So is it true that Annie Hobson has no secret to her success? That depends on your definition of “secret”:

What advice would you give to those of us with a more colorful driving record? How have you managed to keep your record so squeaky clean?

Every morning I pray to God first and ask for protection for the day. If I’m running late, I’m late. My kids tell me I should get the record for being the world’s slowest driver. It’s just that I’m never in a hurry. You’ve got to realize that you can never make up time. So, it’s God, common sense, and the hope that you’ll get through the day. That should do it.

So Annie Hobson credits prayer to God–but for some reason the St. Pete Times didn’t run the headline “School Bus Driver’s Secret is Daily Prayer.”

But maybe the Times was right. After all, the hymn does say, “It is no secret/What God can do.”

1. Go here.
2. Click the Watch Video link.

Anyone who is not sure whether to come should tell their kids about the…

• Pumpkin painting
• Face painting
• All-you-can-eat BBQ dinner
• Dessert at the ice cream sundae bar
• Hayride around the grounds
• Music and games
• The dunk tank

…and let the kids decide for the whole family. That sounds fair to me!

The way the video is shot, uploaded, and presented could be better in so many ways! If you have an interest in helping with video at TTUMC, just let me know.

Pastor Leonardo sent an e-mail message two days ago asking that we join them in prayer for the city of Manzanillo, starting on September 20th until the end of the month. He said that all of the pastors and congregations of the city had joined together to pray for their city during these days.

Manzanillo is a city of slightly over 100,000 population, perhaps the size of Lakeland. It is located in the western part of the southeastern coast of Cuba. It has a seaport area for shipping and a small fishing industry. The surrounding countryside is dedicated to sugar cane and cattle, in addition to food crops. Churchwise, I know that there are Baptists and Assembly of God congregations — perhaps 10 congregations in all, that are joining in prayer. I know that Catholic church is active also. One of their great concerns is the growth of ‘spiritism’ in the area. Spiritism goes back to the time of slavery and has continued to grow over the years. It is seen as a kind of idolatry.

Some of the government restrictions on worship have lessened in recent years, and the churches see that now is a great opportunity to reach people as never before. A month ago, Pastor Leonardo reported that they had 5 additional outreach missions. The other denominations are growing rapidly also. By joining together in prayer and evangelism they want to reach the whole city.

Tiger Increases the Gap. Tiger Woods may get $1 billion in payouts from the PGA’s retirement plan. (Via Kottke.org.)

Jesus the Logician. According to J.P. Moreland, Jesus was a master of logic in his arguments. In fact, writes Moreland,

To my mind, Jesus was the greatest thinker who ever lived. And while he did not come to develop a theory about logic or to teach logic as a field of study, it is clear that he was adept at employing logical forms and laws in his thinking and reasoning. We who are his followers should go and do likewise.

Inspiring Volunteers. Gary Lamb writes, “You can NEVER cast vision too much. Volunteers do what they do because of the vision, not because they need something else on their schedule.” (Via ChurchRelevance.com.)

Let Guests See the Dress Code Ahead of Time. Above all else, guests to a church don’t want to be embarrassed, according to Pastor Dave Zimmerman of Living Waters Church in Lake Wylie, S.C. He suggests that we can “put pictures on our web sites and brochures to give people an idea as to how they should dress.”

Intimidation by Animation. Chinese police have started patrolling the Internet with animated cops to warn people not to visit illegal web sites. (Via Slashdot.)

The Moon Will Be So Crowded… Nobody will go there anymore. Lots of nations are planning to go to the moon by 2025, including the U.S., Russia, Japan, and China.

Facechurch. If you’re into social networking, you can now go to the church at Facebook thanks to LifeChurch.tv.

Jesus Loves Them. Photos of people’s faces and their shoes in San Francisco. (Via Kottke.org.)

Mormon Parable About How You Get Saved. A parable in an official LDS teaching manual illustrates how Mormons view atonement. In the parable, the character representing Jesus keeps a debtor from going to prison, then turns to him and says, “you will pay the debt to me and I will set the terms. It will not be easy, but it will be possible. I will provide a way. You need not go to prison.” According to the Stand to Reason blog,

The debtor is still a debtor who must still pay. However, Jesus is now the one he must pay back.

