Partners in Christ at WPC in NOLA

Get it on your calendar and plan to join us!

Join Microsoft partners and employees from around the world

for a time of fellowship and prayer

at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference

New Orleans Marriott at the Convention Center

859 Convention Center Boulevard

New Orleans, Louisiana 70130

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

7:00 - 8:00 a.m.

Click Here to Register Today!

Boyd Bailey has accepted our invitation to come to New Orleans to be our speaker for the 2009 Partners in Christ prayer breakfast!

Boyd is founder and Chairman of Wisdom Hunters, LLC and is the author of two devotional books, Infusion and Seeking Daily the Heart of God; Boyd is also founder of Ministry Ventures, a venture capital firm for early stage ministries which has helped 45 start-up ministries raise over $15.5 million and impact over 35,000 people for Christ. Prior to Ministry Ventures, Bailey was the National Director for Crown Financial Ministries. He was instrumental in the expansion of Crown into 30 major markets across the U.S. He was a key facilitator in the 25 million dollar merger between Christian Financial Concepts and Crown Ministries. Before Crown he and Andy Stanley started First Baptist Atlanta’s north campus; and as an Elder, Boyd assisted Andy in the start of North Point Community Church. In college he bought a service business with five employees. This business endeavor financed his education and the equity from its sale was the economic launching pad for his graduate school experience.

Boyd Bailey was born in Huntsville, Alabama and received his Bachelor of Arts from Jacksonville State University and his Masters of Divinity from Southwestern Seminary in FT. Worth, Texas. Boyd and his wife Rita live in Roswell, GA. They have been married 30 years and are blessed with four daughters and two son-in-laws who love Jesus!

Again this year we will be providing all attendees a free book, Boyd’s Infusion devotional.

We also will be having prayer time on Mon, Tues, Thur and Fri mornings at 6:30 AM. It will be held at the Residence Inn New Orleans Convention Center at 345 St. Joseph Street. Exact room location will be in the daily update where we will count down the days to WPC and the Partners in Christ breakfast. If you won’t be in New Orleans, or aren’t in the technology business, we ask you join us in praying for our industry and the marketplace ministry we are working to establish. We need God’s touch to make things happen for His glory and honor and praise. Hope to see many of you in NOLA.

Questions? Contact mailto:info@partnersinchrist.net?subject=Partners

Happy Monday! Don't you just hate that??? How often do you really have a "happy Monday?"

I suppose that there is really no reason why I can't. I just usually don't. I won't get into that... It's just how the words appeared on the screen...

What I really wanted to focus on was Father's day? Was that happy for you? Mine was a good day! The Bahl family happens to be at the Bahl home... in Ohio. My family is spending a mini-vacation at my parent's house. My daughter is spending this week at a gymnastics camp hosted by Kent State University. Which incidentally is coached by a high school friend of mine.

Anyway, we slept in yesterday and attended the church service at North-Mar Churh. One of their missionary's was home from Jordan and preached an outstanding message centered on Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch from Acts 8. I just check and the message isn't posted yet, but when it is, I'll post a link. I would definitely recommend listening to how he tied the Biblical teaching to action in today's world.

After church, we grabbed a bite to eat and then when out to tour a project that my dad has been working on with the Army Corp of Engineers. The whole family enjoyed a very beautiful day at the lake.

What would the first day of summer be without a BBQ? We had grilled hamburgers and sweet corn. Very good indeed!

I have to share with you one gift that my father received. From my brother, his middle child, he received the gift of Sobriety. Darran's card to my dad contained his "30-day" coin from AA. After 22 years of alcohol addiction, he is well on his way to recovery, and for that we are all celebrating!

Living Bible

It's been nearly a month since I have posted. I guess that I am having a bit of a dry spell. To tell the truth, I have been feeling a bit "disconnected." Arlin had this story posted in his email this morning. For those of you not on the list, I think that you will enjoy this.

His name is Bill. He has wild hair, wears a T-shirt with holes in it, jeans, and no shoes. This was literally his wardrobe for his entire four years of college. He is brilliant. Kind of profound and very, very bright. He became a Christian while attending college. Across the street from the campus is a well-dressed, very conservative church. They want to develop a ministry to the students but are not sure how to go about it.

