Raise The Roof 1994 Style

I love going to church. 

I didn't always love it. I used to take as long as possible on sunday mornings in hopes that I might actually get left at home and could watch cartoons by myself and eat three bowls of cereal. Then I went to college and didn't have the parents making me go, so I didn't, regularly anyways for two years. Church was boring and a duty. Not cool. I still loved Jesus but not going to church. It felt like I had heard everything before. This was far from the truth, but thats what it felt like, I'm just keepin' it real wich ya. 

Then I found a church of my own, to call my own and there was excitement from the people at this church [there is a reason that I say the people and not me… you'll see]. It is a growing church and I tried to get involved. I taught 3rd&4th grade boys sunday school and also went to the Men's Bible Study…most of the time. I really enjoyed sunday mornings, but that was where I left my enjoyment of learning and talking about God. 

Since moving to Georgia and literally starting anew, I have had a lot of priority shifts and revelations, in a lot of areas of my life. I'm not going to tell you about all of them. Instead I am going to tell you about one that has bugged me about me lately. Here it goes, straight forward, sorry if I get to preaching but I think it may be in my genes, right Dad.

I am tired of people [like me] who love Jesus and believe in what he did for us [died on the cross and saved us from our sins] just sitting on their hands at church as if it was a school classroom. Are you kidding me? When was the last time you went to a concert or sporting event and didn't make a peep. I'm not just talking about singing, clapping and waving your hands in the air as if you just don't care. I'm talking about "cheering on" your pastor, being excited to give back to God, and seeing lives changed. If you went to a concert or sporting event and nobody cheered, would you go back or think that the fans were really all that interested in what was going on? Would you, who are fans tell anybody about how great your team was? There is no way. Then why in the world do we do that at church. It is proven that Bands and Sports Teams perform better when the crowd is behind them, so why would you not "cheer on" your pastor when they are trying to change lives for eternity the greatest cause in the world. Your excitement will breed more excitement. When you look at churches that are growing rapidly, you will notice that the congregation is participatory in the service not sitting idly back. If people have a good time at church then they will more likely come back. If church is just another classroom… did any of us really like going to school?

The more excited you are at and about church, the more you will talk about it and people will be more compelled to check out what all the excitement is about. Think about it.

It has really changed things in my spiritual life. I read the Bible now more than ever. I listen to sermons almost everyday of the week, via podcasts, and God is changing me little by little. It is incredible how my excitement for and at church has breed excitement in my everyday life. 

Surprise your pastor and help pour into them while they are pouring into you.

Podcasts with great teaching… My favorites

CompassChurch.com – Current Church

Elevation Church – Pastor Steven Furtick [My favorite by far]

LifeChurch.tv

NewSpring Church – Perry Noble

Orchard Hill Church – Cedar Falls, Iowa

– Brandon

Chicago Fire–que

Trip to Chicago

How could anyone say "no" to these  sweet faces? Mak is so disgusted at whatever you just said.

Uncle Brandon and Taylor- she's eating Mak's leftover breakfast!

Lovin' on the flowers.

What a good lookin' crew.

A Day at Work for Brandon

Brandon sent this to me Monday afternoon. It sure brightened my day, hope it does for you too!

A Day in the Park in Guangzhou

Dr. Schempp and I went to a park that started with an "X"... I don't think I could pronounce it or spell it if I tried. ... so we'll call it Park X. This park was in the middle of the city of Guangzhou and it is full of lush greenery, walk ways, and many many people (surprised?!). We walked around for a couple hours just enjoying the green space. These young Chinese girls giggled and laughed as Dr. Schempp and I walked around- and asked for a photo with us.

There were paddle boats.

And a 5 story tower/museum that traced the history of China and Guangzhou. Very interesting.

This beautiful cherry blossom piece was on display on the 5th floor.

When we made our way down it started to pour-- so we bought and umbrella and stopped for some lunch. Everyone else seemed to have a similar idea.

A day of commerce in Guangzhou

Guangzhou is one of the business hubs of southern China. Paul (Dr. Schempp) and I went into town today to do some shopping and site seeing. Here is what I think to be a typical Chinese shopping district. There was , however, a hint of Western to it.
Lots of people on bicycles- for both transportation and for business. See the herbs being sold-- puts different meaning on selling out of the "trunk of your car"

Covered textiles "mall" or area. Has a real flea market feel.

In the middle of all this commerce, we stumbled upon this temple area.

Presentation Photos from China

This was before the presentation Monday morning. The title of the session was "Teaching with Technology- Taking Physical Education into the 21st Century" ... or something like that.
Afterwards Beth stole the sign that I'm standing next to in this photo.

I was the last of four to speak during the 1hr and 30 minute workshop. We were scheduled for 7am on Monday morning and we weren't too optimistic that many would show up- but there were 24 and the presentation was very well received.

This is the "Dream Team" that stunned the world with our presentation. Dr. Edginton started the presentation, then Beth, then Paul, and then me.

China again... It's only day 2!

This gentleman is the Director of the Institute of Sport in Guangzhou- after dinner he treated us by demonstrating his ability to write in Chinese calligraphy. This script is a an old Chinese proverb that translates to something like "the harder you work, the more you will achieve". I'm sure I have not done it justice, but that's what I understood.

After the traditional Chinese banquet-these two are siblings from Shanghai University. They have been wonderful translating Chinese to English for me. They say their English is bad, but I joke with them and say that my Chinese is worse!!

After the banquet our hosts took us to a karaoke room. In this photo Beth and I on the ends and then Korea and Canada represented.

Yes, that's me with the microphone. It was horrible, but I did it! They laughed so hard at how I just made up the words.

Beth didn't sing, but she did amaze them with a magic trick.

More China

There are 5 buildings connected to this convention center we are in- this is the lobby to one of the buildings.

Like I said- lots of security. These gentlemen march around the convention center to change stations with the guards standing in front of every entrance.

Our guards. Mind you- this does not feel like a hostile area AT ALL, but since this convention is associated with the Olympics all security issues were covered.

Between 2 of the buildings.

Through Dr. Edginton's Chinese connections and relationships, we were invited to a traditional Chinese banquet that was amazing. This photo is of all of the people who have visited or studied at UNI with Dr. Edginton-- there are many more at this convention that have met and worked with UNI and Dr. E who were not at this dinner. I did not eat the chicken feet that were served!!

Trip to Guangzhou China

This is the Opening Ceremony for the 2008 Pre-Olympic Scientific Conference. Over 7o countries are represented here in Guangzhou China. Although the conference is mainly English spoken presentations, in this Ceremony it was all in Chinese, so we had to wear headphones that had translators speaking English for us (and most of the other non-Chinese speaking people)

This was the first night we were at the conference. Because this is the first time this conference is considered part of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games security is very tight. These Chinese students are making name badges for us that we are required to wear everywhere we go. There are 2,000 conference attendees and over 10,000 staff (which includes security officers).

The main banquet hall for dinner one evening. The entertainment on the front stage was excellent.

There is beautiful Chinese art in every presentation hall. Simply gorgeous.

At breakfast Beth and Dr. Schempp deep in conversation!