Happy Halloween

Yes, I said HAPPY Halloween! Why is it so wrong for a pastor to see today as a good thing and not something horrible? I don't understand it. Tell me what other day of the year that you have all the kids in your neighborhood stop by your house. Tell me another day of the year, besides Christmas, that exhibits the concept of it's better to give than to receive better. Halloween is not a horrible thing. Will bad things happen tonight because of stupid people? You better believe it, but it did yesterday to and you didn't get any candy.

Please don't look at Halloween as a boycott event. See it as an opportunity to dress your little girl up as an angel and tell her that someday she will be one. See it as an opportunity for your little boy to be a kid and not worry about being made fun of for dressing up. See it as an opportunity to build community with your neighbors who don't have a clue that Jesus loves them. See this is an opportunity to be the talk of the town by giving out the best candy. See this as an opportunity...

Tonight I will celebrate Halloween. I will pull the fire pit in the front of my house and start a fire. I will set up the outdoor furniture in the front yard. I will give candy to all the kids and see their smiling faces. I will be as accessible as I can. I am not going to hide. I won't pass out any tracks about hell. I will talk about Jesus if I have the chance but if I don't talk about him, I think that's OK. I am not going to worship Satan, but tonight will remind me that I am like every person that comes to my door and I too need grace and mercy. You see, Halloween is just like all other cultural events that aren't inherently Christian. You can leverage it to build relationships for the future or you can boycott it and lose the opportunity.
Leverage the opportunity...

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Since the migration from 3cords.org to McKeeLive.com I have had many of you tell me that you are having trouble with the RSS or the feed of my site. First of all thanks for letting me know. I really appreciate it. Second thanks for caring and reading.

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New Blog Watch: Paul Tate

Paul Tate, our Creative Arts Pastor here at Horizon, is now blogging. His new blog can be found at http://www.churchcreatives.com. I don't know about the name but I can assure you that if you are a Programming, Creative Arts, or Worship Pastor then you are going to get a lot out of his thoughts.

Paul it is great to see that you are blogging again, even though I don't count your blog that you were doing back in the early 90's. And yes Paul, I am very competitive and I do think that I will have more hits and readers than you. Of course that also makes my ego bigger than yours and I am OK with that.

So go check out my friend's new blog.

My Trip to The Big House

This past Saturday I made my first trip to Ann Arbor, Michigan. I went with Rich Palmer who has season tickets. He is a huge Michigan football fan and I could care less about the team, but I have always wanted to go to The Big House. We left at 8:00 am for a 3:30 pm game. This gave us plenty of time to do some tailgating and exploring what Ann Arbor has to offer. The city had a great college town feel to it. A lot of local shops and restaurants that have character and history. The campus of Michigan was larger than I expected. My favorite building was this one:

It looks like an old castle and I love old castles.

Anyway, on to the experience. We show up to the stadium and it was very under-whelming from the outside. I was expecting something more like the University of Tennessee's stadium. You know, on the outside it should look huge and it didn't. After driving around the stadium the looked for a place to park. We could either park on a golf course for $40 and tailgate there or park in someone's front yard for $20 and tailgate with the house. We chose the house. It was strange pulling up into someone's front/side yard but this is tradition. Everything was tradition. You could feel the tradition all around you. If I had to guess, I would say that going to a Michigan football game felt the same in 1950 as it did Saturday. The same house is letting cars park in its yard and the community is wrapping its arms around a team.

We set up shop and pull out the snacks. I wasn't shocked when everything that we pull out has the Michigan logo on it. If you don't like Michigan then this whole scene would have made you throw up in your mouth, but if you appreciate passion like I do then you would have been disappointed if there was anything else. Tailgating was good not great. The weather was not the best, for it rained most of the time, but the closer we got to game time the better the weather got.

It was game time and we head to the stadium. Remember, at this point I am very under-whelmed by the stadium. I mean this is suppose to be The Big House. You know, the stadium that seats more people than any other football stadium in America. I see all the people in their school pride. By the way, why does Michigan fans have the ugliest hats? Seriously I think there should be a sign when you enter into Ann Arbor that says, "Bad Hat, USA". I really should have taken pictures, but I digress.

