Fantasy Football Draft TONIGHT?!?

I can't tell you how much I love Fantasy Football. I may actually love it to much. I have already bought a Fantasy Football magazine with stories like Target Drafting and how you should Handcuff your best Running Backs. I know what the Average Draft Position of the top 250 players are. I know who are considered sleepers, overrated, and who underperformed last year. Believe me when I say that I love Fantasy Football.

Well my first Fantasy Football Draft is tonight. That's right, TONIGHT. I know I know... It is about 3 weeks early but we like to have everyone get together and do a live draft at someone's house. Who is in this league? All of my family. My Dad, Wife, Father-in-law, Brother, Sister-in-law, Sister-in-law's husband, and Mother-in-law. Tell me this doesn't bring a tear to your eye. In other words on Thanksgiving and Christmas instead of trying to come up with something to talk about or just talking about each other behind each other's back, we break down our Fantasy Football teams. We talk about trades and who is stinking up the league. Of course the winner gets bragging rights for the year and the loser gets dogged.

I can't just tell you that I love this without giving you some type of tool, insight, or opinion. The best free drafting tool out there is at www.footballdiehards.com and it is called DDT. Click here to be taken to thier page and download the software. It really will help your draft and if you win the draft then you win your league, plain and simple.

If you are new to Fantasy Football let me tell you one thing this year. Don't draft the guy below:

The Blogging Church Book

2 of my friends, Brian Bailey and Terry Storch wrote a book called The Blogging Church. Buy it here. I had the priveledge of working with them for 5 years at Fellowship Church in Grapevine, TX. This book has been out for a little while now but I had not given any love to it yet so here is some love. Below is a product teaser that I found that I think describes the book very well. By the way, the reason I have really ramped up my blogging since May is because of this book. It has some great insight and interviews. Enjoy the copied product teaser.

Product Description

The Blogging Church offers church leaders a field manual for using the social phenomenon of blogs to connect people and build communities in a whole new way. Inside you will find the why, what, and how of blogging in the local church. Filled with illustrative examples and practical advice, the authors answer key questions learned on the frontlines of ministry: Is blogging a tool or a toy? What problems will blogging solve? How does it benefit ministry? How do I build a great blog? and Who am I blogging for?

The Blogging Church is a handbook that will inspire and equip you to join the conversation.

The book includes contributions from five of the most popular bloggers in the world—Robert Scoble, Dave Winer, Kathy Sierra, Guy Kawasaki, and Merlin Mann, as well as interviews with blogging pastors such as Mark Driscoll, Craig Groeschel, Tony Morgan, Perry Noble, Greg Surratt, Mark Batterson, and many more.

A very bad parent page

Many churches now have a way of paging parents in their worship services in case of emergency or in case the child is really misbehaving. I hope that you are one of these churches. It does help. Of course there are tons of different ways in which churches do this. Some give pagers to the parents that the parents put in their pockets, some have LED signs on the sides of the auditorium that you really have to look for to even notice them and others put up numbers or codes on the main screens in the lower corners. As of right now we are using the lower corners of the main screen but we move in and out every week and this is the most efficient way of doing it.

You get the point of paging parents and how the systems work. Well, my sister-in-law and her husband were at an undisclosed church very recently where they to used the main screen to put up numbers in the lower corner. Don't worry it was not my church. Now during the middle of the worship set there was a number that came up on the screen. Once again very typical and many of you have seen this, but what came next was not only shocking but very disruptive as well. I don't know if on their paging system it has a place for notes or reasons for the page but there was a word that popped up after the number. The word was...

POOP

Yes. You are reading this correctly. The word POOP came on the main screen. Needless to say but the whole crowd started to chuckle. The worship leader never saw it but he knew the spirit had changed and tried to press on. You have to love worship leaders.

If only I had a picture then it would have been perfect for a Sign Wednesday post, but to my knowledge no one has physical evidence of this occurance. I think this maybe for the best or one of our own might be looking for a new church.

So in your staff meeting this week when you are going over what went well and what needs to improve you can say, "Well at least I did not throw POOP up on the screen. I think this past week was a success."

Commenting on Comments

Why do I care about comments on my blog? Because that says that not only are you reading but you are responding. Responding is the goal of three of my passions: marketing, ministry, and believe it or not fashion. Not specifically in that order.

