Returning

Just a note to let you know that I am planning on returning to the blogging world. After the last few years off, things are changing a bit to allow me the opportunity to think through some things in the blogosphere. Although the great interest in blogging seems to have cooled down some (Due to Facebook?) I’ve decided to reenter the fray.

Some things have happened with the family recently that I want to explore online. In addition, I had some experiences at work that were particularly challenging and this anonymous space gives me a bit of room to process them. And lastly, it looks like I will be beginning an interesting Intentional Interim Ministry and I don’t want to miss the opportunities to blog about it.

I’m looking forward to being back.

Is This Thing Still On????

Anyone still there after a year and a half of radio silence?

Anyone still out there??

With all apologies to Peter King’s Monday Morning Quarterback, here’s 10 things I think I think.

I think I’ve been a bit lax in blogging as of late. Time has a way of getting occupied. I plan to remedy this oversight.

I think that I’m continuing the intentional interim work at Pecan Grove Baptist. Work has gone slowly, but we had a breakthrough service a few Wednesday nights ago. Well worth its own blog entry. But the three hours on the road every Sunday is starting to wear a bit thin.

I think I haven’t been watching enough movies. The last movie I saw was Rocky which I introduced the girls to. Many comments about life in the mid-1970’s.

I think the family has struggled health-wise a bit. Scooter came down with the swine flu this week, so our house has been in lock down mode. Kadie thinks that she and I have already had it. (We both had some respiratory issues this week).

I think that the university is dealing with record enrollment (no doubt do to the economic downturn), but fortunately, we’ve faced severe budget cuts so we’ve had far less faculty to teach all the new students.

I’ve been doing some fiction reading lately, catching up on the Patrick O’Brien novels. There’s 21 of them and I’m down one with 20 left to go.

I think I like my iPhone. Right now I’m taking advantage of a new audiobook rental program of my local library. I think after a few weeks it disappears from your iPod…or something. I’m listening to The Accidental Billionaires about the founding of Facebook.

I think Tony Romo’s best days may be behind him. Fortunately the Rangers provided a distraction by playing meaningful games into September for the first time in a decade.

I think I’ve been using Facebook and email to communicate with church members moreso than ever before.

I think I am in desperate need of a ski vacation in a couple of months.

SBC Impact

SBC Impact has foolishly allowed me another post on their site. Go their to read about the four tiers.

Blog Note

It was brought to my attention by a reader that the RSS feed was only showing partial postings, requiring each person to click directly on the site to read the whole thing. This news surprised me greatly.

Mostly because I was unaware I had any readers.

I think I've successfully reconfigured the thingamajig (not to get too technical) and correctly tuned the doohickey.

You should be able to read the entire post from your RSS reader. I mean, you'd hate to miss posts like this one.

An Open Door and Changes at Coffeespoons

After much reflection, and at the encouragement of no one, I've decided to stretch out the thin gruel that is Coffeespoons, into a blog post each weekday. By arranging the days topically, I hope to build some accountability for the blog.

So, from now on, today will be known as Ministry Monday.

Recently I've had several ministry opportunities that I want to talk through in blog format, drawing upon the wisdom of the readers. The most significant of these is that last night I was called to be the Intentional Interim pastor at Pecan Grove Baptist Church, a church an hour away from our home.


With these opportunities in mind I anticipate that I can genereate at least one interesting meager blog post per week.


Or not.

Life and such...

As much as I enjoy blogging and dialoguing, it is sadly amongst the first to go when the tempo of life picks up. My intention is to deluge you with a series of book reviews and perhaps some thoughts on budget cuts which have occupied too much of my mind recently.

Some details of what’s been going on:

I’ve been in contact with a few churches recently about the Intentional Interim ministry. It is heartening to see some interest in this area. If there’s a fit, I’ll share some of the experiences.

Things at Lakeview continue to go along well. Pastor Rick has implemented several changes and they have been well received. His honeymoon has stretched to six months now.

