Sam Luce | Childrens Ministry Online

Another post dedicated to Sam Luce

Posted on21. May, 2010 by Kenny.

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This isn’t the first time I’ve dedicated a post to my Yankee friend. However, Jonathan Cliff sent this to me a few weeks ago (not becasue he thought this was cool, but becasue he was picking on me) and I figured I should post this. Let me defend myself first.

I am not a Trekkie. I do not own any Star Trek paraphernalia, movies or costumes. Of the TV shows that have been running for literally decades, I’ve seen only a dozen or so episodes, most of them back when I was a teenager. However, I have seen all the movies, I think. There may be one in there that I missed.

However, because I do like the Sci-Fi genre and becasue I’ve I can recall a few random Star Trek facts that I’ve picked up and remembered from watching the movies, Sam Luce thinks I’m a Trekkie. Whatever. So Sam, I dedicate this post to you, perhaps it will give you more things to pick on.

However, just so everyone knows, Sam Luce too is a closet fan of Sci-Fi. He enjoyed the X-Files television series and secretly enjoys dressing up as a Wookie for Halloween.

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Move over David and Goliath

Posted on29. Mar, 2010 by Kenny.

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So my friend Sam Luce wrote a very interesting blog post today about his situation in the Blog Madness final four. He posted a beautiful illustration of David and Goliath and compared himself to David and Rob, Amy and I to big ugly giants. Seriously, is that really fair? I mean, Sam has been blogging now for almost three years, he’s and editor for K Magazine and a recently published author with Michael Chanley’s new book, Collaborate. So, I’m not entirely sure it’s fair to compare himself to little ‘ol David. Sam’s totally big stuff.

Secondly, is it really right to equate our blogging battle to the biblical account of David versus Goliath. Our situation seems a little subjective and I’m not sure I want to play the role of the giant. Yes, I have been described as giant-like, huge and humongous, but that’s besides the point (I tend to hang around small, short or skinny people). So, I figured if we’re going the biblical route, I’m choosing 2 Kings 2:23-24 as my situational illustration.

From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some youths came out of the town and jeered at him. “Go on up, you baldhead!” they said. “Go on up, you baldhead!” He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the LORD. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths.

I’ll leave the interpretation to you…

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Accountability from a skinny man works

Posted on26. Feb, 2010 by Kenny.

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Okay, so I almost forgot to post this. Before I left for my road trip I asked Sam Luce to hold me accountable. I’m in the middle of my biggest loser competition with my staff and being on the road where I’m eating out for almost every meal would be tough. It’s during these occasions that I tend to over-indulge. So I asked Sam Luce to hold me to my commitment. In the end, my goal was to weigh less than I did when I began.

So, Sam was a gracious accountability partner. Maybe it was a dumb thing for me to ask him to do it, but he didn’t make a big deal out of it. Every now and again, he’d give me the evil eye when I was reaching for an extra cookie after dinner. There were a few meals that did not fare well for my plan, but I just tried to eat as much as Sam ate. I figured that if I ate what a skinny man eats, I’d probably lose some weight.

So, I’ve got some bad news and some good news. I came home late Monday night and my biggest loser weigh in was the following day. For my official weigh in I was one pound heavier than the week before. I was actually quite pleased as I expected worse. I had a bit of a cold all week and just didn’t feel up to running on the treadmill once. The good news, by Tuesday I weighed in a pound lower than the previous day and on Wednesday morning, I was another pound lower. I’m on track to have lost 4 pounds this week, taking me to a record low for this competition.

I know there are probably very few people who care, but since I brought it up before I left, I figured I’d be true to my word and share how I did.

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Time with the “sign guy”

Posted on24. Feb, 2010 by Kenny.

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One of my favorite parts of my road trip last week was getting to spend half a day with my friend Matt McKee. He goes by many names though. The Ministry Monday Guy, or the Two Minute Tuesday Guy (After it was too late, Sam and I had the great idea to film a Two Minute Tuesday with Matt, when I pretended to be Patriot and Sam pretended to be Aslan) and the infamous Sign Wednesday guy. But if that’s all you think Matt McKee is, you’re pretty far off.

Matt’s one of the most creative guys I know and I only know a few people in Kidmin who are as entrepreneurial as him. He’s always thinking up new ideas. Whenever I’m naming something or designing something, Matt’s the first person I call. He was a significant force behind G-Force curriculum and Elevate curriculum while he was on staff at Fellowship Church. Although he’s been serving at smaller church in Cincinnati, he’s working on big stuff that will influence the world of kidmin. I really like hanging out with people like Matt. I’m better because of it.

