Glenn Again

Vidalia

2011-05-09T21:45:00.001-05:00

This Mississippi River is rising! You’re probably asking, “What does that have to do with us way down here in Florida?” Well, it doesn’t have anything to do with us directly, but there’s a body of Christ in Vidalia, LA that I care a great deal about. Vidalia is RIGHT on the Misssissippi River. I’m writing to ask you to pray for the people of Vidalia, LA. I’m asking you to pray for people that we called “brother, sister, and friend” for 7 years of our life.

You see, in 1927, the Mississippi River flooded the little river town of Vidalia, LA with up to 30 feet of water. In 1937, the river reached its high water mark. That year, the river crested (reached its maximum height) at 58.04 feet. In 2008, the river crested at 57.03 feet. I remember that time very well. It was pretty scary as the immense river lapped the lip of the Vidalia Riverfront. A couple of teenagers ran out into the river on a dare. Before they knew what had happened, they were being swept down the raging current out of control. If it were not for the heroics of a couple of men that happened to see the whole thing develop, those two boys would have been picked up somewhere around Baton Rouge (about 90 miles downriver.)

The current prediction is that the river will crest at 64 feet on May 21^st. Yes, you read that right…SIX FEET above the top level it reached in 1937. Recorded history has never seen river levels as high as they will be this year. Thankfully, after the 1927 flood, the Flood Control Act began developing a system of levees to prevent any such disaster ever happening again, but there is great fear in that little river town right now. Should a levee fail (remember the images from Katrina in New Orleans)…should the river reach greater heights…should the water overtop the levee at any point…any of these scenarios would spell disaster for the people of Vidalia.

It was all put into perspective for me today when I saw a picture of the river reaching the Vidalia Riverfront (a featured development of that little town.) In the background of the picture was a steeple. I know that steeple very well because I placed the cross on top of that steeple as we renovated the sanctuary of FBC Vidalia. Literally, a mere mile from the Mississippi River lies the center of that congregation that means such a great deal to me. They are scared. They are nervous. And, I ask you to pray for them.

Many of our Louisiana friends are packing up their precious belongings and moving to high ground. Photographs, keepsakes, and memories are all moving to flood-proof locations, but houses can’t be moved. So, I’m asking you to pray for the people of Vidalia.

Now, to make this more personal. Put yourself in the place of the people of the Miss-Lou. If you had to evacuate your home, what would you take with you. Let’s just assume that you’d take your family (including pets). Other than that, what is most important to you? What would you want to save if you knew that everything left in your house would potentially be destroyed? Let’s limit it to ONE thing. What physical thing is MOST important to you? What would you not want to do life without?

I hope that we’ll never be in that situation. I know that some of you HAVE been in that situation before. I also hope that the things that are most important in your life promote your faith and your family (two of the most important things that God gives us.) Thank you for praying for Vidalia and the people of that little town. I know that God has a purpose in all things and, even in this, I’m praying that He will receive the glory!!!

I'm not back, but I'm trying...

2011-04-10T14:32:00.003-05:00

I'm a terrible blogger, but I was inspired by this post from Jon Acuff. So, I'm taking the challenge to write something once a week for the next 90 days. We'll see from there.

This morning, I introduced a concept that is challenging for church people (me included.) That concept is that we shouldn't give to satisfy our need to share the Gospel. We were challenging our church to reach a $13,000 North American Missions goal this morning, and I told the church that if they weren't willing to "go" then they shouldn't "give." That might just hurt our ability to reach our goal because my experience is that giving is much easier than going. But, Jesus didn't send us out by saying, "Give ye therefore into all creation." No...he said "GO into all creation." So, we're supposed to GO into the world and share the message of Salvation in Jesus Christ. Then that going should be a motivation for us to GIVE to others who are doing the same!

We'll see how the offering went later, but for right now, I'm thinking about my own challenging of "going." Who am I "going" to? Who am I trying to reach for the kingdom of God right now? Equal question...who are YOU trying to reach for the kingdom of God right now? We have the message of salvation, forgiveness, eternal life, and a better life...who are you sharing it with???

Jello Jigglers

2009-09-27T20:19:00.003-05:00

If you were in either of our morning worship services today, you heard the illustration about Jonah and the Jello Jigglers. I am linking the blog post from that day. Click HERE to go there.

Wordless Wednesday

2009-09-23T07:26:00.002-05:00

Remembering...

2009-08-28T00:00:00.001-05:00

On Sunday, August 28th, 2005, First Baptist Church had a normal church service. It would be the last normal church service we would have for a while. As a matter of fact, I would say that our church was NEVER the same.

On that night, one of our members was at the church when a couple came to the door of the gym and knocked seeking shelter for their family from traveling. They were from New Orleans, and Hurricane Katrina was making a beeline for that part of the Louisiana coast. The church member called me at home and said that she was going to allow the couple to spend the night in the gym. I went up and met with the couple and told them that we would be happy for them to rest in our facility, but that we weren't equipped as a shelter. You see, there were several Red Cross shelters in our area and LOTS more north of Vidalia in places like Monroe and Shreveport. We were able to secure a couple of air mattresses for the family and some bed linens. We were happy to do our part to make this evacuee family comfortable for the night. But the job was not over...

While we were getting that family situated, another car pulled into the parking lot. Another family got out and wanted a place to stay. I didn't know if we could find another bed, but they were insistent. I remember what they said (in a pretty strong cajun accent)... "We're so tired, we don't need a bed. If you'll just let us lay on the floor and sleep, we'll be SO appreciative." We couldn't do that, so we called around and found another couple of air mattresses for the couple to sleep. They WERE appreciative! Another couple...another car...another family... Before morning, we were housing over 110 people in our gym. To this day, I don't know where they all came from. I don't know how they found our church. All I know is that it was our privilege to serve these hurting people.

Before long, there were about 25 church members at the gym bringing mattresses (like real ones...not the blow-up kind), extra clothes, food, drinks, supplies.... Basically anything that could be needed. I was amazed as I saw FBCV come together in a way that it never had before to help these people. The next morning, as people began to awake, we realized that they needed something to eat. I think that morning, somebody went and got LOTS of donuts to feed people. That would be the worst meal our "friends" would eat in the time they were with us. By lunchtime, we had a FULL-ON SOUTHERN BAPTIST POTLUCK going on! It was amazing! By the looks on their faces, I think some of those people had NEVER seen food like that. (If there's one thing a Baptist church can do...it's throw an "eatin' meetin'.")

For three weeks, it was our privilege to serve those wonderful people. They thought we were doing them a favor, but it was us who received the blessing. They thought we were serving them, but in many ways, they were serving us.

Some stories from that time...

One couple was made up of an un-believing husband, daughter, and son-in-law--and a believing wife and son. The wife told us later that all the way out of St. Bernard Parish, the husband kept asking his wife, "Where's your God now? Why won't some of these churches open their doors and help us? Where's all of those people that you say are so good?" She said that she had come to a point of thinking some of the same questions and looked up to ask God and that's when she saw our church! We saw that son-in-law and daughter make decisions to follow Christ in the time they were here. We also saw the hard exterior of that husband start to crack as we just continued to serve that family (don't know if he ever made a decision for Jesus, but I know he was closer when he left than when he came). They stayed with us for quite some time. We threw a baby shower for the daughter. We ended up putting them in a house right down the road from the street where they stayed until they could return to their home.

