Tonight was O2 night at Oxygen. Once a month, all of the small groups get together and do their own thing apart from the regular service. "Xcel" (the best group in the world...fyi "mine") had a student led night that went amazing. Front Line (our student leaders) talked about who they see when they look in the mirror and how they should see past the immediate insecurities to catch a glimpse of who God made them to be. I loved that after they told their peers what insecurities that they personally face when they look in the mirror, that it didn't end there. Front line went on to tell them how they moved passed their struggles and dealt with it. A great night then ended with some powerful prayer. I'm convinced that our kids have what it takes to turn the mirror around and love each other like they were created to do.

(my boy Angel in the pic above)

If I Was a Dead Pharaoh...

Last night's events included: eternal probation, an intense game of airsoft, and The Bucket List at the dollar movies (master's budget). Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson are great together. Friends have told me that they weren't a fan of the movie and the ratings didn't blow me away, but I'm gonna go ahead and disagree. I was impressed with not only the acting, but the story line and characters were well developed, I laughed...a lot, and it probably had one of the best endings I'd seen in a while. The biblical content (less the cussing) was evident and I learned something new about Egyptians that I probably won't forget anytime soon.

In the movie, Morgan (a mechanic that knows all the answers in Jeopardy) tells Jack (a self-made billionaire) that when Egyptians die, they are asked two questions before they are able to enter the afterlife. their answers would determine where they would live forever....and ever...and ever...and ever(David Crowder will pay.) The first was, "did you find joy in your life?" and the second was like it..."did you bring joy to others?" Brain jerker, yeah? Kinda sounds like something J might say. It also makes me glad I'm not a dead Pharaoh back in the day, since I'm still working on em' both. Think you would have passed?

I give the movie a thumbs up...plus like three stars. A little slow, but good solid film that makes you think about life and death and dying and God and all that other good stuff. My really smart brother told me that the cinematography was good as well (for those of you insanely harsh film critics out there). Go see it.

Back 2 Back is Back!

Mexico team is officially home. Judy Gregory lead a team on a back 2 back mission trip to Monterey Mexico. Hit up Judy's blog for the day by day. (click the pic)

The Art of Tuesdays

---7:00-9:00 p.m.---
Seven and a half months into Masters, my Tuesday night routine has been established. The first event is 722. My car is small, but Scottie n' I usually try to bring at least one classmate with us to share the love. This week it was RC.

Kristian led the worship and Jarrett gave the message. The series was titled "all of the above" and Jarrett talked about how we tend to classify everything as either spiritual or secular. Generally, we would say that spiritual things are good and secular things are bad. Even though there are many aspects of the secular world that are influenced by sin, there is still no reason that we can't find the good in it and merge the two worlds. What Jarrett suggested is that we tear down the walls and instead of trying to cram our secular world into our spiritual world and making it work, we should instead take our spiritual world and include it in our secular one.

All in all, a great night. Worship was out of the park and the message was right on. It really made me think and challenged some mind sets that I've been raised in. My Tuesday nights would not be the same without a little 722.

---9:30-11:00p.m.---

After chillin' at Buckhead, the next stop is Java Monkey. Heather Luttrell is the definition of a fiery red head and she plays every Tuesday. She's also the only artist that is actually paid to play. I'm ok with that, because she's just amazing. Heather sings from her soul with her bluesy pipes. She new me right away when I walked in the door and we both laughed, because we new WHY she remembered me. The first time I went to hear her play, I opened my mouth to say "hi", but forgot to quit talking with my Aussie accent. Rather than correct myself, I kept up the act and told her I was from Sydney. After bit, I left to get some coffee and when I came back I dropped the accent and said, "Heather, I can't lie. I'm not from Australia." She looked me in the eye with her jaw dropped and said..."you (bad word)". We laughed and I apologized. This week I said I was sorry again, but I'm glad I did it. She still remembers me.

She's an amazing musician that's been all over. Usually accompanied by Walter, (violin, mandolin, harmonica player extraordinaire) Heather has toured for years and shared the stage with names like Elton John. Being able to hear her play every week is nothing shy of a perfect ending to a Tuesday night.

as of 4.13...click the pic

Five Star Yo.

