Reverse Engineering When smart people reverse engineer something, they take the finished product apart to see how it was made. Countries do it with captured ships, competing companies do it with hot-selling products, and we do it with our Preaching Rally. You might have read the advice, “Begin with the end in mind.” Start with what you want, and reverse engineer the process. Or, figure out what it took to build what you wanted. For us, we had a one-day youth conference in mind. We had a particular goal of how it should look and feel. Starting out, I had
Read more →I Love Board Games I love board games. Thick, meaty board games. You know what I mean? The best board games have a back-story to what you are trying to accomplish. Each mission is different and memorable because of the storyline behind it. I play every Tuesday. Here we are–grown, bearded men with kids of our own–laughing and carrying on like pirates (if it is a pirate game) or astronauts (if it’s a space game) or alchemists (if it’s that game). We immerse ourselves in the story. Themed games are the most memorable games. The best themes–game OR conference themes–permeate
Read more →I have a few babies. As of this writing, I have Abe, Charlotte, Gwen, and the Preaching Rally. Yep, the Preaching Rally is my baby. That is, it takes up time, it involves some baby food and fruit roll-ups, it spits up on me a little, it keeps me up at night, and it’s a LOT of work. Yet, it is so rewarding. And fun. The Preaching Rally has been my baby since 2011. Interning at Bible Baptist Church in Stillwater, OK, I was exposed to the planning and executing of the Men’s Advance, an annual men’s conference for almost
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That’s the overarching theme of the book Love and Respect. I had seen it advertised and finally bought it for my Kindle app. I have been reading it over the past few weeks and every page is spot on. Men need respect as much as ladies need love. The author said that many marriage books are about the man taking the lead and learning to love his wife, but they rarely delve into the opposite idea of the wife respecting the man. The author calls it the crazy cycle: When a man feels disrespected by his wife, he lashes back in an unloving
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We do. We have disciplined Abe since birth. Right now, Abe is about 9 months old and he has learned new things every week since he was born. Why NOT train him? He is definitely learning something! It might as well be to do right. Now, do we have all-out spankings and full conversations about what he did wrong and how he disobeyed God? No. He can’t even speak English yet. Dadadada and Mamamamama and gamamadadagaga are his only words so far. But hey… we figure that if he can learn how to nurse, how to roll over, how to pick
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God answered our two main prayer requests for the Heartland Road Trip: 1) safety on the roads and 2) His speaking to our teens. It’s great to know that He cares enough about us to listen, and that he still speaks to us through His Word and through its preaching. College Days at Heartland Baptist Bible College was absolutely fantastic, not only because of the fun activities and the bonding time we had on the road, but mostly because of the great preaching we were able to hear all week. The following four messages were the main chapel sessions that
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One Summer we took on the daunting task of memorizing Romans 8. Week by week, however, the task was easy… 3 verses. That makes it sound less daunting, right? The hard part is quoting the WHOLE chapter at once at the end, but it’s absolutely doable if we’re willing to put in the effort. I LOVE what one of the parents said on a Sunday night at a Parent Meeting: “No game system till they’ve said their verses!” What a great philosophy! I wish I would have come up with it myself! Several of the teens really got on board,
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Hello, Parents! I know I’m not the boss… you are. I know I’m not the parent… obviously, you are. But, I feel a big-time responsibility to help these teens’ spiritual lives in any way that I can, and I want to be sure to speak up if I can be a help. I know you’re primarily the ones who are always looking for ways to help their spiritual lives, and I appreciate that about our parents VERY much! YOU are the primary reason they are where they are, and I’m just grateful to be able to work with such a
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My wife and I have been involved over the last few months with the Temecula Valley Master Chorale, a 70-voice choir that meets for over two hours each Tuesday night and is dedicated to excellence in music. We joined so that we could learn music from a different perspective, and it is incredible (and absolutely convicting sometimes!) how much this little “music world” is SO big to some of our fellow members and many of the directors. Some of them live this stuff, and are totally consumed by the words, the feelings, the communication of the music, and the total
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