Anyway, thank you for reading. I mean that but more importantly thanks for your comments. Now don't get me wrong, not all comments have made it through. I do moderate comments because I don't like for you to have to read curse words or inappropriate material. I hope that if you have a blog that you moderate as well. I do publish comments that disagree with me though. I like that we disagree. It means you have an opinion and I hope that your opinion has been thought through and doesn't just come from your feelings.

So when I wrote this post I was at 99 comments. I know many of you out there are laughing that I only have 99 but I feel really blessed. For those of you who get hits like crazy I am still waiting on my 5,000th as well. I am close but not there yet. I should be there by the time I do church this weekend.

So again. Thanks.

What do you do?

I had breakfast yesterday with a very good friend. We do this once a week and push each other to be better husbands, dads, and Christians. I know that I am totally blessed to have this type of person in my life and I thank God often because of it. We are doing our normal deal when my friend notices that one of his co-workers is sitting by himself in the restaurant. My friend calls him over to eat with us. I thought this was great. I didn't know the guy and he has only lived in Cincinnati for 6 weeks. I went with the first question that every guy asks, "What do you do?" Typical sizing each other up alpha male type of stuff. Nothing fancy and very standard. The guy goes on to say he is a Merchant Banker. I didn't know what that was and I was to afraid to ask. I didn't want to seem inferior. For those of you like me... It means that he is basically a Venture Capitalist or someone who buys and sells companies. Then he asked me the same question. My response is always simple. I am a Pastor. I love the looks that I get when I say this. I love the way people pause for a second and go through everything they have said up to the point of finding out that I am a Pastor. But that is not the point... The point is that my friend stopped me. He said that it is not fair to call me just a Pastor. Then my friend goes on to give me one of the best titles and compliments that I am soon going to put on a business card. My friend says that I am a.... Drum Roll Please....

Entrepreneur Marketing Technology Guy who happens to be a Pastor.

If you are like my friend who has a CFO, CEO, or another C(something)O after your name then when you see my business card that says Matt McKee EMTGP then you will know what it stands for.

So if you friends were to give you a title, what would it be? What do you do? Do you even like what you do? If not, change the initials after your name. You should do what you love.

Sign Wednesday: Area 51

These 5 signs are at the entrance to Area 51. I find this very funny. First, they have posted the same sign twice. I wonder how many tax dollars that cost? Second, don't you think one large sign could have been used instead? Third, I know that I have a rebel streak in me but this really makes me want to take pictures and see what is going on back there.

Let's look at the positives that we can take from these signs. They over communicated somthing. This is a very good thing. These signs are not hand written, another good thing.

Negatives: You can't read them well. They need to be updated with one sign. And last but not least... WHY? Why have them unless you are wanting to stir up suspicion?

Maybe we could do this for all of our ministries. Tell people they can't come and stir up some big controversy over nothing and then people would flock for no reason. Then you would have volunteers in line for the nursery.

They would have been better to put up a sign that says, "Hey Everybody, We are doing stupid stuff over here. Please come check it out but NO TRESPASSING."

Back 2 Back Ministries

Here is a little love to the ministry in which we worked with in Monterrey, Mexico. Our church has taken our youth for the last 5 years. It has been a great partnership that stretches everyone who has been on the trip. If you want to know more about their ministry or are looking to go on a mission trip to Mexico check out their website. The address is www.back2backministries.org. They also have an office here in the Cincinnati area if you wanted to talk to them. Their number is (513) 754-0300.

Now I know that there have been many questions about Children's Ministries doing mission trips. This is a very hot topic right now. While we were in Mexico there was a group of kids there ranging in the age of 9 to 12 with their parents who all home school these kids. I think this is a great way for kids to go on mission trips. The whole family should be involved. This would include local, out of state, and even foreign mission trips. If we are talking about kids who range in age from 9-12 going with a Children's Pastor and a couple of volunteers then I think it should be local. Have a mission week and go to local charities during the day. Let the Junior High Ministry go out of state and then let the Senior High Ministry go on foreign trips. Unless you involve the whole family then there should be some progression in your missions opportunities for students. What do you think?

