The Heath Mullikin Project

Do you remember what you were doing on September 10, 2001?  It was a Monday.  Did I watch Monday night football?  Did I take my wife out to dinner?  Did we rent a movie that night?  Did I have a meeting that night?  George Bush was preparing for a visit with Florida school children and thinking about his first year as president.  He was thinking about his domestic agenda, tax cuts, and Education reform.  None of us had a clue that night when we fell asleep that everything was about to change.  Americans went to bed in a world we thought was safe and awoke the next day to a new reality.  What things did we take for granted?  What relationships did we take for granted?  If we could go back to that day what would we do differently?  Has the church provided answers and direction in a world that stopped making sense?  There are kids in my youth group who don’t remember life before 9-11.  How do I work through the rubble and make disciples of this generation?  So, hugs your kids a little tighter, hold your spouse a little closer, talk to your parents on the phone a little longer,  take life a little slower, and love a little stronger.  Everything may change tomorrow.

1.  Well, it’s true.  Let the West Virginia jokes roll.

2.  There’s been a lot of talk about Barack Obama’s work as a community organizer.  To find out more check this out.

3.  Here’s a good article on teen pregnancies.

4.  By now, I’m sure you’ve heard about the remarks made by the host of MTV’s VMA’s.  Three questions-does anyone watch this awards show anymore?  Does anyone even care about MTV anymore?  Does Britney Spears have 9 showbiz lives or what?

5.  With the average Wesleyan church size being between 60 and 80, most churches can’t afford multiple(if any) full-time staff.  This is a harsh reality for young students who graduate expecting to find a full-time staff position.  Older students with familes(27+) tend to plug in with churches either as senior pastors or volunteer staff.  They go to school, work a “secular” job, and minister in a local church while raising a family.  The churches they take aren’t the easiest ones to work at.  Giving is low, growth is slow, and the people are old.  I think the younger students look at their situations and think, “Not for me dude!”  What’s happening is the younger people are looking outside the denomination for work while the older graduates are serving at churches that are in decline.  Our denomination’s problem isn’t a lack of gifted ministers, but how to best utilize the talented ministers we have.  I don’t have THE solution but here are four things I think would get us started:  1.  Close churches that are having no impact in their community.  2.  Better prepare ministerial students for the reality of bi-vocational ministry. 3.  Pair younger and older students as church planting teams to replace the closed churches.  4.  Every minister committing themselves to excellence and integrity because the Lord has to work in us before he can work through us.  Your thoughts?

1.  Political conventions used to be for electing a presidential nominee.  Now, someone usually heads into the conventions with enough primary votes to clinch the nomination.  So, the conventions today are about laying out the parties’ vision for the country.  There are promises made that can’t be kept, won’t be kept, and some shouldn’t be kept.  There are attempts to contrast one nominee’s views with anothers, sometimes without distortions.  Close to 80 million people watch the two nominees speeches combined.  That’s pretty amazing.  Now, if we could just get everybody to vote.  It would be really nice if none of us voted with the mindset, “What’s in this for me?” but rather “What’s best for us?”

2.  The NFL season kicked off yesterday and millions of fans are anxiously awaiting the results of Tom Brady’s MRI.  I’ll be honest.  My goal was to draft him in all my fantasy leagues, but I never got the chance.  I saw him go as high as first in one league.  I guess one person’s luck is another person’s misfortune.  Looks like I’ll go 2-1 this week because Donavon McNabb forgot who he was and Willie Parker remembered who he was.  Smitty having two players have career days helped him double me up.

3.  Most of you know how I feel about Superman Returns.  Thankfully, it appears the return was short-lived and the Man of Steel will get a chance to start from scratch a la Batman.  Check it out here.

4.  I was watching a special on Abraham Lincoln the other night and it made me wonder if my family ever owned slaves.  So, I’m hoping to research this, but it also made me wonder what side of the slavery issue I would’ve been on.  Of course, from my 2008 view, I quickly say that I would have stood beside my Wesleyan Abolitionists brothers and sisters.  But what if my family had depended on slaves for our livelihood?  The personal question for me is if family and cultural influence would’ve kept me from speaking out on the issue.

5.  Dear friends, I would ask you for your prayers.  There is a situation I have to deal with and need God to strenghten and guide me through this process.  It’s one of those deals where once you say the first word then there’s no going back.  Pray for my words to be bold and convincing.

