rickwomack.com

new site is up and running, commenting is easy, subscribing is easier than ever - please head on over to rick’s new home and follow me from there www.rickwomack.com

moving!

just wanted everyone to know that i’m pulling the trigger on the move to blogger!

i’ve made it much easier to remember the website name…it’s www.rickwomack.com - still hosted on blogger

i’ll be moving some of the content from this site over to the new one as well as posting new content on it. i’ve also added feed subscription buttons on the sidebar to make it easier to subscribe to the blog - my favorite aggregator (feed reader) is bloglines - i’m tracking about 63 different blogs right now.

i’ve got a few posts on the new site already, posted them there and just kept them quite while i continued to play around with colors, padding, pixels, etc - learning a lot in my spare time and it’s been fun. one of my goals in the near future is to include links to amazon for books, music, etc.

finally, let me know if you’ve got any feed-readers that you use that aren’t represented…or any other content that you’d like to see…please join me at www.rickwomack.com - thanks…see you there

moving eval

so i said a couple of days ago that i was thinking of moving over to blogger - here’s the latest…

• blogger is much more versatile…allowing me to choose different colors for text, background, etc…move around different portions of of the page to my liking and is overall, MUCHO easier to use than wordpress…
• blogger will allow me to moblog - something i’ve wanted to use now that i have my new cell…
• blogger seems really well integrated with the other elements of google that i use - personalized homepage, gmail, google analytics
• blogger will allow me to use word verification on comments as well as comment moderation…
• blogger will offer better site stats than wordpress…much better!
• blogger is, bottom line, as i suspected a much easier and natural tool for me to use….

so, all that said, the pendulum is swinging toward blogger…more details to come…my hope is that you’ll join me in a new blogland - i’ll make it easy on you to find me once i get the new site where i want it in terms of design/layout…i hope to have things ready to roll in the next few days…maybe sooner!

the COTN blogosphere is growing again

just want give a shout out to my good friend Todd Strickland who’s joining the blogosphere - check out his blog (Title “Flying into Action“) @ www.stricknine.wordpress.com - he’s just starting out, but he’ll be rolling with it soon - show him some comment love when you can…

moving…

really considering moving over to blogger-i tried to do some editorial changes to my blog with wordpress this AM and got frustrated because i couldn’t find help…seems every time that i want to make a change i have to google it (which, by the way, google owns blogger…there’s a clue) in order to get results…all said, i spend too much time researching how to make changes…thus far, at a cursory glance, blogger seems very intuitive and easy to use - i’m going to work with it a couple of days and then decide…please stay posted and hopefully you’ll join me on my new site - i’ll let you know…

VT Tragedy

i’ve been gripped this morning as more details are coming out regarding the events yesterday in blacksburg…while i heard about this story yesterday as it was developing i frankly couldn’t bring myself to engage the story because i knew it was going to end up being tragic and full of grief. this morning, as i’ve flipped through the various morning shows, i’ve seen the human face that this story is about. i’ve watched as an older brother and VT alum struggled to explain what he was feeling because his freshman sister was one of the victims of this tragedy…i watched as he explained how just a couple days ago he watched her in a dance recital, told her “good job”, left to go home…and never got to say goodbye. i watched as one of the injured victims described how he and a few other guys barricaded the door after the gunman left because they were afraid he’d come back - he tried…but was unsucceful. these guys perhaps spared the remaining classmates left in that room…i imagined what he must be feeling…approximately half of the class was slain, and perhaps the other would have been had they not been proactive. he’s a hero, but i promise you he doesn’t feel that emotion this morning…

and, like many others, i struggle with the “why?” question. this is not the place to ‘preach’ - i simple want to say that God is ok with “why?” questions (read Habakkuk for example).

i’ve been in the Blacksburg community and on the campus of VT a couple of times…it’s very much like the campus of any college or university across America…full of love, full of community, full of people pursuing their dreams and their destinies. this tragedy, i pray, will not define the campus of VT nor the experience of any young person pursuing their dreams.

across the blogosphere that i tune into, guys are pouring out their hearts because of these events…

- Chris has framed this well as a bookmark…i like his last line, “may we strive to write the next day better than the last”

- Tim hits the mark with this post declaring that this is a wake up call

- Finally, Craig offers a prayer for us all to prayer as well as a place for you to add your own prayer…please, take time to pray - go to this link and add your own…at this point, it’s what the community of Blacksburg needs the most

imus, music, culture, trends

so, i typically avoid blogging too much about the mainstream media stuff, but I found this to be interesting…

with the recent events that have taken place over at MSNBC and CBS Radio regarding Imus, now there’s an uprising where people are seeing the hypocrisy of some of the mainstream music out there - i won’t restrict it to just rap however, as most in the media are doing, because it’s really across the musical spectrum.

for once in my life, i’m going to say i agree with the reverend al sharpton with this statement alone - “The Reverend Al Sharpton, talking about Imus and other entertainers, says it’s time to show the media and the public that it is not necessary to be misogynist and racist to be creative or to be commercial in this country.”

thanks to mark batterson for providing this quote - “Give me the making of the songs of a nation and I care not who writes its laws.” - so true…

also, written by an 18th century Scottish thinker - Andrew Fletcher…isn’t amazing how in the 18th century that was true as it is today - will we ever learn?

think about it…let me know what you think.

creating culture

Mark Batterson always challenges me - this is a guy that you must add to your RSS feeder or Bloglines list if he’s not there already.