One lady was there with her daughter. You could tell by one look at the lady that she had a rough life. A conversation would only confirm that suspicion. She had dabbled in wicca, voodoo, occult, and just about anything else you could imagine. She also had a rough background with drugs and alcohol. She dressed very inappropriately. Her daughter was really messed up. It was a tough situation. I remember something she said after she started attending church services AND Sunday School. She said, "I've never had a group of people treat me like you all have treated me." You see, some of our ladies adopted this young lady. They took her shopping for some appropriate clothes. They tried to help her get a job. Most of all they just prayed for her. I saw her the other day in Wal-Mart. I would love to tell you that she's still in church. I can't say that (she may be, but not in our church,) but what I can say is that the evil that lurked in her eyes is gone! It's been replaced by love because she felt the power of that love in her life.

I remember our first Wednesday night after our shelter opened. We announced to everyone that we were going to have a service and they were welcome to come. We didn't force anyone to come, but we certainly welcomed them. I was kind of disappointed when we started the service and only one of our evacuees was in the Sanctuary. However, about ten minutes later, the doors opened and another couple filed in and sat on the back row. Several minutes later, the doors opened again and an entire family sat on the back row. Before the end of the service, about 15 of our evacuees had joined us for worship and prayer. Compare that to the last Sunday that we had our shelter. Not only were almost ALL of our evacuees in our church, but they weren't sitting on the back row anymore. No, they were sitting among our church members....the ones that they had learned to call their "family."

It was a sad day when we had to close our shelter. We announced on week two that we would be closing on week three. Several of the local Red Cross shelters had emptied out, so there was room for the people in our shelter. Even our evacuees had dwindled by some of them going home and some of them seeking a more permanent solution. I remember telling them that we would not allow them to go unless they had a place to go to. That meant that we had to work with them individually to find either another shelter or (for many of them) a home. One by one, we would pray for each evacuee and then send them off to what would be their more permanent dwelling.

Some would think that the FBCV shelter was for the evacuees. I would disagree. I think our shelter was for us. I think God allowed us to host those wonderful people in our church to show us how to love again...to show us how to reach out again...to show us how much HE loved US!

You see, we were serving those people because they had no one else to serve them. In the same way, Jesus came to serve us because He knew that there was no other way for us to get to Him. He provided us shelter from the storms of this life. (Not that we don't get rained on...but we always have a refuge.) He provided us sustenance for our souls. He provided us rest for our weary backs. He provided for us what we couldn't provide for ourselves. And when there are those times that the world begins to ask us difficult questions about our God and we begin to ask those questions ourselves...let us look up to heaven and see the answer...it's the Cross! That's the answer! The simple fact that Jesus came to live on this earth to redeem us from ourselves and our sin...that's the answer. And THAT is worth remembering...

Way Back WHENsday

2009-08-26T08:00:00.000-05:00

We're moving...

2009-08-23T21:40:00.003-05:00

If you haven't heard, the Glenn family is moving to Florida. This is a bittersweet moment for us. We're VERY excited about the new possibilities at Stetson Baptist Church. God is moving there in a mighty way and we're so excited about be a part of that movement. However, this also means that we're going to be leaving some REALLY great people at FBC Vidalia. This church is special. God has done some miraculous things here in the last 7 years. We've seen so many barriers overcome. We've seen people come and make life-changing decisions here that 7 years ago would have never darkened the doors of our church. We've seen God do more than we could have ever asked or imagined. And, this morning, I had to say goodbye to the people of this church. That was not easy! I didn't shed tears this morning, but that does not mean that I haven't shed some tears over this decision. This has been tough. However, following God's will always requires a step of faith, and that's what we're taking.

However, we've been confirmed over and over in this decision. So it's a step of faith with a whole lot of promises to back it up. Stetson Baptist Church has so much promise. I believe that God is going to do a WONDERFUL work in that place. And I, just like here, will be able to stand on the sideline and cheer the work of our GREAT GOD on. What a job!!!!!

Anyway, there's something interesting that's been happening today on mine and Nicki's Facebook page. FBCV members have been sending open letters to the members of Stetson and Stetson members have been sending open letters to the members of FBCV. It's been so cool to see these two churches that had never heard of each other get together. Kind of reminds me of what the CHURCH is all about. It's not about Stetson Baptist Church or First Baptist of Vidalia or any other church for that matter. It's about THE CHURCH. The one that Jesus established. The one that Jesus gave His life for. The one that Jesus loves and will one day return to take home. Let's rejoice in the furthering of THE CHURCH. Let's do everything we can to grow THE CHURCH. Let's support THE CHURCH. Let's love THE CHURCH.

Come to think of it, we're not moving (churches) we're just moving addresses. Such a cool thought!

Wordless Wednesday

2009-08-19T07:07:00.000-05:00

Waiting to board our plane

2009-08-14T23:16:00.000-05:00

Wordless Wednesday (from July, 2007)

2009-08-12T21:05:00.000-05:00

Sanctuary Pictures and Visitors

2009-08-11T08:51:00.005-05:00

Back in May, Nicki posted the before and after pictures of our Sanctuary Renovation Project on our family blog. If you have not seen the transformation, you need to check it out. Click HERE to see that post.

For the past several years, we have been blessed to have many visitors on a given Sunday. If you were present last Sunday, then you realized what a great responsibility we have as a church. When I dismissed all visitors so we could move into a business session, I was amazed to see the people that moved. There had to be 100+ people there that are not part of our FBC family.

What are you doing to reach those people? What are you doing to make them feel loved and cared for? What are you doing to show the love of Jesus to them? They are coming now. If their only encounter at FBC was with you, would they come back?

Wordless Wednesday

2009-07-29T10:52:00.000-05:00

THREE YEARS OLD!!!!

2009-07-26T23:27:00.007-05:00

That's how old my little boy will be in 32 minutes! How can that even be true?? How can my little boy be that old? Ok....enough for sounding like an old-man dad...

Here's the thing. I LOVE my little boy. More than I ever thought I could. What do I love about him, well let me give you a list. The other night I put Jonah down for the night and he wanted me to sing him a song. I asked him what song and he chose the classic lullaby, "The A-B-C's"...so here's my list.

Asking--Jonah loves to ask questions and I love that he's inquisitive.

Beginning--I love the new things that he does. It seems like something new every week if not every day!

Chutes and Ladders--Jonah recently discovered this game. He doesn't really get the concept, but he loves to go up and down the ladders and slides, and he loves to fold and unfold the gameboard.

Dog--My little boy has fallen in love with our little dog Max. I love that the one that took most attention away from Max has become Max's primary source of attention. It's so fun to see them together.

Eggs--Pancakes and scrambled eggs (we have this for at least one meal probably three times a week)

Funder--That's "Thunder" for all of you who don't speak Three-year-old. Jonah yells "Funder" everytime he hears thunder (or a car door closing, or a loud truck, or...)!

Grace--We don't call it "Grace" around here, but "B" for blessing is already taken. We get Jonah to say the blessing everytime he will because it reminds us of just how lucky we are to have him!!! Oh...and no "God is Great" prayers around Jonah. Oh no...he's a full on Thank you for....In Jesus Name, AMEN!! (The "amen" is always the loudest part.)

Hospital--Everytime we pass the hospital in Natchez, Jonah tells the story about when he was spinning around and fell and hurt his eye on the coffee table. Then we had to go to the hospital to see Dr. Farmer and get his eye fixed. It's a classic Jonah story! He has an unbelievable memory.

Inclusion--Ok...he definitely doesn't know this word, but it's what he does! Nobody is left out with Jonah. He loves EVERYBODY! I love that about him.

Jonah Daniel Gwen--That's how he introduces himself.

