New Year’s Resolution - Read the Whole Bible

If you are looking for a great New Year's resolution - try reading the entire Bible cover to cover...including Numbers! Here's a great Bible I currently use on my iPhone and computer for journaling.

New Year's Resolution - Read the Whole Bible!

As we begin 2009, there's no better time to get a fresh perspective and realign our priorities. For many of us, that includes finding new ways to integrate the Bible into our daily lives. YouVersion is here to help!

Our One-Year Reading Plan will take you through the entire Bible in 2009—just read the selections mapped out for you each day and you'll cover the Old Testament once and the New Testament twice this year. Invite friends to join you in this journey and you'll have built-in accountability along with enhanced learning.

Truck stop bathroom game, my 4 year old wants to know how to play it

How would you explain it?

My parents fighting over Boggle words

Can life get any better for our kids?

McDonald's lunch, with ice cream, AND and indoor playland!

Worship at Waukesha Bible Church

My parents' church in Wisconsin. Caleb Widmer does a good job of
leading in worship.

Dad enjoying his chocolate chip bagel, NOT

This was right after he told mom never to get these again. He just
offered mom breakfast in bed for the next month. Wow, Dad! That was
nice of you!

Christmas dinner at the Nelson's

Ping pong fun in the basement

Girls getting rebates on the computer

And a little computer tutoring, too.

Christmas snowman in Wisconsin

With a REAL carrot.

Tons of snow here

We made it at 6:37am.

Freezing my tush off

While I fueled up.

Too many choices - what would you choose?

Stopped and got gas on the other side of Kansas City for $1.39. But
the snack choice insidr was UNREAL.

Trek to WI begins with McD'a

Christmas Eve Church at the Pub

What do you think? I wonder where Jesus would be on Christmas Eve if he was born and 20 years old. Just something to think about.

clipped from news.bbc.co.uk Christmas spirit for pub church Carols will be sung and a prayers said in the pub A Perth church is breaking with tradition by holding a Christmas service in the pub next door. The church wants to reach out to those who do not usually attend services and the pub owners hope to remind customers of the true meaning of Christmas. "If ever there was good time for the church to leave the security of ancient buildings in order to lead worship beyond our walls, it is during the festive season. "The majority of people do celebrate Christmas but have forgotten what it is all about."

Thou shalt not covet

Holiday Sardine: I just invited 1,200 people to TBC

That's right. I just sent out 1,200 emails to people (individually) inviting them to TBC's Christmas Eve services. Get ready to be a holiday sardine!

Hank shows his guns off

USA Today publishes article on a decade of church diversity and informality

How does your church compare with the results of this research? Do you find it's true?

clipped from www.usatoday.com Churches in USA more diverse, informal than a decade ago Worship services may still be the USA's most segregated hour, but fewer congregations are now completely white, finds a study comparing churches, synagogues and mosques last year with a decade ago. Worship is not only more diverse, it's also "more informal and more enthusiastic by every measure," Chaves says, with more shouting, clapping and hands raised overhead in praise. Use of drums in worship jumped 70% in eight years, from 20% in 1998 to 34% in 2006-07. "We find drums almost everywhere, even in Catholic and Jewish services," he says. The study also found that both clergy and their congregations are substantially grayer now than in 1998. The average age of the lead clergy person in congregations has risen from 48 to 53, and one in three members are over age 60, up from one in four. This is partly the result of people living longer and fewer young families joining congregations.

Elton John glasses

Kayla loved getting these dollar general glasses from grandma and
grandpa.

Family at KU game

Thank you for the comp tickets! Kids were in AWE!

Jukebox fun with the kids

Love this McDonald's!

Light show interior staging teardown

Organizing stuff on the gym floor.

Naked TBC building

It's hard to believe that less than 24 hours ago, the Mulvane building
was wired for a light show - but now it is bare again.

Exterior light show teardown almost complete

Grid is the last to go into storage.

World's biggest light show knot

Funny. It was easier going up.

Light show freeeeeeze

The light show frozen chosen

Our parking lot hospitality team for Sunday evening - it's COLD
tonight. This is a before picture...don't they look happy?!

Picking our noses backstage

Joel is one of the best pickers I know.

Kids choir leads worship

What a great smiley bunch of kids!

Light show production room

The monkey team.

Buses come to light show

Yes, there were two buses that came to the light show last night. Now all they need is a theater sound system in that puppy.

Budget meeting this morning

Exciting! Patty's into it.

WIBW Topeka light show video

Check out their online video and article on Topeka's light show.

Topeka light show picture from Friday night

Here's a picture from Friday night's light show. The two angels on the roof are 12 feet tall!

If you missed it, come Saturday and Sunday night @ 6:00, 6:45, 7:30, 8:15, and 9:00. Tonight we had about 1,000 people if you average 2 people per vehicle. And two buses!

Photo by Bob Keys. Click on the photo for a larger version.

Light show on the Jim Cates show

And here's Jim doing his thing.

Gotta ask me in person what these do in the light show

Topeka Kansas Light Show Hits the Media

Check out the online article at Topeka Capital-Journal here. Also, on Friday morning I'll have a radio interview on the Jim Cates show.

Tim Gets Arrested

After our dry run light show, we had some fun. We put hospitality/parking people in the windows and allowed the musicians to view the show from the parking lot. What a show it was!

Local police stopped by to check on everything, so they graciously (maybe reluctantly) agreed to stage a quick photo opportunity for bad boy Tim Halfarty.

Topeka Light Show Dry Run

Here's a shot from tonight's dry run light show at 11th and Mulvane. Click to enlarge.

I'm jealous of Scott's white elephant gift

Is it the sweater or the helmet?!?!

TBC Christmas Staff Party

The white elephant exchange!

Would you want this job?

Danger everyday!

Power on the roof, baby!

Here's a picture Evan Bounous took tonight from the roof of the light show. We were troubleshooting the last of the lights. We are almost there.

All the yellow cables are main power cables (12 gauge) and the orange are channel cables. We are running about 200 channels. Over 2 miles of extension cables. Maybe we are approaching 3 miles.

Lights juiced up

Just in time for the holidays!

It's alive!

These are 3 of our 12 control boxes. Lots of cables!

Light show army

Nothing would happen without each one of these people!! These are the
the interior warriors!!

Are you in the doghouse?

I couldn't resist. This is funny.

Power hungry squirrels

Something chewed through our Christmas lights! What's up with that?!
I thought someone cut them, but I saw two little buck teeth marks
right next to the cut mark. Shocking experience!

So here's my repair job.