YOUTH: the new series

This Wednesday night (tomorrow) we will begin the new series. It is called NO STRINGS: reaching up for a Father's unfailing love. I am really excited about it. I think that if there is anything that could change the way we view ourselves and our faith, it is learning to grasp God's love.

We wanna ask the difficult questions and seek out the hard answers. I think that you'll see that God's love is something that we encouter daily. It affects every aspect of who we are. It changes everything like: the clothes we pick out in the morning, how we choose our friends, and the way we relate to our parents.

So, don't miss tomorrow night. We have some cool stuff planned to kick-off the series. I'll see you there.

Lost

Okay, if you like the TV show Lost, then you have to check this out. Follow these instructions:

• Go to this website for "Oceanic Airlines" (the name of the fictitious airline whose plane crashed on the island).
• Put the "cursed numbers" into the Traveller's blanks (they are 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42).
• Now, a seating chart comes up. Click on the same numbers...and see what happens...

I can't wait for next season.

random thoughts for the day

Well, I'm sitting at home...it's my day off...Sam is about to wake up from is morning nap...Crystal is at the doctor's office with Zach (his one week appointment). I feel like this is my first chance to catch my breath and reflect. Although, I don't know how much time I have to reflect considering I hear Sam waking up...

• Zach has been great so far. He seems to be a pleasant and healthy baby! The only problem has been that we can't get him to sleep during the first half of the night. All three nights at home he hasn't gone to sleep until around 2am. Once he goes to sleep, though, he is down for the night.
• It's has been fun for me to spend extra time with Sam this week. Our MO has been for me to try to keep Sam occupied so that Crystal can focus on Zach. I love Sam's age. He is starting to really pick up on stuff. I can't wait until he can start to communicate through words. I'm pretty sure that will be one of my favorite stages to parent. I love to see kids learn things for the first time.
• Here is a random pic of Zach for all you adoring fans:

• To change the subject a bit...I'm excited that summer is here. I'm ready to have some fun with our youth ministry. We already have a couple of events planned (Progressive Lock-in, Canoe Trip, Mission Mexico). I'll fill up the schedule in the coming weeks.
• Did I ever tell you that the only TV shows I really watch these days are Lost and Alias? I have been taping them every Wednesday during youth group. This week was the season finale of both shows. Very good stuff. Both shows had endings that made my jaw drop. I guess I'm a sucker for a good plot. Oh, and by the way, if any of my rich friends want to buy me a birthday present in a couple of weeks...I could use one of these...even if I wouldn't actually get it for a couple of months.

Zach is here

Zachary Harleigh Daspit was born yesterday...Sunday, May 22nd. He is 8 pounds 2 ounzes and 21.25 inches long. Mom and baby are healthy and happy and are spending their last evening in the hospital tonight (Monday). Dad and big brother are sleeping at home.

Thank you all for your prayers. Crystal's delivery was about as fast as possible...we were only at the hospital for two hours before she delivered! It was quicker and more intense than Sam's birth. Thankfully, there were no complications for Mom or baby.

As for the name...the significance lies in the middle name...Harleigh. He is named for Crystal's father, Harleigh Moyer. May Zach continue the Godly legacy of Harleigh's seven children and fifteen (did I count right?) grandchildren!

It's late. I'm off to bed.

labor!!

Crystal has had contractions all day. Right now they are probably less than 5 mins apart. We're off to the hospital...

no baby yet

it's Saturday evening...one day after Crystal's due date....still no baby. We are anxiously awaiting baby number two. I told Joel last night that if we had the baby AND the Mavs won, I would name him Dirk. Unfortunately, we were 0 for 2 on that front. :(

In the meantime, for all of you people who just can't wait for the unveiling of our second son, I figured I would give you a pic of Sam to tide you over:

Yes. That's right. My son is a COMPUTER GENIUS! I think he is gonna start his own blog soon! (He must of gotten some of his Uncle Damien's genes.)

Seriously, though, keep us in your prayers. Like last time, Crystal would like to deliver naturally (like the Amish). That's means that we would like to avoid inducing labor if possible. Let nature (and the God of nature) take it's course!