Over spring break (a while ago I know) I had a chance to get some Starbucks with Seth Maust. Seth is one of those leaders that is just easy to follow. You can see the love shine through his life and into the kids he surrounds himself with. He told me about how amazing the ministry is doing and the future plans blow my mind. There are a lot of things that I miss back home and Five Star is pretty high on the list. I'm not gonna lie...leaving the meeting, I felt inspired.

Later that week, I got to chill with some of my old kids at Discovery Middle School. We had a blast and they even let me play dodgeball with em' (I was previously banned from the sport due to a glasses incident).

I'm not sure exactly what my summer is going to look like, but I'm convinced that Five Star will be a priority.

For more info about the ministry and getting involved, click the pic.

Put Em' on the Ipod

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals have officially invaded my Ipod. I'm convinced that the 70's are NOT over and the hippies had it right when they defined rock n' roll...not so much everything else, but at least rock n' roll. Nickelback is not a sufficient substitute for what Led Zeppelin started and I'm happy to announce that The Rolling Stones will never quit touring. That said...Grace Potter is one of the most refreshing sounds I've heard in a while. Think Brandi Carlile or a female Bob Dylan. They're young, but they're also playing shows at Bonnaroo and opening up for names like Gov't Mule. I highly recommend the ipod add...or just go buy tickets, they tour like mad, so you won't have to drive far. Let me know what you think.

(to any Nickelback fans that I may have offended in this post...I apologize...but please move on)

Dave Who?

Dave in the studio? I'm excited. July. 2 Nights. I'm excited about that too. http://ilike.com/artist/Dave+Matthews+Band

Scottie is a Rockstar

Tailgate 08 would not have been complete without the musical genius of Scottie Infalt (my bro). After the chants and dances were done, all of Oxygen found their way inside. The night before, masters students spent hours turning the youth room into an elaborate beach scene. It was tight. After a little worship and some anouncements, Scottie took the stage. With the help of a few others, he had written a song to promote spring retreat. Complete with "50 cent" remarks and intentional "oops's", my little bro owned the stage. Had the epic moment been captured on film, it could have quite possibly taken youtube by storm, but since no one thought it would be THAT good...just imagine 300+ students joining with Scottie singing:

On retreeeeeeeeat

On retreeeeeeeeat

So get on the bus and come ride with us

So get on the bus and come ride with us

To retreat

They Sang What?!

Jesus watches American Idol.

This is the Truth

If you are not one of the 939,201 people that have viewed this video... then click play. Ummm...click play anyways. It's a real life-changer.

GCC production

Tailgate 08

Tonight I learned...



Tiki torches are overrated...



The key to a good chant is break dancing...



Ethnicity has very little to do with how high you can jump...



How low I can go...before my back gives out...



Angel can do a backflip and Jeanne Mayo CAN be afraid for his life...



Worship goes well with parties...or anything for that matter...



I will miss my kids more then I thought I would...

Outcome or Action?

The more I read this book, The Irresistible Revolution, the farther my brain stretches. Not in a bad way, I love the thought provoking questions and statements that Shane makes, but I will admit...headaches usually occur. The whole concept is a new, radical way of loving and bringing "up there down here". If you've been around GCC for more then a week, then you've heard that line.

Scottie and I had a night off a couple of days ago and just chilled at Java. We dreamed about our future and talked about love. The church's perspective of love, the world's take on love, and Shane's idea of love. My brain started to do it's thing (hurt) and something came to me. Why is it so hard to convince people that love is the answer? It seems like a no brainer to so many of us, yet it's a concept that most of the world just can't wrap their head around. Radio stations tell you music is the fix, movies provoke violence mixed with artificial affection, but they all have something in common. They promise results. If you kill the bad guy, you'll win the war...if you love the girl, you'll get the kiss. It makes it a little hard to advertise an unconditional kind of love to a world that can't see the outcome.


