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This post is just an observation I’ve had about church names recently.  Church names used to be based on two things:  Denomination and location.  Sometimes churches had a number in their name to represent that they were the “first” or “second” church of their kind in their town.  I’m pretty sure I saw a “third” Baptist church one time, but I can’t remember where.  You had names like Pendleton First Baptist Church, Bishop Branch Baptist Church(based on the name of the local community which was based on the road name), Central First Wesleyan Church, etc.  Then we went through an era of Community/Fellowship Churches.  I think this was a combination of a backlash against denominational names and the planting of non-denominational churches.  There was Downtown Community Fellowship(DCF), Willow Creek Community Church, North Point Community Church, etc.  I do know of a Community Wesleyan Fellowship which bucked all church naming trends as well as Redemption World Outreach Center.  Now, there seems to be a move toward one word church names.  Some of these have five letters with each letter representing one of the five purposes of the church.  I’ve heard of ALIVE, FLAME, newhope, Newspring, Arise, Thrive, Vintage, Revolution, etc.  Many of these churches do have a denominational connection, but it’s not on the sign or the literature.  Many planting pastors hope to capture the essence of their church’s mission in the name.  Who knows what is next?  Maybe it’s the five word or more church name.  You could have Thrive Wesleyan Fellowship Church of Denton or Tom’s Creek Rd. First Baptist Church of the Savior and Redeemer Jesus Christ the Son of God.  One summer, I did an internship at Langley(town) Free(open to all) Baptist Church in England.  It was a great experience.  Even better was the article in my hometown paper about my trip.  It said I spent the summer at Langley Fire Baptized Church.  My prayer is that lives will be transformed at all of these churches whether the name is 5 letters or 5 words, 50 years old or 50 days old, contemporary or traditional, Wesleyan or independent.  As long as we’re never ashamed to be called “a” church or “the” church.

Had the great opportunity to speak at the NC West district youth lock-in on Friday night.  Yahoo maps let me down yet again and we arrived late.  The worship was rockin when we arrived(11 from Denton attended).  It was a great night and probably the most fun I’ve ever had a lock-in because I wasn’t in charge and worried about who was doing what and where.  I say it was the most fun because I got to play just enough basketball and hang out with our group.  It was the first time the kids from Denton got to meet “Camp Heath.”  “Camp Heath” shows up when the clock gets past 2 am and he is alot of fun.  He has no inhibitions and is all about inclusive entertainment.  “Camp Heath” eats boxes of ice cream sandwiches on a challenge, creates the top 10 hit “Try the Chi Lattes”, free style raps with the best of them, and has a cheer list to rival them all.  He adapts to the moment and brings out the humor in the moment or puts some there if needed.  I think he knows that sometimes he’s being laughed at and not with, but frankly, I don’t think he cares as long as people are laughing.  “Camp Heath” lives by the Bible, but doesn’t come to Bible study.  He seems to so up when he’s needed, and I don’t think he’s ever been anywhere he wasn’t wanted.  One young lady was a bit scared by the appearance of “Camp Heath” at the lock-in, but I think she was just concerned for my health.  I asked her if she liked “Camp Heath” and she said yes, but she just wasn’t expecting him.  I say all of this to say that “Camp Heath” is not a mask.  Batman has to wake up every morning and pretend he’s Bruce Wayne while Clark Kent is Superman.  Maybe it’s just that I go to extremes and when it’s time to be serious I’m all in and when someone says I can’t finish a box of ice cream sandwiches in 2 hours then it’s on like Donkey Kong.  We all have different layers and aspects to our personalities, but not all of us have to name them.  Sometimes, the “Camp Heath” in me wants to be fronting for a rock band on tour while “Daddy Heath” is content to hang around the house and family.  I get just as much joy out of leading an altar call at camp as I do stage diving during the closing song of the service.  Will I wake up one day and “Camp Heath” be gone?  Will he ever be replaced by “Senior Pastor Heath?”  Hopefully, there will always be a place for transformational entertainment and as long as there are ice cream sandwiches to be eaten, lives that need hope, camps that need rappers, and faces that need smiles then all of me is all in.

Here’s a scenario that I want you to think about.  The US has been giving billions of dollars to failing banks.  Some have been steadied by this and some have not.  There is a lot of talk of nationalizing the banks which would bring them all under the govt.’s control.  So, then every American with a bank account would essentially be using the same bank, the govt. one.  Thanks to folks like Dave Ramsey, many people are using cash more and more.  If the govt. owns the bank(and your debit card) then they can track all of your purchases.  That’s handy information.  So, what if they told us we couldn’t use cash anymore because there was no way to trace the transactions and due to national security, we need to know this information.  Then you would need the govt. issued debit card to make all your purchases.  Those who tried to get around this may be viewed as terrorists and would need to be dealt with.  Seems like I read something in the Bible about all of this.  Once one nation took over all the banks, how long would it be before other nations followed suit, and hey! wouldn’t it be easier for us just to have one world-wide bank?  Now, do we need to start preaching from the pulpit that the end is near?  Nope, but we better be watching the news.

