wisdom...

I read several blogs throughout the week...I've got my favorites that I read everyday. There are some that are really inspiring and helpful for me. Here's a recent post from Craig Groeschel, who is the pastor of LifeChurch.tv...pretty profoud I thought:

Let’s review yesterday’s thought:

You are not what you did, what you do, or what you are going to do. You are who Christ says you are.

When you are doing ministry, try to remember:

* What you do is a result of who you are in Christ.
* What you do doesn’t define who you are.
* Don’t confuse the “who” with the “do.”

You are not successful because:

* Your kids’ ministry grew 10% this year.
* Three people got saved last week.
* Your budget increased by 5%.
* The parents of your student ministry like you.
* Your church is bigger this year than this time last year.

You are successful because of who you are in Christ. You please God by obeying him, not performing up to your personal expectations.

Are you doing ministry to get worth, feel successful or to find your identity? Or are you doing ministry to please, to resemble, to delight in Christ and bring people to Him?

I need to be reminded so many times about who I am in Christ. It's sad, but sometimes in the "church" world, you can lose focus on why you serve. I really struggle with some of the present day church success indicators...and with people who really believe in them. They really fire me up!

Savor the Holidays

Had a great Thanksgiving holiday with my family. As always I stuffed myself and swore I wouldn't eat for a week, only to have dinner three hours later. We spent some time that night playing rummy. Now you have to understand that we take our rummy very serious...we even have a trophy that the winner keeps until we get together for another "sanctioned" game. My lovely wife Holly has recently started blogging, you can go here to check out some specifics of our rummy.

So now it's officially the Christmas season...and I love it! Every year I try to really savor every moment of the holiday and not wish it away. I'm not a huge fan of shopping in a crowded mall, but I sure do enjoy it around during Christmas time...even if I am just window shopping. I want to savor all the people that we'll be with...savor all the different celebrations...savor all the times of worship that we'll experience here at our church...and I especially want to savor time with Holly and Bryan.

Make sure you do the same! Savor the Holidays...it's all about Jesus.

T-day is coming

Tomorrow morning we'll pack up the truck and head to the Ville for some Thanksgiving time with my family. It's a long time tradition to have T-Day celebration at my mom's house, we've been doing it for years. Sadly, this is the last one that we will share in her present home. Mom along with my sis and her family have been building a new home and should be moving in sometime soon. So this will be the last T-day at 3816 Baymeadow Dr. (that's kinda sad to think about!)

Here's the low down of the day tomorrow:
-Eat breakfast with Holly's parents in Lexington (Cracker Barrel)
-Go to Louisville
-Catch up with all my uncles, aunts, cousins, etc.
-Eat gobs of food
-Watch some football
-Eat more food
-Play some guitar with uncles and cousins (bluegrass??)
-Eat more food
-Play our annual rummy game (we're playing for the mouse!)
-Eat food while we are playing!
-Go to bed...

Tough day I know...but I'll do my best to survive!

Saturday, Christmas Trees and Ollies

I love Saturdays like today. Holly and I had a breakfast date together at Cracker Barrel, we then traveled over to Winchester to drop off 'da deer' to get him all processed so we could start snacking on him. We got home and decided to put the Christmas tree up and we got an early start. I love Thanksgiving and Christmas...the whole back-to-back holiday celebration is something I have always loved...just some really great family time, reflecting on the past year, etc.

Here in about 30 minutes we are going to watch the Cards play some football...South Florida, at South Florida...it could be really ugly!

By the way our son Bryan has been shredding up the skateboard stuff...notice I'm using some of the hip skateboarding lingo! (I still got it in me!) After he got his cast off several weeks ago, he's been non-stop on his board. Here are a few pics that we took tonight...I love my son...he's pretty awesome.

Successful Hunt

This past Saturday morning, we (my hunting buds) woke up at 5am and got ready for opening day of the modern rifle deer season. Dang, that's early, but it's almost like the night before Christmas as a kid...you can't sleep, it consumes your thoughts, you can't wait until the morning, know what I mean?

