Odds and Ends

Variety show:
1. Corrected URL for Wernings' website: http://www.peacedude.net/Place/

2. Someone in our department will want to own this fine piece of audio history: A Montgomery Wards "hi fi," big ol' console model complete with record changer, AM and FM, booming bass speakers. This item works nicely, needs a home. Contact me if interested in more details.

3. Fast food coffee: I agree with Bret that MacD's has some pretty good java, if you cannot get to a real coffee shop.

4. Speaking of Bret, he has earned a gift for being the FIRST to submit something original for this blog - in this case, a fine piece of writing about coffee. You might gain something special too, if you send me a piece/opinion/news.

Prayer Made A Difference!

Last Tuesday I was in Denver with my little guy for his sleep study at Children's Hospital. We had a fine time - really! Thanks to your prayers, he handled the 25-30 wires affixed all over his body pretty well. He fought the technician at first, then accepted the process of having goop put on, then wires attached, then bandaids and gauze wrapped all over.

Looked like a little mummy, as the picture shows! He slept...well, normally, which is to say he awoke numerous times. The tech said it was a successful study. Hooray!

I am grateful for the interest in his progress, and more so for the prayers offered up on his behalf. We are seeing some good, forward movement in many ways. By praying for Zane, you are part of his story.

Again, thanks for the support.

Coffee Challenge From Bret

Coffee snobs, take note! Bret Bernal offers the following thoughts about your brew.

Like me, you've probably done this same thing a million times. You want to stop at STARBUCKS (or other fancy coffee shop) and you're either running late or you see that the line of cars in the drive-thru goes all the way to Kansas. Suddenly you have two choices to make: 1) wait until you get to Focus and grab a hot cup of $6 java from the cafeteria, or 2) swing through a fast-food chain for your caffeine buzz.

It's usually choice #2 for me and thankfully I've discovered one fast-food coffee that stands above the rest. It's at McDonalds. I know what you're thinking, "McDonalds coffee = GROSS!" But that's not the case. Their coffee is a satisfying substitute for the expensive stuff. Of course you can't order a Venti, two shot, non-fat, 2 pumps of sugar-free vanilla syrup, add whip cream latte. But if you're dying for that taste of coffee, it will do the trick. And the price is right. (Somewhere around $1.30 for a large)

While I'm on the subject, I'd like to point out that McDonald's also has the best fast-food coffee lid in the business. They've recently upgraded, which is a good thing, considering the old lid's plastic pull-tab ripped in half when trying to remove it. I dare you to sip a steaming, sloshing cup of coffee with half the lid missing. That's a trick for those with numb lips, stuntmen, or idiots. The new lid pops off at the spout, then can be popped back on for minimum spillage.

BURGER KING has a pretty decent lid, too. (But their coffee tastes like hot PENNZOIL--fresh out of the engine--so don't bother.)

Tomorrow morning if you're forced to hit the fast-food drive thru, I urge you to try McDonalds coffee. If it's not better than you've imagined, pour it out and I'll replace it with the home-brewed STARBUCKS in my thermos. Now that's good coffee.

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EDITOR'S NOTE: Please send a comment about this post, and about McDonald's coffee if you've recently tried it. Click the comment button below right.

The Focus Marketing M.O.O.S.E.

From an unnamed source, some important info about a new initiative:

During a recent SynDAG (Synergistic Day Away to Gripe), the newest synerteam, “O.U.T.” (Unusual Opportunities Team) requested that FOF (Focus on the Family) implement the new Marketing M.O.O.S.E. (Marketing Outside Our Standard Expectations) guidelines.

This new M.O.O.S.E. PIP (Point for Improvement Process) calls for FOF to exhibit a large, inflatable moose on stage at all sponsored events. (Chapel is the exception) The hope for O.U.T.’s M.O.O.S.E. P.I.P. is that Focus will generate new D.I.P.s (Donors and Interested Parties).

So the gist of it all is this: Get the M.O.O.S.E. O.U.T. you D.I.P.s!

The Excellent Adventures of James Werning

For those who worked alongside James Werning during his many years of service here at FOF, and particularly for those of us who knew him from his good work in the Broadcast area, a brief note about his family's newest adventures. They are going to England for a year to serve wiith Youth With A Mission. James will be writing and taking care of some web development for the organization's U.K. efforts.

He recently captured some of their schedule and activities in an email, as they leave for Europe Tuesday, then training in the Philippines and more:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here's our rough schedule for the next few months:

21 March - Drive to Denver, fly to Chicago, fly overnight to London.

22 March - Rent a car and drive on the wrong side of the road to King's Lodge.

25 to 28 March (approx) – travel to Scotland for a few days.

