NOW! as it shall be

Urban.

2011-11-23T12:32:00.000-08:00

I was ask to write an essay on defining a word in my own tems. I picked the word urban; some of it because the word is close to my heart. As most of my life I have lived in placesm most people would call urban. Some of it was because most people would consider the kids I work with to be urban. Some of it is growning up in the setting I did, I learn to see words assoicate with the poor and the city a little different. to this day I dont see black and white as race but more of a mindset or a way of living. So this was a short essay; it had to be only 250 words on me trying to define what the word "urban" means in 2011.

URBAN

Over the last five years in the United States, there has been a shift in the meaning of the word “urban”. In the past, urban meant that you were from the city or a place where the population was high and near a city center. Now the word urban is more of a lifestyle. Urban in the last five years has turned into a term that has come to mean cutting edge.

You can be urban these days and still have a 15-25 minute drive to work. Urban is no longer about location but style. Urban is about clothes, types, and being up-to-date. A term that just a few years ago was tied to mostly inner city poor seems to have emerged overnight to mean a young person who owns something made by Apple. I have a friend who does urban missions, which brings to mind pictures of ghettos, poor people and crime. Now the group of people he works with are predominantly white and middle class. Being urban is being “in the know”. It is how Starbucks is out of style because a couple of rad dudes opened up a bar down the street where you can surf, chill and choose between coffee or beer, as long as they both are fair traded.

Now with the world at our fingertips, urban will continue to be about products, fashions and style. I think we live in a world that is evolving. As that happens, stereotypes and words that conjure up certain images will change. The word urban is changing, but it is changing for the better. It means new, united, and fresh. It is a word that draws up images of black, white, brown, and Apple.

The Duke Way

2011-11-21T09:40:00.001-08:00

Sorry for the ones who read this earlier: I copied and pasted the un-edited essay to my blog. This one should read much better!

So I love my class, I get to write about things that I love. This essay's assignment was to write an evaluation essay. So I pick why Duke's men's basketball team has been the best college basketball programs over the last 20 years. It was written before Coach K 903rd win. Now I have even more to support my case. But then again we all know Duke Basketball speaks for itself.

The Duke Way!

On November 15th, basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski will attempt to break the NCAA record for most wins by a Division I coach by getting his 903 wins, 73 wins came at Army. Coach Krzyzewski said in an interview on ESPN this week that a record like this is not a coach thing but a program thing. Duke Men’s Basketball has become the premier program in the NCAA over the last 20 years. Due to Coach K’s leadership, the program is committedto recruiting good players who are good students, and to upholding their unwavering standards to do things the right way have set the program apart from their competition.

In 1980, Duke Basketball hired a little known coach from West Point University with a funny-looking last name - Krzyzewski. For 31 years now, Coach K has been the head of Duke Basketball. Coach K has won 4 NCAA Championships, been to 11 Final Fours and 25 ACC Conference Championships (conference and regular season). Coach K has done it his way. Coach K’s offense and defense styles are great but they are nothing special. It has been Coach K’s leadership that has lifted Duke to the top of the basketball world. Coach K has an uncanny ability to motivate his players to be their best every day. For example, one year during Midnight Madness, the program announced that they were going to take a team picture. In order to let Duke's student body (known as the Cameron Crazies) know how much he appreciates them, Coach K came over the PA system and said, "That's right, and you guys are a part of this team." He invited the whole student body to be in the picture, and Duke's team picture that year was an overhead shot of a couple thousand "teammates". Coach K’s leadership also has gotten a lot of attention in recent years because of his work with the US Olympic team. Coach K had a tough job ahead of him trying to make all the NBA superstar egos become a one unit. Coach K did a beautiful job of having those players buy into the team concept. Now Coach K is a gold medal winner. Coach K’s leadership resume is a testament to the level of Duke’s basketball.

“Duke’s basketball players” over the last 20 years reads like a who’s who list. Duke players are some of the most notable names in college basketball; they are known on a one-name basis. If you say names like Laettner, Hurley, Hill, Battier, Williams, Redick, and Wojo; people won’t say “Who are they? People would know you are talking about Duke basketball players. Duke rosters are filled with All-Americans but those rosters are also filled with academic All-Americans. Duke has more players in the NBA than any other college currently. Many of Duke's players have chosen to graduate early so that they could pursue their NBA dreams. But they did not quit before receiving their college degree because it was important to them. When a GM boss met a 17-year-old Shane Battie,r he came home that night and told his wife he met a future president of the United States today. Coach K is quoted as saying he only recruits players who he would want his daughters to marry but who were smart enough to know that he would kill them if they would tried. Duke players who don’t go on to the NBA have been very successful in life. Duke does not lower their expectations for student athletes. Duke tries to put them in a position to succeed. According to a U.S. News and World report “College Sports”, “Duke Succeeds by first admitting students who stand a decent chance of graduating and then providing them the academic support they need”.(U.S. News and World Report March 2002) On and off the court, Duke puts their players in position to succeed in basketball and in life.

Two major issues for NCAA basketball are graduation rates and coaches breaking NCAA rules in order to get the better players. Duke refuses to let these issues describe their programs. During the NCAA tournament in 2010, while much of the NCAA basketball was being rack over the coals for their graduation rate, but not Duke during last year NCAA basketball tournament. Arne Duncan wrote in his “The Blind Side of March Madness” article points out when talking the graduation rates from school to school. “Discrepancies that large have to have a connecection to a program’s practices and an institution’s priorities. In last year sweet 16, Butler, Duke, Xavier and Cornell all graduate more than 80 percent of their men’s players.” (U.S. Department of Education news March 2010). Duke has never had a major NCAA violation during Coach K tenure. Duke’s commitment to doing things the right way is a solid rock to the foundation that has built Duke into a major force in college basketball.

