03.19.09
Crave Out
Well last night was our last Crave meeting here at C3 – that sounds so dramatic doesn’t it. The truth is, that’s an exciting statement, because we have now gotten to the point where we are multiplying our student experience into two separate groups. One for Middle School called “The Mix” and one for High School called “413″ after Phil. 4:13. It really is cool though to think back about Crave. I’ve been the Crave pastor now for a little over two and a half years and it has been awesome to watch the group grow and the students grow over these last couple of years. I am extremely proud of our students!!! It is so cool to see so many of them who were completely unchurched, get so plugged in and just trying to live for God the best they know how. What’s also so cool is to see how almost all of the students are now inviting their unchurched friends to come check out this student community. I’m sure there are parts of Crave I will miss, but OMGosh I am so jacked about the opportunities we will now have to continue to build relevant and safe environments. Environments where students really can connect with others their own age and develop positive influences.
12.22.08
Others First
Wow, what a Sunday! We had an absolute blast yesterday meeting so many first time visitors and adopted families. It really is hard to put it into words but, we have really just felt blessed to be a part of C3’s “Feed the Family” holiday campaign. It really has been sweet to get to know our adopted family and to be able to help meet some of their physical needs. The greatest part was that yesterday the mom of our adopted family prayed to receive Christ.
The Feed the Families campaign has also given us some amazing opportunities to talk to Caleb and Luke about giving and helping others. Ya know the idea of putting others first really does not come natural to any of us. But when we are able to put others first I think then we can really get a glimpse of the word through Jesus’ eyes.
I was so proud of Luke last week. He had an auction during school were they could use points that they had earned through the fall to buy toys and gifts. Luke had been telling us about several things he wanted to get. But then when the day came to get his stuff, instead of using his points for himself, he bought his family gifts. I know it’s kind of a small thing but as his dad it was huge. You start thinking, what if we could change the way the next generation of Church thinks. What if we had a whole generation of church stopped thinking so much about themselves and what they can get and started focusing on loving God and loving others first. What would happen? How would it change the world? How would it change the way people view the church?
12.01.08
Feed The Families
This weekend started our Feed the Families campaign at C3. This is an awesome opportunity for the family of C3 to supply food and other basic needs to 100 families who need a little extra help this holiday season. Sandi and I are just so jacked about connecting with the family that we’ve adopted. They are such an awesome family and it is so cool to not only be able to drop off the food and supplies, but to be able to pray for them and get to know them on a personal level. What a sweet chance to connect our community to Christ.
As any other awesome opportunity, there are always some bumps in the road. Today, as folks are trying to get info about Feed the Families and report back, our site; c3orlando.com has completely gone down (I love technology). If you are looking for more info on FTF or if you are trying to report back from delivering your food, please visit www.byronbledsoe.com for more info. Specifically you can go to http://byronbledsoeblog.com/2008/12/01/urgent-feed-the-families-update/ to get all the info.
Thanks to everyone who is participating in FTF!!! You are making an eternal difference for Christ.
09.25.08
Interesting
So Sandi was talking to her mom last night and the topic of church came up. What I found so interesting is that Sandi’s mom lives and always has lived is a small northern town that is steeped in tradition and the Greek Orthodox Church. So, pretty much all the churches including the protestant ones are very old, stuffy and dying.
Last night though, Sandi’s mom had mentioned that she went to a church that was actually growing and in her words; “busting at the seems.” What was so interesting is that this church is the same style and flow of C3. Now remember Sandi’s mom has always lived in little traditional towns and has grown up in churches that do church for church people. So, when she hit this new fangled church thing she about freaked out. The first thing out of her mouth was “no one came dressed for church.” To which Sandi commented back; “you mean everyone was naked?” Of course that’s not what her mom meant, but it was fun to poke at her a little. Sandi’s mom just couldn’t believe that people would actually come to church in shorts and Ts. Oh the horror! J
Anyway to make a long story short, after getting over the “naked” thing, Sandi was really able to explain in detail why that church in PA and C3 do what we do. Now Sandi’s mom is not about to head out and join a contemporary, progressive church. But, what was so cool is that by the end of their conversation Sandi’s mom “got it” and understood the importance of our style of church. Even though it’s not her style she loved the idea of churches that actually go after those, who are disenfranchised with church and God. I thought that was really cool. I also just kept thinking; if a sixty something year old, who has been indoctrinated with tradition ever since she was a girl, can “get it” then why can’t certain others (God tells us that we’re to love those far from Him) get it? I mean really, how hard is it to understand that we’re all different and not every church is for everyone. So instead of being scared of and slamming churches like C3 and the one in PA, why not just understand that we’re reaching our culture and that’s a good thing. Just interesting.
09.12.08
Week
Wow what a week it’s been. I started off this week with an extremely quick trip out to San Diego California. Darrell and I went out to Cali to check out some churches that have had very successful Community Group ministries. The trip was awesome; these churches gave us a ton of great info that will be very useful in our C3 groups.
However, when I say it was a quick trip, it was a really quick trip. We arrived at our hotel a little after midnight on Monday (actually, I guess that makes it very early Tuesday). Then on Tuesday morning we started our tour of churches. Since our last stop was in Orange County, we decided to go take in a few of the sites in Hollywood that night. It was cool to see some of the sights, but the problem was we didn’t realize how long it would actually take us to get back to San Diego – it takes a really long time. So, we got back to the hotel around midnight again and then got up the next morning at 4 am to catch our very early flight out. Due to the long flight, time change and a wonderful layover in Atlanta we got back into Orlando somewhere between 5 and 5:30pm. All in all a very successful trip, but talk about jet lag.