Below is a quote from his blog today - this is timely and timeless information.

Church and Culture

As I see it, the church has four options when it comes to engaging culture: 1) ignore it, 2) imitate it, 3) condemn it, or 4) create it. And each option leads in polar opposite directions.

We can ignore culture, but the byproduct of ignorance is irrelevance. The more we ignore culture the more irrelevant we’ll become. And if the church ignores the culture, the culture will ignore the church.

We can imitate culture, but imitation is a form of suicide. Originality is sacrificed on the altar of cultural conformity. If we don’t shape the culture, the culture will shape us.

We can condemn culture, but condemnation is a cop out. Let me just call it what it is: condemnation is spiritual laziness. We’ve got to stop pointing the finger and start offering better alternatives. If the church condemns the culture, the culture will condemn the church.

Those three options will lead the church down a dead-end road to irrelevance, but there is another option–the only option if we’re serious about fulfilling the Great Commission and incarnating the gospel. We can compete for culture by creating culture.

In the immortal words of the Italian artist and poet, Michelangelo: criticize by creating.

At the end of the day, the culture will treat the church the way the church treats the culture. And we’re not called to condemn. We’re called to redeem.

Enough said…

comic relief and sunday night download

first, really need to give a shout out to our first impressions teams, our care teams, and our children’s teams-today they executed with love and excellence…our worship team was on target today with a great worship set…pastor mel’s sermon was overwhelmingly on target from everyone i’ve talked to - i’ll be listening to it tomorrow in the am…so, to all the cotn volunteers and staff - thanks!

second, time for some comic relief …tony is a church planter meeting down at the mall of georgia…just found out that he is the one that married a key couple in our church…keep your eye on millcreek!

third, we’re in the final stretch of fpu…really glad…this has been a great group of people and i really think they’re getting it!

fourth, had a great discussion with guy and todd…i love dreaming with people that know how to do so out of the box…i believe greater days lie ahead for cotn because of the things He’s putting into the hearts of people…

i’m watching the apprentice right now…i really want to do this show! donald, if you ever read this, at least consider me…i’d love to do this show…i told pastor mel this last week one day at lunch and he totally agreed that he could see me on there…hmmmm, think that’s a good thing or bad one…i’ll take it as a good one (that was his intent). plus, i really believe that the greatest message in the world, deserves the greatest marketing and promotion in the world…why not let the platform be a national one?

finally, it’s going to be a great week…

(portable sounds)

edited: (friday)

just got back in a while ago from seeing the (portable sounds) tour…incredible!

josh and i were 4 rows back from the orchestra pit and the stage.

Family Force 5 kicked things off with a four-song high octane set…never had heard of them, checked out their myspace site and liked what i heard - no idea what they’re saying, but i like the energy! here’s the kicker, when i get home, i google them and find out that 3 of the 5 (or 6, check out wikipedia for the mystery member) are the sons of jerome olds…here’s where a reality check (and an “age check”) kicks in - jerome olds is a ccm artist from the 80’s and 90’s and i remember hearing about his kids (they were called the brothers then) and how they were pursuing a career at a young age - wonder if this is what dad had in mind?…interesting…

then building 429 was next with a short 4 or 5 song set using the same drum kit and virtually leaving the stage intact from FF5. what i really liked about this group (sounded like randy jackson with that statement didn’t i?) was their heart…these guys are the real deal - very genuine in their worship and their desire to give God all the glory.

following building 429, thousand foot krutch took the stage with force…really love these guy’s music…lots of energy, lots of passion and very simple music - yet really heavy and hard hitting.

finally, t-mac took the stage with 3 other bgv’s/dancers, guitarist, bassist, dj, keys, and a drummer - really entertaining set! toby did enough from the old cd’s to satisfy - jesus freak, in the light…then threw in some old school disco (play that funky music white boy…one of my favs, freak out and a medley of other 70’s disco) - if you get a chance to check out the (portable sounds) tour - do so! (and get really good seats, it pays off!).

josh also got toby’s autograph…so cool to see toby hang out after the show and meet the kids. the other bands hung out as well and there were a few kids hanging around to see them…ran into larry and jennifer (former staff members with larry - he was the yp @ cop), also ran into henry (a former cotn member going to free chapel now) - really great to see some of our youth and kids there from cotn (as well as chuck - kept waiting to see chuck flinging his head back and forth…never happened)…

perhaps the best thing about the night was hanging out with my son! i love spending time with him (and all my family), but there’s something special about when we take in a concert together - good memories!