talk about entangled communities, I just wanted to take this chance to show you the kitchen ceiling at Grandview. The sprinkler system that is supposed to save us during our fiery emergencies has frozen and exploded again. Special thanks to Carla McKinney, Maggie Schade, Gene Nix and Neal Voke for being the first responders.

Here is Neal as he continues to handle all of the hubbub that comes with a water pipe mishap.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

Aspect #4: Communities Entangled

Welcome to the final installment in this short series on aspects of Grandview that are our weaknesses and strengths all at once. This final topic is a little tricky because it’s something I witness more than I experience--so I may be way off base. Feel free to correct me, enlighten me, challenge me, or affirm me on this issue (on any of the issues, but on this one in particular).

Bob Owens once told me that it was sometimes difficult to go to church with the same people you know at work. He likened it to a fish bowl. He isn’t the only one who has mentioned this to me.

Imagine you are staff or faculty at a school (maybe you don’t have to imagine this) and you work with someone who has a different vision of Christian education than you. Also, this person thinks that the direction of the college or seminary should be very different than the one you prefer. Now throw in the fact that when tensions rise you see flaws in this person, even as you expose your own flaws.

Shall we throw another level of difficulty into the equation? Imagine that on Sunday morning you go to worship God and THAT VERY PERSON is giving the communion meditation. Suddenly, your desire to focus on forgiveness and love and the power of God to heal relationships is being outflanked by a person who is grating on your last nerve.

I can see how working and worshiping with the same set of fallen characters could be a distraction. The closest I come to this is when I’m holding a grudge against someone and I have to stand up and preach the undeserved, overwhelming, free grace of God. If you have never been in an extended “discussion” with your spouse and then tried to walk to the pulpit and preach on forgiveness then I highly recommend the humiliation that wreaks on your soul.

Let’s deepen the entanglement, shall we? Milligan and Emmanuel are sister institutions, but they aren’t the same institutions. When one institution speaks the other one doesn’t necessarily say, “Amen.” Not only that, their funding sources are often entangled as well. Not deep enough yet? How about this: When I became the senior minister of Grandview, Dan Lawson was the chair of the elders. Dan is the guy who asks me for money for Emmanuel ... and he was my boss at the same time.

Wait, wait ... it gets better. I’m now a trustee at Emmanuel and that makes me a part of the board that oversees the Presidency of Mike Sweeney at Emmanuel. Mike is a member at Grandview and, as such, has some say over my job as well. Let’s not stop yet; we’re on a roll! Grandview gives money to Emmanuel and Milligan. Emmanuel and Milligan staff and faculty give money to Grandview. And we’re all answerable to each other in official, unofficial, and sometimes annoying ways.

How great and twisted is this!

You can guess some of the strengths and weaknesses of these circumstances. The weakness is that some folks are tempted to withdraw from the church emotionally. I understand why. People only have so much emotional and spiritual strength and we kind of hate to summon it for something that strikes us as voluntary after summoning it all week at work. And, like it or not, people slip into the mistake of viewing the church as a voluntary institution. Never mind that Jesus didn’t institute college or seminary, but did institute the church. With the exception of the church staff, the church doesn’t pay our bills, so when we’re feeling emotionally and spiritually tapped out, the church is the easiest place to cut.

Now to the strength of the entangled community. The anonymity of contemporary culture doesn’t really allow the church to encourage discipleship on difficult issues. If I challenge somebody on something in his life and he doesn’t like my challenge, he can too easily slip away and start attending a church where nobody will notice or challenge him. In fact, if he looks like a decent chap, when he shows up at the new church they might even put him in charge.

Only when our communities are hideously entangled do we discover that sooner or later our flaws will be uncovered. Once uncovered, maybe we’ll take seriously the need to apply God’s standards to our flaws.

If your job situation causes you to resonate with what I’ve written, allow me to challenge you to make some friends at church with people who aren’t in your workplace fish bowl. There are plenty of those folks here. If you’re reading this and you’re not part of this entanglement, thank you for being the kind of person who can help bring fresh air from the outside! God can use you at Grandview in marvelous ways.