I got into my stand about 6:25am, it was dark and very still. I love watching the woods come to life when I go hunting, it's really a spectacular thing. I'd been in the stand for maybe an hour or so and I turned to my left, and I saw this buck heading my way. I've been hunting for almost 10 years now and in all those years I have shot 2 deer. My first deer was a spike buck...little guy, but a buck. Two years ago I got a small nine pointer...a pretty small rack, but hey it's a nine pointer. As I looked through my scope on Saturday I saw that the buck coming my way was a pretty decent size. As this buck was headed my way, I found my heart was pounding something fierce...it was like my heart was in my throat! I pulled the safety off, waited until the deer was in a clearing...and BAM!! The deer was harvested.

**The official term for killing a deer is to "harvest" a deer...I find that funny. Some other alternative terms...to 'bag' a buck, to 'cap' a deer, to 'lay a deer down', to 'smoke' a deer...I think any of those terms are better than 'harvest.'

So it was officially an eight point buck...I'm having him mounted at a local taxidermist (talk about a creepy looking place!)...I ought to have it sometime in January.

We had a great time...I'd call our camping experience "semi-roughing it". As you can see in some of the pics, the old bus we stay in is kinda cozy! We didn't see many more deer after Saturday...deer are smart and know when they are being hunted. So it's kinda like a waiting game...got to be consistent in the hunt! I came home on Tuesday morning, the rest of the guys continued to hunt and my father-in-law called last night and said one of the other guys 'harvested' an eight pointer as well. Until next year!!

to the hunt!

I'm preparing to hit the road this morning and head towards the western part of the state. My first stop will be at Hillvue Heights in Bowling Green. There I'll be hanging out with a dear ole friend Jamie Ward...just spending some time picking his brain a bit. Jamie is on staff there at Hillvue...their church is doing some really innovated ideas to reach people for Christ. I've been looking forward to getting up with him and again, just picking his brain.

Tonight I'll be watching the UL / West Virginia game...ought to be a doozy! It's in Morgantown, so that alone will be tough. The Cards are coming off a bye week, so hopefully they'll be fresh and pumped. After the Cards beat WVA last year, I'm sure they'll be out for some blood.

Friday morning officially begins some off time...more important it's about some serious deer hunting. I'll be with my father-n-law and a handful of other fellas. It's nothing but hunting, eating, playing cards...in that order for about 5-6 days. I hope I can bag a monstrous BUCK. That's always the plan...if I don't see any bucks by Tuesday...look out Bambi!

No blogging will occur until I return...I'll try to take some pics so you can capture the moment with me while sitting in a tree stand.

UnChristian

I'm about middle way through Dan Kinnaman's book unchristian. Dan is the president of The Barna Group, they are the George Gallup in the Church arena. I blogged several weeks ago when this book first hit the shelves...I picked up a copy at the Catalyst Conference in Atlanta. One of the sessions that I attended was Dan and several others who contributed to this book lead a panel discussion about the premise of UnChristian.

The ideal behind the book and research is what a this generation really thinks about Christianity...and let me tell you from what I've read, we better listen up, because we, the church, need to address this in some form or fashion.

Kinnaman has researched and looked at several key words and phrases that people use to describe present-day Christianity. One of those words is HYPOCRITICAL (saying one thing, doing another) Here's a quote that really struck me hard in the "hypocritical" chapter...of the pool of unchristian people polled:

"84% say they personally know at least one committed Christian. Yet just 15% thought the lifestyles of those Christ followers were significantly different from the norm. This gap speaks volumes."

Dang, that hurts!

"I am not trying to hammer born-again believers; it deeply troubles me that our witness - including my own - waters down the image of Jesus."

That perception smacks me upside my head! It challenges me...Jesus sums it all up when it comes to this idea of hypocrisy.

"Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness. You are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are filthy - full of greed and self-indulgence." Matthew 23

I'd encourage anyone who is a follower of Christ to pick this book up and read it...then react.

Good weekend...good friends

This past weekend some very dear friends to my family came up from Chattanooga...Geron, Lydia and Cora. We've known the Browns for about 8 years now...we were all members at FBC together, Lydia played piano...Geron was on staff with us at FBC as an intern (the Intern of all Interns!) Just good ole friends!

We didn't have a real set agenda, just hung out...some good late night conversations, dined at a couple good restaurants (You can't come to Richmond without eating at Casa Cafe'), and played some cards. And not just any card game...I'm talking some 'Hand n Foot' A great game they taught us some time ago...usually we play guys vs gals...they (the gals) KILLED us on Friday night, but we sought our revenge on Saturday night.

Geron and I spent some time tweaking the blog site. He's a computer savvy kind of a guy...so we took some pics...toasted them up on Photoshop, and made some changes. By the way the sunset pic was taken from the front of our house...we've got a great view out here!

We are blessed to have good buds like the Browns...always a good time when we get together...let's get together soon guys!

a new look

going for a new look...i'll share more later

Trunk or Treat

Last night our church hosted a "trunk-n-treat" for kiddos in our community. Bunches and bunches of kids came through...ministerially speaking at least 1200! Kids were racking up on the candy without having to walk fifty miles in the neighborhoods.

Bryan did some trick-or-treating on Tuesday night (that's when us richmond folk celebrate halloween...Oct. 30th...didn't get that decision from our city council) he brought home all kinds of good stuff. I reminisced back to my younger days of hitting the neighborhoods with friends...and then I found this picture...this was so me after a night of trick-or-treating! I was a bit of a neat freak/gotta have order about certain things in life...this was one of them.

Life Lesson from my parents...

Growing up I've had many "life lessons" from my parents...some were learned the easy way, others the hard way.

One lesson I distinctly remember was never to play with matches...this just came through the headlines in the news...I am bummin' for this kid.

Good game on Saturday & random stuff...

-Saturday's UofL game was a good one...they beat Pittsburgh 23-13. Holly and I scored two tickets to the game...drove up Friday night and spent the night with mom. She made some of her famous chili for dinner and then we played some rummy.

-PERFECT football weather on Saturday...kinda cold with a slight breeze every-now-and-then. I LOVE the atmosphere of a college football game...it's kinda hard to describe if you've never been. You just feel so part of the game! We're hoping to go to the Louiville / Rutgers game after Thanksgiving.

-Friday morning myself and four other buddies went to Old Silo to play some golf. What a great time we had...started off with some breakfast at good ole Cracker Barrel. Old Silo is a tough course, last time I played it...it ate my lunch. On Friday, it ate my lunch and dinner!

-However, the highlight of the day was playing with a good friend who just got back from Iraq. I cannot imagine being gone from my family for 15 months and then to come home and pick things up where you left. Believe me the golf was secondary...it was just good to have our friend Marty home...back in the US and safe. Thanks Marty for serving the way you did! Let's play some more golf soon...on second thought...how about Frisbee golf instead?

-The hunting season is just around the corner...and I am getting stoked! Six days of being in the woods...hunting all day, eating and playing cards at night. Not a bad way to spend a week! I've been getting myself pumped up by watching some of my hunting DVD's. These things crack me up, but they do get me stoked! I'll make sure and take some pics while in the tree stand, so you can feel excited.

Be prayer warriors for us...

Some exciting news within the Prosser household...for sometime now we have talked and prayed about adoption. We have talked and waited for the right timing...we knew that we wanted to wait until Bryan was 100% healthy...and now that he is, we are ready to TAKE THE LEAP OF FAITH!

