I am not ashamed!

I found this video on Ed Stezter's blog. This is a great truth from someone who doesn't know the truth. His insight and honesty are hugely refreshing and challenging.

Don't miss this Weekend!

This is going to be an off the chain Sunday at FRC Doral. Here's just a few things that are gonna happen...

Bounce house for the kidos

Live band and DJ

Free Food  & drinks

Hot Coco and Christmas cookies

Santa

Face painting

Guitar hero and...

Pastor Troy LIVE!!! That's right, our very own Pastor Troy will be teaching LIVE at FRC Doral this Sunday at 12:30. We'll have all the festivities begin at 11. Bring the whole family. Don't miss it!

Gotta watch...

I jacked this from Heredes' blog. This will totally put you in the mood for Christmas!

Get captured by the Revolution

Our family is totally loving the Giftrevolution.com Here's some pics of Brit and the crew. It has enabled us as a church to reach people that we normally wouldn't have had contact. Here's 4 examples:
1. We had a 1 hour and 15 min Student Rally at Ronald Reagan high school(where our Doral campus meets) during regular school hours with over 500 seniors!
2. Our Doral Student ministry purchased(with there own money!) a bunch of Publix gift cards and handed them out at Publix and helped carry out groceries and gather up carts!
3. Brit organized, with the Principal, a hot chocolate give away day at her high school, Cypress Bay(which is the 2nd largest HS in FL!) and gave away a ton of Hot chocolate and giftrev cards.
4. Our family has bought coffees, meals, groceries,christmas trees, given away purses,clothing etc. It has truly revolutionized the way we view Christmas!

Pastor Troy on Channel 6!

You got to tune in this Saturday from 9am-10am and watch Pastor Troy talk about the Gift Revolution! The Revolution is taking ground!.

This is how you begin a Revolution!

Inspire the World in 25 days!

We have begun the Revolution! This has been an amazing weekend, but the best is yet to come! Saturday night was one of the most memorable times in FRC history. God showed up in an extraordinary way. It really did feel like the launch of a movement! if you haven't already gone to the Giftrev sight please stop by now. You CAN inspire the world! Join us. 

Here we gooooo!

Get ready for our ____ __________ series!
Don't miss this Weekend! from Flamingo Road Church on Vimeo.

IT Book study

We're having all these crazy Book studies to get ready for the series that cannot be named! There are 4 at FRC Doral. Email me to get the details!

Cool Memories

Sharon, Jenna and i went to the Sawgraass mall last Fri night to buy a dress for a sweet 16 bday party that Jenna was going to. After we found the dress in less than an hour(this is a HUGE deal!) we deceided to eat dinner at Rainforrest cafe. Now this is a place of memories where we used to take the gurls when they were much younger(about 9-10 years ago). Expectations were low but i gotta tell you, even though the food wasn't great retelling some of the stories meant so much. Jen remembered the bag o stones she used to get and the Lady tree that used to freek her out, and still does! Just some cool moments, that will, themselves, become memories. What are some cool memories you have?

Random Sayings

These are some random sayings that are in my head right now.

Deal with the negative dwell on the positive

People do what you inspect not what you expect

The deep things of God are discovered through how we live everyday

Everyone's replaceable

You matter to God

The opposite of Ethos

Here's a post from my Pastor. This is great perspective. It's a very cool formula for keeping things fresh. Check it out:

In Romans 12:9, Paul exhorts us to hate what is evil. Here, at Potential, I've talked a lot about Flamingo's Ethos (values). As it pertains to "hating what is evil," I thought how we need to hate the opposites of our Ethos as much as we embrace the Ethos, themselves:

Love potential; hate actual

Love thinking; hate laziness

Love movement; hate dormancy

Love environment; hate apathy

Love collaboration; hate disloyalty

Love diveristy; hate segregation

Video Game, part deux

Here's the current "video" game i play. Anything you're hooked on? This can get addicting! 

Are you gonna vote?

In our series making life work, this weekend our very own Pastor Troy Gramling will be talking about Making your vote work at all of our campuses. Don't miss this one!

Video Games

I've always loved video games. I was in junior high and high school between 1977 to 1982! Yes, the quintessential time for the Genesis of the video game era. There were many times I would go to Gran Prix off Stirling and 95 and would bring 2 dollars, yes 2 dollars for the whole 2 1/2 hours of playing. You can say I owned PacMan, Galaga, Miss Pacman and, my fav, Donkey Kong! I owned a Donkey Kong machine and had it in my house for 4 years. I have a pic of Lauren, when she was 2, playing it! So what's your fav?