When Coach K was asked where the ball would go when he wins game 903, he said it would go in a Duke Basketball room at the University where it belongs. He credits the players, the fans and the school's commitment for winning those games. Coach K turned down 40 million dollars to coach the L.A. Lakers to last summer. Coach K said that when you work for a place that stands for the same standards that you want to live by in your personal life, you don’t leave places like that. When you’re the best, why would you leave?

My Inner Teenage Girl

2011-11-11T08:09:00.000-08:00

So I had to write an short evaluation essay for class about a song, singer or band. So I choose Natasha Bedingfield's song "Strip Me". It was a moment of weakness, I felt rushed and figured most of the music I listen to like all my manly music would not cut it. So I found my inner teenage girl and wrote this essay about the song. DONT YOU JUDGE ME!!!

Strip Me

Natasha Bedingfield’s song “Strip Me” is written for the female audience mostly, I would assume. From the “La,la,la,la,la” opening line, to the girly undertones, You see that the song is written for females. Even the title “Strip Me” after hearing the song brings to mind a woman who is stripped of her self-worth due to the fact that she is taken likely for being a pretty women. This is a problem from Mrs. Bedingfield’s own perspective as she is easy on the eyes. I have no reason to like the song. I am not a girl, in fact, some would call me a man’s man. I have been voted most likely to not shower or shave for days at a time because I was too busy doing manly things like watching T.V., playing sports, grilling meat and burping. But I love this song because of the redeeming message of self-worth and the anthem that cries out for you to never give up.

The line in the song that says ”and if you strip me, Strip it all away what you would find? If you strip me, Strip it all away, I’ll be alright.” is a great line. If you take everything that we hang our self-worth on and remove it, we are still someone. We are still ok. The song proclaims that we are worth more than our titles. This is a message for me, a 30 year old male, whose ego is fluffed up by salary figures, flirting girls, and three-pointers just as much as it is for a struggling teenage girl who has self-image and daddy issues. It is a beautiful reminder that even through our flaws we have redeeming qualities.

You could get caught up in the fact that the song lyrics could get old in a hurry from the repeating of words, the repeating of lines. But I think this isn’t a song sung for the lyrical hall of fame. It is a song to remind people to keep going, even when you don’t feel important. The lines are made to be catchy like a creed or anthem. It is made to give hope for those dreaded steps that some of us have to take daily. The lines are easy so you can march to the beat of “I’m only one voice in a million but you ain’t taking that from me”.

I understand the song may be too girly and some guys just can’t get by the voice of a girl. Some guys can’t get by the image of “Strip Me”. It might ask some guys to be too emotional, or get in touch with their feelings. But if you strip all that away, you will find more than a catchy feel-good song. You will find power in the words. The power to know that when pink slips comes, bad days happen and your feeling like a nobody, there is hope. Rob Bell says “Sometimes we speak to change the world, and sometimes we keep speaking so the world does not change us.”

Define: Leadership

2011-11-08T20:37:00.000-08:00

Here is an essay I wrote for class on Leadership. I try to define Leadership with my own terms. I only had to write 700 words(But I went way over) so it is not all my complete thoughts on leadership but i believe it is a start.

What if I told you that the people who can teach you the most about leadership; Their titles were titles like nun, teacher, newspaper owner and a shoe marker from California is were you can find some of the best leadership principles. It might come as a surprise because surely CEO’s of billion dollar companies or the people running the nation should lead the way in leadership, but they are not. Leadership is more than a title: it is the ability to influence by creating a compelling vision, striving for relentless consistently, and by asking the question what can we do better than anyone else in the world is doing.

An old proverb says “Where there is no vision, people will perish” in India that was the case, in fact, children, the mentally disabled, and the handicap was dying until Mother Theresa came along an inspired people with a vision that would change the world. Mother Theresa's vision was to let her and her people take care of those who could not take care of themselves. The vision caught on, so money, food, clothes, shoes and some of the most influence people in the world came to India to see what she was doing. As result people started caring. In leadership you can’t do it by yourself, many have tried and burned. You have to learn how to multiple yourself so other people can help. The best way of doing this is casting a vision. A vision so big that people will sign on the dot line; to commit giving their all to this cause. Visions are compelling when people say this is worth my time, treasures, and talents. Since these are the things that people hold dear. When Steve Jobs was starting Apple he needed a partner, so he went to the CEO of Pepsi and ask him to join him. Steve Jobs pitched this idea of selling personal computers in the garage of his house. He ask Steve why would a man with a penthouse office that over looked the city of New York, making hundred of thousands a year, leave? So he told Steve, No! As Steve Jobs was leaving he turned around and ask the CEO one more question, “ How long are you going to be satisfied with selling sugared water, I am offering you a chance to change the world”. The next day the CEO of Pepsi was starting a company called Apple. Leadership is casting a vision that will make you give up the things we hold so dear, for a chance to be apart of something bigger then ourselves.

At the age of 24 I started running a youth community center, one of the first lesson of leadership I found in running the community center is that more then the stuff you teach, how you decorate, or even how delicious your homemade cookies are for snack. The lesson would be that the consistent structure to your program from day to day is the most important part. It is the leaders job to make sure that day in and day out your area of influence is the same. The Oxford English dictionary points out that the word leadership is “The action or influence necessary for the direction . . .of effort in a group undertaking”(“leadership”). True leadership is you making sure that the group or area that you have been put in charge of is the same everyday. In my center you can come in on a Tuesday during the school year and you would see the same structure everyday. I call it my 20-mile hike; it is the goal I have to reach my destination. There are days that I could do more and there are days I could do less. But I do the same so the kids, staff and volunteers know what that get from me as a leader. It helps establish, set and maintain healthy boundaries. Jim Collins says, “the number one factor in business being mediocre is not lack of Innovation, but it is chronic inconsistency”. Leadership is being faithful day in and day out to the ones you lead and what you do.