It's time to go in. We go to our section to enter. Now here is the number one thing that I didn't know about the stadium. You enter in at about the top of the stadium. Most of the stadium is below you. It is like a big bowl and you enter in on the rim. Right when I stepped into the one level monster bowl it hit me. Once again I felt the tradition. I was swept away by the crowd of fans. I was amazed by the band and let's be honest, college bands are normally not that impressive. I knew just by walking into the stadium why so many show up. It was all about the feel. Now don't get me wrong. It was not about the feel of the cold, hard metal bleachers or the feel of the concrete that was poured in the 1920's. It was the excitement. It was the feeling that you are now apart of something much larger than yourself. It had a wow factor that you didn't get until you experienced it.

The football game was OK. The Michigan fans were scared until the second half when their team decided to play football. That was another feeling that I felt that day. You could tell that everyone in the crowd thought it was the Appellation State game all over again but this one turned out a lot better. The cheers were good not great. My favorite one was when they other team had to punt and the whole stadium started doing what looked like the Florida State tomahawk chop and at the end of it yelled, "You Suck". Rich said this was a sign to tell them to go back to their bench but it was way to much like Florida State's motion.

Overall it was a great trip. It was great to hang out with Rich. It was great to have very good seats. It was great to feel tradition. Sometimes I get so caught up in what is going to be next that it surprises me to stop and do something that has been the same for over 70 years and really enjoy.

I am not ready to say, "Let's Go Blue", but I will always appreciate The Big House. If I ever get the opportunity to go again it will be an easy Yes. Thanks you Rich for the experience and next time the weather will be better.

Current Series in Senior High

What are you teaching your students right now? Do you have a curriculum or are you doing your own thing? Right now in our Senior High and Junior High we are writing and creating our own stuff. I am proud of my team. They surprise me with their creativity sometimes. Our current series is one of those times.

Our current series is called:



It is basically a 6 week character study of John the Baptist, Hannah, Joshua, Nicodemus, Mary Magdalene, and Jesus. The question for each week is, "What would their facebook profile look like?" And then we show them and let them be friends with each character. For instance, I have a friend that is in facebook from this series right now. His name is John Baptist. He enjoys water sports and is not big on fashion. By the way, you to can be friends with him as well. He is in the Cincinnati network. He even has an e-mail address.

Why is this important? Because it goes to show you that you can leverage technology for good. You can rip the headlines and be current. This is very hard if you wait on curriculum for Senior High students. There is also that whole getting sued thing but I think facebook should pay me for advertising for them. I mean they are now worth 15 billion. Not bad for a company that started 3 years ago.

So go leverage technology. Use it for good. Technology is a vehicle that will only take you where you want to go. So lead the students to places they never thought possible.

Sign Wedenesday: American Sign Museum

Yes ladies and gentlemen, there is an American Sign Museum. So for all of you sign geeks out there, this might be a little bit of heaven on earth. For the rest of you it could be an overload of neon and some really cool creativity and American history. One great thing about the museum is that it is located right here in Cincinnati. Most people in Cincinnati don't know this and I didn't until last week. It is open to the public but you have to tour it by appointment. The cost is $10 per adult and kids 12 and under are free. The museum is dedicated to signs from 1900 to 1970. It covers the history of signs through 3 phases: Before Neon, Neon, and Plastic. Here is a video of my favorite sign at the museum:



Anytime you can add motion to your sign then it will be more eye catching and in general a better sign. This one was made by a non-expert in his garage to promote his store. Now that is what I call a sign geek.

Here are my favorite 2 signs that were not moving:



These are changable. neon signs. The one from the 40's runs off of radio waves. I




Here are some pictures to get an idea of overall atmosphere of the museum.

