A day in the life of...Mark Williams

The Orange Conference 2011 recap

Had a great time at The Orange Conference 2011.  I've been to all 5 of the Orange Conferences.  This annual trip has becoming a time of refreshing spiritually.  It is a time to be around others who have similar passions.  It's more than just a conference.  It's a passion.  A strategy for partnering the church and families together to reach students for Christ. 

Highlight of this year for me:  I got to meet Andy Stanley on the first night of the conference.  He signed a book for me as well.  Andy is one of those guys who is literally leading the culture of the church today.  He is probably one of the best communicators in the world.  He has a passion for Jesus, and helping leaders.  It was a cool opportunity. 

I will hopefully have some follow-up posts on the different things I did at Orange. 

Our zoo trip

35 of us made the journey to New Orleans today for a trip to the zoo.  It was truly a family day.  I wrote a note and gave it to all the adults that went.  I encouraged them to not just let this be a trip to the zoo.  I encouraged them to take advantage of a day with their kids or grandkids.  The trip wasn't about animals.  It was about relationships.  With family.  With friends.  Making moments where we can show Christ's love to our kids. 

We had a fantastic day!!  The trip to and from was filled with great conversation and lots of laughs.  The time at the zoo was filled with wonder as we checked out some of God's cool creations.  Malaree's favorite:  The Zebras.  My favorite:  The alligators.  Melanie's favorite:  The baby Orangutan and the peacock.  Micah's favorite:  The monkeys.  The one thing I like about the New Orleans zoo is where I eat lunch, The Cypress Knee Cafe.  This is one zoo cuisine that is excellent.  I had seafood gumbo that was great!!  Melanie had the red beans and rice.  True cajun eatin'. 

Today was a day I'll remember.  Not because of the zoo.  But because it was spent with family and friends. 

Monday again...in March

Man.....it's already March.  It's already March 7th. 

Mardi Gras Break:  It's always nice for the kids to get out for a few days.  One of the benefits of living in S. Mississippi. 

M4 Camps Update:  We are super excited about this coming summer!!  We are still taking applications for M4 Camp staff.  We will be finalizing our staff toward the end of March.  It's gonna be an awesome summer!!

Geocaching Update:  We've slowed down a little.  We did find one last night with the family.  Always fun times!!

Agricola Baptist update:  My position at the church continues to be a blessing.  I've been teaching a study over the past 5 weeks for a S.S. class.  It's been great.  I love teaching the Word.  I'm in my element when I do that. 

Soccer:  We have had so many rainouts and cancellations it's not even funny. We have won both of our games up to this point. 

Video:  I've been doing a few video projects with church.  One was for our family experience on what people were afraid of.  The other was a baptism testimony video.  Both seemed to be very effective. 

Reading:  I finished two books this past weekend.  One was Poke The Box by Seth Godin.  It was on initiative.  The other book I finished was Sun Stand Still by Steven Furtick.   It was a good read too.  I've got a few books right now on my iPad that I really need to finish before purchasing any more. 

Family:  Not really an update.  Just recognizing that I'm extremely blessed with an amazing wife and two wonderful children.  God continues to show His love for me through them. 

Creating Momentum

Creating momentum is one of the greatest things you can do to get people on board with a mission, a purpose, an idea, or movement.  It's really hard to get much accomplished with momentum. 

Example:  My wife has been PTO president of Micah's school for about 1 1/2 months now.  I can't even begin to tell you how much positive momentum she has with that organization right now.  First or foremost, she has improved the communication between PTO and the ACTUAL parents and teachers.  Not just a few of them, but everyone.  Right off the bat, they did some "branding" with t-shirts and hoodies for the kids that are "uniform approved", meaning they can wear them to school.  This also served as a fundraiser.  They also sold magnetic school calenders, listing the holidays, test days, etc.  Another fundraiser was selling "turkey feathers", which is a little competition between teachers to see who will wear a turkey suit for a day.  The kids buy feathers for different teachers.  The one with the most feathers has to wear the suit for a day. 