Best Blog in Cincinnati gets an iPhone

Just thinking about writing this post goes to show that I have no shame. There is a contest going on right now that ends this Friday about who has the Best Blog in Cincinnati, OH. The winner of this contest wins an iPhone. I, like many of you, want an iPhone, but can't figure out how to make it in my budget. So you can help me out. Go here:

http://vovici.com/wsb.dll/s/5953g2b1b3

Please vote for this blog. How cool would it be for the Best Blog in Cincinnati to be about Children's Ministry and the Church? I think it would be awesome and I would call everyone who voted for me on my new phone.

Thanks to Rich Palmer for being the first one to vote for this blog and to bringing this competition to my attention. By the way Rich, I believe it is your turn to pay tomorrow.

So go vote. What are you waiting for?

Throwing Up and Kidney Stones

Yes you read the title correctly. While I was in Mexico I got a bug. It was only a 24 hour bug thankfully but it did bring me to my knees and my back. Here is a nice picture of me that they took while I was sick.

I did have a sense of humor that day. My shirt simply says "It's just a flesh wound". I look fat in that picture and I know that I unloaded a good 5 pounds before this picture was taken. Maybe I should take a hint...

Now if the bug was not bad enough. The next day when I was just starting to feel better I had a kidney stone hit me. This was not my first stone. I had one 7 years ago when I was working at a church camp in Panama City, Fl. The first one was a boy and I named him Spike. This one was a girl and I named her Crystal. I hate kidney stones.

Needless to say but the trip would have been much better if these 2 events didn't happen. I was man enough to get out of bed so that I could present the gospel to the teenagers that were on the trip with us. That's right... Satan tried to keep me down but God gave me enough strength to share his love. So even through throwing up and kidney stones, God made the rocks cry out.

I love it when things like this happen. It really makes me feel like God is using me. Just next time, I don't need to go through the pain.

Beatboxing and Handshakes

By the way, I think this would be a great name for a local hangout or bar and grill but that is not the point of this post.

The point is that I really wanting to post while I was in Mexico but I couldn't so I am going to this week. So here is one of the post I wrote while in Monterrey.

I don't speak Spanish. I took Spanish in high school but it all left me years ago. Basically I can say the important words like "where is the bano(bathroom)?" So how do you communicate with a teenage boy and a 9 year old boy in Monterrey, Mexico? By beatboxing and handshakes, that's how. Isn't it amazing how we can connect with one another and not say a word? The same thing works here at home. When you don't know what to say the next time you are around a bunch of kids try beatboxing and handshakes. Why does it work? These 2 things are personal experiences and kids crave interesting experiences with each other and with adults. Maybe this week you should come up with a cool handshake or learn how to Beatbox. You never know when it might spark a connection that you will never forgot.

Centri-Kid: The Overview

Here are my thoughts and ramblings from this past week at Centri-kid. What I have done is taken the schedule from the Centri-Kid website and taken out their description of what is going on and put in my own twist. Enjoy.

A DAY AT CENTRI-KID

8:30 am	Quiet Time. The Bible study was nice during this time. Of course you have to get kids still enough to do it, but it once they did it started good conversations. I would give this a 4 out of 5.
9 am	I Can't Wait: morning large group time. Lots of energy with fun songs but predictable dramas. I would give this a 3 out of 5. I came away wanting more splash and sharper dramas.
10 am	Recreation: Taught by the staff. I didn't even have to be there but did check it out to see how the kids were doing. Great Centri-Kid leader for this time. Good organization and it got the kids hot, tired, and happy. This is one area that I really enjoyed on a programming side. 5 out of 5.
11 am	In Bible Study, taught by the Centri-Kid staff (25 total) for the kids and for the adult church leaders we had our own worship time on the first day and Starbucks on the last day. Very impressed by how much I felt fed because of this focus on the first day but wanted more of it after that. 4 out of 5. Do more worship time for adults.
2 pm	Track Time! The kids picked 2 different tracks to attend. They had everything from Self Defense to Fishing and Basketball to Crafts. The list of choices were impressive and it had something for everyone. My kids liked this time very much. 5 out of 5.
4:00 pm	Free Time! A decent break but not long enough. Our dinner started at 5:15 so there wasn't enough time to go off campus to go to the indoor swimming pool. They did try to do stuff on campus and most of that was fun. 3 out of 5
7 pm	Evening Worship I could be way to critical of this part. The music was good but not great. The energy was somber. The sermon illustrations needed more punch. It just seemed as if they were trying to please the older people more than they were trying to meet kids where they are. I hope that is not to harsh. Overall 3 out of 5.
8:30 pm	The Parties are just a fun time. They did a large group Bean game that had a good missions twist on it and then 3 stage shows. 1 Game show type, 1 Variety Show type, and 1 bad idea. The game show was good. The variety show is never good but the kids are cute. The bad idea was one they called the World Record party. Such as the World Record New Year's Countdown that isn't on New Year's Eve. It was a waste of 3 minutes. I won't go into the rest of the bad idea. Overall 3 out of 5.