Ketchup--Oh my goodness. EVERYTHING needs ketchup. He put ketchup on pancakes and syrup!! Ugh!!

Lammy--That's his favorite stuffed animal. AND HE LOVES HIM!!! We've got three identical lammies just in case.

Movies--Jonah loves movies and he has quite a collection. You should see him flip through deciding which movie he wants to watch next.

Neck--We play a game where I pick him up and tell him to look up at the sky. He looks up and I give him kisses right where your neck meets your body. He giggles hysterically! It makes my heart smile!

Ocean--Jonah's never seen the ocean, but that just reminds me of all of the experiences that I still get to have with my little boy.

Please--We're working on getting Jonah to ask rather than tell. Please is the key word.

Quiet--If you've ever heard Jonah say, "We have to be very...very quiet..." You'll understand why this makes my heart swell.

Radiant--Have you seen his smile? Nuff said...

Swimming--Jonah's learning to swim and I'm so proud of him.

Tickling--I love that little boy's laughter when we tickle to the point that he is almost out of breath. It makes me smile just thinking about it.

Understand--Sometimes I have to be away. Jonah is so understanding and he's always glad when I get back home.

Vitamin--Jonah gets a Flintstone vitamin every night and if you don't remind him to chew it up, you'll notice 30 minutes later that he still has it in his mouth. Just one of those quirky things that is SO Jonah...

Whiner's Mat--We've just started this, but everytime Jonah whines, he has to sit on the whiner's mat. The other day, he was a little fussy and put himself on the whiner's mat! What a great kid!

X-tra hugs and kisses (need I say more??)

Years--looking forward to what my little boy will accomplish in the years to come. My love has grown for him exponentially over the last three years. How can that increase? I'm so glad I've got years to find out.

Zebra--Ok...this is only slightly about Jonah, because it was one of the first animals that I really remember him KNOWING what it was. But I think he really likes zebras. I know I do...I mean, what is it a black horse with white stripes or a white horse with black stripes. Who knows? Oh well...

Next time won't you sing with me...Happy Birthday, Buddy!!!

My little boy!

2009-07-25T20:10:00.002-05:00

Jonah turns three Monday. I love being his dad!

God of this City

2009-07-21T14:35:00.003-05:00

Someone asked me today to put the "GOD OF THIS CITY" video on the blog. This video was used for "GRACE DAY" last year. Steve Wilson and I went around Vidalia and took all of these pictures then I edited a video to be shown using a video I had seen on the Passion website.

7/12/09 Video of Service

2009-07-15T11:02:00.004-05:00

Our service last Sunday was so powerful as we talked about the power of a changed life. The sermon is broken down into three segments on YouTube with the final being the cardboard testimonies.

SIXTY-EIGHT YEARS!!!

2009-07-03T22:24:00.003-05:00

Ok...68 YEARS! That number has resonated with me over the last few days. Let me share with you why...

It's pretty common for me to go into hospital rooms. I usually am in one at least twice each week (sometimes many more.) But, this week was a little different. You see...Saturday, I got a call that a church member, Colmetta Myers, was not doing well. She has been battling leukemia for several months. The last few times that I had seen Ms. Colmetta, I could tell that she was really having some difficulties. Something about the call last Saturday made me think that this hospital stay may not be the same as the ones in the past.

I went to see Ms. Colmetta when we got back in town, and my suspicions were confirmed. She was not doing well. She was having a great deal of difficulty. I could tell that she was getting much weaker. I went back every day last week. And on Thursday night, I got the call about 10:45 p.m. Ms. Colmetta had breathed her very last strained breath.

I went over to the hospital to meet with the family and try to comfort them. When I arrived, most of the family hadn't gotten there yet, but not long after, Mr. Jimmy Myers, Colmetta's husband of 68 years, walked in. He stood straight and proud and handled this situation like only he could. I'm just so glad that he could.

You see, three years ago, Mr. Jimmy Myers at the young age of 85 made a profession of faith! Most people would tell you that if someone doesn't make a decision to follow Jesus by the time they turn 18 then the chances are pretty slim that they ever will. When a person turns 25, the chances are even smaller. Even smaller at 40...55...65...etc. But I'll never forget the day Ms. Colmetta called me and told me that her husband, whom she never thought would make that decision, was asking questions about what it meant to accept Jesus into his heart. I made a bee-line over to their house and found a very strong, hard-working...humbled man waiting to accept Jesus into his heart. I hardly said a word. He basically explained to me what it meant to become a Christian. I've heard that the greatest distance in the world is the distance between the head and the heart. On that day, I literally saw that distance disappear before my very eyes, while the knowledge that Mr. Jimmy had in his head exploded into his heart! He and I prayed right then and there, and I witnessed the entrance of Jesus into an 85 year old heart. And just a few weeks later, I had the opportunity to baptize him! What an experience!!!

On Thursday night, Mr. Jimmy said goodbye to his wife of 68 years. Let that sink in for a minute...........

But because of a decision that Jimmy Myers made three years ago...there will come a day when he'll say hello again! WOW!

Back...AGAIN!!!

2009-06-09T13:47:00.002-05:00

I'm a terrible blogger! It's not that I don't have thoughts, it's that I don't write them down! However, I've been challenged to do better. (By the way, I also hate bloggers who start every post with an explanation of why they haven't been blogging lately...now I'm one of them!)

Anyway, what has been going on in my life? The Sanctuary has opened! That's a great new beginning in the life of FBC Vidalia. The moment that we've been waiting for has finally happened! First service was a little awkward. Second service was pretty formal because it was our "Grand Opening." Third service (this past Sunday) finally felt natural. I'm so glad to be back in our sanctuary. I'm so glad to be out of our gym. I'm so glad the project turned out as well as it did. If you want to see pictures, go over to our family blog and check it out here. We are so proud. Our committee did a wonderful job of moving us through this project.

Another thing...we've got a new worship pastor. If you know us and if you know First Vidalia, then you know that Joshua Roberts left us back in November to continue ministry at a church in Pearl, MS. Because of the turmoil that our church was in (sanctuary renovation project underway, meeting in the gym, etc...), I made the difficult decision to carry the church through by filling the interim worship pastor position. Yep...that meant that I was both leading the singing portion of our worship service as well as preaching. Can you say, TIRED?!? Every Sunday afternoon I would just go home and crash (if that was an option due to meetings and such). I had a D.Min class back in December and a fellow student told me that singing and speaking use different vocal muscles. He said that preaching usually puts quite a strain on your "speaking muscles" and singing usually puts a strain on your "singing muscles." However, as long as you're not tiring both sets of muscles out, you should be ok...well, I pushed both sets to their limit. Enter...Stephen Powell!! Stephen and his wife, Meghan, have been with us since May 24th and boy am I glad!! As a matter of fact, I think my body reacted too. I made it through the 6 month gruel of having to both sing and preach, but as soon as Stephen got here, I got a severe sore throat. One that I still haven't quite kicked. Anyway, I'm glad to have Stephen here. He came in under enormous pressure! We were moving into the sanctuary on his first week. His first Sunday was our first Sunday in the new sanctuary. He has had to deal with a lot of upheaval in his first few weeks at FBCV, but I'm very proud of the way he's handled the pressure! Welcome...Stephen and Meghan!

Another thing (a BIG thing!!). I've been married for 10 years! On May 15 of this year, Nicki and I "celebrated" our 10th wedding anniversary. I say celebrated in quotes because we went to Monroe for our celebration. What fun!!! Well, at least we were together! It was great getting away and reflecting on the last 10 years. God has brought us through so much! Seminary...Erlanger...Vidalia (Worship Pastor)...Vidalia (Pastor).... Who knows what God has in store for the next 10 years!!! I can't wait. I'm just so glad I have such a loving and supportive person standing by my side!

