This is what I do...

LOL...

2008-08-18T21:41:00.002-05:00

iTunes Suggestion

2008-08-16T09:26:00.004-05:00

Earlier this year I spoke at a winter retreat out west that brought in the band Urban Rescue. The worship was great and their CD is totally worth checking out. I love iTunes...download = free shipping. Listen to full length songs on their MySpace.

FREE WIFI AT STRBUCKS!!!

2008-08-14T15:55:00.002-05:00

Starbucks is finally giving out free WIFI. You need to be a Starbucks card-holders an you will receive the first two hours per day for free. A card-holder means go get a Starbucks gift card and register it HERE and you get all kids of perks...free shots, extras flavors, and free WIFI for 2 hours a day...get 6 cards and that is 12 free hours of WIFI. Since Carabou closed this year this free WIFI hangout will be very valuable.

Free Resource Until August 31

2008-08-13T08:43:00.003-05:00

If you are in youth ministry and are looking for a series Simply Youth Ministry is offering one of their full series for free until the end of the month.

Enjoy...

Great Moments in Youth Ministry...

2008-08-08T09:54:00.001-05:00

One Year Ago...and four days

2008-07-24T06:36:00.003-05:00

I am leaving for Great America in about an hour...I get ill on roller coaster so this is not my favorite trip. Here is what I wrote about last year about the trip...see you tomorrow.

http://brandonearly.com/blog/2007/07/all-day-adventure.html

Pretty Cool

2008-07-19T21:49:00.001-05:00

It's been a while

2008-07-05T16:58:00.003-05:00

I have been so busy with life and church that blogging has fallen off my plate. I know, the three of us that read this blog probably did not miss anything but I still what to stay connected to the blog. I have been looking for ways to make life simpler and more organized. Here are a few web apps that I have found helpful for organizing life and/or ministry.

Jott...Jott converts your voice into emails, text messages, reminders, lists and appointments.
http://jott.com/

GrandCentral...This is amazing, free phone number that rings your cellphone...and way more than I can describe, check out their site.
http://www.grandcentral.com/home

Toodledo...amazing online/mobile todolist...and more.
http://www.toodledo.com

Planning Center Online...service planning. I use this to plan every hour of a weekend retreat, our staff loved it.
http://www.planningcenteronline.com/

If you are into online apps like this you really need to check out Google Docs and Google Reader, just Google them if you want to check them out.

What online apps are you using?

First And Last Letter...

2008-06-06T20:55:00.000-05:00

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

Time To Get The Bike Out...

2008-06-05T21:46:00.001-05:00

Could I pull this look off?

Second After Effects Project

2008-05-23T11:23:00.001-05:00

First After Effects Project...

2008-05-23T00:15:00.000-05:00

Wow...

2008-05-17T18:45:00.000-05:00

Summer Purpose Shift

2008-05-12T19:13:00.004-05:00

Our Wednesday ministry focus is evangelism, we accomplish other things (worship in the word and song, fellowship with other believers, etc) but we make every effort to teach plain biblical truth in a relevant way making sure Jesus is our focus and clearly and creatively presenting the Gospel each Wednesday.

I struggle with our ministry purpose over the summer because our numbers drop...not because we have less people but that lower number usually equals less visitors (or no visitors). If we are not living out our purpose we need to either work harder and change how we focus on that purpose or we need a total refocus.

With our new freshmen class coming up it might not be the best to reshape the way we do evangelism, things are already so new I do not want to overwhelm and lose them. It has been a challenging year (if you do not know, this year I went from jr high director to taking over all of student ministries). I, our students, and our ministry have all gone through major adjusting...and all have played out for the better. That said repair and unity are still needed and potential core students are still on the fringe.

It seems like a good idea to shift from evangelism to assimilation for the next 2 or 3 months. To grow together as a group has great potential and benefit, surrounding and serving each other and especially this new group of students that will be joining us in a few weeks. We need to create buy-in, generate excitement, and create a Christ centered, loving atmosphere.

I need to think about how this looks. I do not want to move from solid biblical teaching to fun and games. This is not about laser tag and paintball or crowdbreakers and pizza each week, it may involve these things the idea is not to move from depth to the surface, it is about loving our students and seeing them take ownership.

Any thoughts?

The Perfect System...We Are Getting Closer

2008-05-07T11:46:00.005-05:00

THEY ARE FINALLY UNITED.....
It launched this week...VMware 2.0 Beta 2. If you own a Mac and have been using VMware Fusion then you might need to get happy about this. Right now it is free, the code is on their site...the only catch is you need to have a copy of windows. I am excited because this finally adds multi-screen viewing to work with stuff like MediaShout!!!!

