Website of the Week

Now don't expect "Website of the Week" to become a regular weekly post, but who knows, it might.

TheThingsIWant.com - What do you want for Christmas? With the help of this website you can start making your own Christmas wish list and help your friends and family know what to get you this year. This cool site is like having your own universal registry for everything you want from any store. And by the way, it also lets you create your own shopping list.

Cool Firefox extension of the week: Snap Shots. Just found this last week and am loving it. It gives you a preview of the web page when you hover over the link. Extremely cool.

Fantasy Football Update: I finally won again! 2-6 is my record. Still terrible, but it was nice to win.

Exceeding Expectations

I love it when something or someone exceeds my expectations.

I experienced this when one of the lenses on my DSLR camera broke when it was dropped. I sent it back to Nikon to be repaired. In less than 2 weeks I received the repaired lens back, free of charge. The warranty covered it.

I experience this when the lens on a pair of Bolle sunglasses I owned became distorted from some pool water getting on them. I sent them back to Bolle and received a new pair! My expectations were exceeded.

The general expectations in our culture today are, you're lucky if you get what you deserve. But Jesus challenges this notion in a big way. As I have been preparing to teach this Sunday from Matthew 5:38-48, Jesus challenges the popular culture by saying his disciples should exceed the normal expectations. How?

• By not being vengeful and demanding our rights (turning the other cheek, going the second mile, etc...).
• By loving even those who are very hard to love (loving and praying for my enemies).
  

This is where it gets tough for me. Am I exceeding the expectations of those around me? Or am I more concerned about getting my way? Am I willing to give up my rights or love the person I can't stand? This is one way I can show the love of God - by exceeding expectations.

Question: Are you exceeding anyone's expectations?

This is going to be one of those lessons where I am so personally challenged. I can't wait for Sunday morning!

I Was Blessed Yesterday

Yesterday I had about 15 four year olds show up unexpectedly in my office...and it was a very good thing.

Here's what happened. Krissy Morgan, one of our Mother's Morning Out teachers surprised me real good. She made an appointment several weeks ago to meet with me on Tuesday morning. I was under the assumption this was a regular appointment and that she had something she needed to talk with me about. I was wrong. When she showed up yesterday, she wasn't alone.

When Krissy arrived for her appointment with me, she had about 15 little ones with her. The kids all followed her into my office and she had them crowd around me in my chair. They each gave me a coloring sheet of a pastor they had made. Then they sang a song about how they loved Pastor Mark! When they finished, they each gave me the red heart they were wearing that they had also made. The heart said on it "We love you Pastor Mark." The whole scene was awesome! Out of a sense of gratitude I attempted a group hug with all of them.

Thank you Krissy for providing a very special moment for me yesterday. Thank you also for leading your 4 years olds to love their pastors. You're awesome and so are your kids! It was the highlight of my week.

Sunday Recap

This past Sunday was another awesome day at McGregor.

• Celebrating the Lord's Supper during our AM services made for a very special time of worship. Awesome time of worship.
  
• I had a chance Sunday afternoon to meet with the parents who were going to be participating in our Parental Dedication on Sunday November 4. I love this time with the parents and their excitement about being a part of this special service.
• Another Sunday where we saw many decisions made in all of our services and lots of baptisms!
• An incredibly challenging message by David Miller Sunday PM on "Everything changes..." Very timely and very on target. Way to go Miller.
• I love being a part of the body of Christ at McGregor!

Looking forward to this coming Sunday when we have Gary Frazier speaking in all of our services.

The Great Debate

Recently on an episode of the Mark & Miller Show we hosted our very own debate between David Miller and Russell Howard. If you haven't listen to this yet, you got to. It's good stuff.

Full screen view

I'm Back

Sorry for the long period of blog inactivity. Being out this past week for our Staff Development Week left little time for blogging. However, it was an awesome week. One of the primary goals of our Development Week is to strengthen team relationships. We got pretty intentional this year with getting to know our team members. From time spent around meals asking each other questions and discovering how God has uniquely shaped others on the team to just laughing and playing games. I came away knowing and understanding better those I serve with. We also had a blast, doing some fun activities, hanging out together, and even learning and being challenged.

I came home feeling truly blessed to serve and minister with a such a team of godly men and women who have a passion for God and for McGregor.

Time with the Team

This week is our annual Staff Development Week. What does that mean? It's a time where our pastoral staff gets away together to build team, strengthen relationships, have a lot of fun, and be personally challenged. This year we will be doing this in Orlando.

I've mentioned this before, but it is awesome being part of a staff team that makes team a priority. Teamwork on a church staff does not happen naturally, you have to work at it with intentionality. This annual retreat is a big part of this. I am personally looking forward to this time away with our team.

I may be a little out of touch this week, so my postings may not be as frequent.

Fantasy Football Update: My team is going down. Another loss this weekend puts me at 1-5. And on top of that, my Cowboys loss to the Patriots. Ugh!

Friday Ramblings

The weatherperson is talking about the first front of the fall season coming through today. We won't see any drop in temperatures, just less humidity. And oh, this will only last a couple of days. I'm not against the warm, humid weather of SW Florida, but I sure am ready for some cooler and dryer to come our way. Enough about the weather, on to my ramblings...