Finally (or the last thing I can think about right now)...Jonah is potty trained!!! Wow! I never thought I would say that. Nicki and I had talked about how important it was for him to accomplish this feat before school next year, but I never thought it would be so easy. How did we do it? We've found a great method. Ready for it? Listen carefully...Drive to Meadville (that's right, Meadville, MS), Get out of the car at the gas station (you know the one), put your child in Mimi's car, drive away... That's it! Nicki's mom accomplished the whole thing in ONE DAY!!! We dropped Jonah off on Sunday and he was potty trained on Monday! He had one accident on that Monday and hasn't had one since (Monday was two weeks!!!) He's even sleeping in "big boy unnerwears." (A couple of days ago, he called them "panties." I put a stop to that pretty quickly!!!) I'm so proud. Now, we just need to teach him to make his own food, drive, and work for a living...our job will be OVER!!! Ha! I love being a part of these milestones in his life!

Anyway, that's it for now. I'll try to be more consistent with this blogging thing!

It's great to be a Daddy...

2009-01-27T15:18:00.003-06:00

My little boy is 2 1/2 years old today! (That's 30 months for all of you month counters!!) It's hard to believe that two and a half years ago they put this little bundled up child in my arms and said, "Here you go, Daddy." I never knew a feeling like that!

I'm so glad that God has given me an opportunity to be Daddy to this little boy. I asked Nicki the other day..."When do the 'terrible two's' kick in?" She said I should be very quiet when I ask that question. Well...I don't know anything about the "terrible two's" so I thought we may be already in the thick of it and I was convinced that it wasn't that bad! Honestly, I think our child is an angel from heaven! (Or maybe we're just that good of parents! HA!)

All that to say, I'm so blessed to be this little boy's dad. What a joy to know that God has allowed me to raise this child. God, give me the strength and wisdom to do a job with this responsibility that will make You, my Heavenly Father, proud of me! I want to be a Daddy to Jonah the way God has been a Father to me!

I love you, my little Jonah-Bug!

Been a while

2009-01-17T08:58:00.004-06:00

Ok...it's been a while! I know. This is not really my giftedness, but I do want to share with the people of "Blog-World" some of the things that are on my heart. AND, Nicki and I made goals for each other for 2009 and one of her is for me to post something on my blog at least twice a month. (So what you're seeing now is the competitive side of me trying to live up to expectations!!)

Read something recently that talked about hospitality in church. The idea was from the perspective of a worship leader, but it could be applied to the church as a whole. The thought was that someone who is leading in worship should be very hospitable in their leadership. That means that worship will become less about the leader and more about those he or she is leading. That's confusing...so for example.....If someone has an unbelievable voice and is singing to his heart's content on stage...that may not constitute worship leadership. Instead, that person may have to mask his singing ability to keep the congregation engaged in the worship experience. Think about it...most of the best worship leaders in our world today are not the most talented individuals. You can mostly see this when some contemporary artist decides to step into the worship world (probably to catch the wave of the current movement)...usually a very awkward album.

So...how does this apply to a pastor? I have to be sure that my ministry is to the people, for the people, and with the people. Sometimes I can get so theological that I go right over people's heads. I have to be sure that I'm communicating to the individuals that God has brought to our worship service rather than just amusing myself with what I've learned from a particular passage or subject.

Now...how does this apply to our church? It means that we exist for the outsider. One of the travesty's of church is that sometimes we get so wrapped up in our own pleasure that we forget that we have guests that we're trying to reach. And even more than that, we have people who haven't darkened the doors of our church that we're trying to reach. How are we going to reach them? By doing what makes the longtime church member happy? By making the pastors happy? I think not. Outsiders are going to be reached by being engaged with the gospel. We must show people how much God loves them and how much he wants a relationship with them. What better way to do that than to allow God to engage their lives through worship and stand back to see what happens after that.

This Sunday, I pray that the people that come to our church will think more about others than about themselves. Who are the most important people in the room? They're probably the people that have been there the least amount of time. May we put all of our effort into reaching them with the Love of God.

An update

2008-11-01T19:42:00.000-05:00

Just for you Spydermonkey!!

Worst nightmare!!!

2008-08-29T08:25:00.002-05:00

This HAS to be this guy's most embarrassing moment. When you get up and speak to lots of people every week, things like this are bound to happen!!

My Little Boy is growing up!!

2008-07-27T22:14:00.002-05:00

Several weeks ago, I said in church that I had never been the parent of a two year old. I will never be able to say that again after today!

It's hard to believe that Jonah is growing up so fast. It is such a joy to see him growing up more and more every day. I say this all the time, but I LOVE being a daddy! It's one of my favorite "jobs" that I have ever had. Better than being a minister, better than being a camp counselor, better than being a bag-boy, hey...even better than working at the Cookie Store! I absolutely love the responsibility of being a Daddy!!

Today, we were at Natalie Ainsworth's birthday party and Jonah was completely infatuated with the big fan they had going to keep a little bit of the heat down. I was watching him closely because I had already told him not to touch. I didn't want him to get hurt. As I was talking to somebody, I caught him out of the corner of my eye sticking his straw into the fan!! I let out a sound that can only be described as the guttural "uanh" that you use when your dog does something wrong. I wanted to get his attention and quickly. He got the picture! Then, I wanted to lean down and tell him how much I loved him and that I was only trying to protect him from getting hurt.

I see that as my role in his life right now. I want to lead him to be the little boy that I know he can be so that he will be able to live his entire life being that person. I've said it before, but I want to follow Christ and tell Jonah to follow me. I want to see my little boy reach his full potential in this world but, more importantly, in the kingdom of God.

HOWEVER, here's the deal about my kid: I think his little heart could lead more people to the kingdom of God in one week than I may be able to in a lifetime. I continually see God working in this little boy's life (and he's only TWO!!). I truly believe that God has big plans for my little boy. It may not be as a minister (boy will I try to lead him away from that one) or as a teacher or as a counselor or anything else you can think of, but one thing I will try to always teach Jonah is that no matter where his life leads him...let God use him there!

At this point in his life, I truly believe that God is developing his heart to be compassionate (you should see the terror on his face when someone else cries), caring (he never passes an open door without wanting to close it...now that's caring), loving (you should see him run to someone's arms), and kind (he truly is a "nice" kid.) I just hope that those qualities continue to develop and that God (and his parents) protect him from developing some of those qualities that are so prevalent in the world today.

I'm the father of a two-year-old. For some of you that know me well, that's a SCARY thought!! However, I'm so glad that I can say with confidence that I don't raise this child on my own strength and knowledge...I'm just going to follow God's leading and then trust him to cover the slack.

Happy Birthday, Buddy...I LOVE YOU!!!!

GI Joe and the Bible

2008-07-24T16:19:00.003-05:00

Jon Acuff over at stuffchristianslike.com has a post comparing the different versions of the Bible to GI Joe.

You should go over and read it then come back here...

As a point of information...I was a HUGE GI Joe fan when I was a kid. I still remember the "...and now you know...and knowing is half the battle" lessons at the end of each episode.

Well, I'll leave it up to Jon to describe the bible in terms of GI Joe characters, but I'm curious what you guys think about this debate. Is it really worth all of the time that people give to it? Is it really worth the headache and division that it can cause?? As a matter of fact, when you really think about it, is the version of the Bible a reflection of your character like so many people seem to assume that it is??