Our girls have decided, fresh from their experience of cheering on Mom and Dad down in Houston last month, that they want to run in the same ½ marathon next January. With that goal in mind, we’ve begun to train for a 5K here in town at the end of February. We’ve all enjoyed being together and it’s easier to run with a group in the cold, so you can huddle together for warmth.

I was called, out of the blue, to lead a marriage seminar for a young couple’s class in another church. It was a good experience, but reminded me again how far (alas) Kadie and I are from that demographic. I had a wonderful time spending a few days in a retreat setting with this group. More thoughts later this week.

Budget reductions continue to batter our campus. We’ve made substantial cuts for this fiscal year, and are looking ahead toward next year. In a worst case situation, we will lose some faculty and staff. Part of the greatest challenge of managing in this environment is addressing the undercurrent of fear that affects the faculty and staff. Like any other worker in this economy, when it’s difficult for them to focus on their jobs when they’re worried about losing them.

I leave you with one of the more curious political spectacles of recent years, the ongoing public immolation of (former) Gov. Rod Blagojevich of Illinois. He recently appeared on David Letterman and the interview is painfully enjoyable to watch. (I haven’t felt this embarrassed for someone on TV since the Bakkers went on Nightline a few decades back). Unbelievable. (And Dave can still bring the heat when he wants to. His first question had to be the exact one on the minds of every viewer).

Cross Posting

No time for a full blown post at the moment. I do note two cross posts.

First, David Rogers continues to take a ball-ping hammer to my fragile views on ecclesiology in an excellent SBC Impact post.

In addition, a good friend of mine from seminary stole referenced the blog post “Deep Waters Ahead” in a sermon this last Sunday. He tells the story here.

Guest Post

In the range of mountains that form the tectonic presence of the Southern Baptist Convention on the internet, the Mount Everest of publications is a site known as SBC Impact!. Judging from today’s lead article, their editorial screening process needs some serious revision.

Velociraptor and Bunkbeds

Although I generally loathe all things viral (both physically and uhhhh internetedly), for some reason this amused me. If I were in the market for new furniture, I would definitely consider BunkbedsPedia for all things bunkbed related).

I could survive for 1 minute, 9 seconds chained to a bunk bed with a velociraptor

A Wordle of Coffeespoons

Wordle is a method of graphically depicting the words from a text (in this case, a blog) and apportioning their size based on frequency of use. So the more often they are used, the larger the text.

Click here for a wordle of Coffeespoons.

My Quoteable Boss

This looks like it could be the work of Mr. Ginger. Much fun will be had at its location.

HT: Marty Duren

The "Best" of 2007

This was a mixed bag year, blogwise. I offer you a baker’s dozen of past posts…

A wrestling injury reveals a major difference between Scooter and Skeeter.

The Sherri Klouda situation at Southwestern reminds me of what a woman taught me.

In February of 2007, I took a trip to my home town.

A wonderful 40th birthday bash for Kadie. (And the related lies I told my wife).

With the family away, I miss them.

Two important lessons from Mrs. Mozelle.

Woo-Hoo!!!!

The post in which I discover I possess two laughs.

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful couple…

The most highly visited blog entry of the year, I didn’t even write.

A visit from the Four Hobby-horsemen of The Apocalypse.

Working with artists can be different.

And finally, my personal favorite:

Insect and fowl vocational advice from the Colonel.

Hiatus

In agricultural contexts, you must allow the ground to lie fallow for a time to ensure an improved crop the next time. Unfortunately for the reader, there’s no guarantee that subsequent Coffeespoons will be improved, but it certainly won’t be any worse.

