the c word

We had my parents over for dinner tonight and we were discussing how many people that we know that have been impacted by cancer.  Kim had thyroid cancer back several years ago and now two incredible friends of ours (Tom and Angie) are waging their own battles.  Would you take a minute to pray for both Tom and Angie right now and any others around you that are fighting to battle cancer? Here is a quick synopsis of their stories and links to check out:

Tom Lowry – Tom was my youth pastor growing up, gave me my first opportunity in ministry by letting me intern under him in student ministry (what was he thinking? ….) and has remained a great friend and encourager to me through the years.  He discipled me and help see me through the “yeah, it’s okay God, I’ve got this on my own” years.  He has always been like a second dad to me.  He had mentioned several weeks ago to me that he would be going through some tests and then this week revealed that the tests would be to test for cancer.  He shared the video below tonight at Curtis Baptist Church in Augusta where he is on staff still (church/place I grew up at).  You can follow Tom on his blog as well as he will be giving updates there:

Tom’s Blog: http://tomsthoughtsonstuff.blogspot.com

Angie Sanders – I first met Bobby and Angie at Lighthouse Baptist Church here in Aiken where I was on staff as the youth pastor.  I suckered them in asked them to become volunteers in our student ministry and later had the privilege to officiate at their wedding.  It has been incredible for me to watch them grow in their faith and how they have become leaders at their church in ministry.  They are a great example of Jesus with skin on: they just love Jesus and love people.  Angie has recently been diagnosed with cancer and has had surgery to remove it and is about to undergo additional chemotherapy.

Angie’s Group on Facebook

AJ Mind Dump

Been a while since I’ve blogged, with any consistancy anyway.  Here’s the latest in the world of Jones:

• This past Sunday I preached at the Banks Mill campus at CCC.  It had been close to a year since I preached last due mainly to having to focus on multi-site media development.  Was good to speak again.
• Felt pretty raw at times during the message.  As I shared in my message, it has been brewing for a while out of all that’s been going on in my life.  Came out of some things that I’ve been through….and still going through.
• Had a chance to speak at Christian Heritage Church in Graniteville last Wednesday to some students there.  Bobby and Angie Sanders are good friends that go there and invited me to speak.  Love them and their heart for students.
• Whatever happened to lazy summer days?  It has been flat out non stop this summer.
• We’re about 3 to 4 weeks from launching our second multi-site campus at CCC: Cedar Creek – On The Ridge.  The campus is located in Ridge Spring-Monetta.  They have been meeting in small groups for a while, but we’re about wrap up the building for Sunday worship.  I’m going to post some photos of the new campus later on this week probably.
• Am seriously ready for football.  UGA starts off the season playing Oklahoma State in Stillwater, OK.  Let the big DAWG eat!   Can’t wait to be HERE.
• I think Kim is ready for the kids to go back to school.  Spencer got bored today so he just started breaking the heads off of his army men…yeah, he does best with some structure.  Although, we use to blow them up with fireworks so I can’t really talk.
• Saddened seeing so many people that I know seem to be struggling in their marriages.  People that you “never would have thought” would have gotten divorced are exactly there.  Been thinking through ways to strengthen my own because of it.  Wes mentioned this book so I grabbed a couple of copies for Kim and I today on Amazon.
• My A/C in my car doesn’t work except when it wants to.  Not fun when you’re about to hit August.
• All for now.

but you promised

I can remember saying that growing up to my parents.  During summers when I was a kid, I would often pester my parents to take us somewhere to swim.  I grew up in North Augusta and summers were the same as they are now in this area: brutally hot and humid.  For us it was either one of four places: Misty Waters, Anderson’s, Ascauga Lake or Hammond Hills Pool (the first three are either shut down or non-existent now).  I would remember my parents saying that they would take us “sometime” later on in the week or day, and I would just cling to that hope saying “but you promised”   Now I’m sometimes on the receiving end of that with my own kids.

I’ve been reading through Romans in my time with God and just came across a passage that just nailed me.  It is out of Romans 4 and is speaking about Abraham’s faith and it was his faith that made him right with God.  God made a promise to Abraham (an old childless man with a barren wife) that he would be the father of “many nations”.  This was a promise that he and Sara had to wait for years to come to pass…but it did.

Speaking of Abraham, in 4:20-21, the Bible says:

Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.