Please make it a priority to form kingdom friendships that God can use to bless others. The strongest of these bonds will be formed when we invite people who are not like us to become a part of our lives. When that happens we are truly living BEYOND ourselves.

An Unpaid Advertisment

2010-01-07T15:20:00.001-08:00

While I'm working on the sermon and the final post in this series, I invite you to take a gander at our dual Two 4 Two Adult Class offerings this Spring.

Spring Two 4 Two Adult Classes

Beginning February 3 at 5pm:
Lorna Crouch, Teacher

Beginning February 3 at 7pm:
Jason Bembry, Teacher

Aspect #3: A Surprising Ability to Change

2010-01-07T14:52:00.000-08:00

Aspect #3:
A Surprising Ability to Change

Grandview has a history of embracing change. We’ve had more name changes than the artist formerly known (and now re-known) as Prince. What began as Fourth Christian Church became Virginia Street Church of Christ became Virginia Street Christian Church became Grandview Christian Church.

We’ve never considered our building sacred. We met in a house at first, then the energetic young church built a building (by themselves ... in two days) on Virginia Street. That building is still in use by a church today. They added a fellowship building at some point (I’ve never seen a picture of that one). The city demolished that building when they built University Parkway. To compensate Grandview the city sold us the plot of ground we now occupy. We built the original sanctuary in 1975. The original sanctuary was essentially unfinished when they began using it. Carpet and pews came later. We still have people here who volunteered to hang drywall, paint, and do other things to cut costs (Bob Hall ... which one? Both!). In the 80s we added an education wing. Then, in 2004, the building took the shape we now enjoy (and continue to fund).

Grandview leaders weren’t just willing to change names, buildings, and locations, though. The most remarkable change came in the 80s when, under the ministry of Frank Smith, the church moved to accept women as full members of Grandview (meaning: women could hold any position that men could hold). That change is a tough one for a church to make. I wasn’t around here in those days and I don’t know much about how the change was received.

In the mid to late 90s the church allowed a change in they way we worship, adding more contemporary elements. I wasn’t around for that, either. I’ve heard differing stories from different folks on that process, how it unfolded, and what it meant.

A year and a half ago we added a new worship service called the Table. It felt like a bizarre experiment at first, but that change was well received and the service is doing very well, even when students aren't in town (thanks, Jeff Miller, for your leadership there!).

I don’t believe in change for the sake of change. Neither do I believe in staying the same for the sake of staying the same. If you drive around East Tennessee you will spot plenty of churches that decided change was an enemy. I mentioned yesterday that if leadership hadn’t made tough decisions in the past then Grandview would still be Virginia Street Church of Christ and most of us wouldn’t know each other. We wouldn’t have the missions budget we have now. We wouldn’t have Grand Central Station for the children. We wouldn’t be able to support Interfaith Hospitality Network at the level we do.

Here is the dirty little truth about change that some people avoid: Change will happen, no matter how hard we try to deny it. We can fool ourselves for a little while, but change will catch us. I used to hear that Dick Clark was the “ageless one” and that he never changed. Plastic surgery and youthful genetics made that description seem almost real. If you’ve seen him lately you know that age did catch him. Denying the aging process isn’t as healthy as recognizing it and “growing old gracefully.” The church you now enjoy as Grandview Christian Church will never be the same as it is today. The question isn’t, “Do we change?” but “How do we become more and more faithful to God?”

If we want to be a church that follows Jesus to places we haven’t yet been, a church that goes BEYOND where we are today, then we need to be open to the changes God might bring into our community. I believe the change that would make me the most uncomfortable right now would be the destabilizing jolt of an influx of people who are new Christians. People who don’t “get it” yet. Want to have some fun, Grandview? Reach out to people who don’t know Christ. Pick one. Get to know the person in need. Invite him or her into the community (not just to worship). If that “unstable” person has kids then the youth group’s equilibrium falls to pieces, your Sunday School class will have a very different conversation than normal, and the eyes with which you see Grandview and the importance of Christ will change in an instant.

Tomorrow's Post: Aspect #4
Communities Entangled

Aspect #2: The Church that Scrutinizes Worship

2010-01-06T16:18:00.000-08:00

I've only included this picture because I think it is fantastic!