The overall score is 30 out of 40. Believe me when I say this is a very good score. We all have areas of improvement and now you know where I think they could.

Rest

I know I told you I would give you a full breakdown of Centri-Kid today. Don't worry, I will do this very soon but today I am going to rest. So I encourage you to do the same. Rest. Forget the list of ten thousand things to do. Be still and know that He is God.

Centri-Kid: Last full day of Camp

Why is it that on the last full day of camp that the kids go nuts? I mean seriously... Up to this point we have had every kid well behaved. Then today it seems like they all were just tired of being good and tired of taking showers. I don't understand it. I mean I would expect to have home sickness on the last day and maybe some leaving new friend anxiety but why not listening?

Okay, enough of the tangent. Today was a very good day on the spiritual side. Many of the kids really got it today. The theme today was faith which lead to many great conversations.

Last thing... Georgetown College has treated us incredibly. The staff is very good and they gave us free Starbucks today. Five stars in my book.

I will post more about the overall experience tomorrow. Until then...

Sign Wednesday: Centri-Kid Signs and others around campus

Here is a collection of signs around the campus. Some are good... Some are decent... Some are just... Well you be the judge.

By the way, what do you use for the letter "C"? We have use "choose" but I don't know if I like that either.

This is the sign for the crafts track time. I would say the only time it is appropriate to have a sign like this is for a craft track. It does look good in person. The picture doesn't do it justice.

This is the theme sign. Graphics are good and very good texture and depth. When Lifeway puts money behind graphics they do a very good job.

This sign is huge. It is on the side of a building. Very eye catching but I am not a big fan of the 2 kids they picked to be on the sign.

Now this is my favorite sign from around the campus. We will say that this is not a Centri-Kid sign but it does go to show that we are in the great Commonwealth of Kentucky. All I have to say is enjoy!

I love that it is plural. I wish had many butts.

Recap Video of Smash 2007

I have posted the Recap Video of our Smash Camp to YouTube. Here is the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjGqcNf7oow

Let me know what you think of the video. It was done by a volunteer that was at the camp and was burned to a DVD that we gave to every kid before they left camp.

Smash Camp was a great week and we created very good buzz in the community. I am glad that I am not forced to do traditional VBS and I can do something totally different.

Centri-Kid: Freedom

First, some of you have ask what is Centri-Kid? I do apologize for not explaining what Centri-Kid is in my first post. Centri-Kid is a church camp for kid's who have graduated 3rd-6th grade. They are held all over the country and this one just so happens to be at Georgetown College in Georgetown, KY. Which is only about an hour away from our church. Centri-Kid is sponsored by Lifeway Christian Resources which is the Southern Baptist Convention. So if that is not your cup of tea I understand, but it is close enough to our churches views and doesn't push the SBC stuff to much.

Now on to the reason for this post.

Yes that is me with my face painted. I am trying to look mean. What do you think? If you haven't figured it out yet I am trying to look like William Wallace from Braveheart. Our whole them today was Freedom and I thought it was only suiting to give props to my favorite movie. By the way, I don't think the paint looked that psychedelic but it does look freaky in the pic.

The kids had a great time learning about freedom in Christ and how that comes when we put him #1. We as adults have our own worship time while the kids are in the Bible study time. Today's worship was exactly what I needed. You see, the biggest reason I chose Centri-Kid over any other camp is because they have a great staff that takes care of Bible Study, Recreation, Track Times, and Large Group Worship times, but still give you the chance to hang out with your kids and build relationships. So you get the best of all worlds. You get fed while feeding your kids and get to take the whole experience home to your local church. I don't know why more camps don't do this.