Grace is not a gift, but just a new loan with new terms of financing.

(Via Evangelical Outpost.)

Pecha Kucha Night. Pecha Kucha Night is an event where people such as designers and architects can get together to share their work without boredom or ego taking over. Each person who wants to talk about his or her work presents a slide show (a PowerPoint presentation) that is limited to 20 images, each shown for 20 seconds–giving each presenter “6 minutes and 40 seconds of fame before the next presenter is up.”

It’s interesting to think about applying the Pecha Kucha Night concept to church events. One idea would be “Pecha Kucha Ministry Night”–a ministry fair during which there would be a presentation period that follows the Pecha Kucha rules. In other words, someone from each ministry presents 20 images for 20 seconds each–a total of 6 minutes and 40 seconds, and then he or she has to step down. (The presenter is allowed to speak during the 20 slides, of course.) Questions and answers can come at individual tables after the presentation period. The advantages of this format? (1) It would encourage use of images (which can be highly motivating). (2) It would encourage ministries to take photos. (3) It would encourage listeners to come because they would know they wouldn’t be bored. (4) It would be a new format that might spark interest.

Pecha Kucha, by the way, “is Japanese for the sound of conversation.”

(Via Seth Godin.)

Web-Based Who’s Who. SquidWho is a web-based version of Who’s Who in which everyone–famous or not–can have a page all about them. You can create a page for yourself, or you can become a fan editor of a page about someone else (such as Billy Graham, for example, who didn’t have a page as of this writing).

(Vis Seth Godin.)

The GetTogether Supper. You have to get together to do stuff together. Temple Terrace United Methodist church is throwing a casual,GetTogether Supper to let people eat, meet, and maybe sing a few songs. The event will be held Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2007, at 6:30 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall. $5 for adults, $3 for kids. Guests welcome. Please tell TTUMC you’re attending by signing up on a Sunday or by calling the church office at 813-988-4141.

Instead, people in this group go on mission with the attitude, “I’m here to serve you while I learn from you.”

This attitude can be applied locally as well. During our next church outreach, will we project the attitude from start to finish, “We are the experts–let us solve all your problems”? Or will we spend time learning what people’s lives are like, what their challenges really are, and how we can humbly enable them to meet those challenges?

Will we be ready to learn something new from them–something new about being like Jesus?

Baptism Celebration at the Beach! Don’t miss Temple Terrace United Methodist Church’s Baptism Celebration at Honeymoon Island State Recreation Park tomorrow (Saturday, August 25, 2007). The picnic begins at 4. Baptisms will begin at 7:30 and continue until sunset.

Arm Wrestling Machine Recalled for Breaking Arms. A Japanese game maker is recalling 150 arm-wrestling machines from Japanese arcades “after three players broke their arms while wrestling with the machine’s mechanized appendage.” (Via Slashdot.org.)

Cannibals Apologize for Eating Methodists. A cannibal tribe in Papua New Guinea has apologized for eating four Methodist missionaries in the 19th century. Interestingly, the leader of the missionaries, Reverend George Brown, “reluctantly agreed to launch a punitive expedition, ordering his men to burn down villages implicated in the murders and destroy wooden canoes,” and 10 of the accused perpetrators were killed. (Via EvangelicalOutpost.com.)

Attention Grabbing Church Billboards. Granger Community Church, a Methodist church near South Bend, Indiana, has put up billboards advertising their series The Office. According to Pastor Tim Stevens, Granger is using the billboards “to create interest, stimulate conversation, and drive people to a website that will invite them to the series.” You can see photos of the billboards at Tim’s blog. Captions on the billboards include: “I look at naughty web sites at work”; “My nose is really brown”; and “My boss keeps hitting on me.”

Collaborative Online Writing Tool. Writeboard is a tool for collaborative writing online. Or for one person’s writing when he or she wants to keep versions. It’s easy to get started using. I’ve tried it tentatively, and may try it again.