A Few Random Thoughts...

Last week I had the great pivelege of speaking at the middle school retreat for Trinity Christian School at Berry College. The day that I spoke, I drove up early to Rome and spent most of the day visiting old friends and checking out some old sights. About mid day, I went over to the Berry campus to take in the sights. If you have never been to Berry College, then you have missed a glimpse into the beauty of God's creation. I drove to the mountain campus and took a little run on some trails--it was amazing--the trees were turning colors, there were deer all around and it was just breath-taking. As I stood in AWE of God's Creation and majesty, I couldn't help but a recent quote that blows me away. Before I drop the quote (or my paraphrase of it) on you, take a moment to think back to the prettiest place you have ever been--now that you've got that place in mind, think about this thought and I pray it blows you away:

"If God allows evil men who could care less about Him to take in and experience this (His Beautiful creation), then what must He have in store for those who love Him."


In addition to that thought, here are a few verses that have encouraged me lately:

Romans 15:13 "May the God of Hope fill you with Joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with Hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

1 Corinthians 1:9 "GOD, who has called you into fellowship with His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, IS FAITHFUL."

1 Corinthians 1:30 "It is because of HIM that you are in Christ Jesus."

22 Weeks

Just wanted to post a pic of my beautiful wife at 22 weeks...Look how sweet and precious her little belly, which holds our sweet little girl, is!!!

It's a GIRL!!!

It's official, the Hicks family is having another princess!!! We found out last Thursday in an unusual and awesome way. Here's the scoop:

Last Wednesday Heidi went in for the sonogram to find out the sex of our baby. I was away at a conference so I couldn't go with her to find out what we are having. We wanted to share this moment together so Heidi told the doctor not to tell her what the sex of the baby was. Instead, she had the doctor write the sex of the baby on the sonogram and put it in an sealed envelope. Heidi then took the envelope to a friends house to hold until I came home the next evening.

The next evening when I came home from the conference, our friend, Shareen came over to give us the good news and here is what she did to make it special. She decorated our kitchen with a few surprises seen below. It included pink and blue balloons, a cake with pink and blue decorations, an envelope that read 'open first' and a bag with a note that read 'open after opening the envelope.
We opened the envelope and found the note pictured below...
...And here is what we saw when we cut the cake!!! The funny thing is that when I cut the cake open, I didn't know what to expect--I was thinking that there was going to be a note or picture and I was totally oblivious to the fact that the inside of the cake was PINK--But Heidi noticed and shared the good (Great) news with me!!!
We are so thankful for our friends the Bender's for making finding out the sex of our baby an amazing experience!!! And we are so thankful to God for our little princess!!! Now we just need a little help coming up with our new little girls' name...any thoughts...

When in Rome...

This past week on of Heidi's best friends has a sweet little baby girl. Little Audrey Turner is pictured here. How stinking cute is this little girl!!! We are so excited for Jason and Rachel and their new addition.

While Heidi was in Rome, I kept thinking to myself that I wish she would go to our favorite eating establishment (Duffy's Deli) and get me some chicken salad. If you have never had a chicken salad sandwich with cashews on a croissant (grilled) from Duffy's deli, then you have missed out--it is absolutely my favorite sandwich in the world. I didn't ask her to stop and get me some because I knew that her visit to Rome was going to be extremely short and I knew she needed to spend as much time with Rachel as she could. Well, my wife is the best in the world. When I got home from work the day that she got back, I looked in the fridge and there it was--Not one, but two containers full of the world's best chicken salad with cashews! My wife, because she loves me (and because the chicken salad is just that good) made a special stop to get me some of this goodness. Thank you Heidita for being so thoughtful--you rock. So when in Rome, go to Duffy's Deli and get some chicken salad--preferably with cashews on a croissant (grilled) and you must put some of their mixed up seasoning on it. The mixed up seasoning is so good, we bought a few cans from them on a visit there a year or two ago!!!

Spicy Chicken Sandwich...get in my belly...

About six weeks ago I was introduced to a whole lot of goodness--that's right, a Spicy Chicken sandwich from Chick-fil-a! One of my friends went to Maryland and apparently up north they have these sandwiches that are made straight from God's kitchen. He brought me one home and it has changed my life. After eating this goodness, I started asking my friends at the local Chick-fil-a about why we didn't have them here in the deep south--where everything is suppose to be hot and spicy. I was told--by an insider--that they are coming soon!!! I think he either said March or May of next year. In the meantime, I found a great way to satisfy my cravings. My brother-n-law works for Chick-fil-a corporate and they serve them from time to time there. He has orders from me that every time they serve them, he is to snag me some spicy chicken goodness for me. Maybe I'll share my next one with you--well, maybe not but the good news is that this goodness should be coming to a store near you soon (sooner than later)!!!

Random Thoughts...

We've been busy but that doesn't mean that my mind hasn't been racing. By that I mean I have had a bunch of things that I could have blogged about, but didn't have time. So I thought I would just dump some thoughts out into blog world and let you add the commentary, so here are my random thoughts:

Big news:
In case you haven't heard, we are expecting another bambino!!! Heidi is 16 weeks pregnant with number 3--she said she is done after this. I think we will adopt a few more though!!!

Favorite conversation:
Yesterday while taking Isabel & Carson to pre-school and in the midst of all this flooding in the past few days, Isa asked me this question: "Daddy, how come we are having floods? I thought God promised Noah that He would never flood the earth again." How cute and insightful is that. I am so thankful for Heidi and our church doing a great job of teaching our kids the things of God!!!

Bible verses that I have been meditating on that have rocked my face off:

Romans 4:18 "Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed..."

James 4:8 "Come near to God and He will come near to you."

Favorite quote that I've heard recently:
"Truth and time walk hand in hand together."

Current Book that I've been reading that I think is good:
"I Sold my Soul on Ebay," by Hemant Mehta--He is an atheist but as you read this book, you can see that he is really searching.

The thing that has shocked me the most in the past few weeks:
College football--both my teams, UGA & FSU have had a interesting last three weeks.

