I\'ve worn a lot of hats, but most importantly I\'m trying my best to follow Christ, be a husband, a dad, and to keep dreaming, visionizing, leading, and creating.
The title of this blog, \"betterthanblank\" is inspired by a pastor who taught that Christ is better than anything this world has to offer. It\'s something that I need to be reminded of every day...
I\'m currently on staff at Rancho Community Church & Schools in Southern California, where I get to work with some amazing people and do some amazing things. (and obviously, I need some HTML help). 
An Update
Well, the blog is takin’ a hit. I just can’t seem to find the time to write much here lately – so, another mind-dump update:
- I’m about become an Uncle for the first time in my life.
- Jen and I are about to celebrate 9 years of marriage & 15 years of being together! I don’t deserve to be with such an amazing woman, seriously.
- I got myself a Blackberry Curve to replace my 2 year old Treo 755p. Moving from Palm to BB, was not too hard, in fact I really like my BB. There’s a lot I like, like: Bluetooth tethering that actually works (most of the time), Ubertwitter, Sprint Navigation, Google Mobile Apps, Facebook for BB, Pandora. What I don’t like: having to pull the battery out (per Sprints advice) every day or two to reset the phone – huh? And when it restarts, it takes like 2 minutes (maybe I’m just picky). Also, it has those “Windows” kind of hic-ups – you know, when the little hour glass appears & spins around for minutes at a time…
- I’ve been working on ideas for a new logo for Rancho Community Church since the day I started there. After 6 months, I finally found something and everyone (that I know of) is really stoked about the new look. Here’s the old logo:
And the new one:
- I posted this (and other versions) to a flickr group for some feedback and found out that it made it’s way over to churchmarketingsucks.com, which I think means that it doesn’t suck. I just thought it was cool that it made it on their front page (along with another piece of art I did for our Missions team).
- The logo is really cool to me because it says a few things: Notice there’s five squares that make up the cross. Those are our “five brands”, or five areas that as a church, we are focused on: Connecting Lives, Teaching Truth, Building Families, Helping Others, Recovering & Restoring. Each color represents a different “brand” and each brand has it’s own logo (depicted here). The squares in the shape of the cross also convey a feeling of ancient-modern; the ancient cross with a modern spin – it speaks to Rancho being a multi-generational church. Also, the multi-colors is also representative of multi-culture, which Rancho has as well – and will undoubtedly grow more and more. All that to say, I think it works well.
- School is ramping up, getting ready to start in a few weeks. I’m helping with the planning of our Teacher Orientation week – which I’m stoked about. I had this crazy idea of getting Dan Cathy (yes, he Twitters) from Chick-fil-A to come and speak (he’s the COO, from Atlanta). I talked to one of our local Chick-fil-A marketing people and she put me in touch with Andrew Cathy, Dan’s son – and long story short: he’s scheduled to come speak one day during our orientation week! I’m so stoked & can’t really believe it. We’re going to have our entire staff (church and school) attend his session, and I can’t wait.
- Miles, my son, is going to be turning 7 in about a month and I can’t believe it. Seems like just last year we were changing his diapers. He’s going to be heading to First Grade at Rancho Community; all day, five days a week – for the first time. We are so proud of him – he’s such a good boy. I’m trying to be more intentional with him, praying for him, sharing things with him to build his character, teaching him about things, like appreciation for music, the Bible, kindness, selflessness, helping his mom & sister – it’s so much fun being his dad. I’m so thankful for him.
- Macy… oh Macy. She’s so cute and (can be) so sweet. But she gives us a run for it. Being a dad to a daughter is a completely different ballgame than begin a dad to a son – at least for me. She’s a good little girl, very intelligent, but she pushes the limits too (me and Jen joke that maybe we just don’t remember how hard Miles was when he was three). I’m trying to learn how to be the best dad I can to her, and for her. I’m praying for patience & wisdom. Today she reached her “level 3″ at swimming lessons – she can almost swim by herself at three years old. We were so proud of her today!
- Got to spend some time with my brother, James, a few weeks ago – that was really cool.
- I’m going to facilitate a community class, sponsored by Rancho Community, on social media. It should be a 6-10 week class familiarizing people with things like Twitter, Facebook, blogging, and all that goes along with that. It should be a fun way to build some new relationships outside the walls of the “church”. Anyone local interested in being a part of that? I’m gonna need some speakers too… Anyone?
- Oh yeah, and… we’re in the middle of designing, developing, and beta-testing a new website for Rancho Community (almost forgot about that little project). Working hard with Daniel Murphy on this project – and it’s HUGE. Should be live in a couple weeks if all goes well.
- I need to delegate some of this social media, publicity, marketing – whatever you call it. Right now I am managing about 4-5 Facebook pages, the church blog, the school website, helping with the church website (above), and five twitter accounts. Luckily, I have one volunteer helping with one of the Facebook pages… any more volunteers?
Well, that’s all for now. How are things going with you?
Recent Comments