I got to spend a few days hanging out at my good friend, John Saddington’s (aka – @human3rror) house….All I have to say is wow…He does it big….real big….
{check out the video, and you’ll see what I mean….}
John Saddington (aka – @human3rror) does it big….real big…..
double popped – Blue Man Group
I got a chance to {very quickly} double pop one of the members of The Blue Man Group, after one of their shows, while in New York recently. – Check it out
{props to @alliswell for manning the camera!)
Throwback Sunday – Clarissa Explains It All
I think it’s time I let all the people out there in “internet land” know the real Rick Smith – the one who watched this tv show EVERY SINGLE WEEK – and LOVED IT!
In fact, just finding this intro, and posting it, brought back awesome memories! Anyone else out there with me on this weeks Throwback Sunday?
New York + Animoto = slideshow delicious
I had a great time in New York hanging out with some good friends, and visiting my brother! As always, I took a ton of pictures, and I have been wanting to try out Animoto.com for sometime – so I did!
Animoto makes some very bold claims in terms of the awesomeness of their end results. I was a bit skeptial, but in the end I think they do a really great job. (and their website is super easy to use!)
Take a look at the final results and let me know what you think!
time flies when your having……..
(yelp, this is a picture of my “little” brother taking me down in Battery Park)
I just got back from a great trip to NYC with some great friends of mine to hang out, and visit my “little” brother, Ryan (who lives in New York). Only one thing – he’s not so little anymore. Ryan’s the oldest, of my 3 other “little” brothers – and we’ve gotten to be great friends as we’ve gotten older. It’s when brothers and sisters reach “that” age when they are no longer simply brothers and sisters – but friends. I can honestly say Ryan is one of my best friends. I don’t get a chance to see my brother Ryan much – but when I do, I enjoy it. He’s cool, funny, smart, a really cool dresser, likes old school video games, good coffee, not caught up in all the stuff the world is caught up in, like art, good books, and just a really fun guy to hang out with! (sorry ladies he’s taken!)
This trip was especially meaningful for me, because I think I finally realized he is a man now. Not my little brother any more, but a man. He’s really turned out well – I’m very proud to call him my brother. I’ll be honest, it was sad leaving New York this time. I wanted to hang out with him one more day, have one more cupcake with him, drink one more cup of coffee with him – but I had to leave. He had work, I had work – we both have “grown up” lives to live.
All that to say, I’m thankful he is my brother (as well as my other two brothers). I’m proud of him, and I’m thankful he is not only my brother, but my friend!
(no matter how grown up we get, I think he’ll always be my “little” brother.)
- love ya bro, Im proud of you!
Throwback Sunday – Power Glove
Ok friends, it’s time for another great installment of Throwback Sunday. I must say this is a real special throwback Sunday for me, because it was after watching this move -
I proclaimed to my mom that if she would just get me The New Power glove for Christmas, “I would never ask for anything ever again!”
I finally got one – a few years after it came out, from the clearance rack at K-Mart. It didn’t take me long to figure out why it was so cheap. BECAUSE IT WAS WACK! I mean really Nintedno – I know it’s been like 20 years, but I still want my money back!
enjoy the video!
Want to win a FREE, Autographed copy of Reggie Joiner’s new book – “Think Orange” ?
Here’s the deal – I have a signed copy of Reggie Joiner’s {from The ReThink Group} new book – Think Orange, and I’m giving it away on my blog! FOR FREE!
{Reggie gave me the book at The Orange Conference 09 – check out the pictures!}
Watch the video below to find out how you can win this book – FOR FREE!
(and it’s easy to win – you just have to “think” a little bit!- -pun intended!)
Contest ends Friday June 5th at five pm!
Good luck!
{update : Only words that are listed in Webster’s will be allowed.}
American Idol Winner Kris Allen Sings God of this City – Does it matter?
A few days ago I posted a video of American Idol winner, Kris Allen, performing “God of This City” at New Life Church. To my surprise it has caused quite a bit of discussion on the comment section of that post, and on Twitter. It seems to boil down to this questions :
“Is a person’s faith a deciding factor on who you vote for (if you vote) on American Idol?”
In other words does the person you vote for (or would vote for) have to be of the same faith as you in order to get your vote? Is that something that is important to you? Do you google every contestant to find out what their faith views are before you vote?
I’m sure many of my Christian friends will quickly proclaim “YES – it does indeed matter to me!”
To which I ask “Why?” (or “Why not?” – if your answer is no)
I’m not saying there is a “right” or “wrong” way to look at this – I’m just curious to hear your thoughts on the matter.
Also – I’d like to take it a step further. How does the faith of another person affect your decision to interact with them? Does it matter?
