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So it’s been a little bit since my previous post.  Wanted to give you a quick update in the world of Jones:

• As you can see in the post below, our house is on the market.  It has now been listed for a little over a month.  We’ve had a good bit of traffic, especially over the last several weeks.  Selling a house is WORK!  Here’s hoping that July is our month.
• Kim started a job working for the Aiken County Government last month.  She’s really enjoying what she’s doing so that is a plus!  While it’s been an adjustment for everyone, the family seems to be doing well with it.
• We took our family vacation earlier than usual this summer.  It was really kind of an odd one in that Kim was only able to be there for about 3 days before having to head back to work.  So, for much of the week it was me, my kids and my parents.  It was good to get away, and I’m already wanting to hit the beach again soon…maybe a day trip to Kiawah Island in July?
• This is about the time of year I start seriously craving some college football…and the cooler temps with it!  Don’t know how my DAWGS are going to do this year.  Tons of potential there, but you have to get it done on the field.  Another year like last year and there will be some changes at the top.  Just the nature of things.
• Really excited about the direction that Alive Media and 4Thought Media are going.  Got some cool projects that I’m working on right now and some exciting things coming down the road.
• Speaking of projects, one of the things I’m wanting to do more of is videography for events and weddings.  If you know of someone that is getting hitched in July or August, let me know.  I’m looking for a couple of weddings that I can video and edit to expand the portfolio, and it won’t cost them a dime.  Hit the contact me for details or message me on Twitter/Facebook.
• Kim and I were talking today and she said, “Can you believe that in two years Spencer will be in middle school?”  I about fell out.
• Well, that’s all for now.  l8r

“For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect…” 1 Cor 15:9-10 NIV 2011

You are who you are.  Paul says that he doesn’t feel like he is worthy to be called an apostle.  He’s saying, “I am not deserving to be who I am.”  He knows his own thoughts (sinful and treacherous as ours are at times), he knows his past (that he was a murderer, a hypocrite, a stumbling block for many to know the true Messiah), and He knows his own limitations – the thorn in the flesh, what he can’t do because he doesn’t have the skills…and yet he comes to this conclusion: “By the grace of God I am what I am.”
He doesn’t deserve to be an apostle, he doesn’t deserve to be counted among the giants of the early faith, those that were part of the 12…and yet, God made him an apostle.  God said, “Paul, in spite of all your reasons for not being worthy or capable of being an apostle…you ARE one of the apostles.”  You are this.

The phrase “by the grace of God I am what I am” stopped me in my tracks this morning.  I think I struggle at times like others in believing “I am that?”  It’s almost like, God made a mistake in putting me in this position, by giving me this dream, that vision and purpose, or God ran out of the best qualified people for this place in life so he had to go with the b team of which I am 3rd string on.

At some point, we have to choose, I believe, to be “what I am” by the grace of God.  It’s a confidence that says, “I’m going to be who and what God has made me to be” by His grace.  You are a dad, an accountant, a leader, a school teacher, an administrative assistant, a coach, a friend, an entrepreneur, a pastor, a mechanic, a stay at home mom, a maintenance worker, a counselor, a single mom or dad, a construction contractor, an artist, a small group leader, a politician, a writer, a dreamer….by the Grace of God.  Be who He made you to be and NOT who He made someone else to be.  Be what you are by the Grace of God for the Glory of God.

It’s been almost 7 months since I wrote my last blog post and shut down my blog for a while.  I shut down the blog for a while for several reasons.  Possibly the main one reason is that I was just at a place where things just weren’t going all that great, and I needed a break.  The last thing I wanted my blog to be was a repository of negativity, and I just didn’t feel like I had much to bring to the table, if I’m being honest.  Being real is a big deal to me, but there comes a point where if we’re not careful, I think it can be toxic.  Not sure if that makes any sense or not.

Some things are different now, some things are not, but where I am at in my mind is a better place.  I’m excited for the days ahead and so I felt it was time to jump back on the blogging wagon.  I started noticing that I would have blog posts and ideas pop up that I wanted to put out there, so that was a clue to get back at it, too.

You’ll notice that some posts will be longer while others will be a video clip, photo or a short thought.  Who knows, might even begin to do a video blog here and there.  Anyway, thanks for stopping by.

“How many does your church run on Sundays?” “So, what size student ministry do you have?” “How big is your church?”  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been asked this question in my ministry years and even how many times I have probably asked this of others.  Here’s the rub on asking this question: If your church is running less than theirs, you end up feeling inadequate; if your church is running more than theirs you end up feeling self-righteous.  Heard a speaker say one time “There is not a whole lot that can tell you less about what’s going on in a church than that question”.  I think there is some truth in that statement.

Now, don’t misunderstand me.  I’m not wanting to get into a discussion on church growth.  Anyone can read the book of Acts and see that the early church GREW.  A church that is not growing is in decline, imo….and that’s really the point of asking a different question.

No, the thought that struck me was what if we flipped that script on the question “how many are you running?” and started asking different questions, maybe additional questions.  We’ve been going through a message series at Cedar Creek called Chairs.  It’s been a vision series with a focus on the idea that the empty chairs that we see around us on Sundays and at HOME group should serve as a visual reminder of who is missing.  This past Sunday during Wes‘ message at the West Campus, this thought hit me:

What if we started asking:

“How many empty chairs did we have at our church Sunday?”

How would that shift our focus of what we do?  We recently put together some numbers that showed there are approx. 80,000 people in Aiken County that are unreached, that are unchurched and probably don’t know Jesus.  How would asking that question shift our focus in reaching them?

Love the look and sound of this series trailer from Crosspoint.  Cinematic and “Inception”-like. Nice work.

Here’s a bumper we shot and edited for a series this past spring called Don’t Waste Your Life. The series was a focus on the Gospel and was centered in Isaiah 6.  We shot it in an abandoned factory here in Aiken.  Good times.

• We spent the last week in North Myrtle Beach for some much needed vacation time and had an absolutely great time.
• Love spending so much time on the actual beach.  Last few years, by the time that I got the umbrellas, chairs, blankets and cooler setup, 20 minutes later Spencer would be ready for the pool.  This year we boogie boarded, dug around in the sand and just chilled on the beach for hours at a time.
• I have so many great memories from when I was a kid and we would ride waves all day long.  To see my kids having a blast doing the same was so much fun.  Kind of full circle.
• Internet was sketchy for the week so I was mostly unplugged for most of the week….and it was great.  I think next year I’m totally disconnecting.
• Ummm…I think I need to repent of gluttony for the week.  So much food…and I’m not even going to discuss the late night runs to Krispy Kreme
• People lose their ever-loving minds when driving while at the beach.  It’s like life or death for some trying to find their perfect parking spot at places like broadway at the beach and barefoot landing.  Must confess, had a little fun with one guy that was determined to get that spot at barefoot landing.
• What is up with Ohio and Myrtle Beach?  TONS of plates from there.
• My parents came down for four days and it was a lot of fun to have them down with us.  Also got to see my uncle while I was there.  Haven’t seen him in a long time.
• Saw Toy Story 3 in 3d while there. Great flick.
• Kim took the flip cam down along with her camera.  Got some good footage that I’ll be putting together and posting on the blog later.
• Back to reality tomorrow.

Saw this today and thought it had some good stuff.

What do creatives in your organization, church or business need?  Not ALWAYS the top of the line equipment (although I must confess, having 16g’s of ram and 8 processor mac does help tremendously).  What they DO need is the freedom to create, experiment, dream and at times fail.  Case in point, the video below. Shot and edited on an iphone.  Watch all the way through to see how they did it at the end.