Hit the Back Button to Move Fwd by Gavin Richardson

evening of oovoo

it took forever, those on my twitter might have seen my frustration. but i finally got logged in and joined a little chat time with joseph jaffe, new media marketing guru. i didn't contribute too much to the conversation, other than my drinking a beer, in part because i got in late on the conversation, but i was also feeling sick.

as for the oovoo software, well, it was frustrating to not be able to get online. the software froze on me twice when i did get on and then when i finally got connected my screen froze at some point, but the audio was good and the idea of chatting like this was pretty darn cool. the mac software just got released a few days ago, so maybe it was partly software issues. though it could have just been our high speed internet. due to the location we live cable signals get bogged down rather regularly every few days.

as for the conversation. the one thing interesting that deals with much of the content of this blog. when i introduced that i am a youth pastor who lingers around these conversations to glean info. joseph mentioned that the 'passion of the Christ' was one of the biggest community effort promos to date. which was something i had never thought about. probably easy as your have an 1600 year old community to help spur that on, but it cannot be denied the phenomenon of the buzz that movie generated out of normal means.

the pacman conspiracy

in playing around on the net tonight. i found this facebook group rather comical. apparently the pacman's whoas are due in part to the conniving peyton manning.

to catch a predator is harder on im

it seems that the preferred method for being an online sexual predator is through instant messenger, not a social networking site like myspace or facebook... article via ypulse

The good news, at least for social networking sites, is that only less than a third of these solicitations came through social networking sites. IM and chat rooms were much more likely to deliver unsolicited sex chat.

The results led the study's authors to conclude that "broad claims of victimization risk, at least defined as unwanted sexual solicitation or harassment, associated with social networking sites do not seem justified."

this research obviously never saw this video.

from star wars to middle school

there seems to be some interesting things going on out there.

• barna says born again voters not going to vote republican.. really, how did that happen? (forget who to tip for that)
• yahoo is reaching out to the force to fend off microsoft.. you're our only hope!
• a late night west side story..
• tony jones has brought emergent into the methodist bbq debate.. this will make general conference very political, so much for holy conferencing
• dixon is taken back, and hilarious, by our latest McChurch plant, in nashville..
• so you're saying my creativity warrants unorganization?... awesome!!
• no need to pick on me & my personal issues!

christianity today totally ripped off my blog

notice something eerily familiar about this cover in relation to this blog?

i got an anonymous tip from guy that christianity today totally ripped off my blog title because it is oh so creative. actually, i think my title is more creative & relational to the medium of this blog.

what got me going was an email from guy, who shall remain nameless, and sent me on a non-adventure for a few days.

I just got my new Christianity Today and they've totally ripped off your blog name/concept (which I was peaved I hadn't thought of first when I first stumbled across you). I don't know if it's on their website yet, but thought you'd enjoy knowing if you didn't.

indeed they had not updated their website. i let the idea pass. then i was downtown on wednesday, stopped into a favorite bookstore looking for the magazine, no dice, they don't carry magazines. this sorta peeved me and only heightened my anticipation to find out if it were true.

next day i went into a large bookstore with lots of magazines, no dice & their service kinda stunk, though i did find some decent magazines to pick up. grocery shopping with wife later in the day, surely somebody has to have the current issue of ct? no dice on the grocery store.. (note: now expecting a grocery store to have ct might seem like a stretch, but i am in the bible belt, they were playing christian music over the music system)

so we come to today. head to another mega bookstore and low & behold, tucked away with the health & home section, between the diet and log home magazines i find the ct hiding out. obviously shameful of the blatant plagiarism of my blog title.

i would consider lawsuit, but i think they would get away with a loop hole that they direct it towards evangelicals, which, i am not..

so what do you think? at least a letter to the editor? &:~D

teens & the internet

i have been sorting through slideshare tonight looking for some new stuff to add to this workshop i'll be doing at warmth in winter in two weeks. this one was based on pew research, it isn't downloadable like other slide presentations, but i will most likely be linking it at some level.

| View | Upload your own

the day off blogging links

it is monday, my day off.. so some links i am finding in the blogosphere

• the generation gap of web 2.o. what kids think of us old people invading their world tip ypulse
• where was i for this? the united methodist church is the "whore to the world"..?
• church marketing sucks on churches using twitter
• willow creeks news server crashes with news of pastors resigning, behold the power of the blogosphere
• chickipedia, tip techcrunch
• don't quit your youth ministry position on monday
• let andrew illumine you to the bible cross referenced visually
• i like kid rock... well, some of kid rock.. this makes me like him.

