The Heath Mullikin Project

I have accepted many challenges(formerly known as dares) over the years ranging from eating ice cream sandwiches to singing in front of people.  Last week my wife told me that she wanted her birthday present to be a signed contract stating that I will run a half marathon with her this summer on June 6.  This is by far the greatest challenge ever issued to me.  Ironically, when we stopped on the Biggest Loser last night the contestants were running, you guessed, a half marathon of 13.1 miles.  I figure if they can do it then so can I.  The challenge has been accepted and if I don’t at least attempt to complete this race then I will have to suffer the penalty for failing a challenge-I will have to shave off one of my eyebrows.  I have accepted defeat on challenges before and suffered the consequences.  The growing number of challenges led the International Challenge Committee to make eye brow shaving the current penalty for failure.  So, come Middle School camp, I will either be in great shape and an avid runner or I will be the same old lovable, short, fat Heath with only one eyebrow.  I love my wife and I know this means alot to her and it should also mean alot to me.  I look forward to training, racing together, and knocking one more challenge out of the park.

I hope to hear your comments and answers to the following questions:

1.  Perry Noble described the “Emergent” church movement as “spoiled church kids who have a problem with authority” at Unleash last Thursday.  I tend to agree with him.  How about you?

2.  If one family is praying for the release of a prisoner and another family is praying that they stay imprisoned then who does God listen to?

3.  When was the last time you begged God to give you vision?  Is it safer not to do that?

4.  How does the Wesleyan denomination institute higher standards of integrity and accountability for its ministers-from students to the ordained?

5.  Chapel Hill was much larger than I expected.  Have you ever visited there and what was your take?

6.  Can you be guilty and a victim at the same time?  What’s your take on 1 Corinthians 5?

7.  In honor of St. Patty’s Day what do you make of this?

8.  What’s your preference-Tomlin, Crowder, Fee, or Hillsong?

9.  Anybody got any home remedies or suggestions to keeping two new kindergarten students well?  The absenses are piling up and Milena has after school makeup days starting today.

10.  Anybody else finding glitches in MLB 2009 the Show?  IN Road to the Show it won’t let me, as a shortstop, get to second on a double play.  Once the ball is thrown, my player stops and it’s usually not close enough to tag the bag.  Any other 20 somethings still playing video games every now and then?  I play for less than an hour a week, but I’ve been busy.

11.  Did anybody else’s son wake you up at 3:33 am and you thought it was 6:45?  Did your son want cheesies too?  Cheesies and cartoons at 4 am-am I in college again?

12.  Is it just me or does President Obama give a speech every day?  Was it just me or did he, in the same speech, praise the CEO of AIG(who has run the company into the ground) while chastising them for giving out bonuses with bailout money?

13.  Are you as excited as me for my big announcement on tomorrow’s blog?  I am announcing the craziest thing I have ever tried to do and it doesn’t involve camp or ice cream sandwiches!

First of all, if you haven’t watched this yet then go do it.

Charlie and I attended the Unleash conference at Newspring yesterday.  I’m sure there will be links soon to view the main sessions.  Perry Noble is bringing bluntness back to preaching.  I greatly admire Newspring’s ministry because of the impact it’s had on people I know.  So many of my high school friends are genuinely excited about their faith because of God’s work in them through Newspring.  I saw several of them yesterday as volunteers.  I also have some friends on staff.  I know there are a lot of Newspring haters out there, but this church is the real deal.  I was working in Central when God exploded on them.  I was skeptical at first, but the proof of God’s spirit and vision are there.  Yesterday rocked my face off.  I only wish now I had told Charlie I couldn’t preach on the 22nd because as soon as I agreed, God started laying a message on my heart that will be difficult to preach. Hopefully, it will rock Denton Wesleyan’s world.  It may be titled,”Do you make God nauseous?”  I attended Tony Morgan’s, my blogging hero, seminar on multi-site ministry.  He was very humble in the fact that they didn’t have all the answers to what God had been doing.  He basically laid out what they were doing and said-this may or may not work for you.  I only regret not speaking to him and even getting a picture.  How many bloggers has he influenced?  I also picked up his new book, KIlling Cockroaches.  I gotta finish the two I’m currently working on first.  I wanted Charlie to be able to put a face to the place and people that I’m always raving about.  Even more encouraging is the fact that we already own almost as much land as Newspring.  Now we just need God to fill it with people.  My bro, Tim Kirkpatrick, txted me yesterday and asked,”How can I pray for you?”  I told him to pray that God would make me uncormfortable.  I’m tired of praying safe prayers.  Safe prayers lead to complacency.  Complacency leads to apathy.  Apathy leads to disobedience.  Disobedience leads to death.  It is good to be home with the family.  The Revolution will not be televised, but March Madness will.

