BST's Blog

Rain! I remember several heavy rains while at ACU--the kind where you go from your car to the nearest building and look like you swam under water. Today we had one of those rains here. Sheryl and I waded to chapel.

Chapel was really cool today. They did all the Homecoming court stuff up front and then spent the rest of the time in worship. I just always feel so encouraged when I get to be here on the Friday worship days. Honestly, ACU really is unique. The kids really sing. They really seem passionate about worship. The praise team up front did a great job. All the football players were sitting on the floor towards the front. One of the players just stood up at one point with his hands in the air in worship- not caring at all what anyone thought. There were kids like that scattered all over the coliseum. BUT--the thing that really freaked us out was how many ZOE arrangements and songs they sang. It's really weird to be singing in a coliseum of students and hear girls mimic things Sheryl made up in the studio. I honestly had to stop at one point because I was so overwhelmed. The passion of the students, the volume with which they sang, the heartfelt leadership of the student leading worship... it was really cool.

We spent some time in the campus center. The "shrine to Brandon", as Sheryl calls it, is completely embarrassing. The girls think it's pretty cool though since they're pictures are in the case as well.

That reminds me, this morning Maddie popped off, "Daddy, your hair looks weird." I said, "Is that a good weird or bad weird?" She replied, "BAD weird." Alas, I am already embarrassing my daughter...a trend I hope to continue for many, many years.

I have decided to break down and go to Gamma Sigs' Homecoming breakfast in the morning. I ran into some friends who convinced me to go. Hopefully, I've talked Kyle into going. We were remembering some things about pledging this afternoon. At one point during the brutal bid night experience, we were out on this property doing something secretive--but it involved all means of torture and humiliation (well, not really--only mostly). A lot of it had to do with physical stuff--running, etc. But the worst was the eating. Kyle was reminding me--we were in the same group with Chris Seidman and others--how I took it all. Meanwhile, he was spitting things out right and left while no one was watching. When he told me the next day, I was so mad. I had eaten who knows what and he had done the MUCH smarter thing. All you GSP guys out there know what I mean.

One of the funnier moments in Gamma Sigs happened later after I graduated and came back as an alumnus for bid night. Donny Vaughn, several others and I were in charge of the alumni fire. We made up some story about one of our club songs... "O come ye brothers to the call..." We totally lied and said that one time a group of GSP members went to work on a Native American Reservation back in the 60s. These Native Americans did something they termed "the call" and we'd imitate it yelping and doing all sorts of stupid things. We taught the pledges how to "call" and said that all through the night and on into the 6 week pledging period that any time they saw their brothers from across campus, they should "call" to them. For whatever reason, it stuck. Throughout the night, every time we'd hear people doing it, we would have to just bite our lips to keep from completely breaking down in laughter. Remember this, Donny? Apparently, "the call" is still a part of GSP legend.

My mom needs to sell her house. Please keep that in your prayers. She closes on her new house in Nashville on December 4th. That's coming QUICKLY!

I think I decided that I might want to go get my Masters in worship ministry through Integrity. At some point, I'd like to be back in Abilene and teach at ACU and be a part of encouraging young men and women in that area. That might be a few years off, but it's really been something on my heart while we've been out here. Who knows what the church will look like in 20 years. We may all be moving to Africa. We might be selling our huge buildings and embracing a new paradigm. We might actually become missional in nature. I just think we've got exciting days ahead. There's a lot of groaning and complaining out there and I'm doing my fair share of it. I just feel like the truth is this--God will glorify Himself through all of this. Whether it looks like it does now or something completely different and outside our boxes, it has always been and always will be his bride. I can't wait to see how these current stirrings impact, convict, and improve the world-wide fellowship of believers we all belong to.

It's raining, the girls are asleep, and it's time for a nap. Hope all of you are having a great week.