BigDawgs UNLEASED at Promise Keepers

Over 9,000 fathers, sons and men from the Southeast converged at Philips Arena in Atlanta July 28 and 29, 2006 for the Promise Keepers' "Unleashed" men's conference. Mixed with a rousing worship set by PK7, video clips, drama skits by Awaken and messages by gifted speakers, men responded to the theme of being "Unleashed" - "it is not about learning how to be a nicer guy. It's about becoming the powerful man God designed you to be."



The evening's first speaker, Dr. Bob Reccord delivered the evangelistic message, addressing men's biggest fear - the unfulfilled life. Two hundred ninety nine men came to the front of the stage to declare publicly of their commitment to Jesus Christ as both Lord and Savior. I had an opportunity to pray with a father and his eleven-year-old son who accepted Christ as well with a deaf man. Exhilarating!



Dr. Tom Fortson, president of Promise Keepers, presented the Transformation Award to S. Truett Cathy, the founder and chairman of Chick-fil-A Restaurants. The award honored Cathy's "lifetime of transforming family, community, workplace, and most importantly, the lives of the next generation." Cathy shared how he got started in the restaurant business, marriage, his commitment to stay private that allowed the corporation greater flexibility to fund charitable causes as well as give greater honor to his employees. Despite closing on Sunday, historically 20% of a fast food's income, Chick-fil-A is the second largest fast food restaurant chain.

Pastor Rob Bell shared how Jesus sees incredible God-created potential in us, and what He sees in us is far greater that what we see in ourselves.

Promise Keepers provided a truckload of non-perishable food items donated by the attendees to Johnnie's House - a shelter for battered and abused women and children in Atlanta. Over 85,000 pounds of food have been donated thus far to local food banks at the midpoint of the Promise Keepers conference schedule.

Bishop Joseph Garlington opened the Saturday sessions addressing "the heart, not just our emotional center, but the core of our motivations. The heart drives our decision. As men, we guard our hearts to keep it dependent on God's leading." Underlying theme: God has written a unique calling and divine legacy on your heart, based on longings, desires, passions, and hopes. We were challenged by Garlington that we must pursue our calling, embrace it and live it.



Our group, the BigDawgs4Christ assisted the volunteer needs in areas of ushering, evangelism and the lunchtime feeding of nine thousand men in twenty minutes! "Grab and go; head for the hill!" was the bullhorn chant.



Promise Keepers returns to Nashville at the Gaylord Entertainment Center July 20-21, 2007. The previous two conferences in 2001 and 2005 were sellouts. We'll plan to raise up volunteers, assume a local leadership function and for a road trip, head to St. Louis. MO August 24-25. If you're interested in joining us, drop us a line to get connected.



View the UNLEASED Flickr set by clicking here

technorati tag Promise Keepers

Big Dawgs Hitting the Road

The BigDawgs4Christ, a network of Christian men in the Middle Tennessee area, are heading out 120 strong at 7:00 in the morning to Atlanta for the UNLEASED 2006 Promise Keepers men's conference. There should be an attendance of upwards of 10,000 men at Philips Arena this Friday and Saturday.



It's always a great time as we get challenged to live out our faith as godly men. The friendships forged over the years on the trips are enduring! We as a group have probably taken over 500 different men (fathers and sons) since 1995.



I personally enjoy reacquainting old friendships with the leadership and staff of Promise Keepers and some of the speakers that I have worked with while on staff back in the '95 - 2000 era of Promise Keepers. It was an vibrant - "high velocity, high challenge" - time back in the days when there were stadiums full of men.

These days, arenas are the better fit for the conferees with concentration on the messages, logistics and weather (hard to stay focused on the messages from the platform with the sun, rain beating down on the old noggin or airplanes flying overhead). Plus fify thousand guys is a lot of bodies to move around; although it's always nice to be in a environment where trash is kept to a minimum and no beer is spilt on the back of one's neck!



It takes about 800 volunteers to stage an arena event; about 2,500 for an stadium event. These volunteers are recruited at least six months out and the cool thing is that more than half of the volunteers are women!



