Recapping My Weekend

This past weekend was incredibly busy for us. First of all Dana and Emma traveled to a family reunion in Illinois. The main purpose of the trip was for Dana to see her Grandmother who has Alsheimers Disease and introduce her to Emma. That all went well, but both are very tired and ready to be home. They are on their way as I type this. I have missed them greatly and am looking forward to hugs and kisses from my girls.

At the same time Dana and Emma were making thier trip, I took a group of teens to Teen Leadership Univeristy, which is hosted by the RiverChase Church in Birmingham. Kip Long led worship, and my good friend David Fraze was the Keynote Speaker. Our teens are incredible. They soaked the information up like a sponge and were excited about getting back home and leading our group in the way of Jesus. It was also great to get to spend some time with David. We joked around with each other and also talked about how much we missed our wives and kids. I taught a class at TLU (3x) and was also given an opportunity to preach at CrossBridge on Sunday. Man, I had a blast doing both. CrossBridge is just such a neat church to me, plus I had the opportunity to hang out with my good friends Johnny and Jinny Brown, and had a chance to re-connect with my old Camp Wiregrass buddy Scott Knox. All this being said, all of the activity from speaking so many times did not agree with my hernia too well, and I was hurting a little when it was all over. I'm feeling better now, but I will remind you that I am having surgery to have that corrected on Thursday. I know it's not that big of a deal, but please remember us in your prayers

AE

Church of Fools
I checked this "virtual church" out yesterday because Tony Campolo preached a sermon there. I'm actually pretty impressed with the place. It's a very neat idea. People from all over the world and all different Christian backgrouds (and seekers too) come together at this "church". I have yet to attend an acutal service, but, I like the place. Check it out and see what you think. BTW, the "Church of Fools" name is not meant to be derogatory. It's a take off of thier original program which was sort of a "realtiy" show based on Noah's ark starring Biblical Characters. It was called "Ship of Fools".

My Speaking Schedule
 
Well, I have several speaking engagements in the next few weeks, so I thought I would post what they are in case anyone is interested.
 
Last weekend I did a class at Youth For Christ as the Westgate Church of Christ in Dothan called "Becoming the Gospel".
 
July 25th--Palo Alto Church of Christ, Panama City, FL,  9 a.m.--"A Circle of Stones"  John 7:53-8:11 
 
July 28th--College Ave. Church of Christ, Enterprise, AL, 7 p.m.--"A Circle of Stones"  John 7:52-8:11
 
July 31st--Teen Leadership University, Birmingham, AL--"Nobody Follows Jesus, Why Should You?  Counterculture Leadership"
 
August 1--Crossbridge Church of Christ, Birmingham, AL,  a.m. Worship--" A Cirlcle of Stones" John 7:53-8:11
 
Also I have recently had articles published on GraceCentered Magazine and Allelon.  You can check them out by clicking on the links to the right if you like.
 
AE

TOO MUCH INFORMATION?

Well, I have been diagnosed with a hernia. The exam that was administered to determine my condition was one of the most uncomfortable things I have ever endured in every sense of the word. I will probably be having some kind of surgery to correct this problem in the next week or so. It's a minor procedure, but prayers would be apprecited.

AE
p.s. My surgery has been scheduled for August 5th.

Well, I've been home almost a week and this is my first posting. There are several reasons for this, including lightning knocking out the internet at my office. Anyway, Impact was incredible. It is perhaps the most effective event for teens associated w/ the churches of Christ that I have ever seen (and I'm not one given to exaggeration on these matters). Basically the whole week was based on Colossians. It didn't hurt that they brought in Randy Harris to do a week long class for the adults (if only they would have given college credit for it). My kids responded in amazing and deeply personal ways. I'll share some on that later when I have more time.

Also, I wanted to mention that Dana and I are now officially registered for the National Conference on Youth Ministry (put on by Youth Specialties) in Atlanta in November. If you are also going, let me know and we'll try to get together. This will be our first time at this event and we are really excited about it. It looks like its going to be great.

I'll be out of town again for the next week at a workcamp in Albany, Georgia. The whirlwind of youth ministry that is my life continues. I'll post when I get back. I promise