tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27409338095550863912012-01-04T06:51:51.846-08:00renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.comBlogger2591100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-84157934305551437372012-01-03T10:22:00.000-08:002012-01-03T10:23:02.379-08:00

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”” - Acts 1:8 ESV This is a picture of a hitching post. Most of you reading this blog have probably never seen one. What is remarkable about this hitching post is that it is installed at our Phelan campus, and these horses

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-82526184693285989372011-12-19T15:41:00.000-08:002011-12-19T15:41:45.827-08:00

I have been a fan of Apple for a long, long time. I have been running Mac OS X since March 24, 2001, in other words I installed it the day it was released. It ran slowly on my 400Mhz G3 (state of the art for the day) but it was worth it to be running the future, not the past. With every release, Mac OS X has gotten consistently better until 10.7. With Lion, Apple lost the story of what makes a

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-50068605090471299452011-12-05T11:18:00.001-08:002011-12-05T13:06:51.669-08:00

“It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night,” - Psalms 92:1–2 ESV In September of 1620 the pilgrims landed in Massachusetts. What followed was a brutal winter in which about half of them died. The remaining people set about making a colony, and after a successful harvest they

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-10821514203988710692011-11-25T08:37:00.001-08:002011-11-25T08:56:24.559-08:00

A friend of mine asked me to help him buy a tv this week. We went to Best Buy and to Costco to learn what we could and find the right choice in his budget. After talking with people and looking at the various choices, we settled on an LG tv from costco. We talked with an incredibly informative guy at costco who had great information on all of the TV's, but he was partial to LG's. He made a big

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-88570900272321494772011-11-02T10:27:00.000-07:002011-11-02T10:27:28.311-07:00

A couple of years ago we pulled the plug on the tv for the month of November. It was a great month. I read more than I had in the six months prior, listened to more music and found that life was just better. The kids discovered other hobbies and passions, and by and large it was a good thing. Last time we did it we wanted to see what life was like with no television at all. It was good. This

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-44785728629962291052011-10-25T14:32:00.000-07:002011-10-25T14:53:46.994-07:00

I have a few friends who have been reading Atlas Shrugged and I realized that I've never read anything by Ayn Rand. I was in a used bookstore and I found a copy of Anthem for $2 and decided to pick it up to see what all of the fuss was about. It's an earlier work and rather short, but I quite enjoyed the first 90 pages or so. Basically the story is set in a post apocalyptic society that is all

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-21971880912864877692011-10-14T11:12:00.000-07:002011-10-14T11:13:34.260-07:00

Although RefreshCache is generally a meeting of Arena developers, this year two guys that work on BVCMS were invited to present as well. This provided me with a great opportunity to see bvcms and ask questions of Dave Carroll who is the primary driver behind bvcms and the owner of bvcms.com, an organization offering hosting, service and support for bvcms. BVCMS was the internal database project

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-86121742583302336842011-10-11T23:32:00.000-07:002011-10-11T23:32:59.396-07:00

It's almost midnight on Tuesday, and RefreshCache is officially over. RefreshCache was an opportunity to rub shoulders with and learn from the collective wisdom of over 30 individuals representing eighteen of the finest churches in the country. When we talked about making it a requirement that you had to present to attend, we wondered if it would put a drag on attendance, and if people would

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-54327415912881276672011-10-10T15:04:00.000-07:002011-10-10T15:36:28.968-07:00

We are in Gilbert, AZ for refreshcache 2011. This is the third year for this gathering, put on by our friends at Central Christian Church. The purpose of refreshcache is to encourage and motivate developers in the area of Church Management Software, mostly centered around Arena. We also had a presentation from David Carroll on bvcms, a product that I have not yet written up on this site. More to

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-5740928539596166142011-10-05T17:01:00.000-07:002011-10-05T17:01:04.091-07:00

In 1981 or so I used a computer for the first time. It was an Apple ][. Soon thereafter I was exposed to the TI 99/4a, the Atari 800 and even the cheapest computer of the era, the Timex Sinclair 1000. At the time it was just exciting to use a computer, any computer at all. I had no idea that thirty years later I would still be using Apple products. The Apple II was the product of the genius of

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-21682016595258368612011-09-30T09:36:00.000-07:002011-09-30T09:37:53.409-07:00

If you are using iPads for check-in or in other manners in your church, there is a good chance you have lots of them that you need to keep charged. This device can make that job a lot simpler. In our case, one of our staff members maintains our iPads every week, cleaning them and plugging them in to be sure they are fully charged. We rarely sync them because they only use safari, but

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-75080743188672227762011-09-12T08:43:00.000-07:002011-09-12T10:27:13.184-07:00

Even before the book was released (?) people were asking me what I thought about Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived. There was a lot of controversy about this book, and people who know I like Rob continually tried to engage me in conversation about the book. I declined to engage until I'd actually read it. Weirdly, after the book was released, people

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-85249274365771698492011-09-08T08:06:00.000-07:002011-09-08T08:06:26.748-07:00

last night it was green and chunky! Our youth team put on a fantastic yearly kickoff last night. Hundreds of kids were there to see the show, participate in worship, and hear a challenge from a great speaker. The night began with a video created by the youth team that kicked of the live event. In the video the team is riding horses, and to tie it all together we had a horse on stage. While not

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-1524167287325901582011-08-24T17:23:00.000-07:002011-08-24T17:23:26.931-07:00

A friend and I were discussing our educational experiences today. We were discussing the general lackadaisical nature of elementary and secondary school, vs. the much better experience we had in college. It got me thinking about how much of the benefit we gain from education is determined by our own motivation and attitude. Until you've graduated from high school you are pretty much forced to

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-21467869937288688662011-08-08T14:04:00.000-07:002011-08-08T14:05:22.811-07:00

This is one of the greatest videos I have ever seen. Elevation church baptized 1426 people this past weekend. It's always good to step back from our roles from time to time and remember why we do what we do. This video expresses it in a nutshell: changed lives. Follow from Elevation Church on Vimeo.

