In the Year 2009

Part of good leadership is good planning. I'm trying to get better at both. I've started working on the calendar for 2009. In the past I've set a few days or a week aside to plan the next year. This year I'm going to try to stay a year ahead all the time. Instead of planning being an event, I'm going to try to make it an on-going process. The 2009 calendar is provided at the bottom of the page. It isn't finished. From now on the calendar will always be a work in progress. Check it out!

WNI 11-19-08 Strange Noises From Speakers and other places. . .

Last night presented a multitude of distractions which made me miss the Sanctuary and the separate WNI services for the JH & HS. We will all be together for December so the Kids' & Adult Choirs can use the Sanctuary for their Christmas productions.

We had several glitches from the sound & video equipment. For some reason my computer froze right before the service started and we lost all the song lyrics. We had to enter them on the fly. Then Travis stood right in front of the projector. No one could read the words. At one point Rexx and Larry came on stage while Travis was playing and singing and moved his music stand and mic stand out of the way. Travis' reaction was hilarious. You had to be there. Then our sound system started to make this weird static noise. I just had to shut it down. Did I mention I miss the Sanctuary?

To add to the technical distractions, one of our students had some issues controlling his body a couple times. I had asked everyone to focus their thoughts and attention on God. I just began praying for the worship set. Then I hear this awful sound from my left. It was an unmistakable noise which filled the room. Everyone heard it. I knew it can only be one thing, but I tried to ignore it. Then the snickers come. Then the laughs. One of our students had farted and the focus was gone. I really had no idea how to end the prayer. He did the same thing again during the time of response. This time I didn't laugh.

Despite the distractions we had a good night. Steve Lynch did a good job closing up our series called FORWARD MOTION. He talked about the importance of celebrating the steps we take in our faith. At the end of the night we all had a opportunity to share a step we have taken which we can celebrate and a step we need to take. We wrote them on paper footprints. I wish we had another week to give students and aduls a chance to share their steps outloud.

Soles4Souls Campaign

We ended our Soles4Souls campaign yesterday. It was a great success. Here are the totals:

1st Place--Adult Leaders--110 pairs of shoes--thanks Larry!

2nd Place--Freshmen & Sophomores--34 pairs of shoes

3rd Place--Junior High--15 pairs of shoes

4th Place--Juniors & Seniors--13 pairs of shoes

We also received another 306 pairs of shoes from the church and Hope House!

Special thanks to Amy, Charlie, Zach, Racheal, Katie, Breanna, Patricia, Ben, Tim, and anyone else I forgot who banded, counted, & boxed up the shoes.