It's no secret that Christians have developed an amazingly horrible name for themselves and avoiding "love" at all costs seems to be their motto. So how do we get across that it isn't even the outcome that we're striving for at all? It's the action. Bottom line: the point of loving your neighbor as yourself is not to create a perfect heaven here on earth, (we all know that won't happen until "J" returns again) but to simply love. And by simply loving unconditionally, the satisfaction and joy will set in. Isn't that what they're all searching for anyways? So the goal is not to create a world of love, it is only to love. To not bring all of heaven down here, but infect the world with as many little pieces of it as we can. It's about as hard as selling an invisible Savior to a world addicted to "touch". So love. It's not the outcome...it's the action.

Not a Fan

This is pollen under a microscope. Turns out it "loves" Atlanta in the spring. The underlying problem...I do not "love" it. I knew that I had a mild case of allergies, but DANG SON! Let's look at some of the pros and cons of pollen.

THE BAD PART...

my nose will not shut up.

it has invaded my apartment.

it is on my car.

it is IN my car.

I sneezed in class. It was bad timing. It was embarrassing. I blame pollen.

it attracts GIANT man eating bumble bees.

THE GOOD PART...

the bees are happy.

All in all...I am not a fan of pollen. This is one aspect about the south that me AND my nose could do with out, but I guess that I would still trade it for snow. Hands down.

jam with my bro

Scottie and I had the opportunity to play some music while we were in South Bend. My mom came home from work on Tuesday and said that I needed to call Jeff. SO! Since I always listen to my mom right away, I called Jeff. 3 hours later. Jeff has been interning with GCC for a while now and was recently brought on staff with the youth ministry. (I love Jeff). One of his responsibilities with the ministry is lining up the worship band every week. Since the team had just returned from a two week tour of the country, there wasn't a band set up for Oasis. So he asked us to play! I got all excited and attempted to contain my enthusiasm. We just did an acoustic set with Jeff on the drums. Just in case you're interested, Our Love is Loud, I Am Free, and Mighty to Save was the set. I think that I'd forgotten how much I really missed the kids and leading worship. Asside from the brief moment when I forgot the chorus to "Might to Save", I think it was an amazing night. We got to chill with the kids and I was reminded how horrible of a football player that I truly am (and yet I still have fun). I do believe that junior higher's have my heart for keeps.

A little later that week, we got to play at a local coffee house, "sufficient grounds". It was a chill night, we played some tunes and people sat and talked and laughed and listened. We are insanely blessed to have amazing family and friends that came out to support us. Scottie and I love music. Honestly...I'm looking forward to life with my bro filled with tunes, friends, fam, and "J" (J-man, J-dizzy, Jesus)...but we just call Him "J".

722 Update

I can honestly say that the ride to 722 last night, was possibly the best car ride I've been a part of this year (with the exception of a "memorable" family time). It took 20 minutes to convince Vinny and Andrew to come along with Scottie n' I, but I'm glad we took the time to get them in the car. They are two of the funniest guys I know and when you put them together...instant party. We arrived a few minutes late and walked into an auditorium that looked a little different then what I was used to. The band was on a stage in the middle of the room with the chairs circled around it. A sound system (killer) was placed right over their head and it was an acoustic, intimate night for 722. They had a guest speaker that talked on the golden rule and how so many times we overlook the fact that it's hard to love other people if you're not ok with yourself. Insecurities can cloudy up your sense of love and make it hard to dish out. Good insight, cool guy...Joel, I think was his name. But mostly loved the worship. Kristian Stanfill is quickly becoming one of my favorite worship leaders n' Scottie and I decided we could follow him to the throneroom anytime. I love 722 much.

no conviction here

Here's the story. We arrived back in Atlanta from spring break around 12:37 am. After we quickly unloaded the vehicle, I received a call from my buddy Josh. He informed me that He and RC had just gone to get their mail and by the mailboxes were hundreds of phonebooks. He also told me that he had the keys to everyone's apartment (second year perk I guess). SO! We wasted no time in ripping out every page of 30+ phonebooks and stashing the pages in Caleb and Rey's room. The video was shot by Brian Mizell who "brilliantly" followed Caleb around after he found the mess of phonebooks while the roommates played the scenario out. They deserve oscars.

side note - we are all still friends and no feelings were hurt in the filming of this prank and YES...we recycled the paper.