Favorite song lyrics that I'm listening to (This one is kindof odd. I dug into my old CD stash--yes, I said CD's and found one of my favorite Caedmon Call's CD. There is a song on the "Share the Well" album called "Did not catch her name" and I am addicted to the following lines:)

And she bragged about her boys
And how they're growing into men
And how the learned to praise the Lord
Old style Ecuadorian
But to buy the new guitar
We had to sell the swine
See my boys go to school on a foreign angel's dime

This world calls me poor
I bore my babies on this floor
But He always provides
Sure as the sun will rise
So I sing Him lyrics of praise
'Cause I know He keeps me in His gaze

Rain fell from the sky
We raced back to the van
Tears in the eyes
Of this poor forgetful man
Mother of eight sons
She knows the peace of God
Lord, help me learn to lean on
Thy staff and Thy rod

Jesus is all I need
Jesus is all I need
Jesus is all I need

Favorite Podcast (This has been my favorite for a while):
Matt Chandler from the Village Church in Texas.

Thing that excites me:
Next Wednesday (Sept. 30th), we will find out the sex of our new baby!!!

5 Years old...

5 Years ago on Sept. 13th, our life changed forever in a great way. Kirsten Isabel Hicks was born. It's crazy that it has been five years. We have shared so many wonderful memories with our little princess--that is exactly what she is! So, to you, our little girl who is growing up way to fast, your mommy and daddy say this: we are so thankful for you, we LOVE you and we wish you a Happy Birthday!

For her birthday, we had her party at Jump 2 It--a place that you all should go if you haven't ever been--It's amazing and they even let the parents play!!! Here's the pics of our little girl along with her friends celebrating her 5th b-day!!!

Wake Up Call...

Here is a couple of videos to show what I do in my spare time...

To welcome the new members of our small group, some of my veterans of my small group and I did a little wake up call.

Hello Danny Kilgore..


My Boy Luke Turley

The Shema

What would you say is the most important thing about you and I? Many might say that it’s our money, our status, our friends, but a guy named A.W. Tozer says that the most important thing about you and I is “what comes to mind when we think about God.” The reason for this is because how you view something determines how you respond to it. Think about it—if you think of someone in negative terms, you will most likely not want anything to do with them. The same can be said about our relationship with God. What we think about God can either cause us to run to Him or run from Him. Knowing this helps us as we attempt to minister to others. To maximize our impact, we need to think about how others view God and then think of ways in which we can help correct their vision and belief toward God. With that thought in mind, I offer to you some insights about the culture of our students.

A few weeks ago I had the privilege to sit in a conference type setting that dealt with youth ministry and culture. The topic at hand was the culture in which our students live in and the culture that they have helped formed. As a class, we came to the realization that students (and a lot of others) are deists—which means that they affirm that there is a God, but they hold the view that this God is distance. They believe that this God set the world in motion and then took a step back and now allows us to do our own thing. He is not involved with our day to day lives and He is therefore irrelevant.

If you were to observe students for a short period of time, you can see how this mindset radically shapes their lives. As a student worker, I often wonder, why don’t students live for God, follow Him in the obedience that He desires or why don’t they engage with Him in worship. As I thought about this deist approach to life, the answer to my questions became clearer. If a student thinks that God is distance and is not concerned with the day in and day out aspects of their lives, then why would they live for Him, why would they give Him their obedience, why would they worship Him.

I can see how this inaccurate view of God is shaping and destroying the culture in which we and our students live. With this is mind, two questions come to mind: How did we get to this point and what can we do about it? I believe that the answer to both questions can be found in the same place; The Shema.
Deuteronomy 6:4-9 is known as the Shema, which is Hebrew for ‘Hear.” Listen to the words of this passage:

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all of your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”

The context of this passage is this: Moses is addressing the Israelites and he is reminding them of the great things God done in their past. He then through the Shema unveils God’s plan for His name to be passed on from generations to generations. God’s intentions are for His people to encounter the goodness and reality of God and then share those “God Stories” with others. It’s in these sharing of our “God Stories” that others will come to see that God is not distant, rather He desires to be intimately connected to us.

The question mentioned above was how did we get to the point where many view God as distance and therefore irrelevant. In my opinion, we have gotten to this point because we have forgotten the words and the instructions of the Shema. We have either stopped loving the Lord with all that we have and therefore have no “God stories” to tell or we have just forgotten the responsibility of passing on those “God stories” to the world in which we live. Psalms 145:4 says that “One generation will commend God’s works to another, they will tell of His mighty acts.” Part of God’s plan for the world to know the goodness and reality of this God who desires to be close to us is through His followers proclaiming to one another who God is and what He is like through the sharing of their “God stories.”

In the Shema, we are called to impress the reality and goodness of God into the hearts of our children. We are told to talk about them when we sit at home (which implies that families need time at home together), when you walk along the road, when you lie down and get up. What I love about the ideas mentioned above is that nowhere did it say that we have to call an official Bible study time around the dinner table (although I think t might be implied and is a great idea for families), but it did remind us that we are to take time to share with our families when we are doing everyday things. For example, what do you think it would do for your families attitude and thinking about God if every time you got into your family car, you shared how God provided the resources that were needed to purchase that car. What do you think would be the result if you shared while grocery shopping with your family how God had answered a specific prayer that you had been praying? I believe that if we will be deliberate about sharing our “God stories” with our families and our students, we can reshape their thoughts and attitude toward God. We have a part in helping this generation and the next generation to see and respond to God in the way in which He desires.

The most important thing about us is how we view God. The culture that our students find themselves in view God as distant and therefore irrelevant. God reminds us that we have a part to play in reshaping the way they view Him. Will you love the Lord your God with everything you have and when you encounter His greatness, will you share His reality and goodness with the world? In doing so, we have the great opportunity and responsibility to help others see God righty and respond to Him rightly.

Daraja African Children's Choir

This past weekend, our church hosted the Daraja African Children's Choir. They are part of a ministry called the 410 bridge. Their mission is to bridge (Daraja is swahili for bridge) our hearts to God and bridge the country of Kenya (where they are from) to the rest of the world. To read more about the 410 bridge and the Daraja African Choir, click here.