The BigDawgs4Christ always volunteer to handle the mass feeding of box lunches when we go as a group. Takes about forty of us to feed 15,000 men in about 25 minutes. The boxes are stacked and opened; it's grab and go time. It only takes two hours from unloading the pallets of lunches, stacking the boxes, herding the men through the feeding lines, handing out trash bags to every tenth guy, breaking down the boxes, cleanup and trash dumped.



Definately one of my favorite moments. The Bible talks about feeding ten thousand men; it blows my mind to have seen fifty two thousand men at the Liberty Bowl in Memphis back in 1996 fed in 32 minutes, scattered everywhere. And no trash! The image - five times greater than Scripture records - is etched in my mind forever.



I've got my Bible loaded on the Treo, camera and notepad ready, and my mind and heart open to be challenged. I'll blog about the Promise Keepers event Sunday when I get back. Meanwhile, have a great weekend!


(a sold out PK / Nashville last August at the Gaylord Entertainment Center)

Tennessean recap link and another here

technorati tag Promise Keepers

Porkapalooza!

CeeElCee has titled our BBQ support group that meets at the Mothership "Porkapalooza". So when you hear "Porkapalooza", that's blogger code for "You need to see daylight, go eat some pork".

Remember the old Stockyard Restaurant print ads back in the 90's in the Sunday Showcase of the Tennessean? "Seen and Heard at the Stockyard" was the caption; judges, old time Nashville types, etc., etc. spotted eating at the steakhouse would have their name in print. Sort of the ole name dropper thing - like I'm doing ... "Kerry! You ole Name Dropper You!" except it's the "Seen and Heard at The Mothership BBQ" version. Even the Nashville City Paper is hip to what's going down.



Chris Corley, the bass-player-who's-dating-my-daughter-Megan and I were privileged to dine with SistaSmiff who brought her #2 son; besides Burger King's Superman, he's into Mothership ribs (and loves his momma).



CeeElCee's friend Fishwreck dined for the first time at the Mothership...



as well as his friend, the JagerBomber aka The Intern Indexer.



Met the lovely RUABelle who's going to influence the next generation of kindergarden kiddies in a week when school opens up. I have such high esteem for teachers... as seen here with CeeElCee.



Last, I finally met Nashville's favorite aunt - AuntB - and Betsy (sorry I didn't get the blog name) and ...



while leaving, waved hello/goodbye to Blake. I didn't want to interrupt his lunch as he looked like he was negotiating a big Video Blog / You Tube deal. Best to look impressed and move on.

I had to rush out and wait on the plumber to show up. As an update, Lowes is doing the install of our new 50 gallon hot water heater for $175.00. While eating my pork sandwich, I got a estimate from another plumber (via CraigsList) - $675.00! I guess some plumbers just need one sucker a month to live comfortably.

Live Blogging, anyone?

Has anyone out there ever done any "Live Blogging"?

I'm headed to Atlanta this weekend with 120 guys from the Nashville area on two buses for a Promise Keepers conference and was examining the challenges and logistics.

As one of two assigned photographers, I'm budgeting 900 photos per 1 gig SD card.

At least a photoblog or Flickr set is done.

The upside is that I'll have plenty of content to use iDVD on the Mac to generate some really neat presentations set to music.

Back to live blogging - Obviously having a laptop or wifi device like my Palm LifeDrive is needed...

Is it a pain to do?

Is it like doing a play by play except I'm typing and shooting photos?

Is is too much like being a newshound / cub reporter?

I recall Six Meat Buffet liveblogging a yard sale, which was kind of a novelty.

And Engadget liveblogged the Steve Jobs keynote at MacWorld 2006.

Except they had a crew: "We've got our crack team on the case: Engadget keynote sharpshooter and bestest buddy Paul Boutin on keys, Editor-in-Chief Peter Rojas and Engadget Splunker Patrick McGovern, Jr. on snaps, and Managing Editor Ryan Block editing and posting."