Parenting tips

Ok, so Heather wanted me to list the top 5 parenting tips that Sharon and I have used these past 1??!#? years of parenting. I'll list 4. You put in  #5.

1. ALWAYS be on the same page with your spouse

2. Give freedom as they earn your trust.

3. If. No. When you make a mistake tell them you're sorry.

4. Tell your kids you love them everyday!

5. Your turn

Just do it!

Get a behind the scenes look at FRC and why we do what we do. Get a glimpse behind the watch and see how the GEARS work.

Wanna be great?

thoughts?

This weekend!

Don't miss the opp to tell your friends about THIS weekend and don't you miss the opp to grow in your relationship.

Making Marriage Work - The Fall from Flamingo Road Church

Brit's 18!

They said it couldn't be done.This is one of those things that is near miracle status. It's almost as crazy as cats and dogs living together, mass hesteria...! Out Britty is 18! AHHHH! So i was pulling up from a great day at FRC when Brit pulls up behind me with all this stuff and proclaims, with enthusiasm, "it's my birthday!" That about says it all for our middle girl. We are so proud of you and what you've accomplished and who you're becoming. Conitnue to humble yourself before the Lord and, always, give Him your best. Love you Darlin.

Friend Day...this weekend!

Don't miss the opp. to invite your friends and anybody else you run into! 

Strange facts about me

1. i make sure all the screws are lined up vertically on all light switches and electrical plugs in my house

2. i like shopping with my wife

3. i love my dog

4. my clothes are color coordinated in my closet(this is from my Mom!)

5. i like to number things!

Alright, your turn...

New series

This is our new series.

We baptised 150 people today.

Our new total for the year is 1069.

First time FRC has broken the 1 k mark.

In 1989 we baptised 30 people.

That's the year i came.

It's an awesome thing to see God work.

Axioms

I love axioms. Here's the definition:An established principle in some art or science that is universally received. One of my all time favorites that I was sharing after my workout with some friends at Starbucks sipping my Venti agua con hielo(ice water) is...drum roll...Deal with the negative and dwell on the positive. A lot of times we get this reversed, deal with the positive and dwell on the negative. We already live in a very negative society and I would imagine God knows this. That's why He's given us these words:Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise(Philippians 4:8). What's one positive thing you like to DWELL on.

Our Gurls leading worship

This is Brit leading in worship at our Lima campus. That same day Lauren helped lead at our Cooper city campus and Jenna helped lead in our Cooper city student campus. Go Gurls! Check out Gar's blog for more on the Lima trip.

Happy birthday Ray?

Ok, so here's the deal:

Ray(bro in law) was in town on mon.

It's his bday today.

We decide to throw him an early bday party.

Janis(his sis in law) decides to throw his cake!!!

it was an accident(hmmm?!?)

This is wild!

This or Classic rock!

There's still time-don't miss it!

You can still sign up today for one of the greatest leadership conferences out there. Do it now!

A lesson in marketing

I found this on Tim Steven's blog. It's shear marketing genius-props to Office Max. It's hilarious!

Brit's Peru trip

This is a really cool post about our middle daughter Brittany. She went to our Lima, Peru campus and this post captures the essence of her trip. Rock strong!

F3=flamingo film festival

This is the first annual F3. It was a really cool night to see who and what our video team is. Heredes leads this team. They produce professional videos every week with very little time and they do it with a great spirit. They really understand why they do what they do. Thanks so much for honoring God with the gifts He's given you. He is using them for His eternal purposes! Rock strong.

Leadership Summit line-up

click here for more info!

A cool leadership lesson

I wanted to share a quick leadership lesson that I got to share with our Worship Pastors today. Here it is: Let's show people value when we meet with them by:

1. making eye contact: it lets people know you're listening

2. not taking calls: nothing says you don't matter if you take a call(emergencies excluded)

3. not appearing rushed: people won't completely share if they sense this from you

4. closing the computer: enough said

5. telling the truth in love: care enough to confront

Is it worth it?

Last night I watched Batman begins with Sharon lee and my oldest girl. It was great. I know I'm 3 years behind but I was told I had to watch this before we saw the new one. So let me know...is The Dark night worth it???