I for one don't think so. The Bible that you carry is just a personal preference. Me? I preach from the NIV, but at home, I read the New Living Translation (one that didn't make Jon's list...sniff-sniff). How about you? What version of the Bible do you like best and why? Is it just because that's what you've always had or because you actually see something in there that really interests you? Leave me a comment and let's do a little unofficial poll...

Here's Joe!!!

2008-07-18T09:25:00.003-05:00

Here's the video I promised yesterday...this is a video of the man who "reverently" proclaims the Word of God every Sunday at FBCV doing "Hello, My Name is Joe." Please...don't fire me!! HA!!!!

EDIT FROM THE WIFE: Be sure to watch the video all the way to the end. It only gets better! I'm so proud!

OOOOOOOPS!!!!

2008-07-17T09:19:00.004-05:00

This week is SMACK week at FBCV. We've been doing our Summer Music Activity Camp for Kids for 5 years now. It's a really great week, but VERY exhausting. Well, I guess the exhaustion got to me this morning.

You see...ever since the very first year of SMACK, we've been singing a song almost every morning to get the kids geared up for a very active day called "Hello, My Name is Joe." Some of you may have played before, but for your information, I have posted a video below that might give you an idea of how active this little song is. (I'm going to try to video it tomorrow and maybe post a video of yours truly doing "Joe.") Watch the video even if you know about "Joe" because it's absolutely adorable.

For those of you that didn't catch the words to that aerobic workout, they're:

Hello, My name is Joe
I got a wife, three kids, and I work in a Button Factory
One day my boss said, "Joe are you busy" I said, "No"
He said, "Good. Work this button with your left hand."

You continue adding body parts to the song until you just can't go anymore!

Ok...here comes the "Oooops." Today I was doing this game with the kids and having a great time. About half-way through, I looked to the back of the Sanctuary at one of our youth that was obviously trying to get my attention. He made a motion that I immediately recognized (and any of you would have, too) to mean "Your zipper's down!"

This has not been a big problem in recent history for me, but apparently I didn't quite get all the way dressed this morning. How EMBARRASSING!! I would have loved to just ignore him, but I thought about what could happen if I didn't go ahead and take care of my problem.

So, right there in front of God, children, youth, and adults, I had to fix my issue. It was unbelievably embarrassing...probably my life's most embarrassing moment to date.

Aren't you glad that we have those moments in our life that remind us that we don't have it all together. THANKFULLY, God loves us anyway. What a good God we have!!!

How about you? Care to share one of your most embarrassing moments?

A Long Awaited Day...

2008-07-12T12:44:00.003-05:00

I enjoy golf. It's one of the places that I find solace. I really enjoy getting away from the busyness of my day and going to the golf course to enjoy some moments of solitude (and some challenging competition at the same time.) Well, one of the things that I have been looking forward to ever since we knew that we were having a baby boy was taking him out to the golf course with me. We took Jonah out to Duncan Park on his 1st birthday, but that was just to take a picture at the 1st hole marker (an idea Nicki got from one of her friends). We also took him to the putting green that day, but it was quickly obvious that was not his scene! I thought my days of enjoying the golf course with my little boy may be coming to a premature end.

So yesterday was a real joy!!! Nicki was in Jackson, so Jonah and I had the day to ourselves. That meant lots of playing, lots of chasing, and, at the end of the day, a short round of golf. It was Jonah's first real time to go to the golf course to play. We had recently bought him a "just-his-size" putter and I was anxious to give him a chance to use it.

I actually figured we would just go out and play around at the putting green, but when I stepped outside and noticed how hot it was, I figured riding on the golf cart would give him a chance to cool off between shots. So, we arranged a price with the pro shop and ventured out for a few holes. it was not very long before I realized how much fun this was really going to be. The first time I got into the golf cart and put my arm around my little boy, it almost brought tears to my eyes. I was so excited to be able to have my little boy with me enjoying some thing that I have enjoyed for so long.

One story from the day. I had a putter ("puh-er" in Jonah language) for him but not any other clubs. That will take a couple of years of growing. So, when i was doing anything except putting, I had to find something for him to do. I would tell him where to stand and he would stand there without moving a muscle. Then, I would tell him to watch the ball. Right after I hit the ball, Jonah would let out a typical, "Iownno." For those of you that don't speak a language...that's "Jonahese" for "I don't know." Of course, that's because Jonah would be looking intently at the ball on the tee or the ground and all of a sudden a "whoosh" and the ball was gone. Hard to describe here, but it made me laugh every time.

What a cool experience to see that little boy growing up. I'm so excited thinking about all of the years of enjoying many experiences like this over the years. We only made it through 4 holes yesterday, but I know the day is coming when Jonah will last through all 18...even beat his dear old dad. What a day that will be!!

Praying for your pastor (a semi-stolen post)

2008-06-25T15:22:00.000-05:00

Nicki and I read Perry Noble's blog from time to time. He's the pastor at NewSpring Church in Anderson, SC. He's always got some really interesting insights on life, ministry, leadership, and how to do church. You should check it out. Well, this is a semi-stolen post from his blog about praying for your pastor (that means I'm stealing the outline, but adding my own insights.) If you're a member of First Baptist Vidalia (or family), I would love to have you praying for me. If you're a member of another church, you can use this to pray for your own pastor.

#1 His Connection With God--This is a tough one. Pastors are sometimes the first to get off of their connection with God. The only way I can describe it is the way sometimes you see very out of shape coaches on the sidelines. They're so busy coaching their team that they forget to keep themselves in check. The same can be true for pastors. I would so appreciate your prayers for my connection with God

#2 His Family--The pastor's family is under enormous pressure! I don't know if any of you have ever realized it, but I rarely get complaints about the church. Nicki gets them ALL! She has to shoulder the responsibility of being supportive of her husband but at the same time field the issues that the church wants to bring. For some reason, we don't talk to people anymore. However, we LOVE to talk about people! That means that people would rather discuss things with Nicki than me. That's probably because Nicki usually has more compassion than me as well, but that's beside the point.
The other thing that's tough about being a pastor's family is that they are always under the scrutiny of the entire church. "That's too much. That's too little. He's too rambunctious. He talks too much. Well, you know that's just a preacher's kid for you." It's really not fair that my wife and child have to hold up under this pressure. They are just unfortunately linked to "the preacher." You should really pray for them. Besides, when you pray for your pastor's family, you're really praying for him as well because they're without a doubt my number one support system. I NEED THEM!!! and I'm so glad God gave them to me!

#3 His Relationship to the Staff--This one seems like a no brainer, but do you know what you get when you put three (or more) driven/called men in a room and tell them to decide what the best avenue is to do ministry? You get HUGE conflict. I'm talking tough stuff to deal with. I know this may be disconcerting to some of you, but sometimes ministers don't like each other. We respect each other, but we disagree sometimes and have to go do ministry to the best of our ability. It's kind of like putting two pit bulls in a room and coming back to check on them in a couple of days. The obvious goal is to get out of the room, but those two dogs are GOING to have different ideas on how to make that happen. I love our staff and I'm so glad God has given me this opportunity to work with them, but praying for our relationships is crucial to seeing the ministry of the Gospel and FBC continue! (P.S. Just so you know, I REALLY like our staff!)

