First?!

Do you remember the first time you went on a date? The first time you went to a movie with just your friend and no parents? Do you remember the first sport you ever played, first team experience? You know what I'm talking about. You get so pumped and the testosterone or estrogen begins to flow.....I guess ladies get fired up. Anyway, think about something that was your first, the plethora of emotions and thoughts running through your mind and heart.

This past weekend I took my 14 year old son for his first experience to get behind the steering wheel of a vehicle. The whole time from lunch until 3:30 p.m. he was acting like a nut case. I have never seen him so spastic and crazy acting. So we loaded up in my five manual 2002 Nissan Xterra and headed off to the wild blue yonder. Can't tell you where, cause some of my cop buddies may sit out and try to nail me. Got to our location and man he was pumped.

We talked about the rules, he nodded, we talked about how to work a five speed, he nodded with a look of uncertainty. We talked about speed thrills but kills, yada yada is what I felt like he wanted to say. So we made the switch. He adjusted everything, my heart is pounding and so is his. He gets in and revs the engine up and doesn't let the clutch off. Finally he figures it out and gets to going. Two hands on the wheel and off we go, his face just glowing. Man, you couldn't pay me anything for that moment. I would not have missed that for anything. A few weeks later I let him drive moms 2002 minivan (automatic) Man, he did well. He loved it. I asked him why and he said.....it doesn't require much work. I understand what he means, but here is my problem. We look at everything in life that way. We always want the easy way out....Why is that? Marriage, careers etc....we don't want to work at it. Let's do things as if it were our first time, let's put that type of energy into it. Could you imagine what life would be like if we all took that FIRST LOOK!

Philip Thurman

Random Holiday Thoughts

When was the last time you thanked an army service person for their service to our country? Have you been out of the country and seen how many of the world's people want to come to the US? It is amazing that we live in the greatest country of the world, and yet people find time to talk badly about it. THANKS ALL OF YOU WHO HAVE SERVED AND ARE CURRENTLY SERVING. There is at least one person that is grateful for your service. Oh by the way, I hope your memorial day is a good one. BY the way, you have this day off because.................think about it.

Getting ready for a busy week. We get to baptize three folks this next weekend. Man, it is an honor to be able to see life change taking place in people's lives. I hope you will continue to invest and invite. Yesterday, I had a family come up to me and share that they had invited their neighbors to come to church, and guess what, they all came. Family of four showed up. WOW!

Saturday we had an incredible work day in Canton. We cleaned some nasty abandoned apartments. You have never seen some of the stuff or smelled some of the stuff we smelled. Thanks Kevin and Caresty, Jennifer, Chris, Johnny, Jim, Chris, John and Rhonda, Brian, and Rachel. We probably had the biggest team present and we rocked. We cleaned up 8 apartments. I really appreciate everyone of you for what you did.

Pray for Greg, Nancy and the family. They are on a well deserved Alaska trip and cruise. They have not done a vacation like this. I'm really grateful for this family. They are incredible servants. They give and give behind the scenes. I hope they have a great time as a family. We love you guys, hurry back. Davis and Kathy have moved into their new house in Red Oak...WOW it is really nice. Great to have you guys in the Madison County Tax paying base:) John, Dawn and family are headed to North Carolina. Pray for a great trip and some R and R for them. Davis, Kathy, Johnny, Sylvia, Scott, Neece, Philip and Lori are left to hold the fort down. Do we get to go somewhere next week? :)

Philip Thurman

Generational Relationships

This past weekend I have been engrossed in a different type of relational zone. It's not one that I know or do very well. On the personality profile I am a high extravert. I find my energy with people and just being with the crowd. I love the face to face interaction and dialogue of friends and even people I do not know well. Recently one of my staff buddies asked me if I thought the younger generation saw us old guys as non-relational because we don't spill our guts in you tube, facebook, myspace etc. This has really gotten me to thinking about developing relationships. I watch my two older kids text all day long, non-stop talking to their buddies. I also watch them update their facebook constantly and checking out their friends. By the way, it is in the kitchen and they cannot get on without an adult present...so we do have boundaries.

