So I’m officially throwing my support behind one candidate. His name, Kenny Conley. In my best Lanny Donoho format I’m going to give you a few reasons to vote for Kenny.

First of all he’s the only Children’s guy that I know named Kenny. Kenny is a very special name, generally reserved for people with musical abilities. Kenny G, Kenny Rogers, Kenny Loggins and Kenny Chesney are the only famous people that I can even think of with the first name of Kenny. So the fact that Kenny is succeeding in something other than music with the first name of Kenny is in and of itself amazing.

But here is where it gets interesting, a singer by the name of Souad Massi who was influenced by Kenny Rogers is from the country of Algeria, Kenny Conley as you know hates the Algerian font.

Kenny Chesney wrote a song called Tequila loves me. There is a restaurant in Texas called Azul Tequila. It’s in the city of Austin which is also where Kenny’s church Gateway Community Church is located. Azul Tequila is about 14 miles from their McNeil campus. If you add 1 + 4 in 14 you get 5, which is about how many times Kenny posts each day… Crazy I know…

But it get’s so much better

Kenny was called to Children’s Ministry at the age of 14 as a child, which is also the miles Azul Tequila is from the McNeil campus. He has been a children’s pastor for over 11 years. He’s been married to his wife Sara for 8 years. He also has one child named Titus. If you add 14+ 11 + 8 + 1 together what do you get?

34.

Which is also the number of people in the group think project called Collaborate:Family + Church which I would love to review if someone could get me a copy

Also if you spell Kenny backwards it spells ynnek, which I’m pretty sure is Canadian for Awesome. Ask Sam Luce for confirmation on that one, though.

Overall, childrensministryonline.com is one of my most favorite blogs for Children’s Ministry. The amount and quality of content that he provides is sorta unreal. I’m still just trying to figure out how in the world he can blog as much as he does. But Kenny is incredibly deserving of your vote in the final four of the #kidmin blog march madness tourney.

So head on over and vote for childrensministryonline.com today!

Reading through Joshua today… Caleb asks Joshua for the piece of land that God promised to Him. I think if you are connected with God in the least bit then He’s given you BIG dreams. Caleb made sure to ask about his land as Joshua is doling it out. Imagine how much it’s on the forefront of his mind.

When he sleeps it’s probably the last thing he thinks about. It might be the first thing he thinks about as he wakes up in the morning. The best way to illustrate is how Abe lived his life with the promise that God gave to him about his family. It took so long, but Abe trusted God and saw it through.

I wonder sometimes if we let reality get in the way of some of the dreams that God has put into our hearts. I have people around me seeing their dreams come true right before their eyes and I know that for them they couldn’t be happier. So today, get away… Dream just for a bit and ask God to give you things that you’ve never dreamed of before. Escape into the depth of the Dreamer, today. Allow His creativity and passion for people to overwhelm you.

What is holding you back from the dreams God has for you? What are you doing to eliminate those things?

Twitter icon for a fluid app, originally uploaded by mfilej.

I am no expert at twitter by any means, however the time that I have spent tweeting I have learned 3 people that you should make a concerted effort to avoid being. (besides hanging preposition guy)

1. Incessant Fan boy/girl:

We understand that Andy Stanley, R-dub, and Ashton, talked about something that rhymed with your name and now you need to return the favor… But seriously more than 6 times in one day is ri-dunkulous. Just send a few @ replies to a person a day. And if you have to think about limiting how many times you @ reply something then you are definitely in need of incessant fan intervention.

2. Verse Person:

I love Bible verses as much as the next guy, however, unless your username is: Verseotheday, Powerverseguy, thebible, etc. you should seriously limit the amount of verse usage on twitter. Why? Because people won’t pay attention to anything else that you say because they unfollow you or at least make sure that you didn’t make any of their lists that are for other people to see.

3. Power follower/Power non-follower:

I have been in the power follower category in the past, especially since twitter groups and lists became commonplace. But I have most definitely slowed down the rate and the kind of person that I follow. But I think the opposite is true as well. Being that guy/girl who follows like 20 people but they have thousands of followers is dumb imo. There are tools that allow you to be selective in who you would like to tweet, so why only follow 10 people, when a ton of people obviously want to connect with you. Both are no-nos.