I need a crew. But that's not the VJ way.

Does anyone care?

Do I care?

It's 1:00 am - so why am I'm even thinking about this when I got to buy a hot water heater in the morning, meet some bloggers at the Mothership BBQ for the Thursday BBQ support group (11:30 - join us), install the heater, pack and head out for a mini party later in the evening.

Good night.

Is there a plumber in the house?

I need a plumber to install a hot water heater that I'll probably buy from Lowes.

They want to charge $175.00 to install and haul away the old one. I'm simply replacing the old one that's in the garage; the electrical and plumbing is in place and I'll toss in a brew when done.

That seem kinda high to put in a Whirlpool 46.5 Gallon Electric Low Boy Water Heater since the unit costs $244.00.

So I let my fingers do the walking and you wouldn't believe the quotes!

$200; $300 and $690. Are you kidding me?

Is there a plumber in the house?

Blogging 'bout Logging

We had this forty foot tree in our front yard that started to rot. Sad, because I use to string it with Christmas lights.

Roger Harrison of Harrison Tree Service & Stump Removal made quick work of this tree for (a good price) in 45 minutes. Highly recommended - (615) 799-2851



Mark slicin' and dicin' with a monster chainsaw.



Rotten to the core...



Leftover spoils...



The Tree Bandit chews the tree limbs, spitting the remains into the back of the truck. The material takes about a year before it decomposes into mulch quality. Mobster types decompose faster.



Stump Grinder in action; four cutting teeth move left to right to chip away at the stump.



All finished!



The 'lil tree crew from Fairview: Boss Man Roger, Mark, Steven & J..J.

I learned today that trimming trees standing straight up are preferred versus those downed by storms because the pickup and clean up are much easier to manage. Also the limb removal can be controlled to fall in close proximity to the equipment for disposal.

Flickr Set

Whatever Happened to Promise Keepers?

Denny at VitalSigns Ministries writes: Promise Keepers certainly isn't making the national splash it once did.



The absence of the outspoken, charismatic Coach Bill McCartney at the helm of Promise Keepers left the movement without its initial fervor and its ability to grab the headlines. The football arenas around the country haven't been filled with attentive worshipers for a long time now and Promise Keepers' hope to create thousands of "accountability groups" among America's Christian men never really materialized.

However, neither of these failures are the fault of Promise Keepers as an organization. The real problems in reaching the organization's goals have come from all the "regular suspects" which have historically limited the Christian man's spirituality in America: apathy, inconsistency, improper passions, desires for comfort and entertainment, and so on. Promise Keepers did an incredible job of shaking things up in the early 90's -- God bless 'em for their vision and dedication to biblical orthodoxy. But keeping things shook up? Well, that required the rest of us to follow through with courage, faith and an aggressive work ethic for the Kingdom. We didn't.

So, is Promise Keepers completely a thing of the past? No, far from it. Their audience events may be smaller, fewer and less publicized but the organization is very much alive with enthusiasm and commitment. And, of particular significance, Promise Keepers hasn't sold out its founding purposes. When the numbers began to decline, there must have been tremendous pressure brought upon Promise Keepers to compromise its values, to soften its doctrinal statement, to pragmatically remove (or at least keep quiet about) some of its more controversial elements, especially its insistence on preaching Christ crucified, its pro-life convictions, its fidelity to biblical teachings on marriage and sexuality, etc. But Promise Keepers kept its own promise to God and therefore deserves our fervent appreciation and respect.

And they deserve our present attention too.

For although the "movement" of Promise Keepers (amazingly influential) has run its course, the ministry of the modern version of Promise Keepers is very much alive. Clicking on the title of this post will take you to the Promise Keepers web site where a visitor can see how true the organization has been to the Lord Jesus and how active they yet are in changing the character of America by bringing redemption, illumination and spiritual power to one man at a time.

So, for those of you who well remember the way God moved you in one of those PK stadium rallies and for those of you whose earnest spiritual adventure began after those halcyon days, today's Promise Keepers is a ministry well worth your prayers, your support and your participation.

