You are probably asking what the heck are you talking about JC? Well every year Pantone selects a color for the year. They are pretty spot on for the most part. So here are the colors from last year and for this year:
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Love Lock Down
I keep your love locked down, your love locked down., originally uploaded by Kelly West Mars.
Tonight I’m speaking at Varsity, the high school ministry here at Brookwood. I’m teaching on a series called Flirt by Room 1228. Great resource for student ministry stuff.
This passage has been stuck in my mind.
“As we talked about in our last two sessions, Jesus had been crucified and buried. Hope, air, and opportunity had been sucked out of the atmosphere. Now the disciples were huddled under lock and key because they had their love locked down Kanye West-style. Then all of a sudden, Jesus appeared by walking through a wall and surprising His disciples, and then He said, “Peace be with you.” Once again, as He had done in other appearances, Jesus turned desperation into hope and sorrow into joy. Most of all, He turned fear into peace.”
Man what a powerful story. The disciples are locked in a room because of fear after Christ had died. The fear of being crucified, made fun of, and probably some of them felt as if “Did I waste a lot of my life following this man?”
But in the middle of that locked room. Jesus appears and says what he said earlier in John’s book. “Peace be with You”. So in your life today. There might be some areas that are completely locked down for fear or doubt or maybe even they are painful. But allow God to enter into those locked down areas.
Let Jesus Unlock your Love Lock Down today.
May Groove – LCD Soundsystem
I figured that I would begin a new thing here on jcisonline.com I know that in production you are looking for great grooves all the time. I will try and post one band every month that has some nice grooves you could use as a backtrack. Check out LCD Soundsystem this month. They have a new-age funk/electronica sound. Anyway I love them. Possible uses: stop motion, animation, time loop, etc. Great sound, lighthearted and cool beat. Check them out with the song below and find them on Amazon with the links below that.
Heart Tenderizers
how to grill the perfect steak, originally uploaded by Caribbean Pot.
Today as Mike Hepola our Family Pastor is leading us through Life Hurts, God Heals as a staff. A question stood out to me.
Is my heart tender or tough?
I love to grill. In fact, I am really really passionate about it and also pretty good at it. I have two dishes that I just love to make. Caribbean Jerk wings and Chilean Adobo Chicken. I am a Marinate the meat guy. I use rubs and spices and bastes and mops and sauces as well, but I always love the meat that is marinated the best.
The Adobo chicken that I make is incredibly simple, but full of flavor. It takes about 6 hours of marinade. Lime juice, Orange juice, the zest of both fruits, the spices, and also some secret spicy sauce are the flavors that are present in this crazy tasty dish.
It’s ridiculous the way the chicken is tenderized, filled with flavor and juice. It becomes incredibly different than the original boring piece of chicken.
I think that God desires for our hearts to be pliable and full of life. In fact this verse talks about that very thing.
“Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” Ezekiel 36:26 (NASB)
So be intentional about putting heart tenderizers in your life. Scripture, books, movies, music, and people that all tenderize your heart. That move your heart from tough to tender. From bland to full of passion and zest.
What are mine?
Hardball – the movie. Full of foul language from kids. Incredible message of being present in a kid’s life. I’ve watched this movie so many times and I have cried every single time that I watch it.
300- the movie. Fight for your country. Sacrifice for something that you believe in. Passing on a legacy
Roll of Thunder Hear my Cry – book about racism in the south. Written in a southern dialect and incredibly emotional. Story of an African American family in Mississippi, in the middle of the Great Depression. I’ve read this book about 7 times starting when I was in middle school.
Always had a place for me in my heart.
My Story – Da Truth. is very close to my testimony….except for the rapping part 
These are just a few of mine. Make a list of things that keep your heart tender. Work them into your life on a more regular basis.
What are some of your heart tenderizers?
Plan B Review
PlanB Promo from Cross Point Church on Vimeo.
Plan B by Pete Wilson is a book that I recently picked up to read as a part of booksneeze.com blog for books. I picked this book up, because I’m a huge Pete Wilson fan. He is the pastor of Crosspoint Church in Nashville, TN. He writes an awesome blog.