Thermonuclear avoidance person:

Someone who is a power follower, then they suddenly become a power unfollower but they don’t tell anyone…. Avoid being this person like the plague…

That’s it for me, any other twitter person you would caution people to avoid being? (minus hanging preposition guy)

Plus you can follow me here

stitched bookshelf, originally uploaded by rubykhan.

I get that everyone is freaking out about the publishers, but what happens to the bookshelf? My kindle on a bookshelf seems pretty empty…

Is there an answer to this issue? What do you think, digital thinkers?

Picture above is from Mike Bergen from AidJoy.org

I was a part of this event this past last weekend. It was in downtown Greenville, SC. If you look closely you might see me as part of the l near the e in this glowstick piece of art.

It was a really cool event to try and woo Google to come to Greenville, SC. If you haven’t heard anything about Google’s fiber optic project, then check it out here. It was awesome to be a part of something so cool, but also could be a part of something that is huge for the community where I reside.

Check out this video to see a little more of what went down:

Ever been a part of something like this? What was it for? When did the feeling of excitement wear off?

So I’m totally sad that I didn’t make it through to the second round… But it’s cool, life goes on. NE way keep voting for your faves here for Round 2.  The cheesy was fun for awhile and I’m coming with a bit more meaningful content this week.

But the fun isn’t going to stop for me. So I’m putting my services up for hire. If you want me on your side to promote you on twitter, facebook, and jcisonline.com drop a comment below. If I pick you, I’ll put the full weight of my influence behind you. I’m going to pick one of my commenters and go all out to help them win. It’s time to shine people… I take bribes, humor, and flattery. All those things could totally win my support

It’s all in fun (except for the $200 worth of books for a prize) and I wanna help somebody win. I’m just a crazy competitor, what can I say.

I’ve been thinking alot about the innocence of a child and when Jesus says “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt. 18:3 NIV)

What does that look like as we relate to His word and then pay it back and teach it to kids. Then as I was reading this passage this morning, I reflected on it’s simplicity. I’ll give you the JCSVFTWTCUKJV (JC’s shortened version for those that wish they could understand KJV) spill.

It comes from Joshua 11:6-7, Joshua had a huge victory and all these kings form an army together. As this happens, God seeks out Joshua and two phrases are the key for teaching kids on listening to God’s word and what to do with it.

Then God said

For kids, this is where I see what we have to teach. We want them to get to a point where there hearts are open to hearing God speak. As God pursues kids, we want them to be ever vigilant about hearing what God has to say in each and every situation. God is speaking, we must listen. We need to get them to pursue the Spirit, search out His word, and be silent to hear the still small voice.

So Joshua…

then respond. For kids, that’s really it. When Mom and Dad speak they respond. When their teacher speaks they respond. May not be favorable and we would like them to get there, but they most definitely respond. How can we get them to respond to the word of God?

Both are necessary, we need to hear God as He speaks and also respond to the word of God. Simple message, but how often does this appear in scripture?

God speaks, so _____ responds.

In my life, it goes something like this.

God says J.C. you need me, I respond by committing my life to Him.

God says, J.C. you are going to be in ministry, so I began to search for where and how (still don’t have it totally figured out, but am responding to where He is working)

God says, J.C. you are going to marry this girl, so I proposed and later married my amazing wife.

God says, J.C. I want you to trust me and leave your home and move to where you’ll be living without a job for awhile. So, I did and that’s how this whole Brookwood thing started.

And the reality is for us is that it’s this easy, allow God to speak, hear him and then respond. So teach your kids to search God’s word, listen for His voice and make sure to respond when you hear Him speak.

And make sure that you live it out in front of your kids as well

View on Vimeo.

Drop your comment below. Let me know which cheesy thing you would keep….

Don’t forget to vote for me here

And for Dad in the Middle and Matt Mckee.

Don’t forget to vote for jcisonline.com in the #kidmin March Madness competition.
Do you think that I can do this dance? Leave your answer in the comments… Be kind

So I’ll just post one. But feel free to insert some in the comments below and don’t forget to vote in the #kidmin March Madness

Don’t you just love cheesy church signs I know my friend Matt Mckee does!!!