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my dirty little secret

i am ashamed to admit this but i actually like watching “the real housewives of new york.” i know. just when you thought you couldn’t think any lower of me i have to go and admit something that lowers your opinion of me even more. it’s a dumb show and i know it. there is nothing redeeming about it. if i were a woman i would hate this show with a passion because these women are not good examples for the gender. they are shallow and pathetic and worse than just being shallow and pathetic is the fact that they actually think they are deep and imitation worthy. that’s why it’s like watching a good comedy for me. i sit there thinking “no! really no! nobody is that dumb and self-centred.” that’s what i think but every time those ladies prove me wrong – they really are that shallow. it’s actually kind of sad and and what is sadder is that i am drawn to watch it hoping that somewhere in the show they are going to turn to the camera and wink in an attempt to say “don’t worry, we’re just pretending for the show.” they haven’t done this yet. this makes me even more pathetic than these ladies … which is really hard to do.

please don’t think too much less of me.

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aluminum hard case

i’m not usually in the business of selling people’s products for them but this was a good deal and i thought i would pass it on. as a nomadic church (a church without a building) tapestry is always in need of sturdy cases for things. right now i need two cases for the the projectors we use. that’s why i am posting about 1 sale a day. today they are selling aluminium cases with high density foam inserts for $9.99 plus $5.99 s/h. a good enough deal that i solved our projector cases issue by buying two.

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little old lady burps?

i went to copp’s grocery store yesterday to buy food and drinks for the party after jackie’s baptism. while i was in the soft drink aisle a little, old lady starting randomly talking to me (i would guess she was around 80). she commented on how many soft drinks i was buying. i told her why i was buying them and she seemed happy with that.

she then said “i’m glad to see you are buying dr. pepper.”

truthfully i wasn’t really sure how to respond to that comment. it’s nice that that she was pleased with what i was purchasing but also a little unusual. i simple wasn’t sure how i was supposed to comment on her statement. was i supposed to tell her that it pleased me to know that i had pleased her? so in confusion i took the whimpy way out and opted for a bland “thanks.”

her next response was what really threw me off. she said, “i can’t drink pepsi because it makes me burp a lot.”

this is simple not what i expect to discuss with 80 year olds that i don’t know. maybe i’ve lived a sheltered life but i don’t usually discuss belching with strangers, let alone strangers that are little old ladies. nothing in my past has prep’d me for how to interact with such discussions. i began to have serious fears that this lady might move in other directions. if she was okay discussion her belches with people she didn’t know then she might also feel comfortable discussing suppositories or laxatives with anyone passing by. i wasn’t going to stay around for those discussions. therefore, i said, “yes, pepsi is a rather gassy drink” and then headed out of the aisle as fast as i could.

yes, i am a coward. i know i probably missed a better story by running away with my tail tuck between my legs but some stories simply carry too much risk with them.

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tapestry's first baptism

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last night was another first for tapestry … our first baptism. jackie became a CHRIST follower in november. since we were going to do a river baptism it took until now for the water to get warm enough for this southern boy to handle it. all the wisconsin people were okay with the cold water but i am not used to voluntarily going into water that is 55แต’. it was quite chilly but well worth it.

since it was a joyous occasion pam suggested the we have a church cook out after jackie’s baptism. everyone liked the idea so we did it. it’s probably too early in tapestry’s existence to be establishing traditions but i really liked this whole thing. i hope we are able to do it from now on – baptism then party. it works for me.

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the week in tweets – 2009-05-02

