Archive for November, 2007
Posted by Todd Porter on
November 29, 2007
Michigan has been given permission by LSU to talk with Les Miles after the SEC Championship game about the head coaching job at Michigan. I am excited about this for several reasons.
1) I believe that Michigan should hire a Michigan Man and Les Miles is, he played for and coached for the University. Plus, he has said it would be his dream job.
2) Michigan needs to upgrade it’s program like OSU and MSU has, and I believe Les is the best person for that task.
3) Les has found coaching success in two top tier conferences in the NCAA, the Big 12 and SEC. And the fact that he has found success in the best conference (SEC) in college football is a plus. The SEC has kicked the Big Ten’s butt long enough, so it is time we get one of their best to help us out.
4) From a purely financial point of view this makes sense. You need to keep filling seats and Les will bring that buzz that can help continue that. Especially with the new addition. So, Bill Martin, do what it takes to get him.
Posted by Todd Porter on
November 26, 2007
I haven’t really had the opportunity until now to post my thoughts about the speakers on Saturday and Sunday and the NYWC in Atlanta. So I am taking the opportunity now even though it was a little over a week ago.
First let me say that the people at Youth Specialties did an absolutely amazing job. I had never been to a NYWC and I was blown away at how organized and well done the whole thing was put together. Very professional and total class act, but yet fun and festive.
Phyllis Tickle
On Saturday morning Phyllis Tickle spoke to us. I had never heard of this person at all and when Tic introduced her he called her Tickle Me Elmo and had also said she was 74 years old. My first thought was, “What? Who the heck is this.” By the end I was jumping to me feet to give her a standing ovation. Her talk was on of the most academic heady talks that I had ever been a part of since I was in Bible college. But in the end she wrapped it all up and gave each of us a prophetic word about how we were a part of one of the next great ages in church history. I could go into more details here but instead I want to direct you to a friend of mine’s blog post about it, just don’t call him veronica (LOL). You can find it here.
Louie Giglio
Louie Giglio is always a person who gives great talks and Saturday evening with him was not a disappointment at all. Louie shared with us a story of how he had the opportunity to connect with a girl who got saved at one of the Passion Conferences that he does. Unfortunately this girl ended up dying in a car crash, which then lead to an opportunity for Louie to connect with her mom and eventually her dad, who is an atheist. As Louie was setting up the story there was this anticipation that the dad was going to come out on stage and close the whole service, but Louie stopped in the middle and said that he could sense that and did not want us to think that. He said that every pastor always ends their talks with a great beautiful bow, but that is not always how life is and that is not how this story is going to end. He went onto say that this girl’s dad still does not believe in God, but they are continuing their conversation. And that to me is a great bow to end the story. Louie is building a relationship with this man and will hopefully one day be able to help this guy understand that their is a God and that God loves this man, so that this dad can see his daughter again in heaven.
Doug Fields
On Sunday morning we had the amazing opportunity to be lead into song with the David Crowder Band and let me tell you that it was an amazing experience. As it always is with Mr. Crowder and his cohorts.
Then Doug Fields got up to speak to us and Doug is another person that usually gives amazing talks. He talked about envy and he related it with the story of Joseph in the Bible. I have a lot of thoughts regarding this that I may or may not post here. There was some things during his talk that really struck a chord with me and got me thinking. And I am still processing much of those thoughts.
All of the talks were amazing and if you want to download the audio from them or even purchase the DVD from it you can do so here. I really recommend getting the DVD of Phyllis Tickles talk, because she wrote a lot of stuff on a white board that would be good to see. I plan on getting a copy of it myself.
Posted by Todd Porter on
November 26, 2007
This past week I came back from my trip to the
NYWC in Atlanta with a
friend and we had rented a car to go down there. We ended up getting a
Ford Fusion and since I own a
Toyota Camry it was like a took the
Ford Challenge and swapped my ride. You can read on the Ford website all these testimonies of people who officially took the challenge, but I like the fact that I had my own opportunity to do so.
First off, I was not impressed at all with the comfort of the Ford Fusion. My Camry is much more comfortable. My family took it when we went up north this past summer and it was a much easier to drive, more comfortable, smoother, and a quieter car to drive in than the Fusion was on my trip down to Atlanta. They both have basically the same size space for passengers, but the Camry felt much bigger.
