Excellence and Summitt

For the past few years of coaching young people, I have almost exclusively coached young ladies. Something that even male coaches ruefully note is the relative lack of female coaches in our sport at the youth level.

It is hardly restricted to youth soccer. You see the same in high school, college and the pros. It seems guys corner the market on coaching and training opportunities. And, while the situation is changing, there is much to be done in the matter of encouraging and retaining female role models in coaching. My organization has actively and tangibly worked to bridge any gender gaps.

I am not trying to talk myself out of a job; I just feel that there is definite value in finding female role models for young ladies to emulate.

When news surfaced recently that the venerable Pat Summitt, championship coach of the Tennessee Lady Vols, is battling a form of early onset Alzheimer's disease, the entire sports world gasped. Scratch that. Everyone gasped.

See, you don't need to be a sports fan to know Coach Summitt. Her scowl is legendary, and her glare strikes fear into friends and foes alike. But beneath that ferocity lies a history of excellence that is hard to ignore. Check how many of her students either have degrees or are working towards one. Here's a hint: if expressing the number as a percentage, you'd have to use three digits.

Ask her players, past and present, about her and they talk about a coach who is not scared to push them to succeed. A coach who would not accept 90%. She does things right, doesn't take shortcuts, and her methods make us all rest soundly in the assurance that good triumphs over evil in the long-run.

I'm saying a prayer for Coach Summitt... for selfish reasons. You see, she isn't just a role model to young ladies; she is a role model to me.

Read more »

Fearing the best

I hate to lose.

This weekend, both of my soccer teams had it rough. No goals for, plenty against. A single loss usually does good to put me in a dark mood, but running between two states for most of the weekend to get both teams going (kinda) and getting our teeth kicked in was especially hard to swallow. Tack on the player injuries, tight schedules and forced tan I got, and you can understand my feelings.

In the midst of the losses, there were some bright spots. It exposed our collective need to get better, but also showed how well we can do when we gel. Both sets of ladies never quit.

There was a point, during the last game with my older team, that I had to make a decision. Continue to push and express anger, with injured players all over the place, or be a resource to my players. I reluctantly (I admit) picked the latter option.

I smiled.

My hope was that being relaxed would rub off. And it did. My ladies seemed to open up. Granted, with the way we changed injured keepers and fill-ins, all one could do was smile.

It didn't stop the goals against us; we continued our free fall, but hopefully, the landing was softer than it could have been.

Another lesson learned... don't fear the loss. Deal with your response.

Read more »

Starting again

It begins again.

ATTIC is back, and I'll be having three new ladies join the fold... two teams in two new divisions, and a (mostly) new collection of parents.

With Fall comes a renewed sense of purpose. I look on the past year of coaching/ministry, and I think the honest thing is to be grateful for any successes, but be realistic about areas of opportunity.

In everything, it is clear that I must continually refresh myself if I want to be an effective trainer and pastor. I readily admit that sometimes, the sheer breadth of responsibility gives me pause.

The older one gets, the easier it is to see that one's strength isn't necessarily a function of what's within, despite what the cool Nike commercials say. It is more a function of what one attaches oneself to. So, I am making this easy by re-attaching myself to He who strengthens me.

It should be a good season for my youth and soccer teams. Keep us in your prayers.

Image courtesy of Ian Britton via reelworship.com.

Read more »

Terrahawks and Ecclesiastes

As a kid, I loved the supermarionation series Terrahawks. We didn't have very much by way of television choice, and when you make a show that has spaceships, aliens and commanders named Tiger Ninestein in the physical manifestation of puppets, we tuned in. Religiously.

Ninestein was a man's man. Not only did he have nine lives (get it?) that allowed one of his clones to replace him in the event of his death, he led a group tasked with protecting earth from Zelda and her minions. He carried a big stick (much like his PGA namesake used to). He was tough, cocky and suave, and at age 12, I was all about being suave.

One of Ninestein's famous quips was "Expect the unexpected." It wasn't a yell, and it wasn't a cry. It was always said with deliberate control... a respect for the inevitability of chaos. It was cool, it was collected, and most importantly: it was incredibly suave.

I had to use it.

I practiced the phrase for hours in the mirror (don't judge me. There wasn't Facebook, cell-phones or an other things that created misaligned kids back then; we had to work to blight our brains back then). I decided that everyone would be blessed with the phrase as my opening point to any conversation. They could expect that. It was the perfect rejoinder, something with which I could show everyone the depth of philosophical thought I had accumulated over my lengthy dozen-or-so years.

