To all of my students (especially the ones who are in high school):

Please do not water down the English language by cheapening our words of value. Don’t make “love” the equivalent of “like.” it cheapens the real deal.

Take a look at this cute, thought-provoking video about this idea…
(And by the way, these guys have a lot of good videos. Check them out!)

If you’ve been in my office, you know that my desk is…well, cluttery. I usually apologize for the clutter when people visit my office, and I usually quip that the messiness of my desk is an indicator of my level of busyness. As it turns out, Donald Trump believes the same way I do! Check out this video…shot from his desk.

I recently came across this helpful (and short) video from John Maxwell.  He asks the questions, “Why Do You Want to Be A Leader?” A good question to ask ourselves. Sometimes our motives get muddied. It’s time for a gut check.

The truth is that we should lead because we want to add value to people. Watch the video to hear what John Maxwell has to say about this important aspect of leadership. It’s an excerpt from the Catalyst Conference a few years ago.

My wife found this video today, and since I’m a teacher, I found it to be real really funny true. I hope you can appreciate it as much as I did.  And, by the way, these guys have several good videos.  Check ‘em out.

Here’s a cute little clip.  It’s not spiritual or anything, but it’ll probably make most dad’s smile.  It’s a commercial for Volkswagen, and though I’m not a VW guy, I did enjoy this ad.  Why?  Because I have a son who would do just this. Watch and enjoy (especially if you know my son).

(Via ChurchCrunch)

Like many of you, I have simply been swamped with activity over the past few weeks (Thus, less blogging).  I went from a busy Christmas season straight into an intensive at Liberty University (My last one for my Master of Sacred Theology degree!)  and then got right to work planning for the launch of our new service at my church.  We’re calling it Church At The GYM. Check it out!

With all that’s going on, I am really looking forward to the Catalyst One Day conference that’s coming to my own backyard.  I think it’s going to be an incredibly challenging and inspirational opportunity.  The topic is building a healthy church culture… an important topic for us as we launch a new service.

If you’ll be in the Orlando area on February 17, you should come!

BTW, early bird registration ends January 27, 2011.  See you there!

When I was a a freshman in high school, I went through a phase where I was really in to Estes model rockets.  I loved those things!  I had an entire set up with multiple rockets and all.  I had a remote activated launch pad that made me feel like I was mission control, and I even had a shuttle-shaped rocket.  I had little rockets and big rockets.  I had one’s that glided to the ground and I had one’s that parachuted to the ground.  It was a lot of fun.  I hope one day that my son, Jeremiah, is in to something like that.  You know, a hobby that we can do together.

Well anyway, one day my dad, my brother, and I all went to the local elementary school to launch a rocket. This was back when elementary schools actually let the public use the playground and recess fields. Nowadays, the public schools are ironically closed to the public with 6 foot high fences around the entire perimeter. So anyway, it was a nice, overcast, Florida afternoon at the elementary school. We chose that location because there was plenty of space. I could launch a rocket and then go and retrieve it from across the field.

On this particular day, we were set to launch a special rocket that deployed a GI Joe action figure from the aircraft and allowed him to parachute to the ground. My brother loaned us the GI Joe, and I securely attached the parachute. It was going to be great. The launch went flawlessly. The rocket soared into the air. And then, at just the right moment, the rocket deployed the GI Joe, parachute and all. And that’s when it happened. You see, on this particular day, we neglected to account for one thing…the wind. As the rocket fell harmlessly to the ground, the GI Joe drifted farther and farther away as the wind took him across the field, over the tree line, and beyond our eyesight. The GI Joe was gone forever. It was a bittersweet day. The launch was perfect, but we lost the GI Joe. But don’t worry for my brother though, we went to Wal-Mart right away to replace his action figure.

So, the moral of the story is two-fold.  First, it’s good to get out there and try something cool with the people you love.  Aim high… the sky’s the limit.  Second, when you go out to do something big, make sure you plan well.  Expect the wind.