Here are some thoughts and questions that really stuck out to me:

• For all of us, there is a promise.  A promise of a plan, a will, a purpose for what we are to be about.  (Jeremiah 29:11)
• There are times when that purpose or plan is very clear.  There are times when it is just a dream, or we can only see “snapshots” of what it might be/could be.  There are times when we have NO clue.
• That doesn’t change the fact that the promise is still there.
• Question: Do I believe God will keep His promise? Abraham had to wait 25 years for the promise to be fulfilled (from the time when God first gave him that promise till Isaac’s birth)….now munch on that….25 years.  Yet he still believed.
• Question: Do i really believe God has the power to make that promise happen? My words say yes, but too often my actions say “I’ve got this God.  Let me help you out on that.”
• I’m just hoping and praying that the above verses will be true in me.  I’m asking God for that kind of faith that is unwavering to trust his promise and his power.

AJ Mind Dump

So it’s been a while since I posted as I’ve been out of town some.  Here is the latest from the world of Jones:

• Spent the past week and a half in Hilton Head, SC.  From Sunday to Friday, I was there with Walter and Danny doing some production for a camp called Breakaway.  The rest of the time was spent with my family on some vacation time.
• Breakaway – This was a our 4th year doing that camp.  Basically our day at breakaway consists of the following: 1. morning worship – where we run cameras, and propresenter for the meeting 2. film seminars – around 10:30 am 3. afternoon – Danny and Walter film recreation (both organized and non) and bring tapes to me where I edit for the the evening highlight reel 4. 6pm – tape student stories/testimonies to be used in the morning worship time 5. around 7:45 – evening worship where we run cameras, and propresenter for the meeting.  Also tape the messages/meeting for later use 6. late night – edit student stories and other pieces for morning/evening the next day.  Somewhere in between, we eat and sleep.  Not a whole lot of beach or pool time in there at all.  Seeing 300+ students encounter Jesus is a VERY cool thing.
• We usually hit Myrtle Beach with the family but things worked out great to spend our family vacation at HHI.  Was a great change of pace and some much needed R&R.
• Got to read a little bit and finished up Craig Groeschel’s book IT.  I’ve read a good number of books on leadership.  This one ranks at the top, imo.  His chapter on Vision and the last two chapters should be a must read for every pastor and staff.  Some insightful questions at the end of each chapter that would be great for a leadership team to walk through, too.
• Got the vacation hangover.  Calls for double doses of coffee.
• Still have a lot of exciting things heading this way this summer.  Looking forward to it.
• Biggest takeaway from the book IT was a prayer: God, stretch me, ruin me and heal me.  Amen…..seriously, you need to get that book.
• Reading through Andy Stanley’s “Making Vision Stick”.  gonna be good, I can already tell.
• I’m seriously thinking of going to no conferences over the next year.  I might make an exception, though, for Catalyst.  dunno
• Wrapping up several ecommerce sites over the next few weeks.  Looking forward to seeing them go live.
• Waiting on God’s timing is TOUGH!  Possibly the hardest thing I’ve had to process through in my life.  I’m not a very patient person, you can ask my wife.  Once I get an idea, a thought, a passion or new direction, usually my immediate next thought is “okay, let’s roll on that…” Can you relate to that?
• all for now.

Stop….Hammer Time

Thanks Ken for passing this along.  In revolt against every girl-jean-wearing guy out there (you know who you are), I submit this:

Sunday Mind Dump

Here’s the latest from the world of Jones:

• Good day today at Cedar Creek.  Kim and I went with Hannah to a meeting for parents of rising 6th graders.  That’s just blows my mind…I’m about to have a middle schooler.
• Having worked with middle and high school students for close to 12 years in student ministry, I’ve had the opportunity to be on the giving end of that talk…not the receiving end.  Kind of surreal.  Now I’m waiting for the day she loses her mind for the next 6 or so years.  Hopefully she won’t
• Thought Phillip’s illustration of how we rely on one “charge” to last us the whole week or month was spot on.  Set the tone perfectly for the message.
• Well, here it is 6 months out from the launch of our first multi-site campus and we had our first major media glitch this morning.  Unknown to our banks mill media team, neither our primary recording of the 9:30 service (p2 cards) nor our primary backup (dvd) had audio going to them.  Freak thing.  Found the culprit.  It was a small button that never (and I mean never) gets pushed that caused the problem.  Add that to the list of things to check during warmup.
• With plan a and b not working, we went with plan c: Wes, our campus pastor at the West Campus, preached.  Phillip always gives Wes a copy of his message.  Cool thing is that Wes said he had a feeling that today was “the day” when he would preach.  Also, as he was looking over the outline this weekend, he saw some natural personal illustrations he could use.  He did an outstanding job from what everyone said.  Sounds like a setup to me   God’s good at that.
• Kim and I went out on a much needed date Friday night.  Was good to hang out together.  Went to see Night at the Museum 2…bad call.  Should have gone to Borders and gotten some coffee instead.  Wait for the DVD on that one.  We were going to see Terminator 2 but missed the showtime.
• Was saddened to hear the news about Revolution Church today.  I’ve worked with Gary and RC on several projects for their message series and really have a lot of love and respect for all of them.  Praying for them that God would bring healing to the Lamb family, the other family involved and Revolution Church.  Would you pray for them right now, too?  Bottom line on all of that is an old school quote: “There but for the Grace of God go I”  Pray for them as you think of them.
• Next couple of months should be pretty fun and exciting.  Vacation with the family somewhere in there, doing production and video for two student ministry camps at the beach and get to preach the last Sunday in July.
• I’m out..peace.