We had the special privilege of having four of the members of the choir spend the weekend in our house. It was a great experience and my eyes were opened at the things that we take for granted. We had three little guys--all of which were either in the 6th or 7th grade--and they loved to play with Carson's and Isa's toys--by that I mean, they didn't care if it was a barbie doll or a Thomas the train (or our bicycle's), they were just excited to have toys to play with.

One of the nights that they stayed with us, I was talking with on of their leaders, whom also stayed with us (My boy Kabu) and I was asking him about the ministry. He said that part of the ministry was to help raise support for the kids. The cost os $39 a month for each kids education and $39 a month for each kids basic needs (food, water, clothing, etc.) I asked if all the kids in the choir had been supported and he said yes. He said that earlier in the tour, they visited a church in west Cobb county and at that time, only six kids had sponsors. He then told me that after the concert at that church, the pastor stood up and challenged his people to support the kids. Kabu said that by the time they left the church, everyone of the non-sponsored choir members (17 kids did not have sponsors) had all of their sponsorship needs met. As I heard this story (I was pumped for the kids) I couldn't help but wonder what church from west Cobb county stepped up and helped these kids out. When I asked him, he said it was West Cobb Baptist Church. I was shocked it a great way. The reason why is when I was freshman in college, I met a guy named Chad Cannon who lived near me and he invited me and all of my high school buddies to visit his church--West Cobb Baptist church--Long story short is that I got hooked to West Cobb Baptist church and their pastor (Scott Beasley--who is now at another church)and it was because of these influences in my life that I gave my life to Christ. My life has been forever changed because of the influence of West Cobb Baptist Church and here are my new found friends--the Daraja Children's Choir--who have come to the states from half way around the world and their life has also been forever changed because of the people of West Cobb Baptist Church. I just thought that was smokin awesome.


From left to right: Dickson, Anthony (in the back-middle), Kabu (in the front-middle) and Kevin.

Here is the Daraja African Children's Choir leading worship at BigStuf. These guys are pretty famous. The first time I saw them they were performing in front of 13,000 people at last years Catalyst conference.

Isa's first fish...

Our neighborhood has a lake on it's property and this past week, we scored big with the fish. Maybe not big as far as catching big fish--rather we caught some big memories...

Here is Isa with her very first fish...she really did catch her--with her daddy's help.

I was so proud of her for actually wanting to touch the fish...Carson didn't share he same enthusiasm as her--especially after they watched one fish poop on daddy's hand!

This picture is just so you can wrap your mind around just how enormous our fish were...

Grand Opening at Crossroads...

The following article about our church was on the front page of the Religion section of the Saturday edition of the Times-Herald.

"For greater things have yet to come, And greater things are still to be done in this city."

Those words from the song, "God of this City," by Christian recording artist Chris Tomlin reflects what is happening at Crossroads Church. The fast-growing east Coweta congregation has moved to its new campus -- on Highway 16 near its intersection with Poplar Road. This weekend marks the Grand Opening for the new campus.
Services are set for 7 p.m. today and for 9:15 and 11 a.m. Sunday.

The 130-acre tract where the soaring, modern styled church building is located was just a piece of ground not long ago. Now, rising on the hill at the end of a winding four-lane drive is a testimony of God's faithfulness to the body of believers who call themselves Crossroads Church.

Members say the building offers Crossroads the opportunity to touch more lives of those who are un-churched here in Coweta County -- and to offer a spiritual home to those new to the county who are looking for a church.Statistics indicate Coweta County is the ninth fastest growing county in Georgia and the 26th fastest in the country. In the year 2000, there were a little over 89,000 people living in Coweta County. The most recent population count is just shy of 123,000 people -- a 38 percent increase. The rapid population growth spurred the members of Crossroads expanded facilities in order to minister to a growing Coweta County.

The new worship center that can seat 1,400 people. It has six theatres and a nursery hall with nine rooms on the lower level for children. Along with the worship center and the children's level, the building contains a full service coffee shop. The Bean and Build Coffee Shop was named after the church's vision statement to "Be and Build Disciples of Christ."

The coffee shop was opened to provide a "third place" for members, attendees and guests to enjoy a cup of coffee or a fruit smoothie before or after a weekend service. Their future plans are to open the "Bean" for local middle school and high school students after games on Friday nights -- as well as functions the church offers throughout the week.

Yet to open in the facility is the Connections Bookstore, where people will be able to pick up the latest best-selling Christian fiction or one of the many discipleship books written by Crossroads' lead pastor, Ken Adams. Gift items, such as note cards and T-shirts are available now, along with sermon DVD's.

Crossroads started as a church plant by Palmetto Baptist Church in March 1989 with 68 people in attendance at their first service. Adams was called as pastor the church in June 1989. Since that time, attendance has grown to almost 3,000.

The congregation's first service was held at White Oak Elementary School. After out-growing that location, the church met at East Coweta High School. Then, in 1991 they stepped out in faith and purchased 20 acres on Highway 154.

The consistent growth of the church and wide-spread use of their existing property for activities -- varying from middle school events that have been attended by as many as 900 to county-wide baseball and basketball leagues to three weekend services -- led the congregation to purchase the property on Highway 16 in 2006.

"Expanding 4 His Glory" was adopted as a motto during the construction of the new building. Crossroads is a casual church, known as a "come-as-you-are" place to worship and fellowship. Worship music, sung and played by gifted musicians, is a big part of who the congregation is.

The culture Crossroads' leaders and members have set out to achieve with their new building is for Crossroads to become that "third place" -- neither home nor work but the place where people are drawn when work is done and the demands of home are finished. Crossroads new location poises the church as a place where people can come to socialize, have a cup of coffee and meet for small groups, Bible study and discipleship groups. Future plans call for a walking path and fitness area.
While the building offers a place for people who want to worship God -- or want to know more about Him, it is the people who make Crossroads what it is and who will help it fulfill its future potential. "We believe buildings are simply tools to help the church fulfill the Great Commandment and Great Commission," Adams said.
"Our goal was to build a facility," he said, "that exists to bring God glory."