Here’s another one for you.  In the next few years, 2 things are going to happen.  Fewer people will actually be paying taxes while more people will be relying on govt. aid to live and survive.  Today, the White House is trying to rest control of the census from the Commerce Dept.  Why is that important?  The Commerece Dept. wants to count actual people(which is what a census it) and actually go door to door to accomplish this.  The White House wants to use statistical models and analysis to determine the numbers for the census.  Why is that important?  Because the census is used to draw congressional lines.  The data is used to determine where districts will be.  This has major implications on how election campaigns are waged and which candidates win.  It would like the NCAA tournament committee only including people from the ACC.  Think that would give an unfair advantage to the teams from the ACC (although some may think that already happens) through high seeding and undeserving teams getting in?  It would stack the deck in favor of one party which in this case would be the party in the White House.  So, we have a huge budget deficit so eventually some things are going to have be cut.  You’ve got half the country paying taxes and the other half relying on the services provided by those taxes(more like 60-40).  So now, some politician comes along and they’ve got to cut your benefits(medicare, social security, unemployment, etc.) because the govt. can’t afford to pay them anymore.  They won’t eliminate the benefits, but they will have to reduce them or not increase them yearly at the current rate of inflation.  So, you’ve got district lines drawn to favor one party and the other party is trying to cut people’s benefits to try and balance the budget.  Pretty soon, it’s one party rule.  Then that vote to nationalize the banks isn’t so close.  Then, Bank of America really is BANK of AMERICA.  Yeah, all of this is confusing.  Confusing enough that people won’t even care when it happens.  Now, my head is hurting so have a great weekend.

Spent a few days up at Wesleyan HQ working on some Student Leadership Stuff.  I am pumped for this summer’s inaugural Road Trip.  This is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time so it’s a dream come true to be able to work on the project.  We have a great team and there’s going to be some cool stuff coming out in the next year or so.  Got to stay with Matt and Deb, but sadly, 4 hours were taken by me trying to solve a Rubik’s cube.  My ADD kicked in and a got sooo focused on beating it.  First thing I did after hugging my family when I got home was googling “how to solve a Rubik’s cube.”  There were some great lines over the weekend.  Matt won for his, “I bet she’s heading to Notre Dame” comment but my “it’s better to be a recovering alcoholic who’s a baby Christian than a recovering Christian who’s a baby alcoholic” came in second for sure.  We all agreed that the Oscars had to put on a good show because no one would be tuning in to see who won because no one had ever heard of any of the nominees.  The only award that anyone I know cared about was Best Supporting Actor which went to Heath Ledger.  Anyone who thinks this was a sympathy vote is crazy.  The mug nailed the role of the Joker and raised the bar for superhero movie portrayals.  It’s sad that he wasn’t there for the crowning achievement.  There are three types of Oscar winners:  1-the one hit wonder(Cuba Gooding Jr./Penelope Cruz), 2-the perennial nominee who has never won before(soon to be Anne Hathaway), and 3-previous winner/nominated multiple times(Kate Winslet/Sean Penn).  What role is Adrian Brody about to play that has required him to completely let himself go?  I thought Halle Berry had to give her Oscar back after “Catwoman.”  Mickey Rourke got robbed.  Now he will disappear for the next 20 years.  Well, I’m off to finish my Wednesday night prep.

1.  With a less than stellar QB class there’s no way I would draft one in the first round of the NFL draft.  None of these guys really did anything in college, but Tom Brady didn’t either.  Better to try to find a gem in the later rounds and use that first round money on a closer-to-sure thing.

2.  With word of a Karate Kid remake and Jerry Bruckheimer hinting at a Top Gun do over let me say that the Hollywood 80’s remake phase has officially gone too far.  What’s next, a Jefferson’s movie?

3.  Final Crisis was the most confusing comic mini-series I’ve ever read.  I know the good guys won, but Batman died last month only to reemerge in the distant past/other planet this month.  These comic events are supposed to appeal to new readers, but unless you had a DC Encylopedia and all of Grant Morrsion’s previous work then you would be suffering from exploding head syndrome.

4.  It’s not good for children to put anything sticky on TV buttons.

5.  I am completely over my Survivor addiction.  It’s too predictable how contestants react when they realize how unpredictable the game is.  The double crosses don’t anger me, but the people who are shocked into lifelong grudges by double crosses do.