• I am enjoying the first weekend in a long time with nothing scheduled.
  
• Had a chance earlier today to play with the new iPod Touch at the Apple Store. Wow. It's so thin, has an incredible display and you can surf the web with it's built in wi-fi. I've got it at the top of my Christmas wish list.
• Here's a really cool electric car I would love to have (so would David Miller). See photo below...
• I'm loving a new online word processor called Buzzword. Adobe recently bought the company Virtual Ubiquity that developed Buzzword. If you're familiar with Google Docs, it is like that, but only a lot better. It really acts and feels like a word processor and you still have the online collaboration and authoring capabilities. No spreadsheet or presentation app yet, but awesome start for the word processor.
• Macy made Chipotle Tamale Pie tonight for dinner. I love this dish. I am so blessed to be married to the best wife in the world who is also an incredible cook!
• I am enjoying listening to some smooth jazz right now and am getting ready to make a Cappuccino. Still loving the Espresso Machine.
• Looking forward to Sunday morning and teaching the next lesson in our series on the Sermon on the Mount. We're looking at Matthew 5:13-16 this week. Challenging stuff.
• Looking forward to my run tomorrow morning - will hopefully be enjoying the "less humidity."
  

Having A Little Fun

Last Thursday afternoon we held our annual Staff Golf Outing. This is my once a year time to play golf. This is actually a very fun afternoon, primarily because we make everyone participate. Our pastor has a high value on team. And while he expects us to work very hard, he also wants to provide opportunities for us to play a little together. I am so grateful to be a part of a church staff that emphasizes team and relationships. I love serving with the folks on our staff team!

Oh, and it doesn't hurt when you win - and that's exactly what my team did! That's a picture of the winning team - 7 under par!

My First Win!

It's a special moment - my very first win in Fantasy Football! So what if it took week 5 before I tasted victory. I persevered, stayed tough, kept my head in the game, didn't give up, etc...

Not really. My opponent this week had two of his starter with bye weeks and he didn't bother changing them. Who cares. A win is a win. It feels good to get that first one under my belt. Watch out, I'm on a roll!

A New Standard

I just got home from Hank and Dawn's wedding. Wow. I think they set the new standard for weddings.

Here's what I mean. First of all, the whole service was under 45 minutes. Now, when I heard they had three preachers, I thought to myself, "get comfortable, this thing is going to last a while." Much to my surprise, 45 minutes after it started we were heading over to the reception. By the way, the whole service was wonderful, from the music to the three pastors officiating - very nice.

Now, point number 2, and this one is really big. Within a few minutes of everyone getting over to the reception, the entire wedding party was making their grand entrance! When was the last time you saw that? Typically everyone goes over to the reception and waits about an hour for the wedding party to take all of their pictures while the guests sit around and sip punch and try to entertain themselves. (This may be the biggest reason I don't go to many weddings.) Way to get this one right Hank and Dawn!

Seriously, it was so cool to see this young couple who loves the Lord committing their lives to each other. I know God has incredible things in store for both of them as they begin their family together. It was a joy being a part of your wedding today Hank and Dawn. Not only was your wedding awesome, but both of you are too!

Cynthia

We have been praying and searching for a Preschool Minister for a year and a half and I am thrilled to let everyone know God has answered those prayers in an awesome way.

It is my pleasure to announce our new Preschool Ministry Director, Cynthia Turner. Let me give you some quick info on Cynthia.

• Cynthia comes to us from Prestonwood where she has been on staff at their new North Campus.
• Prior to serving at Prestonwood, she served as Preschool Minister at Shades Mountain in Birmingham, AL for 6 years.
• Cynthia has a passion for Preschool ministry in the local church.
• Cynthia is a Texas A&M graduate. (can you believe this - 3 Aggies on our staff now. We have definitely gone over the quota on Aggies!)
• Cynthia is also a graduate of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Forth Worth, TX.
• Cynthia is a newlywed! She got married last month to Keith Turner.
• Keith, Cynthia's new husband, is a pilot and has recently taken a position with American Eagle.

Cynthia will be officially starting with us the first Sunday in November. Thank you God, for bringing us this awesome team member!

Goodbye

Yesterday our church said goodbye to Jeremy & Sharon Emory. I will miss them both.

For the four years I have known Jeremy he has always been a man full of passion for ministry and for people. One of the things I noticed about him when he first arrived at McGregor was how students were immediately drawn to him and how he loved being around them. As our High School Pastor, Jeremy has left an indelible mark on so many students.

Jeremy brings so much creativity to ministry. His desire to create awesome experiences for students will not be forgotten. Jeremy was also a great team player on our Ed Team and a joy to serve alongside. His thirst to grow and learn was inspirational to me and others around him on the team. (How many books have you read this year Jeremy????) Jeremy's love for the Lord, coupled with his desire to see students become more like Christ, will leave an eternal impact on so many in our student ministry.

Jeremy - I'm going to miss you my friend. I am praying that God will use your extraordinary abilities in your next assignment for His glory. You have been a blessing to me personally. It truly has been a joy serving Jesus with you.