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-31390144790339359872011-08-05T15:38:00.000-07:002011-08-05T15:38:16.553-07:00

In this excellent article John Foley asked the question about cloud computing: Where is the revenue? There are some pretty big surprises when you look at the real reported numbers. Amazon bundles AWS revenue into a category they call "other" and it is nothing like the $25 billion number that gets bandied about. The same is true for all of the big players. If this is the "next big thing" then why

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-68236183362104649902011-08-01T10:37:00.000-07:002011-08-01T10:37:24.798-07:00

I have had some questions about how exactly this works and what the ramifications are. I've put together a little screen capture that demonstrates the problem in detail. We have tested this with both Snow Leopard Server and Lion Server. Watch this video and you will see exactly what the problem is: Lion Dataloss on Servers What needs to happen is that Apple needs to change the API for versions

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-61755352910064271582011-07-29T16:05:00.000-07:002011-07-29T16:05:35.014-07:00

So I've had a bit of a rough go of getting Lion up and running this week, but I am now running Lion on my desktop, and my Laptop is about half setup. As we've begun testing, we have encountered a bug/feature that is a total showstopper for us at this point. Here's how you replicate it. (1) Place a photo on a server. For us, this is where we recommend people keep important files. Their desktop

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-68656330675234755422011-07-19T16:42:00.000-07:002011-07-19T16:42:10.026-07:00

Tomorrow I expect to receive a text. It will be from my cousin, wanting to know if he should spend the money to upgrade to Lion. It will be the first time of many I will have the conversation over the coming weeks. At $29 it's an easier upgrade than the old $129 prices we used to pay. Still, it's worth looking at what Lion will bring. First up is a pretty significant upgrade to Address Book.

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-87113553808502674472011-07-19T16:22:00.000-07:002011-07-19T16:22:38.303-07:00

A major upgrade to Mac OS X comes out tomorrow. If you are considering upgrading, here's what you should know: The first BIG thing about Lion you should know is that Rosetta is no more. This means that any and all PowerPC apps you have will no longer work. This is not a big deal to some, but if you run Quicken or Canvas, this could be a deal killer. The very first thing you should do before

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-42789349067873800112011-07-18T16:06:00.000-07:002011-07-18T16:06:41.608-07:00

Apple announced the App Store Volume Purchase program for businesses. This is great, as it's something that is a hindrance to use of apps in the enterprise and even for organizations like ours. However, the announcement, as with many business-centric announcements lately, provides more questions than answers. If I read it right, it means that I can buy as many copies of an app as I want and I

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-85762268834419453502011-07-08T17:14:00.000-07:002011-07-08T17:14:13.263-07:00

I've been listening to the webinar (despite the fact that I general despise the things) about the acquisition of ConnectionPower by ActiveNetwork. The short version: ConnectionPower has been acquired by ActiveNetwork and the distinct strengths of ConnectionPower will be integrated into FellowshipOne. There was one question that was asked during the webinar that really caught my attention,

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-51515303651162881652011-07-05T09:24:00.000-07:002011-07-05T09:24:16.357-07:00

I received an email today that ConnectionPower has been acquired by ActiveNetwork. If this sounds familiar it's because these are the same guys who snatched up FellowshipOne a few months back. While I'd never heard of ActiveNetwork before they bought F1, it's pretty clear they want to be a major presence in the church management software space. According to the announcement on CP's site, the "

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-24280591600151707122011-06-28T11:20:00.000-07:002011-06-28T11:20:31.964-07:00

Who needs social networking when facebook and twitter have it all wrapped up right? After many false starts, it seems like Google has come up with some really cool ideas of how to make it better. Dubbed Google+ they have done some great forward thinking about how social networking should look and how to do it. See the tour here. The first good idea is circles. The idea here is simple: You don't

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-67707519873512425302011-06-21T15:39:00.000-07:002011-06-21T15:41:41.173-07:00

One of the most desirable aspects of our check-in system is that check-in works on iPads. More churches talk to us about our check-in for this feature than any other. The question that always has to be answered though is how to secure them. Our production director found these: Made by a company called ipadikiosk.com, they answer the question of how to secure ipads for use in a public location.