More on All Access and NewSpring

Paul Tate, our Creative Arts Pastor, and I arrived safely into the Cincinnati airport last night. Both of us were tired but couldn't figure out why. I think it was because God was working on us and not the dry, fake oxygen air of the plane. Anyway, here are the final thoughts about NewSpring.

1. Just because you don't learn anything new doesn't mean it doesn't impact you. Taking the same stuff that you know will work and doing it in an excellent way honors God.
2. The pastors at NewSpring are really excited about what they do. This was very refreshing.
3. Critiques of your church and your ministry are like squirrels in the road. You can swerve to try and miss them and end up in an accident or you could just run them over in Jesus' name.
4. The vision of your church must be accessible, visible, and valuable. People don't buy into junk.
5. I am not passionate enough about evangelism. Shame on me. I really don't have an excuse.
6. Doing one thing great is better than doing 2 things very good.
7. Don't start a miniature horse ministry. No one will come and you can't make it great.
8. NewSpring is not about making money. They refunded everyone's money back to them at the end. This was incredible and I wouldn't plan on them doing it again.
9. Fatz Cafe will make you fat and happy all at the same time.
10. Greenville, SC which is 25-30 minutes north of Anderson is more fashion forward than Cincinnati, OH. Why doesn't Cincinnati have a "Buckle" store? This is ridiculous.

By the way, I did not hang out with the Children's Ministry much while I was at NewSpring. I did meet Pudge and he is as cool as his name implies. I spent most of my time with the Jr.High/Sr. High Staff. Thanks to Cooper and Aldin for their time and honesty. It was cool to hang out.

Final note... I did not hug Tony Morgan, he really doesn't like hugs. It was nice to see that he really is a humble guy who is passionate about the local church.

Thoughts from All Access in Anderson, SC

Here are some random thoughts and observations from All Access at NewSpring Community Church:

1. There is nothing to do in Anderson, S.C. NewSpring really is the only show in town.
2. Welcome to the south. I miss really nice people. They aren't in Cincinnati.
3. NewSpring has a smaller Fellowship Church type feel too it. It made me miss Dallas/Fort Worth.
4. There is a McGee's Irish Pub in downtown Anderson. This was the number one thing that the receptionist at the desk told us to do. I was only excited because it was really close to my last name.
5. There is no Starbucks and the local coffee shop, Electric City, closes before 8:30 on Saturday night. I told you there is nothing to do.
6. NewSpring has a great staff. They are young, vibrant and excited about showing their community Jesus.
7. We had this question before we came, "How does a church in the middle of nowhere have 8,000 people coming a weekend?" The answer so far... They are all about evangelism. Why wouldn't you invite your friends?
8. The Middle School/High School space has more moving lights and L.E.D lights than the main service. Put that in your priority pipe and smoke it.
9. Don't order a grande peppermint white mocha at NewSpring's coffee shop. They don't have peppermint. It is like a green spearmint deal that didn't quite live up to my hopes.
10. All of NewSpring's staff takes Friday and Saturday off. I think that is awesome.
11. The Middle School Pastor preached nothing but vision to 6th-8th grade students. You are never to young to hear the vision of the church.
12. Brad Cooper, the High School Pastor, drives a mud slinging 4X4. He needs to put some spinners on his 24's and it would be sweet.
13. I miss my family. It is nice to get away but...
14. Perry Noble, the Senior Pastor, preached on parenting in the main service. It was his first time ever preaching on parenting and it was as real, helpful, and inspiring as you can get.
15. I still haven't hugged Tony Morgan.

Sign Wednesday: Signspotting

Last week I received a book in the mail. The book is called "Signspotting". As you may well know, I am a sign geek. My wife, Jessica, says that I am taking it to extremes, but I think I am just starting. Anyway, this book is incredible if you like signs. I showed it to the student ministry team today and they cracked up. The were laughing out loud. Now I could scan in my favorites and post them here but I would get into trouble. So here is what you can do. Go to their website here, or buy the book here. Here is the cover of the book:

Go ahead, take a minute our of your day and laugh. To many times we take ourselves to seriously. Ministry, business, and even life is serious but have fun while you do it.