(Wednesday, May 31, 2006)

(Note: I served on staff at Promise Keepers from 1995 to 2000)

The Church and Blogging?

Megan Greenwell writes in the July 9th Edition of the Washington Post: PostCyber-Savvy Pastors Blog When the Spirit Moves Them

"About 75,000 new blogs are created every day by people from all walks of life, so it should come as no surprise that some bloggers are ministers. But many religious leaders say the idea of a pastor willing to share so much about his daily life reflects a shift in the relationship people expect to have with their religious leaders."

"Increasingly, people want to have a personal connection with their church and their pastor," said Brian Bailey, who co-wrote an upcoming book, "The Blogging Church," about how churches can use the medium to reach out to members. Blogs provide a unique opportunity for people to feel more invested in their church, even if the pastor doesn't have time for a face-to-face meeting, he said.

"It's no longer enough for a lot of people to get the church's mailing, read the Web site, and sit in the pew for an hour on Sunday," he said. "They might know there was a mission trip last week, but with a blog, they can read about the day-to-day details, see pictures and feel like they're part of something."



Brian Bailey nails it - parishioners give to mission work and feedback is always helpful! I wish more missionaries would abandon the resource consuming and old methods of mailing letters, postcards - and for long term missionaries - heavy dependence on speaking engagments while in the States on furlough. One of the keys to raising support is a term called "friend raising", a methodology of garnering not only financial underwriting but prayer and emotional support. Funding tech savvy missionaries with technology such as laptops, Skype, Flickr, digital cameras, etc. is a good use of designated funds to undergird "friend raising".

I was at the Apple store recently and happened upon a conversation between a Apple store employee and customer both describing using their respective Apple laptops while on a short term missions trip.

clayton james cubitt's Operation Eden: "A personal chronicle of what hurricane Katrina has done to my poor proud people" is the best template I know of for missional application. clayton mixes commentary, incredible photography and his personal pain and heart tugs in processing Katrina.

Using technology for God's glory. I'm loving it.

Sofa help for the highly educated

Problem moving that sofa around that corner wall ?



Do the math first !

or bring a hacksaw...

Chain Chain Chain...

Take the pile of stuff in your house and do something creative - like a chain of dominoes -

Monitor Chain

Photograph this blog post (including your monitor and its immediate surroundings), and post the resulting pic on your blog. Then, the next person photographs your blog post and posts it, and so on. Leave your post URL in the comments so people will be able to follow the chain, and link your image to the post you photographed... this way people will be able to zoom into the monitors by clicking.

Via TN Chick

UPDATE:
In Blogger, after uploading the photo, (before you publish) look at the HTML:

.... a href="http://tnchick.com/archives/825"....

and insert the link between the

a href=" insert link here "

with the link, i.e.

http://tnchick.com/archives/825

or with

http://wonderdawg777.blogspot.com/2006/07/monitor-chain.html

if you want to keep the chain going (because you're patriotic and love ten people)

Don't forget to....

Leave your post URL in the comments so people will be able to follow the chain, and link your image to the post you photographed... this way people will be able to zoom into the monitors by clicking.

Toilet Aquarium

Do you want an aquarium in your place, but you don't seem to have any room for one? This unique idea combines a toilet and an aquarium to produce the Fish 'n Flush Aquarium. The aquarium comes with a 3 piece aquarium tank, dual filter system with pump, LED light system, 2-nine inch artificial plants, and a basic aquarium guide. The toilet has your basic flushing system which includes a flush valve, and a fill valve. Another great feature is that every time you flush, jets of water will shoot into the fish tank giving the fish a little bit of excitement. This is a great way to make more space, and if you are ever bored on the toilet, you can watch your fish swim around or get shot with jets of water.

Product Page
Via TechieDiva

The biggest hassle in the world...

... is changing my number on my cell phone plan. That's why I left TMobile and switched to Cingular. Looks like I have to do it again since the disgusting and very mean messages began showing up...