And, it worked well. I got blank looks from friends. Most seem more confused and impressed, but hey, plenty of politicians aim to stupefy people in the exact same way today, so I must have been onto something. I kept using my new tool of cool until one fateful evening.

Without getting to deeply into it, when your dad is talking about how badly his day went at work (and we ain't talking about "regular" work; we're talking about stressful work, where colleagues get killed by package bombs) AND how car trouble had left him stranded for hours AND how he had been interrogated by government security forces, you might NOT want to quote Tiger Ninestein at all. That evening, the expected outcome actually did happen.

I think if we focused on how much little control we have in life, it would be crippling. The cliches are mostly true: cherish the seconds, stop and breathe, it could be worse. But for those that need it, getting a true Anchor in God is all we have.

Read more »

Church work on the cheap

Here is an article from a writer my wife thinks is gorgeous and extremely smart. The article talks about tools that specifically are used for church work, but could be of help to any business person.

Leave comments here or there...

Read more »

Feuding

When it comes to Scrabble, I am The Man. I could try to downplay my awesomeness, or cloak it with false modesty, but sometimes, you just have to underscore the truth. When it comes to this word game, I'm Michael Jackson, and everyone else is Tito. I am William, you're Harry, and I'll look fabulous in ceremonial headgear -- and I ain't abdicating, baby.

One advantage of having a smartphone is the ability to play Scrabble clones against others. While Word With Friends is quite popular, my favorite is Wordfeud. Available on iOS and Android, it allows play between opponents over the air.

Yes...

I played a couple of games with my wife. I love the lady, but I unleashed such a continual can of terror on her that even I started to feel bad. So I had to seek out some new competition. I was getting weary of hiding this word-play genius, and I had to let the world behold it.

I started playing with other friends who had Android devices. The result was generally the same: Me: Awesome, Them: Less so. I reveled in my new found celebrity status (work with me here). I was riding high, beating up on acquaintances and living the life. I beat my brother so badly that I could practically see the welts in his posterior.

Till I played Tee.

Wordfeud is not just any game. As any Scrabble aficionado can tell you, the game transcends just the need to have a wide vocabulary. It entails defense, blocking, letter awareness and strategic placement. Using all your tiles can make or break you, and having a 'Q' can help or hurt.

Everyone has a style of play. KB is a word savant; she uses the most words of any competitor, and she swings for the fences with longer words. Tee is methodical; make one mistake and you're toast. My brother J is annoying; he plays in boxes, grinding the game to a plodding halt while nitpicking words (remote play is necessary with him because you'll wanna choke him at some point. What in the world is "Qi"?).

Tee broke my run. In short order, my streak was gone. Babetta beat me. Karen beat me. Worse yet, my kid brother beat me. The last one hurt, and I had to fight back tears.

And confront my own mortality.

All in all, Wordfeud is addictive way for one to rediscover humility. However, with the roll that I'm on, I am gonna have to postpone that...

Read more »

Thought dispersal

I have been blessed with an opportunity to write for a few other web publications, and I am sure it will help with streamlining this blog.

Going forward, I'll be contributing a bit more to Churchm.ag. It will be an opportunity to talk about a concept I hold dear: church and technology.

I'll also be writing some articles for Gone Googling. Obviously, this

will cater to discussing everything Google.

I am quite excited by the opportunities, and I hope that you also visit the blogs listed. They are pretty good, admittedly without my contributions.

Read more »

Recast

It's been a busy year so far. With three teams and church work, I felt stretched. Tryout week just ended... looks like I'm gonna have two club teams again.

Truth be told, without some of the best church volunteers and parents on both sides (like my earthbound Angel), I'd never make it.

I'm looking forward to it.

For now, I am so grateful to God for all the opportunities. I am quite happy for the few weeks of respite. End of season brings a multitude of emotions. You say goodbye to players for any number of reasons; it never gets easier.

The longer I coach, the longer I realize that it is an extension of my ministry. That is what makes me keep at it. I love what I do, and even though I may never get rich doing it, I truly feel privileged.

Read more »

Nuts of grape.

I dedicate this gem to Cass and Tee. Something tells me that they will truly appreciate it.

No more bacon. No more "nuts of grape." All you...

Read more »

What a day...

Tournaments will make or break you.

With the torrential rains coming through, it has been in interesting Saturday. My older team (Gazelle) played first game against a team that had my school (CPS) keeper... we lost a tight one, but it was a mixed bag. I love to see Katie do well, albeit at my expense.

Immediately after, I had to dash across town to get to my younger team (Samba) matchup, guest coached by a fellow trainer Danny. We won that game.