Tonight Holly and I had a meeting with an adoption agency in Danville, we wanted to sit and talk out some questions...and hear some wisdom. So now we are taking the first steps into the world of adoption. We are excited and stoked about what lies ahead...so I wanted to ask that you pray along with us in that everything will begin to come to fruition.

Fair Catch!!

fair catch:
when a kick returner decides only to catch a punt or kickoff and not advance it, protecting himself from being hit by an opponent; he signals for a fair catch by raising one hand in the air and waving it.

If you watched the Louisville / UCONN game on Friday night, you saw TWO HORRIBLE blown calls by the referees. One of those calls was where UL was kicking off to UCONN...the receiver CLEARLY calls for a fair catch...the Louisville defense eases up because of the fair catch, but the receiver begins to run down the sideline all the way in for a touchdown.

For some reason the play could not be reviewed, because fair catches can't be reviewed...that's STUPID...anyhow, the Cards lost another tough game. That makes them 4-4 with a huge game against Pittsburgh next Saturday.

Ughhhhhh....I love college football, but I can't stand a blatant lousy call...oh well Go Cards...I'm still loyal!

random-ness

-Crazy weather here...it's mid-October and it's been like 80 degrees. I'm a 'summer time' guy, but this is ridiculous...I'm even ready for some cooler weather.

-Bryan got his cast off this past Monday. His arm didn't look all that bad after being wrapped up for almost five weeks. The doc said he still needs to take it easy on any heavy activity for at least three more weeks.

-What is going on in the world of college football?? Everyone is getting beat! Anybody see South Florida get knocked off by Rutgers? This gives my Cards a chance at the Big East title...if they win out from here.

-This Sunday I'll be leading our college Bible study. In my new role, this ministry is one of my new responsibilities...and I'm really stoked about teaching again. We've taken a different approach to trying to meet our college students needs. We encourage them to sleep in on Sunday's...come to our 11am worship...following that we have lunch and a time of bible study with them. So not a bad deal!

-I'm still 'transitioning' into my new role at FBC...still working behind-the-scenes with our youth ministry. We've got a youth interim, whose doing an outstanding job, while our search team had been looking. Keep on praying for our search team...they've received about 100 resumes so far! But I'm really enjoying a wide variety of areas of ministry in this new role...I'm definitely being stretched spiritually.

-Been reading some really good books lately...I'll blog about one in particular sometime soon. It's pretty eye opening for anyone who is a follower of Christ. The book is called "UnChristian"...I just started it, so I'll share some thoughts about it soon.

-It's been a long, but good week. I'm really looking forward to the weekend. Tomorrow (my day off) will consist of the following:
*Coffee and newspaper at Starbucks (after dropping Bryan off at school)
*Driving range...gotta work on the short game a bit (if it doesn't rain)
*Work in the yard...planting some grass seed! (if it doesn't rain!)
*Play some guitar hero with B
*Watch the Cards vs UCONN at 8pm (espn!)

Top five list...

Last week as Bryan I were driving home from somewhere...he asked me, "Alright dad...what's your top five favorite songs of all time, in no particular order" (he actually said that too!) So after much thought we both shared our songs and who performed them. Here's my top five (in no particular order!)

1. "Don't You Forget About Me" by Simple Minds (This is song came out in 80's...it was featured in the movie "The Breakfast Club." The song just takes me back to highschool.)

2. "Where the Streets Have No Name" by U2 (I'm a huge fan...incredible experience to see them perform this live back in 1987 at Rupp...gives you goose bumps. And...I remember some great memories back in the college days, of my good buddy Alan Creech and I traveling on Old Richmond Road cranking this song up as loud as his stereo could handle...I think that was in the blue Honda Accord?? is that right Alan??)

3. "In Your Eyes" by Peter Gabriel (again, featured in the movie with John Cusack, Say Anything"...remember him holding up the 'jam box' over his head in front of the girls house??)