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-82888017829000448132011-06-07T10:35:00.000-07:002011-06-07T10:35:19.914-07:00

I have 506 messages in my inbox, and 495 of them have send dates of May 26 or later. How does this happen? I don't think any of them are spam, so the rest require attention of some kind. The issue is always the tyranny of the urgent. In this case I've done a wedding, rebuilt servers, upgraded our bible software and trained our teaching pastors on it (far more work than it sounds), presented a

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-41728229181814031052011-05-16T11:02:00.000-07:002011-05-29T09:30:49.677-07:00

Yesterday I went to Rancho Motors, the local Chevrolet dealer (Rancho Motor Company) and picked up their demo Volt for a 24 hour trial (21 because I picked it up around 4 and returned it around 1 the next day). It was charged, and claimed an electric range of 35 miles. I set the AC in "eco" mode and headed out of the dealership for the drive home, a distance of about 13 miles. When I got home the

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-41608768882108302212011-05-11T13:05:00.000-07:002011-05-13T13:49:09.110-07:00

As I mentioned in my last post, we're in the market for an electric car. I specified why in my last post and it was mostly financial. But I have a few other thoughts to add: Every person I've talked to has tried to talk me out of this (I'm not convinced myself yet either). Every person. Think about that. Have you ever talked to someone about buying a car and had every single person try to talk

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-15659816638698066512011-05-01T10:02:00.000-07:002011-05-08T12:39:59.778-07:00

why can't I buy one? The Nissan Leaf is advertised EVERYWHERE. On tv, in magazines, on the internet, it's hard to get away from. The Nissan Leaf is an all electric car that is reasonably cheap ($25K or so after rebates) and seats four. But try to buy one. Go ahead. They opened up a US pre-order signup process over a year ago (only open to certain geographic areas), and it was instantly

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-54067595334806716642011-04-17T11:36:00.000-07:002011-04-17T11:37:11.534-07:00

In a presentation at Catalyst a few years ago, Guy Kawasaki talked about the ice market. The ice market long ago consisted of companies that cut up and shipped ice to consumers. This was big and expensive, and required a ship and a long trip to an area where there was lots of ice. As technology improved, it became possible to make ice in a giant warehouse, rather than taking a ship to a very cold

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-76265185928396921152011-04-04T10:18:00.000-07:002011-04-04T10:18:09.164-07:00

In a rare spur of the moment buy, I picked up Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything from the "Amazon Recommends" suggestions. The title intrigued me, and it seems like my memory has gotten worse over the years, and frankly I'd like to have some of that back... When I was younger I relied a lot on my memory. In college I didn't take notes, I listened and

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-25641572214917077652011-03-11T10:35:00.000-08:002011-03-11T10:35:33.077-08:00

In February Fellowship Technologies was acquired by ActiveNetwork. Rather than just speculate on what this means for FellowshipOne, I asked Jeff Hook, CEO & Founder of Fellowship Technologies, if he would be willing to answer questions about this significant development in the church management software market. He graciously agreed.  I broke my questions into three areas, and limited it to

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-83688575784817266612011-03-08T16:01:00.000-08:002011-03-08T16:09:44.223-08:00

Today I learned that Active Network has acquired FellowshipOne. The first thing you should do is read the press release here. They are saying all the right things, the kind of things that are always said at acquisitions, but I have very serious reservations about this. I'm trying to think of a single product that has gotten better through acquisition for the userbase. The first thing that came

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-73719442479945426042011-03-08T11:03:00.000-08:002011-03-08T11:03:27.069-08:00

This last week has been one of the most difficult weeks of our lives due to some family circumstances beyond our control. Today I decided to take the Subaru to work. I opened the sunroof, put on Jack Johnson, and enjoyed the drive. I must have looked silly with a giant grin on my face, but it was such a wonderful experience. Particularly when we are in crisis it's all too easy to allow that to

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-6679212019344144532011-02-13T10:06:00.000-08:002011-02-13T10:06:45.556-08:00

I came across this article today: 4 Star General, 5 Star Grace, and two things really stood out to me. The first was one of sadness: Not to minimize the actions of General Chiarelli, as they were stellar, but this article brings home the lack of civility in our society. The second thing was that this, once again, the teachings of Jesus are no less relevant today than they were in the first

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-35384679123541103952011-01-31T10:25:00.000-08:002011-01-31T10:25:15.022-08:00

On January 7, I had an empty inbox for the first time since I could remember. How does my inbox look at the end of the month? Well, see for yourself: I admit, it has become a little bit of an obsession to keep it empty, but the end result is that the things I need to accomplish today are all on my to-do list. It also encourages me to get things done because I write my to-do list by

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-41109389801028312602011-01-23T10:49:00.001-08:002011-01-23T10:51:26.346-08:00

Recently it seems like every movie worth seeing is being touted in 3D. The reason for this is simple: they can charge more for a 3D ticket and people are willing to pay it. But is it worth it? Does 3D really add anything to a movie or is it just a gimmick?When you talk about 3D the first movie that comes up is Avatar. I enjoyed Avatar, and the 3D added tremendously to the whole experience.

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-9868764782762181642011-01-07T16:21:00.000-08:002011-01-07T16:21:39.551-08:00

I do a lot via email. It's the very nature of my job. After spam is filtered out, I get somewhere between 100 and 200 emails a day. With that kind of volume its very easy to get behind, and when you get too far behind on emails things fall through the cracks. I have, in trying to get caught up from time to time, found emails that should have been dealt with weeks ago. It's difficult to get

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-5784787011869313202010-12-29T19:14:00.000-08:002010-12-29T19:14:28.198-08:00

We went to see this today as a family with my parents, my sister and her kids. Taking ten people to a movie is always an adventure, but we pulled it off and even got there on time! The movie was presented in 3D, which is mostly pointless with a movie filmed in 2D, but it did add a nice sense of depth to the picture. At first though it makes everything feel rather unreal, which I don't care for.