We then had a predetermined rain delay to allow the serious thunderstorms pass. At 3:15, we repeated the sequence -- one game here, then a dash to get to my next game before halftime.

Ended up with two ties, a win and a loss spread amongst both teams.

I am so proud of both teams. My older team is very, very different from a week ago; player movement and injuries changed our entire complexion. They have done so well to raise their own performance, and it is exciting and humbling to watch. Though it has been a rough season, they continually fight to do well.

My younger team has quietly become a formidable force in our division. We lost out on the championship, but an undefeated regular season made me so proud of them. Hopefully we can bring home so hardware tomorrow.

All in all, it was a hectic yet rewarding day. I was supposed to be break-dancing at a fundraiser for our children's department (long story... a blogpost for another day), but I think my age is definitely beginning to show.

Remembering Julian Brown is still a privilege.

Read more »

And more...

So... in my new role as soccer coach at Charlotte Prep, I got a new set of ladies to learn with... a bunch of bright ladies of differing abilities ranging from 5th to 8th grade.

So far, it's been fun. I am quite interested to see how we do. I like the school, and parents seem quite receptive. My schedule has tightened even further, but I truly love this opportunity.

Go Tigers!

Read more »

Churchdrop

As you know, I love church technology. It's my passion. I think the church must harness technology to reach the people we are told to reach. It's the same concept behind the move from papyrus to paper. Better tools make the job easier to do and imbibe.

I was just blessed with an opportunity to write with a bunch of guys who know way more than me on that topic. I'd like to invite you to check out Churchdrop.

Great articles by some great people... and, oh yeah, little old me.

Read more »

So, so thankful...

... that my nephew's cancer is officially in remission!

Read more »

Convergence, baby!!!

As I have come to believe, convergence of devices is now the name of the game. It seems in our quest to achieve simplicity, we may be willing to sacrifice optional quality... within reason, of course.

In this article from Yahoo Finance, the author suggests that traditional cameras may be on the way to becoming obsolete.

I don't think he is too far off the mark.

I don't know that Nikon, Kodak or Canon are ready to cede the shutter battle just yet, but then again, it wasn't so long ago that I was taking rolls of film to the drugstore to get developed.

Now? I can snap and share via Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and Dropbox in sixty seconds or less on my Android device. The dual cameras may not win me a Pulitzer Prize, but being able to have a portable camera with me to catalog something funny or memorable at any given time is priceless.

That is a big draw for me. The ability to leave physical bible, camera, checkbook, mp3 player, day-timer, laptop, etc. behind is invaluable. If there is something that can be done effectively on my device, then that is where I want it done. Anytime I have to carry a secondary device, I have the nagging feeling that I have failed at choice of platform and/or device.

Some companies are adjusting to consumer convergence. Even as Amazon and Barnes & Noble make better standalone e-readers, they are spending money to push what could be called competitors to their own hardware: their own software for the major mobile OS platforms. In other words, I can buy a Kindle device, or still have the option of downloading the free Kindle software to my EVO to access e-books that way.

It's all about ease of use and speed of delivery. It's all about how fast you can get a document from a bulletin board to a fellow staffer.

So... do I boot up the scanner and desktop or plop out the EVO with Camscanner?

As Black Sheep said... the choice is yours.

Read more »

Alltop Church Chatter

The one thing that Alltop does for me is aggregate current thought from church folks that have a bead on the pulse of our generation. I absolutely feel blessed to have access to the blogs listed. I invite you to check it out too.

I readily admit that if you are looking for a blog to knock mine off your subscription list (and you shouldn't be), you'll find one here.

Alltop is perfect for my other hobbies as well (soccer, mobile technology, books, etc.). All in all, I am sure you'll find a use for it.

And, as the badge on this very page states, I still can't believe I got in...

Read more »

Ministry Helper Apps (Android edition)

Since the inevitable Android move has happened, I have been getting acquainted with my new device and the OS that powers it.

As in everything else tech, I try to find a way to bridge it to ministry. Here is my list of Android Applications that currently are must haves:

YouVersion Bible: Yes, I know at this point, I sound like an indefatigable cheerleader with a crush, but YV is really all that... and a BIG bag of chips. With Live integration, Note availability and creation, downloadable version (NLT is one) and built-in reading plans, this is a serious tool for the serious Android-carrying church worker. YouVersion is all the bible you need on the go.

Get on the bus. The possibilities are endless. You can literally run a entire bible-based message from your phone. You can tweet, send to Facebook and add study notes for the church directly from the app.