And my Camry, which is a base model, has much more creature comforts on it’s base model then the Fusion did in it’s base model that we had. In fact, the Fusion looked very cheap compared to the Camry.
Secondly, I was not impressed with the gas mileage on the Fusion. It only gets 20 mpg in the city and 28 on the highway and my Camry gets 21 mpg in the city and 31 on the highway, according to their respective websites. And when you are traveling about 800 miles round trip every extra little bit counts.
But the last thing has sold me on the Camry over the Fusion was the fact that while driving down to Atlanta we pretty much drove right by the plant where the Camry is made. If we wanted to go by the plant where the Fusion is made we would have had to go much further south and quite a bit west, Mexico to be exact. So why would I want to invest my money in a supposed American car that supports Mexican jobs, when I could buy the “foreign” car that supports American workers? It really is a simple decision if you ask me.
Sure people will say, “but where do the profits go?” And my response to that is that I do not give a crap where a couple of hundred CEO’s play golf at, but I do care about the sevreal thousand American workers being able to feed their families. Isn’t that more important?
So my result in the Ford Challenge is that you can keep your foreign car and I will gladly drive my American Camry.
Posted by Todd Porter on
November 22, 2007
Today is the traditional day of eating Turkey, spending time with family, and watching the Lions football. The Lions are carrying a 33-32-2 record into the 68th edition of the Thanksgiving Day Classic. We play the Green Bay Packers this year, which is the team we have played the most and have a 11-5-1 record against them in the 17 games we have played them. I am hoping that this year we can beat them again and keep our overall winning record on Thanksgiving Day. And get the Lions off of their current 2 game losing streak. GO LIONS!!!
As you sit down to enjoy your feast take some time and think of all the things that you are grateful for this past year. Some of us have gotten married, some have had babies, some have had the interview of our lives, but all of us have had something that we can be grateful for.I know that I am grateful that I had the opportunity to go to NYWC in Atlanta and promote YMX this past week. I am also very glad that I had the opportunity to meet Marko of Youth Specialties fame and found out that he is a total class guy with a huge heart for God and youth workers. Thanks, Marko! It was an honor.
I am also grateful for my wife and kids who have kept me sane during this time of transition as we seek out a place of ministry for us. It has been a long haul, but I am so glad that we have done it together. I am also especially grateful for my wife, whom I will be married to for 12 years in a few weeks, she is a truly amazing woman and I can not think of anyone else that I would have wanted to go through the past 12 years of highs and lows with.
So take some time today and think of the things that you are thankful for.
Posted by Todd Porter on
November 19, 2007
Poor Adam was so tired that I let him sleep for a while…. OH CRAP!!! He is driving. What was I thinking. WAKE UP!!!
Posted by Todd Porter on
November 19, 2007
Adam made me enter in all 743 email addresses that we got over the weekend at the YMX booth. So as he drove I had to sit and type. And then he is making me compose a personal thank you note to every single one as well. I guess it is helping make the trip go quicker.Actually the number of email address we got was 434. All in all it was a good weekend and hopefully more people will be able to connect into the YMX community.
Posted by Todd Porter on
November 19, 2007
Adam and I stopped at a Sonic in Tennessee for a quick bite to eat. We stopped here becuase it is quick and so I can get my wife’s favorite drink, a cherry-limeade. The food was good and so was the tots, but having the cherry-limeade makes me miss my wife.
Posted by Todd Porter on
November 19, 2007
Adam and I are back on the road again, but this time we are heading back home. NYWC was great and I still have a few blog posts to make about some of the sessions I heard, but I am happy to be heading home.We are driving straight through and should be home about 9:00p tonight. I miss my family.
Posted by Todd Porter on
November 18, 2007
Here I am with Charlie (Reconciled7). He and his wife have stopped by the booth a few times and I kept forgetting to take a picture, so here it is.I have also met a few other YMXer’s that I forgot to get pictures with. That list includes: Kevin (kjw___), Chris (HunkaChunk) and Keith (GravitysWorstEnemy).
Posted by Todd Porter on
November 18, 2007
This is Zach Hunter, who is like any other 16 year old, except that when his mom told him about slavery he decided something needed be done about that. So he wrote a book entitled “Be The Change” and he talks about we can be the change right where we are and no matter how old we are. What an amazing young man that should challenge everyone of us to do what we can to bring justice where there is injustice.