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-29018656365854861372010-12-13T17:21:00.000-08:002010-12-13T17:21:25.955-08:00

My daughter suggested we go to church on Saturday night this week, and so we did. This provided the opportunity for all of us to be home yesterday with nothing on the agenda.  Feeling festive, I decided to put on some Christmas music. I fired up the xbox and browsed the music collection on the attached hard drive (some years ago we imported all of our CD's into iTunes, and I put those files on a

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-39694331359375790122010-11-24T09:22:00.000-08:002010-11-24T09:22:08.653-08:00

I don't watch a lot of movies, but this is one that I was interested in from the first time I saw the trailer. Denzel Washington plays a survivor in a post apocalyptic world. I'm not sure why these type of movies have such an appeal to me, but I always am fascinated by them. What makes this movie unique, is that he is a devout follower of God, who is on a mission to take the last surviving bible

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-46529198075311542812010-11-08T09:59:00.000-08:002010-11-08T10:00:18.317-08:00

We first floated this idea in June, and after a few snags (for example, Zebra's wireless printers don't work on wireless, go figure) we went live with check-in for our second campus this weekend. Our check-in station consists of: (1) Network in a Box (soon to be replaced with network in a brick) (2) An old G4 laptop to be used for entering new families and correcting information (3) Three

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-10581032017669537482010-10-30T13:11:00.000-07:002010-10-30T13:11:46.053-07:00

I turned 39 today. As I was out walking with Jacob (nearly a five mile walk, woohoo!), I started to reflect a bit on how different each ten year period of life has been. In my first decade we lived in western New York, outside of the city of Rochester. We also traveled a lot, spending a year in Pittsburgh, a year on Yap, and taking long trips to Brazil, Guatemala, and England. I enjoyed my

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-77535132353246951332010-10-01T10:53:00.000-07:002010-10-01T10:57:39.605-07:00

I've been reading Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense by N.T. Wright for a while now. A chapter on worship got me thinking about communion. I grew up going to a community church that was around the corner from my house. We walked to church every Sunday, and I have a lot of memories in that little white building. But my family roots are in the Grace Brethren denomination, and my

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-37234044214150261852010-09-30T13:43:00.000-07:002010-09-30T13:43:21.560-07:00

From time to time vendors come to me with ideas on how to outsource our operations using their products. Somehow it always seems to me like their solution to save money is to spend more money on their product. Needless to say I'm not a big fan. Many years ago I was part of a decision to outsource some of our custodial work. At the time we were promised many things, among them significant savings

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-43332303840582902452010-08-23T16:08:00.000-07:002010-08-23T16:08:06.128-07:00

I recently finished up reading Markings by Dag Hammarskjold. This book is not the type of book you can read quickly. This book requires you to read a bit and ponder, and then maybe read it again. I can usually read a book in one or two nights, I read this on and off for months. In fact I have blogged from it before, on contentment. This book contains verses, poetry, quick thoughts and

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-33695478668008734982010-08-19T15:57:00.000-07:002010-08-19T15:57:59.121-07:00

Church Management Software is not standing still, and in an effort to keep this blog up to date and useful to people who are reading it I try to follow new developments and write on them when they come up. A new player in the market that is not reflected anywhere in my work to this point is MinistryPlatform. While the name may seem a bit plain at first, as you will see it describes the product

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-70337679967667376622010-08-18T18:09:00.000-07:002010-08-18T18:09:19.772-07:00

This is my coffee mug. It was given to me by my friend Dathan Brown, who was on staff with me at the First Evangelical Free Church in Fullerton. Last week I was preparing to put it under the Saeco Magic for another glorious cup of coffee and I dropped it. It hit the ground and the handle broke off and shattered. I stood there and looked at it, and realized there is so much in common with this

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-12521915724974765552010-08-04T17:13:00.000-07:002010-08-04T17:13:07.599-07:00

The latest book to move from the "read soon" pile to the bookshelf is Making Ideas Happen by Scott Belsky. I picked this up because I saw it listed on Dan Kimballs blog as one of the "books by the bed" and it looked interesting. The thesis of this book is this: Vision is useless if you don't ship. Belsky does a great job of showing the importance of organization coupled with the creative

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-76113291751848035742010-08-01T11:04:00.000-07:002010-08-01T11:04:18.612-07:00

Drops Like Stars: A Few Thoughts on Creativity and Suffering is the latest book and tour by Rob Bell. I hadn't heard about this book when I ordered it, and I was quite surprised when it arrived. The book is big, something like 9x11 and beautifully illustrated. Yes, illustrated. It's hard to quantify exactly what category to put Drops like Stars in. It's a book, yes, but also a work of art. Think

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-85613571616392567322010-07-30T18:17:00.000-07:002010-07-30T18:17:03.737-07:00