Brighthand reports Another Celebrity's Sidekick Gets Hacked: "T-Mobile and Danger, Inc. have enjoyed all the free publicity they have received from celebrities using the Sidekick cellular-wireless handheld in public. But there can be downsides to this, too, like why it's always big news whenever someone famous gets their device hacked.

For example, the tabloids are buzzing with the news that someone recently got their hands on the password for Lindsay Lohan's Sidekick and soon her friends started receiving "disgusting and very mean messages that everyone thought were coming from Lindsay," according to the starlet's spokesperson, Leslie Sloane Zelnik.



Much to the glee of gossip-hounds everywhere, Ms. Lohan is accusing her one-time friend Paris Hilton of sending these messages. Not surprisingly, Ms. Hilton denies any involvement."

xxx

Yes, this hot weather is making me delusional.

Walls are going up!

...for the new Costco and Best Buy in a complex called Nashville West...

The area of land that is in front of the UHaul in the photo below (click to enlarge) used to house the old Walmart is the anticipated location of the new Costco and Best Buy. It wouldn't surprise me if the buildings were completed to open by Thanksgiving 2006.



Will from InTownNashville reports: "Newton Oldacre McDonald has a huge mixed-use development called Nashville West underway on the site of (and surrounding) the old Hillwood Plaza on Charlotte Pike. Big-box retailers Best Buy, Cost Plus, Ross Dress for Less, and Dick's Sporting Goods are confirmed tenants. Among the "national clientele" on the home page of Newton Oldacre McDonald website: Target."

The greater anticipation in West Nashville is for some decent restaurants rather than the fast food variety such as McDonalds, Taco Bell, Wendys, etc.

Snakes on a Plane blogger viewing party

Party! Party! Party!

Get 'yer invite here for August 19th.

And see what all the hoopla is about.

Until then, sit down buddy.



Savage Chicken credit

So tell me about LOGGING!

At a cookout tonight with relatives, the topic of blogging came up. My aunt in law of retirement age asked me, "I know how to do email and MapQuest, but can you tell me about LOGGING?"

I'm thinking lumberjacks, Minnesota, Google Search... when I realized she meant BLOGGING !!!

And what is the appeal of blogging? The circle just keeps getting better and bigger.

In church life, there is always an emphasis on getting into small groups. Many experts in the business of small groups will tell you: "Groups are an excellent way to make friends and establish relationships. Lives are formed and transformed in small groups when people meet together to pray, to study, to engage in fellowship, or to work on a specific task."

Me thinks that a greater dynamic unfolds because of the technology that allows us to share our lives behind a safety of a URL, aka a blog, to share our thoughts, stories, humor and observations in life. Hard to do in public or while passing through in church, no matter how well intentioned we try to be with programs or special events.

Then when an opportunity unfolds to meet together like Nashville Is Talking's recent meetup or the ongoing Middle Tennessee Bloggers and Podcasting Group that met today at the Mothership BBQ, everybody knows everybody. I am simply amazed how quickly people connect with each other having just met in person for the first time.

I'll let dailydiablogger share the recap here as she has a better recall. I can't put my finger on it, but simply put, there is a common thread that we all have whether it's the efforts of WKRN to listen and connect us together, our interests and personalities to how many of us feel as stakeholders in Jim Ream's Mothership BBQ to see it prosper.

Rex Hammock has a piece of the puzzle on why people blog in the context of whether bloggers are journalists or not: "I think bloggers say they're not journalists because they believe to do so would place a limit -- perhaps even demean -- what it is they're doing. They're observing, recording, entertaining, interpreting, screening, pointing to, calling out, casting out, body slamming..."

Malia adds to what I'm trying to say here.

Maybe bloggers as people are finally relieved when we do meet - because what you see is what you get. You know and I know what our politics, faith, tastes are plus our warts and all. And while we may have a blog name and a URL, there are no masks when we meet in public and maybe that is the charm of why we all have a great time when we meet in person. Authenticity. That's it! Authenticity.