take to the dealer

  projec365:25 - service please 
  Originally uploaded by gavoweb.

so i have this issue. some part of the electrical has gone out in my car. i can't get my car to fail or pass inspection because. so i take it to the service department where it is under warranty. the diagnosis.. "this is some computer thing that you will need to take to the dealer to get fixed."

beautiful! thus goes my day

further adding to my project 365

problogging using twitter

darren rowse @ problogger has an thorough piece on how to use twitter to benefit your blogging. me, i've just started using twitter with frequency. at times i have used it to link to blog posts.. my stats say, no one cares to hit the blog from twitter links... so what does darren have to say?

i know you are jealous!

it is okay, you can be jealous of me. i'm uploading adobe creative suite 3 tonight. i am pretty stoked.

it is actually a funny story. i have been using an old version of photoshop and all the other adobe apps on my old ibook. which, as the ibook got older, it seemed to take longer and longer to make stuff. erin & i had planned on getting creative suite for the both of us through the family biz, but she was contemplating going pc. she just couldn't find a contact manager that she liked for mac. that was until the one she was using did an upgrade which met all her needs. she decided to stay mac.. the family was happy with that. she didn't however tell me that she went and order the cs3 cds. so i went on taking forever making graphics, posters, and web stuff with the old computer. till i went on a complaining rant one day last week and she said "well i have those cs3 cds at the office." ... (imagine my dumbfounded stare).. "uh.. and you never thought to bring those suckers home?" "i didn't think you wanted them." .. (continue with stare) "bring those suckers home!" so she did and i am happy.

blog milestone

sometime last week "hit the back button to move fwd" passed 100,000 visitors. that may seem lame to you, but  it's pretty cool to me. it helps me know that more than just my wife & mom read my insanity. &:~)

here's to the next 100k over another 3 years.. &:~(

random linkage

oh why not. some links for no apparent reason

• of course crime goes up on game day. those guys are asking for it.
• i didn't know art was in the clown ministry
• will is looking for some help with an emerging / emergent project
• is apple just ripping off the braun product design concepts?
• if you have been getting the osama obama emails that i have.. deleted
• our most wired cities.. number one kinda surprises me. tip to sam, i think
• united methodists going green
• dan's newest book, "i like Jesus, but not the church" apologizes
• coolest caption contest eva!
• jared throws a top 5 bone to the seeker sensitive church

you will be assimilated

update: i have become a caption contest

classic! revmom has too much time on her hands today. she's doing her ministry of assimilation which john started.. nothing good comes of stuff that john starts. i'd say she is much better with the photoshop than my youth community.

i guess after going emo it is easier to assimilate.

i get the nerdy part

What Gavin Means

G is for Glitzy
A is for Amazing
V is for Vivid
I is for Ideal
N is for Nerdy

What Does Your Name Mean?

i get the nerdy part.. but glitzy?? tip to stacie

we are back

  project365:12 - our silliness 
  Originally uploaded by gavoweb.

we are back. the wife and i had a great time chilling out and relaxing while being carted around the eastern caribbean. regular life begins tomorrow; some working, posting, picture uploading and who knows what else. until then i've updated my project 365.

new to things supporting

i know that all you faithful readers check out every link that i post in those fun right hand columns. so it seems silly that i will bring to your attention a new icon in my "things supporting." i have partnered with the friends at youth ministry exchange and added myself into a new adnetwork. it might migrate later with a site redesign, for now it resides with my "things supporting" listing as any money generated from the ads will go to a chosen charity.

looking forward to 2008

i stopped doing resolution stuff years ago. i realized i sucked at them. so why devote energy that direction. i am however looking forward to a number of things in 2008. in no particular order. i look forward to...

• the first vacation of the year. erin & i are leaving on a cruise on saturday. just us on this trip, no family. this part of a larger group, so we will have some friends that we know, but they are not so close that one feels like they have to spend a significant amount of time with.
• finally training my dogs how to clean up after themselves & shutting the back door.
• "the great adventure" it is a 12 week exploration that our full church is going through. the curriculum written by our own community of believers and it is excellent. i am stoked to see & hear all that happens in the next 12 weeks.
• less quantity & more quality blogging. i am not sure what i mean by that, it is just a feeling i am having
  
