Amazing Book!!!

I just read the book "A Tale of Three Kings: A Study in Brokenness" and I am floored! I will write more about it later, but here is the desription on the back of the book... This modern classic will bring light, clarity, and comfort to the brokenhearted. Many Christians have experienced pain, loss, and heartache at the hands of other believers. To those believers, this compelling story offers comfort, healing and hope. Christian leaders and directors of religious movements throughout the world have recommended this simple, powerful, and beautiful story to their members and staff. You will want to join these other people who have been profoundly touched by this incomparable story. This tale by Gene Edwards is based on the biblical figures of David, Saul, and Absalom.

One Year....

It was one year ago on 7 March 2005 that I started blogging. But that is not what I am referring to in my title. I was referring to the fact that it has been one year since I left my previous church. You can read about my debacle of my last sunday here if you want. Then after that I posted another blog post that talks about how I left. Not to pat myself on the back, but I was impressed at how I did end up handling what could have been a very bad thing. And here is the last article that I wrote for my old church's newspaper. So a year ago, I started off on this journey that I had no idea where I was going. I figured by now that I would be serving as a pastor at a church somewhere in a warmer state. But God had different plans! And I am so happy for His plans! If I had my way I would still be at my church and I would be the full-time pastor to students, which would not have been good for me and God knew that. So He moved us out. We didn't see it at the time, but we knew that it was His hand guiding us in this direction. It had all started back in March of 2004 when I went to the Purpose Driven Youth Ministry conference and felt God was telling me that I was gonna be leaving and I had no idea what that menat at the time. For a while we helped out a friend of mine who was starting out what was basically a new church, but it soon become apparent that it was not where God wanted us to be. So we decided to check out a couple of other churches. After attending Rockpointe Community Church it was clear to our whole family that it was the church that God wanted us to start attending. Even though I knew that it would be a long time before we would get a chance to get in there and start serving. But again, God had different plans. I have been helping Kent out with speaking and other things, and Kimmy has been helping with leading a small group and also singing on a praise team. I am so glad that God has taken us out of what was an unhealthy situation and moved us into a healthy one. As I have said in several other posts, we love our new church and are so very happy! We are anxious to see where God leads us next! We are hoping that it is here for a very long time!

My New Blog Feature

I added a new feature on the side bar of my blog. I added a list of podcasts that I listen to. Currently if does not link to the actual podcast on iTunes, but I will make it do that. But if you open up iTunes on your computer, you can do a search for that podcast and check it out for yourself. You do not need and iPod to listen to a podcast, but you do need iTunes, which is a free download and the podcasts are free as well! Then you can listen to it on your computer.

The Newest Porter

We added to our family today with a very cute silki-chon, a silky terrier and bichon frise mix. She will never be able to replace our pretty Haley, but we know that it would be very lonely in our home with out a dog. So we decided to take the plunge and get a new dog. We named her Zoey Elizabeth Porter! And we are enjoying the joys of having a new puppy! Like having little accidents in the house! LOL If it weren't for the fact that she is so darned cute, we would really mind these accidents. She is a toy dog, and currently weighs 4.4 lbs and is 3 months old. She was born on 20 December 2005. So she was a Christmas puppy! Anyway, enjoy the pics of our cute little girl! You can see more pictures here.

707 Rocked!!!

Last night RSM and about 12 other churches got together and had a worship night! It was really cool and I hope we will be doing many more of these. I love it when the Church gets together like this. One of the reasons why I like Camp Rock so much, because we do the same thing with that. It is really cool to see students willing to tear down their church and denominational walls and love God together! It is a picture of heaven.

