Well, here’s your chance to win a fancy LETGOdwork + jackalopekid t-shirt. I’m in the giving mood today, folks. All you have to do is answer this next question.

What is your favorite color shirt to wear?

The winner will be selected at random. Contest ends on March 31st at 11:59 pm mountain time. Good luck!

This is my favorite. An argument going on between churches on their sign boards. Very classy.

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First, I just want to say that I love what church is to me. Community, Love and Encouragement. With that being said, today in church some people had the chance to share some past experiences they had with the church. I heard people talk about their bad experiences and it made me sad and mad all at the same time. I mean from what they were saying, if church is supposed to be the representation of the Body of Christ here on Earth, we are doing a terrible job of showing people that. As you know, their stories are not the only bad ones out there. I’m sure you’ve heard some stories like this or maybe you feel that way yourself. Pretty much when I ask anybody outside of the church about their feelings of church, it ends up being a negative thing. I understand that churches are made up of people, and these people are not perfect. That includes pastors, folks. They will probably let you down at some point because they are still humans. This is where forgiveness comes in. I am actually writing a book on good things that churches are doing. Now I will agree, there are definitely some bad things that are in churches, but there are also a lot of great things. Here’s an example of a good thing: When my parents divorced and when my dad wasn’t there anymore, the church became a second family to me. Here’s the bad side to my church story: I grew up in church my whole life and when I was in my teens, our church actually went through a terrible church split. It messed a lot of people up in the church. But, I had a decision to make there. Was I going to blame people and dwell on that? Or, was I going to forgive and move on? I forgave and moved on as everyone in that situation should. But maybe, people have the view that we are all against each other and are just there to stab each other in the back. Or, maybe they have the view of the unforgiving and the judging side? I get a glimpse of this view on the church because after I read a book by a Christian author telling me that people hate the church, I then definitely know the world hates all Christians. I really would like to think that most people have something positive to say about church, but if you don’t I want to hear that, too. I’m mainly looking for honesty here. So, here’s your turn to speak.

What are your thoughts on the church today? Good? Bad? Whatever it is, I want to hear it.

The New York Dream Center (NYDC) is a church, and a non-profit outreach dedicated to implement programs that meet the needs, help the hurts, and solve the problems of the inner-city by developing new and creative methods to communicate a positive message to those who would otherwise never hear it. They are literally changing the face of New York by taking the cause of Christ to the streets everyday. The NYDC is a church that meets in the TBS building near Union Square. (111 E. 15th St. New York, NY 10003.. to be exact) The church, pastored by Brad Reed, opened in October of 2009 and has been exploding ever since. The rapid growth isn’t because of what’s being done inside their four walls, even though they do some of the most progressive, contemporary things known to the church world. But the reason for their success is because of what their volunteers do day in and day out on the streets. Every week they organize an event called Adopt-A-Block, which is where they do anything from handing out fresh grilled hot dogs, passing out donated clothing, providing gently used appliances for the low-income families, to just loving on the people of NYC. They are deeply affecting one of the greatest cities in the world, where the need is, all while sharing the truth about Jesus Christ. If you decided to show up on a Sunday morning you would be greeted by some of the friendliest faces you’ve ever seen, smell fresh roasted coffee, and here a hoppin’ band ready to sing praises to the king. You would see young and old, rich and poor, all ready to listen to a great word by Brad Reed and special guests from around the world. It’s how the church should be; everyone is family at the Dream Center.

But they can’t do what they do alone; The New York Dream Center needs our help.

If you live in New York City, or close by, get involved by volunteering with some of the coolest people on the face of this earth, and start attending on Sunday mornings at the TBS building. Start inviting everyone you know; brothers, sister, cousins, uncles, or uncle’s uncle! This church is where its at.. NO JOKE! There are also group mission trip opportunities. If your youth group, cell group, or just you want to travel to New York the Dream Center will work with you to provide a place to lodge and plenty of ministry opportunities. EVERYONE.. Even if you live in New York, you can help by donating to the Dream Center. You can make a true difference even with five dollars. If you follow this link it will give you more information about how to donate.

http://www.dreamcenter.org/NYDC/NYdonate.html

Lastly, let’s get involved by praying for this church. They are taking Jesus to the streets by providing for real needs. People are getting saved every week. The New York Dream Center is on the path to change the world. Get involved!
Contact the Dream Center- (w) www.newyorkdreamcenter.org (t) @bradreed (f) http://ow.ly/1nbau
Kirk Graham (t) @kirkisgraham (e) kirkisgraham@gmail.com (f) http://ow.ly/1rFej http://ow.ly/1nbc6

I am now going to make every Friday, “Caption Friday”, due to the awesome response to all of them. So, here ya go—
Caption Please…

(via videosift)

I try to live the Christian thing out each and every day to the best of my ability. There are probably quite a few things I need to change, though. One of them being that I don’t talk that much. This comes in handy when trying to make people feel welcome, but this is just part of my personality. Crazy, I know. I also know the Bible says to have the joy of the Lord. If you ever do meet me and hang out with me for a while, I think you will see more of a straight face with an occasional smile. You probably will not see the bubbly, talkative guy that I think of when I hear “the joy of the Lord”. This is just something I’ve dealt with through my Christian walk and after much thought I have decided to just be me. But again, it is in the back of my mind quite a bit. What do you think? Is the joy of the Lord an outward thing that should always be present? Or can someone be quiet and to themselves and still be joyous at the same time?

People want a job that makes Monday feel like Friday. They want something that makes their life complete and fits into their “genius”. If you feel like you have this career please let everyone else here know, so we can all join your task force. In the spirit of getting to know each and every one of you better, I would just like to know…
What is your day job?

(That pic is of us back in high school. No, that is not a perm.)

Yes, I remember how I let my wife know I was into her. Let me give you a little background first before I tell you the whole story. We met in high school, fell in love, became high school sweethearts, married shortly after, and have been in love ever since. I felt like I needed to tell you that before I told you what movie we were watching.

So, we were watching Toy Story 2 and sitting on the couch at my parent’s house. While watching the movie I decided to say the following words to Jasmine in their entirety.

“You can see the tv better from over here.”

I know, cheesy and classy at the same time. But hey, it worked. She scooted over and was really into my suave talk. Oh yea.

So tell me,—

What was the first thing you told your spouse/girlfriend/boyfriend that let them know you were into them?

(P.S.- I love these stories.)

So, on Sunday, March 21st at 6pm Mountain Time, I’m doing a Q&A at livestream. Pretty much anything goes there. You can ask me about the shirts from LETGOdwork that come out on Tuesday, March 23rd. Facebook fans actually get first dibs on the shirts a day early- Monday, March 22nd. These shirts will have a limited quantity, so if you want one, you’ll want to check that out.

You can also ask me about the speaking tour this summer with Randy Burris, the church plant here in Colorado, my life here in Colorado with my beautiful wife Jasmine, the reason I haven’t skied since I moved to Colorado (no time), social media, where jackalopekid.com is headed, or the book that I’ve been writing for six months which is coming out in January, 2011. I’ll answer ALMOST anything. Hope to see ya there.