This past week our church took part in our annual week or prayer. During the Wednesday PM edition of the week of prayer, we gathered around the building to pray for our church--here is a aerial picture of that expression of prayer.

You Can't Make this Stuff Up...

Before you read the following God encounter, please know that we prayerfully considered posting this entry—or at least this entry in its entirety. The reason for our hesitation is because we didn’t want people to praise us or anything that we did—rather we wanted to praise God and give Him the glory that is due Him after blessing us through the details in this encounter.

*God has shown me over the past few years that He blesses us in crazy ways because He desires for us to share the goodness of God with others so they will know just how good and real our Heavenly Father is—the following entry demonstrates the reality of God and His goodness—no, no, His Greatness!

As Heidi and I have thought about the future and our desire to have more children, we came to the conclusion that we would need a bigger car if we had more children. We also knew that we couldn’t afford a bigger car, so we started praying that God would give us a van about three months ago.

About six weeks ago, we felt like God was asking us to give away one of our cars. When we felt the call, we were excited—part of the reason for the excitement was that Heidi’s parents have given away a few cars in the past and we specifically remembered story after story from Heidi’s parents about how awesome it is to give a car away when God calls you to do so—with that in mind and the call from God, we decided to follow through. The only question now was, ‘who do we give it to?’

We started to pray for God to lead us to the right person to give it to. One day while praying, God laid a name on my heart. I told Heidi what was on my heart and she said that that was the same person she was thinking about as well. We talked with someone who was good friends with this person to find out whether or not they had a car (without letting them know what we were thinking) and that person told us that the person did have a car but it wasn’t reliable. We didn’t want to make this person feel awkward and we wanted to be sure that person was indeed the one that God wanted to have the car, so we started to pray an unusual prayer. We prayed that God would allow their car to break down as a sign—yes, I know it’s a weird prayer to pray—but we wanted to be sure.

A few weeks later we still hadn’t had confirmation about giving the car away to the person who was on our heart, so we spent a good bit of time in prayer praying that God would not see our inactivity as a lack of faith or trust in Him—rather, we were waiting on Him to make things clear. The next day as we were about to leave for a trip, we got word that the person who we had been praying for car’s broke down. This was the confirmation that we needed and we arranged to have the car delivered to the person God had led us to.

The person who delivered the car called us later that day and said that the recipient of the car was in awe of what God had done. Apparently their car had been messing up a lot lately and they knew that they didn’t have the money to buy another car so they began praying that God would lay it on someone’s heart to give them a car! God had heard all of our prayers. (By the way, we later apologized for praying that their car would break down!)

A few days later, as we were coming home from our trip, we got a phone call from a family member. Apparently God laid on it on their heart a few weeks back to buy an older van from another family member to away give to someone. Long story short, they never bought the van because they waiting to see who God wanted them to give it to. The day before we received the call, God told them to buy the van and give it to us! They were now calling to tell us that they were going to deliver it to our house the next day! They said that they didn’t even know if we needed another car and even apologized because it was a van—little did they know we had been praying specifically for a van for the past three months!!!

And here's a glimpse of the van God gave to us:

As I think about this God story/ encounter, I want to highlight a few things that have rocked our world as we think about what God did—and can do.

There were at least four specific prayer requests that were answered:

1. God answered our prayer about who should we give the car to.
2. The person who God directed us to give the car to had their prayers were answered by God through directing us to give them the car.
3. The family member who God led to buy us the van had their prayers answered about who they should buy the van for.
4. Our prayers were answered as we got the grocery getter—I mean, the van!!!

Here are some other observations that I have made from this God Encounter:

1. When we gave away the car, we were all set to be a one car family for a while, but in God’s perfect timing, we never spent one entire day as a one car family. We gave away the car on Wednesday—the same day went out of town—we came back on Saturday and Sunday, we had the van we had prayed so hard for—Yeah God.
2. We had just put new tires on the car that we gave away a few months ago—the van that God gave us had just had new tires put on it—That’s pretty sweet.
3. Over the years, Heidi’s parents (some of the most generous and Godly people I know) have always taken time to share with us what God is up to in their lives and how He has done some amazing things in their lives when they follow Him (Like when they follow Him when He asks them to give away a car)—so when God called us to trust Him and give away our car, the choice to follow God with this plan was relatively easy because we had had a front row seat to see God at work in Heidi’s parents lives. It’s as if watching how God worked in their lives when they followed Him made it easier for us to follow Him when He asked us to do something wild. As I stated at the beginning of this blog, I think part of the reason God does cool things like this in our lives is so we will share His greatness with the world around us—part of the reason for this, I believe, is so you will see how awesome He is and so you will be ready to follow Him when He calls you to follow. (So, thank you Wesley and Terri— for always taking time to share your God stories with us!)

*I hope after hearing this God story/encounter, you will be ready to follow Him in whatever He is asking you to do today!

Only God can pull this type of stuff off, I mean, you really can’t make this type of stuff up. I hope that you see just how awesome God really is and how much He wants to be a part of our lives. We love you God and we love YOU—Not for all the things you do for us or for the stuff you give us, but simply for who you are!

Duck, Duck, Goose...

'Aunt' Pam from Athens came to visit last week and we took this opportunity to hang out with her while feeding some ducks and geese at the park in Peachtree City--the best park ever--right behind the library next to the lake.
Here we are with our bag of bread getting attacked by some crazy geese. I got to play the protective father--by that I mean that on several occasions the geese would get a little too close and aggressive with Carson and Isa and I would have to punch a goose in the throat--I literally did punch a goose--Before you call the animal cops on me, just stop and ask yourself what you would do if some bread loving goose tries to attack your kid.

Carson "Tiger" Hicks

Two weeks ago Carson was given a real deal kids golf set from our friend Pam from Athens--it even came with an official golf bag and he is addicted to playing Golf and daddy couldn't be prouder.

Here he is tearing up the back nine, aka our back yard!