YOUTH: Mexico Trip Reminder

Just a reminder that we have a mandatory Mexico trip meeting on Sunday after church. I should be calling everyone tonight to make sure you are aware (and know you are accepted). Please bring a $100 deposit (I'll tell you your balance when I call).

By the way, thanks for all of your prayers about the transportation situation. We found a company that will rent 15-passengers to take to Mexico. Pray that all of the details (cost, availability, etc.) can be worked out with them.

YOUTH: this Wed night

Are you wondering what we are doing Wed night? Well, it's kinda a secret, but I'll tell you this much. Steve and Kelly are doing the talk instead of me. It should be a really practical and a really fun night. Don't miss it!

Playstation 3

In case you haven't seen it yet, here is a pic of the newly unveiled Playstation 3. It won't come out until next year. You can see more pics here. What's up with the font? It looks like they ripped it off from the Spiderman movies!

my weekend

Dear Diary,

Oh, what a weekend it was. First of all, my weekend did not entail any trips to the hospital. Crystal is very ready to have the baby, her due date is this Friday, we'll see if she lasts until then.

Friday night was supposed to be the beginnings of the Excite New Orleans youth conference. Only four of us from our youth group were going (me, Colin, Nathan and Dillon) because some people are too pansy to try anything different (I won't name any names.) and some people had Senior Prom (the only acceptable excuse).

We ate dinner at Wendy's (and enjoyed our free Frosty's), and made a spontaneous pit stop at Chucky Cheese's (yeah, you're REALLY regretting not going now, aren't you!).

We arrived at the conference about 30 minutes before it was supposed to start. Needless to say, we were the first participants there. We paid for our tickets and thought about going in and sitting down. We were scared off by the couple making out in the sancuary (no, it's really true! Those Methodist's must be liberal or something). So we walked around outside and found some little nook with an outdoor fountain and benches. Colin reminisced about the joys of preschool. We all reminiced about hosting concerts for Salvage and Warren Barfield and hoped that Gretna United Methodist would a have a little bit more support than we had.

So seven o'clock came...and we were still the only people there. We went inside and sat down. We gazed at Gretna United Methodist's new building (especially the cool ceiling). We cursed them for having such a cool building (not really). We waited 20 minutes. One guy came out on stage, tuned his guitar and left again. Still...no one showed! The director of the conference came over, introduced himself and told us that they would do the entire conference for us OR give us our money back. We decided it would be more merciful and less awkward to just take our money back. Boy, did we feel for that guy! I wanted to say something to make him feel a little better, but I decided against it. I figured whatever I would say would only make him feel worse.

Well, we had a good night driving around, listening to my iPod, playing PS2 at Best Buy and shopping for weird T-shirts at Ross Dress for Less.

Definitely not the way I expected that night to go. Probably a little better than I expected. It was a lot of fun. One of the best parts about where we are at in youth ministry is that we know each other pretty well. I enjoy just hanging out every once in a while. Wish more of you could have been there. Oh well. I have a feeling that we'll get to hang out a lot this summer. I'm looking forward to that.

Crystal and I worked on the house on Saturday (since I wasn't at the conference). I suddenly realized at about 2 o'clock that I could now go to Megan's graduation since the conference was cancelled. Of course, her graduation started at 2 o'clock in Slidell. Sorry Megan. I have no excuse for not being there except to say that my mind was somewhere else.

Saturday night we went to a staff BBQ at the Enos'. Everyone was there. Amazing. It was fun. Good food. Sam was a little scared of the Enos' dogs. We also accidentally slipped him a little bit of peanut butter. Yeah, he's allergic. His face broke out. We were a little scared until we got him home and gave him some Bennedryl. His face was cleared up by bedtime that night.

Sunday afternoon we had a party for the Driggers' at Belle Chasse Base. It was a surprise to Kelly. Great fun. We told stories, gave hugs, ate food and looked at the memory book that Jessica worked so hard to put together for them. Did I mention that I'm gonna miss them? They have been such great friends and so important to our ministry over the past couple of years.

