First Time

This morning was my first time speaking to my new middle school group.  I think it went well.  All I did was talk about myself.  I covered my basic rules, what they need to know about me, and what I'm going to do for them.  They seemed to respond well.  Lots of laughs, which is what I was hoping for.  

Right now I'm just trying to get them to like me and trust me.  Then hopefully I can give them Biblical truth and they might actually try to implement it in their lives.  JM

Public Speaking

So on Guy Kawasaki's blog he posted 15 tips from a friend of his on how to improve your public speaking skills. It's really helpful to check out with a lot of advice on keeping your audience engaged. JM

WOW

Man, what an awesome time my wife and I had. We went to New York City, and absolutely loved it. She wants to move there now. I would love to move there, too, but I wonder if she would like it in the middle of winter or in the dead of summer. It's so amazingly connected with mass transit. I love the idea of walking everywhere or taking the train.
Sunday also went well. It was great to see people respond, even though it didn't feel like a normal mother's day message.
I'll post more about our trip and about Sunday tomorrow. JM

Mother's Day Message

This message that I'm working on for Mother's Day is tough. I just feel so constrained. I don't know how to get to an impassioned point when I feel like I have to say that I love mothers and we all should be grateful for them.
I'm kind of just saying screw that and talking about how mother's should be.
I'm also finding lots of asides that don't really fit into my message, but they are funny thoughts, so I'm extremely tempted to share them during my message.
I always picture this invisible door when I speak. Through the door are random tangential stories that come to mind when I'm speaking. I'm always tempted to open the door and share the story, but I know a lot of times it will kill people's focus. I think doing it sometimes keeps things fresh and authentic. Plus it really helps me share what I'm thinking of. It might not always be the best thing, so I really try to limit it, but it's fun to go through that door. JM

Mother's Day Idea

Song - That I Would Be Good - Alanis Morissette
Okay, so what if the main goal of the message was to talk about how women want to be seen as successful and perfect and they try to hide all of their flaws.
Some stuff to use could be the opening of Desperate Housewives where the lady talks about how perfect her life seemed and then she kills herself.
People desire to be seen as having no imperfections. Women especially. Botox, makeup, hair dye.
The point is that it's not these things that make us good. We can have the seemingly perfect life and be unsuccesful, and we can have the seemingly worst life and be successful. It all matters what we do with Jesus.
I'd love to use that Alanis song. I might have to change a few words, but nobody would ever know. I just wouldn't want to cheese it up, or anything. The problem would be getting it played well and finding someone that could sing it with the right amount of passion, rawness and being able to get that high. JM

Mother's Day Message

I'm supposed to speak at both of our worship services on Sunday, May 13. I love being able to speak. I always have tons of good ideas.
But not this time. It's mother's day, and I'm basically relegated to doing something heart-warming about mother's. I'm just completely coming up blank on what to talk about. I'm really praying about it that God would give me a creative idea. JM

Concert Of Prayer

Tonight we had a concert of prayer at my church for our building campaign that we are starting. Basically it's a group prayer meeting with some music. We broke up the prayer into ACTS - Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication. Our pastors each had a different letter. My letter was C - Confession.
Kind of a tough assignment for me since I like to use so much humor. At the last minute I actually decided to start with kind of a joke because the person that did Adoration was a lot more lighthearted than I was going to be. My joke died a horrible death. I knew I shouldn't have done it.
I only got to talk for 2 minutes, but it was so much fun. I love doing that. I prayed that God would use what I said to impact people, and I really think that he did. I can't remember the exact number, but at least 8 people said something to me about how well I did.
I don't mention that to be like "Wow, I'm awesome" or anything, but I do think that God is using these opportunities that I have to prepare me to move to being a teaching/senior pastor.
At the end, one lady asked me if I was sure that God hadn't called me into preaching. I didn't really respond, but I'm beginning to really believe that he has. I just pray that God can use the gifts that he's given me to do immeasurably more than all I can ask or imagine. JM