1 April to 23 June (approx) - Discipleship Training School for Joan and James (mornings). The kids will have school in the mornings. We'll work afternoons - Joan and the kids cleaning or cooking, and James writing or hunting for hedgehogs. We’ll be here if you want to come and visit.

23 June - 17 Aug (approx) - mission trip to the Philippines.

17 Aug to 15 Sept (approx) - finish the DTS school, and transition to full time work.

17 September - March 2007 – Hunker down for the work and school routine at King’s Lodge.


CONTACT INFO:
Kings Lodge
Watling Street
Nuneaton
Warwickshire CV10 0TZ
U.K.
[44] 24-7634-8128 (dial 001 first from the US)


Here's how you can support us, whether it's one time or regularly once a month:

- Write checks to “Y.E.S.” (which stands for Yielded Evangelical Servants – see www.yeservants.org for more info.)
- Attach a note saying it's for James & Joan Werning.
- Send to:

Y.E.S.
P.O. Box 700697
St. Cloud, FL 34770-0697

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BTW, you can get updates at their website.

At the least, why not take a moment right now and send up a prayer for James and Joan as they wrap up loose ends during this final "stateside" day.

Irish Breakfasts - and Prayer

Joel Vaughan kindly spoke at devos yesterday. As we got started, it was noted that Friday is St. Patrick's Day. I showed ignorance of my own Irish heritage when I wondered aloud, "What do the Irish have for breakfast?" Our guest speaker suggested Lucky Charms...which somehow doesn't seem like a legitimate answer to the question.

Here's a link to see what the Irish REALLY eat for breakfast. CIO - very impressive line up of wonderful foods. Inspiring, really. So, beginning this weekend, I am going to get in touch with my lost roots and start to enjoy a HUGE meal to start my day!

Here's a summary of Joel's main points, about a Christian's conversations with God:

Nature of Prayer:
• Refuse to accept unjust situation
• Rebellion against a fallen world
• Refusal to accept as normal what is abnormal
• Refusal of everything that is at odds with the norm as established by God
• Expression of the chasm that separates good from evil / that evil is the antithesis of good
• Nothing hinders prayer as quickly as resignation. Luke wrote that we must pray at all times that we may not lose heart (Luke 18:1)
• Prayer flourishes where there is a belief that God can change the situation

Practice of Prayer:
• Persist despite discouragement
• Why don’t we pray as persistently as we talk about a problem?

o Simply don’t think it will make a difference
o Accept the situation as unchangeable
o Easily come to terms with an unjust world
o Feel impotent to change things and, therefore, strike a truce with evil
o Lose our anger against unrighteousness.
o But God does not lose His wrath against unholiness. His wrath seeks the ascendancy of truth, so we must pray

• Be prayed up: Acts 3 – gate called Beautiful; cf Jn. 5:17, 19
• Pray in faith: Jas 4; Heb 11

Scope of Prayer:
• Our prayer should look beyond our private world to include the wide horizon of all human life in which God is concerned
• The world is a courtroom where a case still may be made against what is unjust, evil and wrong, and for what is right, just and holy.
• Our Judge will bring about justice for His chosen ones – quickly (Luke 18:8)
• Proverbs 15:8: God delights when we pray

Taken from Prayer: Rebelling Against the Status Quo, by David F. Wells, as included in Perspectives on the World Christian Movement.

Thanks for the insights and exhortation, Joel!

And, please, skip the Lucky Charms tomorrow?

Truth Project Taping - What Energy!

Chuck VanLaar sent this for all to see:



I took the attached photo yesterday of the FOFI students at the taping with Del Tackett for "The Truth Project". The broadcast will launch the upcoming training conferences in May 2006 as well as discuss the issues facing Christians in a post-modern culture and the distorted world view that most believers have in society today.

DIY Podcasts

There are lots of helpful places on the web to learn podcasting. The beauty of the medium is that anyone can be a podcaster! Of course, that's the downside, too...far too many hackers who put out sub-par stuff. That said, in light of your professional experience in broadcasting, I have no doubt that YOU can do a great podcast.

What's holding you back? If it is the practical aspects of "how do I get started?" then simply click here for a good introduction to the wonderful world of podcasting.

Devo recap

We talked today in devos about routines and habits. I then shared a few thoughts about an instance at church last Sunday. I've written about that here, titled "Mix Things Up A Little."

A brief discussion about the "Twon Halll" (FOF Board update) on Tuesday followed. We then had a time of prayer for Eliisa and baby Taylor, and then for former Briargate staffer Jan Smoldt Keller.

Follow-up on one item we touched upon today: It is about 6 pm now, and I wonder where all that snow went?

A Real Video iPod?