Aspect #2:
The Church that Scrutinizes Worship

This post is about the worshiping life of Grandview. Ahhh, yes, fools rush in where angels fear to tread. No other issue ... let me repeat ... no other issue has caused more tension during my ministry at Grandview than the issue of what is and is not appropriate worship. Please remember, gracious reader, that we have been through two capital campaigns and a building program. Those things were tough, but they weren’t nearly as tricky or quirky as the worship debate. Grandview has a history of paying very close attention to worship issues.

Let me state the positives attached to our carefulness in the worship arena. Worship has the power to expose theological issues you never even knew existed. To whom do we pray? Did you know there are debates about if it is appropriate to pray to Jesus (as opposed to the Father)? What language is appropriate? When we sing, how often should “I” be the subject of the song? How often should God be the subject and/or the direct object or the subject? Are all musical settings appropriate to the message the words are meant to convey?

Do we design our worship services to reach the lost? If so, then we have to ask why we are letting people who don’t even believe in God determine what we sing when we worship?

What humor is inappropriate (I’ve discovered the limits of THAT one more than once)? When is it okay to write my own parable and then preach it as if it were a true story? I love to write stories. It took me a long time to discover, though, that some people thought I was telling stories that actually happened. I’ve undermined my own credibility at times. Fred Craddock taught me that if you’re going to tell a story that isn’t historical, you have to place very obvious cues for the hearers so they will know how to receive the story. I have received much grace during that whole process of learning

The bottom line is that worship is supposed to be true (in all aspects). We’re not interested in faking emotions or trying to get people to cry or “pumping up” worship with hype. When God shows up in special ways we want there to be no doubt about the authenticity of that moment.

I appreciate the careful attention to implications of the worship we embrace. I believe this careful attention has kept us from falling for fleeting fads. This was driven home to me when I visited churches during my Sabbatical, churches that seemed like they were one big attempt to elicit a spiritual experience. I’ve been to rock concerts that accomplished the same thing--that didn’t make them Christian.

The negative side of this attention, though, is that people are afraid to take leadership roles in worship; they’re afraid of disapproval, of criticism, and of angering people they love and respect--and for fear of making "stupid" mistakes. Fear of God in worship? Okay, at some level that is appropriate. Fear of someone scowling at you instead of praising God? That’s not so appropriate.

I naively believed, when I became Grandview’s minister, that there were two styles of music and worship vying for top dog status. If only! There is the stuff from the 70s (I grew up singing these things ... “in the stars His handy woooOOORk I see..”), 80s contemporary, 90s contemporary (we haven’t made it to the 2000s yet), old-time gospel music, classic hymns of the church, and more.

I can’t remember what I was told when I joined Grandview, but what I heard was that some people wanted contemporary while others wanted traditional worship. I made all sorts of bad assumptions about what that meant. I operated under those assumptions until one day when Charles Taber (man ... I miss Charles Taber!) told me the following story. The story came at me from left field when I was asking his opinion on the worship issues. I wish I had followed up on the conversation with him. I have since learned more about it from his wife, Betty.

“There was a time when this church fell into a leadership crisis,” Charles told me one day, “they needed leaders and they asked some of us from Milligan and Emmanuel to step into leadership. We did ... and we stole their church.”

If you’re like me, you just did a double take.

That’s when I began to realize that some people at Grandview weren’t interested in the grand hymns or the contemporary choruses. They were pining for Fanny Crosby songs. I discovered that even though I was trying to respect Grandview’s worshiping past, I was unaware of the fullness of that past; mostly because the ones who wanted to sing “those” kinds of songs kept their preferences to themselves. They quietly endured songs they didn’t enjoy.

And now the issue gets trickier. If changes to worship style were made without due consensus, then the people who made those changes might be at least a little bit fearful that other people who want to make changes will do so without due consensus. That fearfulness is, I think, at the heart of the angst surrounding the worship.

Want to make the problem trickier? If those leaders had not “stolen” the church then Grandview would most likely still be Virginia Street Church of Christ and most of you would be worshiping somewhere else--and I wouldn’t be the minister. The decisions we make today send ripples into our future as a church.

