It's just around the corner...

If you enjoy winter sports and have a fourth grader in your home, then you should head over to Ski Pennsylvania where you can sign your fourth grader up for their free 2007-08 Snow Pass. This snow pass allows your son or daughter to ski FREE at any of 20 Pennsylvania resorts including local favorites Whitetail and Liberty.

Don't feel bad for the resorts, they have done their research and they know that if they hook our kids on winter sports during their fourth grade year, they will certainly regain any lost profit over the course of the following years. We got this pass for my son last year and it served us well! We will do it again in three years with my first grade daughter.

Think Snow.

Learning from Others

I used to think I was really smart. In fact, I'd say I was actually pretty cocky about it. In my 20's, I had all the answers, but somewhere between then and now, I seem to have misplaced them. That is why I love looking for help.

Tomorrow, I'm heading down to Fredericksburg to hang out with Jason Mueller of Salem Fields Community Church. I'm planning on pummeling him with questions about how to reach a community. The guys at Salem Fields have a real vision for the people who live around them and they will stop at nothing to reach them. They have even "doubled" their building footprint, but instead of creating some fancy schmancy sanctuary, they created a child care center and a cafe called Rubicon. That is refreshing to see a church serve it's community as opposed to hiding off in the shadows. I'll let you know what I learn.

I'm looking forward to meeting Jason but am also hoping that the "hot" sign is on at the Fredericksburg Krispy Kreme.

Making Preparations

We are smack dab in the middle of the holiday season and in order to survive, we must have a plan. A successful holiday survival plan must include:

-Family Meal Menus
-Travel Itineraries
-Shopping Lists
-Working Budget
-Christmas Decorating Strategy
-Work, Family and Neighborhood Party Prioritization

But, we often leave off the most important part of our Christmas season preparation plans...preparing our heart to experience Christ. Although Destiny does not officially observe Advent, I appreciate the more liturgical churches who begin the process of preparing to celebrate Jesus' birth four weeks before December 25th. That process helps our hearts to be ready to truly celebrate the birth of our Savior.

What will you do next month to help prepare yourself spiritually for Christmas? Leave a comment so that we can learn from each other...

The Ideal Thanksgiving Plate

Everybody has their own preference. And although in many areas of life, there are absolutes, when it comes to our own personal Thanksgiving plate, it actually is all relative. My perfect plate is equal parts white meat turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and something green. Then slather that all with a healthy ladel of gravy.

Actually, let me withdraw that comment about absolutes. When it comes to a perfect Thanksgiving plate, we all can agree that the perfect plate is an empty one. I hope I have an exta hole in my belt this year.

With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the LORD : "He is good; his love endures forever." Ezra 3:11

Prayers of Thanksgiving

Many of us will travel home for Thanksgiving and when we get there, we'll be greeted by the smells of a wonderful meal already cooking. And for some of us, when we sit down to eat, everyone else will look to us to offer a prayer.
Well, after some thorough research, I want to offer you the following transcript from Ben Stiller's prayer in "Meet the Parents".

"Oh, dear God, thank you, you are such a good God to us. A kind and gentle and accommodating God, and we thank You oh sweet, sweet Lord of hosts for the smörgåsbord You have so aptly laid at our table this day, and each day, by day, day by day, by day oh dear Lord three things we pray to love Thee more dearly, to see Thee more clearly, to follow Thee more nearly, day, by day, by day. Amen."

Use only at your own discretion and please pass the mashed potatoes.

Feed the World with a Better Vocab

Are you looking to become a better writer? Do you want to impress your friends with your vocabulary? Is your heart burdened by world hunger? Do you want to make a difference?

Sounds too simple, but you can do both at the same time... Check out Free Rice and read up on how big business advertising can actually make a difference in our world.

I will warn you though, this site is a little bit addicting. Enjoy.

Highlight Reel

Today we celebrated Destiny's 8th Birthday...

-The Red Carpet was rolled out.
-Holly and Gloria wrapped over 100 presents.
-We started up the service with the Loudoun County High School drum line.
-Nazarene Sect cranked us up...
-Lathan and Destiny Live! kept us going.
-Greg's message brought us home!
-South Street Under provided a great lunch.
-We gave out over $1000 of Bloom gift cards so that some families will now be able to enjoy a Thanksgiving meal.
and
-We recorded our record birthday attendance!

I'm so proud to be a part of this church!

Red Carpet Weekend!

1. Invite.
2. Enjoy.
3. Repeat.

2 Valuable Parenting Tips

1. Shut Off the TV.
Last night, the electricity on my block went out, so we did what any other suburban family would do. We ordered pizza.

Then, after dinner, we hung out and talked by candlelight. We laughed and joked and even sang and danced. It was a regular variety show at our home for a few hours. If we had electricity, that same amount of time would have been spent channel surfing. I was convicted by that thought and will now work at bringing the Erickson Variety Hour back on a consistent basis.

2. Buy Christmas Gifts Wisely.
I laughed out loud when I saw this painful picture...

It reminds me that our gifts for our kids must be safe for them physically and appropriate for them emotionally and spiritually.

Let me encourage you (and myself) to not overspend on your kids and to not get them all that they ask for. That might be counterintuitive to your desires but probably fits right into your budget. It is more important for our kids to know about being satisfied with what they have than to have it all. When you do your buying, make sure you are getting just the right gift.

