'Hood Cast

Sometimes the world works to narrow our vision where we see little of what God is doing. When our vision gets broad, we see much more than ourselves, we see creation at it's finest.

Sometimes, we just need God to blow through our lives and rustle things up a bit...so we can see. We also recognized our graduates - a big deal in da 'hood!

Sorry haven't posted in a long while. I got out of the groove with the new baby and everything. I have recorded a couple, just haven't gotten to mixing. Here is one about the illusion of life and how we can see reality through God.

We love to relish the past and contemplate the future, but God put us in THIS moment!

Much of life is about finding the right rythmn. Every good dance has behind it a good beat. Do you feel the beat that God provides for you?

How many times in your life have you bailed on someone or something? We drift from people and even God...But there is Good News for us!

Things change, people change, you change. How can we change in a way that benefits us and the people around us? (I used a different way to record this...eventually, it will sound much better. I couldn't get the levels right...it is spiking alot. I will get it fixed in the future.)

This is a podcast within a podcast. Recently, my Bishop began a series of conversations that will hopefully help to equip leadership within our conference. Ours was one of the first he did. This conversation is with me and two other new church start pastors about what it is like starting a church.

This was an event we held to give our urban youth the opportunity to speak their minds about the police. It was a kick-off event for our new Street Law program. We had over 50 kids there. The problem is that during the discussion, they did not use the mics, and you only hear me. The hope is to take their frustration (and there is alot of it) and divert it into empowerment. They will learn to use their voice and contribute to the community and make a change for the better.

Preached at Iberia UMC (the church I pastored before coming to Mansfield.) Their current Pastor was just "removed" from ministry mid-stream. They are struggling with some general issues about church in the midst of this. The focus here is community - and how the church needs to live it. I included Jenny (my wife) singing in this podcast - they always want her to sing whenever we go back there (I'm playing the guitar.) The sound system there is not great and I apologize for the poor accoustic echo.

This is actually two interviews done for WMAN (local Mansfield radio.) One is for a weekly series highlighting important things going on in Mansfield. The second is for their daily evening wrap-up in the line of "A conversation with..."

Ever watch curling? It's a game of skill and precision but also a team sport. The team members need to be in communication with eachother. We too, must be in communication with God.

You can either sit back and watch or you can get into it knwoing you have a vested interest.

This discussion focuses on the boyz in the 'hood and what their relationship with the police is like. Might be enlightening to some but it is what they live every day. The goal is to find a way to strengthen the relationship on both sides.

Have you ever noticed how we can alter our the image we present in different situations? What image do we present to God?

We look at media and culture and how the church should respond. Specifically we look at Brokeback Mountain & The Book of Daniel.

Just a little bit of music made by pjeffy & Aaron. Aaron on lead vocals, pjeffy on the rest.

A Little twist on New Year's resolutions - how about a New Day Resolution. Everyday is an opportunity to see life differently.

This is our first panel discussion with urban youth. We discuss Happy Holiday's vs. Merry Christmas & the meaning of Christmas. We also discuss recent Wal-Mart discrimination accusations.

This is from the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. What are you thankful for? What are you doing with your blessings?

This message deals with the vision behind AGC - speaking the language of the culture you are trying to reach. It was preached @ Sawyerwood UMC, near Akron, OH - a church ready to step outside of the box. Some of our youth also speak during the message.