So, Matt McKee is the social media king. Well, maybe not the king, but he’s at leas the mayor. He was on twitter for at least 9-10 months before it got popular. I remember hearing him talking about it long before I decided to check it out. So what does every social media mayor need? Social media badge pillows for his couch. I respect for him went way up when I saw these.

So here is Matt’s legendary wide-format printer. I actually first met Matt at the C3 conference back in 2002 or 2003. At C3, they were always encouraging people to use plotters, and I had a few conversations with Matt about wide format printers. He also hooked a brother up with some wall calendars last year. I just felt complete seeing this. Matt’s the sign guy, and here’s his sign maker.

This one here is my favorite pics. I call it one of my bucket-list pics. Every time I video chat with Matt, I see this Starbucks sign in the background. It looks good, huh? It’s made of Styrofoam with green and white paint. When you’re up close, you see it was hand painted and such, but from far back, it looks like he swiped it from a Starbucks. About 6 months ago I got a picture with Jonathan Cliff’s infamous tree. Now I’ve got a pic with Matt’s Starbucks sign. Now to work on my other items… that will probably be the next road trip.

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Quit being a loner. Go meet someone!

Posted on22. Feb, 2010 by Kenny.

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I’m home form my six day kidmin road trip with fellow blogger and children’s pastor Sam Luce. First of all, it was a total blast. Shooting around Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio with the mission of connecting with as many children’s pastors as possible was a total blast. Over the 6 days, we connected with over a dozen children’s pastors, one kidmin band from New Zealand and the infamous Jim Wideman.

Our tour connected us with a virtual mosaic of personalities and ministry styles that both humbled and impressed me. On multiple occasions, reality defied my expectations in an unexpected, but pleasant way.

The biggest thing I’ve learned from this whole kidmin road trip is that ministry in isolation is stupid. I can’t even tell you how much I learned in the past six days, but I would never have learned so much if I hadn’t left my church behind for a week and charged out to meet some new people (and visited some I hadn’t seen in a while). Going to a conference is good, but too often conference attenders don’t really venture out to meet new people, exchange ideas, challenge processes and dream of the future ministry ahead. How does that happen? You sit in a coffee shop for several hours with someone in ministry you respect. You take a look at someone’s facilities and ask question after question after question. You connect with someone you want to learn from and go to their house, eat their food and play with their kids.

So, this week (maybe a little of next week as well) I’ll share with you some of the experiences Sam and I had. Don’t rely on mine though. Reading this is just touching the tip of the iceberg. I’ll continue to have conversations, chats and meet-ups with the people I mention that you won’t know about. You need to make your own “kidmin road trip.” Maybe it won’t take you hundreds of miles away crossing state lines. It could start with the church on the other side of town. How are you going to make this happen in 2010? You’ll be glad you did, I promise!

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Awkward

Posted on17. Feb, 2010 by Kenny.

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So, ever since I flew in to Nashville yesterday, I’ve been getting plenty of hang time with Sam Luce. Late last night we drove in to Cincinnati and met up with Matt McKee at his parents house (where we were going to spend the night). It’s been a fun gathering.

In case you didn’t know, the three of us all met through our blogs. We, along with Gina McClain and Jonathan Cliff all connected because were were all inspired by what we were writing. Last April, we all met in person for the first time at the Orange Conference. So, yesterday I learned a valuable lesson. Although we technically did all meet through the Interet, saying that is kinda creepy.

Yesterday in IN, I was introducing Sam to my admin from my first church. I told her how he was a Children’s Pastor from New York and I met him through mine and his blog. She kind of cocked her head to the side a little and asked, “so you met him online?” I replied, “yeah, that sounds bad doesn’t it?”

Then a few hours later we got to Cincinnati to meet up with Matt McKee. His parents house had more room, so we stayed with them. Earlier in the week Matt has arranged with his parents for us to say in his house. Basically Matt asked his parents if two of his friends from Children’s Ministry could stay in their guest rooms. They asked, “So how do you know these guys?” Matt replied, “Well, I met them online…” His parents countered back, “They’re not going to steal any of our stuff, are they?”

So, I can see that the explanation of our meeting tends to come across kind of weird. So, I’m looking for a new way to phrase how we all met… one that doesn’t sound so “internet dating” like.

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Help from a skinny man

Posted on16. Feb, 2010 by Kenny.