Culinary Question?

I know it's not until next week, but I'm already salivating.

So, I'm wondering, what is your favorite Thanksgiving food item?

Changing our Focus

While here at the Externally Focused Church Conference, I'm challenged by a few things. Here is some of what I'm learning:

-Life is too short and hell is too hot, to play church.
-Stop recruiting people and start inviting people.
-Changing our language is the beginning of changing our culture.
-Service to our community needs to not only be a good experience for those who are being served but for those who are doing the serving.
-Jeff Clark is a great guy to hang with. He also has the obvious gifts of faith and perspective. (Is perspective even a spiritual gift?)
-I'm liking the look of this conference's host church building. I can't wait to see Destiny's sportsplex/daycare/arts center dream come to fruition.

I really enjoyed the breakout with Don Simmons. I'm coming home with great stuff for our leaders (and for me).

External Focus

Tomorrow I get to road trip with Jeff Clark to the Externally Focused Church Conference in Baltimore. I'm excited to see examples of how other churches have learned to reach out to their communities. Destiny is really growing in this area and I look forward to how God will use Destiny to impact Loudoun in 2008.

When I come back, I can't wait to meet with our Mission Team and begin thinking big about this!

Turkey Trot

"Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble." Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

Today Clay and I tackled the Turkey Trot 5k together, and although the verse above is most often heard at weddings, I think it applies here as well. I want to make sure I'm doing as much as I can to help my kids succeed and for them to experience the truth of this verse. Today as we ran together, I, the much older guy, set the pace and brought the encouragement. Clay brought the youthful enthusiasm and together we had a great race.

The morning was topped off with french toast with friends at the White Castle. This place is a quality find hidden on 21st Street in Purcellville. Good quality eats...

Quiet Times, Exercise, and Flossing

Tomorrow all three of the kids and I head over to the dentist. I'm not sure how Mo has delegated this to me, but for some reason, when she goes to the dentist, she goes alone. That is an issue for another blog on another day.

Today, I want to confess that I am planning on lying tomorrow morning. When the hygienist asks me if I floss regularly, I'll respond positively and she will know I'm lying because she'll be cleaning my teeth moments later. For some reason I still feel compelled to stretch the truth. I will continue to develop my theological position on preemptive confession, but I'm pretty sure it ain't going to help.

Finally, let me lay out the 3 components that make a great day for my wife: quiet time with God, exercise and flossing. According to her criteria, I've only had a handful of "great days".

What makes a great day for you?

Technologically Advanced Devotions

This morning, my wife asked me for a Bible, and I didn't have a good answer for her. You'd think, me, being a pastor-type guy would have known just exactly where my Bible was, but I didn't.

I have realized that I don't turn the pages much anymore when I'm reading the Bible. Instead I'm clicking the mouse on Scripture Union, Bible Gateway, or YouVersion.

I'm interested, do you find yourself clicking or page turning during your devotions with God?

The Snooze Button

Yesterday, I headed into my 7 year old's room to wake her for school. It was 6:15am and she was not ready to wake up. Gently I placed my face near hers and encouraged her to "rise and shine". She then reached out with her hand and started patting my face and head. "What are you doing?" I inquired. "I'm looking for the snooze button" was her quick reply.

If you, like my daughter, are looking for more reasons for a good night's sleep, check out dumb little man.

Red Carpet Sunday

On Sunday, November 18th Destiny is rolling out the Red Carpet. We're doing this because it is our 8th birthday and we'll use anything as an excuse to throw a party. We've invited Nazarene Sect to enliven our morning and, as always, we have a few surprises up our sleeves. This great day also includes lunch courtesy of South Street Under.


That, however is not the whole picture! We are also using this day as an opportunity to reach out. We are convinced that there are families that we know and love who are struggling through life, and could be blessed by Destiny Church. We are all reaching out to our friends and asking them to join us on the Red Carpet so that they can be a part of our celebration, enjoy lunch with us AND be blessed by some additional giving we have in store. We are not looking to expose anyone's hardships, but are hoping to walk alongside folks as they endure some tough times. Please email me if you know of someone who should be invited to Destiny's Red Carpet Sunday.

This is going to be an incredible day! Won't you consider joining us and bringing your friends along as well?

Great Weekend

The Destiny Men's Advance was a huge success. Yes, the food was great and the weather perfect, but the key component impacting men on this advance was the challenge to step out in faith, to face our fears and to be vulnerable. We did this on the high ropes course,
but we also did this spiritually as we tackled the verse "You will never succeed in life if you try to hide your sins. Confess them and give them up; then God will show mercy to you." Proverbs 28:13.

Men's Advance Kicks off Today

Here are the ingredients for a great Men's Advance...not a retreat, but an Advance...the mantra is "women retreat, men advance"... didn't come up with that, just cautiously passing it on. Anyway, here are the main components:

-Great Location...Liberty Mountain.
-Good Eats...some Road Food guys favor the Cozy Inn on the way up.
-Golf Clubs.
-Shot Guns.
-Wii and Xbox.
-Challenges from Buddy Marston.
-Orienteering (or simply getting lost in the woods at night).
-Cell phones turned off
and
-Did I mention good eats?

Pray for deep fellowship and open hearts for the 40+ guys heading out on this trip after work today. Thanks.