Interesting speculation out there about the next big thing from Apple (now that they've introduced an iPod boombox of sorts and a new Mac Mini): A larger screen, bigger capacity iPod with real video appeal.

Someone made a quick graphic, and it looks very nice. Avid iPod users may note that there is no mechanical click wheel - it is a software element, brought to the fore of a touch screen when pressure is applied in the right place on that screen. Several sites seem to indicate this is all going to be announced in the next month or so, with full length movies offered on iTunes.

In light of Microsoft's latest, an "ultraportable" PC (albeit with very short battery life, no input mechanism and a price tag of $700), this is a pretty interesting alternative.

Maybe this is what Apple has up its sleeve? If so, what does it mean for consumers? For content producers like us?

Update From R&R Talk Radio Seminar

Its John, reporting from Washington DC, where Brian Neils and I are attending the Radio and Records annual Talk Radio Seminar. Good attendance, and some very interesting conversations here!

Reminder that this is the general market (non-religious) radio convention at which Sean Hannity, Paul Harvey, Dr. Laura and Rush Limbaugh are the standards. Each of those giants has spoken here through the years, and the stations that carry them are herer in abundance. So are the programmers who create and distribute all their competition. And that's where we fit in - Dr. Dobson's 90 second commentary is aired on 325 secular stations, and many of them are in attendance, as well.

We've spoken with a number of affiliates and broadcast partners. It is interesting that even those who aren't what we would consider to be typical FOF constituents or even targeted listeners are quite familiar with JCD. Mention his name and they smile and say, "Oh, yes, Dr. Dobson. He is really very good, a great feature!"

Rush spoke yesterday, and today we heard ABC's Ann Compton interviewing Former Senator Fred Thompson (R, TN). Inside skinny: Thompson is ABC's latest personality, signed to do a number of things, including as a subsitute host when Paul Harvey is out. Interesting!

Additionally, Fox News Host John Gibson spoke this morning. And excerpt from R&R's website:

"I just started the second part of radio career," Gibson told the breakfast crowd at the R&R Talk Radio Seminar, noting that he wound his way through a series of radio jobs before landing at a Sacramento television station back in 1975.

However, Gibson said the urge to return to radio was always there, especially when Talk radio started to really take off when Rush Limbaugh went national. "I thought, 'Hmmm, that looks like fun," said Gibson, noting that the shift towards hosts espousing their opinions was a change that amazed him. "In the old days, if you heard someone on the air hint at an opinion, it was almost scandalous," he said. "People didn't know how to take it at first; especially if you worked in a newsroom. According to my upbringing, if you had an opinion, don't let it show But I was bursting with my opinions."

Now, Gibson said, he relishes in the freedom his radio show provides him to share his views. "I do a one-hour TV show, but I only get to talk for maybe 12 minutes," he said. "So, I'm very excited about doing this program."

Now On Sirius Radio

FYI, here's a press release from our friends at FamilyNet about the daily broadcast:

NEWS RELEASE
Contact: R. Chip Turner
(817) 570-1423 Direct ~ (817) 737-7853 Fax
(800) 832-6638 Toll Free
cturner@FamilyNet.com
www.FamilyNet.com

For Immediate Release: March 1, 2006

"BEST RADIO TALK SHOW" IS NOW ON SIRIUS SATELLITE RADIO

Fort Worth, TX - Focus on the Family, with Dr. James Dobson, can now be
heard on FamilyNet Radio, SIRIUS Channel 159.

The National Religious Broadcasters named Focus on the Family the "Best
Radio Talk Show" for 2006, an award that was presented during the NRB
convention in Dallas on February 20 and 21. The NRB is the largest
association of Christian communicators.

Focus on the Family is hosted by America's foremost spokesman for the
family, Dr. James Dobson, and can be heard daily at 11:30 a.m. Eastern
on Channel 159. Focus is the latest addition to a growing line up on
FamilyNet Radio.

FamilyNet Radio airs innovative call-in shows with leading evangelical
talk personalities, preaching from the nation's top pastors and other
family friendly programs. Included in the channel line up are such
programming as Jay Sekulow Live!, Hope for the Heart with June Hunt, Way
of the Master with Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort, At Home - Live! with
Chuck and Jenni Borsellino, and Mornings with Scott and Lorri. Based in
Fort Worth, Texas, FamilyNet also operates a full-time television
network currently available in over 30 million TV households. For more
information on FamilyNet Radio and Television, visit the Web site at
www.FamilyNet.com or call (800) 832-6638.

SIRIUS Satellite Radio delivers more than 120 channels of
commercial-free music, compelling talk shows, news and information, and
the most extensive sports programming to listeners across the country in
digital quality sound. Now with more than three million subscribers,
SIRIUS is on pace to reach six million by the end of 2006.

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