What’s been going on…

Home Alone Two

I was left alone again as Kadie and her sister PT Girl trekked into that state that is the center of the universe and visited their Dad and step mom up in Enid. They took the entire brood of kids. Much lest angst this time. But while she was at our home, PTGirl (who is, after all a PT) advised me to get my knee (yes, that one) looked at by an orthopedic doc. After the injury, the knee remained swollen. Although there's been no pain, it tightens up whenever I run. So I heeded her advice…

Under the Knife Needle

The ortho doc recommended draining the fluid out of the bursa sac with a large needle. Which he immediately did. (It looked EXACTLY like this). Overall it wasn’t as painful as I expected, and much less painful than my "friends" told me it would be.

Recalling Stories

The book is finally out. Now its time to start working on the next one.

Intentional Interim

As I anticipated, the deacons at Lakeview opted not to go with an intentional interim program. While disappointing, it was not surprising. I was told that we hadn’t done it in the past and there was no need to do so now. When I asked how the deacons had responded to the problems I perceived in the church, the chairman said nobody really had any responses to my concerns.

Raise

At work, we’ve had one raise in the last seven years and just received another one this summer. So the summer term has been focused on haggling over how best to apportion what would be an across the board 5% raise. While appreciated, it’s like splitting hairs.

I should get back into the blogging swing of things now. Thanks to all who've continued to read.

On Anonymity

Shortly after attaining tenure, a blogging colleague asked if I would drop the anonymity of this blog. I’d been thinking about that topic already and concluded that I’m not ready to do so at this present time. Here are some reasons why I've decided not to do so...

First, I would like to continue to use this blog as a sounding board for my involvement in church ministry. I’ve not found many other blogs where intentional interim ministry is as much a topic as it is here. Bowden closed down the late great blog Interregnum (for reasons he explains here), which was one of the only other blogs taking up this issue from time to time. Susan Song or Lakeview would probably be fine with about 98% of what I’ve posted about my experiences with them, but if this blog operated under my name, I think I’d be more self-selective than I would like to be.

Workwise, I want to be able to post some stories or observations about teaching at a higher education institution. I don’t think I’ve betrayed any confidentiality, but some post participants (like here, here, or here) might not want the notoriety. (And most would recognize themselves). Since I do blog about a lot of personal conversations, I don’t want others to wonder if what they will say might end up on a blog post somewhere.

Third, safety is an issue. I take some warnings seriously about posting pictures and sharing personal information on the net with three kiddoes in the house. I like to share what they are going through and their perspectives on life, but I want to do so safely.

Lastly, this blog initially started out as a way to keep up with friends and family. And to them, this blog isn’t anonymous.

But this decision does come with some costs.

I don’t actively engage myself in SBC discussions in the blog world because I agree that it’s a bit weasely to put your thoughts out there while remaining anonymous.

I’m probably cutting myself off from some great relationships. I read blogs by folks like Dave, Benjamin, or Kevin, and think “I’d like to get to know these guys better.” Part of the intimacy of their blogs is because I know their names, where they live, and what they do. If they were anonymous, I don’t think I would have had the same level of appreciation.

But overall, I think that it is the right decision…for now, anyway.

You Gotta Hate Those Hidden Rules...

Acadmic blogs can affect your career.

Housecleaning

I am finally entering the 20th cenutry and updating to Blogger 2.0. I am currently going through the previous posts and tagging them for the purpose of easier sorting and reading. As if anyone should ever want to either of those two things.

I have no idea how this will affect everyone's feedburners and blog readers, so for the next day or so, just plan on instantly deleting any new posts from me on your blog-readers.

Which is actually what I suspect most of you do anyway...

National De-Lurking Week

This week is National DeLurking Week. There are a couple of you who lurk on this blog and don't ever identify yourselves.

Would you like to say hello in the comments section?



HT: UTC

The "Best" of 2006

Here are my favorite family posts of the year!

On Squealer's Cheese Obessions (here and here)

On Skeeter's table manners

On Kadie's mistreatment

On my poor parenting

The sad tale (tail?) of Shrimy's demise

and my favorite:

The case of the Pig Headed Snatchgrabber

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