#4 His Battle with Spiritual Warfare--The enemy loves nothing more than seeing men of God fall! Jimmy Swaggart, Jim Bakker, Ted Haggard...need I say more? I have personally seen lives devastated by the fall of a church pastor and it is awful. Let me just tell you, there isn't a moment of my day that I'm not fully aware of the lure of Satan trying to draw my eyes, ears, heart, mouth, life away from my Savior. Imagine the impact if I followed the "wide road that leads to destruction." PLEASE pray for your pastor in resisting the schemes of Satan as I pray for you in the same!

#5 His Rest--Ministry is a 7 day-a-week, 24 hour-a-day, 365 days-a-year job! Rest is crucial. Sometimes I wake up at night thinking about things in the church. Sometimes it's a sermon coming up. Sometimes it's a family having difficulty. Sometimes I don't know what it is, I just wake up with a burden on my heart. I used to feel like I had to get out of bed and go watch some TV or read a book to get my mind off of things and rest, now I just lay there and ask God to clear my mind of everything that doesn't need to be there right now and let me get some rest. But the thing remains...sometimes it's hard to take a break. But, just like all of you, a break is NECESSARY to going on for the long run! So your prayers for rest and recuperation are so appreciated.

Well...there you have it, 5 ways that you can pray for your pastor. I hope you'll take those burdens and bring them to God on my behalf. Why don't you leave me a comment and let me know how I might be able to pray for you.

Can I Wear Jeans?

2008-06-25T14:34:00.003-05:00

The guy from "Stuff Christians Like" (a daily read for me) just posted a new site. It's called "Can I Wear Jeans" you can find it here. Anyway, the point of my post is that I would love for some of our church members to post a comment describing our church on there. You can stay anonymous, but I would love to hear what some of you thought about FBCV. It's also a way to describe our church so that others can find out about us and maybe visit someday. Check it out and be sure to leave a comment!!

You learn something everyday!

2008-06-03T12:35:00.004-05:00

I didn't realize it, but apparently I'm going to hell! This is a new revelation to me. I thought things were ok until I saw this picture on another blog. I was ok until number two on the list an then when I got to number 4...I knew I was done for! Oh well...how did you come out?

Balzac!!

2008-05-27T18:39:00.004-05:00

Ok, I'll leave it to Nicki to post the pictures, but Jonah's got a new favorite toy...a Disney Balzac! Ok, it's a balloon that you put in a little pouch and blow up. Because it's in the little sack, you can punch it, sit on it, kick it, hit it...all kinds of things!! It's really amazing!!

Ok...now for my true evaluation: WHO COMES UP WITH THESE THINGS? Jonah loves it, but a balloon in a sack??? Who would think of that?

Well, all I know is it makes my little boy VERY happy! It's his new "chair" for the coffee table. Great until (like happened last week) he shifts his weight a little to much forward and ends up caught between the Balzac and the table. That would be called a Balzac emergency!! Apparently from the fashion in the commercial above, this thing has been out for a while, but it's new to the Glenn household....but BOY are we glad we to one!!

I'm back....

2008-05-27T18:24:00.004-05:00

After a long hiatus, I'm back in the blogging world! A conference and a vacation kind of took me out for a while, but this was my first "back in the swing" day back at work (I was back last Thursday, but with a funeral it wasn't a "normal" day), so I finally feel like I'm back to what I know.

I've been working on getting some of Jonah's video's onto DVD...next, I'm going to start editing the video from our vacation in Disney. Anyway, going back and looking at those videos makes me love him all the more--as if that's even possible. The more he grows up, the more I love him. He seems to discover something new EVERYDAY! It's just so amazing to see this little guy grow up. I find myself wondering what he will be like when he is 7...11...14...18...well, you get the picture. How will he grow up? Will he be respectful of his parents? Will he be a rule abider or breaker? I want to be the very best daddy I can be so he can be the very best child of God he can be! I know I've already wrote about it, but that Phillips, Craig, and Dean song continues to go over and over in my head. I want to be as close to God as possible, so as Jonah emulates his earthly father, he will also be emulating his Heavenly Father.

I think it was Max Lucado that wrote, "If God had a refrigerator door, you're picture would be on it." As much as I love my little boy. It doesn't even hold a candle to how much God loves me. That's a thought I CAN'T wrap my mind around!

God...let me live a life that is worthy of the GREAT love that you have for me!! I want you to look at my picture every morning and smile!!!

Survivor!?

2008-05-11T23:54:00.002-05:00

Simple question...If you were guaranteed to be in the top two which would give you a 50% chance at winning ONE MILLION dollars, would you do it?

To quote my wife, "They don't have chapstick, internet, or blue bell ice cream out there...I wouldn't do it if I was guaranteed the money!"

Leave me a comment to give me your take...

Happy Mother's Day...I love my wife!

2008-05-11T22:49:00.001-05:00

I have a GREAT wife. I'm so thankful that God gave her to me. There are SO many things to be thankful for but I'll just name a few.

1. My wife is an unbelievable mother! She has always been around children. I don't know if that's why she's such a great mom to our little boy, but she is! She thinks of things that I would never think of. I love to see her face light up when Jonah walks in or when I've been home with her and she gets back home. Further...so many times, she has to be a "single" mom. That just adds to the challenge! I'm just so thankful that she takes care of Jonah the way she does without my help so many times.

2. My wife is a wonderful help-mate to me. i don't mean for that to sound bad...hopefully it doesn't. What I mean is that she has a way of meeting all of my needs. And I've got a LOT of needs. Sometimes she is able to just sense that I need hug or that I need her to tell me that she thinks the world of me and she's right there meeting my needs.

3. My wife is an independent person. If you know her that should probably go without saying! But, that quality is SO important for our relationship AND my job. I mentioned above how Nicki is sometimes like a "single" mom. What I mean is that so many times, I can't be there to help her with some of the simplest things that have to be taken care of. However, at a time when she could be very frustrated by all of that, she just seems to take it all in stride.

4. My wife is one of the funniest people on the planet! I mean this...she is absolutely hilarious! So many times in my life when I feel like screaming, I end up laughing because Nicki helps me to see the lighter side of the situation.

5. My wife is a detail person. This is crucially important to me because I'm a big picture guy! For example, next week we're going on vacation to Disney World. If I was planning it, I would know when we were leaving and when we were getting back...that would be about all. Currently, we have reservations for flights, a villa to stay in, a rental car, and most meals. We also already have decided which days we will go to Disney, which days will be reserved for Universal Studios, and which days will be reserved for a last minute decision. What a girl!!

All that to say, I love my wife. I'm so glad that God gave her to me and I'm so glad that Jonah will grow up with this wonderful woman as his mom.

Happy Mother's Day, Nicki!

Drive '08

2008-05-06T11:17:00.004-05:00

If you've been around me for any period of time, you're probably heard me mention my affinity for Andy Stanley and Northpoint Community Church. Well, this week, I'm at the mecca for Andy and Northpoint...I'm in Alpharetta, GA at the Drive Conference. This is a conference put on for pastors, church staff members, volunteer leaders, and anyone else who wants to see something new and exciting happen in their church. By the way...that's me! I want to see something really GREAT happen at FBCV!

I've really enjoyed the conference so far. It's been an absolute information overload, but isn't that how any conference should be that is teaching you how to reach people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ more effectively?! I absolutely think so!!

I actually just got back to my hotel from the second night of the conference. We had a guest speaker tonight. You might have heard of him. I'll give you a hint: Are you smarter than a 5th Grader? Still don't know? Ok, another hint: You might be a redneck if.... That's right! Jeff Foxworthy came and did an entire comedy routine for our conference. Now, you have to know that when I see something funny on TV or hear someone tell a really funny joke, I belly-laugh! Tonight, my side was splitting. I haven't laughed that hard in a while! It was very good therapy.