4. "Jesus Freak" by dcTalk (just a stinking rockin' song that spells it out)

5. "Sweet Home Alabama" by Skinny Lynrd, I mean Lynyrd Skynyrd (in my book one of the best 'crank it up loud while you are driving' songs EVER!)

Okay what are your top five favorite songs of ALL times? Share them with everyone...and remember, in no particular order (my son cracks me up!)

Wowed by Catalyst

Wow...I mean WOW! What a conference last week in Atlanta...it was the Catalyst Conference and by far one of the best that I've ever attended. I was moved, refueled, motivated, refreshed, excited, enthused, stirred, inspired…etc. You get the idea!

Many different speakers / teachers that came from all kinds of backgrounds led the different sessions. Of course each session began with some really incredible worship music…it was like being at a rock show, yet the focus was totally on God and praising His name. Talk about some great worship leaders…Steve Fee was pretty phenomenal!

My favorite session / speaker?? It would be a tie between Andy Stanley and Craig Groeschel, both pastors in very large churches, but I couldn’t write fast enough in taking notes…just good practical stuff! I’m going to try and persuade the rest of our staff here at FBC to go next year (Oct. 8-10)…a very moving conference.

Holly and Bryan drove down Thursday night and following the conference on Friday we spent the rest of the weekend seeing the sights and sounds of Atlanta. We did the Georgia Aquarium, the Coke Factory, CNN center, ate at some really good restaurants…just some great family time! We got home yesterday afternoon after a quick stop in Chattanooga to visit our buds the Brown family.

As always it was good to come home…after a week of Atlanta traffic…coming home to Richmond was like coming home to Mayberry!

Catalyst 2007

This Tuesday afternoon I'm hopping on a plane headed to Atlanta for the Catalyst Conference 2007. It's what they title, a "next generation" leadership conference and I've been really looking forward to this for some time.

There will be some great speakers and general sessions to attend...you can go here to check that part out. They offer a variety of workshops to attend as well...the one that I'm going to is being led my Mark Batterson...I read his book, "In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day" back in April...a really good read focusing on one verse taken from 1 Samuel.

Again, there's a host of other speakes that I'm really looking forward to hearing...I think I'm just looking forward to some spiritual renewal...I need that, more than often and sometimes just getting away and out of a routine helps with that "freshness"...and not having any responsibility other than just listening...oooh that sounds real nice!

CSI is back!

Whewww...after a long summer break from CSI's, it's back! Officially it was back on Monday with CSI:Miami.

You have to understand, I'm a CSI junkie...I don't have a lot of shows that I follow, I mean really follow...I am a fan of all three of them. I blogged about this sometime ago, but all three are so alike in some ways and then really diverse. They all have a “lead” man…Grissom, Mac and Horatio…of course they are investigating ‘crime’ (duh, that’s the idea!)

Monday night kicked off the new season with Miami…got to say, not my favorite…kinda thought it STUNK! Last night was New York…HOME RUN show…really done well and they even added a little something extra that could play out the entire season.

Tonight it the original CSI…Vegas. They left a huge cliffhanger for you to ponder on throughout the summer…and that will come to a close tonight. So we’ll see if they can top New York.

Of the three lead men…I’m a Mac Taylor fan. I’ve always been a fan of Gary Sinise…you know Lt. Dan from Forrest Gump??

Sign spinners

Have you seen these guys? Usually out on the corner somewhere of some busy thoroughfare...of course holding a "sign" advertising a business (fast-food, car dealerships, etc.)

We've got a spinner not to far down from the church who advertises for Little Caesars...and this guy is pretty good. He always has his ipod in his ears, a good pair of gloves (the look like winter ones) and of course his sign. He dances as he flips the sign and it's really a sight to see...and I think it definitely draws attention...and the guy looks like he's having fun!

I wonder if we need to have someone advertising like that in front of the church...it would definitely be innovative. Can you picture a group of deacons in shorts and tee shirts, with winter gloves on, with ipods in their ears out spinning a sign, promoting the church? I can see it!