• weddings weddings & more weddings. i love weddings, they are a lot of fun and erin does the stress work on getting the present. a few of the weddings for the year are part of erin's crew from south carolina whom are some of the finest people i've known.
• my future weight loss. currently i'm at my heaviest ever. we, erin & myself, did the join the gym thing a few months ago and are working together to walk or work out at least each day. i can still bang out impressive skills but i can no longer safely fit into my climbing harness. which, is upsetting.. not to mention expensive if i have to get a new one.
• hitting the woods more, camping/caving/climbing, did none if it (church trip doesn't count) this year, that is an all time low. climbing dependent on weight loss as i refuse to buy a new harness.
• our youth missions experiences this summer. this year i get to go to both our jr. high experience at camp lookout & then to asp with our senior high. i like the week trip with our youth and they are always such wonderful missionaries.
• i look forward to finishing some of these darned books that i started in 2007. my "multiple book disorder" took on a whole new level in 2007. i look forward to reclaiming my reading in 2008.
• family beach vacation over july 4th. it will either be wonderful or insanely stressful.
• those unexpected ministry things that seem to come up. maybe some more speaking gigs, maybe some more writing.. i know i'll be going to a few more training and retreat events this year. look forward to new friends with those efforts.
• podcasting more.. i like doing them, but i have yet to figure out a good schedule for making it happen. plus have one other podcast project in the works.
• some extending of my relationship with God.. i've been a bad friend these last few months.
• doing the kids thing. we said we wanted to wait at least a year before entertaining kids. this makes mother-in-law very happy
• the possibility of a 15 year high school reunion? reunion is unlikely, since have yet to have one, but there will probably be some trip to hang out with my hs friends who continue to be the best friends i have & will ever have. three new kids this year, so babies are a great excuse to travel & play.
• not buying the next, latest and greatest, big time technology gadget.. again. i have a solid record of this. heck, i finally got an ipod this summer. refurbed of course.
• the development of some new initiatives within the youth ministry structure. small group stuff, arts & theology stuff, and some more local missions and awareness things.
• picking back up the guitar again.. not sure why i stopped playing. with that, maybe i will start back with the piano some. this means less computer time. erin wouldn't mind that. haha!
• spending some days alone wandering & acting like i am some photographer
• a new season of university of alabama college football
• my second attempt at being a boat captain..
• family reunion in november

seems like 2008 will be a pretty good year. shalom, -gav

funny & interesting

these are probably good book or movie titles

• google is god tip mitch
• the last bush supporter tip brittney
• ariah on nick & josh podcast (i've been linking to him a lot lately)
• recap of pew report on teens and social media use
• bishop willimon on Christmas & empire thanks mike
• a blogging resolution @ techcrunch

thinking redesign

a new year is about to begin.. seems like a good idea for a redesign.. hmmmm??

top 5 of 2007

i asked my fellow methoblogosphere buds to put together their top5 posts of 2007. fitting i break my own non-rules. these are the posting the reflect some great times in 2007.

• "the internet is our parish" our bloggers geek-fest/conference at the 2007 congress on evangelism. such a good time hanging with people i have such a great love and respect for. those three days or so only deepened that well. funny part, other than the youtube capture, what i remember most sharing communion the last night together at the bar. i hope we can do it again someday.
  
  • made it : day one : binary relationships : day 2 : meeting bishop, with fly down : capping it off : day 2 : caption contest : pictures
• daniel's baptism. daniel has been a friend for a few years now, connected through blogging and emerging church conversations. the first time we met up, face to face, i took him to alektor for coffee. who would have thought, a few years later he would be joining the orthodox church. i was honored to be invited. being the saturday before palm sunday it set into motion one of the more emotional holy week's i have had in recent memory.
• youth 2007. i was asked to put together a contemplative worship space for the 7,000 youth event. given a huge space and some decent money (probably nothing for people who do that kind of thing, but a lot for low-budget me). the space, the stories, the images, still impact me today. plus, leading lectio divina from the main stage was just to unreal to express.
  