I had a blast today! From today's Middle Tennessee Bloggers and Podcasting Group that met today at the Mothership BBQ:



Front, L to R: Christian, me, Michael and lovely Holly; Back, L to R: Gunner , Elizabeth, Michelle, Kathy T., Michael O., John, BadBadIvy. Photo by Vince. I think Malia was out on a dessert errand and Aunt B.'s Tiny Cat Pants was in 'da Mothership with the Butcher and parents.

See additional photos at WonderDawg's Mothership BBQ Flickr set

Chappy's on Church

Tonite, we were heading out for dinner because Mrs. WonderDawg's sister was in town from Atlanta. With Debbie having never been to J. Alexanders on West End, we made plans to go with our party of six. To our dismay, since we've had nothing but a great dining experience twice before, we just weren't in the mood for a 45 minute wait. Mrs. WonderDawg's other sister Judy, saw a clip on WSMV about Chappy's on Church.

The bit of history: "The original Chappy's Seafood Restaurant opened its doors in December of 1984 and remained one of the premier restaurants on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina completely demolished Chappy's restaurant and his home. In June of 2006, Chappy's Seafood Restaurant re-opened as: Chappy's on Church in Nashville, TN."

Located at 1721 Church Street -- the refurbished building formerly housed Carter Flooring Building, constructed in 1920 -- I was simply expecting the typical Louisiana Cajun home spun family restaurant. At 8 pm, our party of six were immediately seated in one of six separate semi private rooms after walking through an expansive dining room (seats 220) of stated elegance and white cloth covered table tops of four. Seeing original artwork on the walls and an upscale dining atmosphere, we knew we were in a great dining experience since the restaurant was "designed to exude New Orleans charm".

John "Chappy" Chapman, chef and owner stopped by our table and greeted us, seen here hugging Judy:



We started with an appetizer of Fried Green Tomatoes and Grilled Barbecue Spice Shrimp, both delicious. Entrees that we ordered included Grilled Tuna Steak (which was probably the best of the night) as it was sushi quality and ordered rare, was tender as a filet mignon. The blackened Chappy's Thick Cut Prime Rib was fair and came across as more of a rib eye. Other dishes included crab cakes, specials of mahi mahi and a lemon yellow fish which were pretty good, moist and of generous portions. Dinner salads with stuff baked potatoes and a vegetable mix of squash, cabbage, green pepper and onion served in a cole slaw fashion was ... different and not a table favorite.

Chappy's really shined on the fish dishes! I would highly recommend going back and sampling more of the fish offerings. Chappy's also offer other seafood, steaks, veal, chicken and game entrees. The menu is listed on Chappy's website. Total bill for six included two bottels of Sterling and Kenwood Merlot was a reasonable $240.00 plus tip.

With West End Avenue opening up more chain type restaurants, Chappy's was a welcomed change of pace to dine. Most likely, we'll head back Sunday or Monday night - it was that good.

Our service was great; David as our waiter was excellent, attentive and quite a character. He wrapped up my mommy-in-law's crab cake to go in an aluminum rabbit presentation that looked like... you decide!



David the good sport, accepting the OB-GYN Award for Best Service by a Waiter:



And our party of spring chickens:



L to R, sister Judy, Mrs. WonderDawg (Becky), our daughter Megan, sister Debbie, me and Mommy Helen

Fashion question: why is it...

that women can get away with wearing high water pants?



and men can't?

Even the dog is afraid a flood is coming.

Promise Keepers UNLEASHED!

For the past ten years, I help as part of a team to take men to a Promise Keepers mens conference. We call ourselves BigDawgs4Christ and this year, we're taking 120 guys from different churches in the Middle Tennessee area and we have TEN REMAINING SLOTS open for $220.00 each.

If your church needs wristbands for the Atlanta conference or other conference cities, we have a batch available for $75.00 each discounted from $89.00 each.

Just email me at: wonderdawg (at) gmail (dot) com and I'll pass along the details.

Here's the pitch:

Has it been some time since you went to a Promise Keepers event?