If a leader is not trying to be the best in the world at something related to what they do, then something is wrong with the mission that the leader is in charge of. If Burger King chooses today to accept the fact that they will always be second to McDonald’s then you would see a decline at Burger King. Burger King mission now is to be the best costumer service fast food place in the world. It is in fact why I can have it my way at Burger King. Sometimes in leadership you have to face the reality we can't be the best in the world at this one thing. But your mission should be to be the best in the world at something. The nonprofit that I work for, is like a Boys and Girls or YMCA. When we first started putting our mission together, we realized we would never be able to offer the programming that the Boys and Girls Club or YMCA could because of staff, budget and building space. But we did decided that we could care for the group of students that walk into are doors better then anyone else in the world. So we get the question a lot “what are you doing here?”, when we show up to ball games, birthday parties, and band concerts. The answer is always the same of we are here to see, you can fill in the blank with one of the kids name from the center. But what we really are doing is trying to care for our students more then anyone else in the world.

Leadership is not about titles but it is about the testimonies of changing lives and outcomes. It is changing the world you live in or the area you are in charge of. The title leader is flawed because with the same word we talk about MLK JR., Abe Lincoln, and Winston Churchill. Also with that word we can use to talk about Gaddafi, Bernie Madoff, and whoever is the manger of the Yankees. Leadership is different it is changing the world that you apart of even if that world is only a 10,000 square foot office, a 3 person team with a dream, or a group of 8 year girl soccer players. The titles of boss, coach, mom or president are nice but in the end it is the fact that you left the world a better place. When you take what you have leftover long after the title of leader is gone, then what you have left is leadership.

Last Month

2010-06-28T13:09:00.000-07:00

It has been a whole month since I have posted a blog. It has been a busy month as well. Here are the highlights over the last month.

I moved from Ft worth to Nashville
Spent a great week at YES camp
Brentwood Hills church of Christ VBS
IMPACT '10 @ Lipscomb U.
Getting settled in my new job, apartment, and life again.
Eating at my favorite Nashville places
Watching the CUBS play horrible
and now this week speaking at Antioch VBS teen class 4 times.

I have did all this in 35 days, But good news for my 3(of course counting me twice) blog followers I have some blogs in the oven. A couple that I am really excited about. So be patience with me and I will get back into a rhythm of blogging once a week.

MIke P.

You'll Be In MY Heart

2010-05-27T13:19:00.000-07:00

(This is the last of the articles I wrote for LNF Newsletter. My next post will be back to normal whatever that means.)

One of my first Bibles was given to me by my youth minister when I was in high school. The Bible was an Easy-to-Read version that I liked because I could understand it better. I think the Bible was given to him and whoever gave it to him wrote this on the inside cover: “To be in a child’s heart tomorrow, you have to be in their life today.” I remember those words a lot when I think about the type of person I want to be. One of the things I see in the life of Jesus is that he was always in people’s lives today, so he could be in their hearts tomorrow.

If I could give advice to people who would like to be mentors in the lives of kids, I would give them this advice:
1. Remember the quote from above. You have to be with them today, to impact their tomorrow. One of the most underrated things about mentoring is not what you do, but simply that you are there. You do not have to come up with great games. You don’t have to be the coolest person in the room. It is as easy as showing up. Everyone comes in and out of their lives, from mom’s boyfriend to their father or even their own mother, in this day and age. They don’t need the people who are supposed to be a positive influence to come in and out of their lives.
2. Keep it simple- the level of your impact is not based on the complexity of your input. The message only has to be “Jesus loves you this I know for the Bible tells me so.” One of my favorite quotes about impact is this: “People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.” Let your message be simple with words and deeds. “I care about you!”
3. Interested is interesting – (If you know where this quote comes from, don’t judge me for loving chick flicks.) The quote is so true. The more you show kids that you care and you are there for them, the more they become engaged and tuned in to you. Come ready for fun and have intriguing questions for the student.
4. The last thing I would suggest is to be prepared to improve their lives, not fix them. Mentors get overwhelmed sometimes at how big the problem seems. It is not our job to fix them. Leave that to God. We are here to help God show them and prepare them to be the best possible version of themselves.

Mentoring at LNF is a life-changing thing for the students and the mentor. It does not take a superhero to be a mentor. It just takes a person who wants to be a kid’s hero. Here is a list of tasks that I have witnessed that have made a significant impact on our kids’ lives.: Working though 20 sight word flash cards and multiplication flash cards, teaching a girl how to bump a volleyball, sitting with a child and working though every detail of his math homework, letting a girl beat you in checkers to see her eyes light up and confidence soar, and just showing up to things that matter to them to let them know you care i.e. soccer games, baseball games, school assemblies. All of these things are done in the name of Jesus to show the students of LNF that we care.

We Pray for the children!

2010-05-25T10:55:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite pieces of literature about working with children was written by Ina J. Hughes. In this poem, she does a wonderful job capturing all the joys, beauties, blessings, heartbreaks and heartaches that go into working with children.

A Prayer for the Children… by Ina J. Hughes

We pray for the children

who put chocolate fingers everywhere,

who like to be tickled,

who stomp in puddles and ruin their new pants,

who sneak popsicles before supper,

who erase holes in math workbooks,

who can never find their shoes.

And we pray for those

who stare at photographers from behind barbed wire,

who’ve never squeaked across the floor in new sneakers,

who never had crayons to count,

who are born in places we wouldn’t be caught dead,

who never go to the circus,

who live in an X-rated world.

We pray for children

who bring us sticky kisses and fistfuls of dandelions,

who sleep with the dog and bury goldfish,

who give hugs in a hurry and forget their lunch money,

who cover themselves with Band-Aids and sing off-key,

who squeeze toothpaste all over the sink,

who slurp their soup.