And here we are the next day getting a few pointers about how to hit a draw and a fade, how to think strategically about what to hit off the tee box and when to let it rip with the driver.

I think with all the training that he has been doing, Tiger Woods should be worried. Although Tiger is our favorite althete, I'm pretty sure that I'm going to be pulling for Carsito when he and Tiger play head to head--and I'm pretty sure that one day my boy will dominate Tiger. Untl then, we'll keep practicing!!!

He LOVES us...

A Few months back (after I didn't check my facebook for several days) I recieved a facebook message that my best friend from High School son had passed away and the funeral was that day. After reading the message and realizing that I was already late for the funeral, I rushed off to be with the family. Shannon, my best friend from high school, and I were extremely close during high school and his parents were like my mom and dad, but we had lost touch over the past few years...Needless to say, the day of the funeral was very difficult. I spent a few hours afterwards talking with the family and I was blown away when I was talking to his mom and she told me that her and her husband were now living in Newnan--right down the street from where we live AND that they had heard about our church and were planning a visit! She went on to tell me that through the death of this little boy, she had been looking for the why behind what God was doing and she told me that seeing me (reuniting with me) that day and finding out that I live in Newnan and that I work at the church they had been thinking about attending was part of the reason God allowed all this to happen. Over the last few weeks, we had exchanged facebook messages but I hadn't seen them at church--I had been busy with summer camps and vacation. This past Sunday I had the opportunity to preach for the first time in 'big church' at our new church. I had planned on making sure to invite them but it got lost in the hustle and bustle of getting ready for the weekend. Flash forward to Sunday morning and about 5 minutes before I go on stage to preach, I see them walk in the door and sit down. I ran over to them and they hugged my neck and they told me that they had been coming there for a few weeks. To say that my heart jumped for joy would be a HUGE understatement!

When I got home that day, I went to write her a message on facebook only to find that she had already posted the following note:

"What a great experience we had this morning worshiping our Lord, it continues to amaze me at how he never gives up on any of us and how much he loves us all. As many of you know on May 3rd we lost our precious grandson Will. The day of his funeral one of our children's dear friends (growing up he had spent alot of time at our house and playing sports with Shannon) just happened to see on facebook that the funeral was that morning and by some miracle he was able to be there with us. After the funeral we went to Susan's parents house and I walked up to speak with him (Daniel Hicks) and he told me he was now living in Newnan (where Tracy and I are now living) and told me he was the Middle School Minister at Crossroads Church. I was really taken back because we had been visiting around at churches to find a new church home since we had came to Newnan and we had talked about visiting Crossroad but just hadn't done it, he then gave me his card. I stayed with Shannon, Susan, and Nan for the next 3 weeks but the first Sunday we were back in Newnan we went to church at Crossroads. There was just something about how at home I felt at this church and how each week I was growing more and more in my walk with the Lord and how my healing began. Tracy on the other hand was struggling to find his way through this great loss and had not been as interested to go back to church (even though he had went with me every Sunday I was there except last Sunday). Yesterday he said I am going to church tomorrow and when we walked in and picked a place to stand (because they were already singing) out of no where came this smiling face Daniel, he hugged us and said I am delivering the message today - pray for me and we did. Oh what a message - God used this yound man today in a way I wish I could put into words it touched all of our hearts (Tracy, Pam, mine, and everyone in the room). On the ride home Tracy said I don't think I have heard a message that touched me like that in a long time. God was there, he is here and is always with us! I know God made it possible for Daniel to be there that sad sad day when we said Good Bye to Will and I am thankful for that."

It's amazing to see How good God is and how much He really cares about us. Please continue to pray for this family as they are still hurting after the loss of Will Boone.

A day at the park, or two...

Last week, Heidi and one of her good friends took the kids to a water park near Stone Mountain. Here is the whole gang (minus the moms): Carson, Isa and Kyrsten on the front row. Kyrsten is our friend, Krystal's daughter and Hope, the girl in the back is her best friends daughter.
Here is Carson being his monkey self. He loved playing in the water!!!
Heidi said that the best part of the day was the fact that Isa became extremly bold and tore up some water slides. Here she is coming down one the slides for the 8 millionth time. The slide was three stories high and it threw you out into the pool where you had to swim to the slide--things that we thought Isa would be too afraid to do, but we were wrong. Isa dominated the slides. You go Girl!!!
Later that day, me and Tanner--Krystal's husband--met up with our fams to eat dinner and then head to the laser show at Stone Mountain. This is Krystal and Tanner at Joe's Crab Shack. When I look at this picture, I can't help but think that the caption should read: It's not really dinner unless it comes in a bucket and they tie a bib around your neck!!!
Here are the four kids heading to Stone Mountain. It's amazing how sweet these kids could be. If this picture had to have a caption, I think it should read: "A look into the future!" Thats right baby, bring on four kids!!!
Here are my girls waiting for the show of lasers to start--aren't they cute!!!
And here is the rest of the crew getting set to watch the laser show. I haven't been to the laser show in a few years and I will have to say that it was great memory with the fam but I was a little disappointed. It wasn't as long as I remember and I was shocked that they did not play Lee Greenwoods' "I'm proud to be an American." I can remember being at the laser show, hearing that song and then wanting to go join the Army the same night. My friend and I commented that when I hear that song I want to join the Military, fly to Iraq the same day and defend our freedom--all that I need to accomplish this task would be a rifle and a iPod with nothing but a playlist full or Lee Greenwoods' "I'm Proud to be an American
Father and son enjoying a little pyrotechnics--We were going to go home and blow something up but Heidi stopped us--thank Heaven for a level headed wife...Robs us of some fun but keeps us safe--Love ya baby!!!