R.I.P. Haley Ann Porter

I came home from church today and my dog, who did not want to come back in the house before we left, was laying in our flower bed dead. We had no indication that anything was wrong with her, she was running around like normal yesterday. So it was quite a shock to us. I loved her very much. Kimmy and I got Haley soon after we were married and had her for 10 years. I always thought about how I would react when she died, but thought that she would live about 5 more years. We always joked around that she was gonna live for ever, inside I kind of hoped so. As much as she drove me nuts, I loved her and will miss her. Thanks for taking the time to read the ramblings of someone who lost their pet and friend. Below are various pictures of my beautiful doggie. That was what she looked like when we first got her. She loved her bone, even if it was as big as she was! LOL It was so cute seeing her carry it around. There was a time when her mommy didn't think that kisses from her dog were so bad. I loved carrying her around like a baby! She didn't like it so much, especially as she got older, but she was my baby. Even though Haley didn't like the fact that we brought a baby home, she soon grew to love her sister. Haley also loved her brother, even though he drove her nuts sometimes! Your family loves you and will miss you, "girl, girl"!

Getting Excited for Camp Rock!!!

I just got done redoing the website for Camp Rock. Check it out and let me know what you think! And if you are in Michigan and are looking for a camp to attend or serve on staff at, let me know!

Podcasting!!!

No, that is not some new fishing trick. It is the way of the future for people to have their own ideas and views expressed to multiple people. It is basically like talk radio on your computer or iPod. If you don't have an iPod you can simply listen to podcasts on iTunes from your home computer (Windoze or Mac). I am subscribed to 11 podcasts. Imago Dei Community Church, Macworld Podcasts, Mosaic, Mugglecast, Pottercast, Saddleback Church: Crave College Ministry, Simply Youth Ministry (audio & video), Relevant (Magazine) Podcast, Youth Specialties, but my newest and most favorite one is the Rockpointe Community Church podcast! I am so excited to see that they got this going! John, thanks for listening to my constant nagging about this and for doing all the hard work that you had to do, to get this done! I for one am a very happy camper! I think that this podcasting thing is such a neat way for churches to get their messages out to their people, not to mention to people that may be away at college or had to move out of state. Plus, you never know who may be listening and find themselves impacted by those words! And it is such a simple thing that a church of pretty much any size can do! Anyway, thanks again, John! Keep up the good work! And subscribe people!

I Have Found What I Have Been Looking For!

Yesterday, I attended a class at my church that is necessary to take to be in leadership there. The lead pastor of my church said soemthing that really got me thinking. My church recently went through a big ordeal that could have cost him his job (worst case) and at the very least the church's building. He said that while talking over the different scenarios with our executive pastor that he did not know where he would go if he had to step down from his position as a pastor at Rockpointe, because he is really into the community that has been built there and that is the main reason why he is in professional ministry. He is not in professional ministry just to be a pastor, but to be a part of that community. That has stuck with me and I have thought it about it a lot since then. The ironic thing is that yesterday I heard about a position at a local church from someone who is a friend that attends the church. And quite honestly I am so hooked on this community at Rockpointe that I don't want to go anywhere else. I have no idea if I will always feel this way, but right now I am very happy. And I am sticking around as long as the people at Rockpointe can tolerate us!

