This past weekend Gary (My Sr. Pastor) and I went to a Young Adult Summit where we presented and spoke about Th3 Waters and Young Adults. I thought I would put up the Power Point Presentation.
Creating Community from Nothing Presentation
Well, 1st up my 2nd hernia surgery went just fine and I am healing up good. I still can not lift anything over 10 lbs (i know I know, how will I be able to go to the bathroom? ha ha ha) for around a month, but other than that the pain only shows up if I twist a wrong way or bend over too far and I feel it, but I am not taking any pain meds, so I think I am in good shape as long as I listen to Tiffany and not lift anything over 10lbs.
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OK, on to the main topic I wanted tolet everyone know about. I have teamed up with a local internet start-up called photrade here in Cincy, that allows me to upload my photos, keep them safe (by putting a copyright watermark on them), and they even seel my photos for me!!! any photo that is a part of my photos on the site is available to purchase. And, you can buy just the photos (at practically ANY size!) but you can buy the photo to be on mugs, hats, shirts, etc… even to buy an electronic version of it, as well. Anyway, I just wanted to make evryone aware of the fact that now you can view the photos at very large sizes on my Flickr page as always, but now you can also purchase them for yourself, friends, or family! I just wanted to make everyone aware of the possibility. oh and the website shares the ad revenue from the site, so if your viewing my photo nd then click on the ads, I might get to see a few pennies from your clicking. anyway here is the link to my Photrade site:
Thanks and have a wonderful day! oh and I guess if you want to see a few of my latest photos. Tiffany and I just got back from our 10 year wedding anniversary and we went to Pipestem State Park Resort in West Viginia. I fo course took photos and so, here you go:
Here is the link to my photos (and a few samples)
(cool logo Carl…or who ever made it!)
Hey everyone here is a great link to summarize a few of the sessions and a few power points from the sessions at the event!
http://emergingumc.blospot.com
if you just want the MP3s/podcasts then go here:
This is a freaking awesome site and podcast BTW! (love ya Carl!)
And I think this is the first official podcast with my voice in it! So enjoy!
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I think this is a FREAKING cool logo:
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OK, Tiffany and I were in Michael’s the other day and I just had to buy these:
There will not be any question as to the gender this year of our Christmas Tree! Can’t wait to hang them!
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Oh and this one has a great story behind it!…As some of you know, I was at an “emergingumc: a gathering” event in Nashville, TN this past weekend! It was great and a fun time was had by all!
Now a few of you need some background on this picture. The unofficial headquarters of most of the world wide denomination of the United Methodist Church is found in Nashville. And the building that we had all of our sessions and discussions in was the General Board of Discipleship of the entire United Methodist Church. (GBOD for short). The building that the beer truck is parked in front of is this building! It was so funny that i just had to get a picture of it!
(now, please know that the truck was unloading across the street to a restaurant, and NOT to the GBOD, but it was too classic of a statement!) God bless yall, and KUTPs!!!
Well, I leave tomorrow morning @ 7:15 am for Guatemala…so please keep us all in your prayers/thoughts as well as the people God desires for us to minister to. Thank you all for making this trip a reality and possible! Now it is time for yall to all kick up the prayers a notch! Thanks and God bless yall!
I promise that there will be many stories to come after I get back!…I might try to blog while gone, but if not i will try to make up for it..and I can’t wait to show yall the pictures! KUTPs!!!
Oh and if any of you have time..call Tiffany, I am sure she could use the company! Thanks!
So four of us jump into our car and travel up to the northern side of Cinci. to go watch a preview showing of Harry Potter! The ticket says: 12:10am 07/10/07….now to me that looks like the show is going to be LAST NIGHT!!!! Well, nope the theater is filled with either VERY worng computers or wrong employees! I went yesterday morning to go buy the tickets to the show (that I thought was last night) and the girl told me after I clarified several times that the movie was tonight (last night) and she said with another employee beside her that, “Yes it is tonight..it even says here on the ticket,” she says! So I drove twice in one day all the way up to northern Cinci for very little excitement…so guess what…yep, we get to go back tonight to get to see the movie that Tiffany is dieing to watch! Ouch! Oh well, So, pray for us to be able to make it back up there without killing a theater employee!
