Fridays are for Friends & Family 07.24.09

Time for Friday’s Friends and Family edition once again! This week we start on a sad note, reporting that Gidget, the 15 year old chihuahua who became a star in the Taco Bell commercials at the turn of the century has died.  People magazine this week posted this pictorial montage of famous television animals, which have impacted our lives and invaded our memory. Below, I’ve posted the first of many commercials the dog did for the Mexican food chain in 1997. Yo quiero Gidget! R.I.P.

Tim Tebow is once again in the news, this week on the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine. The article, You Gotta Love Tim Tebow (Man of Many Missions) deals with much more than football. In fact, the majority of the story is about his ministry to prison inmates and in the Philippines as a part of his father’s evangelistic association. It’s a great article about his passion for God and his desire to see others coming into a relationship with Him through the Lord Jesus Christ. While I’ve been an avid Alabama Crimson Tide fan from my earliest days, I can’t help but admire this guy and his commitment to the Savior. Kudos, Tim!

On the family front, daughter Rebekah has been accepted into the advanced Strings Orchestra with the Annapolis Youth Symphony Orchestra after one year in the Preparatory Strings. Way to go, Rebekah! You’re making exceptional progress and it shows. Your hard work and perseverance have paid off. We are so very proud of you and your achievement.

Twitter Picture of the Week

This picture that came across my newsfeed recently, purported to be from the sale of surplus merchandise at one of the religious cable networks. It’s another one of those pictures that make you want to go…huh? Podcast of the Week

Lauren Rodriguez chats with me on this podcast about the importance and value of social media (blogging, Twitter, Facebook, etc.). Lauren is our webmaster and communications expert at the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware, so everything she’s says is worth hearing and applying. If you’re not involved in all of these things as a church leader, you’re missing tremendous opportunities to connect with and impact the people and prospects at your church. Listen to or download it here.

Church Planting Website of the Week

Chuck Cruise is church planter/founding pastor of Hanover Fellowship Church in Hanover, Pennsylvania. Chuck came out of Northwest Baptist Church in Reisterstown, Maryland and after completing seminary at Southern in Louisville, returned home to coordinate this church plant with Northwest as its parent church. By all counts, he’s done an incredible job. Check out his website to see what happening there.

Have a great weekend, everybody!

Fridays are for Friends & Family 06.12.09

Time once again for our weekly excursion around the web! Have you seen this video that’s making the rounds this week? It’s been described as the best motivational video out there and reminds us that “if you’ve never failed, then you’ve never lived.” Check it out below.

Text-messaging is a big deal these days, especially to the younger generations. (My children would rather text-message than email.) Consequently, some one along the way has taken the time and the trouble to look at the Ten Commandments, if they had been text-messaged instead of carved into stone. Here’s what Fast Company magazine theorized they would be.

Our youngest child, Rebekah, seen here with her conductor, just completed her first year in the Preparatory Strings of the Annapolis Youth Symphony Orchestra. Two weeks ago was her final orchestra performance of the year and she did a fabulous job!  I am so proud of her and the hard work and talent she has invested. Rebekah is quite a remarkable young lady. If you have not heard her Strings perform, then you can do so by watching this video from an earlier concert this year; Rebekah’s exactly in the center of the orchestra.

Leadership Network, an organization that you need to know if you don’t already, has a number of church planting resources available to you for free. Most are research and reports that can help you be more effective in your church planting work. Dave Travis and Linda Stanley have done a great job with Leadership Network; I highly recommend them! You can find these resources by traveling from here straight to their website’s church planting section.

Twitter Picture of the Week

Ever have things that make you go “hmmmm?” This picture did that for me when it showed up on my Twitter feed last week.

I guess you never know what you’ll find on Twitter, wouldn’t you agree?

Podcast of the Week

This week’s selected podcast is one that I did with Dr. Joel Rainey, author of Church Planting in the Real World, not long after his book was published. This book, which deals with church planting from a non-megachurch perspective, has been a big hit on several seminary campuses. You can download or listen to our conversation here.

Church Planting Website of the Week

This week I’m highlighted another of our Baltimore church plants, The Garden Community, led by planter/pastor Joel Kurz. This church plant is in the heart of the city–the Mount Vernon area–and is making a great impact of families and the community for the Lord. Their website highlights much of what’s going on there, so check it out. Until next time!