Highlights: part two

Tuesday, my dad took us to the old Studebaker museum downtown. I honestly didn't have huge expectations for a bunch of old cars, but I actually had a good time. I think the funnest part was probably watching RC and Neil drool over the fully restored muscle cars that were 40+ years old. It was kind of like watching Tim Allen on "Home Improvement"...complete with grunts, groans, and listing of car stats with every new shiny piece of metal.

One of the things that caught my eye were these strategically placed signs throughout the museum that read "give more than you promise". I didn't think much on it at first, but it really struck me a little harder as my dad pointed out how much effort and detail went into each car. I later learned that the reason Studebaker is no longer in business is because of the effects of World War II. However, before they went under, Studebaker was one of the leading motor vehicle manufacturers and actually put South Bend, IN on the map. I'm not sure the exact reason for the company's success, but I wouldn't be surprised if it had something to do with them giving MORE then they promised. Maybe not a bad line to live by. So I thought..."wow...that's gotta be a Jeanne-ism."

Highlights: part one

-lil side note- "my apologies for the lack of posting. spring break laziness has taken over my body and it was, quite honestly, out of my control...

Ashtar. Easter. Tommy.

Easter was at my house this year...first time ever! The house was invaded by my amazing lil cousins. All six of em'. Mom spent a total of 14 hours in the kitchen making Easter dinner which was GOOOOOOOD.

After dinner was the classic "hunt". (Which by no means beat the first year hunt that was PJ and Jenna initiated right before break)...but still entertaining. I played the easter bunny or "Ashtar" as we learned in class. I think my Aunt took the icon "bunny" a little too far when she handed me THOUSANDS of little plastic eggs filled with what must have been HUNDREDS of bucks worth of candy. So I strategically placed each one :) ...in the middle of the yard. As huge as our back yard is, there are still only so many bushes, windows, and gutters. So the yard worked out just fine. But all in all, priceless moments. Tommy and Autumn (top right and bottom right) ran and screamed and smiled...and jumped (for the egg I placed 15' off the ground in a tree).

I love my cousins.

And if I haven't already shared this..I love my parents. They still get me an Easter basket...........I KNOW! I love em' much.

Finally, I close this entry with a "caught-red-handed-moment" ...this is my cousin Eric. He's officially been caught red handed :)

10 Reasons Why BUCK-BUCK is a Great Game

If you're not familiar with the game, let me give you the quick run through.

Set up: One line of people get in the "chair" position with their heads tucked to one side of the person in front of them forming the "base". Another line of people stand about 20ft. back from the base (smallest first).

Object: The line standing behind the base yells "buck buck!" (then whatever number they are in line) really loud and run n' jump on the base. The process repeats until the base cannot contain the MASS weight on their backs and collapses.

Here's why it's good.

1. kids learn how to form a proper "single-file-line"

2. a "little guy" strategically placed in between two "big guys" can make the "little guy" feel like a "buff big guy" with 10 kids on his back.

3. big guys get piggy back rides.

4. laughter is mandatory.

5. the leader can lift up the student (in more ways then one).

6. co-ed is ok.

7. the art of "jumping" is perfected.

8. the short guys feel love because they get to jump first.

9. it makes God laughs.

10. everyone falls together and everyone gets back up together.

North Terminal

Air port runs have become just one more routine in this masters world. You tend to have a lot of interesting conversations with youth leaders behind the closed doors of a car. My friend Austin recalls a car full of "female" cadre members FORGET that he was in the car and started talking about libido's or something. (I still don't know what it is, but he didn't make it sound like it was "appropriate" conversation.) I've had some amazing talks with youth pastors from around the world and some rides that were nothing but awkward silence. This morning's 10 o'clock was one of my favorites.

I picked up Nick, who was staying in apartment 132, at exactly 10:02. oops. Nick was the last one left in the apartment and he was ready to go. Greeted with a smile, Nick seemed like a genuine down-to-earth-Jesus-lover.

