Influenced by Palin

I cannot express the feelings I had while watching Gov Sarah Palin make her acceptance speech at the RNC last week. I cannot even recall if it was one thing specifically or just the whole package...

I am the first to admit that I know NOONE without blemish, so I'm sure there have been mistakes made during her political career. I see her as a woman who holds similar views on life and our country. I see her as a wife, and a working mom of a young man in the military, two girls and a baby with special needs. And even though I was 19 when I had to tell my mom I was pregnant and no longer able to join the Air Force, I can definitely empathize with her and her daughter. And I give her accolades for loving her daughter enough to help her through this.

I recently heard John McCain say that November 4th will show the highest number of voters at the poll ever and I believe that! I will definitely be there, bright and early...and probably volunteering the rest of the day too!

Yes, that's right, after hearing about Gov Palin and listening to her speech, I searched the Internet and found my local county GOP. I went to my first meeting this past Tuesday and am ready to do what I can. My first act of volunteering will be "manning a booth" at the local Benson Mule Days on 9/27. I guess I have a lot to learn because I learned that the School Board positions are non-partisan, and if you vote a "straight party ticket" you aren't voting for any of those positions - you have to go to that section on the ballot and individually vote for those positions. I'm hoping to volunteer at the phone bank to encourage people to get out and vote.

I even took the liberty of looking into my local town and emailing the Town Clerk for more information on how I can get involved.

You see, I have struggled for a while trying to figure out what God has planned for me, could it be public speaking (testimony/evangelism), women's ministries, children's ministry, or anything else. Now, I'm definitely not saying that I know what God's will is...yikes, that's crazy! But, I do see this as an opportunity to serve those around me while spreading the love of Christ.

I guess the purpose of this blog is to ask for prayer - wisdom, guidance, peace, understanding. AND to ask anyone who ready this to REGISTER TO VOTE and show up on November 4th to cast your vote.

Accelerate Conference '08

My family just attended the Accelerate Conference at C3 Church in Clayton, NC. What a time of worship and learning! There were breakout sessions Friday afternoon which I missed due to work, but the general sessions last night and today were FABULOUS!

The worship time at C3 has opened my heart to the Lord more than any other place. I feel free to worship our Lord openly and without reservation. What a change for me - in a good way! Special thank you goes to the Worship Praise Team!!!!

I was able to listen to not only Pastor Matt Fry (C3 Church), but also Pastor Greg Surratt from Seacoast Church in Charleston, SC. Seacoast Church is a multi-site church with 13 campuses and about 10,000 members - what a PRAISE!

Through the stories and laughter I was able to learn a few things (LoL). Pastor Greg talked this morning about Teams..."there is nothing that can destroy a team faster than pride" and "to become GREAT you must find the 'least of these' and get behind them" and the end result will be "People will notice and Jesus will become famous, then you will become Great" - POWERFUL!

During a Q& A with the different pastors at the conference I also heard this: "there is a difference in leaders that serve and servants that are given the opportunity to lead", "you must be able to lead yourself with discipline first, before leading others" and "everything that doesn't work now used to be a great idea...it may need to die to become fertilizer so new things can grow" - AMAZING!

Pastor Matt Fry closed the session talking about the Leadership, using Nehemiah. He compared the church to the military - we have a 'hospital' to heal the wounded, but the main focus is on the war we are in with the enemy. As leaders, there are 4 principles...

1. Survey the situation (ask God, ask others)
2. Build a team (don't do it alone, serve and equip your team)
3. Give them a vision bigger than themselves
4. Lead! (leaders lead, be courageous, take that step of faith, step up to the plate)

- THOUGHT PROVOKING!

I am presenting to my department at work in about a week and cannot wait to build some of these team and leadership principles into my presentation.

I want to thank C3 for pulling this together it was such a blessing to me and my family and we cannot wait to hear more about what the Lord is doing in all the churches that were in attendance!

Blog Beginning

Well, here goes...I'm finally taking the step to starting a blog. Let's see how this goes...