Indiana Baptist Evangelism Conference 2008 Columbus, IN

I just got back at midnight last night from the SCBI (State Convention of Baptist in Indiana) Evangelism Conference. They had a great line up this year, which included Ed Stetzer, Bobby Welch, and Johnny Hunt. Because I attend the various conventions and meetings I hear these guys usually at least once a year and I have to say these were the best messages I have heard from these guys. It might also have been the smaller arena. In the big conventions it is hard to feel connected, but in a sanctuary of 400 you feel more connected to the speaker.

Ed Stetzer was definitely my favorite speaker of the convention. He spoke on 2 Cor. 5:16-21. I want to give a full report on his sermon and how God spoke to my heart through his message. I don't have time to expound on it right now, but I will in another post. Bobby Welch was great. He pounded the pulpit and yelled "Pow" a lot. I didn't get a lot of notes from him, but his message was very good. He spoke on Romans 9:1-3.

Johnny Hunt's message was titled "What You Lose When You Leave" Rev. 2:1-7. I have heard this passage preached before, but Hunt explained it better than anyone else I have heard. He even gave a very good explanation of who the elusive Nicolatians were. He explained from his research in Ephesus and from other scholars that they were probably a group of Christians that were using the excuse of Christian liberty to sin. They claimed they could do these things because of "freedom in Christ" Oh, no not the freedom in Christ issue. It was funny because Johnny told us that his most requested sermon was on alcohol. My most read and commented on blog was about alcohol(post 1, post 2), what is with this issue that we like to discuss it so much. Anyway, the main point of the sermon was to encourage us to return to ministry that God first called us too. For instance in my life God called me to make a difference in the lives of students and train them to reach their friends. Often what happens is we get caught up in the business of church work and forget our first calling or "first love". He then gave eight things that we lose when we leave our "first love". Of course they are alliterated: Passion, Power, Purpose, Priority, Purity, Prudence, Perspective, and Perception. It was a very good message and caused me to think about my own ministry.

Over all the conference was great. It is good for me to go to these things from time to time. I don't know about you, but they really help me to get re-fired up. I really do get caught up in the "work" and forget about the reason for the "work". I was reminded that the most important thing we can do in ministry is reach people and train others to reach people.

If you are interested in hearing these message you are in luck. They did record them, however I forget the name of the company and the don't know the website. I will try to locate it over the next couple of days and post it when I talk about Ed's message.

Hulu.com Launches Tommorrow

Recently people have been wanting more and more TV and movie content on the web. Apple has done a lot to bring this content to us for a small fee. ABC and CBS have free show on their sites, but they are annoying with the ads and the not-so-user-friendly players. Other sites are trying to do the same, but you still have to pay for it or you have to break the law to get the content. I am very excited about Hulu.com, which is joint venture between Fox, NBC, and Universal. They will offer TV shows and movies for FREE and it is completely legal. They launch tomorrow, but you can see some shows now on the websites.

I went to the site today and started to watch an episode of the Simpsons (It was the first show available on main page). When I clicked on the play button, the show came up really fast. They let me know that this show was sponsored by Taco Bell and was being shown with limited commercial interruption. After the shows theme song and credits there was a 15 second Taco Bell ad. The video was choppy. It started and stopped a lot, so I quit watching a few minutes in. The choppiness may be due to a crappy Internet connection. I am wireless and currently far away from the router. I getting a signal of 11Mbps. I am going to try it tomorrow closer to the router. Even with the small cliche, it looks amazing. All this content for free and it seems like the ad really aren't all that annoying. I know some will continue to buy and many will continue to steal, but this is a great option for those of us that cheap and addicted to TV.

Update: I went back and watched some SNL clips after the launch. I watched them on a better wifi connection (54 mbps) and it worked like a dream. They loaded and played fast. I am so stoked.

Lost Season 4 Episode 6 "The Other Women" Reaction

This episode was amazing. I can not believe they let us know so much in one episode. First off I love getting to know more about "the others" lives before and after the crash. The flashbacks are back for now. We learned a lot about Juliet's life, after she was brought to the island she had to meet with a psychiatrist (Harper) who from the very beginning was jealous of her. It turns out that Juliet has an affair with Harper's husband Goodwin. Through all of this we found out that Harper didn't really care about the affair, she was just worried about Ben finding out and what he would do to Goodwin. It turns out that Ben has a major crush on Juliet (Harper mentions that Juliet looks like "her", we don't know who that is, but I assume it is Ben's former wife or girlfriend). Ben is really psycho over Juliet, he said "You are mine". Does anyone else think Ben is a stalker? Anyway, we already knew that Goodwin was sent to the tale section of the crash to act as a passenger. When Ana-Lucia discovered that he was an "other" she killed him. What we didn't know was the reaction of Juliet to this news. Again they bring up the whole baby-mother dying on the island thing. I think we are going to find out more about that next week. It seems imperative that Sun gets off the island soon.