So, me and Charlie are sitting in a hotel in Anderson, SC getting ready to go to the Unleash conference at Newspring.  I can’t wait to see Charlie’s eyes when we enter the facility.  Did that last comment sound a little Fontaine?  There is a lot going on right now.  Many things I want to comment on.  Most of you know what I’m talking about.  Personally, God is using a tradgedy to stir something big in my heart.  I am having my Jerry Maguire moment and I’m just waiting for the time to type all my thoughts and hopefully spur some thought, discussion, and change to strengthen us all.  These events have rocked me to the core and made me question my motives, my methods, and my boundaries.  All I know is my amazing wife led the discussion at youth tonight(in my absense) and I’m sure she hit it out of the park.  I know it was a tough thing for her to do since the topic was dating issues for girls.  I miss her and the kids tonight.  Pray for me because I already know that I will be gone for more weeks than usual this summer.  Pray that I will invest in my family in a way where these weeks away are not a burden but a blessing.  Pray that God will provide Karen help with the kids while I am away.  I am excited for the girls to go to their first kids camp this summer and I know God will provide what we need for them to go.  They are so excited and knew we were heading toward the camp the other day when I went toward Asheboro instead of Lexington.  They said-“this is the way to camp.”  Drake answered the phone one day with a “Hello.”  Still not sure if he did it on his own or if mother put him up to it.  He’s potty training full swing now so pray for patience for us and good aim for him.  My grandmother came home last week and her and Papa Cain have someone staying with them to help around the house thru the week.  I am hoping to see all of my family soon especially all of my grandparents.  Am I wrong to think that family is the bedrock of society?  Sadly, many families today have no Biblical foundation and many that appear to, in fact, do not.  I want to squealch many rumors and go ahead and let you know that I have agreed to Karen’s request to run a half marathon this summer.  It’s about 15 weeks away.  Yeah, I know I haven’t run 13.1 miles combined in my life, but I’ve got the 12 week training plan to help me along slowly.  Very slowly.  Gives a whole new meaning to the lyric-I am free to run!  I haven’t had a Mountain Dew in a week, but I did have ribs from Sardi’s Den tonight.  I am not staying in a Holiday Inn Express so I will be completely useless tomorrow.

Well, much of the family is sick today and Drake is rummaging thru my office so I will be brief.  I don’t know if you’ve heard about this story.  It’s quite embarrassing if you ask me as an American.  Apparently, the first family did not read up on gift giving etiquette and now the British are a wee bit peeved.  There are three links to British sources that sum up the story really well.  Is this as big a deal as I think it is?  Do our DVD’s even play over there?  Did the Obamas check to see if PM Brown already had some of the titles?  Anyway, I was blown away and it’s ironic that Democrats accused George Bush of turning our the world against us.  Well, England was one of our few great allies and hopefully they will forgive this moment of very poor taste and judgement.  If only the Administration could use some bailout money to buy a clue.

1.  I didn’t need these scientists to tell me that listening to sexually explicit music influences teens to have sex.  The title of their study should be-“DUH!”

2.  Apparently, Mcdonald’s being out of McNuggets is grounds to call 911.

3.  I normally don’t like or trust TMZ but here’s Ms. Suleman’s 911 call.  Am I the only one who is weirded out by this?

4.  Say it ain’t so-No Mo TO.

5.  Where do I get tickets for this?

6.  U2 will announce their new tour this Monday.  Do tickets go on sale the same day?  This is gonna be a stadium tour so it looks like Charlotte will be my best bet.

7.  Here’s a link to a funny but sad and true cartoon plus some others.

8.  Read this conversation between Rush Limbaugh and an unemployed caller about unemployed individuals being helped more from the stimulus than working families.

9.  How much does it pay Manny to be Manny?  A lot.

10.  It the wake of the news that many Facebook apps have hidden viruses, I have responded by added more Facebook apps(do quizzes count) in the past week than ever before.

I don’t watch the Bachelor(but I’ve played one on TV) so can anyone explain to me what all of the fuss is about.