Several years ago Tony Dye posted a blog musing about the lack of Innovative Church IT, and then developed a wish list for a ChMS. His comments were helpful in our search for a new database, and I wanted to step back and see how Arena today meets, or does not meet, the ChMS wish list Tony created. Note: Tony uses the term "CMS" which was more common in 2005, but was changed to avoid confusion

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-38627716267740793152010-07-27T17:37:00.000-07:002010-07-27T17:37:32.904-07:00

I've been trying to catch up on my reading (and my reviews) and recently finished Deep Church by Jim Belcher. In reading this book, I think it's important to understand a bit about who Jim Belcher is. Jim is a graduate of Fuller and Georgetown, and someone who included postmodernism in his doctoral thesis. This is key to me, as I believe Belcher has credibility in this area. A lot of people are

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-47058989914308605272010-07-23T15:49:00.000-07:002010-07-23T15:49:58.264-07:00

A while back Mark with BigBadCollab gave us a demo of ShadeTree. ShadeTree is a platform being developed that seeks to integrate church members into church life through social networking, spiritual formation, etc. In some ways ShadeTree could lead to a full blown ChMS at some point, but right now it's really meant to augment what you currently have in place. I was privileged to look "behind the

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-35559080210688575812010-07-22T18:01:00.000-07:002010-07-22T18:01:37.397-07:00

I am way behind on book reviews, so it's time to get caught up. The first book I read recently is Deliberate Simplicity. This book is written by Dave Browning, who is a friend of our senior pastor's. We read this book as a staff, and I expected a lot from it. Perhaps my expectations are part of why i was disappointed (a theme you will find repeats itself in this round of reviews). The book

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-9020986411811697022010-07-11T16:47:00.000-07:002010-07-11T16:47:02.670-07:00

Approximately 12,000 people attending HDC regularly. Approximately 7,000 programs stating the time and date of the business meeting distributed over two weekends. Approximately 5,000 adults in worship each weekend. Approximately 2,000 voting members. Exactly 0 non-board members or staff (or their immediate families) in attendance at our semi-annual business meeting. Wow. Joel

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-58228805658064682122010-06-24T08:32:00.000-07:002010-06-24T08:32:30.609-07:00

My last post has sparked a few questions that I thought were worth answering regarding some of the decision making on our kiosks. First up: I just read your 22 page essay on your check in build process. Did you give any thought to RF wireless keyboards? That would reduce the cabling spaghetti in the cabinet. The down side is batteries and the keyboard might disappear. I would hope that

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-91303548647257939962010-06-23T16:15:00.000-07:002010-06-23T16:15:03.037-07:00

If you follow this blog, you know that we implemented check-in at HDC last summer. In the fall I wrote up a long document explaining our process, as well as detailing the design and construction details for our kiosks. I realized today as I went to point someone to it that I never actually posted it here. Please click on the link below to read the PDF on how we implemented check-in at HDC.

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-69536820691747434322010-06-16T15:08:00.000-07:002010-06-16T15:36:44.254-07:00

Day one was about the community and what we (collectively) are working on. Day two was focused on Arena and what we, the community, think they should be working on. First off, props to Arena for involving us in this. It's not about saying "this is what I need, vote for me!" it's about the developer churches considering the needs of the community as a whole, and looking at what should be the

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-29884671251806125462010-06-14T20:14:00.000-07:002010-06-14T20:14:30.259-07:00

As part of the Arena developer churches program we are invited each year to the Arena Developer Roundtable. Last year we heard from CCV about their fork of the code to allow them to develop features without being concerned about the business case for their development priorities etc. One of my concerns was that without a church involved in the development of the core that Arena could lose their

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-11355694589743038062010-05-26T16:54:00.000-07:002010-05-26T16:54:21.932-07:00

I have been reading Markings by Dag Hammarskjold recently, and I came across this: He came with his little girl. She wore her best frock. You noticed what good care she took of it. Others noticed too--idly noticed that, last year, it had been the best frock on another little girl. In the morning sunshine it had been festive. Now most people had gone home. The balloon sellers were counting the

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-19471185392143674122010-05-25T09:36:00.000-07:002010-05-25T09:36:30.734-07:00

In 1984 we were visiting with my dad's aunt and uncle in San Jose, and my sisters and I decided to go to a movie. We went to see Dune. We were a little late. This is probably the worst movie ever to be a little late to as it was incomprehensible. People who weren't late had a hard time figuring out what was going on, and for us it was even worse. The saga of that movie is a sad one in which a

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-77635887353486218772010-05-10T13:25:00.000-07:002010-05-10T13:25:03.995-07:00

I don't generally post videos on my blog, so it's crazy weird that I have two in a row. Generally I don't like video. I read fast, and would rather skim an article and glean the information I want than sit through a video that forces me to take the information delivery at their pace, not mine. But sometimes video is extremely effective in communicating something that is hard to communicate in

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-54536414510561593802010-05-04T09:36:00.000-07:002010-05-04T09:36:00.325-07:00

I love it when kids are creative, and my friend's son did this video on lunchbreaks at school using only the built in webcam on his macbook. Enjoy!Joel

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-19975543552834627892010-03-25T13:20:00.000-07:002010-03-25T13:20:49.608-07:00