So let me end this day with one word:

FREEDOM!

Centri-Kid: First Impressions

Overall the first day was very good. The biggest highlight of the day was the drop off. It was very intentional and thought through. They stop you early and ask what church you are with so that they can make you a Welcome Sign. Nice touch for the sign geek in me. Then you are stopped by the camp pastor who prays with the van about the week and introduces himself. Then you make it to the place where you are to register and the staff "kidnaps" the kids and let the adults go through the ever popular paper work portion. The kids are playing games and signing up for track times. The staff is plenty prepared for how long it takes you to go through the orientation process, which by the way, was one of the most painless I have been through. Believe me when I say it started everything off on the right foot. The rest of the time was good. I will say that I hate mediocre sound during large group times and we were close on many occasions. Other than this little bit of my obsessive compulsive side of programming it was a very big hit with my students. Until tomorrow when camp really begins...

Side note... Anybody else out there go to Centri-kid this year? What were you thoughts?

I'm back

I am back from Mexico and a from a 2 day trip to Chicago. Went to Willowcreek this morning. Mike Breau spoke and it was incredible. If you haven't been to Willowcreek in the last couple of years they have updated Promiseland. Nice updates but... OK I won't critique to much right now.

Anyway, it is late and I am off to Centri-Kid tomorrow. I will be blogging from Georgetown, KY and updating often with pics and such.

I will give highlights of Mexico after next week. Thanks for your prayers. It was a great week.

Also, I have a little project that I will need your help on but I will keep you anticipation until later.

Monterrey, Mexico

I am taking the next week off from blogging. I know right now you are feeling angry, confused, upset, and maybe even a little bit happy all at the same time. I do have good news though. I am leaving tomorrow for Mexico for a mission trip. Believe it or not, but I am one of the adult leaders for the trip out of the country. Yes, it is true...Children's Pastors can hang out with youth and be well liked.

Seriously, please pray for the trip and all of the orphans that we are going to be able to work with. Pray for Back to Back ministries who is our contact in Mexico. Pray that God will move in a mighty way in the teenagers that are going on this trip. Lastly, pray for my 2 boys, my wife, and myself. This will be the longest I will have been away from them since the boys have been born.

Watch out Monterrey, Mexico. You won't know what hit you when we step off that plane. It could be my scent because I still haven't packed my deodorant or it could be an incredible team of teen agers just waiting to see God has in store.

A billion dollar idea

I believe everyone in the world has a million dollar idea in them. In some way, shape, or form they see our world and think of a way to improve it. If you then take that idea and make a business or a product out of it then you could make one million dollars. I truly believe everyone has this in them, so don't tell me you don't.

Now the hard part comes when we are talking about a billion dollar idea. Why is this so much harder? Because this has to be an idea that the money is set aside for already or the right company is willing to buy into and the masses must buy into as well and not just a niche market. Well, guess what? I have had a billion dollar idea that I have been trying to get off the ground now for 5 years. That's right. I have recently started the patent process on this idea and have started looking for the right Venture Capitalist.

Why do I tell you this? Because I was checking my stats to see who is checking out this site. For the most part there were no surprises. Mostly churches from around the U.S., England, and Australia. Isn't it amazing that you know when someone from Fellowship Church, Southeast Christian, Saddleback, Willow, First Baptist Orlando, and many other churches are checking out your blog? By the way, a big thank you to all of you. The most interesting one for me though is Google. There are at least 2 people from Google that read my blog on a very regular basis. Now here is a company that could take my billion dollar idea and make it into be a multi-billion dollar idea and it fits in their vision of owning the advertising dollar.

So what is the idea? I can't tell you here but if you readers from Google want an idea that would help every local community with communications during but not limited to emergencies, sell advertising not only to fortune 100 companies but be targeted enough that mom and pop stores buy in was well. The research for guarantee numbers is already there and it is free and the people that this would advertise too would be captivated then I have a proposition. I will lease the patent to you and I get in return 1% of all revenue from the idea. Now if you wanted to go over the top and hire me to see this to completion then that would be great. Just a proposition for a new way to advertise to the masses.