This is the shirt that will do the speaking for you when you travel… at least the necessities, heh. just point at the item you need (hotel, money exchange, hospital, food, etc…) and then the question mark and your off, heh. Here is the link to the site that has the shirt explained:
1st off…. Thank you soooo much to everyone who has helped make this Kingdom Event a reality! Your financial and prayer support is amazing, and beautiful to witness God’s love flowing through you all!
Financial support update! We are have way there! Woo hoo! I have got a total of $755!!!! Woo hoo! Thank you all so much and if you would like to still give please fell free to give via the PayPal button over there on the right for a non-tax deductible gift…or you can send me a check, and if you do want to make sure that your gift is tax deductible please send me (Florence UMC, 8585 Old Toll Road, Florence, KY 41042) or to Vineyard Central (Vineyard Central, 1757 Mills Avenue, Norwood, OH 45212) a check made out to Vineyard Central and make sure no matter how you give to put on the check in the memo line that it is a gift for D.G. Hollums’ mission trip to Guatemala. Thank you all so much!
So want to know what we will be ding? Here is a few thoughts from those that are getting everything ready:
“We are so excited that you will be making the journey to Guatemala in just a few short weeks! Sarah and I have been working hard to make sure this will be an unforgettable experience. In this email you will find a tentative schedule of the week, some ideas for packing, and a couple of questions we will need your response on immediately in order for us to make reservations.
First let me give you an idea of what you will be doing while you’re here. Guatemala is a country ravaged by violence, and just got out of a civil war only a little over a decade ago. There are so many broken families, resulting in a ton of gangs, specifically the 18th Street Gang and the MS-13. Part of our work will be to observe the work of the prison chaplaincy that Joel Van Dyke organizes and find ways to support them. We will also spend a good portion of time in La Limonada, one of the poorest neighborhoods in Guatemala. An amazing woman named Tita Evertsz started a school in La Limonada after spending several years doing gang ministry and seeing so many gang members being killed. Her work now is to try to prevent new gang members, and La Limonada is one of the biggest places gangs recruit in Guatemala. We firmly believe that some of the greatest kingdom work going on in Guatemala is with Tita and Joel. We will likely tackle a work project in La Limonada as a way to support Tita, either in the school itself or possibly by blessing one of her teachers with a bathroom in their home. I will be able to give you more information about our project shortly.”
And here is the tentative schedule:
July 17- Arrive in Guatemala at 12:35pm, drop off luggage and head to Antigua for dinner.
July 18- Begin project in La Limonada
July 19- Finish project in La Limonada, visit Amor Del Nino in late afternoon/evening.
July 20- Visit gang prison in morning, climb Pacaya Volcano with gang Chaplains in afternoon, dinner with Chaplains
July 21- Free Day which could include Antigua markets, another visit to La Limonada, or Mayan ruins.
(The rest is still being planned.)”
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So, as yall can see we will have our hands full, but we are all getting very excited about the trip! please continue your prayers and support! Grace and peace to yall and don’t forget: KUTPs!!!