Just this past weekend I got involved with twitter.com. It is a service where one goes and constantly updates what they are doing. I can follow some people I like or am curious about. They to in turn can follow me. Is this a way to build relationships? Then, I came across seesmic.com. It is a video community. Basically you can build relationships with people anywhere. It is basically video blogging. Some of the discussions are fascinating. My question to you all is, is this the new way of relating? Are we coming to the point where the face to face interact and touch are not going to be necessary. How then do we get a sense of belonging or becoming. When I sit down face to face with someone, I am able to see a lot. I hear your voice and watch your verbal as well as non verbal reactions. It tells me a ton about you. When I twitter or seesmic, how do you know that I am NOT faking it or am something that I am not.

I'm not knocking any of those avenues. I personally love the people of the world. But I also think there is tremendous value in developing relationships face to face. Sorry for the rambles. I'd be curious to know your thoughts....email me at philip@mylifebridge.com

Philip Thurman

Do You Twitter?

No, I am not calling you a bird.....tweet, tweet. No it's not a bad horn on a vehicle in southeast Asia. It is a new method of supposedly staying connected. I often have people asking me what I do. So I thought I would join www.twitter.com and try to write periodically throughout the day about some of things I am doing. I have two guys right now that I am following. They are progressive thinkers. You can have people that you follow and then there are others who can follow you. Your only allow so many words...shorts and sweet. You can have any updates from the people you are following sent to your cellphone, or IM.

I don't know where this is going, but you control how much you want to say and how often. It seems to be catching wind. So check it out and feel free to follow my day.

Philip Thurman

Incredible Heroes

I don't know if you all have noticed any changes around LifeBridge lately. There are some significant changes that have taken place. Three major areas within LifeBridge are Xtreme (Grade 1-5), Nursery and Preschool. We just decided we would try and see if we could make a go in these areas with volunteers. Man, we're seeing some amazing things happen. Our Xtreme is running incredibly well. The three team leaders are making it work. They are organizing and getting other adults involved. Amanda, Glenn and Sherry, you three rock!

The nursery is starting to take off as well. We had to come to the point to decide whether or not we would get serious about taking care of little ones. Man, we are stoked. We have two paid workers and 8 volunteers ready to serve on that team. This week we kicked off with two volunteers who rocked. Thanks Kathy and Marsha for stepping up. The final area is First Look (Preschool). It is starting to come together as well. We're starting to see families coming and having their kids connect. Everyone of you who serve in these areas are my hero. Thanks for standing in the gap and helping us carry the torch. We truly have the best volunteers around.

Partner's, remember we have a meeting next Sunday after church to discuss what is going on with our building and land process. We have some awesome days ahead. We are seeing God use you all in powerful ways. Keep investing and inviting.

Philip Thurman

Company Picnic

What a rocking time. Incredible to look around and see all the groups of people connecting. It was an incredible day. Our den team rocks. There are so many tremendous volunteers that serve every week, but today I want to highlight many of the den team.
The team leaders are the phenominal Jim and Tracey Fries, with a huge hand from Debbie and Keith Martin. The rest of the team consist of Jennifer Taylor and her dad Dale Carpenter (who came from Mobile, AL) to cook burgers and dogs. Also we had Kevin and Caresty Carpenter, Greg Walters, Russell Atkinson, Johnny Gilmore, Jay Gujrati, Jimmie and Karen Westby Gibson, Woody Osborn, Wayne and Kim Williams, Mike Traylor and Sean Dodds.

Please forgive me if I left you out, but it was NOT intentional. We had a number of folks who really seemed to connect and have a blast. I heard a ton of rumblings about the judging of the booths and that the Canton group rigged it that way....No comments from me, just passing along what I heard:) They had a great booth. There were a ton of great door prizes given out as well. If you missed it, you missed a great time. Hope to see you the next time we come together.

Two more weeks of the Office series. I hope you all will continue to Invest and Invite.

Philip Thurman