  • late : day one : day two : day two #2 : day 3 & 4 : pictures : youth youtube : final thoughts
• senior high mission experience to new orleans. youth missions stuff becomes very much commonplace, but being there, in the neighborhood we were, talking with & meeting the people, seeing our kids kick butt, and our youth ministers embracing the youth brought me to tears on a few occasions.
  • day one : day two : day three : day four : day four extra : day five : day six : pictures
• close 5th & 6th. the homiletics festival or barcamp nashville. the homiletics festival was super fun geeking out with all the teachings, but the highlight was collaborating with some great people i like to call friends in pulling of an "emergent worship" with brian mclaren. barcamp was a great time for three reasons, 1. erin & i got to do it together 2. getting to meet some of the nashville blogging community 3. totally geeking out in technology talk. i have new voices and concepts to digest & erin and i reference barcamp many times in business talk.
  • homiletics day one : not enough time : emergent knitting : thomas long : barbara brown taylor : ann carter florence : jack black meets matrix : fred craddock : pictures
  • barcamp nashville live blogging : closing out

trunk fired

i guess when you are doing things not expected, regardless of results a change of scene is to be expected. sorry

resurrection on youtube

i (along with others) received an email from chuck russell. chuck is an old nashville friend from umcom, but moved over to cor a few years back. his email was to generate a little buzz for an upcoming series, "seeing gray" at the church of resurrection that will play similar to the "youtube debates" from a few weeks back. andrew eluded to this earlier this week. i am interested in seeing how this pans out as our conference leadership has a love affair with cor.

also announced in this little email. adam hamilton, pastor at church of the resurrection has become a blogger. which could be interesting. my critique of some of the more well know authors/pastors blogging is that they do not interact with the community. another critique is that authors/pastors just copy a newsletter article or something targeted at another audience. though i don't see commenting by adam, his posts do not look like rehashed stuff.

what bothers me. i can't believe that i am not included in his blogroll.. what's up with that? &:~)

in the news

• john breaks the news on the lackings of the united methodist publishing house..
• techcrunch is interested in godtubes new prayer wall..
• try teaching this to parents..

words from an old friend

i ran across a blog by an old friend from my mountain top days. roman, who lives down in austin texas, served with both my brother and myself on staffs at mountain top. i just loved the man. so i was stoked to get connected to him again. this is his first blog entry on his gleanings from years of youth ministry work.

friday in the blogosphere

some things that i find myself reading/watching today in the blogosphere.

• bob is talking about romney's recent spirituality speech. will has the video for those that missed.
• this guy thinks that i-35 is the next rapture revival is going to happen. tip to nate
• cute puppy, wait! that's a coyote. tip dogblogger
• igor larionov sells wine?
• unhealthy eating habits of bloggers, courtesy of problogger (guilty as charged)
• trying to attract some younger clergy?
• map of all the megachurches in the usa. interesting yet predictable. tip john
• cliff guy decided to immerse himself in hanna montana last night (he lived, we are grateful)
  
• who knew that brian mclaren looked like barry gibb, with a good boy haircut? i sure didn't
• for those insane decoration neighbors.
• phil asks to help a brother out. (crazy story)
• sci-fi channel is going to make "the running man" and actual show. (i hope they keep jessie the body retired this time) tip thunder
• us local folks are talking coffee elitism

john breaks big news

big ups to john for breaking such big news. &:~)

tuesday randomness

just some random things..

• apparently the methoblogosphere is not controversial enough to garner this attention
• mitch has some thoughts on the divide of traditional and digital marketing
• a mom harasses a girl over myspace that commits suicide, and doesn't feel responsible
• don't say any christmas cliche to her
• what every nashvillian should know before moving to town
• you might be a youth minister if... list
• take that cell phone!!
• now if only the church had money like brad pitt.. wait, maybe they do.. certainly the government does

who knew i sang at a bar

yeah, who knew i sang at a bar.. or maybe it is my semi-alter-ego gavin richardson. it is alter-ego's birthday today, which is kinda odd to see gavin richardson listed under facebook birthdays when i know it is not my birthday..
 

who needs college football spiritual direction

there seems to be much unrest in the blogosphere with the recent bowl championship series. for those that need to talk, i am here as your football spiritual director. share you story i will try to help you see where God is moving within your team. jim, i think we need to sit down together.

&:~)

slick methodists

who knew us methodists were so slick with the pick up lines. this has been good for a solid laugh... though non-methodist friends might not get all the lines. sorry

the prodigal blogger returns!

after many conversations jonathon norman of the phaith of st. phransus has resurged into the blogosphere as "the bard of burlesque." he has been talking about this new resurgence for months. i guess our hanging out last night was enough of an inspiration to move off the ranks of ex-blogger to current blogger. i forgot, so i had to ask.. why the bard of burlesque?

the bard was for ancient celtic culture the prophet/truth teller, but did so through prose.  poetry and irony can help us see things sometimes that we wouldn't normally see.

to warn, this bard persona of jonathon is much edgier putting shots across the bow of the church. truth telling, but shots none the less. like any other prophet he closes his message with a poem. how sweet.