A group of scientists at Princeton University have released a study that shows that High Fructose Corn Syrup is bad for you, and makes you fat. What's worse, when compared with sugar, equal caloric intake of HFCS can result in weight gain where sugar does not. I've been distrustful of HFCS for a while now (wondering to myself if this has something to do with the huge rise in diabetes in this

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-48054851978579773132010-03-23T14:04:00.000-07:002010-03-23T14:05:48.834-07:00

NAB comes around every April in Las Vegas. It is the trade show for broadcasters, and covers everything from where to find a $5 cable to a news helicopter (considerably more than $5). When I first attended NAB it was very novel for churches to be there. Responses were usually along the lines of "You're with a church? And you want this switcher? Really?" as people tried to reconcile the idea of

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-10536667848145257472010-03-21T13:11:00.000-07:002010-03-21T13:11:15.259-07:00

Glen Thomas Dodge listed a Dodge Challenger on eBay, and apparently in updating the auction somebody screwed up and removed the reserve and the car sold for $29,100. This is an amazing deal for a popular, $45,000 car. Beyond amazing. Impossibly amazing. But an eBay bid is a contract, and after freaking out for a bit, Glen Thomas Dodge did the right thing. They honored the auction and sold the

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-436128750363781382010-03-05T08:08:00.000-08:002010-03-05T08:38:00.047-08:00

I grew up in western New York. About fifty miles from Buffalo. Needless to say snow, and lots of it, was part of my childhood. As a result, the winter sports were a big part of what we did. I think I went roller skating once as a kid. Ice skating? I went every chance I got. I loved it. Cross country skiing? Well, we didn't have to go far, that's for sure. We would walk out the back door onto the

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-69157687112273711912010-02-23T09:47:00.001-08:002010-02-23T10:01:33.375-08:00

Microsoft is running ads during the olympics talking about how awesome Windows 7 is. In one ad this ostensibly British woman talks about how she said Windows 7 should be easier, and she shows as proof the new task bar. I nearly died laughing. Here's a screenshot of windows 7:Now, there are several things that make this funny. First and foremost is the taskbar mentioned in the ad. This AMAZING new

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-88592308484361231392010-02-14T08:56:00.000-08:002010-02-14T09:27:08.556-08:00

This weekend was my daughter's birthday party. It's a sleepover involving no less than ten adolescent girls. As you might expect, I make it a point to be out of the house as much as possible...Every year I take Jacob and go to a movie during this event. This year I looked at the movie choices and it came down to The Tooth Fairy, The Spy Next Door, or The Lightning Thief. It seemed like The

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-1133658421333959462010-02-03T17:50:00.001-08:002010-02-03T18:01:33.242-08:00

I have an Xbox 360. It is a toy, but a fun toy. The kids and I love playing games on it. A few weeks ago I got the dreaded "Red Ring of Death" on the box. Thankfully, I am covered by the three year warranty for this exact problem. So I send it off to Microsoft. Their solution is simply to send us an already fixed box rather than making customers wait to have the machines fixed. Great, sounds

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-54757325575464540382010-01-14T17:57:00.001-08:002010-01-14T18:19:06.910-08:00

Haven't blogged much, but I've been about as busy as I can ever remember, which is probably why I haven't blogged much. I took a couple of weeks off at the end of December and came back to an absolute storm of work. One of my key volunteers was also critically injured in a car accident, and her husband was killed, so I've been squeezing in time to visit her in the hospital as well. Thankfully,

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-67896445256418430832009-12-24T14:48:00.000-08:002009-12-24T14:50:32.273-08:00

That's how many tickets we gave out for tonight's services. 12,600 tickets for six services. Our building only seats 2000 so we are counting on at least 20% not being used. It should be awesome. Glory to God in the Highest!Joel

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-31835452886708004972009-12-18T16:48:00.000-08:002009-12-18T16:50:54.538-08:00

I'm not surprised to hear the guy that started all of this say "I'm praying for you daily" because this is exactly the kind of thing we are called to do: think of others rather than ourselves. They may not know it, but each of the people that was involved in this saw a little glimpse of the kingdom of God when they threw themselves into working on this car for someone they had never met.Joel

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-75427162238754639592009-12-11T17:41:00.001-08:002009-12-11T17:44:35.121-08:00

Blue Hippo, a company that specializes in ripping off poor people (and anyone else unsophisticated enough to give them money) is filing chapter 7 bankruptcy (liquidation).I posted about another company like this under the heading "Raping the Poor" a couple of years ago. Let's pray those guys go the way of the blue hippo...JoelPS - You can read what they got in trouble initially for here.