Now, if it works with Halo I am set for life...If you find Halo for Mac and want to give it to me that would be great too.

2008-05-07T11:46:00.001-05:00

Online Bibles (OLBs)

2008-05-01T07:55:00.005-05:00

I know there are several OLBs but in case you are not familiar with them I thought I would give you some resources.

From what I hear the biggest goto OLB is Bible Gateway. 9 time out of ten, if I type a scripture
reference in Google Bible Gateway the top hit.

Another favorite in Blue Letter Bible. This OLB is packed with content; study tools, devotionals, commentaries, and more.

A newer OLB to hit the web is called youversion. The cool thing about this OLB is that it is a sort of social networking Bible. You can contribute notes and share comments and a ton of other stuff too. They just released a mobile version this week so if you have a phone that links to the net of you have a pocket devise that has wifi you can have 14 version of the Bible in your pocket.

If you search "online Bibles" you will find several sites so check it out yourself and see which you like best.

2008-05-01T07:55:00.001-05:00

TWITTER

2008-04-11T14:34:00.006-05:00

I am trying something new, it is pretty easy and so far not too much of a burden. I have a new blog, a mini-blog at twitter...I am not getting rid of my personal blog, but I am going to try and mini-blog more at twitter. Check me out, by getting an account and clicking "follow."

The cool thing is I will be confronted to write more because I have a twitter app on my google.com homepage, and twitter only lets you write a 140 characters. I should hit this a couple times a day...we will see.

Here is the link: http://twitter.com/uthguy9

American Idol

2008-04-10T10:23:00.000-05:00

Nice performance...to bad they took out Jesus' name in the opening line.

I Always Wanted This...

2008-03-27T09:23:00.002-05:00

ACAC Friday Night Retreat Meeting

2008-03-21T22:03:00.003-05:00

Thought you might enjoy a video of what kept us
from the hotel conference room on Friday night.

My Confession...

2008-03-16T18:06:00.003-05:00

This is kind of a big deal, when some of you hear this you will be shocked. But I need to come out and say it...my confession is that I am officially a fruit...there I said it, A FRUIT!!!!!!! Well, not just any fruit, an apple to be exact. I have crossed over. The truth is I am sick of Windows and I needed to cross over. The switch to Apple (or to the Mac...as in MacBook Pro...I have the center one) was easy and hard. Easy because I am sick of Windows crashing or lagging or needing a hard reboot, etc. Hard because the Mac does not have the greatest Bible software and all my presentations/speaking stuff are in MediaShout (MS) and MS has decided to NOT go Mac. I will be getting Final Cut Studio 2 soon to do video editing (I did not pay $1300 for it, I needed to say that so Keri does not freak out when she reads this...actually I would freak out if I paid that). I purchased VMware Fusion...this is amazing, it runs Windows XP (so I can use my Bible software) and it integrates the two OS's well. However, it does not run MediaShout well...I needed to load up Bootcamp to get MS to work. Well I have to go...they are boarding my flight.

Homeward Bound

2008-03-16T17:30:00.004-05:00

What a fun weekend, I had a great time with all the ACAC Middle School Students and staff but I am ready to get home and see my wife and the boys. I am sitting in the Pittsburgh airport using their free wifi. This is cool for 2 reasons: first because I have been here for three hours and this helped me pass the time and second I was able to video chat with my family. By the time I get home, the boys will be in bed so it was great seeing them tonight. Here are two pics from the video I was watching.

I love you guys...I will be home soon!

ACAC Retreat - BLUR

2008-03-15T16:30:00.003-05:00

The retreat for ACAC is going great. One of the students came up to me tonight and said, "That was a good preach tonight." I was honored. Tonight I shared the gospel and the group seemed to be listening well. I trust the message was clear and I look forward to hearing from the leaders tomorrow as to how well their small groups went. We are off to the YMCA in about 15 minutes. I will be heading back after the group picture but they will be there until 2am.

By the way, we had our first session at the church because we did not have a room to meet in at the hotel. The first session went great, kids laughed, the word was strong, worship was solid (thanks band for learning the new song), and the games were fun. But it still left me with the question, "Why did we not have a room?" Well, Guy...one of the student ministry pastors said the hotel was booked. When we got there I found out it was booked by the FNW. Here is a pic and I will send a video soon.