wife blog on linking

erin has, over time, gotten into reading a few blogs. some are for her enjoyment, some are for business interests, and then this one . she probably reads this one so that she can correct my grammar or understand the depths of my soul, not sure which one yet.

one of her blogs that she keeps up with now is penelope trunk, who we heard of for the first time at barcamp nashville. sometimes erin likes her advice, sometimes she knows that she is just stirring the pot, other times it more of a "what'd you think of that one?" her most recent post was a "is this for real?" kinda of questioning on proper blog post linking.

i liked the breakdown, some i do here, some i've tried, some i have never even thought of. the one that got me ranting to erin was the hat tip link (which sorta surprised me). i see so many posts out in the blog world that generate the same content within hours or days (that are linked by at least one of my networks so it is not unrealistic to assume one read the other as i did) and people never give a tip for finding an article/video, stemming a thought.. to me that is just bad form. it isn't painful & people appreciate the respect that you give for the original linking & are more likely to give you traffic back.

there i go again ranting

update: seems the original post is taken down. i have the post in draft form to expand on it a little more later if it doesn't return. for now, just go with my rant. &:~)

what do i do with this?

i have met ariah a few times at the cohort and we've done the blogging buddies for a while. i love his convictions and am challenged by them. so it is not surprising to me to find him pulling out something on thanksgiving day that has me saying "what do i do with this?"

to all you comment trolls

to all you comment trolls, not that i know of any in this space. we know why you do it.

bloggers versus journalists

bloggers vs journalists, um style. rather spicy.

let it be said here now.. i do not claim to be a news service, unless that news is of me. what i had for dinner, how i stubbed my toe, etc. that is news i can speak too. so that magazine (which shall remain nameless, cough methodist men) that published some email forward that came off my blog and got me in trouble with garrison keillor's entourage, any ounce of research, fact checking, would let you know that i am not a credible "news" source. unless you like to get me in trouble, do something that is fun like "john wesley liberace"

revisit: as this posting has spread around. let me suggest this. that bloggers/blogging is equal to an opinionated column. to represent themselves as a news site is bogus. when it comes to robin bringing this out, she is a journalist who is quite nice, we have talked in the past for some articles. this particular posting was her opinion on being part of the blogosphere and a journalist & conflicts seen from there.

hey you!

hey you from indiana wesleyan university! thanks for checking out 44 pages in your visit to this blog, that most certainly has to be a record. next time though you are looking for "youth group prayer room" feel free to email me after 25 page views.. it would probably be easier for you & i really enjoy helping others with stuff like that

nywc atlanta : pilgrimage day two

it's late. i've got some sleep to catch up on (didn't sleep much last night). here is the cliff notes from today.

• see my nywc pilgrimage photos.. i got kinda silly with some
• don't forget my twittering.. this is kinda cool for something like this
• interviews with mark yaconelli & jeannie oestreicher were a lot of fun. have more folks to meet with tomorrow. my fav parts, telling mark i wasted money on the cd's for his critical concern courses on spirituality cause they are all basically silent. asking jeannie if she is jealous of her husbands flowing blond locks of hair?.. all got good laughs
• i hooked up with jim's wife.. don't worry jim, she's an honorable woman. we talked about this emerging young adult/youth ministry that has become a homeless ministry. super cool!
• people stare at you when you have microphones on a table.. is it really that unusual to see?
• ran into more friends.. old, new, and in between. with some, had a great conversation about spreading the retreat experiment our community tried last fall. excited to imagine others doing similar
• general session 2. joe castillo (the sand artist) is truly unique and very cool. what a gift, what a vision, what an imagination what a way to share. shane really did do that! i heard the best sermon eva! with some fire breathing thrown in for kicks. shane claiborne, gets up, breathes fire, back flip.. reads the whole sermon on the mount, all of it.. (is he going to stop here? he smiled, does he like that part? is it still going? this sermon is like 15 minutes long.. uh... this seat is hard.. what is that about pagans? ).. closes with "i hope it was the best sermon you ever heard" or something similar. and walks off.. what do we do with that? i loved it.. still don't know what to do with it, but i loved it.
• vespers service.. just what i needed to end a day.

Almighty God, my heavenly Father: I have sinned against you, through my own fault, in thought, and word, and deed, in what I have done and what I have left undone. For the sake of your Son our Lord Jesus Christ, forgive me all my offenses; and grant that I may serve you in newness of life, to the glory of your Name.

