NEW MUSIC

There's some new music coming out from one of my favorite artists, The David Crowder Band. I am looking forward to their new album, Church Music, and enjoying their promo video in the process.

STUDENT MINISTRIES: CALENDARS

Every 3 months, we publish calendars for each of our ministries: HSM and MSM. Here are the calendars, which will give you a sneak peak into our plans for the fall season of ministry. If these pictures won't enlarge, you can view them on our student ministries site.

We have the entire semester planned, as well as all of our big events for the entire school year and even some into next summer. This helps us chart a course for the year.

A large part of our programming with be determined by our student ministries staff, interns, and student leaders.

Communication via calendars is a great way to keep families in tune with what's around the corner so they can plan better. Especially when it comes to deadlines for registrations, etc.

Our hope is that these calendars make their way onto the fridge at home to create anticipation and excitement about upcoming events.

NEW MUSIC

Somehow I missed the fact that Leeland released a new album last week: Love is on the Move, but I bought it today.

So far, so good. I am enjoying it. I have liked all of their stuff so far, and have had the opportunity to see them live a couple of times.

If you haven't heard their music before, I recommend starting with their first album: Sound of Melodies.

Good stuff...

TWITTER UPDATES

So as I am getting back to blogging, my goal is to make a distinction. I am going to attempt to keep most of my personal updates (life, family, vacations, travel, etc.) to my newly activated Twitter account. In fact, I made it easy, and have installed a Twitter widget in my sidebar.

That way, this blog may serve more of a concentrated purpose. My hope (don't quote me on this) is to keep these blogs primarily about my journey through student ministries, leadership principles, creativity, music, and my favorite topic - tech stuff (mostly how Apple continues to change my life for the better).

Speaking of Twitter, I have always been slow to adopt new things (watching The Office, creating a Facebook account, etc.) even though these things have been great additions to my life. My reasoning is that I often observe first, then adopt.

With Twitter, I wasn't sure if it was something that I NEEDED in my life - especially with the fact that I found it difficult to keep up with this blog when things got especially busy.

So, I became a silent observer and found myself intrigued by everyone's updates, especially those who are friends or are in areas of ministry that I am interested in. I even follow a couple of celebrities just for fun (I like to believe that they consider me their best friend).

It's good stuff, there for you when you want it. The key for me, especially in learning much about time management this year, is to balance the amount of time I spend with stuff like this so it doesn't take away from my work, marriage, and friendships.

There it is. For personal updates - check out Twitter, which I will be updating more frequent than blogging. For my perspective, thoughts, and insight on ministry, leadership, music, and tech stuff - tune in here.

CREATIVITY AS INSPIRATION

Over the last few months, I have been able to re-awaken the creative juices again. This is a good thing. Being in student ministries is one which thrives upon innovation - and I love it.

From time to time, though, space is needed in order to become inspired.

I have taken some time over the last few months to gain some perspective, and to dive into every aspect of my life - and not just coast through it.

I have truly enjoyed every minute of it and have gained a sense of appreciation for how truly blessed I am. Looking forward to sharing some more thoughts on student ministries, among other topics in the near future.