Cow Appreciation Day

This past Friday was Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-Fil-A. Simply put, it meant that if you wore a 'cow' outfit to any Chick-Fil-A, they would give you a free meal--thats right, not just a free sandwich or a drink but the whole enchilada. So we made the kids some home made cow shirts and trekked on off to Chick-Fil-A for some free food. You couldn't ask for a better combination (Free food + Chick-Fil-A = Heaven on earth).
Here the kids are sporting their 'bootleg', I mean 'homemade' cow shirts. Even though they were bootleg, they kids loved them and they got the job done--meaning, we got free food!
The kids favorite part of the experience was hanging out with the Chick-Fil-A cow!!!
Free food and free toys!!!
Carson and Isa even got their face painted by some Chick-Fil-A employees. Isa, our little princess, went with the big Heart on her cheek. I love having a little princess!!!
Carson is seen here sporting a Baseball. I was proud of my boy. Out of all the things that he could have chosen, he went with the baseball. That's my boy!
I just have to say that Chick-Fil-A is great at customer service! I mean they gave away free food, they painted our kids faces, they had games for the kids to play and they were serving samples of their new peach milkshakes--that is good stuff!!! Can't wait for the next Cow Appreciation Day...Hurry up!!!

Summer Camp Rewind

Here is a video that one of my friends made as a follow up to our Student ministry summer camp which was a few weeks ago.

7 Years BABY!!!

Seven years ago today, my life changed forever—in such a great way—It was on this day seven years ago that I married the most amazing woman ever. I heard someone use a phrase a few weeks ago that accurately portrays my Heidita and that phrase is that she is a Proverbs 32 woman. If you know that Proverbs, you know that there are only 31 chapters and in that last chapter, the writer talks about the qualities and attributes of a Godly woman. Well, my Heidita is that and a whole lot more—so she is a Proverbs 32 woman. And in her honor and in honor of the most amazing last seven years, I want to share with you my top seven memories.

1. I’ll start with my favorite vacations. Our first year being married, we took off to New York City during the Christmas season. This might be the best trip we ever took (all the tourist attraction, which included a couple of Broadway shows)and the coldest…The next year, we took off to the Bahamas on about a weeks notice—it’s amazing how free you are without kids!!! Every year since we have been married (including as recent as two weeks ago) we travel to the beach at Gulf Shores, AL. My aunt has a house there so it is our free vacation spot—can’t beat that! I used to not be such a big fan of the beach but Heidi wore me down and I love the beach. I think my favorite pat of the beach is playing with my kids. There have been so many different trips that we have taken and some great memories, but the last one that I’ll share is this past year, we trekked to Savannah for a few days. WOW. If you haven’t been to Savannah, it’s really cool and you should go.

2. One of my favorite things about my wife is the way in which she treats people. She has a heart for people and I believe that you feel valued when you are in my wife’s presence. Just last night we were talking about her day and she told me how she met this older man while helping a friend work at the Mart in ATL for a few days. This older man shared his life story with her about being a gay man who had aids. Heidi listened to him as he shared his heart with her and she in return shared her heart back with him and encouraged him that God still loves him. When they parted, he told her that he believes that she might just be the nicest person in the world. I concur. This example is just one of many—Heidita treats everyone as she would want to be treated and that is why I adore her.

3. I love her because she (and we as a family) has sacrificed so that she could be a stay at home mom. This entire past year while we have lived in Newnan, she has been a stay at home mom and we couldn’t be happier. Yes, it takes some creativity to make finances work, but in the end, the rewards are priceless. With her staying at home, the kids enjoy life more because mommy is always around and I enjoy her having an open schedule because she is free to help me love on middle school kids—and that is what she does. She loves on her own kids and on our middle school kids and they love her!!! I have always told people when I interview for jobs that you might not like me, but I can guarantee that you will love my wife—that is the truth!!!

4. One of my all time top memories with my wife is broken up into two events—that’s because we have two kids. I am so blessed to have such adorable and amazing kids. The day that my kids were born has to be a top memory for me. And the next best day has been every day since with them. I can remember the day they were born like it was today and it pumps me up so much that I want to do it again at least two more times!!! So pray for us because we want more kids—I’m currently praying for twins—Heidi is not!

5. One of the things that I love about my wife is that she is generous. In our seven years together, she has given away so much stuff and prepared countless amounts of meals for people who were in need or who had just had a baby or just because Heidi wanted to show them love. As I think about her generosity and memories, the thing that tops the list is the thing that she shared with me last week. I can’t share the God-given and inspired idea that she had but let’s just say that she rocks my face off when it comes to being generous!!!

6. This last memory came even before we were married and really even before me started dating—and has meant the world to me. When I met Heidi in college, I had just been ‘dumped’ by a girl and I was heart-broken and ‘gun-shy’ about dating—the perfect time to meet the girl of your dreams, right? Well, that’s what happened—I met Heidi and I liked her but was scared of being hurt again. We hung out and I knew that this friendship was about to go to the next level—so I took her out with the thought of telling her that I liked her but that this would just remain a friendship and nothing else—and that is what I did. Do you what her response was? She looked me in the eyes and said the coolest thing, she said, that’s okay, I’m not going to give up on you!!! WOW. And from that moment on, I knew that there was something special about her and that statement single-handedly changed my heart. And the night that I thought was going to be the night where we parted ways ended up being our first date! I share that memory with you (and Heidi might not like me sharing that with you) so you can see the kind of person Heidita has always been for me…She has always supported me and she has never given up on me. I admit that I have many flaws and Heidita has been a prayer warrior on my behalf. There is not a doubt in my mind that my wife does not pray for me on a daily basis. (Just a word to those of you whose spouse might not be all that you desire them to be: Heidita does not nag me to get me to change, she prays and I can tell you that it works!). I can never thank you Heidita enough for your support of me…This morning as I drove to work, I was praying and thanking God for my wife and the way she supports me and I was reminded about a season in which her support was at its best. About two years ago, I knew God was calling me to leave my job as a youth pastor in Athens and to follow Him in a different direction. That different direction is where we have been for the last year—working as the middle school pastor at Crossroads Church in Newnan, Ga. But as you can see from my timeline, there was about a year from the time I left my old job to the time I started my new job—for a part of that time, I didn’t have a job, most of that time I was going back to school to get my Master’s degree, and during that time, Heidi was the financial provider for our family—but she never once complained, rather she lavished me with her support to follow God in whatever He was doing in our life. When the call came to take the job in Newnan, I asked her if she was okay with selling the first house we had ever bought, and moving away from all our great friends. Once again, she supported me as I followed the calling of God…Long story short, we are as happy as we ever have been and the reason why is because we followed God and because I had the support of the amazing woman every step of the way! Thank you Heidita for never giving upon me.