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-45613739754891108832009-12-10T13:47:00.000-08:002009-12-10T14:17:53.239-08:00

This morning I read Leading Cross-Culturally: Covenant Relationships for Effective Christian Leadership by Sherwood Lingenfelter. I don't generally like books on leadership, but I have a certain affinity with this author so it made the stack by my bed :-)The first problem with this book is the title, to be honest. This is a very good book on overcoming cultural and personal obstacles that hinder

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-33659940481980568812009-12-10T09:00:00.000-08:002009-12-10T09:14:38.198-08:00

So if you follow this blog you probably think I've been doing nothing but watching dvd's and playing video games for the last week or so as I haven't posted anything about reading. Well, that's not exactly it. What happened is that I ran into a buzz saw of a book entitled Training in Christianity by Soren Kierkegaard. I was quite looking forward to this book, having read ABOUT Kierkegaard in

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-51423373927582229402009-12-08T08:30:00.000-08:002009-12-08T08:47:06.028-08:00

This morning it was 24 degrees. The Jeep was so cold that the doors wouldn't open or close properly. Once we got them open, we couldn't get them to shut. My truck suspension made horrible sounds when I sat down, probably as ice shattered and such. Getting the door open was a challenge, and I never was able to get the passenger door open. I had to scrape all of my windows.The year started with the

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-16250117407151014732009-12-03T16:51:00.000-08:002009-12-04T10:12:07.961-08:00

On November 2 we turned off our TV. Totally. No TV, no DVD's, No Xbox. Nothing. We planned to turn everything back on for December, specifically December 4. It was an awesome month of reading, listening to music, playing games, and doing other non-tv-focused things. We did not enforce the no-tv rule for our vacation, but at home we did. At the end of the month I got to thinking about the

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-68784494614558954452009-12-03T10:45:00.000-08:002009-12-03T16:51:11.511-08:00

Last night I read Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit by Francis Chan. This was very refreshing to read after the disappointing Why Leaders Can't Lead...Francis clearly fears writing this book, or rather the reception it might receive. It's astonishing to me that a topic as central to the Christian Faith as one of the members of the Godhead could be considered risky to

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-79880433760294180182009-12-03T10:19:00.000-08:002009-12-03T10:43:50.596-08:00

Tuesday night I read Why Leaders Can't Lead: The Unconscious Conspiracy Continues by Warren Bennis. This is one of those books that has been sitting on my "to read" shelf for a long time. Specifically, almost twenty years. I'm trying to go through my library and find books I haven't read and rectify that. Not watching TV has provided a lot more time for this sort of thing...Anyway, on to the rant

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-58424893447631721162009-11-19T07:40:00.000-08:002009-11-19T07:45:27.846-08:00

Last night I read Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters. Counterfeit Gods is a book about idolatry. Modern, 21st century, 2009 idolatry. It begins with a discussion about God granting the desires of a man's heart, and how that leads only to destruction. We never think of the desires of our heart as being a bad thing to receive, but Keller

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-12977313692401627952009-11-17T08:03:00.000-08:002009-11-18T16:01:06.882-08:00

After putting the kids to bed Patty and I sat in the living room and read. I can't think of the last time we both did that. I finished up Manias, Panics, and Crashes: A History of Financial Crises by Charles Kindleberger. This book wasn't nearly as good as I hoped it would be. It really focused on the idea of the need for a "Lender of Last Resort" in financial crises. Kindleberger clearly knows

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-12724618160138365722009-11-16T17:49:00.001-08:002009-11-16T17:50:24.301-08:00

I have had a few requests to hear from the rest of the family. Here's their take:Coming from the wife and kids, it’s been good overall. We have transitioned much better than I thought we would. Kids haven’t complained about missing their favorite programs – that is unless you ask them about it. They are needing more attention/direction, but are adapting quite well overall. Fights on way to

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-11297096983910057592009-11-16T17:43:00.000-08:002009-11-16T17:48:36.651-08:00

We are two weeks in. On the whole it is a great thing. There are definitely times when I wish we had it on, mostly to watch DVD's now. That's the weird thing. Haven't watched the USC or Anaheim Ducks games and haven't missed them. Haven't watched mythbusters, destroyed in seconds, the office or any of the other shows we like. Haven't missed them either. I do imagine that if this was the Formula 1

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-62208311584564136112009-11-14T16:08:00.000-08:002009-11-14T16:22:54.204-08:00

Searching for Tupac ShakurWhen I was at Fuller Seminary a man mentioned Tupac in one of my classes. I had heard of Tupac as part of the "Hard Core" rap scene in the 90's, and wasn't surprised when he was killed. In the 90's it seemed that hard core rap stars being shot was about as common as brittney spears showing cleavage during her heyday. Somehow though it seemed that Tupac was different. You

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-47622066430989010022009-11-11T21:56:00.000-08:002009-11-11T22:02:00.424-08:00

Somewhere, a long time ago, I picked up a copy of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William Shirer. For $3. It looked interesting. But it's also intimidating, at 1143 pages. This book was a bit of a surprise, both for William Shirer and his publisher when it was released. The initial run was only 12,500 copies. Ultimately, it sold over 1 Million copies in hardcover, and another million in

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-9910206046809345972009-11-11T18:49:00.000-08:002009-11-11T18:52:07.828-08:00

Today I read The Desert Fathers. (ok, I started it yesterday) I have been looking forward to this book for a long time. I have a certain fascination with the monastic life, and the desert fathers take that isolation a step further, living as hermits in the desert. This book contains some historical information that is ok, but the heart of this book is the sayings of the desert fathers. The main

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-26507581288665728582009-11-11T18:26:00.000-08:002009-11-11T18:49:39.997-08:00

I didn't blog days 8 and 9 because you really don't need to read about me shopping for a camera on the internet (Monday) and leading a cub scout meeting (Tuesday). The only thing of interest would be reviews of the music I listened to, but I don't think they are good enough to stand on their own...Today is Veteran's day. We spent the morning working on the heating and air systems in our house,