Meanwhile, back on the island. They make you think that Daniel and Charlotte are bad and are going to kill everyone on the island. Somehow Ben has Harper track down Juliet and tells her that she must kill them to protect everyone. I wonder how Ben is getting these messages out, or did he have all this planned from the beginning? Harper said that Ben is right where he wants to be. It makes me wonder who is really in control, Ben wants everyone to think he is not in control, but I wonder. It turns out that Daniel and Charlotte are not bad, they make the station called the Tempest harmless. Apparently, this is how "the others" killed the Dharma people all those years ago, with some kind of gas and Dan was trying to render it harmless. He did and Jack and Juliet's faith was restored in the boat people.


Speaking of the boat people, I am curious about what happened to Miles, the last time we saw him he had a grenade in his mouth courtesy of Locke. We didn't get to see him this week, but it wasn't for lack of trying on Claire's part, she tried to convince Locke to take her to see Miles. She thought that she could persuade him with her sweetness rather than brute force. Locke of course refused and goes to talk to Ben, then comes the most interesting part of the whole episode. Ben and Locke make a deal that Locke will put Ben under a house arrest of sorts in exchange for what he knows about the boat people. It turns out that Charles Whitmore is behind the whole think. I think we all saw that coming after last weeks episode. Penny's dad is the one trying to find the island to "exploit it" or so Ben says. Ben has that "Red Sox" tape that has Whitmore beating up one of Ben's men. My first question is how did he get tape and who shot it? Also, is Ben a Red Sox fan? Probably, not because he taped over the game.

***Spoiler Alert*****
Anyway, for next week I am looking forward to seeing Sayid and Des on the boat. And we will get to find out who Ben's man is on the boat. From what I can piece together and from what I have read it is Michael. Yes, Michael the very same guy who took off in the motor boat with his son and we have not heard from them again (except in one of Locke's visions). I wonder though did they not have a problem leaving the island with all the time warp stuff going on. I guess Ben knows the secret. I think we will also find out next week that Sun and Jin are the final two in the Oceanic Six. As always, I am awaiting the return of "the others". At least we know that they are still following Ben's guidance and still on the island (Harper is proof of that). I am looking forward to Episode 7 Ji Yeon next week.

Republicans for Hillary

I am very surprised today that Hillary won both Ohio and Texas. I thought that Obama had the nomination locked up, but low and behold he lost. I think Hillary needs to thank the Republicans. I have been listening to Rush Limbaugh and Laura Ingraham on the radio lately and they have been encouraging Republicans in Ohio and Texas to vote for Hillary. The reason is simple, Rush believes that McCain can beat Hillary, but he is not so sure that he can beat Obama. So they are doing all they can to make Hillary the Democratic nomination. From what I can tell in both Ohio and Texas you can vote for either Republican or Democrat in the primaries. You just have to declare before you vote and since the Republican nomination was pretty much locked up many choose to vote for Hillary. I don't know if I could do it; I guess if it was for the greater good. Is it really going to help? Or do we face another nightmare because if this plan works Hillary could be president? They had people on the radio calling in saying that this was wrong, that Rep. should stick to their own party and that this was voter fraud. I don't think it is voter fraud if they have open polling. I also don't think it is wrong, I think it is smart. It will be interesting to see if it works.

Bye Bye Brett

I had Brett Farve on my fantasy team last year and he did a phenomenal job. I came in second place. But no more, because he is retiring. I have to give it to the guy, he is amazing. He definitely is one of the best all time quarterbacks. He has a lot of records for touchdowns and passing, but the most impressive is 275 consecutive starts. That is amazing and testament to his durability and a good O-line. I am happy for him. I am the guy that believes that you should go out on top and he did that. Last year was amazing. I guess I will have to look to someone else when fantasy season rolls around. I hope he doesn't come back like some are predicting and like Jordan did. Brett, just enjoy retirement and take up golf or go be a coach somewhere. I am sure you have a lot of wisdom to give. Goodbye Brett, you truly are an NFL Great.

ESPN News Story

The Political Landscape

About 3 years ago I gave up politics. I used to follow politics a lot; reading about it and listening to political radio. I was tired of all the compromise, the hopelessness of it all. It seems that all politicians only care about is themselves and their positions of power. So I gave it up.

Well, recently I have had a change of heart, sort of. I started to read more about politics and listen to more AM radio and the situation does not seem any better. I am having a huge problem with the political candidates. I am basically a what you would call a values voter. I care about the economy and foreign policy, but I care more about values (i.e. abortion, marriage, etc.) Because of this stance I don't like either of the democratic candidates and the republican candidate doesn't excited me very much. I really liked Huckabee, but it seems that it is mathematically impossible for him to win the GOP nomination.

So, what about this guy McCain. I don't know a lot about him, but I get the sense he is a very moderate. I don't think he will do anything to damage our current value system, but I don' t think he will do anything to improve it. There is a lot on the table with stem cell research, snowflake babies, abortion, gay marriage, etc. and I don't think he will further conservative causes.

So what is a conservative to do. Should I bite the bullet and vote for him? My options seem very limited. Any other conservatives out there struggling with the same thing I am? What are you going to do?

How Many Five Year Olds Could You Take in a Fight?

I don't know why this is so funny, but it hilarious. I can take 18 five year olds in a fight. How many can you take? I guess I don't have to worry about a gang of kindergarteners picking on my little girl when she gets there. Click on the box below to test yourself.


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