Sunday evening my mom came over and watched Sam so that Crystal and I could go see a movie. We went to the movie theater together for the first time in like a year. I can't believe that it costs $15 for two people to go see a movie. If I had waited, I probably could have bought the DVD of the movie for $15. Gosh! Anway, we saw Kingdom of Heaven. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the movie. I'll probably post my thoughts sometime this week. In the meantime, if you have seen the movie, and want some info on it, surf over to Christianity Today's website for lots of articles on the movie. Be sure to check out the interview with a couple of historians on the movie and the real story of Balian.

That's enough for now. I'm out.

Are you observant?

Here is a little test that is brought to you courtesy of my good friend (and birthday girl of the week) Samantha. She scored a 15. Both Crystal and I got a 17. Have fun!


The average person only gets 7 right. This is based on U.S. & CDN info, so use all of the lobes of your brain. This can be more difficult than it looks - it just shows how little most of us really see! There are 27 questions about things we see every day or have known about all our lives. How many can you get right? These little simple questions are harder than you think-- it just shows you how little we pay attention to the common place things of life.Put your thinking caps on. No cheating! No looking around! No getting out of your chair! No using anything on or in your desk or computer! Can you beat 20?? (The average is 7) Write down your answers and then check your answers (on the bottom) only AFTER completing all the questions. REMEMBER - NO CHEATING!!! --- BE HONEST!!!That means no looking at your phone or anything on your desk. LET'S JUST SEE HOW OBSERVANT YOU REALLY ARE.Here we go!

1. On a standard traffic light, is the green on the top or bottom?
2. How many states are there in the USA? (Don't laugh, some people don't know)
3. In which hand is the Statue of Liberty's torch?
4. What six colors are on the classic Campbell's soup label?
5. What two numbers on the telephone dial don't have letters by them?
6. When you walk does your left arm swing with your right or left leg?
7. How many matches are in a standard pack?
8. On the United States flag is the top stripe red or white?
9. What is the lowest number on the FM dial?
10 Which way does water go down the drain, counter or clockwise?
11. Which way does a "no smoking" sign's slash run?
12. How many channels on a VHF TV dial?
13. On which side of a women's blouse are the buttons?
14. Which way do fans rotate?
15. What is on the back of a US Penny?
16. How many sides does a stop sign have?
17. Do books have even-numbered pages on the right or left side?
18. How many lug nuts are on a standard car wheel?
19. How many sides are there on a standard pencil?
20. Sleepy, Happy, Sneezy, Grumpy,Dopey, Doc. Who's missing?
21. How many hot dog buns are in a standard package?
22. On which playing card is the card maker's trademark?
23. On which side of a Venetian blind is the cord to turn them up and down?
24. On the back of a $20 dollar bill, what is in the center?
25. There are 12 buttons on a touch tone phone. What 2 symbols bear no digits?
26. How many curves are there in the standard paper clip?
27. Does a merry-go-round turn counter-clockwise or clockwise?

ANSWERS
1. Bottom
2. 50
3. Right
4. Blue, red, white, yellow, black, &gold
5. 1, 0
6. Right
7. 20
8. Red
9. 88
10. Clockwise (north of the equator)
11. Towards bottom right
12. 12 (no 1)
13. Left
14. Clockwise as you look at it
15. Lincoln Memorial
16. 8
17. Left
18. 5
19. 6
20. Bashful
21. 8
22. Ace of spades
23. Left
24. White House
25. Pound (#) and Star (*)
26. 3
27. Counter

Post your score in the comments.

YOUTH: Excite Conference

If you are planning on attending the conference, we will meet on Friday at 5pm. The conference doesn't start until 6:30pm. Bring a couple of bucks for dinner and we'll eat some fast food together.

It runs from 8:30am to 2:30pm on Sat. We'll meet at church at 8am.

Please contact me (email me or call me on my cell) if you are going so that I can make sure we have a seat for you.

Thanks!

DTS rap

Duce aka "the ambassador," was one of my classmates from DTS. He is about to drop a solo rap album called "the thesis." Apparently, it was inspired by his master's thesis he wrote at DTS on the theological implications of hip hop culture. Drop by his website here. You can listen to a couple of the songs and pre-order the CD.

