The Heath Mullikin Project

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.

I find it odd that there’s not more news about the war in Iraq.  When things were going poorly, the mainstream media couldn’t get enough of it.  Now that a deal has been reached for all combat troops to be out by 2011 and no troops in Iraqi cities by next summer, you hardly hear a peep about it on the news.  I think there is one big reason for this.

1.  This deal signals that we have won the war.  The fighting may not be over, but the outcome is clear.  Countries don’t sign deals like this if the major objectives have not been met.  The surge worked and those who gave their lives and health(physical and emotional scars that will never fully heal) did not do so in vain.  I’m not just talking about US troops either.  The Iraqi’s have suffered through Saddam’s regime and now a brutal war.  If you are a politician that has been critical of the war since the start, how do you respond to this?  If you ran to end the war and bring the troops home then what do you run on now?  Though you may disagree with the reasons we went to war and how it was initially handled, shouldn’t you celebrate that now, in fact, it’s “Mission Accomplished?”  When the next president takes office, the wheels will already be in motion to bring all the troops home.  Now, I believe that the war ending and the troops coming home is fantastic news.  Some networks don’t even think it’s news.  I’m interested to see how much Obama mentions it in his speech Thursday night because so far the war hasn’t been discussed much at the DNC.

Just once, I want to hear a convention speech with details instead of cliches.  I want someone to say, we will pay for Universal Health Care by raising taxes on everyone making over X amount of dollars and by cutting spending in these areas.  During the primaries, Ron Paul was always very specific in what he would do and although I rarely agreed with him I appreciated his honesty and passion.  Now, we hear that the candidates have energy plans to invest in alternative fuels and decrease our dependence on foreign oil.  Ok, but how are you planning to do that?  The big knock against drilling now is that we won’t see results for ten years.  By that logic, all cancer and AIDS research should be ended because a cure hasn’t been found yet.  Or, we shouldn’t try to pay off the national debt because we won’t see results for 10 years.  I have signed the drill here drill now petition, I know that alone is not going to be enough, but like both candidates, I don’t have a clear, concise plan either.

Finally, Michelle Obama told the inspiring story of how her father overcame MS and gave his children a better life.  At no point in the story did she mention the government programs that bailed him out, made decisions for him, and got him out of bed an hour early everyday so he could dress himself.  To me, what her father did is not just the American dream, but everyone’s dream:  To have the strength to overcome our obstacles and take care of those around us.  Her and Barack both overcame a lot to reach the place where they are at.  Whether they know it or not, they’re the poster children for conservatism.  Look what people can do when they work hard and set their minds to something.  They didn’t need the government coddling them along the way.  They just needed a chance.  Too many times, big government is more of a stumbling block than a stepping stone.  Of course, if the church were truly doing it’s job, the government could do it’s job instead of trying to do ours.  More on that tomorrow.