And we pray for those

who never get dessert,

who watch their parents watch them die,

who have no safe blanket to drag behind,

who can’t find any bread to steal,

who don’t have any rooms to clean up,

whose pictures aren’t on anybody’s dresser,

whose monsters are real.

We pray for children

who spend all their allowance before Tuesday,

who throw tantrums in the grocery store and pick at their food,

who like ghost stories,  who shove dirty clothes under the bed,

who never rinse out the tub,

who get visits from the tooth fairy,

who don't like to be kissed in front of the school,

who squirm in church or temple or mosque and scream in the phone,

whose tears we sometimes laugh at and  whose smiles can make us cry.

And we pray for those

whose nightmares come in the daytime,

who will eat anything,

who aren't spoiled by anybody,

who go to bed hungry and cry themselves to sleep,

who live and move, but have no being.

We pray for children who want to be carried,  and for those who must.

For those we never give up on,

and for those who never get a chance.

For those we smother with our love,

and for those who will grab the hand of anybody  kind enough to offer it.

At Love Never Fails, we work daily with children whose lives, personalities, and struggles will make you cry one minute and the next make you laugh like never before in your life. One of those kids for me is Marcus. If I have ever seen a million-dollar smile, Marcus has it. He is a bright kid, but to be honest he is deeply troubled. Marcus is the youngest of 6 kids. His mother is way too young to have 6 kids. Marcus is a born leader, and I am so glad LNF is in Marcus’ life. The abilities Marcus has are seen all over the inner cities in our country. The sad fact is that most of these males turn out to be leaders of gangs and big-time drug dealers, rather than successful businessmen. The way of gangs is already in Marcus’ bloodline. Marcus’ dad was a former gang member that was killed execution-style by gang members. During a recent Principles To Live By, Marcus told the story of his sister’s birthday party where a drive-by happened. The result left him as a 9-year-old boy witnessing his grandmother’s and a cousin’s deaths. It is easy to see why Marcus has his moments of darkness and despair. Marcus has more bad weeks than good weeks. But make no mistake, Marcus is one of the most resilient kids I have ever seen. I think of lines in the poem like “we pray for those whose nightmares come in the middle of the day” and “whose monsters are real.” Kids like Marcus are the reason why LNF heads into dark, hard places to share the love of Christ. Because of LNF, kids like Marcus are prayed for and loved. And his picture is not only on our dressers. His picture is stamped on our hearts and his name is lifted to the throne room of God. Because we want Marcus to know the God who loves him and that love never fails or dies.

It is A Whole New World!

2010-05-20T10:05:00.000-07:00

The next 3 post are article written for the Love Never Fails newletter.

Recently, a research study was conducted by a non-profit organization that looked at a couple of kids the same age and living in the same city. The differences between the kids were easily recognizable. Even though their houses were less than 3 miles apart, their skins were different colors, and their parents’ pay scales were on opposite ends of the spectrum. There was a night-and-day difference between the boys. In the first 10 years of life, the research was amazingly different. One of the differences that struck me as significant is the difference in exposure. The boy from the wealthy neighborhood traveled about 35,000 more miles in his first 8 years of life than the other boy. Also, the boy from the wealthy neighborhood heard about 10,000 more words than the other boy his age, in the same city.

This study has motivated me to make sure this is different for the kids that I work with. Love Never Fails makes sure that the students in our programs experience and are exposed to a fullness of life. We intentionally make sure that our students experience a variety of things. Some opportunities are obviously great exposure for kids from at-risk neighborhoods - things like college campuses, the ins and outs of local business, and other trips designed to make sure that our students get a chance to view the world of possibilities. Other outings may not seem as important, but are equally important. This year we exposed them to things like Dallas Mavericks’ basketball games, baseball games, and trips to the military base (where they were privileged to sit on a plane that can fuel up other planes in mid air), just to name a few. While focused on fun, these events can be life-changing and inspiring. At Love Never Fails, we want to make sure that we make lasting imprints on the hearts, minds and lives of our students.

I recently had the chance to take two boys from Love Never Fails to the Harlem Globetrotters game at American Airlines Arena. The two boys are 6th graders and had never heard of the Globetrotters before. One boy had never been to AA arena before, and the other had been only once 2 years earlier, also with Love Never Fails. We had a grand time. We laughed. They laughed. They wondered if the game was real or fake. They told me they could dunk. I told them donuts do not count. We had a blast, and what a surprise - the Globetrotters won! On the way home, one of the boys told the other boy to keep his ticket to save so he could remember the trip. He told the other boy that he saved his Mavs game ticket from 2 years ago and still has it. Now this was head-turning for me. This kid cannot keep up with his homework for more than 30 minutes but somehow kept up with a ticket for over 2 years. Why? Because that trip was special to him.
Students at LNF might not like the Globetrotters, college campuses, or airplanes that fuel up other airplanes. But now they know if they do or not because they have experienced these opportunities in their own lives.

Protect Them From the Evil One!

2010-04-25T18:12:00.000-07:00

Blogger's note: (I always wanted to say that) My next 3 or 4 posts will be a series of articles I have written about the non-profit after-school program I work for in Ft Worth. So they will all have a theme around the way I see God moving in the people of the FWISD LOVE NEVER FAILS PROGRAM. Here is the website to learn more: http://loveneverfailsinternational.org/

Anytime you work with at-risk youth from neighborhoods where the crime rate is through the roof, the dropout rate more than doubles the national average, and breaking the vicious cycles of poverty seems like towing a car with your teeth. There is a constant battle going inside of you for what is best for them. The tendency for me at least is to wish for them to move out of that place. To a place where families stick together, where it's safe to play in the front yard, and where it does not matter what color of clothes you wear. To move to a place where houses are big and nice cars are the norm. Sometimes I catch myself having a goal for them to have more things, for them to have a nice, quiet normal life or just to move far away from that neighborhood.

