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so proud of my wife, enjoying the snow, and hoping it's a joke but knowing its not

first, i’m so stinking proud of my wife. today she defended her dissertation and she is finished with all the requirements for her ph.d. she’s a cool chick.

second, today it snowed for the first time since we moved to wisconsin. it was just a flurry but it was still the most snow we’ve seen in seven years.

finally, i know there are head hunters for ministers but the concept sill makes me want to puke. i received an email from another head hunter today. here’s the email (with the church blocked out because i don’t desire to help these people in any way):

robert,

i am with ministersearch a consulting firm based in dallas, tx. we assist churches as they search to find ministers for key staff positions. we also coach pastors and ministers like you as you determine if you are in the most effective ministry role and/or position.

we have partnered with XXXXX XXXXX XXXXXX church in sumter, sc http://www.XXXc.org/ in their search for a coaching pastor. The coaching pastor will be the chief leader and strategist for adult discipleship along with a coach to the youth and children’s pastors.

this is an excellent opportunity for someone who has the right mix of leadership and ministry experience.

XXXXX XXXXX XXXXXX church is a contemporary church that has had a great impact on the community. XXXX XXXXX, the lead pastor, is looking to add this person to the church’s senior management team which cast’s the vision for the church.

the right person will have several years of ministry experience in a growing environment. this is not a church that gets hung up on legalism so staunch fundamentalist will not be a fit. You should also have a desire to serve on a team instead of independent ministries.

the compensation and benefits are outstanding and the cost of living in this quaint community is very reasonable.

if you have an interest this position, please forward a copy of your resume for confidential review – I will get it to the search consultant handling this search.

also, please forward this email to anyone you think may be interested in hearing more.

thank you for your consideration.

sincerely,
XXXX XXXX

every time i see or get one of these i get sad. what does a letter like this have to do with JESUS or ministry? i know some of my other ministerial friends have seen these same letters. thankfully my friends think these ministerial head hunters are sad also.

i emailed him back the following:

stan,

you’re kidding right? please be kidding. i so hope you’re kidding because i can’t see JESUS in any of this.

robert

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defense

for those of you who know and love my wife (and lets face it – if you know pam then you love her – she’s just that type of woman) you probably want to know that she defends her dissertation tomorrow at 1 p.m. i know she would appreciate your prayers.

after she defends her dissertation she will head from baton rouge to be one of two speech pathologist on the hondurian operation smile project. that means she is gone from home for two weeks. i’m not sure the boys and i can survive off of my cooking for two weeks.

SIDE NOTE – i think one of things i am going to have a hard time adjusting to will be how much sooner it gets dark in wisconsin. being further north means less daylight in the winter. now that day light savings time has ended it is completely dark at 5:06. in alabama & louisiana that would have happened around the time of the solstice.

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a new low

i am presently watching the replay of the u.s. olympic marathon trials and enjoying it. something is definitely wrong with me. i can’t believe that Ryan Shay died during it.

SIDE NOTE – ryan hall is a beast. 2:09:02 is faster than i ran my half maraton. crap.

my run for the day
distance – 3 miles
time – 29:32
pace – 9:50/mile

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engage me

engage me

engage me in the loss of control call trust

this was the tattoo that wrapped around the arm of the young lady who served my coffee today. it thought it was an interesting and mostly accurate way of defining “trust.” the problem is that i’m not sure how often i am really ready to give up control in the name of trust. i enjoy having control. i feel better when things are within my control. of course, i probably grow better when i’m willing to give up that control but growth is risky. sometimes i would rather not risk anything.

of course, other times i just jump. i hope the jumping times out weight the controlling times.

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left behind vbs

i love lark news. today they posted an fun little ditty on vbs material based off of the “left behind” junk. here’s part of it.

When Sandy Durant learned her church was going to host a Left Behind vacation Bible school, she was overjoyed. Her children loved the Left Behind Kids series, and she and her husband had read the entire adult series.
But when she arrived to find her children gone on the last day of VBS she “absolutely flipped out.”
It didn’t help to learn that it was all a ruse designed to show people what it would feel like to have a loved one snatched away in the Rapture.

you can read the rest of it here. i think my favorite part is when one of the fathers picks up a welcome desk and throws it into the wall trying to get his chilcdren back.

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eye fi

this is cool. it’s the eye fi which is an sd card that has wifi capability built into it. you tell the eye fi where you want it to send your photos (i.e your computer, flickr, snapfish, dacebook, etc.) it will then sit in a waiting state until you walk by an open wifi connection. then it sends you photos automatically. how cool is that?

i think it would be great for semi-realtime photos of a church function, event, etc. pam wishes she had it for her “operation smile project. all she would have to do is turn the camera on near a “hot spot” and BINGO the boys and i could see photos. no need for a computer, miniusb cable to hook up your camera to the computer, or any software for uploading the photos. i just keep thinking of what i could have done with this at youth camps and mission trips. could you imagine telling the youth ministry parents that they can go to your flickr account and see photos from what their child is doing? so are just so many possibilities for this thing.

i just think it’s fascinating and it offers intriguing opportunities for using with tapestry (once we start doing things) and family. i’ll have to get me one of these after i take care of the other things on my plate.

photojojo describes even more about this freaky thing.

my run for the day
distance – 2.0 miles
time – 19:05
pace – 9:32/mile

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next attempt at a marathon

my next attempt at a marathon is the green bay cellcom marathon. once again my brother-n-law and sister-n-law will be along for the journey (jill is already a marathoner and jim and i are just wannabe’s at this stage). the best part of the race is that it finishes with us running through lambeau field. let me say that again. WE GET TO RUN THROUGH LAMBEAU FIELD. this is going to be so cool.

my run for the day
distance – 2.0 miles
time – 18:23
pace – 9:11/mile

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november monthly prayer email

here’s the monthly prayer email that i send out for tapestry. i am honored to have such wonderful people praying for me and more importantly for tapestry. if you did not receive email and you would like to please email me at robert[dot]terrell[at]gmail[dot]com.

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urinetown

pam and i have tickets to go see “urinetown, the musical” friday. i’m so excited!

SIDE NOTE – has anybody who reads this used mythtv? my dad has an old emachine that i’m stealing from him and placing in the “man cave.” i have a cable hook up there and i am considering placing a tv tuner in the machine and using it as a dvr. that way the “man cave” will have a computer, dvd player, tv, and dvr all in one machine.

my run for the day
distance – 2.0 miles
time – 18:53
pace – 9:27/mile

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say cheese

so as everyone but grant knew the packers beat the broncos and what a win it was. like i said earlier, it has to be a bad week for grant. of course, since i sat on my couch watching the game while grant was at mile high stadium watching the game, i seriously doubt that he’s week is really that bad.

SIDE NOTE – thanks to brad’s generosity i received a couple of hand printed copies of “the gospel of screen printing.” i had written brad a couple of weeks ago asking if he might screen print me some business cards. he said sure and commented that hand printed cards “felt” different. i wasn’t sure what he meant until i touch the zines he sent. there is a definite difference in the printing and it feels great. i’m waiting on the logo that is being designed for me to send the business card design to brad. i can’t wait for the cards now.