7. Instead of giving you a number seven best memory with Heidita, I will just leave this spot open for all the memories that are still to come. It’s been seven years baby, and I can’t wait to spend the next sixty with you!!! You are the love of my life and I am truly a blessed man!

Day 1 @ the Beach

Every year for vacation we trek down to Gulf Shores, AL. The reason: Because we love the beach, we love vacations and my aunt has a house there that she lets us use for free--good enough reasons. This year marked the 6th year in a row that Heidi and I have been there in the summer and it keeps getting better and better. We have started a family tradition (it began last year) where we invite my dad to come stay a few days with us. He came and stayed a four days with us and on day one of our vacation, he took us to Pensacola, FL to visit the Naval Air Museum.
Here is Pops (thats what I call my dad) and the kids kicking it at the Museum. The really cool thing about this base is that it is the home of the famous "Blue Angels." If you don't know about them, you might want to google them sometime soon.
Here is a pic of some retired Blue Angel planes. I was like a little kid looking at all the airplane stuff in the musuem. I have such a love for looking at planes that you would think that I would want to be a pilot, but that is not the case. I think the greatest thing about living near that ATL airport is watching the planes land and takeoff--I think the kids and I could watch them for hours and it never get old.
Even the kids got into the action at the musuem and pretended they were jet fighters whose sole job was to protect the citizens of the free world from air attacks--or at least I think that is what they were doing--they were probably just sitting in the plane getting some rest.

*KEEP READING BELOW TO TRACK THE REST OF OUR TRIP...

Day 2 @ the Beach

Day two at the beach revolved around eating at my Pops favorite establishment in Orange Beach (which is Tacky Jacks) and swimming in the pool. If you watched the video on an earlier blog abotu Isa swimming, then you would be proud to know that she has gotten even better at swimming and being in the pool is about all that our kids want to do anymore.

Random Days and Memories at the Beach...

Day 3 or 4 @ the beach--Dolphin Cruise

One of the coolest things that we did while on vacation was go on a dolphin cruise or a cruise that takes you to see dolphins. This particular company that we went with was one that we had been with before and we chose them because they send two boats full of tourists out to search for dolphins at the same time. When one boat finds dolphins, they call the other boat and the other boat comes running. The two boats then get side by side and put the peddle to the medal. The two boats and their wakes create a huge swell that the dolphins love to play in. Check out the video below and you will see what I mean...It's pretty flippin cool (no pun intended).

Day 5 @ the beach & a long lost brother...

On the 5th day of our amazing vacation, we got the opportunity to hook up with Heidi'd long lost 'adopted' brother Henry from Honduras. Henry grew up with and lived with Heidi and her family when they lived in Honduras and they always considered him their brother. Because of visa issues, he has been unable to come to the states and because of various reasons, we haven't been able to go to Honduras to see him--long story short, we haven't seen him since I went to meet Heidi's parents the spring break before we got married--that means we haven't seen him in 7 years--that's way too long.

So the question that you might be asking is how then did you get to see him while you were at the beach? It's because he went to school in Honduras to work of refrigerators, etc and to get some cash and experience, he took a job working for Carnival Cruise Lines. He is currently working on the ship called the "Holiday" and this ship just happened to be in port in Mobile (which is about 45 minutes from where we were staying at the beach) one day while we were at the beach! So we made the trip to see long lost Henry. And it was truly great to see him and we got to spend about 4 hours with him. Henry has a contagious, uplifting personality that is fun to be around. He is always happy and has tons of energy which he used to play with our kids--and the loved him, especially Carson.

Here is Henry heading back to the ship were he will spend the next few months. Please pray for Henry and his family. He has been married for almost two years and has a little boy and he misses them very much. They only reason that he is working away from his family is to gain experience so he can get a better job when he returns to Honduras. We love you Henry and we promise that we won't another 7 years before we hang out again!

4th of July at the Beach...

You couldn't have asked for a better fourth of July celebration than what we had. Our friends Mark & Lindsey, who spent the week with us, got the low down on what the nights festivities would be and used that info to reserve us a pimp spot to watch the fireworks show. We had a front row seat on the beach right in front of the barge that was loaded with fireworks abotu 150 yards off shore.
Here we all are with our 3-d glasses ready to watch the firework extravaganza!!!













And here the big Finale...watch it ans just try to imagine it with 3-d glasses...


*THIS MARKS THE END OF OUR VACATION BLOGGING...For Now...

2 Great Illustrations

I listen to as many podcasts from other pastors every time I get a chance and every time I do I walk away a better person--challenged, encouraged and motivated. In the past few weeks, I listened to two of my favorite guys and they each shared a illustration that really stuck with me, so now I'm going to pass them onto you.

1. This came from Matt Chandler from the Village Church in Texas (He is my favorite guy to listen to right now)...He began talking about how he has had a small dog for the past several years. And like anyone who has a dog, he has loved it, cared for it, given it everything that a dog could ever hope for. A few weeks ago ,his wife gave birth to a son and just a few days ago while changing his sons diaper on the floor of his house, their dog came over and peed on the boys face! His point was that is exactly how we treat God--and Jesus His Son. God has given us everything that we could ever wanted, He has lavished His love upon us and even given up His only Son for us and what do we do in return--we pee in His face--We pee in Jesus' face. Hopefully we don't really pee in His face or even have a desire to do so, but with our actions and our half-hearted (at best) devotion to Him, it's like we could care less about Him...May that never be the case with us.

(Please pray for me as I will be using the illustration above this weekend as I preach for "Big Church" at our church. This is my first time speaking in this environment at this church...)