Then I start thinking, "What is God's will for them?" I know that if a man gains the whole world yet loses his soul, he gains nothing. (Matthew 16.26) I know that Jesus prays for his followers not to take them out of this world but protect them from the evil one. (John 15.13) There has to be a balance, right? I think I have found a good balance in some of our mentors in the FWISD centers. When we kicked off Love Never Fails International (LNFI) in the Fort Worth school system at the beginning of 2010, at first our main source of volunteers were the Poly Tech Key Club students. During the volunteer training, I was amazed at how many of these students grew up going to the schools where we were now opening a center. I was also amazed at the number of high school students living in an at-risk neighborhood that wanted to serve and give back. The Poly Tech Key Club has been great for the students in LNFI. In 4 months, the Poly Key Club has volunteered over 175 hours. The students are not only great with the kids, but the example they are setting will hopefully become contagious. The Poly students are thriving in service and in the classroom. A lot of the Poly volunteers are in the top 10% of their class. On more than one occasion when they have to miss volunteering, they will give me the typical teenage excuse like: I did not come yesterday because my teacher asked me to go feed the homeless with her, so we did! Or I got this one last week, I can’t make it tomorrow because I have to go to a banquet to receive an award.

So when I dream of how the current LNFI students are going to be, I think of a Poly Key Club student. One who is thriving in school and life. I just know our students are going to remember the example of our high school mentors and give back in their neighborhood, like someone did for them one day. I pray daily for the students at LNFI. A lot of times it goes like this, ”Lord, I pray that you do not take them out of their neighborhood, but protect them from the evil one. And Father, help them turn out like a Poly Key Club student.”

It Is a Lifetime Commitment!

2010-04-02T13:46:00.001-07:00

I am writing this on the eve of Coach K's 11th Final Four appearance. I am a Duke lover and I am proud of it. I am proud to follow a team that does it the right way. As a small white boy growing up playing point guard, I got to watch players like Hurley, Collins, Wojo, Redick (Yes, J.J. Redick is still the wallpaper on my MySpace page), Paulus and now Scheyer. I love lines like this on the Internet, "Under Krzyzewski, 90% of Duke's scholarship basketball players have graduated, among the highest graduation rates of any NCAA Division I program." I wore the number 11 my whole life becuase of Bobby Hurley. One of my favorite books is Coach K's "Leading With The Heart."

The day I heard the story about Coach K recruiting Tommy Amaker was the day that I knew that I would be a Duke fan for the rest of my life. Duke was playing Michigan where Amaker was coaching, after being at Duke as an assistant for years. (Still today all the assistants are former players). The TV guy says, "Coach K called Coach Amaker this week just like he always does." See, when Coach K was recruiting Tommy and he sat by his mom at one of his high school games, he was selling Tommy's mom on Duke and said, "You know, your boy will look good in a blue Duke uniform. (Trust me, Coach K's recruiting skills have come a long way since that line.) Mrs. Amaker looked at Coach K and said, "I don't care about how my boy looks in a uniform. What I care about is whether you are going to take care of my boy." He looked at her and said, "It is a lifetime commitment!" I still get goosebumps when I tell that story. That's why Coach K called Tommy. Not because he was about to play him but because it's what he does all the time. Because Coach K promises more than just playing time, making kids into lottery picks, a chance at the NBA, or bending the rules to get a better team. He promises more. He promises to teach them hard work, commitment, trust. Not for one year or four years, he promises it for a lifetime! That is why, win or lose Saturday night, Coach K is my guy and I will be proud of Duke no matter what a scoreboard says. Because I know the four letters on the jersey stands for something! Something that I am proud of!

History of Connecting!

2010-03-28T17:53:00.000-07:00

A couple of months ago, I heard a report on NPR (that's National Public Radio for those of you who are not as cool as me!) about a study of cell phones in the last 10 years. How far they have come and how they have improved. You didn't have to hear the report to know that cell phones have come a long way. Of course, one phone (made by a company that is named after a fruit) has changed a lot of that. But even before the Iphone, cell phones from their size, function, and features have improved leaps and bounds in the last decade. But what caught my attention about the report (and I have chewed on for the last couple of months) was the only thing that the report said had NOT improved dramatically over the time. Yep, you got it: the hearing and speaking quality. The report said that while some improvements have been made, by far the worst function of a cell phone is the sound of the conversation you have on it. Which is the whole purpose of the cell phone. The one thing it was made to do, it does not do very well.

I feel this way about the church sometimes. The churches in the last 10 years have gotten really good at time management, energy production, programming, and marketing. The church can make a sermon series on Ezekiel sound hip and relevant, when we all know it is not! Some churches are machines. They run well, are smooth and are very polished. But is that what CHURCH is about?

I have a friend who has moved a couple of times over the last few years. She says that she thinks her calling is to teach churches how to make people feel apart of the church. She says churches are bad at it. When she goes to a new city, she has to jump in herself in order to feel a sense of belonging. Maybe that's the reason people can attend worship services for years and never be connected. We are great at making them feel it is important to be there but not so much at making them feel like they belong. Isn't being a part of a community high on the purpose of the church? I am sure that the networking plans of the church are so good that every visitor in the last 15 years knows about everything that the church has on its calender, everything it has to offer, and they have been emailed and snail mailed about them. My question is who would be there to make them feel welcomed or would they sit in the back and feel distant?

I know that some people are really good at making people feel a part and others are not. But we have to do a better job at connecting with people. I don't want the church to be a well-oiled machine that does everything but the one thing it was made for. That is connecting members with Jesus and his people. Let's do our part of making our churches as inviting and welcoming as the God we live for. To people looking for the best possible way of living, do we offer a radical way of living in a community of people who know, love and look out for each other? Or do we offer an hour of produced energy one day a week that has a lot of bells and whistles but ultimately fails at its purpose?

