Strange Coincedence?

I find it overwhelmingly coincedental that the final word to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee is "Laodicean". Seriously, think about it. The one word that millions of ears are anxiously awaiting to be spelled correctly, means 'lukewarm or indifferent'. Coincedental? I think not. Look at Revelation 3:14-22. A familiar passage of Scripture, that typically defines the majority of churches across this land. 'Lukewarm' is not a word that I want to describe me. Look at what Christ says He feels about being 'lukewarm'. It makes Him sick at His stomac h when He thinks about you and me being this, 'lukewarm'. So much so that Scriptures tells us that He wants to "vomit you out of My mouth."

Think God is trying to tell us something? I do! I mean, just think...God used the National Spelling Bee to share with us His thoughts about today's church.

Makes me sick too...

New posts coming soon: 'The AR Trip', 'NBC Church Experience', 'Hangin' Out With Dave' & more...stay tuned!

Woooo! Ready for a looong weekend! This has been crazy in the jungle. Looking for several days of just chillin'. The weather here on the coast is gonna be just about right! I sense a serious case of lazy comin' on! LOL!

Spent the night jammin' with the American Idol finale...loved it! For my 'color commentary' GO HERE!

Sunday Summary

Today was an amazing day! Great services at First Baptist-Clyde! Thanks Dan Duffy for the opportunity to speak. This afternoon was really lazy, enjoyed lots of family time, just kickin' back, watching movies and hanging out! Tonight, was awesome! H2O launched their LIVE On-Line Prayer Service! Totally Cool! Will have more info soon.

That's about it, time to call it a day...be blessed!

Today's been a super day! Spent the morning at Freshman Orientation over on the campus, had a great time, met some really cool students that's gonna be with us next semester. Grabbed some lunch at the cafeteria, then headed out into the rain to Wal-Mart! There was one bright spot in the trip...got to stop at Staples! LOL!

Today was filled with a 'must needed' mowing of our yard! Tried to mow it last Tuesday, but the mower wouldn't cooperate! So after spending a week in the shop, I FINALLY got to get it back this morning. And now a second too soon! Grass was over 8" tall...and the Dandelion King had taken up residence! But thank God, that massive task is behind us now.

Spent the rest of the day with the girls, doing little things around the house. My 'to-do' list keeps getting bigger...I just need more hours in the day.

Momma's Day Around Our House...

Wow...what a Momma's Day at the Whaley house! We took the Sunday off, just to have some quality family time! After we got up this morning, we got dressed and headed to Red Lobster in Findlay! Oh my was that fun! We got right in, cause we were there when they opened the door...note to self, always go early! Hahahaha!

The we attacked the Findlay Mall shoppin' for Momma! Now that was a hoot! Going in different directions looking for all kinds of 'stuff' and leading the pack was my shoe-crazed daughter!

Geez I love my girls...nothing better than quality family time...and today, I'm in the zone...

Texting...Nuisance or Ministry Tool...

Texting is a phenomenon that has swept our world. The concept of an 'instant email' in 160 characters or less delivered right to our cell phones has revolutionized our communication thought process. Nowadays, if you don't text, you're just not cool! And if you don't have 'unlimited' text, you're REALLY not cool! I suspect that in the extreme near future, the career to have would be that of an orthopedic doctor that specializes in thumbs!

I'm still relatively new to texting...less than one year to be exact! But I have to admit, it certainly didn't take long to become addicted! If fact, my whole family have become text addicts! Together, the girls and I text somewhere in the neighborhood of 7K texts a month! Told you we were addicts!

Now, having said all of that, and knowing America's addiction with this crazy past-time, why is it you think, that when we enter our churches we are told immediately to put our phones away, or at the very least to put them on silent. Do you like me, have those 'sudden urges' to whip out that phone and make a quick text, then quickly put it away so as not to get caught? Or, have it at-the-ready for that reply?

With churches and ministries all across our country, discouraging the use of texting in our services, we at H2O have taken just the polar opposite approach! Each week as our students gather for worship, we're encouraging them to make sure their phones are charged and ready to go!

But we do it, for a purpose.

And it works...

At H2O, our focus has always been, 'how can we impact our campus the most?' And I've always believed that texting had to be included in the mix. So for Phase 1 of our plan, here is what we've chosen to do:

Each Thursday night as our students gather for our weekly large group worship, videos and such are playing on our big screen, while our students use this time for quick bits of socializing. But as the time draws near to get things officially 'kicked off', everyone heads for their seats and pulls out their phones. Now the fun begins!

At the '3 minute warning' (sometimes we use a 5 minute warning) we use a countdown video that leads us into our service. During that specific 3 minute time span (or 5 minute, whatever the case may be), I instruct the students to text their friends certain types of messages. For example, during the last week of classes, I asked them to text their friends something encouraging...'finish the semester strong'...'I'm prayin' for your finals'...'Good luck'....etc. What ever is said, it HAS to be very 'uplifting & encouraging'. And you cannot text anyone who is also at the worship gathering...it must be to students that are not in attendance. If someone doesn't have texting (and that's rare!), they are encouraged to make phone calls instead.

