Are You Part of the Remedy?

So I got a little music CD yesterday...

David Crowder* Band's latest and greatest is one of the best CD's I've bought in a while....or ever! On top of great tunes like 'For The Glory of It All' and a remix of 'Everything Glorious'
the album features some sweet tunes such as the title song and a decidedly "Crowderized" version of 'O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing' among others.

The ten song album is very well composed, and it develops as a message to the world as what Christ-followers should be....a part of the solution, not part of the problem. This is underscored in the soft tones of the final song of the album, 'Surely We Can Change'.

If you haven't got ahold of this, you better get to it, cowboy!

Available on iTunes.

Completely Amateur Music Critic at your service,
-- RWS

Creative Treasure-Box on a Toilet Paper Roll

This blog is here as an outlet to my personal adventures, but also as a storage place and bulletin board for moving the Kingdom of God foward. Hopefully, this site can serve as inspiration, and if you (the reader) ever want to sit down and discuss the ideas posted herein, I am just an email away and would be happy to meet if possible.

I say all that to say that Momentum is the element of change. This momentum comes out of a desire to help others and to see the world change through the power of Christ and His People. Momentum came from a question, "What, Lord, do you want me to do?" and "How can I serve you and serve people better?". Today the question arose, "How can we (as a middle school ministry, Ignite) do more for our students?"

Tonight I was in the bathroom. Not the most glamorous thing ever, but while I was visiting the room with the bath in it, I suddenly had a flow of thoughts that immediately HAD TO BE WRITTEN DOWN! I found a pencil in my drawers pocket and, having no paper at hand, found a discarded cardboard toilet paper roll in the trash. On this unlikely piece of parchment I scribed the following ideas, which I want to share:

Ignite Career Day
- Allowing a duo-talk with a staff member and an outside Christ-follower that applies God's awesomeness to the real world, and emphasizes the importance of choosing a career path that brings honor to God.
- Allows students to learn about different careers and how God works tnrough those career-ppl.
- Promotes future planning
- Give-aways that highlights the message/career.
- The additional goal of this providing a valuable memorable experience.

Ignite Interactive
- Parents are invited to worship w/ kids.
- Addresses the importance of good relationships at home
- Provide a source of outreach to those wthout good home lives
- Provides a time for students' families to network
- Allows parents to become acquainted with small group leaders

Ignite: CREATE!
- A Saturday event followed by service on Sunday.
- The event provides a time for kids to learn painting, sculpting and drawing
- Music Fun "seminar" with NewSpring band members and affiliates
- Service emphasizes God's imprint of creativity on us, and how we can use our talents to make the world a better place and as ministry to others.

Ignite Supercharge Championship
- A Saturday event followed by service on Sunday
- A series of sports events for students. Teams compete in different sport events in bracket organization to advance to a grand-prize championship.
- Concludes with related message and worship on Sunday.

Ignite Revolution
- A Saturday event followed by service on Sunday.
- This event focuses on local missions; helping local charities and those in need.
- More frequent version of "Mission Anderson"
- Message on Sunday focuses on the importance and call to help and serve others.

Well, That's all I got right now. It's GAMETIME people! Let's get rockin!

A Weekend South of the (SC) Border.

This weekend was pretty cool. I went to a Clemson soccer game, which was fun to watch, but I definitely left before it was over to grab some Peppinos! Saturday I worked at the coffee shop...not much there. Sunday was awesome. Matt, Keri, Jenni, and I went to Alpharetta, GA for the 12:45 of Northpoint Church.

Northpoint was pretty cool. Andy Stanley shared a message on how to BE rich, not GET rich. It was a good talk, and the band played well, but not nearly as rockin as at NewSpring. After the service, we had the opportunity to go backstage and shake Andy's hand. I think he was kind of surprised that we were just volunteers, but it wasn't too awkward. We said our hello's and then met up with a Northpoint volunteer for a tour of the facility. One awesome part of their church was the kids ministry rooms. I thought it was really awesome that they had an auditorium for kids and parents to worship together...kid style. The middle school/ high school youth area was very similar to a design I made up last semester with a Hard-Rock Cafe-like layout and feel. It looked awesome for small groups.

After church, we headed to downtown ATL for lunch at the CNN building and then a short walk to the World of Coke. I was tired when we got there, but it was a blast! I took a bunch of cool pictures, and I got to taste all the different Coke products they had out. I hope heaven has a room like that! The architecture of the building was pretty cool as well.

So that was my weekend! Just wanted to share. If you get a chance to go to Northpoint CC or the World of Coca Cola, it'll def be worth the trip!