Right now, we are in the middle of the PTO basketball tourney fundraiser.  The different classes play a game of basketball against each other at night.  Admission is $1, and concessions are for sale.  But really, this fundraiser hasn't been about raising money.  It's about getting EVERYONE involved and excited about what is happening.  The positive vibe, and momentum from this event is off the chart.  There have been hundreds of students, parents, and friends at the school each night this week to support what is happening.  It's about involvement, awareness, and people "buying in" to the vision of helping the school.

 

Example 2:  Our Fall Family Experience this past Sunday night was a HUGE hit!!  We had well over 250 people attend.  More than any of our previous fall festivals.  At those others, what did we provide?  Inflatables, games, candy, etc.  We were looking for change.  Really, for a couple of reasons.  First, financially we couldn't muster paying for all of the inflatables.  Second, we REALLY wanted to utilize our new facility and introduce people to it.  Third, we wanted to mesh together our Family experience with the Fall Festival element.  It worked great.  We had GREAT involvement from S.S. classes, to volunteers in the kitchen, to our family experience team, Children's S.S. teachers.  It all worked GREAT!!  It gave us some POSITIVE momentum to keep moving ahead.  It gives people another entry point to invite people to our church.  We have had SO many people wanting to invite others to the next one.  Funny thing is, we do stuff like that EVERY Sunday morning in Upstreet. 

Momentum is huge!!  What you do with that momentum is the big question, though. 

A world where I only post a month apart

I stink at posting to my blog.  But, alas, here I am.  I really have failed.  Mainly because I have so many stories to tell, and haven't made the time to do it.  Oh...I can find the time, but usually I'll peruse facebook instead of posting something useful here.  So, really, I just need to make better use of my time. 

Well....here's a summary.

On the home front, Melanie is the PTO president at Agricola Elementary School.  To say she is in her element would be an understatement.  She has really done a great job turning the organization around.  She has it organized and "on the move".  I'm voting my wife for U.S. President in 2012....or 2016. 

Micah has been playing soccer like a madman.  I am coaching his team.  We are 8-0, with 2 games left.  He has scored 20 goals in those 8 games.  He is so much fun to watch.  He's not the biggest one out there.  But he is definitely one of the toughest.  He has good "game sense".  I look at my time with those boys as a ministry. 

Malaree is taking dance.  She is taking ballet, tap, and jazz.  She is so cute showing us her "moves".  She's my little priss pot. 

I have been busy, busy at work.  The church ministry never seems to slow down.  We are in our new preschool, children, and student facility.  We are trying to tie up the loose ends of the facility.  It's been a long road.

I traveled to Peru again for a mission trip on Oct. 8-16th.  Chase Allen, Cassie Holland, Kim Loftin, and I headed out for an amazing adventure.  We traveled some CRAZY mountain roads.  We have adopted an Unreached People Group in the Andes mountains.  We are focusing on 4 villages in the Chillon River Valley, north of Lima, Peru about 3 hours. 

I've been non-stop since being back from Peru.  We made a quick trip to Starkville for homecoming at Mississippi State.  It was great to see family, meet up with friends from high school and college, and go to the game.  We've got to do that more often.  So.....lots has happened, and maybe I'll go back now and blog on some of the stories.  But don't hold your breath. 

a long sigh

Well....the work isn't finished.  But the first day in our new facility with Sunday School and Upstreet going is finished.  We made it.  I feel like I can let out a long sigh.  Only to take another deep breath.  Because the reality is that the building is virtually done, but the long-term work remains ahead of us.  The "tool" is here.  The work with the tool is yet to be completed.  The harvest is plentiful.  There are so many people to reach with the Gospel.  The building is just a tool to help accomplish this goal of reaching people for Jesus.  My prayer is that we will use the building for the glory of God. 

