Archive for the 'Blog stuff' Category

Friday Blogroll Love

I can’t believe it’s Friday already. Holy cow. Only one post this week. Unacceptable.

To remedy that, I’m going to show some love to the peeps on my blogroll, sharing just why I’m allowing their blog to sit on my sidebar, awaiting to be clicked.

  • Alan Gable — Alan is an accountant, but you’d never guess it from his writing. He is funny, charming and has some incredible insights into life.
  • Anne Jackson — Anne’s blog is one of my favorites on the world wide intraweb. Her honesty is amazing and the community she’s established on her blog is awesome.
  • Becky Tschamler — I’m not sure how Becky stumbled onto my blog, but I’m glad she did. I enjoy stopping by her blog for her unique outlook on life.
  • Blending Worship— I’m not a worship leader, but I play one in my imagination. That’s why Blending Worship is so fun to read. I love reading what other churches are doing with their worship times.
  • Brent Logan — Brent has helped me with my blog on numerous occasions. If you have a CSS question, he’s your man.
  • Brianna Brown — I know Brianna, but I didn’t know she was such a writer. I love the voice she uses on her blog.
  • Brody Harper — Brody accompanied Shaun Groves when he came to Wichita. That’s actually Brody’s job. It’s tough, I know. He is currently touring with Phil Wickam and David Crowder. It’s fun to read about the exploits from the road.
  • Chad Joice — Chad is responsible for my wife and my being married; he was Hayley’s recruitment officer at Harding. We had some good times on the road during summer tour ‘02, and it’s fun to see how he’s “grown up” now.
  • Chelsea Roberson — Chelsea is an incredibly gifted photographer and writer. She’s currently in Greece (hence the blog name, I suppose) and it’s fun to read about what she’s up to.
  • Cliff Bragg — Well, this sucker hasn’t updated his blog in about 3 months, but what’s there is good stuff. Go check it out.
  • Jim Miller — Jim is an awesome guy and incredible writer. Aside from a poor taste in college football and MLB team, his blog is a treat to read.
  • Joe Biles — Joe is too smart for me. I just like having his blog on my sidebar so when people click it they’ll think I’m smart too. And I like him.
  • Jon Acuff — Jon politely contacted me about linking to my blog through his. Never one to turn down free publicity, I agreed immediately. I then went to his site and asked to reciprocate. His writing is hilarious and his creative metaphors and stories are awesome.
  • Jonathan Reinhardt — Another guy who is too smart for me. And another guy who updates too infrequently. Brilliant writer and great thinker.
  • Kim Bontrager — Kim is one of my local friends. I love reading about her family and what’s going on in her world.
  • Krysta Rinke — Krysta is one of my local friends who moved to California. It’s fun reading about what she’s experiencing in Cali.
  • Lone Prairie — Julie is hilarious. And she’s talented. Make haste to her blog.
  • Mark Elrod — I still feel weird having “Mark Elrod” on my blog. Number one, I know him as Dr. Elrod, and number two he’s a raging liberal. While he’s largely wrong on a number of issues, he has a good sense of humor and inspires some interesting dialog with his posts. (NOTE: I intended the “wrong” comment to be funny, not antagonistic. ME hasn’t commented, nor do I think he’d be bothered by it, but I just wanted to clear it up - my conscious gets ridiculous sometimes.)
  • Patches of Godlight — This is the newest blog on my roll. Brooklynne is Sam’s girlfriend, but her blog stands on its own merits.
  • Ragamuffin Soul — Carlos is an incredible blogger. I’m not really sure why, because he mostly posts about incredibly random stuff, but I suppose it’s because he does it with humor, transparency and humility. I had the pleasure of meeting Los at Catalyst, and hopefully he’ll post the picture proof.
  • Sam Peters — Sam and I were in a drama group together. We spent around 10 weeks in a van together. How could I NOT put him in my blogroll? Oh, and I like reading what he writes.
  • Sean Meade — Sean is the founder of Stuck in the Middle, an awesome ministry designed specifically for middle school students. I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know him over the past several months and it’s been great. Sean’s blog is an interesting mix of pop culture, ministry insights and Heineken ads.
  • Secret Life of Kat — Kat is the creator of the 40 Day Fast and Inspired to Action.com. She’s got some great ideas about how to move people to action using the blogosphere.
  • Shaun Groves — If you’ve been reading my blog for anytime at all, you know that I’m pretty huge fan of Shaun Groves. He’s my “most-linked” blog, as I’ve been inspired for several of my posts thanks to him. He also gave The Creel Institute kudos, which is schweet.
  • Stoned-Campbell Disciple — Number one, I think this blog name is awesome. Number two, Bobby is brilliant. His posts are a little to long for me, but when I take the time to digest them, I’m always satisfied.
  • Technopraxis™ — Kirk is another of my local blog buddies. Though he hasn’t updated lately either, he’s got a sharp wit and keen insight into marketing and church technology.
  • The Storments — I’m just honored that Jonathan Storment linked to me first. Jonathan is doing some amazing work at Richland Hills and I can’t wait to see what God is doing with him.
  • Vince @ nikao — Vince is another blogger who just stumbled across my blog and commented one day. I visited his blog and knew that I needed a Cali pastor to round out my blogroll. And I liked what I read.