This book is one of the books that I had always thought about writing. I don’t have enough life experience for it to be really effective though. So I am so excited that you have a chance to pick this book up. Summary is easy. Pete says it on page 1,
“Do you remember the day you discovered your life wasn’t going to turn out quite the way you thought?”
Whether it be tragedy, circumstance, failure, or disappointment, sooner or later life takes a drastic turn from our Plan A. Pete desires to offer genuine, honest encouragement and doesn’t take the normal route of traditional Christians might when explaining real life.
I was continually impressed with how cordial Pete was in giving heartfelt encouragement to readers, who if they are in the middle of a Plan B situation, would certainly need. Discussion questions in the back were a huge asset for me to digest content and begin to ask myself tough questions. Really, really hope to see this in Small Group/Devotion format. This book combined with real talk of a person’s most intimate stories could bring small groups, families, and churches so much closer together.
One criticism from my point of view. Wish he would have fleshed out the Bible Stories a little more, but I’m a geek. I really would have loved to been more involved in the stories of those characters as he relates their Plan B’s to ours.
Awesome book and a great gift for someone whom is fighting thru their Plan B. I’m praying that God rocks some people with this book and that the church can face life in a new, exciting, supportive way.
You can find out more about Plan B, here at planbbook.com
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com <http://BookSneeze.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
Special Needs Ministry Resource
This is Josh Bradley and his son Dawson. Josh is one of my best friends and is starting a brand new church in Woodruff, SC. This post has nothing to do with that, even though you should definitely check it out here at elementwoodruff.org
Josh’s son Dawson has Trisomy 18. He has a wonderfully crazy story of God’s love for Him and Josh’s family as well. I am writing this blog for people who work in Special Needs Ministry or know someone who does. I am incredibly proud of the ministry that we have at Brookwood called Special Friends and the incredible work they do for families that have special needs children.
I want to echo something that my friend Josh says all the time. “Special Needs Kids are not Second String Kids”. And as such we should spend the time to minister with excellence to them as well. And this resource that I ran across last week is geared towards helping out ministries for special needs children.
Amy Fenton Lee has started a blog called The Inclusive Church. If you know anyone who has a hand in special needs ministry, I am begging you to contact them today and point them to this resource. In the short time that it’s been available, the material has been ultra killer awesome! Seriously, it’s sort of ridiculous. I haven’t met or talked to Amy before but if you know her just let her know that there are a lot of people that are blessed by her work.
Keep it up Amy, your site rocks!
Don’t Be Afraid of Technology
I know that sometimes there is a fear to go out there and just search for advice. I mean honestly you don’t really even know me that well. But I want to encourage, go ask and connect with people on the interwebs… They have insight for you! Get it and digest it!
Here some places to get you started:
cmconnect.org (Children’s Ministry Community site)
psd.tutsplus.com (a few photoshop tutorials)
google.com/reader (rss feeder. if you don’t know what this is, this is where I would start)
twitter.com (make sure you signup and follow me twitter.com/jcisonline)
And here’s some sites that are my favorites from ministry world!
r04r.com (by @mattmckee)
My buddies 3amjosh.com and aaronlewis.wordpress.com
Church Crunch and all of their other sites!!
Start today and find some people to answer the many questions that you have about ministry and life and technology. Don’t be afraid. Jump in head first!
Everyone Communicates, Few Connect by John Maxwell Review
I picked up Everyone Communicates, Few Connect by John C. Maxwell in hopes of improving my ability to start relationships, deepen relationships, and also connect with others in a much deeper way. John Maxwell wrote this book to help others learn how to truly connect in a relationship with other people. He starts the book with 5 principles for connecting with others and concludes with 5 pratices to help give you some tactical things when connecting with others.
While I am a huge John Maxwell fan, his more recent books have seemed like more of the same leadership nuggets that we all know him for, however this title is different. It is both principle oriented and yet gives you things that you can do tangibly today. I was thrilled as I was reading to really understand the depth of preparation and time that John took in preparing not only meaningful connecting principles but also clear and concrete ways of becoming a connector today. He comes from a place of influence and lets you into what he is thinking as he prepares to speak to an audience or an individual. If you are in ministry then you know it’s all about relationships, I think this book is a must have on your bookshelf.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com <http://BookSneeze.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
3 people you should strive not to be on Twitter
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
