Converge Students...Calling, Christ, Community, Culture

Blame the Computer...

I spent thirty minutes working on a post for the blog tonight.  It was, of course, stimulating, challenging, and full of humor.  Sure I did not save it at any point but I am going to blame the computer.  As I was inserting a picture the computer froze up and I lost the entire post.  It is late, I worked 12 hours today, and my son will be beside my bed asking for juice in the middle of the night. Rather than reconstruct the lost post I give you a video of what I want to do to my computer.  Tomorrow the blog will be back with some morning regulars and Ling Ling's World in the evening.  On Friday we bring you the glory that is Blogalicious!

Have a good night!

Toothpaste and hair gel...

I recently had one of those mornings were you just can't get things going. I did what I typically do, get up, take a shower, dry off, put on deoderant, then brush my teeth, and finally fix my hair (unless im wearing my razorback cap). This particular morning went just a little different. When it came to the brushing my teeth part of the routine, my eyes were still half shut and my mind was still focusing on bed. I picked up a my toothbrush and the closest squeezable tube. I squeezed the tube on to my toothbrush and in the process of putting the toothbrush in my mouth I noticed that my toothpaste was clear and didnt have

have that smell of fresh mint as it usually does. Yes, I was inches from brushing my teeth with hair gel (maximum hold). Throughout the day I thought about this strange start to my morning and realized my life has kind of been like toothpaste and hair gel. While I was a student at V.B. and also into my twenties my life was like that of toothpaste. I had this fresh minty smell of being a christain, but it didnt last all day or all week and hardly ever on the weekend, that is until Sunday when I was at church from 8 a.m. until pretty much 10 p.m. I was acting like I was walking that christain life, but the devil was hard at work in my soul. It wasn't until just about 11 years ago that I decided it was time to lead the life of hair gel. I needed that maximum hold on my life that lasted all day, all week, and on the weekends. I realized I needed to be consistant with my christain walk and start growing in the Word. Today I hope and pray that you (the student) can look at Peter Gross as a leader and that my life will reflect that walk with Christ that some of you might be struggeling with or are just learning about. I am very appreciative of Joel for trusting me this week to be the mind behind the bloggin,g and I am very excited to get to share some of my life and alot of my weird humor with you. If you have any complaints call Joel while he is on his vacation with his family in beautiful Orlando Fl. at Disney World.

The revival of Rod Boucher Australia's "One man Band" 1980

Fire Fighter Peter...

As my vacation approached I began to worry about working on the Converge Blog while out of town.  A goal for me this week is to unplug a bit from my many of on line passions like Facebook, Twitter, and of course my beloved blog.  To stand in for me I would need someone who is witty, creative, connected to the Converge Student program, above all passionate about Jesus Christ.  Furthermore and most importantly, I would need someone heroic!

To help me with this momentous decision I turned to my three year old son Luke for he is the wisest Reynolds male in our home.  He did not hesitate. He uttered one name, one man, one blogger...FIRE FIGHTER PETER! 

I am honored to hand over the helm of the Converge Student Blog to Peter Gross for the next 10 days.  Peter is a committed leader on our student ministry staff, consistent member of Community Bible, and a great friend. 

Currently leading our 12th (and friends) Guys Small Group, Peter has been leading in the student ministry for the past year.  He also serves in the children's ministry at Community, is an average disc golfer,and likes to cheat at Settlers.  Furthermore, few people know as much about 1980-1992 Arkansas men's basketball. Most importantly he is married to his best friend Jaime (another amazing youth staff member leading 10th and 11th grade girls).  Peter and Jaime live dangerously close to Barling and have two dogs...one that eats remotes and one that has three legs. 

Peter is important in my home because he gave Rachel and Luke a tour of the fire house that he works at as a Fort Smith fireman.  During our visit the kids got to sit behind the wheel of a real fire truck, turn on the siren, dress in real fire fighter helmets and boots, among other things.  But all of this paled to being in the presence of Fire Fighter Peter. 

I know you will benefit from his leadership on the Blog over the next week.  He is going to bring his own innovation through his own specific segments and post, so check in and check often.

To honor a hero in our student ministry, town, and my home I dedicate the following video to our guest blogger Peter Gross, hero!

 

Blogalicious for the Week of September 15th

Another week has come and gone! With the end of the work week comes my post about all things blogosphere! Enjoy.

Blogalicious for September 15th - 19th, 2008

• Scott McKnight has a great post on Fighting the Good Fight at the Resurgence Blog.  It was especially meaningful to me this week at the scripture used by McKnight was part of my assigned Bible reading this week in my quiet times. Check it out HERE
• Take Your Vitamin Z had an interesting post on Tracy McGrady working with Sudanese refugees to help them build schools...its being developed into an independent movie.  Read it HERE
• A helpful review by Trevin Wax (who has a great blog) of Mark Dever's the Gospel and Personal Evangelism. Of all the evangelism books I have read this has been one of the most helpful.  The review is HERE
• Prodigal Jon at Stuff Christians Like talks about Jesus the sports star...a subject that I find really funny! I defiantly want some of these pictures!  Find it HERE

•  

• Marko at Youth Specialties linked to a post that makes me sad as the father of a daughter.  Girls never forget that you are better than this HERE
• Josh Griffin is promoting National Mustache Week on his blog.  Check it out HERE. I will have to ask my wife for permission to sport a stache all week!

