Josh's Life

Guy's retreat

2006-03-27T20:09:00.000-06:00

The guy's retreat this past weekend was a blast. Amazing, fun and fulfilling... but very very tiring. I won't say much right now about it except...

Dance, elmo, dance.

Zach is dancing

2006-03-24T15:11:00.000-06:00

and it is awesome.

Nobody can dance to pokemon like Zach. watch and learn...

this is the ultimate showdown...

2006-03-23T20:30:00.000-06:00

Hung out w/ the kids after re:find on Wednesday. Warren busted out into the ultimate showdown song. My youth are awesome.

Not sure what exactly God is calling me to do w/ my life, but I know I want to do it well. I know it involves people. I know it involves my intellect. I know it involves putting aside my intellect at times. I just don't know exactly what it looks like to do this.

I signed up for a few youth ministry training things. I look forward to asking a ton of hard questions and seeking hard answers. I hope these days will embolden me to seek a better way of doing what we do.

More to come later...

Rock and/or roll

2006-03-22T14:33:00.000-06:00

I love my mid high praise team. They rock the house!

So I decided it would be good to get back to blogging. What a better way to start than to start posting short videos of my wonderful job!

These kids are awesome. They have a ton of enthusiasm for music and for this group. Can't wait to see what God does through them in the future.

Right now, at my job, I am the acting interim director of Youth Ministry. My job description kind of reads like this - do everything you used to do, and also everything else.

Fun times. I'm gonna try and post to this blog as often as possible. If you still check it, good for you! That took perseverance.

If you're new, go back and read my old posts. then stick around anyway! I might eventually say something worth reading....

Comments

2005-11-22T11:23:00.000-06:00

This is from an article by Len Hjalmarson. Really good article. Talks about the church.

First, significant relationships tend to decline as an organization grows in size. It becomes more and more difficult to connect personally as organizations increase in size and complexity, and thus community itself becomes a rare commodity. Yet the church is first a community, and only incidentally a congregation. When we fail to be a community, we are not truly a church.

I agree in part. I am beginning to wonder if the role of the 'church' is to actually be a community, or if we are to help create communities...

Second, bureaucracy increases as organizations expand, and efficiency and management become the chief concerns.

No argument here.

Third, large groups organize for safety, not vulnerability.

I think this one is big. I think that the larger your group gets, the less connected every one is, you find more and more hidden weakness and faux righteousness. The answer to this could be to never let the big group replace your small community. Don't ever let people think that by participating in the bigger group that they are actually in a community.

There are two types of ministry environment. In one environment a team or teams are formed to assist leaders to develop and implement their vision (purpose). In the second environment a community is formed around a shared sense of passion (belonging). In the team environment success is understood as empowering the group to reach agreed goals. In the community environment success is understood as empowering individuals to belong and to reach their creative potential.

So then... why not have the team environment in place to help bring about the community environment on a smaller scale?

a bright idea...

2005-11-13T12:00:00.000-06:00

Workouts Can Lighten Heavy Hearts - Forbes.com

Interesting.... Guess I need to work out more...

Interesting

2005-11-09T13:38:00.000-06:00

the last few decades have belonged to a certain kind of person with a certain kind of mind - computer programmers who could crank code, lawyers who could craft contracts, MBAs who could crunch numbers. but the keys to the kingdom are changing hands. the future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind - creators and empathizers, pattern recognizers, and meaning makers. these people - artists, inventors, designers, storytellers, caregivers, consolers, big picture thinkers - will now reap society's richest rewards and share its greatest joys.
(daniel pink)

Interesting quote... It's funny because my life has followed a similar trend - code and mathematics to interpretation and art. I have moved away from the concrete, finding it lacking in its ability to help me live, and have shifted towards the gray and misty areas of truth. I am finding myself more and more comfortable in the mystery of God.

On the other hand, as I have moved away from concreteness, I have found myself less confident in my rightness (on the large scale at least). I see things more from a human point of view rather than an idealistic one, and that leads, sometimes, to leaving the supernatural out of the equation.

So as I move forward, I guess I need to make sure that I do not leave God behind, but instead keep him in the forefront, as the one being who can really bring about a kingdom of peace. I believe this kingdom to be of God's design, and I believe that we are always inching closer to it, crawling towards zion. Just sometimes we forget that we are.

365 tomorrows » Will To Live

2005-10-18T14:14:00.000-05:00

365 tomorrows » Will To Live

Wow, this story gave me some serious goosebumps. If you spend any time at all reading anything on the internet, you should definitely visit 365tomorrows.com often. Its a new scifi/fantasy short story every day. Amazing. Some of them are so-so. Some of them, like this one, actually move me.

This story could spur some truly interesting discussion... could a test determine our will to live? Should it?

I like the idea. A lot.

Free lunch.

2005-10-12T13:12:00.000-05:00

Services that should be free

Connection to the internet. The next big step for mankind is to have the whole of the human race connected to each other, voluntarily of course. Every person in every village in every nation, poor or rich, smart or not, popular or isolated should have the ABILITY to reach the wealth of information, contacts, outlets of expression, and awareness that the internet offers us. For so long, it has not been a feasible business enterprise to supply that access to those who can’t really pay for it. People have tried the whole free internet thing and it has failed. Google took another free service, searching the web, and made it extremely profitable using AdSense. They could do the same with GoogleNet…

Church. If you think church is free, think again. Church, the way most of you know it, costs a lot of dough to pull off. The spectacle that many churches have become is a big business, with large profit margins and comprehensive business strategies. The smaller churches do the same thing on a much smaller scale, and wish they could do all the neat stuff that the bigger churches can. The older traditional churches are basically like the older traditional businesses… stuck doing the same thing they have been doing and mainting business status quo. If you think church really is free, try getting your congregation to stop tithing. See what happens. Or even better, use all the tithe money to do what Jesus wanted the church to be about – feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and oppressed. You are the customer to the church these days, not the sheep. So how do we do free church? Well, I’ve never seen one, but the house church idea seems like free church. Maybe we just pay for teachers, since that seems to be the thing we want our pastors to be best at. Pay for big worship events, since we pay for concerts and stuff. But gather freely. Counsel each other freely. Study the Word of God freely, using your free internet as your resource. And most importantly – freely give.