Here’s an interesting video I came across recently. Back in the day, my shuttle-shaped rocket was pretty cool, but the father and son team in the video below actually sent a balloon into space! Now, it’d be really easy to say “Yeah, sure they did (insert a sarcastic phrase here).” I mean, when you let a helium balloon go, it disappears into the sky. Who knows what happens? Well, these guys are different.  They sent a huge balloon into space and tracked it’s journey with an on-board HD video camera and an iPhone (for GPS). Check out the video. These guys dreamed big. And, you should too! Go out there and do something big!

Homemade Spacecraft from Luke Geissbuhler on Vimeo
Video from a camera attached to a weather balloon that rose into the upper stratosphere and recorded the blackness of space. Visit www.brooklynspaceprogram.org for all the info.

Twitter is supposed to be an open and honest window into the daily lives of the people we know.  But sometimes, that transparency can be dangerous…especially for Christians.  Rick Warren got some heat from fellow Christians just a couple of weeks ago because of this very thing.  In the process of expressing the spiritual strength of his church, he stirred up the Christian twittersphere.  His comments were misunderstood.  That said, it almost seems like someone should put together a Christian guide to the twitterverse.

Well, in the absence of an official, agreed-upon, nominated, voted-for, ratified, all-inclusive, God-breathed Twitter handbook for Christians, Jon Acuff from Stuff Christians Like has put together a list of 32 helpful guidelines.  While Jon’s stuff is usually meant to be half-serious and humorous, I think he’s on to something here.  These are his thoughts:

Christian Twitter Guidelines

1. Beware “the boy who cried retweet.” If you retweet everyone, you might as well retweet no one.

2. A photo online is forever. Don’t tweet a picture unless you’re ready for it to exist forever online.

3. If their Twitter profile lists “tickle fights” and “wearing bikinis” as their hobbies, they’re not real.

4. Complaining that someone you follow “tweets too much,” is the peak of Twitter selfishness.

What you’re saying is, “I know you have 200 followers, but I feel like you should have checked with me on the number of tweets I tolerate a day. It’s 7. And you just tweeted your eighth time of the day.”

5. If you’re a pastor, you are contractually obligated to tweet how hott your wife is or that you married up or out of your league.

6. When you write a rude tweet to tell someone they were rude, you create such a forcefield of irony it makes Alanis Morissette’s teeth hurt

7. Worrying about someone hating you is like chasing down a car that gave you the middle finger on the highway. Let it go.

8. Don’t make grand claims you won’t fulfill. I once promised to tweet through a section of the Bible. I didn’t. Epic fail on me.

9. Always, always double check that you’re sending a private direct message not a public tweet. Switching the two is not so awesome.

10. If a tweet gets retweeted a bunch, avoid the temptation to write 47 versions of that tweet. Quit tweeting a dead horse.

11. “Do what you love and you will find someone who loves the same thing; don’t look for love. Don’t beg for love, or suffer for love.”

You know who write that positive message? Snooki from the Jersey Shore show on MTV. Everyone and their grandmother tweets affirmations. Be careful that your amount of positive messages don’t make other people feel negative. I’m not above writing the odd positive tweet myself, but when you rainbow it all day, it can feel fake.

12. Don’t tweet holier than you normally talk. Don’t get seminary mouth all of the sudden when you get on Twitter.

13. Asking for a retweet is a bad way to first introduce yourself to someone. Make friends, not favors on twitter.

14. A smiley face is twitter’s version of “bless her heart.” You can’t tweet a jerk statement and then think ending it with a erases it.

15. If you’re married, you have 2 options for your photo: you kissing your spouse or a photo from your wedding.

16. Keep your name short. Your email address might be “GodismykingIpraisehiminthemorning777” but that’s too long to retweet.

17. Twitter has a 2 to 1 sarcasm ratio. For every 2 people who get your sarcasm, 1 person will take you seriously and think you’re a jerk.

18. Sending a link is like sending a piece of your reputation, send it carefully.

19. Don’t be 2 different people on twitter. Tweet the way you live. If you wouldn’t say something flirty in “real life,” don’t on Twitter.

20. Twitter is tone deaf. Be hyper careful about trying to speak subtly on Twitter. Words can be misinterpreted very, very easily.