Here is a couple of things that I want to think about: Of the people who join your church, what percentage actually stays active? Years ago as a freshman at Harding, I heard Rich Little say this,

"The number one reason people become a Christian is because they met a Christian. The number one reason why people don't become a Christian is because they met a Christian."

What do the people we meet ultimately decide to do?

Everyday Justice

2010-03-21T20:21:00.000-07:00

So for my birthday my buddy got me a great book, Everyday Justice by Julie Clawson. In the book, Ms. Clawson walks us down the paths of how we can make choices everyday to life a life that is mindful of Justice. In the first chapter, she starts off saying that the problem with justice is so big sometime it overwhelms us, so we give up. Making choices about clothes, water, coffee and other items that may or may not be involved in slave labor. We are so unsure of how to change this we choose to do nothing out of being ovewhelmed. So far it is a good read and is great at giving small ways and choices to live for Justice everyday.

So while reading this book at the laundromat a week after my birthday, I ran into one of those small problems that drive me crazy about businesses. While I was reading a middle age male came over and ask to borrow a quarter because the dryer had taken his last quarter. So I gave him one...and minutes later he was back. I guess he heard my deep pockets full of the quarters I had, but he came back over and asked for another quarter. Because another dryer had done the same thing.

After the man left I checked for the return policy the laundromat had. To get a refund, you had to fill out a paper with your name, address and phone number then slide it under the door. And no one was working that night. So what happens if you were like this guy? This was his last money and he's not just washing his own clothes, he's washing clothes for his family. Do you go home with wet clothes? In this case he had to borrow money from a total stranger. I did some research in prices, and it costs about 22 cents to wash a load of clothes and it costs 14 cents just to dry them. Making the total price somewhere around 1.50 for a load at this laundromat. the mark up is almost 4 times per load. Not to mention the horrible customer service (which is typical at Laundromats).

Harold Shank pointed out to me once that you never see any naked people in the inner city. But every time a church has a clothing give away people line up at the door for more clothes. Why? because a lot of times they stock pile clothes because they cant afford to wash clothes for the whole family because of the huge mark up per load.

So WHAT IF churches built low cost laundromat in their neighborhood. What would be the benefits of it? First the church could provide jobs for church members and community members and the customer service would be better immediately. That is, after all, the business that the church is in. How much would it save the customer in the community? If you could have the loads cost half (only 75 cents). Let see how much that would save a family of 4 that uses the laundromat.

Example:

Say a family does 6 loads a week. That adds up to about 312 loads of laundry a year. That means we would be saving families $234 a year.

Which might not seem like much...unless you are that family. Say you have 40 loyal families that come to your laundromat. You are developing relationship with 40 families, not to mention you've saved them a total of $9,360.

And that is a great start for living justice everyday.

Log it down!

2009-12-08T10:35:00.000-08:00

One verse in the bible I try to put in my life because I am so bad at it is Philippians 4.8
It is a reminder that all God created is good. I already told you I have a hard time with this as you can tell by my other post I can quickly tell you what wrong with world. But I have to stop and make myself be reminded of those beatuiful, good and lovely things about life.

The Greek word for the English where we get the phrase out of the verse "think about such things" means to take account of, or "log it down". The word means to report, track or to write it down so you will have a record of.

I have done this from time to time it my own life to help me be reminded of these things. I would write down or log all the good things in my life that Paul wants us to think about in this verse.

So I thought it would be cool to do this together. To log down a list of the things that are true, right, lovely and pure in our lives. So please add to my list the things in your life by leaving a comment thus, adding to the list. I would love to hear these things in your life.

Here is my list of Philippians 4.8 things.

Philippians 4.8- Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

1) The church I attend in Texas raised over 1.4 million in one weekend for missions all over the world
2) Victory Temple church thanksgiving meal. You would not believe the love and people that poured into that church on thanksgiving
3) the might men of Como
4) Libby house prayer meeting on Wed at 2:30 for the city of Como.
5) Rick Atchley's preaching
6) Rick Warrens' tweets
7) Woodbine family church in Nashville for being such a light in a dark place
8) For kids like James Eubanks who breaks cycles and walks the walk
9) movies like The Blind Side- as reminders of what love can do
10) People like Josh Mckenzie and Cindy & Rick Betts. Who takes in kids that will never be drafted in the NFL and books/movie will not be made about them. But they do it because they are Christ-lovers
11) People like Adam & Sara Bryson for the love and better life they are going to give Natalie Bryson
12)Larry James for his commitment to make Dallas on earth as it is in heaven
13) Katie Beth & Patrick who by opening up thier hearts and home have adopted 3 boys who are all different races. Thank you guys for letting us see what heaven going to be like. In case we ever forget!
14)A family I know that always uses their Christmas bonus on adopting another family for Christmas. Whether times our good or bad.
15) Christmas songs that can take your heart back to that silent night(sorry had to!) with it's words no matter how many times you hear the song
16) The 5 people who prayed for 11 hours why their pastor was have brain surgery
17)the faithful pastor who used his tumor to lift God up-- what have we to fear
18) Great Writers like Max, C.S., N.T. Wright, Donald Miller who always make me closer to God
19) Whatabruger 12 days of Christmas where they give you food for free
20) all the people who are fighting for AIDS in Africa (Bono&the Gates& how about millions of others)
21) Tim Tebow & yes, even Colt McCoy for being great role models for us all
22) Amazing stories like Jordan Shipley telling his kicker a bible verse with 1 sec on the clock to calm him down.--you know it real to that kid!
23) Crowder- need I say more; ok espically the song: oh! How he loves me!
24)Rusty Peterman ministry at RHCC. No one knows all the stuff this man does.
25)Babies like Eden Storment who is the smartest/cutest baby to ever live!(some how she takes after her fake uncle Michael)
26) the little boy who on black Friday in the middle of the fighting for things and spending gave his mom 1/2 of his sandwich when he saw her without food. My guess is the mom was going without so her kids could eat. He noticed her with nothing and slid his sandwich over to her.
27) Taco Bueno
28) Football & Basketball
29) New water wells in the places that had none before and the saints that build them
30) D-groups who give up saturday's to be outside in the cold for a cookout in a neighborhood that nothing like their own.
31) fanstay football
32) all the ladies that make quilts year around so people don't get cold this time of year.--I know there are tons of ladies who do this but I know a couple personally Mammaw, Nana and Mrs.Wendy
33) Larry Bird
34) Today I went to Wendy's and card would not run. So I was in my car about to leave and the manger came out and said I could just pay him for it later.
35)
Here is the start of my list. I will add some to this week as I think about such things. Please add your. Nothing is more powerful then hearing what God's people are doing to be him to this world. Join in telling his story..........