my clifton strengths finder results

I’ve heard a lot of good things about the Clifton Strengths Finder test and wanted to take it to see what it said about my strengths.  I was a little nervous in taking the test..you know, the whole pointing the mirror at yourself introspection.  As I was taking it, I was waiting at any moment for this pop up window (you take it online) to say “Dude, what are you smokin?”  Anyway, here are the results, the good and the bad.  These are what it said my strengths are.  So, is it me?  I think it is pretty close….scary close in some ways.  Don’t be hatin!

Review: Killing Cockroaches

I’ve been meaning to post this for several week and finally go around to it.  I finished reading Tony Morgan’s Killing Cockroaches and wanted to write a quick review.

I love the way this book is laid out.  I’m not sure what I like more: the chapters that are like blog posts in book form or the built-in cock roach flip book (nice touch).  The short chapters are setup more like a blog than a book.  Someone described it as a great bathroom book.  I would say that’s pretty accurate.  There were several pages that I dogeared and underlined.

Some of the highlights that kind of stuck out to me, without giving away too much, are:

• 10 ways to sink your sermon series – for pastors and creative teams, this is worth the price of the book alone.  Great insights that we’ve seen play out at CCC and some new ideas to consider that we haven’t tried yet.
• Reading Tony’s chapter on The Lost Generation (18-34 year olds) had me yelling “preach preacha!”  One insight from there: “most churches focus their ministry on people that are twenty to thirty years older than this demographic.”  No wonder this demographic is leaving the church.
• Exceeding expecations – he addresses the first time guests and their experience in coming to church.  Some convicting and practical applications on exceeding expectations in helping to ensure that someone’s first visit to your church is one where they want to come back.
• There are several quick chapters on “making church boring” and effective communication.  I loved those chapters and would echo his sentiments there.  Why is it that some churches seem to go out of their way to make church boring?
• The chapter on worship music is a must read for every worship leader and pastor.  Some great conversations, statements and questions there.  One part that made me think (and laugh) was this: “When are any Christian musicians going to start writing lyrics that connect with the average Joe?  For example, I can’ imagine hearing two men say to each other, ‘I just want my lifesong to sing to God’ and the reply, ‘Yes, I just feel like my heart is crying out.’….I understand that poetry and lyrics are cool and all, but you know what I’m saying…”
• Chapter on God’s Will when considering a move or next steps in ministry.  Tony gives his process/questions that he and his family used in making the move from Granger to Newspring.

Bunch of other insights, but I’ll let you pick up your own copy and read it yourself.  Thought there were a lot of applications for any ministry or business leader.  Oh, one more thing, if you happen to meet Tony, you should give him a big hug…he loves that kind of stuff

Next up on my reading list: IT by Craig Groeschel (great book so far, can’t put it down) and Living Your Strengths by Winseman, Clifton & Liesveld (haven’t started that one yet)

“Don’t let people put a period….

……where God put a comma.”  TD Jakes said that a few years ago at a conference I was at and it really stuck with me.  As I was watching this video below, that thought came to me.  I think for so many of us, we feel stuck or trapped by where we are at in life.  It can be a divorce, an unfulfilling career, a habit that you can’t seem to overcome…whatever it is, just fill in the blank.  We feel that is where we are in life, this is what I am in life, and that’s it.  Watching Susan below, it makes you wonder how many times she felt like she wouldn’t amount to anything, was doubted, and overlooked.  I think for most of us, we can relate at one point or another.  Anyway, hopefully this will encourage you to not give up, to trust that God has a plan for your life and that you matter to him.

Watch the full length version here

blogging breather

Just a heads up for those that read and follow my blog.  I’ll be taking a little break over the next week.  Posts will probably be sporadic as I’m taking some time to hang with the family…l8r