21. Don’t become a “Christian Provocateur.” That’s great your church is doing a sermon on sex. Just don’t create fake sexy tweets for “buzz”

22. Focus on tweeting something vital, not something viral.

23. Don’t “twudge,” which is just twitter’s version of judging someone’s entire soul based on a 140-character tweet.

24. Don’t create silly words using the tw prefix. That goes for me too, “twudge?” Good grief! It’s so tempting though or twempting.

25. Don’t mistake number of followers on twitter for success on twitter. Measure quality of interactions not quantity of interactions.

26. Twitter is just a medium. Don’t fall so deeply in love that you think it won’t disappear or evolve like every other medium.

27. Resist the temptation to “turn on a speaker” during a conference. Public tweets are great for compliments, but bad for criticism.

I’ve seen this happen with hashtags, the way people can collectively see tweets about a certain subject. As a speaker, I love feedback from people in the crowd about what I’m talking about. But I think you should email or direct message your criticism and publically tweet your compliments. The ability to sway a crowd into a negative space is pretty massive. And let’s be honest, if during the middle of a conference speech you verbally screamed out, “That last point was whack!” your friends would sit somewhere else.

28. There needs to be some international sign that means, “I’m tweeting lines from the sermon during church.”

Right now, people think you’re playing Angry Birds if you use your iPhone during church. Until we have that sign, just do what I do and yell, “I’m tweeting the sermon!”

29. Look at a whole web page before you send a link to one thing you like on it.

A number of times I’ll be about to use twitpic and realize there’s a half naked photo for American Apparel on the page that is hosting the photo. I use the direct link option on image shack. You can’t be held accountable for the whole web, but be careful.

30. Twitter time is different from real time. Responding to a tweet from last week is like referencing the 1840s. Stay current or stay quiet

31. Unfortunately, 140 characters will not allow you to use a Christian email signature like, “In his grip,” in each tweet.

32. Be careful about sending someone an automatic direct message when they follow you. I’ve never had a good experience with one of those.

Pretty good start at our handbook, huh?  So, what more should we add?

Have you ever found yourself on vacation and in need of a file that’s on your home computer?  Or maybe, you’d just like to be able to access your multiple computers from multiple places.  Forget expensive services like GoToMyPC.  Instead, opt for a free alternative.  This service can really help you get more done.

For about a year now, I’ve been using a free (as in FREE) service from a company named LogMeIn.  And that’s pronouned Log…Me…In, by the way.  It’s not some new dish at the local Chinese takeout.

LogMeIn has a full suite of services, but two in particular are likely to offer the free functionality that you’ll find helpful.  Here’s a rundown on the two services.

LogMeIn Free
The first service allows you to securely connect to your PC through any web browser.  In essence, it will open up your desktop in a browser window.  What you see through the browser is what you’d see if you were sitting right in front of the PC in your home.

LogMeIn Hamachi²
The second service links your various PCs so that they appear to be in the same network group…meaning you can share files and use your remote desktop client.  They are linked as if they were all at the same site.

5 Reasons Your Should Use LogMeIn
So, let me sum up the top five reasons you should use one of the flavors of LogMeIn.

1. It’s Free - You pay nothing for personal use of these services.
2. It’s Secure – Your data is encrypted. It’s safe.
3. It’s Simple – Although LogMeIn may sound geeky, anyone can use it!
4. It’s Convenient – You will save time.  You can work on files from anywhere.  No more driving back to the house to get the files you need.
5. It’s Cross-Compatible – The browser-based version can be used on PC & Mac.

So, check it out!  This could be just the thing you’ve been waiting for.  No complicated port forwarding or other advanced router stuff.  Just a great product that’s simple to use.

Here’s a video clip that shows how easy it is to set up LogMeIn Free.

By no means am I one of those Apple fanatic (You know who you are).   I mean, the only Apple product I own is a second generation iPod Nano…which was given to me by my brother.  It was broken at the time, and I got it fixed.  I’m content right now with my Windows Quad-core, Netbook,  and Phone.  That said, I do think pretty highly of Apple products.  They’re well-made…just expensive.

This past week though, I came across an impressive video featuring the new iPhone 4. And, while I am not an Apple user, I am someone who puts together a lot of videos, and I can applaud quality stuff when I see it.  That said, check out this video which was shot and edited entirely  on the iPhone 4. Impressive!