Saturday, December 30, 2006

Since our last blog...

* we have been to Gvegas and back two times celebrating the holidays with the family.
* we opened all our Christmas presents!
* we grieved the loss of James Brown.
* we grieved the loss of our 38th President-Gerald Ford.
* we grieved the loss of the Clemson Tigers in the Music "Crap" Bowl!
* we did not grieve the loss of Saddam Hussein.
* Betsy has been sworn in (not at) and is an official lawyer in Georgia.
* Walt has been cleaning people's junk up for the new "simplify" series at church.
* we finally printed ALL of our digital pictures and made some new albums.
* Betsy is now studying for the South Carolina bar.
* we have watched: Monster House, Little Miss Sunshine, Season 4 of 24, and The Lake House - thanks to Netflixs.
* we have taken down our Christmas Tree.
* Walt has started working out again.
* Betsy still works out and can kick Walt's butt.
* Betsy has learned how to put songs on an ipod!
* we have gone to Columbia Museum of Art to see a Frank Lloyd Wright exhibit. For those who don't know, he was an architiect..and Betsy asked - yes he is dead!

And that's it. This will be the last blog till 2007. See ya next year in the funny papers.

Monday, December 11, 2006

Christmas Picture



It took all morning, 30 pictures, but we er' done! Email em' to TARGET and BOOM you got Christmas cards in an hour. MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE TANNERS.

Made: episode four



Here is the final video of the Jim Bob Cooter made story. This was a great series. Special thanks to Landon Jones who played Cooter. And a huge thank you to Lance Jones who played Thomas Fitzgarld the III (coach). We can't forget the Element Production Staff (camera, editing, director, lighting, key grip, and donuts)....Walt Tanner.

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Made: episode three



Sorry for the late post. Was a busy week in Charlotte!
Enjoy.

Monday, December 04, 2006

Youth Specialties 06'

WOW! what a great three days. as our current conference guru at TNC (Mike Fielder) will tell you CONFERENCES will pump you up. this year for me wasn't so much the "speakers" it was more the atmosphere and opening up the gates of ideas for ministry. for me the best thing about the weekend for my soul was to laugh! youth specialties does a great job of bringing in CLEAN and FUNNY comedians and acts. i have not laughed so hard in years! to me laughter is a what keeps your heart young. i love to laugh, and every once in a while make others laugh, esp. Chuck! besty made me laugh so hard at the weirdest restaurant ever, that I spit my drink out across the table onto Betsy. the music was amazing as well - Starfield rocks! They did a great job both with ENERGY and WORSHIP. WOW.

Ok simple break down of speakers, bands, breakouts...limited to a few words. no one is interested in seeing my whole NOTEBOOK of notes:

SPEAKERS:
Kenda Creasy Dean (professor at Princeton)
excellent communicator, main point: listen to the students- guide the students. got a lot out of her message.
Tony Campolo (author, professor in Philly)
don't agree with Tony on lots of stuff, amazing heart, ok talk.
Phillip Yancy (author)
alright talk, didn't get much from ol' Phillip. great writer.
Chris Hill (from the Potter's House - TD JAKES CHURCH)
WOW...what energy. He is a black preacher and brought the word with amazing passion. Student Pastor with with thousands of students in urban context. great message of not being the light, but point others towards THE LIGHT (Christ).
Phil Vischer (creator of Veggie Tales -voices of most)
talked about rise and fall of Big Ideas (went bankrupt three years ago.) both bets and i did not agree with his message: wait on God until you have no dreams or ambitions. then God will tell you. as a fan of erwin mcmanus - and God - they both say GO! i believe God gave us dreams, passions, and ambition. yes we need to place those on the altar and never place them before God. sure God my allow your dream or passion to fail - but it may mean He wants you to move on to something else...not that your dream or passion was bad. Use our gifts to reach the world! Don't wait for an email, txt message or letter - our Father is the great designer. he builds us with a dna to go and change the world!
(sorry got a little caught up in that one.)
Ray Vander Lann (high school teacher, college/seminary professor, jewish scholar)
amazing lesson on being a disciple. thoughs who don't like to learn, might not agree. he is a teacher. this got me VERY VERY pumped about heading on a trip with him as the "Rabbi."

Stay tuned for breakouts and music (this entry had been WAY LONG!)

Friday, December 01, 2006

Thoughts from Charlotte

Right now I am up in Charlotte at a youth conference (Youth Specialities). I have spent 24 hours up here in Char-Town. I have found that I am a big fan of Charlotte. The relationship between Charlotte and Atlanta, is a lot like NYC and Chicago. To me Atlanta is like New York...older. dirtier. faster. not as pleasant. Charlotte is more like Chicago... newer. cleaner. pleasant atmosphere.
All that said. Have enjoyed the down time of just walking around downtown Charlotte. Interesting architecture. Nice atmosphere. Very cool town. And if I had a dollar for every guy I saw today with a blue button down with khakis I could have paid for my conference.

Other thoughts:
*Kenda Creasy Dean (Princeton professor) has got some crazy stats.

*It is official I am old. I can't hear the mosquito frequency (if you don't know- a frequency has been found that only teenagers can hear...been created into a ring tone.)

*Student Pastor are an interesting bunch! There is SO MUCH diversity.

*I LOVE FREE STUFF - they have over 250 vendors. from tshirts to mission trips. from websites to seminaries. and they all are giving stuff away. tons of drawings for XBOX 360s and NANOs. We are suckers for free stuff.

*I have got to get back into the arts. I miss architecture, creative thinking, making things, challenging the process, expressions through mediums.

*Looking forward to more Starfield and Leeland - then hearing Elevenseventy tonight!