Monday Evening - SBC Pastor's Conference

I am back at the luxurious Holiday Inn Express. Today was filled with reuniting with old friends, listening to great messages, and enjoying a very special guest.

In the afternoon session coach Tony Dungy made a guest appearance. I am a huge Colts fan so this was real treat. He only spoke for about ten minutes with an inspirational message to keep doing God's work. It was definitely a highlight for me.

I also enjoyed the message by Hayes Wicker this morning. He spoke about when Jacob wrestled with God and how blessedness comes through brokenness. I also enjoyed Jimmy Draper's message. It seemed like he was trying to say what he would if never got the chance to speak again. He spoke about the need for revival. One thing that stuck out to me was he said we need to put aside the Calvinist vs. Arminianist argument which he says we will never come to agreement (I agree). If we experience true revival then we should be able to put aside differences and focus on more important things.

I also enjoyed James MacDonald's message. It was a very convicting sermon. He spoke on repentance from 2 Cor. 7:8-12. God definitely dealt with me and is still dealing with me about some things. MacDonald is becoming on of my favorite speakers. Lastly, I really liked Kerry Shook's message. He encouraged us to live as if we only has one month to live. He gave the same challenge to his church and I don't know how much later, but they baptized over 800 on one Sunday. They also have as many in small groups as they do in worship attendance about 7000. God is really working in his church.

Overall the day was good. I got some good swag. I also got to eat at P.F. Chang's, mmmm, I would highly recommend the beef with broccoli. I am looking forward to the business and sermons tomorrow.

Monday Morning at SBC Pastor's Conf.

I just finished my breakfast at the great holiday inn express right across from the brand new Colts stadium. Last night was really good. I missed Johnny Hunt but my friends said he really want after us as SB. He challenged us to wake up or we will lose half our churches by 2030. That is scary. I really want to go back and listen later on.

Dr. Simmons had a great message on prayer. He challenged pastors to have a strong personal prayer time. He read from 2 Cor. 4:7 and encouraged us to be jars filled with the timeless power of the treasure that is Jesus.

Finally, Dr. Tom Elliff spoke and told all of us that we needed to filled with God's Spirit. He said often our hearts are like unplowed hard ground (Hosea 10:12). We need to plow up the hard ground of our hearts and be filled with God's Spirit. Overall both of the messages I heard we good and really spoke to me.

Made It To Indy

I made it to Indy. The roads were clear, but there was still a lot of water in the fields and ditches. I am now sitting in the convention hall. I missed Johnny Hunt's sermon. I am now listening to Dr. Daniel Simmons from Albany, GA. More later.

Indiana Flooding - Convention Implications?

I am sending my first post via email, typing on my pda's tiny keypad.

Currently I am crammed in a church van coming back from Indy on I-65 to Evansville via Louisville. We went to Indy to do some block parties for Indy Crossover. This morning we got dumped on, I heard that we got 10 in in a matter of a couple of hours. Indy and the surrounding areas are in a state of emergency. I-65 north was closed and I-70 was also closed with a detour around the flooded area. We must have seen a hundred State Police. I heard that they were shutting down Edinburgh and the towns around. The exit south of Edinburgh was completely under water. I wonder was this will do to the convention. I am traveling back to Indy tomorrow if the roads are open. If you are traveling any road to Indy check the road closure report over at www.in.gov/indot.

Also please pray for these poor people that are flooded tonight. See you at the convention hopefully.

Off to Indy - Last Post or Not?

Well I am off to Indy on Sunday for the SBC Convention. I usually take my laptop and try to blog about the convention while I am there, however my laptop is going into the repair shop today. So I might not be blogging, however I did get a new Palm Centro the other day and I might just send a couple of post in via email. I haven't decided yet, I guess you will have to wait and find out. If I don't post anything then I will see you next week.

Resource Alert!

ClearPlay DVD Player

Have you ever been watching a movie that is pretty decent and then one cuss word ruins the movie for you? Then you need to check out the ClearPlay DVD player!

I had heard about the ClearPlay DVD player last year when they had a big promotion at Target stores. However, I didn't really take much notice. I started to check it out when I got a flyer in the mail at church. I went on the website and looked at the demo that they had and it looked really cool. Unlike Clean Movies or other similar (now illegal) websites which actually alter movie footage. You just select what movie you want to watch, then download a filter from the ClearPlay website and put it on a USB flash drive and then plug it into the DVD player and the player takes care of the rest. The guys over at clear play have cut out sex and nudity, language, and extreme violence by using the this filter system. Instead of changing the physical movie they just skip or mute all the offensive stuff.

I know what you thinking, the movie is really choppy, but it really isn't. Some one at our church had one and I borrowed it for our student lock-in. I was tired of renting G rated movies to show to our students. So I rented Cloverfield, which was PG-13. All of the offensive material was cut out, it was great. Now granted they could not cut out all the violence or you would not have movie, because Cloverfield is about a monster attacking New York City. But we all enjoyed it and I think the students liked it also. The only down side would be it you picked a movie with a lot of language most of your movie would be muted.

ClearPlay offers most of the popular movies and some TV shows. They also will not offer a filter for a movie that they would have to cut so much you could not understand the story line. Overall I really enjoyed this product and am looking to get one for myself and my forthcoming youth room. The DVD players start at under $70, about the price of a mid-range player today. A monthly membership is required to download filters, but at $8 it is a good deal or you can pre-pay for a year for under $80. If you are like me and enjoy movies, but not all the junk then check out the ClearPlay DVD Player.

Several Different Thoughts...

I have some things I wanted to talk about but all them are really short so I thought I would put all of them in one post.

1. Well I was really excited about the Cubs going 9 straight. I thought they could keep it going, but they lost last night to the Padres 2-1. Oh, well it is a lot of pressure to keep a long winning streak and they are still in first place. Go Cubs!

2. I have been keeping up with some of the election coverage and I think if so funny that the Democrats have elected a man that no experience. I would vote for Hilary over Obama any day because at least she has some experience. I know that Hilary supporters are fuming and most will be voting for McCain, which is good news.

3. Season Finale season is all but over, this one was weak because of the writers strike and now we are facing an acting strike, what's that about? Anyway the Office season finale was amazing. I hope Dwight and Angela get back together. The Lost finale was also awesome, but still have a lot of questions, but I guess that is nature of the beast. I also caught a little of the Grey's finale as my wife was watching it (I was trying it ignore it). That show gets on my last nerve. I can't believe they ended with those two girls kissing. I am glad I don't watch that show anymore (or at least I try not to).

4. The most exciting news for the week is that we won our softball game this week. I am on the church team and we play in a city league. Last year we went 0-12, OUCH! But we redeemed ourselves, sort of, by winning our first game 7-4.

5. My family and I are going to Indianapolis, IN for the Southern Baptist Convention. I am excited to hear the speakers and her all of the good and bad resolutions. The kind of resolutions that are bad are ones that have the language of forces repentance. For instance someone calls on all SBC churches to repent of such and such. Those annoy me, isn't repentance supposed to come from the person or church's heart, not a forced resolution. Anyway, I am excited.