MySpace

I know that MySpace.com has become a very popular thing with students these days and quite honestly I don't get the excitement about it. It is cool to have your own personal web space and all, but it has become such a fad that teenagers will ask one another for their MySpace I.D. instead of each others phone numbers, email addresses or AOL IM names. Very odd! I was talking with some friends of mine, who are pastor's to students, about it and one of them was saying that she didn't get it and I said that neither did I. But all I know is that it is where they are and I want to be were they are. If we, as pastor's, do not go to where our people our then how can we expect to reach them? Jesus came down from Heaven so that He could be where we are and identify with us. He knew that it was the most effective way of touching our lives. But one of the problems with MySpace is that there is a lot of crap out there. I recently got an invite to be someone's friend and when I went to their MySpace to see who they were, I saw that one of their friends was a famous porn star and I had no idea who this person was anyway! So needless to say I declined their invite. But what bothers me even more is when I stumbled upon a teenagers MySpace and this girl had a pic of their belly with the caption, "keep it in your pants boys". I was floored! Not that I am naive or dumb enough to think that they don't think or do those things, because I know I did when I was their age. But it just shocked me that this stuff is allowed! I know a couple of teenagers that are 15, but their ages are listed at 100. No accountability is being provided there. And I know it is hard for the creators of MySpace to do that. So that is why a few days ago I decided that I would see if I could start a revolution, by challenging people to clean up their MySpace. Some of this was also generated by going on and seeing some of my old students MySpace's and some of the bulletins that I would get from them. It really broke my heart in many ways. A few of them have had their parent's completely shut down their MySpace's and I am not too surprised by these parent's reactions because they tend to over-react with things like this. So their solution has been to make their teens completely delete their pictures and pretty much any information, and then also to forbid them from the internet. Cause you know that is the solution instead of sitting down with them and talking about it. It is always so much better to over-react and cause them to want to rebel, not to mention the wedge that you will drive between you and them. The idea is to guide and instruct them to make better choices, but instead somehow most Christians feel that it is better to just have them not be able to make any at all. And I just do not get that mind set. I have seen too many people whose lives where sheltered like that, go hog wild the minute they turn 18 and go to college or move out. The worst people at my Bible college where the people who were either pastor's kids, went to Christian schools or were home schooled. Why is that? Because they were the ones that were the most sheltered and never had a chance to learn how to make better choices. I have no idea how to end this because I am so frustrated with this whole thing and wish parent's would learn to get it. We can be so fearful that our kids are going to make the same stupid choices that we did as teens that we shelter them so much that all we do is delay that. As fallen people our choosers are broken and the it needs to be fixed, so how can it be fixed if they are never allowed to choose? I know that I probably will get blasted by parent's that may read this, but I am hoping that we can generate some good dialogue over this. So feel free to comment and start that dialogue!

The 80's are Dead :'(

Today, we took down the waterbed, so that we could decide where we want to put the bed and our dressers. Also so Kimmy could finish painting, since when she painted about a year ago she did not move her big dresser or the waterbed. But now it is all done and we are moving stuff around. We think we have the layout of the bedroom that will work and hopefully make the room look bigger. Now all we need to do is replace our door, because whoever built this house 50 years ago, put the wrong door in or put the light switch in the wrong spot, because it is behind the door when it is opened. So we looked at Home Depot to see what the price of a new door will be. So we added that to the list of things that we need to save up for! LOL But the end of an era has come and a new one is beginning. I loved the 80's!

We Are Members!!!

On Friday we got the blessing from the holy father and are now members of Rockpointe Community Church. We went through the 2 day 5 hour long classes and then the last step was a meeting with a member of the staff. The lead pastor, Randy, wanted to meet with us, so on Friday we met him in his office and he grilled us for a solid 3 hours .... just kidding! We met with him for about an hour and just talked about my past ministry experience and what I saw myself doing at Rockpointe besides the student ministry. He also raved a bit about Kimmy's amazing singing voice. Which embarrasses her, but that is okay, because it is true. She does have an amazing singing voice and I know I am biased in saying this, but Rockpointe is lucky to have her! So anyway, we are now members and look forward to hopefully a long relationship with them. We love our new church!

A Good Night's Rest

When I was 16 years old my parent's bought me a waterbed. I know, I know it is a very 80's thing! But I loved my waterbed! It was a full wave waterbed and was very comfortable! In the almost 17 years that I have owned it, I have had only one minor problem with it and that was a small pin prick hole, and I used a air matress repair kit, and it worked! While I will miss getting into my bed in the winter time and the bed is a nice 96 degress, I am excited about my new matress. I am looking forward to sleeping on one of thos enew fancy memory foam matresses. Kimmy and I spent about 3 or 4 days looking and many different kind of matresses and settled (no pun intended) on the memory foam kind. We found a good deal on a very nice one at Value City Furniture. The new matress comes in on Tuesday, so I will let you know what it is like to sleep on one.

