I love witnessing and hearing GOD's work - Part 1

I happened to run into my friend who recently was baptized. He shared with me an amazing story of GOD's work.

He and his wife had finally made the decision the day after their baptism (a Monday) to Tithe 10%. It was a huge important decision for them. He mentioned also they own a commercial building property which his practice occupies and has been seeking a tenant to lease a vacancy. Several days days after much praying, discussion, and deciding to tithe, he received a call from his agent (Wednesday) telling them both the vacancy had been leased and contracts signed.

They has been struggling to lease the vacancy for over 5 months!!! GOD work its amazing.

Great job to my friends for being obedient to our LORD. He has blessed you.

When thrown under the Bus...Fight or Flight?

I had a bad day at work today. In my position I am placed in a catch 22 ALL THE TIME! But my business sense tends to drive me to follow process which in many cases can be unfriendly to clients and especially sales people. Well in my effort to be helpful (uh-oh), to be kind, to be flexible, to be willing to drive the business forward as they (corporate executives) say. My team was put in a position to provision a HUGE trial client, but was given horrible data (which was suppose to be validated) which we executed against because Sales set an expectation and need my team to save their butts. Needless to say what we implemented didn't work (due to bad data), we were blamed, emails were sent out about me and "comments" I made - Yet I NEVER had these conversations with these people- WOW! I defended my team, I provided facts and data, and was still thrown under the bus.

I have extremely thick skin and I know I can throw blows with the best, but I really have a problem. I question myself? Am I losing my EDGE and not going for the jugular for what was done to my team and I? In the past I have made my mark for burying my competition and others who tried to bury me, one leg on their body and me beating my chest. But now I am torn. I don't want to be a jerk and I don't want to seem weak, yet on the other hand I want to be justified and not looked upon as someone who can be walked on and will take being thrown under the bus. WWJD? Pray for me.

Baptism...Its NOT for little babies anymore.

In my BC (Before Christ) days. I thought Baptism was for little babies who got sprinkled with water in the face and/or in some cases dipped in cold water in a marble bowl (Poor thing). Well its not for little babies. It's for people who choose Jesus.

My small group and I were invited to witness our friends baptism yesterday. When I've watched people in past baptisms at my church, the anticipation reminds me of how I was feeling when my kids were born. I was a bunch of emotions all rolled up into one, anticipating the moment. This was an important milestone in Peter's and Anita's life and I am extremely happy for them. My small group and I are so blessed to have wonderful friends in our lives.

Its interesting as I was watching people get baptized, since I have been to a few at our church, there is a special moment I look for. The moment is the first few seconds as a person is lifted out of the water. Do you ever wonder they are thinking? I watch for it in their eyes. I seek that moment in time a person has who has just publicly announced Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. It's that moment which reminds me how awesome our GOD is. Because of Him a commitment was possible. It reminds me how important this commitment is and to stay true to that commitment. It is amazing, no wait, its a blessing to see people change in your life through GOD. Peter and Anita you guys ROCK, I saw in your eyes how I felt when I was lifted out of the water when I was baptized. Its an amazing feeling, Right!! I am so happy you made the decision.

Here is a pix of Peter, Anita and our small group leaders Paul and Alana. Paul and Alana If we haven't told you, the both of you guys are awesome small group leaders. Your guidance in my walk is always welcome and your friendship is truly a blessing.

I love all you guys!

I did it...I joined Twitter!

Twitter in Plain English from leelefever on Vimeo.

I am skeptical with this new social networking tool, but I am always willing to try something new. Here to being adventurous

MinistryTECH 2008 Review

I was invited to attend a Ministry Tech conference with my pastor in Oklahoma last week. I had a cool time.! I wasn't sure what to expect but the couple of days i spent there was definitely time well spent. Here is a blazing fast recap of that time while I hang with the guru's in the church IT & AV world: Private LifeChurch tour with Miles campus pastor (Rocking Church, cool cross), Tastey BBQ (Porks GooOOD), Jawbone (GooOOD, just don't wear it all the time, eeW) Flying monkeys (See pix and u make up ur mind), Henderson Hills church from aerial looks like USS Voyager (perhaps the perfect shape for all the techies hence the location), Tony Morgan (Hot wife with Stang and duck tape story, boy did that raise a Hullabaloo with the tech guys), 10 Reasons Why Techies Scare me, Monkeys with Glocks (Watch it), Hullabaloo (Tony is this good enough? Hook a brotha up), Server Virtualization (It's GoooOOd), Corner Stone Church (Cool peeps!), Multi-site church solution on public networks using MPLS & QOS protocols (Eric we are going to make this happen), Information: The I in IT (Strategic prioritization & Opportunity costs..he sounds like me...a little), Map Point (Visualize your membership), Jeff Hook on IT Strategy (Careful its a Hot download), Tornado Watch! (Scary), Hideaway Pizza (Perrtty Good), Late night Coffee talking Multi-site with Dennis Choy (Cool Doood very insightful)), Helping the Hotel IT guy (James) til 1pm to fix connectivity in the Hotel (Note to Hotel, Wireless connectivity + IT guys attending convention and sleeping in hotel = Good, No connectivity in Hotel with IT guys going to convention = no network games to play for IT guys, Very Bad), Eggs with Cheeze Whiz (My Pastor Loved these, he just won't admit it), Terry Storch and "Tech[NO]babble"..Doh he changed it to "You need to be an Idiot!" (Great move, GOD lead him and that presentation, (Lord I was listening). I found it fascinating that he looked like a Rock Star talking about Tech..(Oxymoron? ) Oh wait, I know, he reminds me of David Cook from Idol. (hehe can you see the resemblance) all kidding aside he Rocked it), Idiots embrace idiots, Acts 4:13, Idiots are comfortably uncomfortable; "I don't follow a comfortable Jesus!", Idiots exposed their weaknesses, John 10:10, Life Balance, Accountability, Sharpening, Painful, Faith, Weakness, Addiction (The LORD has something planned for me, I TRUST Him!), Offline With Terry Storch (He's Normal), Basic Equipment To Start a Multi-Site Church (interesting), Overcoming Technology Challenges In a Multi-Site Church (More of the same). Key takeaways in words, inspiring, encouraged, productive, innovative, kind, collaborative and authentic.

In Oklahoma...Tornado Watch

Currently at a technology conference in Oklahoma.

As we were leaving for the day, the emcee made an announcement.

We are currently on Tornado Watch.

This picture was taken shortly after the announcement......(clear sky)

Service Producer on last weekend of March

I had been prepping for this weekend since my Pastor and Ministery Leader needed to take some well deserved PTO. So he left me in charge of the entire tech team for the weekend. Talk about a kid in a candy store, but I suppose in my case, a big kid in a room off of gadgets and electronics. I know the Lord's presence was with us all including me. I was not nervous, scared, or overly excited. The team did outstanding and we rattled off 4 well executed services.

During the services I was able to step back a moment and notice how in each of the services how people were worshiping and praising our Lord and during closing prayer how an entire family embrassed one another as they prayed to our Father.

Those are the small things which confirms our Father had his hand on the team and guided each and everyone of us.