• These videos are for all of the readers...BUT are dedicated to Mike Crain, the legendary campus pastor at Van Buren.  The count down is on to the ESV Study Bible release!  It is going to be an unbelievable resource for Bible study and reading.  I, like all other nerds (aka Kevin Thompson) have had ours ordered and reserved.  I encourage you to do the same!  If you need some help with your purchase check out the videos below! 

 

ESV Introduction by Crossway...

J.I. Packer and the ESV Study Bible (seriously who wouldn't listen to an old English guy?) John Piper and the ESV Study Bible (time to bring out the big guns! My man John Piper tells you to suck it up and buy an awesome Bible.)

Web Obsession of the Week...

While we are on the topic of Bible translations I thought I would throw out a clip of a pretty bad sermon.  It has floated around our office this week.

200!!!!

As of 3:27 PM (CST) we have had 200 site views of the Converge Student Blog! That is the most of any day, our previous high was 172 hits) since the launch of the blog last Monday.  Total we have had 1300 views in the last nine days. Thanks for visiting and inflating my ego!  Keeping checking in on the blog for fun, info, and perhaps an occasional spiritual tidbit...yes occasional!

Tweeting on Twitter...

For those of you who know me know that I LOVE Twitter!  For those of you who do not know me, then you will be fascinated to learn that I LOVE Twitter!!! Twitter is a micro-blogging (you can only use 140 characters) social network. 

On Twitter you "follow"people or are "followed" by people who update their Twitter account with what is called a Tweet...or a 140 character summery.  A tweet can be anything like, "I am enjoying a delicious grape slush from the glory that is Sonic Happy Hour" (which is totally what I am doing right this moment as I construct this post).  However, your tweets can be prayer requests, a link to a new post on your blog, or even an person to person note to someone else on Twitter. 

Essentially it is blogging in a very condensed form.  I think it is a lot of fun and is something that I update and check regularly.  For example I have had 903 Twitter updates in the five and a half months I have had an account.

For student ministry purposes Twitter is not something that connects me with students via the web.  I still use Facebook as my main form of communication with teenagers.  Students should note that Twitter is very much like a Facebook status update...without all the bells and whistles of that social network.  Which can be good or bad considering you might be sick and tired of being asked to join a mob war or throw a sheep at someone every time you log on facebook.  Nevertheless, I still Tweet on Twitter 10 to 12 times a day...no matter how much Matt Whitson our Children's Pastor makes fun of me.

Many people who find out I am on Twitter always say to me that they don't think people would be interested in knowing what they are doing every single moment of the day.  To that I answer, "you never know until you tweet!"  Honestly, I do not tweet that i am going to brush my teeth or chop down a tree (nor have I ever chopped down a tree).  I use my Twitter posts to share something funny, a reflective moment, or perhaps exciting news.  I actually had a friend on Twitter who had one of their followers see on a post that their car had broken down and this person came to help them. 

With email on its way out things like text messaging, facebook, and yes, I believe, Twitter will be there to replace it...so check it out!

Here are two recent blog posts I read about how these authors (who's blogs I read and follow them on Twitter) use Twitter to connect and even minister.

Mark Batterson's Blog: http://www.evotional.com/2008/06/5-reasons-why-i-love-twitter.html

Ed Stetzer's Blog: http://blogs.lifeway.com/blog/edstetzer/2008/08/twitter-advice.html

Ed Stetzer's Blog Again: http://blogs.lifeway.com/blog/edstetzer/2008/08/we-interupt-this-blog.html

The reason that I so excited about Twitter today is that Sarah Palin and Starbucks Coffee have become followers of mine on Twitter.  Sure they follow thousands of Twitter subscribers...but at least I can say with pride and a hint of truth that Sarah Palin and Starbucks are my friends (on Twitter).

By the way, if you would like to follow me on Twitter you can HERE Just like Sarah Palin did!!!!  See you on the interweb!

Blogalicious for the week of September 8th...

I LOVE blogs, blogging, and telling others about blogs I have read.  I subscribe to 56 different blogs and am always looking for more.  To honor the blogashpere I am going to provide a post every Friday called "Blogalicious" which will link you to the posts that I have laughed at, thought about, been challenged by, and most importantly what you to know about. Lots of links to the posts, the original blogs, and whatever else I can add a link to. Enjoy! JPR

Blogalicious: September 8th - 12th, 2008

• My friend, Ron Edmondson from back in Clarksville has a oft updated blog.  He had a post with a link to a great article about one of my favorite things...Disney! Read it and be inspired HERE Have I mentioned any this week that I will be going to Walt Disney World in 3 weeks?

• Stuff Christians Like is an amazing blog...filled with often dead on and hilarious observations.  For any of you who went to a Christian college (like I did) his post this week about Chapel speakers is SO TRUE! Read it and laugh HERE

• For those of you beginning college this semester, returning to college, or one day wanting to go to college John Mark Reynolds (no relation...though I have a nephew named John and a cousin named Mark) at the Culture11 blog wrote a great post about College Survival.  Some basic intuitive stuff...but always good to hear.  Read it HERE

• Any of you who know me know I am going to use any chance I can to mention Mark Driscoll (new book in 18 days) had a great post on the Resurgence Blog on the studying Christian.  Good stuff HERE

 

My Web Obsession of the Week...

This was a difficult one because there were two great videos that I came across via blogs I am subscribed to.  To hammer home their awesomeness both were also emailed to me by friends.  So it is a tie between two amazing videos / songs / ministries!

Sonseed: "Jesus is my Friend"

My office-mate, Mike Crain, hates this song because the tune gets stuck in his head! I pray it does for you too!

The Renewed Life is the Key

Say what you want...but homeboy can dance!