  • Heading to the Appleton airport to go to Austin and Q. #
  • On the plane finally. #
  • I made it onto my connecting flight by the slightest of margins. Now to Austin. #
  • Finally in Austin. #
  • ??? B??r2( :??a:H^???t???0????? ????3?~???axyN??Y?fz]f??n2??.??ewY0f??????.???9?m?? s??~?At??(&?] *:?^?A??($.??g??>F?????(????p’?.?? #
  • Just heard a great report from tonight’s Tapestry, Mike’s sermon, and the awesomeness of my fellow “threads.” Thanks for being the Church! #
  • Just signed in for Q and I recieved more stuff than at any other conference i’ve been to. Most be 6 books in the bag. #Q2009 #
  • http://twitpic.com/43pfs – It has begun #Q2009 #
  • Alan Hirsch is speaking about cultural distance at the moment #Q2009 #
  • I think Ted Haggard is here. Really?!?! #Q2009 #
  • Cool lectures on the future of suburbs and the city. Joel Kotkin & Dave Goetz #Q2009 #
  • Now I have to walk 7 blocks in the rain! Great. #Q2009 #
  • Session 2 is beginning and I’ve been chatting with some Compassion International people #Q2009 #
  • Andy Crouch kicked butt and now we are about to discuss a post atomic world #Q2009 #
  • Need to look into twofuturesproject.org. Go there now. #Q2009 #
  • Sign it a closed store “Closed Due To Economy” Hampton suggests it is probably because their service sucked. #Q2009 #
  • @nate_ray – irony of ironies – i met john burke today at Q. the tweet you replied to was concerning cocktail drums so i was confused. in reply to nate_ray #
  • @lexikate – bill hampton is one of ramsey’s guys on the show and in the biz. not sure but i think ramsey may have got it from hampton first. in reply to lexikate #
  • @mcschobert – you’re wrong sir – up there i would have an umbrella, rain coat, auto, etc. ๐Ÿ˜‰ in reply to mcschobert #
  • http://twitpic.com/44otf – Q gets better and better – just saw the weinermobile http://tinyurl.com/wuuj9 #
  • Looks k #
  • Something has happened with my laptop and i’m internetless #
  • Crowder is chaotic. #Q2009 #
  • Best Tim Keel line “he your gospel is just about going to heaven then your gospel is too small” #Q2009 #
  • In a lunch with Tyler Wiggs-Stevenson on nuclear disarmament. Interesting. #Q2009 #
  • George P. Bush was ok. Good points. Ok presentation. #Q2009 #
  • I haven’t paid for a single meal today! Woohoo for working the system! #Q2009 #
  • Listenin to Over the Rhine. Mhmm #Q2009 #
  • Is it sad that I have already signed up for next year’s Q? It’s in Chicago. Anybody interested in going with me? #Q2009 #
  • At the Austin airport and waiting to start the long trip home. #
  • Not so sure a book dealing with “LIFE AFTER life after death” is the best choice right before flying into bad weather. #
  • On the plane to Appleton and someone is already releasing gas. Must not be Wisconsin people because regular cheese intact would stop that. #

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the Q report

so i got back yesterday (1:15 am) from austin, texas and Q. i starting taking care of tapestry things yesterday and while i’m doing some of the same today i do at least feel like i have enough time to put down some of my thoughts concerning the conference. so here goes:

  • positive – the conference that i have thought of as being consistently the best ministry conference in the states has been youth specialties’ national youth worker convention. every time i ever went to nywc i was challenged and refreshed. heck, pam loved going to nywc’s with me. one of the things i have appreciated the most concerning nywc is its mindset of bringing together contradicting thoughts and allowing the participants to figure out what worked best for them in their context and faith. i feel like Q has done a good job of learning from what youth specialties has historically done so well. i can’t yet say that Q is as good as nywc but that’s just because i’ve only been too one Q. i have years of experience with nywc and therefore know that they are great. i’ll find out next year if Q deserves to be ranked with nywc as consistently the best.
  • positivei love conferences that focus on ideas while i am not as huge a fan conferences that focus on practice. don’t get me wrong, ideas that don’t lead to practice aren’t that much good. therefore a conference should have some practical examples of what an idea leads to. yet it is my opinion that conferences that focus primarily on practical aspects end up limiting people rather than releasing them. you just end up doing the same things that other people and groups have done. whoopee. Q was all about ideas and questions – some of which competed with each other. i was exposed to different people’s and organization’s thoughts, given a few examples of how they have lived it out, and then encouraged to branch out in directions that best fit me, tapestry, and point rather than encouraged to buy a program. one of the things i loved was that several times presentations were made by people who had been participants at previous year’s Q’s and then had gone out and done something new. celebrating how people have developed something new rather than just have had success with an already established (and probably commercialized) program shows what the real values of Q are.
  • positive – the quality of the presentations was amazing. a good half of the presenters were absolutely incredible – both in their ideas and their method of communicating those ideas. of the remaining half i would only describe two as let downs and one of those would was just because she didn’t do a good job of communicating her ideas, which were fascinating ideas.
  • positive – i got my money’s worth. Q is expensive. being a church planter i went for a reduced rate (thanks Q) and it was still pricey. yet i left austin knowing that it had been a first class event and i had received my money’s worth. from the quality of what was done, to the “freebies” that i received (6 books, two magazines, and a pound of coffee were in my registration bag – which was a real clothe book bag), to the concert from over the rhine, it was all excellent.
  • negative – it would have been nice to have heard from presenters who are not living, working, and/or ministering in “big time” environments. what about people living in cities with less than 400,000 people who are doing revolutionary things? surely there are some in the u.s.

as you can see it was a great conference. i loved it so much that i went ahead and registered for next year’s Q (which is in chicago) while i was still in austin. now i get to see if it lives up to my first experience.

