everything designed

Clicked onto Expedia.com to see how much it would be to visit family in New Zea-land next year.  Looks like we can get the tickets for round-trip with 3 week car rental for about $1600 per person. Not bad actually. Then I stumbled on to their new Trend Tracker Tool – it tells you the trends on best time of year to travel (for cost). Digging it. So I know I was thinking initially about New Zea-land but I have been curious about the best possible time to visit Cozumel, Mexico and it looks like January is the best time to get out of town – around $360.00.

Love travel, love good deals. Love Expedia.com, still.

Celebrating the Life of Oral Roberts: The Man Who Obeyed God
January 24, 1918 – December 15, 2009

Join us online tomorrow for the live stream of Oral Roberts Memorial Services. http://www.orm.cc I am told there will be more than 200,000 people joining in to watch the online service. Amazing.

Here are some quotes from Oral Roberts from his site.

“Expect a miracle!”

“In the midst of the turmoil, the fear, the anxiety that’s in our nation and in our world, as I was walking and meditating, I heard the voice of God. I’ve heard that voice many times; it’s familiar to me, and there’s no way that I can fail to understand it’s His voice because I’m familiar with it.”

“God is a good God, and the devil is a bad devil.”

“Something GOOD is going to happen to you today!”

“God wants you well. God wants you prosperous. God wants you a whole person.”

“God came to take off you what the devil put on you,
To take out of you what the devil put in you,
To put back on you what the devil took off you,
And to put back in you what the devil took out.”

“I respect doctors, and one reason is that they have grasped this eternal truth and are against sickness and for health. Consciously or unconsciously, they have a pretty good theology of healing. Sometimes I wish we Christians had such a good theology of healing. Then we might be less inclined to argue about whether it’s God’s will to heal or not.”

How many years until we all have the brand new 52″ Apple SmartTV* ?

Technology is moving. Fast. Just think about this: a bit more than 100 years ago Ford Motor Company started putting cars together on an assembly line – a major technology advancement. Now we are streamlining how we access information and communicate with different people and culture groups all over the globe. Get ready to see technology rapidly change our world. Here are the quick stats from 2007 just for comparison:

• What’s next? X.X B (post it)
• Mobile Phone 2.7 B
• Television 1.5 B
• Credit Card Users 1.4 B
• Interent 1.1 M
• PC Users 850 M
• Registered Vehicles 800 M

Stats from Cameron Moll’s book, Mobile Web Design, and link. Also, for more on where Mobile is going see: MW4D Mobile Web for Social Development Road Map (MW4D) #mobile #web

*it’s real, it just hasn’t replaced your TV, yet. And it’s not quite 52 inches.

Working through the principle – What we do effects everything. We can have a positive impact on this world or the inverse – and it’s our choice. What impact are you having on the world around you? How does it impact everyone else? Ripple Effect. Starting this weekend @woodlandschurch

It all starts this November 2009!

Join us for this LIVE Online Event // Pastor Kerry Shook and Woodlands Church services online! If you are in the area join us at one of our three locations in The Woodlands, Atascocita or Tomball.

Or if you are elsewhere join us for our BETA test of Church Online and let us know what you think. http://live.woodlandschurch.tv/ Saturday 6:00pm or Sunday 9:30, 11:00am or Wednesday at 9:00am.

See you on campus or online!

Wow, great article posted front page on the Sunday, October 11 Houston Chronicle Newspaper. “Praise for Technology: Tweeting during church services receives blessings from pastors.” Really excited that Pastor Kerry jumped in and is experimenting with new technologies and connecting with the congregation. I am still amazed and how church is viewed and how this sort of thing might create controversy in the public. Check out the comments and the rest of the article here: http://www.chron.com/disp/discuss.mpl/metropolitan/6662287.html

Seems to be a bit of a controversy Tweeting in church. What do you think? Cast YOUR VOTE. Also, fun note: just got off the phone with my other half and she said this is the main article on the front page of the printed edition!! Amazing. Give a quick hello to Pastor Kerry via Twitter and maybe follow Woodlands Church if you want to track with us.

Great article! Your comments and thoughts can be posted via the huge button below.

Are you the next Zuckerberg? Really, how so? Tell us how you are cranking out the next big thing. Or maybe you know someone who is a true inventor – innovator. Are you cranking on stuff that is going to change the way we do life? Even small innovations can be huge in the long-term. Just curious about what’s next and what you are doing right now that will shape the way people interact. Is it You? Or someone near you? Who do you think is the next Zuckerberg?

“Initially Zuckerberg asked a small group of people to sign up to Facebook. At a certain point he told us to start inviting friends, and that is what we did on the first and second day which the site went up on the Web. We could only invite students enrolled at Harvard. In fact, if you did not have a Harvard e-mail address you could not sign into Facebook. At first, dozens of Harvard students registered. The numbers then reached the hundreds, and by the fourth day it had already reached the thousands. People were very enthusiastic about the site. It enabled them to know who took what courses and to meet new people. It conquered Harvard. In less than a week, some 4,000 students signed up for Facebook.”

During Facebook’s initial days, the walls in his room were filled with graphs and charts which showed how many people joined on a daily basis, who used what application, and who has the most friends.”

Beginnings of Facebook
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1084443.html

MIT MBA (E&I) Program
http://entrepreneurship.mit.edu/E_and_I.php

Great post on Facebook and Twitter Office Spaces.
http://www.photopharm.com/facebook-offices-vs-twitter-offices/

Great word this weekend from the “Pleasers, Perfectionists, Procrastinators and other people like me” series.  Control Freaks is the topic. So which are you? I really identify with all of them at one time or another but recently I seem to fit into the “Worry wart“. Seriously, have I always been that way and just never noticed?

Just in the past year I have really began to experience the consequences for being a control freak. I seem to be very frustrated, fatigued and honestly feel like I am failing. So what now? Lately, I feel like God is just trying to show me how to do well with what I have been given, with what is right in front of me. Make sense, but harder than it sounds. My mind tends to stay 2-5 years ahead of where we are and if I/we are not making progress towards those goals, dreams and the vision then I panic. Still working on this and other things. Feel better just writing it down though. Peace.

Oh yes, types of Control Freaks just in case you can’t read my writing:

• The Intimidator
• The Perfectionist
• The Worry Wart
• The Uber-Planner
• The Anti-Planner
• The Master Manipulator
• The Micro Maniac
• The Opinionator

Are you a Control Freak? Comments from You

Woodlands Church will be joined by Trade as One September 19th and 20th for a fair trade market. Pastor Kerry and Chris Shook will be interviewing Nathan George, the founder of Trade as One, to learn how our community can make a difference in communities around the world while transforming individual lives and entire families. The Trade as One fair trade market is an extension of our Missions Ministry which is led by Chris Shook.

Trade as One is a fair trade organization that connects American churchgoers to the working poor all over the world. For three weekends, from September 20th-October 4th, Trade as One will be at Woodlands Church, giving everyone in our community a chance to learn more about how we can use our regular spending to bring hope and restoration to some of the darkest corners of the world. Fair trade allows people to give unique, high-quality gifts to family and friends— while giving hope and income to the poor.

http://tradeasone.com/blog/ or http://www.woodlandschurch.tv