Run with the Big Dawgs to Atlanta for Promise Keepers '06!

This year, you can register ONLINE via Clearview Baptist Church's Men's Ministry website here!

FAbdQs - Frequently Asked BigDawg Questions

Dates:
Friday & Saturday July 28-29 Phillips Arena in Atlanta

What is included in my registration fee?
Your registration includes a wristband for admission both days, transportation, Marriott hotel room (double) within a very short walking distance and six meals total... plus a BigDawg4Christ hat and T-Shirt! Less expensive than going on your own!

What are the departure times for Friday and Saturday?
Breakfast and check-in at 7:00 am. Deluxe tour buses leave at 8:00 am sharp on Friday, July 28 from Clearview Baptist Church in Franklin and arriving home approx. 10:00 pm on Saturday July 29. Friday's program will run from 6:30 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. and Saturday will run from 9:00 a.m. to approximately 4:00 p.m. The Marriott hotel is a short walking distance with six meals included! You can leave your car at Clearview Baptist Church located at 537 Franklin Road, south of Moores Lane.

What should I bring?
Invite a friend! Bring a Bible, pen and a BigDawg4Christ attitude ready to be challenged, encouraged and set on fire for the Lord.

Can I volunteer?
Absolutely! Conferee lunch feeding, evangelism workers and ushers are needed and greatly appreciated -- consider donating 1 to 2 hours of your time. Volunteer online: http://www.promisekeepers.org/volr10

Dang it! The devil messin' with my schedule and I can no longer attend the event I registered for; what do I do now?
Prayerfully consider attending another Promise Keepers conference in the area; better yet, sponsor a friend or bless a church member in need and/or honor your pastor by sending him with your wristband. Note that there are no refunds on registrations.

I have more questions; who can I contact?
For specific Nashville conference information and updates, or for additional registrations, please call one of the following leaders -- they're ready to serve:
Jeff Walker (615) 347-7784
John Parks (615) 300-7060
Eddy Richardson (615) 371-9249
Troy Madge (615) 828-9081
Mark Wanee (615) 430-9062
Durand Hite (615) 298-4935
Rick Lee (931) 334-4424
Al Aigner (931) 486-1444
Kerry Woo (615) 336-9360
Tim Richards (615) 319-7150

This trip will SELL OUT, so register ONLINE via Clearview Baptist Church's Men's Ministry website today!

No rest for the Titans

The Tennessean has reported that Titans running back Chris Brown's agent has made a formal request to the team that he be traded.

If a trade DOES happen, then second-round draft pick LenDale White's stock really jumps as the starting running back.



With this development, Chris Brown is off the list to be a banner candidate!

Chris Brown profile

You meet the nicest people at the Mothership

Every Thursday at 11:30, I attend the BBQ support group at the Mothership BBQ and I run into bloggers and the neatest people coming in and out of the Mothership.



I have settled on a Woo Special - two pulled porked sandwiches with burnt ends and slaw on top with a gallon of sweet tea.

Today I was honored to dine with Lynnette and Sam Davidson where we talked about Nashville and the emerging church.



Very engaging couple. Lynnette's theology is chicken-only for meat, so until the menu expands... we'll likely to see her elsewhere (not that anything is wrong with BBQ peanut butter and jelly on a hamburger bun).

After they left to head back to work, I got up for a a half gallon sweet tea refill to go and visited the WKRN remote conference room. Here for expense account justification, is the crew that decides what the Middle Tennessee viewing area watches!



From L to R: The Knuck himself, Terry Heaton, Christian Grantham, Da' GM Mike Sechrist and News Director Steve Sabato.

Check out VJ Todd Dunn's piece that aired on WKRN news today regarding the Mothership.

Don't forget to stop by Saturday at 11:30 for the Middle Tennessee Blogger and Podcaster's Group Meeting to see what bloggers look like from Smyrna. Their goal to network with other bloggers, share knowledge about technology, tools and geekiness so-forth, eat high on the hog and laugh a lot. Should be a fun time!