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-29625744402301111072009-11-09T10:30:00.000-08:002009-11-09T10:32:03.902-08:00

Another book I read yesterday was Saint Thomas More: Selected Writings.The majority of this book is the unfinished work "The Sadness of Christ" which delves deeply into the passion. There are some great passages here, some passages that cut right to the heart. For example:"They went out to the Mount of Olives," not to bed. The prophet says "I arose in the middle of the night to pay homage to you,

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-590897833881459362009-11-09T10:27:00.000-08:002009-11-09T10:32:18.249-08:00

On Sunday I read Go Green, Save Green by Nancy Sleeth. A friend of mine gave me this book because he had no interest in it and he received it in the mail as part of the catalyst pack. I figured it might be interesting so I read it. Nancy and her husband were on vacation when they decided that the planet was dying, and he should quit his job and devote all his energies to this goal. This book is

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-31395323547673644902009-11-09T07:31:00.000-08:002009-11-09T10:00:38.727-08:00

I am still sick, but feeling a bit better. The challenge today is not overdoing it. I took a nap after church, and that seemed to help. Hopefully I can get to sleep tonight. Jacob and I played oh-Wah-Ree, a game I played with my dad when I was about his age. The first game I beat him handily, but taught him strategy all the way along. The second game I helped him more, and made a few intentional

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-48125820770665555232009-11-07T21:32:00.000-08:002009-11-07T22:03:55.032-08:00

Today was tough. Very tough.I went to bed last night feeling sick. It got so bad that I had to get up and take Ny-Quill. If you know me, I am the type of guy that tends to look at a missing arm as a "flesh wound" and avoid the world of medicine unless absolutely necessary. It was absolutely necessary...I woke up this morning feeling a bit like someone who had spent the night being slammed into

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-64813252204408130392009-11-07T21:09:00.000-08:002009-11-07T22:25:08.941-08:00

Today was different, in that we had a plan. For my birthday I received a new board game, The Settlers of Catan, from Patty's brother and sister in law. I was really hoping to have it for this month, so it's arrival was greeted with much joy. This game was created in 1995 and is probably the best board game to be created in the last twenty years or more. What makes Settlers so great is that it is

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-56440515123046437442009-11-06T16:02:00.001-08:002009-11-06T16:03:21.545-08:00

Last night I read the book Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell. My dad first mentioned this book to me in July, and I finally picked it up about a week ago. This book was utterly fascinating!If you haven't heard of it, this book analyzes specific factors that contributed to the success of individuals. It looks beneath the "rags to riches" stories to reveal the unique advantages

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-1063862007467135542009-11-06T08:15:00.001-08:002009-11-06T09:50:41.464-08:00

I didn't writeup day 3 because it really wasn't much different than it would have been with the tv on. Last night though was awesome. I got home around 5-ish, and remembered that it was "National Men Make Dinner Day" so I put on Rush: Signals(a longtime favorite album), and started making tacos. Nothing special, but since I didn't remember until I got home, I wasn't prepared to make anything cool

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-66628575826651701672009-11-04T13:01:00.000-08:002009-11-04T17:08:51.872-08:00

I really like to read, and turning off the tv for a month opens up the time for me to read a lot more. Last night's read was Paul: In Fresh Perspective by N.T. Wright. This is not an easy read. It took serious concentration and effort to get through this book in one night. This book is about putting Paul in context, specifically context that many scholars overlook. Wright digs into the three

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-73432647804403940812009-11-04T07:44:00.000-08:002009-11-04T11:34:27.104-08:00

Day 2 without TV was better than day 1 for the family. Patty said the kids didn't fight on the way to school and were treating each other better. Weird, didn't expect THAT from this experiment. I got home from work at the same time they got home from Girl Scouts, and Jacob sat on the couch and pulled out Harry Potter book 5, while Patty and Grace were doing email or something like that in the

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-10548848889000582012009-11-03T08:26:00.000-08:002009-11-03T09:59:04.620-08:00

This isn't exactly a dramatic travelogue where I am going days through the desert without food and water, but pulling the plug on the tv is not only counter-cultural, it definitely shows how much time we waste in front of it.Last night I would have sat down after work and watched the world series. That would have cost me 2.5 hours of the evening (got home at 6). No idea what I would have done

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-80033104317059497782009-11-02T08:26:00.000-08:002009-11-04T11:34:46.877-08:00

I called DirecTV this morning and asked them to suspend our service until December 4th. Then I unplugged the tivo and went to work. Today begins a month of no tv, no video games, and no dvd's (we did tell the kids we would not enforce this during our vacation). It seems that too much of our lives get spent in front of the black box, and we decided that we were going to take a month off and see

renewingmindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13383103615487227204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740933809555086391.post-80944572401015156862009-10-29T09:19:00.001-07:002009-10-29T09:19:33.726-07:00

I love OctoberThe weather starts to cool.It's a time for apple cider & pumpkin pie. Formula1 reaches it's fever pitch and crowns a world champion.The Dodgers are playing baseball. (ok, they were when I wrote this...)The Yankees are playing baseball.The Ducks are playing Hockey. USC is playing football.And my birthday caps the whole month off.I love October.Joel

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