Anyone who was surprised by the outcome of the Clemson-Alabama game has not seen a Clemson game in 10 years.  This was predictable because

a:-it was a big game

b:-it was on ESPN

c:-Tommy Bowden is Clemson’s head coach

When your national title hopes(if they can be called that) are dashed before Sept. 1 then you have a problem.  To top it off, I think we made the cover of SI.  All you Bowden apologits go ahead and comment how it’s just one game, how he needs more times, how he’s still got Tommy West players, how our facilities are terrible, etc.  Oh, they’ll spank the Citadel this weekend and beat up on the weak ACC.  We may even make it to the Orange Bowl.  Did any of us imagine 9 years ago that we would still be waiting for our first BCS trip under Bowden in 2008?

1.  Here’s a site a check out to see what’s really going on in the news media.

2.  Here’s an interesting article I read about Planned Parenthood.  Every parent and youth pastor needs to read this and check out the video link in the article.  Caution-the videos are crude, but show what we are up against in helping kids develop a Christian world view.

3.  Am I the only person who thinks Sarah Palin is being asked more hard hitting questions than Barack Obama?  Now, it is not Senator Obama’s fault what kinds of questions are asked of him and about him.  However, I feel that his campaign and voters are worse off for him not facing tough questions.  Palin’s speech tonight will either be a home run or a strikeout depending on who you listen to tomorrow.  If she can’t deliver in the speech, voters will question even more if she can deliver as VP.

4.  NFL kickoff is Thursday night.  Thus begins my quest for Fantasy Immortality and winning all three leagues I’m in.

5.  Karen made some amazing salsa last night for the Daniel Fast.  I think she was hoping it would last longer, but I ate almost all of it.  I know I need to drink more water which will help me fell fuller and fresher.

6.  I do not like the new look of Facebook.  I feel like I have to look in two or three places to see anything.

7.  In John 2, how many wedding guests did it take to go through the 120-180 gallons of wine that Jesus made?

8.  Drake’s vocabulary now includes, “boston”, “thank you”, “no”(which means yes), and “nana.”

Have a great day!

1.  Would love to hear what people thought of Obama’s speech last Thursday.  It was truly an event to remember and he delivered the speech well.  He said many things that are said at every Democratic convention(just like McCain will do the same this week maybe).  It was a historic moment that many Wesleyans gave their blood, sweat, and tears towards during the Abolitionist movement.  Another moment Wesleyans paved the way for was…

2. The nomination of Gov. Sarah Heath Palin to be the VP for the Republican Party.  Wesleyans were on the front lines for women’s rights as well as the ending of slavery in America.  I like the pick of a Washington outsider.  It will be an interesting election.  About 33% of people I know are for Obama, 33% for McCain, and 33% not happy about either.  The McCain campaign camp needed energy and the Palin pick delivered.

3.  Think about this-how many historic news moments happened over the weekend.  Sadly, they all overshadowed each other.  By noon Friday, the Obama speech coverage was replaced with the Palin pick.  Then the Palin pick and the RNC were overshadowed by Hurricane Gustav.  It is great to see the lessons learned from Katrina have paid off.  This is how a natural disaster should be handled-with precision, class, adequate manpower, and back bone.  No reports of looting yet.

4.  I saw video of some protesters at the RNC in St. Paul, Minnesota.  Countless Americans have died since our nation’s birth to insure our right to free speech and protest.  Sad that many are using that right to promote Anarchy, random vandalism, and violence toward police while wearing masks.

5.  I finished my final two Fantasy Football drafts over the weekend.  I am very happy with all of my teams.  It also helped that most of the people I am playing with did not read the same ESPN articles that I did.  So, their strategy was a bit different from mine.  What’s great is I didn’t have to spend $8 on a magazine and I didn’t spend a crazy amount of hours studying up.  All of my teams were horrible last year, so here’s hoping my work does pay off.

6.  Our church started the Daniel Fast yesterday for 21 days.  I saw a couple from church trying to buy foods from our list at the store.  Had a neat conversation with them and saw that most of our packets were gone from the church.  I trust that God will take this group of people who are seeking his face and reading his word and use us to change our community.  Sadly, I drank enough Mt. Dew over the weekend to last me two months.