For instance; The dentist who cleans your teeth – does his faith determine if you’ll use his services or not?
If there was two dentists next door to each other – one who had really bad service – but was a believer, the other, the best dentist in your city – but he hated God – which dentist would you choose? Why? (and it just so happens that these are the only two dentists in the whole world, the other ones all retired – sorry – you have to choose!)
What about your boss? If you are a person of faith, could you work for a person who hated God?
What about the products you buy? If Steve Jobs hated God would you still use your iPhone?
{SIDENOTE – Did you know that Jews for Jesus has attempted to share the Gospel with Steve Jobs? In fact they even made a tract just for him – take a look}
I Just wanted to throw those thoughts out to get you thinking. Please leave a comment, I’d be very interested to hear what you have to say in regards to this topic!
(by the way – here is the link to the post with Kris Allen’s video of God of this City in case you want to watch it again, or read the comments.)
-Rick
Throwback Sunday – Gummi Bears
On my old blog I used to do a weekly segment called “Throwback Sunday.” The idea was to post something each week that was part of my life growing up in the 80′s and 90′s – the segment was a big hit, and many people enjoyed it! With that said – I am proud to announce a new (but throwback) segment on my site – Throwback Sunday! I hope you enjoy!
To start this new series off, I am going to treat you to what may have been my favorite cartoon growing up – The Gummi Bears!
Anyone else out there with me on this! (check back next Sunday for another “Throwback Sunday!”)
No Six Packs at Fry’s
I’ll let this photo I took at Fry’s today speak for itself.
{disclaimer: I’m a HUGE Fry’s fan, but you would think they would have more creative ‘signage writers’ on staff – #fail.}
So you think you can beat box?
Friends, meet Julia Dales. A 17 year old girl from Canada who is trying to win the World Beatbox Championship on May 28th {aka – beat box battle}.
YOUR MUST SEE THIS VIDEO – One word – LEGIT.
Julia, I wish you well!
American Idol Winner Kris Allen Singing God of This City
I just ran across this crazy cool video of Kris Allen, this year’s winner of American Idol, Singing “God of this City” at the church where he was a worship leader – New Life Church!
Super cool in my book.
We need to pray for Kris, that he would use this new platform he has to bring glory to God, protection for his marriage, and not to get “caught up” in the whirlwind that is about to surround his life.
Also we should give thinks to our great God for what He is doing, and has done in Kris’s life!
{p.s. – if you can’t tell – I’m super glad Kris won! – you can follow Kris on his twitter page!}
double popped – @tonysteward
I like Tony Steward. A lot. He is one of those rare people that you meet, and from the start you just know that he’s the real deal. And by “real deal” I mean he genuinely loves God and loves people. I like that about him. A lot. He is a thinker. A doer. A good husband. A good dad. A good minister. A good friend. I can’t say enough great things about him – I”m thankful we are friends in “real life,” as well as online. And If we were playing WOW – he would for sure be in my guild! (and if you know what that means your a geek!)
Tony is the online community pastor at LifeChurch, and has LOTS to say about the topic of online ministry. (You will quickly see that he is very passionate about it.) I want to apologize up front for several things about the video you are about to see – 1. The quality – I have no idea what happened, (we were both on good connections) but the quality of this one just isn’t good, so I’m asking you to bare with it.(also, the first few minutes are really broken up – but it gets better, so keep watching. 2. The length – It’s long! I thought about editing it down, but I thought the content was all good, so I just put the entire interview up. (maybe you won’t, but again bare with it!) So sit back, relax, and enjoy a few minutes with Tony Steward!
{p.s. – you can connect with Tony on his blog, or twitter page. Also you can catch “church online” at LifeChurch.tv. – they have church online every night of the week – check out a service sometime, we’d both enjoy hearing your thoughts on it.}
What are your thoughts on online ministry? Online Church? Online community? Or anything else we talked about in this video – leave a comment below – we’d enjoy hearing your thoughts on this great topic!
Well done Mr. Piper
I’m a big fan of everything that God creates – especially people! (then again I am a bit byist since I am one!) That’s why I can’t even believe that in our country we debate things like this. I mean really, the killing of a person, we really debate if that is right or wrong? Seems like Romans 1 to me, but I digress.
I came across this link a few days ago on desiring God – and I thought it was really good. I’ll be honest, I’m not one of those John Piper weird – o’s (you know the ones – the ones that almost worship him, the ones who treat all of his books like Scripture, the ones who quote John Piper more then they quote Scripture – we all know people like that – that’s not me!) But I think think this content of this video was legit. Well done Mr. Piper.