2. This illustration came from Steven Furtick as he was speaking about the goodness of God. He was recalling a time in school when a bully attempted to beat him up. He says he remembers being lifted up above the bullies head when he spotted his best friend. He thought that his best friend would help him, but he was wrong--his best friend point blank told him that he wanted to help him but he would just get killed if he tried. His heart sank until the moment when he heard a teacher approach and break the almost fight up. As he reflected upon the close encounter, he examined the characters related to the event. On one hand, you had the best friend who had a great motive in wanting to help him but was powerless to do so. And in the other corner, you had the bully who had all the power but a bad motive. The teacher who stopped the fight, however, had both the power and pure motive--He then said that God is like the teacher--His motives are always pure in what He does and He has the power to do anything!

I hope that you were encouraged by these illustrations that have been stuck in my head-or at least I hope they made you think. I also wanted to share with you who I like to listen to so maybe you will subscribe to their podcasts.

Matt Chandler--The Village Church
Andy Stanley--Northpoint Church
Craig Groeschel--LIfeChurch.tv
Erwin McManus--Mosaic
Mark Driscoll--Mars Hill
Rob Bell--Mars Hill
Steven Furtick--Elevation Church
Perry Noble--Newspring
Francis Chan--Cornestone Church
John Piper--Bethlehem Baptist

A Year in Rewind...

The other night while watching The Curious Case of Benjamin Buttons (a total waste of my time)--you know the movie where Brad Pitt lives life in a backwards fashion--in Rewind, I couldn't help but think of this past year in ministry at Crossroads. Let me take a few minutes and replay a little of last years highlights for ya:
Here the is gang at our mid-week large group environment called XTREME. It is pretty Xtreme but worth every amount of effort we put in to it. In a world where everyone is 'bailing out' on students, I am making it my goal that our leadership does whatever we have to do to ensure that we love students, that we care for every student we come into contact with and that we point them to Christ!

*The highlight for me this year at Xtreme--We baptized of 35 students!!!

Here is the class of 2009. These 8th graders (rising 9th graders) are the BEST!!! This group really embraced my family and I this year and made the transition for us very special. They were wonderful and I began to get emotional about losing them to high school very early on in the year. To the class of 2009, you made everyday with you guys a highlight. I love you and am still watching you!!!

WE just got back from our own summer camp just two weeks ago. Here we are with 160 of our MS & HS students. This was a great week just kicking it in Birmingham, AL learning about God and how to live out our faith.

As I end this post about the year in rewind, let me insert a portion of a letter that I wrote to all of my MS leaders:

WINS to CELEBRATE for the 2008-2009 Ministry Year:
Over 35 students baptized

Averaged 240+ at Xtreme on Wednesday nights

233 Students were enrolled into an XLR8 (Discipleship)group on Sunday Mornings

Over 75 students were in an identifiable serving role

In addition to looking at the past and rejoicing over it, here are some thoughts to keep you motivated about loving on and ministering to Middle School students in the future:

*Ron Luce, founder of Teen Mania Ministries says that what a student believes by the time that they are thirteen will most likely be what they die believing. The reality for us is that if we want to impact what a student believes—which will determine what they do—we need to do all we can to minister to them while they are in the student ministry.

*Tonight, I just got back from the 8th grade dance at Lee Middle School and while I had a good time hanging out with students, it was also a great reminder of how much work there is still to be done as far as ministering to students is concerned. As I was leaving the dance, Joe Harrell mentioned that he saw just how strong the enemy’s grip is on our middle schoolers. The music they listened to, the way they dance (I guess you could call what they were doing dancing), they way the dressed, they way they acted, were all reminders that the enemy is working overtime to keep our students from knowing God and His best for their life. If the enemy is working overtime, may we become even more passionate about doing all that we can to ensure that we win every student for Christ!

There is not enough ways to say thank you for all that you have done for this ministry. I really love you all and I am so thankful for you. Please enjoy your summer and I hope you get to take a nap sometime soon—you deserve it!!!

The Inaugural Run

Home Owners Association fees: a few hundred bucks

A Pass to the neighborhood pool: $25

Your daughter swimming on her own for the first time: PRICELESS!!!



One of favorite memories from this occassion is when Heidi told Isa that we would get her a toy to reward her for all of her hard wrok b/c that is what Heidi's parents did for her wehn she was learning to swim. Isa's response was "you should get me a littliest petshop toy, because that's what I'm into right now!" How cute and matter of fact of a response is that...

Getting Old--30, to be exact...

I'm getting old, or at least older and this time, it's a big one--30 years old!!! There are probably a lot of negative things about turning 30, but one of the many great things about this occasion is the fact that I am married to an amazing woman who worked extra hard to ensure that I had an amazing day to celebrate this monumental event!!! The day started by Heidi telling me that I had to be home from work by 4PM b/c she had a surprise for me. That's always good!!! When I got home at 4PM, she told me to get a shower and pack an overnight bag b/c her mom was coming to take care of the kids and we were going out for the night.

She took me to ATL where we stayed in a sweet hotel which I can't remember the name--but it was sweet. Here we are in taking a pic of ourselves in the elevator after we celebrated a great night with some friends. We'll get to that in just a minute!!!

Here is the view from our room. It offered great views of the GT stadium (I hate GT but it was cool to be able to look at a football stadium from our hotel room), the Varsity and even the Georgia Dome--It was awesome!!!

The best surprise of the night was when Heidi took me to a Spanish tau pus restaurant named "Noche" and had a few of my favorite people in the world! Here we are with Dan and Jen Greene and Lauren and Drew Startup. (BTW, congrats to Drew who coaches baseball at Cartersville High School, where he led his troops to the state championship for the second straight year).







Here is me with my awesome b-day cakeish thing--which was amazing!!!






After dinner, we left and went bowling where we all had to buy $3 socks out of the sock vending machine. My friends showed no mercy for my birthday at the bowling alley. Out of the six of us, I finished in sixth place for the night! The only good thing is that my amazing wife took home top honors for the night. She won the award for the top bowler and also for the most amazing wife ever...I love you baby and am thankful for all the work you did to pull off an amazing b-day celebration...You rock...can't wait to help you celebrate your 30th b-day--which is 2 years away--man, I'm old!!!