Cooperland

This video already have almost 50,000 views on YouTube since last week.

Puts a whole new spin on the phrase, “Ask and you shall receive.”

Awesome!

It is fitting that this is my 150th post here on Cooperland. And it is fitting that it is devoted to the one person to whom I love the most. Sure, I love Bridgett. She is my wife and I give her my life as according to Ephesians 5:25-33. But the person I love the most is MY God, and his son Jesus.

To sum up my passion for God, let me quote Bebo Norman’s song Nothing Without You.

Take these hands and lift them up
For I have not the strength to praise You near enough
See I have nothing, I have nothing without You

Take my voice and pour it out
Let it sing the songs of mercy I have found
For I have nothing, I have nothing without You

All my soul needs
Is all Your love to cover me
So all the world will see
That I have nothing without You

Take my body and build it up
May it be broken as an offering of love
For I have nothing, I have nothing without You

All my soul needs
Is all Your love to cover me
So all the world will see
That I have nothing
But I love You

With all my heart
With all my soul
With all my mind
With all the strength that I can find

Take my time here on this earth
And let it glorify all that You are worth
For I am nothing,
I am nothing without You

I almost began to cry listening to this song.  It’s so beautiful.  But reading the lyrics doesn’t give the song justice.  Listen to the song.

Reminds me of John 3:30, “He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.”

I love you, Lord, with everything within me.

This is interesting.

I read this Saturday night.  3 John 1:13-14, “I have much more to say to you, but I don’t want to write it with pen and ink. For I hope to see you soon, and then we will talk face to face.”

I think Paul understood a distinct leadership quality.  The willingness and desire to spend time with those he was leading.

Technology has become ingrained into our personal and professional lives.  Blogs, e-mail, social networks, cell phones, etc. all designed to assist us in staying connected has only provided us an avenue to disconnect from real human interaction.  As a leader, these are great tools in communicating vision, upcoming events, or whatever needs to be broadcast.  And sometimes, a lack of time hinders our ability to spend time with others so using Facebook to “chat” becomes a great way to counter this deficiency in time.  But just because it is convenient doesn’t make it better.

Note: Please keep in mind that I’m not advocating the demise of Facebook, Twitter, MySpace (well, maybe MySpace), cell phones, etc., but these are my thoughts on why it’s nice to disconnect from them from time-to-time.

3 Reasons Why Face To Face Is Better Than Facebook

1) We were built for human interaction.

Genesis 2:18, “Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.‘”  When God created Adam he immediately understood the importance of him having another person to interact with.  And not just interact, but to work together.

2) You can’t get everything from an instant message.

How many times have you posted to someone’s wall, commented on a status, or “chatted” with a friend to find that something you sent was taken the wrong way because you couldn’t properly illustrate your tone of voice or emotion?  The same goes with conversing via phone.  Tone of voice could be determined, but body language is still missing.  A full conversation includes all of these: body language, emotion, tone of voice, the actual words, etc.

3) You’re making a choice.

If there’s anything that makes us not God, and that is we can’t be in two places at once.  With Facebook, Twitter, text messaging, and others, a person can “be” in more than one place through a virtual environment, which is great.  But what’s even better to the person to whom you’re spending time is being in the same place physically with them.  Why?  Because you’re choosing to be in that place with them instead of being somewhere else.  You could be anywhere else in the world, but you’ve chosen to be with them.  And that’s an honor.

On a personal note

This is a huge deal for me.  As an introverted person, I find it way easier and less confusing to interact via the online world.  It also doesn’t help that I’ve chosen to immerse myself with computers at work and home.  As a leader, I have to break this habit.  I am working on this.

Video

Here’s a cool Coca-Cola video.  It delivers the message that sometimes we can get too immersed into our online worlds instead of seeing the opportunities to connect in the real world.

Coca-Cola ‘Avatar’ from Nexus Productions on Vimeo.

Last Sunday, I taught a lesson to the Beyond Youth about their importance and significance.  On Monday, I found this video via The Doug and Jon Show that’s a good addition to the lesson.  It’s focused more to girls, but this is a lesson for all kids and teens.

On Monday, June 28th, Bishop Greg Amos spoke at the early morning session at Camp Meeting about the vision he believes God has given to him about the SCIPHC.  Here’s the video.

Sadly, I don’t have the slides he presented.  If I can get my hands on them, then I’ll share.

If you’re a part of the SCIPHC, then please view the video above.  Sure, it’s kind of long, but well worth the time.

I teen I know posted this on Facebook, and I had to blog it. I want to say wow, but I already knew this. All I can say is that we, as Christians, have a lot of work to do to persuade others that there are Christians who aren’t like their perceptions.

I love this song. It’s the gospel in music form.

Totally awesome!

This video has been around for a while, but I love it.  Sure, it looks like a gimmick, but who cares.  It reminds us that God is the creator of all people, and that only he can hold us together.

What do you think?

Last Sunday was a great day.  The main reason was that the teens of the Crossover Drama Team performed a drama that they have been practicing since January.  They have been practicing their drama “Break Me Down”, and plan to perform it at the annual SCIPHC Talent Quest in March.  But first, to celebrate their hard work and to reward the people who have volunteered time and money to help, they performed it for the first time outside of practicing.

Keep in mind a couple things:

1. Yes, we know the lighting is dark, and the signs are hard to read or unreadable.  It’s okay.  Just go with it.
2. It was their first ever performance (even during practices) using the signs, and they did an outstanding job managing them.

I’m so proud of them, and of Bridgett leading this great group of performers.  Enjoy.

If you like it, be sure to be at Life-Givers Ministries on Sunday, March 7th for our Family & Friend Day when they will be performing it once more before their competition.  It’s going to be more awesomer (yes, I know it’s improper grammar).