Well I was enjoying the blog of my good friend Markus: StreachyChurch and saw this video called Mr. Diety…and here it is just incase you want to watch it:
(Disclaimer: This theology is WAY OFF, but man this really is funny. The old guy is God (the Father) the young guy is Jesus, and Larry is Holy Spirit)
So, then I found this video that some one shot @ Lake Louise where Tiffany and I went on our honeymoon…and man this made me miss being able to be with my wife for longer than just a date night here and there:
Anyway and it got me thinking…. I just got off the phone with another friend Aaron (disclaimer: he has not updated in a long time), and I was talking about the importance of Sabbath (and we talked about this in staff today too @ Florence UMC) and I realized that Tiffany and I have not been on vacation since we graduated from Seminary. All the vacation time that we build up during the year we take during Christmas and New year to spend with our families. and while i love that time…it really is not necessarily a true vacation. And to be honest, planting a church and being a part of a traditional church at the same time is a very tiring and time consuming thing. I really think that I need a vacation. But even if we did carve out a time for a vacation, we would not have any money to take one. It is just frustrating and honestly we do not see any sabbath or vacation time in the future. Plus moving and Tiffany starting up a new job is not helping anything either. but i am really sensing that I and we need some good marriage vacation time. We have talked about in the past going to Walt Disney World before we adopt/have kids and then get to save up and go back with kids….and we have also kicked around the idea of going with other couples on vacation together…kind of like a Sr. trip with adult married friends…and how much fun that would be….but then all of our dreams are dashed against jagged rocks when we look at our lives, and lack of funds…. anyway…just talking out loud here… and if you feel the same way a little bit….. I would say just go for it… really be intentional and start saving up now and set a desired date to go and work for it…. you deserve it….and Lord knows I will try to join you and take some of my own advice. love yall and God bless!!! KUTPs!!!!
Well, yesterday during lunch time Scott and I went out for a photo shoot. Scott is an amazing photographer and since I love photography…I decided to go with him every month or so and we go around the area to take pictures of different places and things. Yesterday we went to the Cincy Krohn Conservatory ad saw all the great plants and flowers they had…one entire section was closed so they could change it around for the seasons…but I still had a ton of fun and Scott is great company! So here are a few of the pictures I took, if you want to see more than just go to my Flickr photos over there on the right side of my blog and you can view them all….
Here is the waterfall…I took this one without a tripod which is why the greenery around te water is a little blurry too, but the water came out great.
The orchid room was amazing…it was not very big…but man those flowers are great!
Here is looking up a tree….. I loved the texture on the bark of the tree and just had to get a shot of it…and of course I love looking at things differently, so I decided looking up would be fun.
Barrel Cactus…. very cool cactus and just loved the shape. Ironic the shape is pleasing but the spikes are not, heh.
Not sure the name of the succulent plant, but I just loved the Black and White version of this one. The black tips came out great and the design of it is great!
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Well, Tiffany and I went to a meeting yesterday and when I went to check my pocket PC (PPC) the screen was fried and I could not see anything on it… so the piece of tech that held my contacts, calendar, (a few games), and tons of notes and tasks is now officially dead! So, I will be attempting to see if I can get by with just using my laptop for all those items…but it just will not be as convenient to get a telephone number, enter a date, etc… Maybe I can hold out for PPCs to get cheaper when the iPhone comes out, heh… anyway…it is dead…and I will get to change the way I work a little bit…but who knows this might be a blessing in disguise.
Oh here are a few pictures that I had laying around my Flickr that I meant to put up here, but just never have until now….
Here is a photo that my friend Scott shot of me for our church directory. They wanted a photo of us while at work, so we went to a local Starbucks and I thought this one was probably my favorite.
Here are a few more (this is mainly for my Mom….please do not think that I like to see my own photo…i hate it actually which is why I love photography…. most of te time you are not in yor own pictures, heh
Here is a Buffalo mounted at the Longhorn Steak house in the shopping center that the Friday night OG meets… I thought I would grab a shot of it.
Now this is a cool lamp I saw @ Lowe’s! Man it looks and moves like a robot (not on it’s own sadly), but what a cool lamp to have on a geek’s desk!
lastly, here is Jedi Halo! Halo loves to get the covers under his nose and lift them over and over again until he is under them and comfortable…I took this shot when he decided to emerge from them in the morning.
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Well, yall have a wonderful weekend, God bless ya, and take care! KUTPs!!!