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As I’ve shared in an earlier post, I’m three weeks in to a “Biggest Loser” competition with my staff. So far so good. Three weeks in and I’m officially 8 pounds lighter. We’ve got 9-10 weeks left to go, which is good as I still have 18 pounds to lose… minimum. I’ve been really disciplined with this competition. I’m very goal driven and have been known to get a little competitive from time to time. Regardless of the outcome, I’ll be a winner as I shed the pounds I’ve carelessly added over the years. As I wrote in a post a week ago, I’ve been using the iPhone App “Lose it!” It tracks the calories I consume as well as the calories I burn through exercise. My caloric diet to lose two pounds a week is about 2100 calories a day. Sounds ridiculous, I know, but remember, I’m a big dude. Whether by consuming less or burning extra calories through exercise, I try to net only 1500 calories a day. It’s taken a lot of forethought and discipline.

However, I’m a little nervous. This week I’m on a road trip with Sam Luce culminating in an Infuse retreat with Jim Wideman. We’ll be in the car a lot, staying in a hotel and eating out almost every meal. That’s really bad for someone in my situation. I’m going to need some help. My natural tendency is to really enjoy my self when it come to food. I’m hitting several of my favor restaurants in the area and I’m inclined to big out, you know, really enjoy myself. I can’t do that.

So, I’ve done what any really smart man would do in my situation. I asked for help from a skinny man. Sam Luce wrote the book on being a skinny man. No really, he did – or at least he’s writing several chapters. For the next six days, Sam’s going to be a constant companion. I’m sure he’s got good genes, but a skinny man is skinny for a reason, he’s smart about what he eats. So, I’ve asked Sam to be my accountability during this week. I’ll continue to use Lose It to track how I’m doing and if the hotel has a treadmill, I’ll try to burn some calories at least two times. But ultimately I’m defaulting to him in this area. I’m giving him permission to trump my food decisions. We’ll see how that goes. I think there are probably only a few people in our lives that we can give that kind of power. If it’s not the right person, you might murder them. Good luck Sam.

So my goal? To weigh less by Monday. So far I’ve lost weight every week since I started three weeks ago. Monday Morning will reveal how I did. I’d even be satisfied if I stayed even… but we’ll go for loss.

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Kidmin Roadtrip

Posted on11. Feb, 2010 by Kenny.

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Next Tuesday I’m flying in to Nashville for a retreat. The retreat doesn’t start until Thursday, but I’m flying in on Tuesday. Actually, I’m not coming alone. My friend Sam Luce is flying in to Nashville as well. We’re then hopping in our rental and driving to Cincinnati, OH to visit our good friend Matt McKee (I’ll be taking a slight detour in New Albany, IN to see old friends for a 2 hour pit stop). We’re planning to spend the night with Matt and then turning around on Wednesday and driving back to Nashville where we have dinner plans. Our retreat starts on Thursday and ends on Friday night. On Saturday morning, we’ll be driving over to Knoxville, TN to see another good friend Gina McClain in her new stomping ground. We’ll hang for a few hours and then head back to Nashville to attend Jim Wideman’s church for Saturday evening service. Sometime on Sunday I’ll be flying back to Texas and Sam will be flying back to New York.

Below is a map of where we’ll be driving and approximate times we’ll be at various places.

Do you live anywhere near any of these spots or along our way? We probably can’t take any major detours, but if you’re in our proximity, we would love to meet and hang out, even if it’s for just a few minutes.

So, comment below if you’re close and want to meet up with us. Meeting Sam Luce is kind of a big deal… you won’t want to miss it. I’m just glad I get to hang out with him the whole time. Lucky me!

Roadtrip Schedule

I arrive in Nashville at 11:00 AM, Sam arrives at 1:00 PM
Tuesday: 2:00 PM we’ll depart Nashville, TN (CST)
Tuesday: 6:00 PM we’ll arrive in New Albany, IN (EST)
Tuesday 8:00 PM we’ll depart New Albany, IN (EST)
Tuesday 10:00 PM we’ll arrive in Cincinnati, OH (EST)
Wednesday 1:00 PM we’ll depart Cincinnati, OH (EST)
Wednesday 7:00 PM we’ll arrive in Nashville, TN (CST)
Saturday 8:00 AM, we’ll depart Nashville, NT (CST)
Saturday 12:00 AM, we’ll arrive in Knoxville, TN (EST)
Saturday 2:00 PM, we’ll depart Knoxville, TN (EST)
Saturday 4:00 PM, we’ll arrive in Nashville, TN (CST)

We fly out of Nashville a little after noon.

We’ll be traveling 1000 miles on our kidmin roadtrip. We don’t have a lot of flexibility, but if we can arrange a quick meet and greet, we’re totally game!

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Dedicated to my friend Sam Luce

Posted on22. Dec, 2009 by Kenny.

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This should have just been a tweet, but having an actual blog post feels more special. I couldn’t resist when I saw this. I don’t usually spend $20 on a funny t-shirt, but I can’t tell you how close I am to buying this just so that I can wear it when I’m with you next.