2008 Leadership Summit

This is one of the great leadership conferences out there and this year we're one of the hosts. You can register here. Bring your team, family, co-workers to hear from some of the great leaders of our day and learn how to reach your potential.

Movie Favs

Since it's summer here's a list of some of my all time Movie favs and some classic quotes:

Airplane-i can make a broach, a hat, a terradactyl. 

Saving Private Ryan-I hope that, at least in your eyes, I've earned what all of you have done for me. 

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off-Oh, Ed. You just sounded like Dirty Harry just then.

Tommy Boy-Went a little heavy on the pine tree perfume there, kid? 

Trilogy-(Waiting for Gaufman, Mighty wind, Best in Show)-No, that's a bear in a, in a bee costume.

Caddyshack-a cinderella story out a nowhere
Monty Python and the Holy grail-Run away!, What is your favorite color?
Amadeus-Mozart: Is it not good? Salieri: It is miraculous. 

Moonraker-Bond, James Bond...says it all!

Napoleon Dynamite-Pedro offers you his protection. Lucky. Napoleon, don't be jealous that i've been chatting online with babes all day. Besides, we both know that I'm training to be a cage fighter.

Hope you enjoyed-Rock strong!

Congrats Mom & Dad!

As i mentioned in my previous post, it's my Mom and Dad's 50th wedding anniversary. Check it out here.

My Baby!

I love my wife! She loooves to read on the porch. She really is the person on this planet that I would choose, over anybody, to spend time with. It really is difficult for us to spend too much time together. I know...sappy, sappy! This is my honey on the porch of a beautiful beach house reading Trial by Fire by Terri Blackstock(thanks Heather). We're here because it's my parents 50th! Congrats Mom and Dad. Where do you like to read?

It was the Cat's fault!

I jacked this from Pastor Brian's blog. So are you a Cat or a Dog person?

FRC's future?

So is this a glimpse of the future for FRC multi-sites??? This is the first real time 3D holographic telepresence presentation from Cisco and Munision systems. One was physically in India, at the meeting, and the other was in California! For more info check out Telepresence options.

The Blonde Antelope

I jacked this off of my Mom's blog!

A special place to pray

This is one of those special places for me to pray. It's our Auditorium at Cooper city. I'll specifically ask God to touch the lives of the people that will occupy these chairs. I'll ask Him to move them(and me) closer to Himself through baptism, prayer, Bible study, small group, salvation. Whatever it takes for Him to get our attention. What's one of your special places?

Enjoying the Summer at FRC!

This is a cool pic from our current series Moods. I love the fact that we work so hard on connecting with people with Christ from the outside world by doing insane sets like this! My baby Sharon, Priscilla, Scott, Peter and Yoel are mostly responsible for this awesome set. Another cool side note is that's our very own Brittany Marie leading in worship! Rock strong Britty bug.

A wknd with Pastor Troy

So i jacked this video from my Pastor's blog. The camera follows him around the whooole weekend! Enjoy.

It's worth the read

I'm reading the book Pop goes the church by Tim Stevens. It's well written and has great insight into the reality of what the Church needs to do and be in order to leverage the existing culture to reach the world. I'm so glad I'm at a place that is making a righteous effort to make this happen. Rock strong!

Cool article

We were fortunate to be featured in the Wall street journal today. They spent a little time with us here in Cooper city and they actually traveled to our Lima Campus. Pretty sweet! Check out the article here...
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121331198629268975.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Look at those lights!

This is from one of our past concerts. It was a memorable night! A touring company allowed us to use their light curtain that priced out at about 200k. We had a blast for those 3 weeks! This weekend we continue our series Moods...Keep on Truckin. A man, who attends FRC, has graciously allowed us to use some "additional" lighting for the summer. It's worth over a half a million dollars! Wait til you see the lights THIS weekend!

You'd never guess!

This is a disturbing sample of what happens backstage each wknd at FRC. Especially when we're doing a series based upon the 70's. Yes, Heather attended Saturday night worship dressed as Foxy Brown, i mean White!

Sooooo proud of my baby girl!

It's not a great pic.
Can't even make out the faces, but...
the all blonde one is Jenna(Diaz is the partly blonde one!).
This is taken in the back of our Cooper city student Aud...
with my Dash
while i was catching a tear because...
my baby girl was leading worship!

Moods is coming!