Thank You, Amazon

Yesterday, I got my copy of what I consider one of the best movies in the series so far. I am thinking that Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix will be better. That was my favorite book in the series so far anyway, so I may be biased. Can't wait to watch my new DVD and see al the extras!

Trying to Start a Revolution

I have been bothered with some of the crap that has been going around on MySpace.com, so I decided to do something about it. I want to see myspace become a clean and safe enviroment for teenagers and adults. So if you have the same goal, and have a myspace, then add my alter ego as your friend and put me in your top 8. Then encourage your friends to do the same. Oh yeah! And make sure that you keep your myspace clean! Let's see if we can get this to spread.

I Hurt.....

A very, dear friend of mine got fired today. He was a youth pastor at a church in North Carolina and today, his SP told him that due to the churches financial difficulties they needed to make cuts. And that he was that cut, so he had to clear out his office by the end of the day and that they would give him a month and a half severance package. I can not even begin to express how angry this makes me. And people wonder why youth pastor's are so transient and not very trusting. It is crap like this that makes it hard for people to want to be a part of church. We treat people no better than the rest of the world does. We are no freakin' different! And I love how this church has thought first and foremost of those students.... NOT!!! Did they even think for one minute how this would impact them. They are not going to hear it from the person who was their YP for the past 5 years, but from someone else or worse yet, the rumor mill. Anyway, I am done with my rant. Please, pray for my friend and his fiancee as they deal with this sudden blow only 5 months away from their wedding. Thanks! I know there are many really good churches out there that are doing the right things, but it is churches like this one that over shadows those good ones.

Absolutely Amazing and Humbling

Today my church voted to end it's affiliation with the Assemblies of God (AOG) for various differences of opinion. While none of it was based on any doctrinal reasons, there was some very substantial changes that the AOG made that my church decided that they could no longer agree to walk with them on. But what was the most amazing part of this all was that our senior pastor, who has a long history with the AOG, as a result of this will be put on a "dismissal list" that is supposed to be used only for pastor's who have fallen into some kind of unrepentant or grievous sexual sin, or pastor's who were involved in embezzlement from the church. Even though he did none of these things asked our church to not say anything bad about the AOG. What a show of grace and humility those in attendance saw tonight from him. As he closed out the meeting tonight he gave us all the bookmark that you see to your left. And he also gave everyone a blank business card that he asked each one of us to print our name on one side and then sign our name on the other side, as a sign of our decision to make this declaration of dependence with the church. What a powerful moment it was. You can see the pic of all the card on the stage at the top. As I went down to place my card on the stage and walked by Randy and had so much I wanted to say to him, like how much I appreciated his heart and how glad I was to be apart of Rockpointe, but the words just escaped me and I only shook his hand and gave him a hug. Then as I looked down upon that scene, I was moved. Then the executive pastor got up and read a portion of Scripture that I have heard him read for the 3rd time in a month. Some people say that when you get something 3 times like that, it is God's way of trying to get your attention. And, Rick, it is beginning to haunt me and not just cause I have heard you read it 3 times recently. The verse is John 17:20-23 and it is a portion of a prayer by Jesus..... My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. He was praying for us, for me. That is amazing and humbling to think about. The other part of this that is extremely humbling and challenging is the aspect that we (the Christian church) are supposed to be united as one, and by that the world will know God. And we Christians often wonder why there seems to be this mass exodus from the church. We have been so busy fighting with one another of some very stupid doctrinal issues that we failed to be as one and we have hurt the cause of Christ. My church is now a non-denominational church and while we are not opposed to denominations, we are opposed to the disunity that they can bring when they highlight our difference rather than the bonds that unite us. I call for the Christian churches of the world to lay down our arms and start working together for the common good of seeing lives turned over to God.

Paczki

The correct pronunciation is "poonch-kee", there is an audio sample here.