However, I don't think there was any way it could have topped what happened LAST night! During the first service, we were given an opportunity to take communion! What an opportunity! I can't remember the last time I took communion and wasn't worried about what I was going to say, how long it was taking, what I was singing about, if we were going to have enough for all of the people in church that day (I didn't used to worry about this one, but I probably will from now on! Read here).

Not only were we allowed to take communion, but there was also a painter that was doing abstract paintings of Jesus on stage. It ranked right up there with the birth of Jonah, getting married to Nicki, and our first Christmas with Jonah on a short list of "full" experiences in my life! Have you ever had one of those moments where the love of God was so real to you that it just brought you to tears? Well, last night, I was a basket case. It was just unbelievable seeing those pictures of Jesus, singing "Oh, how he loves us...Oh, how he loves me...Oh, how he loves." I remember once during that experience while I was holding the representation of his body and blood in my hands and trying to sing those phrases, but all that would come out was a blubbering sound that you usually make when you're trying to say something to somebody but your tears are just getting in the way. (That's not very descriptive, but I think you get the picture.) It was absolutely a GOD moment for me!

I think the thing that moved me the most was the obviousness of Christ's love in that moment. It was almost so real I thought I could touch it. I would swear I could actually feel the arms of Jesus reaching around me and holding me tighter than I've ever been held. Even as I sit here and type this, my eyes are welling up with tears. Hold on while I tell the person at the computer next to me that I'm fine...

Ok...here's the point. How long has it been since you have experienced the love of God in that tangible of a way? How long has it been since you come face to face with the fact that God loves you no matter what? How long has it been since you simply realized that "God LOVES YOU?" Well, let's not let it go another moment...I'm here to tell you that God does love you. As a matter of fact, He's CRAZY in love with you. He wants the very best for your life. He wants to show you how much He loves you. No, He's already shown you how much He loves you...He sent His SON! So there...God loves you. I hope that hits you as much up side the head as it did me last night. Now, since I've told you...go tell somebody else!!

Ok...first try!

2008-04-30T23:34:00.001-05:00

Wednesday Night Review

2008-04-30T22:56:00.002-05:00

Crowd was good tonight. We were a little down from our average, but that's kind of been a trend over the last couple of months. I hope it will correct itself soon, but the summer is coming and that usually means a little more down turn. Oh well, I'm going to trust God and like one of my seminary professors said, "Minister to the ones that God brings by His Spirit."

As far as the service itself, I was fairly pleased. For some reason, we keep having some technical difficulties. (Sunday for some reason, a light kept flashing on and off during baptism...I'm glad nobody had epilepsy!!) The tech stuff continued tonight. Computer totally locked up in the middle of worship so I had to go up and restart.

Worship was good but not great. David wasn't there and that takes Joshua out of his comfort zone. I know what that's like and when you have something as heavy as worshipping God in the balance. It's scary to think that you are responsible for a group of people being led to the very throne of God...and when you throw anything out of the ordinary into the mix, it makes it all the scarier. Joshua did a great job though. It just seemed like everybody's mind was somewhere else.

I felt good about the sermon. I have to say that I've NEVER preached from Habakkuk before!! That was pretty interesting. My day had been CRAZY, so I was very pleased that God spoke even over my inabilities. The truth for tonight was that "True Joy is an outward reaction to an inward reality." I like that. I'm so glad that my joy doesn't depend on my surroundings. Sometimes our surroundings are TERRIBLE. Aren't you glad that even when you're in the deepest darkest place, you can still be inwardly joyful. My God is still my God. My Savior is still my Savior. My eternal home is still my eternal home. I wish I could be content with just that...however, most of the time, I want my life to be good too. Oh well, I guess we're all human.

Anyway, I'm posting a video on youtube that we showed at the end of tonight's message. It just illustrates the thought that when our life is bad, we can "Lift our eyes" to God and He will be our supreme encourager. This will be my first time to do that, so we'll see what happens. I'll post a link (or maybe even the video) on here when it gets finished.

...we ran out of WHAT?!?!???

2008-04-27T17:07:00.007-05:00

Ok...you'll never guess what happened in church this morning. Well, if you were there you will, but for the rest of you...

We were having our Baptism and Lord's Supper service. This is always a very special time in our church. It's always so cool to celebrate with new believers who are being baptized and having an opportunity to participate in their first Lord's Supper.

To understand what I saw from my viewpoint, I have to explain something about our church. Our sanctuary is divided into four downstairs sections of pews and the balcony. There are three entrances--one on the right side of the sanctuary (from the angle of the pulpit) and two at the back. Most people use the side entrance because that's what faces most of our education space and parking, but for some reason, the section of pews closest to that entrance is the least used. The balcony is always very full and the middle sections are full too. The left section is semi-full, but again, the right section (nearest the door) is pretty sparse.

Ok...on with the story. Today, during the Lord's Supper, we got through the bread just fine. However, I realized that during the cup, the section nearest the door (usually the most sparsely populated) was running out of juice very quickly. Now, we always have an extra supply of juice under the table, but that's usually used for one of the fuller sections (the ones in the middle). When the people serving that section closest to the door called for the extra supply, I knew we were in trouble!

Yep...you guessed it. We ran out of the juice representing the Blood of Jesus in our church this morning. So, 10 ushers were running around the back of the Sanctuary wondering what in the world we were going to do. Thankfully, we were able to just extend our time of worship a little bit and go over and get a little more juice to serve to the rest of the people.

Aren't you glad that the salvation of Christ doesn't depend on man's preparation? I'm so glad that the Blood of Jesus is available to ALL. He loves us and wants to have a relationship with us. Jesus shed His blood for us all. I was reminded of that today.

For Beppa...

2008-04-24T11:56:00.006-05:00

Someone named "Beppa" (I know who it is...it's up to you to find out!) left a comment on Tuesday's "Pet Peeves" post about e-mail forwards that you're supposed to forward to "10 other people" or someone in your life might die...Jesus may not love you...or the world may just come to an abrupt end.

While reading one of my favorite blogs today, I came across a post on the same thing. You might enjoy it. Click here to read. If you don't take your "religion" too seriously, you might enjoy this guy's site. Some of my favorites are #159, #108, #81, #59, and #7 (I actually owned ALL of Stryper's albums when I was a kid...and I think I still have a CD stashed away somewhere!!)

Anyway, what are some of your favorite "Stuff's Christians Like"?

Pet Peeve!!

2008-04-22T20:31:00.004-05:00

So I went to Wal-Mart last night to get some milk. Apparently, someone in our house likes milk. AND, since the little boy of the house like milk so much, I feel like I have to keep up the pace (however, daddy only likes his milk with chocolate syrup in it...it's become a nightly ritual.) All that to say, we usually have to buy a gallon of regular milk and skim milk every week. The skim is for me.

Ok...on with my trip to Wal-Mart. I get to the milk cooler and get some milk for Jonah and then start looking for mine. Would you believe ALL of the skim milk expired on April 23rd. I mean come on...it's already April 21st at that point. I get rid of the milk pretty quickly, but not at the rate of half a gallon a day. What's up with that?!? Anyway...just one of those many, little things that seem to get me all riled up. What are some of your pet peeves?

I've been podcasted!!

2008-04-22T09:14:00.003-05:00

For some of you this may not mean a great deal, but I've always wanted to have a podcast of our worship services. I've tried several times to figure out the whole thing to no avail, but in the last couple of weeks, everything started to come together! Give us a little help in our ratings by subscribing here...you don't have to actually listen...just subscribe to help me out!