Maybe I should write some rap songs about my master's thesis. It was entitled, "Evaluating the Feminist Critique of Subsitutionary Atonement."

Don't hold your breath for that one.

don't miss out on this great weekend

Man, this weekend is packed full of great stuff:

• On Friday night and Saturday is Excite New Orleans 2005. It should be a lot of fun. If you wanna get the inside scoop on the special guests, you can check out the band's website here, the drama group's site is here, and and the speaker is the youth pastor at this church in Tennessee. Late Friday night, we can go get some free Frosty's. That's right, I said FREE. Oh yeah.
• On Sunday is the afterglow at Belle Chasse Base after church. After the afterglow, maybe we'll go get some free Frosty's. That's right, I said FREE. Oh yeah.

Narnia

My Dear Lucy,

I wrote this story for you, but when I began it I had not realized that girls grow quicker than books. As a result you are already too old for fairy tales, and by the time it is printed and bound you will be older still. But some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again. You can take it down from some upper shelf, dust it, and tell me what you think of it. I shall probably be too deaf to hear, and too old to understand, a word you say, but I shall still be.

your affectionate Godfather,

C.S. Lewis

This weekend I entered the world of Narnia for the first time. I sat down and read the first book in the Chronicles. Apparently, the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is actually the second book in the series. The first book, The Magician's Nephew, serves as a prelude to the story of Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy. It reminds me of the connection between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed my trip to Narnia. It was a fun and fascinating adventure. One of the best things about the way that Lewis wrote his stories is that you are introduced to this dazzling, new world through the eyes of children. There is nothing that is more fun than the unending imagination of a child.

I absolutely love Lewis' words in the above dedication: "some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again." Those words perfectly describe what I want my life to be right now. I want to be someone who brings God's Word to life for those around me. I want to rediscover that insane imagination that I found as a kid. I want to look at story through a different set of glasses than the ones I have been wearing.

I love being a father. I love being a youth pastor. If there is anything that can make me useful at these roles, it is figuring out how to unleash my imagination. Christianity shouldn't be boring and lifeless. It should be awe-inspiring. If I play any role in creating the picture of Christ for others, then I better take it seriously! In fact, every church leader should write "cultivate my creativity" near the top of their list of priorities.

Perhaps Christianity often looks boring because it's leaders are boring.

[Random thought] If you haven't seen it yet, rent Finding Neverland tonight. It's a great movie about imagination. [end random thought].

I would encourage you to pick up the Chronicles of Narnia this summer if you haven't read them before. If you need some motivation, go watch the trailer for the upcoming movie of the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. It was just unveiled this weekend. It looks really good.

ABC last night

So last night during youth group my VCR was busy. It was set to tape on ABC. As I walked in the front door at 10pm (that's pretty early for a Wednesday night. I must have been excited!), I was eager to grab the remote and hit the "rewind" button so that I could watch...new episodes of Lost and Alias.

Is that what you thought I would say? Perhaps you thought I was anxiously awaiting the Primetime special on Paula Abdul and Corey Clark, a former contestant on American Idol. Nah. That was the last thing in the world I wanted to waste my time on.

In fact, it makes me angry. I'm not angry because Paula Abdul maybe made a really stupid decision. I'm not angry because Corey Clark might be lying. I'm angry because there are people in this world who are so fixated and obsessed with money that they will destroy anyone and anything to get it. I'm no so much angry at Corey Clark or ABC. I'm angry at injustice in our world. I'm no so much angry that Paula Abdul's PR is ruined. I'm angry that innocent people are destroyed by the greed of people with a little power.

Okay. I'll get off my soapbox.

I guess there is a reason why I'm so irritated about the whole "Fallen Idol" thing. It's probably because today is the National Day of Prayer. We are having a service here at Berean in a couple of hours (starts at 7pm). I've spent a lot of my day thinking about our world, our nation and our city. There is a lot of true injustice out there. I watched the music video for the Sarah McLachlin song "World on Fire" again. I have to admit, my eyes got a little wet (I didn't cry! Gosh! What do you think I am? a girl?). I stand by my earlier statement that it is the most moving music video I've ever seen.

