A Great Trip Indeed
Apr 18, 2009 Uncategorized
Had the opportunity to visit family in Pearland this weekend. Rained a lot but other than that…. I visited with family, ate Gringo’s Fajitas, spent time with my Grandparents, Went to an Astros game, got a free stadium blanket, caught a batting practice ball, Astros won, and will wake up in the morning and get some warm Shipley’s donuts.
Except for seeing a few friends I haven’t seen in a while, and eating real seafood I would say it was pretty much a home run.
Tags: Astros, Baseball, Family, Gringo's, Pearland, Shipley's
Memorial Services for a Friend
Apr 14, 2009 Uncategorized
For the past few days this site has been hit by people typing in keywords looking for information about Rusty Watkins. I assume you are searching for information about the memorial service. First of all a personal note, I cannot remember being in youth, or being a youth director without Rusty. Though we were not as close as many of you were, I learned a lot about youth ministry from him. His passing was a shock to me and he will be missed greatly.
Here is the service information (from the facebook page)
Memorial services for Rev Rusty Watkins, son of Billy & Peggy Watkins, will be held at Lakewood United Methodist Church on Friday April 17 at 3:00pm.
Please pass on to anyone else that you think would want to know. Billy & Peggy have both been working Emmaus walks for many years so please pass this info on.
I talked with Billy & Peggy this afternoon and they are doing well, just busy with plans, visitors and phone calls. They are asking in lieu of flowers to donate to your favorite charity.
Here is the facebook group- In Memory of Rusty Watkins
I just wanted to get the info out since I had visitors coming to my site. Please leave your comments on the Facebook Group if possible.
Squirrel Proof?
Apr 14, 2009 Uncategorized
We have a problem. We recently purchased three different bird feeders, filled them with seed and set them out. And wouldn’t you know it.. in no time we had a huge number of .. squirrels. We intended to attract beautiful songbirds and instead we got gray, bushy tailed critters. I have been wondering what to do. Maybe we could create a feeder just for the squirrels and separate them so that they would go there and the birds would go to the good feeders. Maybe we could get a squirrel proof feeder like this one.
So what do we end up doing? Buy more bird seed. Instead of spending a ton of money on new feeders, squirrel proof poles and other gadgets that probably won’t work in the long run we just buy enough seed for all of them. And the birds eat, the squirrels eat and everyone is happy.
Maybe there is a point to this? Maybe I just liked the clip of the squirrel spinning on the feeder? What do you think?
Learning Patience from Bread and Flowers
Apr 11, 2009 Uncategorized
I have been told never to pray for patience. So I didn’t. However it seems that I chose two projects today that are conspiring to teach it to me whether I prayed for it or not.
First of all our church had it’s plant sale today. The United Methodist Womens group holds an annual plant sale to benefit several local mission projects. The easy thing to do would be to go buy a blooming potted plant, hang it up and be done. What did I do? I bought a flat of petunias and a flat of coleus. So instead of a ready made showpiece I spent 3 hours digging, planting, weeding, placing, watering and praying. And right now the poor plants spread apart in a flowerbed look kind of pathetic. Supposedly they will grow, spread out and be beautiful.
The second project I took on was to make bread from scratch. I have never done this before and I am not sure what I have gotten myself into. All I know is that I have already mixed everything and waited 90 minutes for the bread to rise… the first time. Now I am in the middle of waiting another 75 minutes for the second rise.. and we’re not even to baking yet.
With both of these projects I have been looking for the fast forward button. You know like in simcity or one of those games, where you can set things, then fast forward to get to the good part, when things start happening? Unfortunately it doesn’t work that way.
I’d like to tell you that the bread will taste wonderful and be well worth the wait. I’d love to let you know that the flowers all grew strong and beautiful. The truth is I have no idea. I will know later but now I sit in the time of the unknown. I hope and pray but have no control over what happens.
6Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Phillipians 4:6-7
You know that verse tells me that it’s ok not to know. It says that I’ll have peace if I give it to God. I usually have peace when I know it’s all going to be ok. But that’s not what this verse says. It says the peace comes when you give your requests to God.
So I’ll let you know. Tomorrow I can let you know how the bread turned out, and in a few weeks I can see if the flowers are ok. But for now I’ll just rest in God’s peace.
Why Not to Use Twitter
Apr 8, 2009 Uncategorized
For the past week I have heard all the advantages of using twitter and facebook in your church. Here is an interesting post from the folks at Church Marketing Sucks with some warnings about this. I agree with them. Here is an excerpt from the closing.
“Your church will never be great because you figure out how to use Facebook and Evites. Your church will be great because you commit yourself to living the gospel in a radical way,”
Thoughts? Comments?
50 Free Design Lessons
Apr 7, 2009 Uncategorized
This link for 50 Free Lessons in Graphic Design Theory from Danny Outlaw was just sent to me over twitter. I just perused through them but plan on working through them when I get a chance. Check them out for yourself. For more follow me on twitter.
New theme
Apr 7, 2009 Uncategorized
I am just testing out this new theme to see how it works. Do you like it or not? Let me know!
Tags: work
Unfailing Love CD Available
Mar 30, 2009 Uncategorized
Last summer I kept talking about this CD that I had recorded. The problem was that although it was recorded it was not available yet. Well now it is. At the beginning of fall I received 1000 copies of the 4 song EP “Unfailing Love” and it was posted up on Itunes and Amazon.com.
So I would appreciate it if you would give it a listen and download a copy. It only costs $4.
If you’d like to get a full copy it can be purchased from CD Baby. For more those links visit my website at russellmartinmusic.com
Tags: Appreciate, CD, summer, Unfailing Love
My Five -Posts Since August
Mar 22, 2009 Uncategorized
I’ve been writing posts for this blog since August of 2008. So after 9 months I wondered what my most popular posts are… well I wonder no longer cause here they are. Apparently so far a lot of people are looking for free backgrounds. Tune in later for my 5 favorite posts.
Past Year (Since August)
Free Stuff:Angel Background
Youth Worship: Worshipping Without a Band
Free Backgrounds
Cardboard Testimonies
How to Make Your Own Worship Background
Tags: angel, Background, band, blogs, Free, Free Stuff, How To, Worship, youth, Youth Worship
Recording Equipment: What Do You Suggest?
Mar 9, 2009 Uncategorized
I have been thinking lately that I would like to set up a small studio at the church. I am not looking for something too complicated but would like to be able to record our instruments into separate channels on Sunday mornings so they could be mixed to create a balanced recording.
I know there are many of you out there with alot of experience in this area so I would love for you to answer some of these questions. I am sure others reading would benefit from your years of experience too.
So here are your questions.
If you were going to set up a small studio how would you do it?
What equipment would you include? Computer software?
Interfaces?
What are some things to watch out for?
Finally what other questions would you ask?
Leave your answers in the comments, or if it is easier write your own blog post and leave the link in the comments.
