Pray for 12 of us CCJ men as we head to East Tennessee Friday to Sunday for the first ever CCJ MANventure. We will be hiking and whitewater rafting but, most importantly, we will be challenged to become the men (and all that that entails) that God has called men of God to be.

It should be awesome.

UPDATE (06-01-08): It WAS awesome. More details to come. For now, see our group photo, taken outside of our cabin.

Labels: MANVenture

The Good:
-- MANventure this weekend!
-- Day off on Monday
-- Progress on potty-training
-- Having enough people (finally) to be able to be gone and still have a solid band.
-- Properly placed and executed guitar solos (see 'Comfortably Numb')
-- The Braves play of late.
-- Tennessee Ernie Ford's 'Sixteen Tons'
-- Finally finishing up the book 'Vintage Jesus' (It's good but I've struggled with it a bit)


The Bad:
-- Setbacks on potty-training
-- Day off on Monday leads to more work on Tuesday
-- Improperly placed and badly executed guitar solos.
-- The Braves' inability to get to the top of the division.


The Ugly:
-- Sloppy weather
-- My tendency to let my cynicism dominate my thinking.

Labels: Good Bad Ugly

Our esteemed founding minister has a birthday today. He and CCJ are both 8, I believe. ;-)



(I think he's actually 35).

So, Wednesday, May 21, is the 8th anniversary of the Christian Church of Jasper. I am really interested in hearing from you. If you are a CCJ attendee, please answer the following questions:

When did you start attending CCJ?
How did you hear about CCJ?
What do you like about CCJ?
Do you have any special memories from CCJ worship or events that you would share?

Feel free to answer these questions on this post or create your own CCJ 8th Anniversary post.

The banquet Friday was beautiful!
The food was good. There were so many prizes, I couldn't keep count! And Sacred Calling was wonderful as the musical entertainment.
Thanks to all - women and men (they were our servers!) - who worked so hard to make the banquet a success. We ladies appreciated it!

Well the countdown is on for May 22. What is that date? That is the release of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I loved all of the other films (especially Raiders and the Last Crusade) and if nothing else it will be a trip down nostalgia lane. I am also looking forward to The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, and maybe most of all Batman: The Dark Knight.

There are a few others I will want to see: Hancock, Get Smart, the X-Files and another Mummy movie. What movies are you looking forward to this summer?

If ever you've thought that things are covered at CCJ, here are some quick statistics to show you just how much we need everyone who calls CCJ home to do their part to carry the Gospel of Jesus to the area. (Numbers may not be exact and are probably more than listed as I'm going mostly from memory).

MONTHLY:
4: Weekends in May
32: Greeters & Welcome Desk Workers
35: Junior Church & Pre-K Workers
25: Nursery (& Nursery-Related) Workers
8: Media Shout Workers
8: Camera Operators
8: Sound Board Operators
8: Video Directors
10: Band Members
4: Communion Meditators
20: Communion/Offering Servers

WEEKLY:
2: A.M. Services
9 : Evening Programs (Sunday & Wednesdays)

OTHER:
4: Full-Time Employees
1: Full-Time Administrator
3: Part-Time Employees
12: Team Leads

TOTALS:
47: Total AVERAGE number of volunteers to run basic A.M. & P.M. services at CCJ if everyone only did one job in the church (this is not the case as you well know, however).
186: Total volunteers needed each month to run basic A.M. & P.M. services at CCJ if everyone only did one job in the church (this is not the case as you well know, however).

WHAT I LEFT OUT:
15: Servants Team Members
4: Non-staff Elders
13: (At least) Small Group Leaders
x number: People who do quick clean-ups after services
x number: People who come in during the week to do things
x number: All the different team members and workers who come to meetings, help out & organize various things at CCJ.

If you're ever looking to add your talents, contact Charlotte (charlotte@ccjasper.com, 481-2410) at the office or keep an eye out for volunteers opportunities on the People page of the CCJ web site.

Labels: Volunteer

The Altar of Incense: Prayer

• Do you ever feel like you are far away from God? If so why, what contributes to those feelings?If you had to rate your prayer life on a scale from 1 to 10 (10 being the highest) where would you rate yourself?
• Do you feel close to God during prayer?
• Read Hebrews 4:14-16. What does this tell us about our relationship with Christ? How does that apply to our prayer life?
• In 1 Thessalonians 5:17, Paul says "pray continually", How can we do that?
• In the tabernacle the altar of incense was the closest a regular priest could get to the presence of God (found in the Holy of Holies). How does that relate to prayer being one of our closest ways to be with God until we meet Him face to face in heaven?
• What can you so to improve your prayer life?

This isn't a trick question. I just want to hear your honest answers to this question.

Labels: God's Goodness

Labels: Haiti

The Good:
- Seeing my favorite band live after not having seen them for 13 years (see above video)
- My brother getting back from the giant sandbox in Iraq (answered prayers)
- All the CCJ'ers who came out to the National Day of Prayer and the response they gave the band (made me feel all warm inside) :-)
- The Union Station Hotel in Nash-vegas (swank)
- The sermon last Sunday (April 27)


The Bad:
- My brother not getting in until around 10:30 p.m. last Saturday night in Memphis (therefore, I couldn't go see him)
- Election charts (I sure hope somebody appreciates the effort that goes into that stinkin' information) ;-)
- Overload


The Ugly:
- Our dining room carpet (you'd think we were raising dogs or something. Of course, I could've been just as bad when I was a kid)
- War and rumors of war
- The Atlanta Braves (so far)

Labels: Good Bad Ugly