My personal goal for worship, though, is not tied to any one style. Ephesians 5:19-21 says the following:

“Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.”

I’ve asked people I trust about the difference between a psalm, a hymn and a spiritual song. I’m not aware of anybody who has answered that question (Isaac Schade is thinking of making this his thesis topic in completion of his M.Div.--go Isaac!!!). I assume, though, that the Apostle Paul sang at least three distinctly styles (types?) of songs.

Back to our theme: how do we use our past in service of the Kingdom of God? How do we move BEYOND where we’ve been? For me the lesson is clear. If worship is an offering from us to God then it will need to reflect the gifts God has given us. God has given us a wide range of musical talents and tastes and we need to use them in worship. This means our worship should be less centered on a specific style and more centered on using the gifts of the people who are here. If we (as Ephesians 5:21 suggests) submit to one another out of reverence for Christ then we will value each others' gifts and celebrate those gifts with them in worship.

Only when we love each other more than we love our preferences will worship become what God intends it to be. Are you seeing a theme? Yesterday’s post wasn’t meant to be anti-intellectual, it was meant to point out that regardless of our intellectual standing God calls us to love those who aren’t like us. The same is true for worship styles. Worshiping well is important, but we need to express love to people whose gifts in worship don’t match our tastes.

In Luke 1:68-79, Zechariah bursts forth in song because of the gift of a son named John (the immerser!). He sings out “This was the oath God swore to our father Abraham, to set us free from the hands of our enemies, free to worship without fear, holy and righteous in his sight all the days of our life.” Our worship should be holy. Our worship should be righteous (right). And our worship should express the freedom God has given us to proclaim God’s greatness.

That doesn’t mean we need to be oblivious to the differences between appropriate and inappropriate worship. I believe the fear some of us feel is simply that our style will be lost if we give an inch. This post is a call to trust each other enough to sing each others' songs--together.

Tomorrow's Post: Aspect #3
A Surprising Willingness to Change

Off The Top Of My Head

Last Two4Two of 2011

Two4Two Slideshow!

Two4Two Slides!

Grandview is a great place to be.

Chasing After

Church Picnic on Sunday

Play Group is Back!

August is Here (with vengeance!)

Taking Shape

Time to Blog Again

JustOne WeekTen Slideshow

JustOne WeekNine Slideshow

JustOne Video Series: Erin Layton

JustOne Video Series: Michael Sweeney

JustONe WeekSix Slideshow

JustOne Video Series: Adrian Fehl

JustOne Video Series: Heather Hoover

Four Wheel Drive?

JustOne WeekFour Slideshow

JustOne WeekThree Slideshow

The Roots

This Week's Slideshow

The Seminary Boom

Get Ready, Grandview!

Night at the Improv

What an Adorable Little Doll

You Still Here?

Children's Christmas Program

Hanging of the Greens

Take Your Pick

Wow.

More videos to post

Two4Two's Final Week

Week Nine Slide Show

Slide Show is Ready

One Sweet Ride

This one is funny.

Ready Early...

Success, Baby!

Two4Two Week 5

My Interview with Jonah

Preview this week's Two4Two Slideshow

Logan's Rendezvous Interview

Rendezvous Interview: Week 3

Yup ... Musical Slideshow

Now in Germany...

Okay ... there is ONE meeting picture.

Arriving in Austria

You Saw It Here First

Two 4 Two returns!

On Burning Symbols

Nerd Alert (but I'm cool with that)

Water Slide Night

Two Great Tastes

Sometimes a Great Notion

Must See Photos

Newspapers and Churches

Family Photos

Are You a Leader?

Take A Quick Break. Look at Three Pictures.

IHN Volunteers Needed

The NACC Wednesday Morning Sesion

Arriving in Indy

Bend Cachiaras Visits Grandview

Yikes: the sermon series

Amateurs.

Just so you know ....

Oh, no ... Big Butter!!!!

Bad Blogger

The Downside of Johnson City

Growtivation

Bloggable Week ...

A nice day...

Meet Sandwich

Fire

The McGospel

Tonight's Slides Show

Fave Five and New Zion Church and

Tonight's Slide Show