Archives For General
The new phones were the bonus to needing to upgrade our service plan agreement with Sprint. The plan that we had for the last few years isn’t even available anymore and we actually feel quite “hip” with our new plan that includes unlimited txt, picture, and video mail! Be sure and follow me on Twitter to keep up on the latest pictures and videos that I take with my new phone!
The Sheets family is heading off tomorrow for a weekend away. We’re looking forward to the time together!
My buddy Eric sent me a link to a video via e-mail just a few minutes ago.
In June of this year, Gov. Palin spoke a message to a group of graduates of her home-church’s School of Ministry, Master’s Commission Wasilla, Alaska.
I just watched/listened to the message and was glad to hear the governor’s challenge to the graduates in the name of Jesus.
If you’re interested, the video is here.
From the website’s description of the video:
This video was taken from the Wasilla Assembly of God Church in Wasilla, Alaska. The church’s website has been taken down due to heavy traffic after Governor Palin was selected by Senator John McCain as his running mate. We believe this is an important video for Christians to watch and it is presented here courtesy of Wasilla Assembly of God Church www.wasillaag.net. The church website states that “Governor Palin did attended Wasilla Assembly of God since the time she was a teenager. She and her family were a part of the church up until 2002. Since that time she has maintained a friendship with Wasilla Assembly of God and has attended various conferences and special meetings here. This June, the Governor spoke at the graduation service of our School of Ministry, Master’s Commission Wasilla Alaska.” This is a video of that message.
Just read about a new video-curriculum on Josh Griffin’s site called, “C2”.
Looks interesting! A curriculum based on one of my pet-peeves!
The idea is to watch a short film and then have discussion about how the themes line up with what we know from the Bible! The idea is to TRAIN people to view things with the filter of the Gospel! What a great tool!
Michael W. Smith is behind this new curriculum and his quote on the page says a lot:
“Nearly everyone goes to the movies, but how often do we stop to evaluate what we just watched? My hope is that you will take away from this experience a newly developed filter as you approach the world of entertainment.”
Just read a great article over at Kent Shaffer’s blog, CHURCH RELEVANCE.
Here’s the information:
The University of Texas at Austin spent four years studying the drinking habits of 2,200 college students. Using a smaller sample of students, they focused part of their study on how students celebrate their 21st birthday. Astonishingly, 98.7% of college students drank alcohol to celebrate their 21st birthday.
Side Effects of a 21st Birthday
* 78% had ill effects
* 54% got a hangover
* 44% had a blackout
* 39% did not know how they got home
* 34% threw up
* 26% suffered embarrassment
* 22% found out later that they had sex
* 22% got in a fight or argument
* 16% had to miss school, work, or another obligation on the next day
And it is not just binge drinking (defined as 4-5 drinks). Many students are pushing their physical limits to over 20 drinks, an excess that researchers feel is too gluttonous to be only labeled as binging.
Binge drinking sets a lower threshold than what we’re talking about. We’re saying this is more than four or five drinks. Here it’s people having 10 or 20 drinks. Obviously, binge is a bad thing, but it’s not capturing the high end of drinking we’re interested in characterizing here.
One of the things that really struck us is not only that they’re drinking a hell of a lot but about half of participants were drinking not only more on that night, but they’re drinking more than ever in their lifetime. They’re putting in their lifetime maximum number of drinks in that 24-hour period of their birthday celebration.
– Kenneth Sher :: Professor of Psychology :: University of Missouri
Studies show that between 12% to 34% of students consume 21+ drinks on their 21st birthday. If you minister to college students, realize that their drinking problems may be worse than you thought.