In case you didn't hear...

The University of Kentucky upset Louisiana State University in FOOTBALL. That's right. The many of us Big Blue basketball fans are glad to see there is a football team. Congrats to the 4 seniors that could have gone to the NFL last year but stayed to make this season special.

All Access at NewSpring Community Church

This coming Saturday I leave for Anderson, S.C. Anderson is a little town of 26,000 people and the home of NewSpring Community Church. Do you know about NewSpring? If you don't you should. Their senior pastor is Perry Noble, who loves to blog here, and they have this guy called Tony Morgan who loves to blog here. Both of these guys are some of my favorite bloggers. I also can't wait to meet Pudge Huckaby, the Children's Pastor. Anybody with the name of Pudge has to be cool. He blogs here but is currently on a break. What makes NewSpring so great is that they average around 7,000 people in a town of 26,000. Now that is what I call a Community Church that is reaching the people around them for God. It is not all fluff. It is the get your hands, hair, and heart dirty type of ministry. Last month they baptized 562 people. God is working through them and they are being obedient. I can't wait to go to this conference/backstage look at NewSpring. Paul Tate our Creative Arts/Programming Pastor will be going with me. It will be great to hang out with him and not to experience this alone. I hope I can nudge him into starting a blog on this trip. It would be benefit many of us out there. He is very creative.

There are 2 major goals I have for this All Access event.

#1- For God to move me to rethink, renew, and remix my ministry.

#2- Hug Tony Morgan (he will hate this but I want to see the look on his face).

I will be keeping you up-to-date on what happens while at NewSpring. I am sure it will be incredible.

Sign Wednesday: Bathroom Blitz

One way to judge a restaurant is by going in the bathroom. I actually had an idea of a restaurant that was all about the bathroom. You know the barstools would like like but not function as toilets and the booths would be divided by shower curtins. Of course that is not the point of this post. The point is to bring you a collection of random bathroom signs. This week I want you to pay attention to all of the sings in bathrooms. There are tons of them and here are some of my favorite.

I can't explain this one but it cracks me up.

I wanted to be fair to the ladies who read my blog.

Speaking of men and women.
Magnetic sign that you get to place your own symbol.

Read carefully. They were sued and had to be taken down.

Please use up to 2 font sizes per bathroom sign. This is ridiculous.

So there you have it. This has been toilet talk for the day. Now I must go and see a new sign.

Update on the iPhone Display

I know that I can be confusing sometimes and I apologize if the last post was one of those times. The iPhone display below is not just a large black plastic looking iPhone. It is a LCD screen with a plastic cover to make it look like a giant iPhone. On the LCD screen is a video that goes through how to use the phone. It goes through how the web works on the phone. It even goes through how to make a call. It truly is a sign that teaches you how to use the phone. So not only is it very sharp in appearance but it teaches at the same time.

This is the ultimate in the use of a sign. If you can ever get your signs to accomplish fashion and function then you are on the right path.

Sign Wednesday: iPhone Display

We have an Apple Store in the Kenwood Mall here in Cincinnati. It is an incredible store. I think that if I don't work for Google then Apple would be a nice second. Yesterday I was walking by the store window and saw this:

Now don't get me wrong. This display has been up for a while. And yes that is a giant iPhone. Here is the deal though... The phone is a sign. An every changing sign that teaches you how to use the iPhone. It teaches you how cool it is to own one. I hope you catch this. It is a sign that teaches. I can't say that I have any signs that are this intentional about teaching my kids, students, or parents how to use my ministry. I don't have any sign that teaches how cool my ministry is. Do you? If so I would love to see it.

On a totally different note... I love that this guy is cleaning the sign/phone/teacher. Upkeep is very important and one of the most overlooked aspects of ministry and environments. Of course Apple and other companies do this very well.

Last thing, I still don't have an iPhone. I want one but my church is on the T-Mobile network and a hacked phone I wouldn't trust. I know you have been worrying about what you are going to get me for Christmas, so please don't make it an iPhone unless you give the gift of service with it.