At first I must admit, this was way out-of-the-box...risky...but at the same time, if it worked, it would be extremely innovative. The first night we did this, my students had an extra gleam in their eye...they loved this concept! The results were unbelievable!

To give you some indication as to the impact this makes, our last night of the semester, we were extremely down in attendance. Last minute projects & papers kept many of our students busy. But for those who were there, we had 21 students that use text. And during the 5 minute countdown, those 21 students texted 327 people and encouraged them in some way about doing great on their final exams! That's amazing! Now what else is cool about this, is the fact that 80 of those 327 people who received those texts, responded back to our H2O students! That's 25%! Those 25% said things like: 'thanks, you don't know how much I needed that!'...'thanks for thinking of me'...'wow, such great timing'...'thanks for the prayers, I need 'em'!

Sure, we help encourage our students with different incentives to do this, but my oh my, the results are crazy! One young lady texted 37 people during that 5 minute block! Another 3 students had over 30 each!

Texting...the time has come for change. How will you use today's technology and blend it in with today's culture? For us, we're gonna continue to impact our campus, one text at a time!

The Indy Trip...Finally

Sleeping was difficult in Indy. The bed was uncomfortable, had hundreds of things running through my head and my ADHD was screaming. So when I finally got up, I was in desperate need of coffee...by the bucketfuls...I would've even considered an IV drip! LOL!

Ron Cooper and I drug our way to the restaurant that was in the hotel, and by this time, my whole world was screaming! I NEEDED COFFEE! I'm sitting there expecting a massive cup to make it's way to me, but instead, this was brought out to me:

This was nothing more than a thimble to me! LOL! Yep, I asked for a bigger cup! Here's what I got!

And TWENTY MINUTES LATER, they put coffee in it!

Back up in the room, to finish getting ready for our first session, I took a peek outside...look what we got over-night!

I usually love conferences. Although I have to be very selective which ones I attend due to scheduleing, costs, travel, etc. So when I go, I'm looking forward to a great time, meeting & networking with new friends, and getting some quality 'refresh & reload'. But when the rooms aren't big enough to hold all the attendees for a particular session, it kinda defeats the purpose. This pic is a classic shot of breakout sessions that went on all throughout the conference. Only a few of the sessions had ample room.

Time for another coffee break...this time, I had to drink from an expensive thimble!

As I set in the restaurant, tryin' to chill for a while, I was blessed to have a 'in the back corner' table (by my request) so I could enjoy the snow falling outside, and use that time for a brief moment in the Word.

This trip home will always be rememberable. Here I am, riding in a 15 passenger van with 6 other preacher-guys, trying to make our way from Indianapolis back up to Tiffin. We were only a few miles out of Indy on I-70 when we were detoured up through the wonderful state of Indiana. None of us had traveled that section of road before. The wind chill was below -0, and the snow was coming down. Here we were, cruisin' down the highway, when BOOM! Take my word for it...a blowout in that kind of weather is not a pretty picture! Triple A was a 2 hour wait, and we were literally in the middle of nowhere Indiana. But God sent an angel. He was in the form of an Indiana State Police Officer. He helped our guys take care of business, and we were back on the road again!

After all the excitement on the road, we were looking for a place for food! Such a shame that the only place to eat in rural Indiana was a Bob Evans! The food left something to be desired, but the company was killer! See that bald guy, in the red hoodie with that smirky smile on his face...that dude's quickly becoming one of my closest friends! Say hello to Dan Duffy, my Associational Missionary for the Northcoast Baptist Association. Thank God he's not a normal A.M.!

For the last photo from the trip, I have to include this one. I'm sitting in Bob Evans, and beside our table was the rail wall. It looked as if they hadn't dusted in weeks! You know me, I had to leave my mark...if you look closely, you can see my name written in the dust! LOL!

We made it home in time to get me to H2O. Overall, the trip was great...conference was really good...and the memories will last a lifetime!

For a Monday, this one hasn't been too bad! Had a chance to work out in the yard this evening after work. Definitely looks like I gotta mow the yard tomorrow, before the rain hits on Wednesday. Just kinda chilled the rest of the evening, hangin' out the Mrs. Denise & Tab. I did, however, start my 'to-do' list! I've go so much little stuff to get done in the next few days it crazy. Hopefully, my ADHD won't my TOO active! LOL!

Had an amazing day with my girls,really didn't realize just how much I needed quality family time! Been good to be off today..I truly needed the break!

Many times worship leaders spend way too much time between songs doing mini-sermons. If you ae called to lead worship, then do it...lead, worship!

Last day at the National Collegiate Summit, enjoying my breakout, 'Big Ideas'. A 9 hour roadtrip home awaits...and its raining...a lot...by the buckets!

Please join me in prayer that God will provide a way for me to permanetely vacate the jungle! Matthew 9:37-38 is screaming at me this morning!

Day 1 of the NCS is in the books...David Platt was off the chain, wow did I ever need that! Day 2 should be filled with great surprises!