Sorry I got off track last week because I was sick most of it. But I will now be back on schudule for posting once a week.

Care

2009-11-23T21:22:00.001-08:00

For me, one of the hardest things about moving is finding a new place to get my hair cut. I miss my barbershop in Nashville. It was not like the movie(Barber Shop) I did not go in there for the conversations. It wasn’t like a family with all my boys hanging around. I actually never talked that much. I did not understand a whole lot of what was going on. See, the TV would always have ESPN “Deportes” on. And at the taco stand outside, you could get $1.00 off a combo if you just got a fresh fade. The place is called Oscar’s, and it is an all-Mexican barbershop. But I liked to get my hair cut in the same place that the kids from church did. About a year ago, they quit going to Cecil’s because he tried to cut someone’s hair when he was drunk and cut their ear. So now the kids go to Oscar’s. I loved it there! They had great steak tacos outside, and they used a straight razor for your edge up. Their fades are the best, but you better point to the type of fade you want on the picture of the wall and understand the Spanish word for the number of guard you want. Trust me, I made that mistake once and walked out with a skin tight fade and skinny sideburns. I looked like the fat white version of Oscar de la Hoya. But I loved that place and the $1.00 discount on the combo.

So I needed a haircut here in Fort Worth. I like my fades. I drove around and saw this place called Scoop’s. It is new since the last time I lived here. But it was my kind of place. It had been a year since I watched SportsCenter in English at a barber shop. John Clayton speaking Spanish just is not right. They had the same fade chart on the wall as Xavier’s, so I knew I was in a safe place. It had only been open for 2 months, he said. Scoop is from North Carolina, so we talked about how bad the Titans and Panthers are. While I was talking in the barber shop, hinting that a $1.00 off combo to Taco Casa would make me feel at home, I noticed on this pretty chilly day that people where locked out and lining up next door. Most, if not all, of the people in the growing line (which had to be about 30 by the time I left) were women and children. I asked what was going on next door. He said that it was a line for flu shots and other shots, and that the health department locks their doors during lunch so they can eat in peace and not be bothered. Children sit out in the cold waiting to get into a place that is going to give them something that will help them not get sick.

Question: Would those people be standing outside if they were from the city 15 minutes down the road in Southlake? Can a health department run by the government not find a way to stagger one person’s lunch so little kids don’t have to sit in the cold? I know government health care workers are overworked and underpaid and a nice quiet lunch is probably the only thing that keeps them from replacing the joke going postal to going pubic health care worker on you. But we have to lock the people out? There not $15.00 a day in the budget or $75.00 a week to pay some security guard to come in for the lunch break to keep the peace and order and give out numbers.

Lou Holtz said it best when asked what his plans were to change the South Carolina football when he took over. They were like 1-22 in their last 23 games. He said the same way the state of South Carolina interstate is going to go from dirty to clean. Lou Holtz said, “If enough people care!” If people care enough to not throw it out in the first place and if enough people care to go out and work hard and pick up the trash that has already been thrown out. Then we will have a successful football team here at South Carolina. I need players who care! You know what he got? Players who cared! After only winning 1 game his first year, South Carolina won 8 games and beat Ohio State in a bowl game the next year. Lou Holtz said later he knew it was going to happen, because he had players who cared. He said, “Look at the interstates. They are beautiful now. I knew they would be when I saw that over 2,000 showed up to pick up trash off the interstate the next day after the press conference.”

That is what we need. How lights start shining is that people care enough to be a light, that people care enough to shine! It is bigger than the problem that little kids get locked out in the cold. Do enough we care to do something about evil? Do enough people care to shine?! Because when lights start to shine, then mercy starts to live, and hearts start to care! Little kids get to drive their parents crazy inside a nice cozy building while the healthcare workers (who have care in their name and signed up for this job) will eat their lunches in peace and noise. When we care, others seem to matter a little more than our comfort.

One line from a song that Mercy Me sings just kicks me every time I hear it says "How can I care about your kingdom, when I am so wrapped up in mine". This line is my eats at my soul because I am so guilty. But I pray that I care enough about his kingdom to see like Him. I hope you do to.

The Noticer

2009-11-15T19:22:00.000-08:00

I have met enough upper/middle-class white Christians to know that they have great hearts. Some of the best people I have ever known, and some of the best “Christ followers” I know, fit into this class of people. If they hear about a need or hear someone else give a presentation about a cause or ministry, they are givers. But IF I could pray for one thing for Christians it would be this: Give us the eyes of Jesus to see the injustice ourselves.

