American Idol...

Really??  American Idol in its 9th or 10th season has hit the plateau of reality TV.   They have been the Juggernaut for some time but lets be honest... its getting old!

Only a few winners have been outstanding... Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, just to name a few!   Most have been disappointing, most have benefited from poor competition or a nice smile!

Its time for Fox to go back to the drawing board and get creative again!   Has the show been entertaining, yes.   Has American Idol been one of the most successful shows ever, yes.  Has Fox made unbelievable amounts of money from it, yes.  Now, with almost all of its original judges gone and Fox scrambling to add life to the panel with Ellen; it may be time to hang it up!

Some people really love it, I get that.  Some people really liked "My big fat obnoxious fiance" as well...

Lets look to the future, say good-bye to Simon, Paula and the gang!  Thanks for everything American Idol... you will be missed... sort of!

Intern

We have a new intern here at Crossfire student ministries!! Hooray!!

Lets give it up for Britton Asbell

You can find him on Twitter & Facebook... get to know him!! He'll be here for the next 7 months!

Junior High vs. Senior High

two groups... do different sets of needs... or is there??

recently I have been kicking around the idea of splitting my middle school students and high school students up. The reason being to give them what there age group needs and is looking for, amongst a number of other reasons!

Is it really essential?? Are those groups so different that they cant thrive in an environment together??

Unity is crucial... not looking to give that up!!

Middle School Students = activities and relationships
High School Students = relationships and content

can those both be accomplished on the same night??

Love

How difficult is LOVE,wow! Its more and more clear to me as I get older how difficult it is to LOVE everyone I meet! God calls us to LOVE our enemies & neighbors; there was no asterisk by those verses giving you an out if they have wronged you in any way or treated someone you LOVED badly.

How hard is it to LOVE people even though they struggle with things and have their own shortcomings... but in spite of it all, LOVE them!

WOW... chew on that for a little bit. LOVE the person who act one way at church and a different way outside those walls, LOVE the person who is mean and sarcastic with everyone at work, LOVE the person who mows their yard and sprays their grass clippings into your yard, LOVE the person who wants to be around you all the time because they want to be just like you but annoys you to no end, LOVE the person that struggles with things that make you uncomfortable!

LOVE your neighbors, LOVE your enemies, LOVE people who are like you and those who arent at all like you!

Remember that you are a person that people are trying to LOVE as well...

What If

What if...

Ive been thinking about this for the last couple weeks. All the "What If's" we use in life, give use this false sense that we are in pursuit of something more but we really aren't. We use "What If" to dream, we use "What If" to get ourselves to do something different or change, we say "What If" to get people to take notice, we use "What If" to raise issues, we use "What If" to threaten, we use "What If" to give hope...

The more I think about "What If" the more I hate it!

"What If" means nothing. "What If" is this magical saying that we use sometimes to make ourselves feel good. Most of the time we know that we say it with good intentions but nothing will ever come of it. "What If" is a crutch!

Without Purpose/Action/Follow Through "What If's" DIE!

You want to make your "What If" happen?? Be convicted about it, let God move your heart so much that you have no choice but to do something about it.

I listen to people all the time that say this... "I just told myself I wasn't going to do that again..." or this "I made up my mind that this time it would be different..." Intentions are fine... but without your heart changing your mind isn't enough to bring about a change of course!

Without your heart involved your "What If's" will never happen. If your heart was where it needed to be already then you wouldn't need to say "What If", it would already be done!

Purpose + Conviction + Action = dead "What Ifs" & a heart that is ready to make a difference!

If you are a Christ Follower then you have a purpose in this life... to reach out to others and share with them about the unconditional love that God has for them. You have a deep seeded passion to make a difference, a conviction unlike anything youve ever felt. Faith without works is dead... go and do... no more "What Ifs."

Do you have "What If's" in your life? How can you turn those into something tangible? How can you start working towards making your "What If's" happen?

Fun Summer

Looking for ideas for summer theme activities...

WORLD CUP is this summer in South Africa... need some ideas along those lines...

anyone??

Focused Purpose

Last week I had the privilege of attending the Drive Conference in Atlanta, GA. It was a great conference, lots of ideas are coming from spending time at North Point Community Church. Listening to a great communicator like Andy Stanley is always inspiring but there is something else that was much bigger that I took away that week.

It wasn't necessarily all the bells and whistles that North Point implements in their services. It wasn't the enormity of the production or the cool elements they use to make their services unforgettable. It was the mission and focus behind it!! They are unified in their mission and goals as a church. That was inspiring to me! I have been rethinking the student ministry here at SGC to be more focused and more intent on figuring out where God is taking us and how He wants to use us in the future. We will be more purposeful with what we do in the future!!

Without Purpose & Vision things fall apart!

One More Year...

Today is my birthday!! My feelings are mostly jovial and excited about another year of life but there is that little bug in the back of my mind that is saying... "Kent... your almost 30... pretty much over the hill... in a few years you will need help going to the bathroom!" shocking I know...

Really when I boil down another year and what transpired, what were some highlights and some down times I come back to a single conclusion and that is that with every year that passes I learn more about God and the plan he has for me! That is the most comforting thing in the world!! Eph 2:10... he has a specific plan for me and its GOOD!!

Bring on 30... its another year I can learn about my Savior even more!!