So that’s it. Take some time and visit these peeps. It will be worth your while.

Have a good weekend.
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Favorite Google Search Ever

Thanks to Anne, I’m checking my blogstats for the search results that bring people to my page. Typically they’re pretty boring - largely along the lines of “The Todd,” “todd” and “Todd Blog.” Sometimes I’ll have some surprising results (”voice of Krysta Rinke” comes to mind) and today is such a day.

Somebody accessed my blog by searching for “about to get my Todd on.” What does that even mean? If you’re the individual who found my blog this way, can you please explain it to me? If you’re not that person, go ahead and take a shot too - just keep it clean please.
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Friday Randomness

It’s Friday. It’s been a crazy week. I’m not blogging as frequently as I should. Thus, a random post.

  • May I make two TV show recommendations? Chuck and Pushing Daisies. Both are great new shows. Both feature charming lead characters and enjoyable plots. Of the two, Daisies is my favorite. It has an irresistible charm to it. Despite the bizarre and depressing nature of the subject matter, it manages to be light-hearted and ridiculously sweet. Don’t miss either.
  • I don’t want to dedicate a whole post to this because it is too polarizing, but the Rush Limbaugh vs. Harry Reid letter feud fascinates me. The fact that the government is trying to punish a private citizen by mischaracterizing his statements (yes, they did) terrifies me. The fact that two of those who signed the letter are the front-runners for the Democratic ticket terrifies me. The fact that Rush is selling the letter on eBay thrills me. That is all I’ve got to say about that. (Unless I am provoked in the comments section.)
    • EDIT: Check out this video from Harry Reid. My personal favorite quote: “I strongly believe that when we can put our differences aside, even Harry Reid and Rush Limbaugh, we should do that and try to accomplish good things for the American people, and this does that.” How exactly did they “put differences aside?” Reid had absolutely NOTHING to do with this auction. He was trying to smear Rush. And now he’s taking credit for Limbaugh’s auction idea. Disgusting.
  • Want to do good AND drink delicious coffee? Check out Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee. If your church serves java, you should definitely check out the website as they have packages specifically designed with churches in mind.
  • Are you linking to my blog and I’m not returning the favor? Let’s remedy that. Leave your blog and a link and we’ll get you set up posthaste.
  • I’m not much of a baseball fan, but I’ve got to say I’m pretty pumped about the Rockies being in the World Series. I’m predicting it will be an Indians/Rockies World Series with the Rockies winning in five.
  • I’m not a worship leader, but if I were, this would be my setlist:
    • To Build a Home – Cinematic Orchestra (played as people were filing in to find a seat)
    • I Stand Amazed – North Point Live version
    • Jesus Paid it All – North Point Live version
    • Mighty to Save – Hillsong United
    • Inside Out – Hillsong United
    • Saviour King – Hillsong United (played during communion – a very long communion)
    • In Christ Alone – Stuart Townend

Well that’s it. Have an awesome weekend. If none of the above thoughts inspire a comment, why not tell everybody what your weekend plans are – unless of course said plans require you to leave your house empty or your spouse alone, in which case, you should probably make something up.

Have fun.

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NOTE: I have no ambition/gifts to actually become a worship leader. I don’t play an instrument, I don’t sing very well, my worship sets would all be more than 45 minutes and I get fixated on worship songs for months at a time. However, if your church is looking for a part-time worship planner, I’m your guy. I’ll tell you what songs to lead and in what order, pick out appropriate contemplative worship background slides and argue about why my choices are the right ones and you hired me to do this job, so you’d better trust me. If interested in hiring THAT type of position, feel free to contact me.

Hold onto your butts…

I’ll get to the “Why go to worship?” series shortly, but in the meantime, I’ll be upgrading to the new version of Wordpress soon. No worries, I’ve made backups AND read up on how to restore those backups. However, I have a history rife with blog-failure and total deletion is not outside the realm of possibility.

I don’t know if prayers are appropriate, but if you feel they are, feel free to offer one or two up for me.

See you soon.
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Power to the People

Per your suggestions in the last post:

High School Musical 2 Dance Schematics:

Dance!Dance!

Also, Disney is airing a special “Dance Along” version on Sept. 8 with 11 minutes of unaired footage and special, step-by-step instructions with Zac, Vanessa and friends. Find out more at the official website.

Wrestling links: Here. Here. And Here.

For Sean:

Bring it on people. Bring. It. On.

Have a good Friday and Labor Day weekend. Speaking of which, what are your Labor Day plans?
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What’s old is new again

As you can likely tell, I’ve gone back to the old Todd Blog look. I liked the other theme as it was very clean, but it lacked that certain Toddness that I feel this theme captures.

I’m working on some new headers and trying to figure out how to make the sidebars a little cleaner, so expect some minor alts over the course of the next few days.

What would you like to see on the ToddBlog?
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