San Antonio Part 3 - The Culinary Experience

OK, here were some of our favorite places that we ate on our vacation...in no particular order.

Mexican Food

1. Alamo Cafe - Alamo Cafe is a stop we have to make every time we are in San Antonio. In the early 90s, Brent Williams, my youth pastor when I was a teen, took me to this place. Our favorite location is the one off of 281. They have great tortillas and fantastic Tex-Mex. We met my good friend, Darrell Wickert, there. Darrell is a Kid's Pastor at First Assembly of God in San Antonio.

2. Mi Tierra - Mi Tierra is located in the El Mercado at Market Square. They have great food and a great atmosphere. Mariachi Bands walk around playing music (for a small fee of course). It is a San Antonio landmark.

Honorable Mention: Taco Taco Cafe - Kenzie wanted Tacos. So, I googled "Best Tacos in San Antonio" and it lead us to Taco Taco Cafe. Bon Appetit Magazine said these were the best Tacos in America. So, we thought we'd give it a try. I had their signature taco, El Norteño....it had beans, avocado, cheese and grilled meat. The girls all had regular tacos. I thought it was good, not worthy of the best in America.....the girls didn't like it at all.....probably won't go there again.

Bar B QUE

1. Salt Lick BBQ, Round Rock, TX - I loved this place! They had great BBQ. A couple of the Food Network stars at highlighted this place on the show the best thing I've ever eaten. So, we decided to give it a try. I would like to try their restaurant in Dripping Springs because a few friends have told me that it is better.

2. Rudy's Country Store and BBQ - My good friend, John Van Pay, took me over to the Original Rudy's Country Store and BBQ in Leon Springs, Texas. I've eaten at Rudy's before, but this one was by far the best. It was the place that it all got started. The smoked Turkey was awesome. We also liked their creamed corn.

Chains We Liked
1. BJ's - Great Homemade Root Beer
2. PF Chang's
3. Freebirds - Incredible Burritos
4. Red Robin

San Antonio Vacation Part 2 - Sea World

On Monday and Tuesday, we spent the day at Sea World! We love Sea World! It was our first time to take Mackenzie. She loved it! We went back Thursday night for all the night shows!

Highlights:

1. The girls loved the little Shamu roller coaster. It was Kenzie's first roller coaster experience. She is a big fan now!

2. We loved the shows! All of the shows are great! Kenzie's favorite was the ski show! Mady liked the Sea Lions show at night the best! Sasha's favorite show is AZUL. It used to be called Viva!, but they added some lighting effects and changed it. When we went Monday and Tuesday, they did not have the AZUL show because one of the Beluga Whales had a new calf. We did get to see the new calf. It was awesome.

3. We loved the Shamu shows! The girls thought it was funny when they put the camera on us before the night time Shamu show....I jumped up and started dancing. Yeah, I was that guy. It was for the girls! LOL

4. The girls loved the Lazy River at the Lost Lagoon. Mackenzie was adventuresome. She went out with me into the wave pool (wearing a life jacket of course). She had so much fun.

Sea World is a great affordable place to take your family. You can buy a fun pass that is the same price as a one day ticket. The fun pass gives you admission all year long.

San Antonio Vacation Part 1

Over the next few days, I'll be posting some of my thoughts from our vacation! The last week of June, Sasha, Mady, Mackenzie and I went to San Antonio for a week!

We arrived in town on Saturday! A good friend of mine was able to hook us up with a great vacation house! It was 2 bedrooms and 1 bath in a great subdivision on the edge of the hill country.

On Sunday Morning, we went to Gateway Fellowship for church! John Van Pay is the Lead Pastor. He has been a great friend of mine since our Southwestern days. Their music was fantastic. It was our first experience at attending a church in a movie theater. If you live in the San Antonio area, I would recommend attending Gateway.

Sunday Afternoon, we ended up at a very cool shopping area called the Shops at La Cantera. They had some great shops. Mady enjoyed the fountains. She thought it was absolutely hilarious every time she dipped her hands in the many fountains and wiped them on my shirt. We had a great time.

Sunday night, we went to the pool in our subdivision with some friends and had hot dogs. I had a brat the way the locals eat them.....tortilla instead of bun. It was awesome. :)

Check back tomorrow for more San Antonio vacation highlights!

AND Blog Tour

It seems everywhere you turn that someone has a different opinion on how we should do church. There are those that say we need to have traditional music and some say modern worship. There are those that we should have Sunday School and those who say that we should have Small Groups. An even bigger divide is those who say we should strive to become a mega church and those who would say the house church or organic church movement is the answer.