Education. Education is really not free. Teachers must be paid. But maybe we can find a better way to pay, and a better way to teach. The school system has been basically the same since we invented it. Sit in a classroom, be taught by the expert. Seriously, how many teachers really are experts in their field? We don’t pay them to be, so why should they be? Is that what we need anyway? I don’t have any suggestions for this one, only that things need to change. There has to be a way to equip the next generation of youth to actually contribute to society in progressive and meaningful ways, and still actually make money in the end. Any ideas?

weather.com - Map Navigator - Close-Up Satellite

2005-09-21T20:10:00.000-05:00

weather.com - Map Navigator - Close-Up Satellite

Wow. Well this will be a crazy weekend. My prayers are with all of you. I am leaving for college station later tonight, to try and avoid as much traffic as possible. Good luck to everyone and call me if you need help - 2817331373

Life's a grind

2005-09-20T16:56:00.000-05:00

Well, I officially am starting work at It's a grind. I am in way over my head in debt, and I want to be out of it in... well, in 19 months or so. Big day around that time, most likely.

Anywho, I am aggressively attacking my debt, and that takes getting as much income as possible to attack it with. Plus, hey, I love coffee! I'll try and keep everyone updated with how that job is going. Bc I know you all care so much! =)

Today was training... basically learned the specifics. I know all the generals already. Gonna be a fun job!

power-napping - schlafgras

2005-09-15T16:29:00.000-05:00

Very Cool... I want one! This is great, I love napping, and I love weird crazy things like this. Every one, take notice! This is what I want instead of a bed in my room.

On a different note, I will probably start working at It's a grind coffeehouse on weekday mornings to help supplement my efforts to destroy my debt. Come by and get a cup of joe when I start working! I'll be drinking coffee allll day...

LibraryThing!

2005-09-06T13:21:00.000-05:00

LibraryThing!

The coolest thing since sliced bread. This site lets me catalog all my books quickly and easily, tag them for future sorting, and share them with the world. If you see a book on the right that you want to read, just let me know, and I can let you borrow it...

=)

Haxzored | We Like Sheep dot Org

2005-08-29T11:30:00.000-05:00

Awesome! These guys rock.

Nate's site

Filling the void

2005-08-29T10:09:00.000-05:00

FTV2
Originally uploaded by RagamuffinAg.

On September 11, we are starting the first of our fall series at Crossfire on Sunday nights. We will be walking along side of Tom's sermon series, "looking for the good life," by speaking to our youth about 'Filling the Void.' The first week we talk about fun and money.

If you read this, tell me what you think about the series title. Does it resonate with you? Does it sound 'churchy?' Too typical? How does the image fit with the theme?

Hopefully I'll be updating this more. Its been too long, I know, and I want to make this an actual habit. Hopefully my new approach to scheduling my week will lend itself to more blogging. Thanks, guys

Need more josh.

2005-06-16T16:01:00.000-05:00

I've just read through the most recent posts, and you would think that I'm pretty lame by the past few posts. And I'm not lame....

I promise.

Not.
Lame.

I am, in fact, very sweaty from working out, and can't type long or the sweatiness will destroy my computer. But just for the record....

Not.
Lame.

Late

2005-06-10T01:01:00.000-05:00

Late
Originally uploaded by RagamuffinAg.

It's really late, and we're all a little delirious. chris is writing in pep books with an umbrella. Awesome!

Conges

2005-06-09T23:03:00.000-05:00

Conges
Originally uploaded by RagamuffinAg.

Jaimie

Cool drawing

2005-06-09T17:21:00.000-05:00

Cool drawing
Originally uploaded by RagamuffinAg.

Martha is awesome. she drew me this cool picture! every body is really nice about my birthday this week. rock on.

Um army!

2005-06-06T09:12:00.000-05:00

Um army!
Originally uploaded by RagamuffinAg.

Um army is awesome! Chris, who i'm doing programming with, is embarrassed to take pictures. I don't know why, he's so hot. ... Yeah. so anyways, gotta go ready. More to come!

Well...

2005-05-10T08:51:00.000-05:00

*Used to be a picture of Warren (half)naked here - now its gone, because Warren got a wee bit embarassed...* end edit 1

0501051759.jpg

2005-05-01T18:00:00.000-05:00

Mickey is in this picture. can you find mickey? comment if you can!

0430051458.jpg

2005-04-30T15:06:00.000-05:00

I'm at transco tower. this place always reminds me of my beautiful and amazing girlfriend. she gave me an amazing painting that she made for me the time we came here. i love her very much. and it is absolutely gorgeous out here.

I rock.

2005-04-28T16:49:00.000-05:00

just showing off how cool i am to shaun and rachel.

Red Day

2005-04-27T16:27:00.000-05:00

Tonight at re:find is red night. Or red day. Whichever you prefer. The point is - Red.

We are starting a series on colors. Red is first. I'm very excited about this, as its really the first time we've tried to engage more than just the ears at this worship service. Could the a good first step in a more progressive or ancient-modern approach to worship on wednesday nights. We'll see how tonight goes.

Reading is fun. Read Eragon yesterday. Mucho entertaining. Bye now.