Time to Press

Hey Bloggers, I'm moving on to Wordpress. Check out the new blog at www.travisconrad.wordpress.com.

Weekending

What a sweet weekend!!! The boys are in a winter football league and we started off the weekend early Saturday morning with a great game. I love watching how they improve as the season goes on. Caleb had some great passes and is really becoming quite the QB and Luke is becoming Mr. Defense and had stopped several runs behind the line of scrimmage. After football we got to hang with the Bledsoe’s for a little bit and then we headed off to one of the theme parks with the Jacobson’s. It was one of those days that when it’s over you’re just totally exhausted but you loved every minute of it.

Then Sunday was totally sweet. We had two great Discovering C3 classes with 41 people joining C3 and 15 wanting to be baptized. I love when God blows my mind. :) Sunday night we had an awesome Crave-Out at Boardwalk Bowl. It jacked me up to watch our students invite their friends and just jell so well together. I love Crave, you guys rock!!! Of course now its Monday and after a weekend like that, I’m just trying to figure out how to see straight. :)

DC3

I’m jacked, this Sunday is Discovering C3 and we have 44 folks signed up. Sweet!!! If you’ve never been to a Discovering C3 experience, you gotta come check it out. For those that are new to C3 or for those who have started to get plugged in, Discovering C3 is a great way to take a behind the seines look at what makes C3, C3 and why we do what we do. We dive into the vision and direction of the church and it also gives everyone the opportunity to join the C3 family. If I still don't have you interested, well the best part of DC3 is that you get to hang-out with me and Darrell for 60 minutes. :)

Tile

How do I keep getting talked into doing these home projects? Sandi says; “hey let’s tile both bathrooms and somehow I think that sounds like fun? Now we’re in the middle of tiling these things and I have no idea what I’m doing. Thank God for friends like Jon and Nate, who actually know what their doing and are willing to help out. Well, I’m off to break some more of the bathroom – I meant tile some more of the bathroom. :)

UFC

Dude, I am so loving this new series that we started at C3 called UFC – Ultimate Family Challenge. It is a totally different look at the family. This past Sunday I shared about the relationship between me and my brother. It was absolutely amazing to me at how many folks come up to me afterwards or have emailed me during the week to let me know they are going through something similar. The truth is we all have those whacked-out family relationships, but what do you do with them. This past Sunday and throughout this series we are taking a very real and practical look at God’s Word to hopefully help with those crazy relationships. If you missed Sunday you can catch up with the audio archive on w.c3orlando.com. Then we’ll see ya Sunday for the next round of UFC.

Happy Birthday Sandi!!!

Bubble Gum Can Hurt

Ever wonder why your parents would always tell you to never swallow your bubble gum?!?

Go Break Something

So, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the phrase, “if it’s not broke, break it” and since I’m falling behind in the bloging world again, I figured I better get some thoughts down. I heard the phrase, “if it’s not broke, break it” over and over again in the business school at UCF. They hammered in us the idea that if businesses are to survive they must be innovative and adaptable to the cultural changes around them. As we listened to companies talk about how they used innovation and creativity to stay on top, that phrase seems to make a lot of since. We heard from companies like McDonalds, who added a whole new product line because people became more health conscious, and AT&T, who puts a ton of time and money into developing new technology. It just makes sense. The funny thing is that when I got out of UCF and hit the business world, I quickly found out that not all business like the idea of change. In fact, I had many managers who felt very threatened by new ideas and innovative thinking. Their overlying thought was; this is what has worked for us in the past, we aren’t going to try to start changing things now. What I find very interesting is that 2 companies that I worked for, who definitely did not embrace change, went out of business. Now these weren’t small companies. Both were nationwide firms whose sales were in the multi-millions. However, with both firms you could see the market shifting and the climate changing, but the company did not. Consequently, sales started dropping and in the end both firms went under. What’s strange is that companies know that if they do not adapt they will go down the road of the companies I worked for. Yes, there are exceptions, but usually those exceptions experience no real new growth.

I say all that because the more I read and the more I look at statistics, I think the majority of our churches here in America are going down the same path as those companies I worked for. Churches seem to be just set in their ways and instead of engaging culture to reach people, they run from it and call it evil. I think for far too long our churches have embraced their traditions and haven’t truly loved their neighbors. For far too long churches have worried about how everyone else in the church community views them, instead of wondering why 80% of our city doesn’t go to church. That’s why I love what’s happening at C3. At C3 we have made “change” part of our culture. While our message of Christ’s love hasn’t changed, the way we deliver that message has. We’ve engaged culture instead of running away from it and use creativity to communicate God’s love. And as we head into our 6th week here in the theaters, what I’ve personally seen and heard is that we are beginning to impact that 80%. I’m so thankful for a church and a staff that’s willing to break a few things so that people can meet a loving God.