One day Bill decides to go there. He walks in with no shoes, jeans, his T-shirt, and wild hair. The service has already started and so Bill starts down the aisle looking for a seat. The church is completely packed and he can't find a seat. By now, people are really looking a bit uncomfortable, but no one says anything. Bill gets closer and closer and closer to the pulpit, and when he realizes there are no seats, he just squats down right on the carpet. By now the people are really uptight, and the tension in the air is thick.

About this time, the minister realizes that from way at the back of the church, a deacon is slowly making his way toward Bill. Now the deacon is in his eighties, has silver-gray hair, and a three-piece suit. A godly man, very elegant, very dignified, very courtly. He walks with a cane and, as he starts walking toward this Boy, everyone is saying to themselves that you can't blame him for what he's going to do. How can you expect a man of his age and of his background to understand some college kid on the floor? It takes a long time for the man to reach the boy. The church is utterly silent except for the clicking of the man's cane. All eyes are focused on him. You can't even hear anyone breathing.

The minister can't even preach the sermon until the deacon does what he has to do. And now they see this elderly man drop his cane on the floor. With great difficulty, he lowers himself and sits down next to Bill and worships with him so he won't be alone. Everyone chokes up with emotion. When the minister gains control, he says, 'What I'm About to preach, you will never remember. What you have just seen, you will never forget.'

'Be careful how you live. You may be the only Bible some people will ever read!'

The Classroom

Back in September of 2005, on the first day of school, Martha Cothren, a social studies school teacher at Robinson High School in Little Rock , did something not to be forgotten. On the first day of school, with the permission of the school superintendent, the principal and the building supervisor, she removed all of the desks out of her classroom.

When the first period kids entered the room they discovered thatthere were no desks. 'Ms. Cothren, where're our desks?'

She replied, 'You can't have a desk until you tell me how you earnthe right to sit at a desk.

'They thought, 'Well, maybe it's our grades.

''No,' she said.'Maybe it's our behavior.

'She told them, 'No, it's not even your behavior..

'And so, they came and went, the first period, second period, third period. Still no desks in the classroom.

By early afternoon television news crews had started gathering in Ms.Cothren's classroom to report about this crazy teacher who had taken all the desks out of her room.

The final period of the day came and as the puzzled students found seats on the floor of the deskless classroom, Martha Cothren said, 'Throughout the day no one has been able to tell me just what he/she has done to earn the right to sit at the desks that are ordinarily found in this classroom. Now I am going to tell you.

'At this point, Martha Cothren went over to the door of her classroom and opened it.

Twenty-seven (27) U.S. Veterans, all in uniforms, walked into that classroom, each one carrying a school desk. The Vets began placing the school desks in rows, and then they would walk over and stand along side the wall. By the time the last soldier had set the final desk in place those kids started to understand, perhaps for the first time in their lives, just how the right to sit at those desks had been earned.

Martha said, 'You didn't earn the right to sit at these desks. These heroes did it for you. They placed the desks here for you. Now, it's up to you to sit in them. It is your responsibility to learn, to be good students, to be good citizens. They paid the price so that you could have the freedom to get an education. Don't ever forget it.'

http://www.snopes.com/glurge/nodesks.asp
http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/s/school-desks.htm
http://huckabee.wordpress.com/2007/11/10/mike-huckabee-the-martha-cothren-lesson-on-the-price-of-freedom/

Welcome back...to a Friend

This week must be "Friend Week..." This post deals more with a "change" than a "welcome back." It would seem that one of by very good friends, as a matter of fact, my FAVORITE Canadian friend, Stuart Crawford had to make some changes to his blog hosting. He has asked me to update my link to his blog on this site. Which I have done. If you haven't visited Stuarts blog, I would highly encourage you to do so, by clicking on the link in the NAV bar on the right.

For those of you that don't know Stuart, he is one of the nicest people you could meet. If you work in the SMB Tech space, is is one of the BEST people you could meet. He is very active in the SMB Tech space and is a key contributor on so many levels. He is a prolific blogger, a published author, a gifted speaker and just a genuinely nice guy.

Want to know the thing I like best about Stuart? He has a powerful testimony that he shares openly. Stuart has learned to become very transparent in his faith. He is unashamed of his relationship with God and his dependence upon Grace through Jesus.

Stuart hosts a weekly Blogtalk Radio segment. The following link is to a segment he did late last year on Faith in the Workplace. I was a guest as well as several of my fellow HTG peers.