What would I do with the money? I would then help Christian business men and women across the world start their business in their countries. All of this in hopes to evangelize each country through business and the marketplace and fund local churches to reach the masses. There you have a little global vision from a guy who happens to be in Children's Ministry right now. See it's not about the money. It's about reaching people all over the world. I know some of you were worried.

What is your million dollar idea? If you could make everyday life better, how would you do it? What would you do to change the world with the money you make.

Sign Wednesday: 4th of July

In honor of the 4th of July this Sign Wednesday is one of the ultimate signs. It has no words but says thousands. It comes in very many sizes and is put all over the United States. My goal is to someday come up with a sign that can have all these qualities. Today enjoy the American Flag

.

Does your family blog?

Does your family blog? I am proud to say that mine does. In fact, my wife just started her own blog. I am so proud. Now if I could only get her to write about Children's Ministry then she would blow your socks off. She too worked at Fellowship Church for 5 years and did incredible things in Children's Ministry while there. When we left, she was the Children's Pastor at one of the satellite campuses. Now her passion is being a wife and a mom and that is what her focus is going to be for her site but I bet you that I get her to talk about how to plan a camp for 500 kids a week or how to do a VBS alternative for 4000 kids over the course of 4 weeks. By the way, I know that you are going to read this Jessica so, I love you.

Not only does my wife blog but so does my father-in-law, my sister-in-law, my sister-in-law's husband (I really don't know what to call him except really smart), and my brother and his wife. All of these have some type of ministry focus. That's right... I will have to say that I am surrounded by an incredible family who is trying to change the world for Jesus.

Now if I could only get my mom, my dad, and my 2 year old to blog. Then we would have something. I can see it now... My mom would write about the adventures in nursing... My dad would write about how to be the best electrician, and my 2 year old would write about how to play a Nintendo Wii and beat your dad at golf.

Now this is what I call great family time.

Throwing Away Trash Cans

Today is trash day in Loveland, OH and it made me think of something. Have you ever tried to throw away a trash can? Believe it or not, it is very hard to do. If you put the trash can out on the curb they take the stuff inside but not the trash can itself. If you leave it by itself they do nothing with the trash can. If you try to put the can in another trash can they think you have made a mistake and take it out for you and leave both trash cans behind. Thanks for the help right but come on... Seriously... I want you to at some point in your life try to throw away a trash can and then you will fully understand how hard it is to change the culture of your ministry and not just the programs of you ministry.

Anybody can change programs, curriculum, and even the environment but how do you change the culture? We have had to do this over the last 2 years that I have been at Horizon. We have had to help our people see that there we have issues and then try and make them healthier. How did we do this?

Let me give you one example of what I am talking about. I will give you more in the future but this is a good starting point. When I showed up to Horizon we had around 20 paid teachers in our Children's Ministry for Sunday morning. Now that wouldn't have been bad if we were averaging 1500 to 2000 kids a weekend. Paying teachers to teach on Sundays is not bad as a back up program. It does give you a nice safety net but by no means should it be your vehicle of doing ministry on a week to week basis. Now as you can tell, I thought 20 was way to high when we were only averaging 85 kids a weekend. That's right. When I showed up almost all of my teachers were paid. Now you have to understand that Horizon is in a very wealthy area. The average house sale price is over $1,000,000 and the people that we reach are used to paying for almost everything. A culture shift needed to happen when it came to Children's ministry. We needed volunteers and not paid workers. So myself, and my wonderful assistant, Tami, set out to replace all but 8-10 paid teachers the first year and all but 4 paid teachers the next and replace them with volunteers. So how did we do this right?

Let me pause and tell you how to throw away a trash can. The secret is you have to make the trash can not look like a trash can. You have to change the way the trash men and women look at the trash can.

The same way you have to change the way you look at trash cans is the same way you have to get your people to look at your ministry in order to change its culture. Your first step is change the vision. Then you have to change the questions you ask. Then you have to change the way you measure success. Then you have to show that you are being successful. This is how we went from 20 paid teachers to 4 paid teachers in less than 2 years.

What part of your ministry culture needs to change? Is it the idea of excellence... the idea of "they are just kids"... the idea that ministry can be done by others...