Anyway, I hope we pray about that injustice tonight. I hope we lift up our anger to God. More than that, though, I hope that we catch a vision to become a church that does something about our anger. May we become Christ's ambassadors to New Orleans and the world. May we bring God's Kingdom to our city. May anger compel us to action.

I finished Breakout Churches

Let me just say off the bat that if you are a youth, you will probably think this is one of my boring posts. Sorry. I'll undertand if you don't wanna read my post. Just skip to the last paragraph...

So I finished Breakout Churches last night. I handed it off to Brad today. I think it would be a great book for our leadership team (elders, deacons and staff) to read together. We'll see.

I enjoyed the book, although it wasn't exactly what I expected. It is a "scientific" study that researched over 50,000 churches and found 13 that would be considered "breakout" churches. (A "breakout" church is one that started off pretty strong...went through a period of decline/plateau, and then somehow broke out of that decline to grow enormously...all under the same leadership.) I think there were a some conclusions that the team was expecting to find (and not find)...and lo and behold, they found them! So, I woudn't say that it is as "scientific" as it claims to be. In fact, they are unashamed to admit that almost every conclusion they make just happens to be the extremely similar to conclusions that Jim Collins' makes in a similar book studying businesses instead of churches.

That being said, it is still a good read. Good principles...good stories. I probably took away 5-6 really good lessons from the book. I think, though, you must read it with a grain of salt. I really appreciate the efforts they went to in order to avoid making it sound like there is some magic formula that will help churches. I'm definitely not into magic formulas. They don't exist.

I think that there are a lot of lessons here for Berean and similar churches.

So, what am I gonna read next? I think I want to start the Chronicles of Narnia books. I never read them as a kid...and I need to get pumped for the movies. Speaking of the movies, did you know that the first full trailer for Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe is coming out soon?

Hotel Rwanda

"I think if people see this footage, they'll say, 'Oh, my God, that's horrible.' And then they'll go on eating their dinners." -Jack (a British cameraman, played by Joaquin Phoenix)

Crystal and I rented Hotel Rwanda this weekend. It was one of the best movies I have seen in a long time. I am a sucker for movies that make me wanna go out an try to change the world. This was one of those movies.

The above quote has been stuck in my head since Saturday night. It summarizes how the movie affected me. When my life is over, and I stand before God, will I be able to say that I genuinely made the world around me a better place?

Let me be totally honest for a sec...the church in America is selfish. We spend so much of our time and energy on ourselves. We could care less about the world around us...beyond adding converts like we are trying to earn a Boy Scout merit badge or something.

The really sad thing, is that I am part of the problem. I am a church leader that is more concerned with the people who are in my ministry than the people who are in need. I am more concerned with the healthy than the sick. I am a Pharisee. I am not a Jesus disciple.

And it seems to come down to this: what do I really believe? Do I really believe that following Jesus is the best kind of life? Do I really believe that Jesus is actually putting the world back together again? Do I really believe that He is supposed to use the church to do it?

If that is true, then my job is more important than the President of the United States. He can't really make the world a better place, I can make the world a better place. Check that...we can make the world a better place.

So let's get off our butts, put down our fork and knife and do something.

YOUTH: Mexico Trip Deadline & Summer stuff

As I told some of you yesterday, if you are planning on attending the Mexico trip AND have not turned in an application, please turn it in ASAP. This Sunday (May 8) is the FINAL deadline. If I do not receive your application by that date, you cannot attend the trip. That means that you should be notified sometime next week if your application is accepted.

Also, we are scheduling our first planning meeting after church on Sunday, May 22nd. Attendance is mandatory for those who are going to Mexico. You will be asked to bring a $100 deposit with you to the meeting.

Oh, and while I'm blogging, I just finished typing up the next Parent Connection Newsletter. It should be sent out tomorrow. Here are a couple of dates to mark on your calendar:

• Fri/Sat, May 13-14: Excite New Orleans Youth Conference
• Sun, May 15: Afterglow at the Davidsons
• Fri, June 17: Progressive Lock-in
• Sat, July 16: Okatoma Canoe Trip

More details on this stuff coming soon...