6.  The Oscars are this Sunday and I quit caring a long time ago.  I do hope Heath Ledger wins for his portrayal of the Joker.  I haven’t seen any of the best picture nominees.  The easiest way to get nominated is to be in (1) a period piece, (2) a movie about homosexuals, (3) a movie no one pays to see(Academy voters get bombarded with DVD’s to watch so they never actually have to go see the movies), (4)play a role that requires you to change your appearence, (5) be a previous nominee or (6) all of the above.  There are some awards shows where only a few dozen people vote.  I think fans should have a say in the oscar voting and all of the sports Hall of Fames.

7. Donald Fehr, head of the Baseball Players union, has made the players richer at the game’s expense.  Way to keep steroid testing out of the game for so long, Don!  And thanks for 1994!  Somebody fire this guy.  Want to know why there are/were steroids in baseball?  Because the players union(led by Mr. Fehr) refused to agree to testing.  Now we’ve got 25 years(80-05) where we don’t know what’s what.

8.  What if pastor’s had to submit to cholestoral testing?  My press conference would go something like this:  “I knew we were getting the Pizza’s from Jerry’s, but I was young and naive.  I thought maybe the grease wouldn’t hurt me.  It was a mistake.  I don’t know what was actually on the pizza’s.  I was under a lot of pressure to look cool for the teens in my youth group and nothing says cool like winning all the pizza eating contests.  Again, I was young and naive and now the whole world knows about these youthful indiscretions.”

9.  Did I mention that our dog ran away/disappeared/was dognapped?

10.  Frosted Flakes milk is still the best.

As you know, I’m a big fan of Heroes.  The last few episodes have been rockin after the first half of the season seemed to drag on a bit.  One thing that’s been catching my attention this year is the number of 80’s and 90’s actresses they’ve been using.  Here I referred to the girlfriend from Karate Kid 2 who played Hiro’s mom.  Last week, I couldn’t quite place the actress playing Luke’s mom.  Well, it turns out it’s Julia Campbell from the Dana Carvey hit, Opportunity Knocks.  It bugged me for days that I couldn’t remember who she was because I owned the movie and watched it many, many times.  Hey, I love Dana Carvey.  This week, we saw a lady try to throw a govt. sized wrench in Nathan’s plan.  I recognized her immediately as the girl from The Cutting Edge, Moira Kelly.  If you had a girlfriend between 1992-1995 then you probably watched this movie on VHS against your better judgement.  Now, isn’t it about time they gave Mario Lopez a power?

Back in the 90’s I rocked the stand alone mustache.  I did this mainly to cover a scar on my lip and try to look a little older.  Now, the stand alone mustache has gotten ridiculed greatly for the past 15 years or so.  It has been associated with film stars from an unsavory and destructive film industry and also with child predators.  I know several God fearing family men who have been sporting the stache for most of their lives and there is only one thing they deserve from us:  respect.  Why you ask?  Do you know the level of commitment it takes to maintain a mustache?  These men somehow manage to keep it neat, trimmed, and full at the same time.  I gave up the full goatee because of the mustache maintenance.  I heard a man say one time that none of his children had ever seen him without a mustache.  In high school, my friend Kerry’s dad had to shave his off for work and neither Kerry or his sister had ever seen him clean shaven.  Kerry gets home from school and his dad is coming down from the attic.  The suspense is building, but when his dad comes into view he’s wearing a dust mask.  It was anticlimatic when the reveal finally happened.  So, I’m just saying, let’s try to tone down the stand alone rhetoric.  I’ve got two words for all the stand alone haters:  Dale Earnhardt.  But, if you see a guy with a stand alone and a mullet, then go ahead and laugh for all of us.

Finally, I thought the end of Monday night Raw was classic and has showed how much wrestling has changed.  It used to be that most fans didn’t know about what happened back stage.  It was really played up that these guys really hated each other.  Now, the cat is out of the bag and everyone is in on the gag.  Somehow, Monday they managed to do both at the same time.  If you keep up with WWE then you know that Triple H and Stephanie McMahon are married and have two kids in REAL life.  Monday night, Randy Orton gives Steph an RKO(his finishing move) after knocking out her brother Shane.  This of course is not real and neither of the McMahons are really hurt.  Then, they have Triple H run in to protect his wife and the crowd went wild.  They “let us in” on the REAL life relationship in the midst of a staged situation.  It made everything seem REAL because that’s the obvious REAL reaction for a husband and Triple H played it up superbly.  He was crying and shaking and looked like he was going to rip Randy Orton apart limb from limb.  Looks like we have a Wrestlemania 25 main event ready to go.  Now, if only one of them would rock the stand alone.