Watch, o' Lord, with those who wake, or watch, or weep tonight, and give Yourangels and saints charge over those who sleep. Tend your sick ones, O Lord Christ. Rest Your weary ones. Bless Your dying ones. Soothe Your suffering ones. Shield Your joyous ones, and all for Your love's sake. Amen.

nywc atlanta : pilgrimage day one

i am here.. been here actually.

somewhere last night when i got home from church just close to 10pm, hadn't packed a thing, hadn't cleaned the car i decided that i wasn't going to rush down here. i am not sure why i was in the first place. if you followed my twitter posts, which i was doing (and will continue to do) via txt message, there was a stop by the dentist, a lame lunch from arby's, a few hours at sewanee & monteagle, then met up with mike at the 296 waffle house.. the cell phone went dead shortly after that.

we finally got to the gwcc. i had been traveling for about eight hours, which was cool. i wanted to do the exploring thing. if i could have i would have stopped by rock city just for kicks. it was starting to get dark when i got to chattanooga so i passed on that one. mike & i got separated in atlanta traffic. mostly due to, what i think was, a hawks game. still, atlanta is not the most intuitive driving city.. there is a bunch of construction stuff happening too that doesn't help. we found our way to the same parking garage, but still couldn't find each other. i blame mike for that one.

everything was over and the expo area was closing soon. the only reason to get there was to meet up with our friends at upperroom/abingdon/youthworkermovement. like it is with an event like this (and pretty much why i enjoy coming) is that you have run ins with folks you didn't expect to see. first off was eli. i was wondering if there was an overlook area of the expo to get a picture to show the craziness that it can be. i saw this guy who looked vaguely familiar at a table top working on a laptop. at first glance it looked like he might have been working on blogger (such a nerd to recognize that). i say something to the effect of "there's someone blogging" (confirmed by his account). take a couple of pictures and then go over to talk to blogger person. turns out it is eli, fellow blogger and twitter person. actually, he's the reason i thought to twitter this, cause i saw him mention it. we chatted, took the proverbial blogger picture, talked wi-fi in the gwcc and headed off. met up with charity, our wonderful interlinc person. hugs and pleasantries around then we found our destination peeps. then we all got kicked out of the convention center.

other peeps, met a fun fella from saint petersburg in the mass of people walking out the convention center. for the life of me i can't remember his name, started with an "l." he's a trevecca grad, so we talked nashville stuff. good guy. then someone asked me directions to get somewhere.. i laughed, not at them, but because i thought it funny, i hadn't a clue as to where the mass of people were going. chatted a bit, then she turned around and went another direction. smart not to follow me.

evening dinner at ted's. i'll have to figure out the link to give credit, but someone i don't know in our group bought dinner. thanks!

ran into eli again, this time i think he had his wife. talked up a dude at the bar about the football game, apparently ryan leaf's little brother made it into the football game (which is crazy to me that oregon lost).

tucked away in the room now.

top highlights!

• afternoon prayers at sewanee chapel
• exit 296 waffle house
• having the first person i meet be a fellow blogger
• someone buying dinner

check out my updating flickr set : nywc07 pilgrimage

follow my twitter

a couple of guys going to the youth workers convention are twittering. i have never made too much use of twitter. got a bit more familiar with it at barcamp and that was fun, so i am going to be one of the folks twittering the convention. i've set up the mobile posting thing, so my twitter will probably be more of a stream of consciousness versus notes and reflections here.

become a gavoweb twitter follower!

nywc : here i come

for the remainder of the day i will be doing my job.. and preparing to head to atlanta for the national youth workers convention by youth specialties. i am going as guest of youth worker movement, an organization to help youth leaders in the wesleyan traditions connect and resource for best practice youth ministry. i will be putting together some interviews with folks for the podcast that my buddy and jonathon have started doing. jonathon won't be with us, so i will probably be podcasting with my travel partners jason & mike.

things i am looking forward too..

• chilling out with new youth ministry friends, love front line practitioners
• catching back up with mark yaconelli
• sitting down with mike king
• talking prayer & spiritual formation with jeannie oestreicher
• interviewing mark riddle
• doing some hang out with natalie
• hopefully catching up with some atlanta based personal friends
• maybe seeing one or two general sessions
• stalking anna, our joke, talking tennessee youth ministry collaboration
• reading different blogger takes on the conference

things not looking forward too..

• not having my conference buddy will there, we always seem to just hang out at youth conference though we both live around nashville
• atlanta traffic
• not doing the creative stuff with lilly again.
• the abyss that is the expo or vendors floor.. that place is crazy!