I spent a good chuck of today repairing different things on the church trailers. Which normally is no big deal, but today it seemed like every time I would get the trailers unloaded and start working it would pour down rain. So I would run around like crazy getting everything back in the trailers and the rain would stop.
Then tonight Sandi is off at a Children’s ministry meeting, so I’m at home doing homework with the kids. 4ht grade math really stinks. I’m ready for the weekend.
08.26.08
Blog?
Wow, I can’t believe how long it’s been since I’ve blogged. With the end of summer and the starting of school there is always a ton going on and it’s amazing how fast time fly’s. But, I’m back in the blogging world, so let me get ya caught up with all the stuff happening right now.
- Caleb and Luke start soccer this week. I love soccer season. It is a blast to watch the boys and their friends out on the soccer field. It’s also an awesome time to invest in relationships with some of the other parents and have them come check out C3.
- We’re in an absolutely sweet series right now on Sunday mornings called Bodacious 80’s. Pastor Byron has been taking songs from the 80’s and building messages around some of the lyrics. If you haven’t been yet, you have to come check it out. It has been “totally rad” dude!
- Crave’s back to school kickoff on the 17th was awesome. It was cool to see all the new 6th graders come out and have a blast with all the Crave regulars. Guys remember Crave gets kick’n again next Wednesday at Boardwalk Bowl. We’ve made a few changes to Crave this fall. Make sure you check out the Crave Spam page à for all the new stuff.
- Tomorrow night we have a special baptism service, where 15 folks will be taking their next step in following Christ by being baptized. I’m so jacked, I love watching folks take that next step and I’m extra pumped because 4 of those being baptized are Crave students. I’m proud of you guys!!!
I promise I get more up on the blog real soon. 
07.22.08
SC Vacation
We’re back from vacation. We spent the majority of last week up in Myrtle Beach, SC for a little fun in the sun. It was a great week!!! Some friends of ours recommended staying at the Compass Cove hotel while up in Myrtle and wow what a hotel – thanks for the recommendation Heather!
The Compass Cove was really cool, it had 3 different lazy rivers, a ton of pools, a kid’s water area and of course it was right on the beach. We all had a blast jumping from one pool to the next and doing some boogie boarding and skim boarding on the beach. (Actually, we could only skim board after 5pm each day, some kind of lame SC law?!?) Oh well it was still a blast and I think the boys favorite part was having one of the lazy rivers right outside of our hotel room door. They would wake up in the morning and jump right in. Sandi’s favorite part of the trip was the all you can eat sea food buffet at Seafair. Which I have to say, if you ever go up to Myrtle Beach you have to try Seafair (I’m still full).
Of course now we’re back and into full swing again. We have student camp next week, which will be an absolute blast. So of course, this week is just one big mad dash to get everything completed before camp starts. Big Stuf Campers; don’t forget we have a camp info meeting tomorrow night at Diane Vought’s home.
Other things going on this week; I have a mini-van that just won’t run and has been at the mechanic ever since we left for vacation. Unfortunately, they can’t seem to pinpoint what is exactly wrong with the thing, so we had to take it down to the dealership for them to take a look at it. I’m thinking a small stick of dynamite should fix it.
07.11.08
sweeeet
I love being a part of the movement that is C3!!! I am so jacked about a church that will truly do whatever it takes to show love to others. Sandi and I were just talking about all the awesome events that we have been able to be a part of; like the food drive, sponsoring the Family Film Festival and then this week alone was absolutely phenomenal. Sunday night was huge with the benefit concert with Shane and Shane and Josh Wilson. I loved seeing so many from the community of Avalon come out and enjoy a free concert and games for their kids. To top the night off we were able to raise the funds needed to completely build a fresh water well in a town in Africa that has never had clean drinking water before – awesome!!! Then on Wednesday of this week we took some of our Crave students out to Islands of Adventure. It was a blast!!! It is so awesome to see our students just enjoying life, but what was also cool is during our time at IOA I got to see the heart of some of our students as well. Our students love C3 and Crave and many of them kept talking about friends and family that they have been inviting to church. I love the fact that our students are into church so much that they love telling their friends about it!!! This week starts Hey Jude so don’t forget to invite some friends this week and I’ll see you at C3.
07.01.08
Shoulder
So I got the results of my MRI back and there are no tears in my shoulder – Thank you Lord!!! Instead I have evidently sprained my shoulder – never knew that was possible. Anyway, now I have 2 weeks where I’m supposed to rest my shoulder and not lift anything. It’s already driving me crazy not being able to do anything with my arm. I mean really, how are you not supposed to use your right arm? But, I’m really thankful it’s only 2 weeks instead of 2 months if it had been a tear. Thanks for your prayers!!!
I’ll see you Sunday night at the Shane and Shane concert. Don’t forget to invite everyone you know. J
06.30.08
Weekend
We took the boys down to grandpa’s this weekend. Grandpa lives on a finger canal to the Indian River in Stuart and it’s always fun to get away to grandpa’s. We do a ton of boating, fishing, swimming and just all kinds of stuff in the water when we’re down there. This weekend, however, grandpa surprised the boys with a tube to pull behind the boat. Needless to say we all had a blast skimming across the water and getting flung all over the place. Sandi even got out there and gave it a try – and loved it. But I got to say, I was really impressed with my dad. He is almost 71 years old and he was out there bouncing around on the tube with the boys. Can you say IcyHot night!? Of course at the rate I’m going lately, I’m just praying I’ll still be able to move when I’m 71. J
