winter jam09

January 24, 2009
Veterans Memorial Auditorium
Des Moines, IA - TIME: 6:00 PM

Line Up:

tobyMac, BarlowGirl, The Afters, NewSong,

Francesca Battistelli, pureNRG, Stephanie Smith,

& Guest Speaker Tony Nolan

Welcomed by:

www.891thespirit.com/

For more information call 515.564.8000

or go to winter jam09

An Introduction to Social Media

Pete Cashmore's first paragraph sums it up the best: "the best how-tos for achieving more with social media tools: everything from Google products to blogging to online video to productivity and beyond. Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon, Friendfeed, and Delicious all got the How-To treatment." Check out the rest: HOW TO 2008: How To Do Almost Anything With Social Media.

ht to Terrace Crawford for Twittering (http://twitter.com/terracecrawford) about it. Join us on Twitter!

Because of Him ~ Terry
http://twitter.com/terryvw

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

From our family to you and yours we pray that you had a
very Merry Christmas and that you have a blessed New Year!

'sexting' - Whose doing it & what are the consequences?

Remember when the saying was "It's 10 PM, do you know where you child is?" Laura Berman begins her article Teens unaware of long-term repercussions of 'sexting' :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Lifestyles "It's 10 p.m. Do you know who your teenager is texting? And, more importantly, do you know what your child is texting?"

The article says that teens know there will be long lasting consequences, yet they continue to participate in the activity. "The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful, a puzzle that no one can figure out." (Jeremiah 17:9 MSG) It is the same for all of us. We know something is sinful, yet we continue to do it. Is there any way to beat it? Why not just quit? We quit things all the time, its not that hard to do.

It is almost like they have convinced themselves that its ok to do it. Their celebrity idols get away with what they see as things that are much worse. What they do not get is that they live in a different world than the celebrities do. Future employers who are increasingly using the Internet and especially social networking sites to help in the hiring process are not likely to hire someone who has inappropriate pictures or writings posted on the Internet.

Worse yet is the reality that the comments for the article point out. Teens who are 'sexting' are making and distributing child pornography, the reprecussions of which go well beyond a future employer. It could carry with it jail time.

Parents, not only should you know where your kids are, but you need to know what they are doing.

Because of Him ~ Terry

A Christmas Wish

Whether you like Santa or not, the joy this little 3 year old girl shows is likely the same joy God gets everytime one of His lost children comes back to Him. ht to Patti Gibbons for bring this clip to my attention. Because of Him ~ Terry