It passed!!

2008-04-22T09:11:00.002-05:00

Our 1.6 million dollar Sanctuary Renovation project passed by a vote of 77 percent Sunday night. I had hoped for at least 80 percent, but when you're doing a project this big, it's hard to get that many people on board in that short of time. As I've mulled over the vote, I've realized that better than 3 out of 4 people voted for the project. That's pretty good!! I'm looking forward to the next few months as we begin our stewardship campaign and begin construction sometime around October. I'll be updating you all as we go along.

Sanctuary Renovation

2008-04-16T17:43:00.005-05:00

Our church is voting this week to renovate and expand our Sanctuary. It will consist of a really nice new foyer/gathering area, new paint and carpet for the existing facility, expanded platform space, new screens and lighting, and an overall updated look. I'm really excited about it. Unfortunately, it will also require us to remove our Old Sanctuary that has been standing since the 1940's. That's tough!! Unfortunately #2, it's going to cost somewhere around 1.6 MILLION dollars! I don't know about you, but I CERTAINLY don't have that kind of money!

However, if it all goes through, the picture above is what our church would look like from the front. I think it's gorgeous!! I'll let you know on Sunday night or Monday how the vote comes out!! Right now...I'm praying!!

Happy Birthday, Max!

2008-04-15T22:12:00.003-05:00

Happy birthday to Max
Happy birthday to Max
Happy birthday to Maxxxxxx
Happy birthday to Max!

Our little black child is 6 years old today. According to an online conversion calculator that means he's 37 in human years. There was a time in our lives that he was the most important thing to us. Now, he's been relegated to getting yelled at everytime he barks because he "might wake Jonah up." Oh well, that's just how things go. Happy Birthday, Max. You're our only child that we'll always allow to lick us in the face!!

Tough Call

2008-04-14T14:58:00.003-05:00

I don't know if you've heard about the latest buzz surrounding McDonald's. I've heard it from several sources. Apparently, a McDonald's executive has joined the board of directors for the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC)--a business organization that pushes the homosexual agenda.

To make matters worse, before all of this came out, our church youth group already had a "Power Lunch" scheduled at our local McDonald's. Now, I'm not saying anything about somebody who's flipping burgers or cooking fries under the golden arches. As a matter of fact, at lunch today, my wife's boss was talking about his weekly stop at McD's for Sunday breakfast, and I didn't even bat an eye. It just didn't occur to me that his McGriddle and sausage biscuit could have been poisoned with the influence of a homosexual supporting executive.

My question is this...what are we to do about situations where our local businesses have executives in their company who support causes that we don't stand by? Are we to boycott the local business owners because of a decision that they had no part in? Could this be an opportunity to be "light in a darkened world?" If we are going to boycott, how far should we go? Should we just boycott the business or should we boycott the subsidiaries? In this case, if we boycott McDonald's you need to get rid of your Motorola Razor, stop drinking all pepsi products, quit sending packages by UPS, don't rent cars from Avis, and you can't fly anywhere with American Airlines. That's quite a boycott!! So...what are YOUR thoughts?

WINNER

2008-04-14T14:56:00.004-05:00

I was victorious. I'd like to thank my family, all of the fans, my sand wedge, and my friends, Josh Wilson, Josh Hargon, and Doug Glenn!! I tore them up with an 89 on a very windy day!! It feels good to come out on top!!

Actually, the day was great. I enjoyed spending some time with my brother and the golf was good too. Now if I can only figure out a way to beat my dad...

The Glenn Cup

2008-04-11T15:36:00.004-05:00

Okay, it's not an actual cup, but it IS some fierce competition. My brother is coming into town this weekend with his family. I'm looking forward to it because we always have a great time when we're together. Unfortunately, we are all very busy, so we don't see each other as often as we'd like. However, when we do get together, it's always fun.

What's not fun (or I should say--not fun and games) is our fierce golf competition. The three of us (Doug, my dad, and myself) LOVE to beat each other on the golf course. AND, my situation right now is that the last time I played my brother and the last time I played my dad...I lost. That would place me squarely in third place out of three. NOT GOOD!!

SO, tomorrow morning, bright and early, I'll be trying to work my way into second place by beating the stuffing out of my brother. May not happen, but I'm going to give it my best (may even cheat a little if necessary!!)

It's official

2008-04-10T11:44:00.004-05:00

I am officially a seminary student again! I'm not sure that I'm happy about that, but I'm excited about what God has in store. I'll begin D.Min classes in July. More updates to come...

OH, and...my letter from the D.Min office at New Orleans said, "Congratulations! The ProDoc Committee meet yesterday and has approved your acceptance into the D.Min program." Anyone else see anything wrong with that? No big deal...just a typo, but it did make me laugh!!

Wednesday night review

2008-04-10T11:24:00.003-05:00

I'm stealing from my friend Neil here...but I think this is a good way to rehash:

Our computer kept messing up last night. Joshua and I had a long talk about that this morning and he's defragmenting right now to see if that will help--HOPEFULLY!!! That gave us trouble in the worship service, but it was still good in spite of the problems. I absolutely love the song, "Breathe," which we sang last night. I love crying out to God that I'm DESPERATE for Him because that's how I feel so many times.

With "Desperate" in mind, that brings me to my message. Yesterday had been a CRAZY day. It seemed like I went from one meeting to the next without a moment in-between. I was either meeting with someone in person or over the phone ALL DAY, so when I finally sat down yesterday afternoon to start putting my thoughts down on paper for the sermon, I knew I didn't have much time. Lo and behold...Gordan Allen that I was supposed to be meeting with later shows up...about 45 minutes early. I was really glad he was there early because he was giving us the final details on our sanctuary renovation process that's coming up, but I still hadn't gotten anything on paper for my message. I got him settled in where we were going to meet with him and started zooming back to my office when Ms. Allie said I had a phone call.

Needless to say, by the time the day was over and it was time for me to preach...I literally had a post-it note in my bible with the point of the message and that was all. I had been thinking about the message since Monday, but I didn't have ANYTHING on paper to refer to. Last night was one of those nights that I was praying...God just get me through this...and I think He came through (as if I should be surprised.) We had a good night! I'm so glad that God covers over our shortcomings!

Lord, I wanna be just like you...

2008-04-10T11:03:00.006-05:00

Phillips, Craig, and Dean released a song a few years back that said:

Lord, I wanna be just like you

Cause he wants to be just like me.

I wanna be a holy example

For his innocent eyes to see

Help me be a living Bible, Lord

That my little boy can read.

Lord, I wanna be just like you

Cause he wants to be like me.

That little song is catchy when you hear it. It's been in my head for over 14 years now...wow, can it be that long!!! However, I never realized the truth of that song until recently.

My little boy really does want to be just like his dad. When I put my hand up on the wall to brush my teeth, he does the same. When I cross my feet, he does the same. He wants to sit in my chair. Even when I don't know it...he's watching me! I really don't know if I'm up to it. Can I really be a good enough example of living for God that Jonah can follow my example? That's a tall order. I find myself being VERY careful of my behavior, my habits, my thoughts, my tone of voice...EVERYTHING!!

God help me to be an example to my little boy that when he does what his daddy does...he'll be following Jesus!!

In the beginning...

2008-04-07T22:42:00.001-05:00

My wife talked me into blogging. As if people don't hear enough from me on Sundays. However, I want this to be different. I want to share the lighter side of Dan here. I hope you'll come back often to see some thoughts about my life, my family, my thoughts, and what God has been teaching me lately.