So, what is it that’s had me so busy?

Leadership Networks Innovation Lab

My NextGen team and I were invited to spend a day in Dallas with Leadership Network to begin a year long Innovation Lab with five other great churches pushing the limits of what Family Ministry looks like today. It was probably one of the most powerful retreat/conference/breakout experiences I have ever had. I’ll tell you more about it later, but this gathering was absolutely transformational for our team.

Vacation

While I was in Dallas, my wife and Titus went on to Atlanta to visit with family (where Titus had his first visit to the urgent care… I’d already taken him to the Dr. the Monday before). I arrive to Atlanta on Friday and had a nice long lunch with my friend Matt McKee. We spent the next 5 days in my hometown of Valdosta, GA with my parents. It was very restful, except that Titus still was not feeling well at all and had another visit to the urgent care in Valdosta). My family and I almost died while caught in a horrible lightning storm while tubing down a river in North Florida… check here for the video). We then wrapped up our vacation with 3 days at Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island. That was the perfect ending to our little vacation, even if it meant one more visit to the Dr. (this time at the hospital which included chest x-rays).

Just so you know, Titus is fine. Just a really pesky cold.

Volunteer Expo

Last Sunday, we recruited more than 200 people for various Sunday serving opportunities, more than 100 of them for NextGen alone. We’ve got another week for the expo, so I’ll write more about what we did next week.

So, that’s what has had me so busy. I’ll look forward to some new conversations with you in the coming weeks.

Well, I’m looking forward to being back this week. Hopefully we can engage in some conversation and challenge each other forward.

* Bonus point to those of you who “get” the picture here.

What’s it like coming back from vacation for you?

Most of the time the first day back from vacation is an epic waste. My body is present, but my mind is still asleep. I get little done and it’s difficult to focus. I’ve found this to be true even with pressing deadlines on the horizon.

I got back from vacation last Monday and Tuesday was my first day in the office. I’m not sure what happened to me. On both Tuesday and Wednesday I was up after 5:00 AM and working before 6:00 AM. On Tuesday I actually went home close to two, but on Wednesday I worked from 6:00 AM until pretty close to 5:00 PM and I cranked out the productivity. I’m not sure what happened this time.

What’s it normally like for you?

BTW, vacation was phenominal. I spent five luxurious days with my wife at an all inclusive resort in Playa Del Carmen for our ten year anniversary. It was a much needed rest!

Actually, I started my vacation as soon as I left the office on Thursday (I can’t really tell you for sure because I wrote this earlier in the week).

So I’m trying something new this year. I’ve heard a few leaders in ministry talk about always taking two weeks of vacation when they get the chance. Their reasoning is that you don’t really get relaxed and unplugged until after you’ve been away for four or five days and for most people that’s when their vacation is almost over.

Well, I don’t really have enough vacation time to take two weeks in a row and still have time to take off at other times of the year. However, I decided to try my own version of this strategy. Next week Sara and I are flying to Playa De Carmen to celebrate our tenth wedding anniversary in style. Four nights and five days in a luxurious all-inclusive resort. I can’t freaking wait! Sara and I just don’t vacation like this very often.

The last thing I wanted was to be up until 3:00 AM the morning of trying to get out those last emails before heading off for vacation. So I decided that I would take a few days off before we leave for Mexico. Today is Friday and I’m officially on vacation. Sara and I don’t leave until Thursday. Is that awesome or what? I will actually come to church on Sunday where it will be work as usual. However it won’t be filled with emails and meetings, just hanging out with teams and families.

So, I’ll let you know how it goes.

How about you? How do you vacation? What’s been the best, most restful and relaxing vacation you’ve taken?

Sara and I had an incredible vacation back in October. We went to Banff, Canada and explored the Canadian Rockies. It was restful, beautiful and so much fun. I love vacation.

The week between Christmas and New Years, Sara and I went to North Georgia to hang out with my family for a few days. Although we were in the midst of battling sickness, it was still pretty restful.

Three days ago I booked a summer vacation. This July, Sara and I will celebrate ten years of marriage. We weren’t planning on doing anything extravagant since we just had a really nice vacation. However, last weekend someone told me about the great deals you can get on Mexican vacations right now. So, I booked a four night, five day vacation at Playa Del Carmen. Can I tell you that I’m so excited?

Here’s where we’ll be for five glorious days.