In the compelling book, AND, Hugh Halter and Matt Smay pose the thought of not settling for either/or, but AND. What if we were the gathered and scattered church? As Scott Thomas, Director, Acts 29 Network and Global Church Pastor at Mars Hill Church in Seattle stated "AND unites the divided methods with the singular motivation of the gospel and urges the church to focus on the mission of Jesus in the sanctuaries AND in the streets."

Halter and Smay challenge the reader to become missionaries to the community in which they live. They stated "Church is God's people intentionally committing to die together so that others can find his kingdom." Jesus challenged us to take up our cross and follow him. This particular thought caused me to ask myself am I willing to die so that other can find his kingdom. The answer is YES!

AND is a fantastic book! It is a must read for anyone who is ready to step out of mundane religion and into an exciting relationship with God. America is a great mission field and this book will help you to reach your community.

This week you can also order AND for 50% OFF and get free shipping at http://www.zondervan.com/ with this code: 370030. The discount is valid July 12-16 only.

What's Happening?

1. Summer has been busy. We are in the middle of family month at church! It has been awesome. Church is the only place we call something family night and then send everyone to their separate activities. So, led by our Pastor, we decided to bring everyone together for family month. It has been awesome. We had Skittles come and do a concert. The deal was that if we had over 200 at the show that Pastor and I would get a pie in the face. The church did it and the pie tasted great! This Sunday, the Xtreme Kids will be in the choir loft helping us with the worship!

2. At the end of June, we took a much needed vacation to San Antonio. I will blog more about that next week. San Antonio is a great place.

3. We've had a series of activities for our 180 students called "Boredom Busters." So far, we've had Water Wars, gone to the Boardwalk in Shreveport and my personal favorite was a canoe/kayak trip to Broken Bow, Oklahoma. Ambush Adventures is a great outfitter in Broken Bow. We did a 4 mile trip down the river. It was lot of fun. I can't wait to do that again. :)

4. The girls are enjoying their summer. They have taken swimming lessons. They both made huge steps during those lessons. Sasha has stayed busy keeping the house clean and going, doing activities with us, getting ready for school to start in a month and taking classes. We've had a lot of fun so far, but it is not over yet.

5. So, sorry that I haven't updated the blog in over a month. I will begin posting more regularly now. Also, you will see an occasional book review on my blog. I have signed up to review some books on my blog. It is a blast. I'm posting one tonight! In the next few weeks, I'll review books by Charles Swindoll and the new one from Bill Hybels that comes out in August. So, be watching for more things to come. :)

Exponential

Dave and Jon Ferguson have written an excellent book entitled "Exponential." Dave and Jon give excellent reproducing and leadership principles as they tell the story of Community Christian Church and the NewThing network.

The book is written from Dave's perspective with pop ups that showcase Jon's humor and wit. They believe that "God has birthed within you a dream." Not only do they believe you have a dream, but that you can accomplish that dream. Acts 1:8 states YOU will receive power and YOU will be witnesses. After reading this book, you will feel challenged to accomplish the dream.

This book is written for those who have a dream to lead or plant a church. The guiding principles in this book will help you accomplish the task. I found myself not being able to put this book down and discussing it with my friends.

You can purchase the book here.

Is this the end of the Big 12?

Well, reports have been all over the net for the last few days that the Big 12 is in trouble.

The short....

1. Nebraska and Mizzou are contemplating bolting for the Big 10....if invited. Reports are now that Nebraska got invited, but Mizzou didn't.

2. The Big 12 South minus Baylor and plus Colorado could be headed to the Pac 10 if Nebraska leaves.

3. This would leave Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, Mizzou and Baylor in the Big 12.

My opinion...

(NOTE: I think it's important to note that I'm a fan of Baylor and Texas. I grew up a 'horns fan until we moved to Waco. My parents had season tickets to Bears games. So, I naturally became a Baylor fan. Only time I root against Texas is when they play the Bears.)

As a fan of Baylor, I am devastated at Baylor possibly being left out of a major conference. I know they stink in Football. In other sports, they have been good. They have won the 3rd most Big 12 championships in the last 7 years behind Texas and A&M. Their Men's basketball team made it to the elite eight this year.

As a fan of Texas, I think this is dumb. Am I really going to have to watch games on Pacific time.... Could someone with common sense, please look at the Rangers playing in the American League West and see the ratings for the 9:05 p.m. central time games. I'm sorry, but this is terrible for the fans.

I also hate that rivalries will be set aside. Nebraska/OU has been a great game. Baylor against the Texas schools (A&M, Tech, UT).

My solution. Keep the Big 12 intact.

Let Mizzou and Nebraska go.

Put OU/OSU in the Big 12 north.

Bring TCU and Houston into the Big 12 South.

We'll see how this plays out, but I'm not feeling confident right now. :)