Link to pics of our new facility.

thoughts on life and other musings

I'm not even sure where to start.  I haven't blogged in a while.  Oh....there's been plenty happening.  It's mainly been a matter of not having time.  So...most of my time over the last few weeks has been devoted to getting our new facility ready for move-in.  Today, "Main Street" opened up at ABC.  It was great to see all the people enjoying the new WIDE hallway.  It's the realization of a vision that God had placed in our hearts years ago.   It hasn't all sunk in yet.  I'm not sure when it will.  Maybe when we have a chance to breathe. 

The rest of this week, we'll be working diligently getting the rest of the rooms ready for our S.S. to be in the new facility next Sunday.  Lots still to be done. 

Revival at ABC started this morning.  Wayne Marshall, pastor of Longview Heights in Olive Branch,  is our guest speaker/evangelist.  God is already using him to bring some great messages to us at Agricola.  I'm looking forward to the rest of this week as God breaks us and molds us to who He wants us to be.

Soccer has begun.  I'm coaching Micah's U-10 boys team.  We had 2 games yesterday to open up the season.  We won the 1st game 9-1.  Micah had 2 goals in the game.  We won the 2nd game 6-3, after falling behind 2-1 in the first half.  They didn't quit, and fought back hard.  Micah had 2 goals in the 2nd game as well.  So, that's 4 for the season so far.  I love those little boys.  They play so hard, and are so fun to be around.  It also gives me an opportunity to have influence in their lives. 

We're going to Disney World!!  We're going to take a much-needed family vacation over Thanksgiving, and visit the most magical place on Earth.  This is part of Malaree's dance lessons that we're going.  She'll get to be in a parade while we are there.  Super excited about that!!

Nice KidStuf promo from Northpoint

Here's a KidStuf promo from Northpoint that is a parody of the Swagger Wagon video.

KidStuf Live Promo - "Be$t Family" Music Video from North Point Media on Vimeo.

Worship at M4 Camps

Here is a video of the song "You Are The Light" by Steve Fee...performed at Kids' Camp 2010 by Chris Layton, Trent Lawson, and Keaton Pope.  Check it out!!

Back to blogging....Summer update. M4 Camps.

What a whirlwind last few weeks it has been.  M4 Camps 2010 happened.  And man....it was Ah-maz-ing!!  Our time at camp is incredible.  The worship.  The activities.  The swimming.  The friendships.  The kids.  The adults.  Our staff.  The creativity.  Waukaway Springs.  Twin Lakes.  M4.  Laughs.  Inside Jokes.  Ninja.  Great camp food (not an oxymoron with M4).  CIA Radios.  Cold water at Waukaway.  Golf carts at Twin Lakes.  Singing "You Are The Light" by Fee.  Illuminate.  4 square.  Gorilla, Man, Gun.  Nacho Libre.  Smoothies by Byron.  Driving the golf cart as fast as it'll go in the dark with Keaton screaming.  Loving that our staff loves to lead and love.  Melanie on stage.  Curt singing the last verse of Ah-la-la-la.  Trying to slip in the last verse of throw-up on Curt.  Glow man dance.  Funky Jesus Music.  The Director's Cabin.  "The Lodges" at Twin Lakes.  Jack.  The Chicken Song.  Bust the windows out yo car.  Churches from all over the state joining us for "camp".  Maestro.  Bubbles.  Tech.  Tuan.  Target Sports.  Mine and Melanie's home churches at the same camp.  Birthday cakes for staff members.  Salvation.  Tears of joy.  Praying with hurting people.  Seeing kids start their journey with Jesus.  Sno-cones.  Hayless hayride.  Smores.  Riding the golf carts on the bridges at Twin Lakes.  Turning the music up loud....er.  Chris Layton.  Joey Cochran.  Gary Permenter.  Jack Bailey.  Animal crackers.  Set-up with the staff.  The anticipation.  Turning off the last light.  Creating an amazing camp for people to experience Jesus.  Jesus.  Savior.  Master.  Light of the World.