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q 2009

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i’m presently in austin waiting for the q conference to begin tomorrow morning. i left this morning and rushed through the minneapolis airport to just barely make my connecting flight – i literally had to get someone to unlock the door and get a counter worker to check me in because everyone else had already been boarded.

anyhow i heard tapestry was wonderful tonight. pam bragged on mike’s preaching and how all the threads pulled together to make everything happen. as a dad i was pretty proud of my boys jumping in and taking care of things. adam did all the computer stuff by himself and then pam sent me the above photo. turns out that noah played the djembe for the band tonight. this makes me sorry i missed it.

for anyone who is interested i will tweet the conference over the next couple of days.

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the week in tweets – 2009-04-25

  • http://twitpic.com/3kthy – trivia 2009 at the Terrell house #
  • @Bradismename – it i, it’s tiring but fun. in reply to Bradismename #
  • just went from nailing questions to majorly failing #trivia40 #
  • @Bradismename – it is, it’s tiring but fun. #
  • RT @edstetzer: Msg: Mark Twain: church is “good people standing in front of good people & telling ’em to be good people.” That’s not gospel! #
  • Is it a bad thing if the pastor of a church skips service to continue playing #trivia40? Not that I know anyone who would do that. #
  • @bsheets – what team are you on? #trivia40 in reply to bsheets #
  • @bsheets – crap . y’all are a great team. in reply to bsheets #
  • 54 hours later it’s over #trivia40 #
  • Bohemian Rhapsody for the geek in me – http://tinyurl.com/dd4lhp #
  • Sent in my post-seminar paper and I am now finished with Church PLanting Leadership NOBTS seminar #PMCP8301 #
  • @Jenn1971 – if you couldn’t do it this year what would make you think you could next year? ๐Ÿ™‚ in reply to Jenn1971 #
  • Getting last minute things finished for “Film & Theology” tonight @uwft #
  • Plan B for @uwft tonight showing “Stranger than Fiction” instead of “Slumdog Millionaire.” We had unknown licensing problems. #
  • @uwft – testing this thing out #
  • @uwft – thanks drew it works #
  • @uwft – i wish i had that watch #
  • @uwft – it’s okay it’s wednesday #
  • @uwft – apparently twitter is going pretty slow – TAX MAN!!!!!!!! #
  • #uwft – back off drew ๐Ÿ˜‰ #
  • #uwft – that’s a nasty way to put out your cigarette #
  • @uwft – if you just walked in you should know that due to licensing issues we are showing “Stranger than Fiction” rather than “Slumdog” #
  • @uwft – anybody remember the name of the photo of the girl who committed suicide? #
  • @uwft – the author on TV looked a little like Seal #
  • @uwft – watch Hoffman – pretty much every time he is in a scene he eat something during it. not sure why #
  • @uwft – i would be thrilled to know that i wasn’t a gollum #
  • watch for the woman and child in each of these mock killings #
  • @uwft – interesting thought that she is the “god” figure and she says she is not in the business of saving lines – in fact the opposite #
  • @uwft – more food with hoffman #
  • @uwft – that’s mean #
  • @uwft – @alkinnu -i was just search for a meaning for kirck – her name “pascal” has to be a reference to blaise #
  • @uwft – blaise pascal – brilliant french mathematician and believer in JESUS CHIRST. said that all people had a GOD shaped vacuum in them #
  • @uwft – interesting dicatomy between them. he wishes he was more musical – she gave up easy money to follow her love. #
  • @uwft – http://tinyurl.com/4ze2t quick description o pascal’s wager #
  • @uwft – hoffman had food again – you’re not supposed to eat before swimming #
  • @uwft – i’m doing that right now ๐Ÿ˜‰ #
  • @uwft – not sure that is how i want to define my home – “it’s where i keep my stuff” #
  • @uwft – i didn’t see hoffman eat anything that time – did i miss it? crime & punishment is an excellent book. good pancakes are impressive #
  • @uwft – “go make it the one you always wanted” (ref. life) calls back to pascal – she’s doing that #
  • @uwft – i.e. you’re never too old to live the life you always wanted????? #
  • #uwft – which is what a guitar should say #
  • #i think that amp turned up to “11” #
  • #uwft – that movie was monty python – meaning of life – interesting choice. #
  • #uwft – wow that’s impressive #
  • #uwft – the flowers is what i meant as impresive #
  • #uwft – interesting choice of word “want” – especially saying it to someone named pascal & being willing to do anything to achieve the want #