HanDBase: Relational database on steroids. This bad boy is an app of a thousand apps. Think data entry and utility creation. You can create expense ledgers, member lists, even giving records. Need a task list? A building catalog? List of guest speakers? parent list? Nursery roster? HanDBase is there. It is syncable to desktop/laptop, too.

I have used HanDBase since my Palm days, and it has been a staple on my devices since. I have my unofficial time clock on it. Helps me keep track of my ministry hours, and allows me to send reports (like weekly output). I also use it to catalog my training plans and player stats in soccer. The scary thing is that I don't think I have even touched the surface with regards to its functionality.

Extra bonus: HanDBase is owned by a christian artist, David Haupert.

Pocket Informant: I am a churchworker, soccer coach and also manage our church's online calendar. I also need to have access to my wife's calendar to stay on top of the kid's events.

I run a lot of calendars. Pocket Informant helps me manage everything.

It syncs well with Google Calendar, right down to the color coding. If a fellow staffer adds an entry to Google Calendar, it populates to the general Google Calendar, which populates to my device. Pretty seamless. Besides syncing to the Google Cloud, it also syncs to Toodledo, a fantastic task manager with GTD capabilities. All in all, PI is one of the best PIMs out there.

Dropbox: Dropbox has been around for a while, and I am shamelessly late to the party. Still, it made it's way into my heart quite easily.

Dropbox is a storage repository conveniently located in the "Cloud" an accessible from anywhere with an internet connection. This connectivity has given Dropbox the secondary ability to serve as a universal jumpdrive.

How can this help you? Church workers move more paper and information than the US Mint and Library of Congress combined. Say a busy pastor needed to collaborate with the music minister and head deacon about the upcoming Easter program. We are talking about music, graphics and budgetary concerns... with a click of the button, everyone's physical input could be uploaded instantly to a common file, collaborated on and then re-accessed.

I use Dropbox heavily on the fly, to help get media out on our webpage, FB page and the church twitter account. Instead of hoarding event pictures on my phone, I simply upload them to my Dropbox. It's one less reason to carry a laptop, when I can simply access the the info from any computer.

Dropbox offers free accounts that are upgradeable, but I have not yet used up my generous free allotment. You can also download the app for free on iOS, BlackBerry OS and Mac.

Save a tree: use DropBox.

Read more »

Season's greetings.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Read more »

YouVersion. Again.

YouVersion became a part of my walk not that long ago. A Twitter friend brought it to my attention, and I remember thinking it was too good to be true.

I gave it a whirl, and became such a fan of YV that I penned a review about the Blackberry port. I got to meet some pretty cool people affiliated with Lifechurch.tv, and got to understand the vision that guided the minds of the folks behind YouVersion.

Since then, YV has gained steam, and has become such a blessing in the lives of even more people worldwide. The idea of making Bibles accessible to people in the form of mobile software wasn't new, but removing the financial barrier to ownership was revolutionary.

In its early days, its biggest attribute -- portability based upon wireless signals -- sometimes could be a drawback. Still, this is somewhat soothed by the presence of offline (downloadable) versions on the iOS and Android ports. This makes it even easier to get Scripture, any lack of cellular signal and/or wifi notwithstanding.

I have been blessed with an opportunity to be part of the YV Android testing group, and watching the way the developers respond to glitches and release new builds has been fun. I am particularly smitten with the new Notes feature of the Android port; now I can make notes and add spiritual revelations on the go, right from the handheld. I already rely heavily on YouVersion to do my job, but this added functionality blows it out the water. Add that to the pre-existing multiple translations in multiple languages, social networking connectivity, built-in reading plans and access to "Live" events and scripture word search, and you can see why this software is such a hit.

All in all, I consider YV to be such a huge part of my ministry, and I recommend it to anyone who wants to learn about God. You can do it on any major platform with data access, including a regular desktop or laptop.

For Android users, it is readily available on the Market.
--
Sent via Android.

Read more »

People I dislike: Katherine Wolfe.

If you need a dose of inspiration, or wanna read about an old-fashioned hero that lives today, head over and read about Katherine Arnold Wolfe.

Beyond being a woman with untold courage, she managed to survive a life-threatening stroke. This wife and mother also fought to re-learn skills that she lost after the stroke.

People that are braver than me make me feel small. Katherine Wolfe makes me feel refreshingly minute, and it is a privilege to write about her. Every now and then, we meet or read about powerful beings that only wear human flesh. Katherine is one of them.

I am grateful God gave me an opportunity to read about her.

Read more »

Hotness

A quick birthday shout-out to my wife. As y'all know, she is hotness personified...

Happy Birthday, Cookie. I love you.

Read more »