My brother had a pre-release copy that he played for me back in June after the Pastors’ Conference.  From that quick listen, I knew I would not be disappointed with the new music. However, I am little bummed that my assistant, Hayley, has also had the CD for a number of weeks and has not even opened it. Not good.

For me, the first half is stronger than the back half. In fact, I believe the first four tracks are the strongest. They open with a great rocking tune called “This Is Who I Am” and follow it with “Slow Down” who has Chris Daughtry of Idol fame singing background vocals. The CD slows down for their current hit “Call My Name.” I love the guitar melodies in this song. Lacey Mosley of Flyleaf helps out with the next tune “Run to You” without any screaming.

Jesus Freak Hideout is currently having a listening party where you can stream the complete CD.  Have a listen and get the CD.

As with most things, there are features I like and don’t. I could live without the ads and the silly games. The event options could be more open to ministry use. I use the wall, email, the mini-news feed, twitter and the photo application. We have also setup a group for the College and Career.

Thanks to Patrick and Stephanie who pulled me over the edge of doubt. Thanks to Dee for teaching me the ropes - especially the privacy settings.  You can find me using my church email address.

I choose to build the site on the Wordpress platform because of its ability of blogging (a prayer journey leading up to the conference) and custom themes over Adobe’s Flash and E-zekiel. The latest version of Wordpress, 2.5, was used with the following plugins: Kimili Flash Embed and Ultimate Google Analytics. If comments were open on the site, Akismet would have been turned on as well.

Brian and Bobbie Houston’s website was the starting idea or inspiration for the site design, my new friend Bryan Haynes pointed me in the right direction to embed the Flash portions into IE, and dhawker quickly found bad links and graphic issues. Thanks for your help.

Check out sbcpc.net and join us April 29 on the website for the beginning of the prayer journey leading up until the 2008 SBC Pastors’ Conference.

Side note: Sherwood Pictures will have a preview showing of Fireproof Sunday, June 08 before the Pastors’ Conference at 2pm. All attendees are welcome and encouraged to attend.

1) I still messed up another update of this site even after reading my own blog about backing up files.  There is a style file somewhere that I have to backup before upgrading.  Or I could copy the text out of the sidebar file before upgrading.  Either one would save me some time.

I upgraded to WordPress 2.5.RC1 release and like what I see so far.

2) This year’s ReFRESH conference was awesome.

3) My Princess turned 7 and the Strongman turned 4. Both kids had parties here at the house.  Dee did a great job planning and prepping for both parties.

4) The Fireproof website has officially launched. Check out the His & Hers video section.

5) Struggling to find great music this year. I am open to suggestions.

6) Getting ready for another trip to Passion.

7) I enjoyed our Easter holiday today.

Eat Better
Exercise More
Read More
Study the Bible More
Work Smarter with Fewer Hours
Hang Out with my Kids More
Have a Bigger Impact in Ministry (people)

Focusing on seven items seems intimidating at the moment. Maybe this list will help me decide when to say “no” to instead of striving for another “yes.”

The first was “Give Yourself Away” from the Robbie Seay Band. I have toyed with getting this CD since its release back in August. Amazon currently has it for $8. Favorite songs so far: Song of Hope, Stay and Beautiful, Scandalous Night.

The second was “Become Who You Are” by Mainstay. I was introduced to Mainstay when iTunes gave away the first song off the CD. The song, Become Who You Are, is still my favorite. I was a little disappointed at first listen; I thought the CD would be heavier than it turned out to be though I am hoping it will grow on me. Like “Give Yourself Away,” I have had my eye on getting this CD for a few months. The decision was sealed when Walmart offered it at $5.