Okay, I didn’t post any of this to brag, but to share. Seriously, we just booked this 4 star hotel for four nights and paid $1,400. What did that include? Everything. Food. Airfare, Lodging, Taxes and even Airport Transfers. The only money we have to spend is if we want to leave the resort or go snorkeling or jet skiiing or something. There were other 4 star hotels in Cancun where you could do all of this for five nights for under $1000. Swine flu is no longer a threat, so take advantage of the prices and sneak in an amazing vacation!

I’ve got a big week this week with a lot of things going on.

This week I plan to write a little about the revolution going on at Gateway. It’s something that has been in the works since before I arrived and officially kicked off this week. It’s big stuff!

We had some airline vouchers and a whole bunch of credit card points… and it’s been way too long since we’ve had a really nice vacation. My parents are here to watch Titus, so we are off to Canada. We’re actually headed to Banff, a perfectly magical town nestled in some of the most beautiful scenary I’ve ever seen (I’ve only seen pictures, so I’ll let you know if the real thing lives up to the photos).

Sara and I have 5 nights in a four start hotel in Banff. We have no agenda other than relax, hike, eat, sleep and take in the surroundings.

My only concern is that when coming home, I only have 45 minutes between when I land in Houston and catch the connecting flight to Austin. The catch? We have to get our bags and go through customs. I called the airline to verify that I could actually do that and they replied (almost like I irritated them with the question) that it was a standard schedule. As much as we need to make this connection, I have a sneaking feeling that we’re going to miss this one. We’ll see.

I’ve got a few post scheduled to publish this week, so enjoy a lighter load. Have a great week! I know I will.

All I can say is that today was near perfect. I say near perfect only because I was a bit naughty and did a few minutes worth of work. It was Sunday and I took my parents with me to church. Unless I had worn a disguise, it would have been about impossible to not get caught in conversations. Actually, when I told people I was on vacation, people were very encouraging of me to get out of the kids building. The problems was that I had to drop Titus off and I was giving my parents a tour. I guess the sure fire solution would be to not go to my own church. Maybe next time.

My day? Oh, like I said. It was almost perfect.

• I got to sleep in.
• I took Titus and my parents to church.
• I got to ride the duck boat to the off-site parking (totally cool).
• At a great lunch at home and chilled out for a few hours.
• My mom, Sara and I took Titus swimming (always a treat).
• We all went to the Oasis for dinner and saw the most breath-taking sunset I’ve seen.
• Stopped for Amy’s Ice Cream on the way home and I had a delicious desert.
• Sara and I and my parents played a card game (PIT) for about 2 hours.

How great is that? Looking forward to this vacation kicking into high gear. I can’t wait!!!

• So here is the play by play.
• Thursday is my last day of work before vacation begins.
• On Friday my parents fly into Austin. We’ll probably spend the whole weekend having fun, eating good food and catching up.
• On Sunday I’m taking my parents to Gateway for a visit. During one service I’ll show my parents around and during the next service I’ll attend with them.
• On Monday we’ll probably be busy getting last minute supplies and packing.
• On Tuesday we’ll depart early in the morning.

Then for 5 nights and 6 days we’ll experience the glory that is Canada. Ha! I love it! I plan to do some hiking, exploring (I’m going to stand on a glacier one way or another) and soaking in one of those hot springs. Although the weather has gotten cooler (mid to high 80′s) this last week or so, I’m looking forward to the mid 50′s temperature of Banff during the day.

So, I’ve almost forgotten what it is like to go on vacation, it feels like it has been forever. Any good hints for me as I prepared to leave work for about 10 days? Anything I should plan to do while on vacation? Any books I totally have to read (although I think I’ve already got my books picked out)?

Two springs ago I switched my credit card over to a rewards card and then that summer I spent a ridiculous amount of money for church expenses. I personally financed (well, kind of… I was reimbursed every penny) a VBS for over 1000 kids and bought plane tickets for over 40 people to fly from DFW to Los Angeles. The result? Lots and lots of points on my credit card. Last fall Sara and I began talking about going on a vacation the following Spring with all the points we had accumulated. Since I was let go just a few months later and securing a job was higher priority than vacation planning, our trip was set aside.

Then just a few weeks ago we started talking seriously again about where we wanted to go. We figured it would be a late summer, early fall trip. Our anniversary was last week and out outdoor plans ended up getting rained out. So we went to a local bookstore and began planning our vacation. We had about 12 possible locations/trips and at the end of two hours we had it narrowed down to three and they are three good ones. Below are pictures of the three possible vacation locations. I think Sara and I have pretty much picked out where we are going to go, but just for fun, which one looks like your perfect vacation spot? Bonus points if you can name the locations!

Location One

Location Two

Location Three