The problem for most of us is that we only fight for the injustice that makes our life hard and never see the injustice that stinks for the least of these. I have a close friend, and he is a great man. But I had a run-in with him about 10 months ago that will give you an example of my point. He was a leader of a ministry, and he stepped down as the paid leader but stayed on as a volunteer in this ministry. About a month into it, his feelings were hurt by the ministry leaders that they no longer invited him to the leadership dinner meetings that they would have from time to time. So he complained to me and told me how it kind of hurt his feelings. I asked him who went to the meetings when he was the paid leader. He told me, “Everyone, the two couples that are the head or governing leaders of this ministry and me and my wife.” I asked him, “Well, who goes to the meeting now?” “Well,” he said, “The two couples that govern the ministry and the paid staff.” I said, “Is that not the same as it was when you were there?” He then said, “Yeah, but I feel like I can offer and bring some valuable insight to the ministry and leadership.” I said, “ What you’re saying is that the leadership system is messed up and now you only see it when it has affected you and your wants.” I said, “ This person has been here for years. Would they bring some good tools and gifts to those meetings?” He said, “YES! They would.” “But you never fought for them when you had the chance to. “ My friend is one of the best people I know, but he is like a lot of us. We don’t care that a system is broken until it affects our lives or until we don’t get our way or until we have to live with the injustice of a broken system.

This is why I say if Icould give one thing to us who don’t have to see or live with the injustice everyday, it would be those eyes to see the brokenness around us. Not for us to wait until someone else tells us about it or we have to live through it. But we want to be like Jesus so much that we notice others and their hard times. One of my favorite things about Jesus was he was a noticer. I try to be. My friends think that I am weird because I read every sign or billboard when I drive or walk. I really do think it helps me with the spiritual discipline of noticing. It helps me see the small wonderful things like he did (the widow and her two mites) but also those who are crying out for help and healing (ten lepers). Over and over again in the Bible, I see Jesus being the noticer. May we all have the eyes to see the broken systems, the injustice, the hurting, the hopeless, the people God put in your path and the small beautiful things.

Here is our homework: Study and try to find a way that the system is broken without us having to experience it.

Here is one example: Tags and registration in Nashville costs $87.00 for tags and $10.00 for marta test.

That’s $97.00 to drive your car for a year.

To a family that makes 100,000 a year that equals to 0.097 cent out of every $100 they make. Take a dime out of every $100 bill you make and that is what you pay the state to drive your car each year.

So, of course, if you make $200,000, it would be about a nickel out of every $100.

If you only make $50,000, take 20 cents out of every $100 you make.

But say you’re a single mom who makes $8.00 an hour and trust me, there are a ton of single moms who make that little in your city. What does she take out of her salary to drive? Well, it might not seem like much for the year, but she will pay 59 cents out of every $100 she makes. Which is six times the percentage of cost to the family that makes $100,000! But what about the month her car tags are due? If she saves all month, how much of her salary does she have to put back in order to drive a car to get an $8.00 job? The tags would be over 14% of her monthly salary. What if she has to pay it out of her 1 week check? About 1/3 of her weekly check.

How is this fair? I don’t think the state should tax or charge more to the rich. I just think it should not cost a legitimate hard-working single mom over six times the percentage of overall salary as a family that makes $100,000. What I really think is that us as Christians should be close enough to the poor that we can help with that burden. What If a group of ten people from a Bible class said we are going to not get queso at Applebee’s today or my family is only drinking water anytime we go out so we can help buy a single mother tags this year. What if we did not even sacrifice that much and we just kept our eyes open for $10.00 worth of coupons this month and with the $10 we saved with our coupons, we gave it to some single mom for tags?

More than the state to notice and change it's policy, I want Christians everywhere to notice the struggles of the poor that are all around us every day. I want Christians to live and come up with radical ways to live that will bless the people that they notice having a rougher road because of a broken system.

Heaven Here

2009-11-08T22:31:00.001-08:00

First thing I want to blog about is the title of my blog. Over the past couple of years, I have learned to correct terminology and theology for what I knew in my heart to believe. That Jesus came for a lot more reasons than just for us to go to heaven. If so, then turning the other cheek is just a mean joke. He came (to steal a line from Jesus himself) to give us the best possible way of living. (paraphrase John 10:10) It seems like churches (i.e. Christians) are waiting for Heaven to try to make this world a better place, which might be a little too late. It is about now. It is about His kingdom invading this earth. He is about getting rid of all the junk that screams this is not right. How can we eliminate families are living in cars or little girls are being sold for sex? Mothers are destroying kids’ lives because they developed this drug problem to numb the pain they feel. But the simple fact of this world is, it is easier to find a good dope man than it is to find a good church. It is easier to fit in and live for something bigger than yourself in a gang than a youth group. Fatherless kids come in contact with drug lords,and the bosses of gangs rather than mentors and ministers. In Nashville, 90% of all unplaced kids for Big Brothers Big Sisters are 11- to 14-year-old males. That can’t be true. Tony Dungy said last week that the number 1 indicator of a young man going to jail is the absence of his father. You know how many fatherless boys would love to come over to your house and watch the NFL game on Sunday? As many as 20! Trust me, I know. It has been the simplest, most effective ministry that I have done over the last couple of years. Inviting the boys over to my house to watch the Titans game. I have packed living rooms with 20 boys before. Make Kool-aid and cookies (LOTS of cookies), and you will have your very own group of disciples. I’d rather be in my house than anywhere else in the world. Will there feet smell bad when they take off the shoes? YES! Will they stink up your bathroom? YES! Will their mom call and talk to you about raising a teenage boy because they just want to know someone else cares about their boy? YES! Will you pray for them and put their picture up in your house? YES! Will they become your best friends? YES! Will you cry in front of people at their graduation? YES! Will you follow the Savior who calls to make this world a better place?

I believe with all my heart in these following statements:

Better is one day in your courts than 1000 elsewhere!

They will be no more pain, crying, death, or darkness!

This too shall pass!

Oh, death, where is your victory! Oh, death, where is your sting!

We have victory in our Lord Jesus Christ!

In me, you will have peace!

I will be your God and you will be my people!

I come to give life and give it to the fullest!

If you’re a Christian, I bet you believe them with all your heart too. We just have to believe they are meant to be lived by here and there, now and then. The kingdom’s to come and His will be done on earth as it shall be in Heaven!