Moods Promo from Flamingo Road Church on Vimeo.">
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This is our new series for the next 5 weeks. I love the pic of the pants. Tell me your favortie part!

O what a night!

Hi guys. Well FRC had an awesome beach baptism at Hollywood beach and we baptised 209 people(after Easter 2008's baptism of 500 plus i didn't know if there was anybody left!). This was the first! Our team played a concert at the band shell which was seen by thousands. Pastor Marc did a great job with song selection and getting the band and tech at peak performance. Our own Brittany Marie sang Not gonna write you a love song by Sarah Borelli. Way to go Britty. It was a memorable night!

Linda's doing better!

Pastor Troy's Mom Linda is doing better after her brain surgery. He said her recovery is happening very quickly! Thank the Lord.

Keep praying

As many of you may know Pastor Troy's Mom Linda had Brain surgery on Tuesday. She's doing well now-Thank the Lord! For more info check out www.troyandsteph.com

1 of the books I'm reading

Branding faith is similar to Godin's All marketers are liars. Here's a good definition of branding: it's how we tell our story in a compelling way. The author, Phil Cooke says..."Throughout history, leaders and communicators have struggled against the various cultures in which they found themselves. In every case, anyone who attempted to present their message in a relevant way knew they had to recognize and understand the cultural framework of the time in order to be a more effective communicator." Veeeery true. We, as the church, have been waaaay past due to make the cultural connection with the society in which we live and we have created a subculture, of sorts, that is similar to the alternate 1985 in Back to the future 2-Ouch. Check out the book...it rocks!

i love our staff meetings(i really do!)

Staff Meeting from Troy Gramling on Vimeo.


p.s. i missed the shot:(

What's for breakfast?

Today Lauren, Andres and I made breakfast at home. When we were done I asked Andres what his favorite breakfast was growing up...he said fresh squeezed OJ with eggs and bacon. Lauren said "when Momma used to make us sugar toast." Mine was when my Dad made pancakes(Mom, i'm sure that's a rip off for all the breakfast's you made me-especially so close to Mother's day!!). Sharon's was when her Mom made animal and letter-shaped pancakes. It was a cool time together and we made a memory! Soooo what's your favorite breakfast growing up???

Well...the results are in

Our very own Brittany Marie made straight superiors at States today. Not one, not two, but ALL three judges gave her duet(other girl's name is Brittany!) all 1's. Now if you're a band, chorus, drama or other artsy nerd you know that's a BIG deal. No other entries, to date, have received this honor sooooo Brittany is up for the Kid of the year award! Way to go baby! You put the chicken in the oven and cooked it! Way to rock strong baby!

Sing, Sing, Sing!

"Oh, Sing to the LORD a new song! Sing to the LORD, all the earth. Sing to the LORD, bless His name." Psalm 96:1
Well, our Brittany Marie is at the Florida State vocal competition. She made a superior at the regionals so she's looking to score the same at States! Go Britty! We love you-Mom, Dad, Lauren, Jenna and Pedi! Tell me if you've ever been to a "State"competition.

Where does your dog sleep, the bed or the floor?

Keyboards!

Sorryfornotusingthespacekey,butourcomputerkeyboardisbroken.
Apparently,oneofthegirlsfriends(notthegirlsthemselves)accidently
spilledwateronit.Futurepostingsarepending
untilthepurchaseofanotherkeyboardrockstrong!

Beach baptism-Easter 2008!

Family update

Hi Guys. Here's what's happening with us:

Brit became the Children's director at our Hallandale beach campus!

Easter was insane(check previous posts for more details)

We had a bunch of kids over the house

Lauren and Andres celebrated their 3 month anniversary-whew hew!

The girls had fun during their spring break

We saw "Horton hears a who"

Brits car broke down and died

We bought a new car......for Sharon: the new Ford Edge.

We had a bunch of kids over the house(oh, i said that already!)

Sharon and i attended the funeral of Dr. E. G. Robertson(Garland's Dad). A very special man to me and Sharon. He was an awesome man of God.

Jenna brought the house down when she sang "Bring me to life"(Evanesence) in Student Worship this weekend

As i type this Jenna just walked in with a bunch of kids that have come over our house and we love it!

I love our video team!

Click on the ?. Nothin but high tech here folks! Check out He lives video as well from FRC Easter 2008!

Other cool Easter pics...(thanks Heather)