Twisted Sideways » Church

LA Ink

Rusty — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 18:46:05 +0000

I’m not an avid watcher of LA Ink, but a guy that I met in California at the Saddleback Worship Conference a few years ago was recently on LA ink. I thought I would post his segment here. He tells of his time while on staff at church and how he was losing his family and his wife over the church. It’s amazing how we can get caught up in our work and other things and lose focus on what is truly important to us. Here is his story:

New Adventures

Rusty — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 18:24:09 +0000

Many of you have heard by now, but I thought I would post and let my few readers that frequent here know that I have accepted a new position here in Austin. My last day with FEFC will be on October 5th, just two days from the day of this post. I am excited about moving on to other opportunities. I am going to work for Hoovers Online here in Austin. Hoovers collects intelligence on US and global industries and the people who run them. I am going to working as a visual designer. I’m pretty excited about it all but it’s also a bitter sweet transition.

I have truly enjoyed my time on staff with FEFC and still plan to be around. Just not a daily basis as I was before. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about my transition.

Tough Call

Rusty — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 19:43:58 +0000

I just came back from vacation. I just finished this past week at work logging in a good 60 hours. And I feel like I am ready for another vacation.

The past few weeks have been pretty difficult for me at work. It’s been one thing after another with what feels like 50 bosses all telling me what to do, how to do it and when it needs to happen. I am lossing my mind. We recently had one of our graphic designers leave the church staff for another job. Our replacement for him was a full time video guy. (Love the guy and he’s come a long way since he started a month ago) But I am up to my ears with work. Since the last guy left, I am now working on all of the web and print material in the office and it’s a ton of work. I feel like my life is being put on hold because of how much I am expected to get done. I’m not sure how much longer I can keep on going like this.

I realize that as I read this it sounds like I am complaining. I’m not. I love what do and where I have the opportunity to work. But I am “venting” simply at the work load. And I guess some to the expectation level that is set upon me. Please pray that I can continue to find the strength and determination to keep moving forward at staying on top of things the best that I can…

Work Overload

Rusty — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 05:55:02 +0000

The last few weeks on the job have been a bit stressful. One of my good friends and co-workers left his position at the church to take a different job at an agency here in Austin. This move for him was much needed and I’m happy that he is able to move on. But this has had a big effect on my workload and project management. The past few weeks I have spent quite a bit of time in the office. My new supervisor has asked me to redesign the church website by September 1st and I’m wondering how that is going to happen. As I have been reading around the internet on a few blogs, I have noticed that many of the new websites and roll-out take months. It’s a huge task that I’m prepared to take on but feel I might need a little bit more time to roll everything out in a well thought out manner. Anyway, that is just one of many projects on my plate right now. Pray that I find time for myself but am also able to stay focused while at work and do better at trying to do one thing at a time.

Random Thoughts

Rusty — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 05:34:32 +0000

Today in church, Jeff spoke in IMPACT about the effects of our culture in relation to our relationships and our relationship with Christ. Something that he passed out in class really stuck out to me.

“Man, I see in fight club the strongest and smartest men who have ever lived. I see all this potential – an entire generation pumping gas and waiting tables; they’re salves with white collars. Advertisements have then chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy stuff they don’t need. We are the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no great way, or great depression. Our great war is a spiritual war. Our great depression is our lives. We’ve all been raised by television to believe that one day we’ll all be millionaires and movie gods and rock stars – but we won’t.

Easter. Come and Gone

Rusty — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 04:36:00 +0000

Easter is always a weird time for me with my family. I’m almost alone when it comes to my faith with my family. My family knows what Easter is about, they know why I go to church, shoot they know why I work at a church and they respect it, but really don’t want anything to do with it.

The only time that I have seen my mom and step-dad in a church was at the death of my grandfather. And I haven’t seen them in one since. My mom has talked about going to church before but hasn’t ever made anything of it since talking about it. This Easter was no different. I always ask my parents and my brothers if they want to come, but I get the same answer every year. My brother Mike is one of those guys that knows he should go, feels like he should go and even talks about why we get together as a family for Easter. But he never goes.

I’m not saying you have to go to church to know what Easter is about it. I’m just saying that being at church on Easter Sunday, for me, is a huge reminder of what Christ did for our sins. The fact that he rose from the dead. The candy, baskets, bunnies, and colored eggs are in no way the meaning of Easter. (although I look forward to the peanut butter cup eggs EVERY year).

So this year was just like all the others. I go to church in the morning and then the rest of the family gets together at my parents house for lunch and we hang out and laugh and enjoy the company of each other. Has it become just another reason for us together each year? I hope not.

A New Blog

Rusty — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 01:52:00 +0000

The church I work at and attend services, just launched a new blog called The Gathering. You should check it out. It’s also something that I helped setup for them.

It’s desiged to give the community an outlet to talk openly about how God is transforming us. The contributers respond to the worship times and everyone is invited to comment and discuss.

It’s nice to have a blog hosted on your own server. Man – we have so much control over it. It’s almost got me thinking that I want to move my own blog to my own server space….

Dallas Winter Conference: 2007

Rusty — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 00:41:00 +0000

I’ve officially arrived at Dallas Winter Conference in Dallas Texas. After working a wedding on New Year’s Eve, I woke up early to head into Dallas to work the Dallas Winter Conference for Campus Crusade for Christ as their technical director. We’re setting up the main ballroom and planning most of the sessions right now.

As soon as I arrived and checked in, I was quickly put to work. It’s non-stop action and work until the conference ends on January 8th. I am hoping to meet up with a few friends while in town this week. I’ll post some picture of our setup and the team as we get closer to the conference start.

An ATM for Jesus

Rusty — Sat, 07 Oct 2006 16:05:00 +0000

In a recent article posted in the LA Times, this church has designed ATM kiosks for their congregation. It’s something new for many churches. And to be honest, our church has wrestled with the idea of online giving, giving by credit card or even check card, for some time now. More specifically, we have wrestled with the idea of debt. This article doesn’t address the idea of people going into debt in order to tithe or give to their church. And if you know anything about the way credit cards and check cards work, the credit acceptance gateways (the systems that vaildate and actually charge your card) don’t distinguish the difference between the two. So even if we decided to accept check cards only, we have no way of NOT allowing credit cards to be used.

Granted, there are a lot of people that use a check card, like myself, to make many of their purchases. All of which come right out of my checking account. I, like most of the people I know personally, don’t really carry much cash in their wallets. The article in the LA Times does address the fact that people don’t carry cash or checks when they come to church, and seeing that 15% of their current operating budget comes from these kiosks, it has been an added benefit.

The church that I attended hosts and leades classes on financial freedom and ways to get out debt. The Bible talks about being debt free and these classes, the Dave Ramsey seminars, help many people learn to use and deal with their finances correctly. Granted, the church is not responsible for making sure everyone handles all of their finances correctly, but are we to encourge those to go into debt or simply provide a means for that to continue? And doesn’t this cross the line of the money changers in the temple when Jesus overturned the tables?

Small Group Encouragement

Rusty — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 03:49:00 +0000

I’ve been out of the realm of my small group the past two weeks because of work. Last night I was able to attend again and I’m more than thankful that I did. I haven’t felt this encouraged by a group of men in a long time. Aside from all the joking around and picking fun of each other, it was refreshing to get into the word with them and share some prayer requests with some guys that I know will be praying for me and that care.

I just thought I would blog about this blessing.