We hit it off right away with our common interest in music. When I asked him what he was in the mood to listen to, (which is always a scary thing for me, because I'm a little picky) Nick listed off my 5 top worship leaders and we were in business. So as we listened to David Crowder's new cd "Remedy", we started to talk. Nick had noticed my new airsoft rifle in my trunk when he put his bag in and shared a story about how his "amazing" intern flooded their church with pin-point accuracy when he took his airsoft pistol and nailed the "detonator" on the sprinkler head in the ceiling (it was a dare). I asked him about the cadre and he had nothing but amazing things to say. Then conversation turned exciting when he mentioned his small group.

I was intrigued. I shared with him my dream to go home, get a house, and have it based around a small group. He got a little excited too with the idea and thoughts started to fire. He shared how he was able to bring his small group together and create a sense of family with a red-hot burning ember. Nick told his small group that embers have to be together in a fire to stay hot and when he took one out of the fire, it died out.

Blown away by the creative tactics flowing from Nick's brain, I told him about one other goal that I had for the group. I said that I want to challenge the kid's way of thinking far beyond what they're used to or comfortable with. I want to push them to crazy extremes and get them to actually DO something and LIVE Christianity AS they learned about it. Nick suggested that I ask this; "why do people only look to God when their world is falling apart? Challenge them to ask their piers who they look to when life is going GOOD."

Just as he finished explaining the question, we pulled up to the North Terminal. I grabbed his number really quick and said I'd like to stay in touch. He encouraged me to follow the dream and that if full time ministry doesn't happens to be calling my name, then GOOD! Because "youth pastors need dedicated leaders as much as dedicated leaders need youth pastors." Thanks Nick. I was absolutely blessed to be able to hang with you on the way to the atlanta airport.

No Heaven. No Hell.

So I'm reading this book...the irresistible revolution. There's about a thousand amazing quotes, one liners, and ideas that Shane talks about in his pages of thoughts, but one startled me. I guess it hit hard, because it motivated me enough to pull my laptop out of my bag and write about it. Here's the question; “if there were no heave and there wasn't a hell...would you still follow Jesus?”

Kind of blew my mind a little bit. There's a million different angles to this one, but non the less, I didn't think it was one of those questions that you can have an immediate answer to. Well, that's what I thought until I asked the question to some of my classmates and they blurted out their answer in under five seconds. Most of the answers are what you'd expect, “of course I would.” But my friend Andrew, who I love to death, took a few extra seconds before he responded (still kept it under five) and replied, “no.” I didn't really know what to say. I expected everyone's answer to eventually be yes.

I can honestly say that I don't have an answer to the question right now. I know that my immediate impulse is to blurt out “YES!” at the top of my lungs and be offended toward whoever had the nerve to even ask the question that challenged how much I love my Jesus. I'm just not sure. I know how Christ makes me feel and I can honestly say that I don't know where I'd be without His love, but I also don't know how much I am truly motivated by eternal consequences. Time for a heart check.

So maybe ask yourself the same question. Dwell on it for a day, but not two. Let it eat at you, but not too much. I'll love ya either way and so will He.

the commitment

so whatever thoughts i've had so far this year that i deemed profound are listed below this entry. if anymore come my way, i'll be sure to let you know. something has occurred to me. a blog doesn't make a whole lot of sense to have if you only write in it three times a year. i don't anticipate a large group of readers in the first place, but to anyone wanting to know what goes through my head for whatever reason...i believe that i owe you more than three thoughts, since there are certainly more than that in my head on any given day.

this is what my insane self has thought up now. "i'll actually write." most of the time, i'm sure nothing profound will come out, but then again, life doesn't necessarily have to be profound to be worth telling about. so once a week. (i figured i can start a little slower and hopefully get hooked.) keep your fingers crossed, because my a.d.d. mind just might forget my "blogspot" password. but i will commit to trying to, once a week, let you know what's going on inside my head. more then that...once a week i will try and sort out what is going on inside my head, so it's a win win (depending on the verdict of thoughts). thank you to whoever stumbles accross and decides to read and thank you to everyone who does not.