  • #uwft – he’s just playing E & A – i think #
  • #uwft – he’s want was just achieved by making his life more musical #
  • #uwft – hoffman and food again #
  • #uwft – he’s the only one with color in that office #
  • #uwft – the world of the creator and the creation collide and the creator runs to answer – mhmmmm #
  • #uwft – interesting again – the creator sees her creation and bows to it ?????? #
  • #uwft – the opposite of the CHRIST story? we saw HIM and saw that HE exists and we killed HIM?!?!?!?! #
  • #uwft – didn’t see any food with hoffman that time #
  • #uwft – tweeters – the #replies seem to be taking forever so swap to #hastags #
  • #uwft – WOW – for the story to go on he must knowingly die?!?!?!?! sounds a little familiar – “see if she can change it” gethesamne? #
  • #uwft – he reads the book, finds it true, and let’s it direct his life to the point of death – so do believers in CHRIST still to this day #
  • @uwft – just trying the @reply again to see if twitter is doing better on these now #
  • #uwft – “i love your book and i think you should finish it” implies living by it #
  • @uwft – the film borrows heavily from a famous painting called :son of man” – here it is http://tinyurl.com/5jlh4u #
  • #uwft – so the plan was that the story called for harold to sacrifice himself for another and the creator shouted in pain?!?!?!?!? #
  • #uwft – and he is resurrected. #
  • @uwft – is hoffman the adversary in this story? is he somewhat arguing for kirck’s death? #
  • #uwft – WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! #
  • #uwft – yep that would be the kind of MAN you want to keep alive and my faith says HE lives #
  • #uwft – now notice al’s great sweater #
  • @dhaltom7 – we did a “film & theology” thing at UWSP and some of us where twittering the whole thing on sides screens. in reply to dhaltom7 #
  • @joecausey = no worries.it’s a catch up episode. in reply to joecausey #
  • Finished hanging with @ppolnaszek, @johnthemember, and CHRISTian at Perkins. I love spending time with those guys. #
  • @meganckelly – the AC is already on down there? ๐Ÿ˜‰ in reply to meganckelly #
  • An excellent Tapestry is group painting at the Hope Center. #
  • I just received an email from a reporter from Time magazine wanting to discuss using twitter in church. They don’t realize how small I am. #
  • @dannygilliam – thanks. so did you get your paper in on time? in reply to dannygilliam #
  • @hubbacm – don’t be too impressed. it wasn’t much of an interview. just a few questions. in reply to hubbacm #
  • @eLP88 – pretty typical. ๐Ÿ˜‰ in reply to eLP88 #
  • @jesslawrence1 – have you turned into a klove salesperson now? in reply to jesslawrence1 #
  • @jonestony – we’ve tweet our “film & theology” gatherings and are about to try it in a worship gathering. in reply to jonestony #
  • it’s 85ยบ in Stevens Point…WooHoo!!! #
  • I’m wondering if I know anybody in Austin, Texas? I’ll be there Sunday through Wednesday afternoon. #
  • http://twitpic.com/3zkbq – anyone have any feelings (for or against) or knowledge on cocktail drum kits? http://tinyurl.com/ctrexy #

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cocktail kits?

does anyone have any experience with cocktail drum kits? i am considering one for tapestry. sarah, our drummer, has been playing the djembe for tapestry and has been doing a great job. weโ€™ve been talking about moving up to a drum kit for a fuller sound but portability, band size, and the feel of a full kit have been running through my mind. therefore, i was thinking about a cocktail kit. iโ€™m considering one because they would fit in with the simple feel of tapestry and i think they are probably vey portable. i also think they are pretty interesting just because they are different. the problem is that i have no personal experience with them and thus canโ€™t make a very good call on it. sarah is going to try one out this week and obviously her experience will make the final call but iโ€™m still looking for a little input.

so iโ€™m looking for any input that anyone may have to offer. does anyone know anything about them? are they a good alternative or are they cheesy and stupid?

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aunt lynn

hey guys & gals would read this blog. if you have a moment i would appreciate your prayers for my aunt lynn. sheโ€™s my dadโ€™s only sister and is a pretty cool aunt. right now she is dealing with the possibility of liver cancer and will be receiving the final testresults monday. my family and i would greatly appreciate anybodyโ€™s prayers. thanks.