Tag: 2009

#thenines 2010

Leadership Network is planning a repeat of last year’s #thenines event.

The event takes place for nine hours on Sept. 9, and features nine-minute messages from folks around the “Christian sphere” geared towards other Christian leaders.

Last year, they did a great job of mixing up the conversation, and this year they’re hoping to do more of the same — but allowing others to submit and vote for their “favorites.”

I could probably be nit-picky and say I think it’s silly that we’re voting for our “favorite Christian speakers” but instead I chose to take advantage of the opportunity and nominate some folks I think deserve to (and should) be heard and I invite you to do the same.

I nominated Greg Russinger, Jay Bakker, Mark Horvath, Shaun Groves and Cornel West.

I also voted for Andrew Jones (Tall Skinny Kiwi), Mike Rusch, Charles Lee, Shane Claiborne, Skye Jethani and Brian McLaren.

And I’m tempted to add Trucker Frank to the mix as well — but I have a feeling he’d turn them down :-).

Who do you think the Christian community needs to hear from? What voices have been left out?

You can vote online at http://twtpick.in/4k and you’ll apparently need a Twitter account to vote and nominate.

For more, you can read some of my thoughts from last year’s event:

ALAN HIRSCH SHARES DURING #THENINES
NOTES FROM #THENINES
SKYE JETHANI :: WHERE DOES OUR LEGITIMACY COME FROM?
“OFFICIAL” NOTES FROM #THENINES
VIDEOS FROM #THENINES ONLINE

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BTW… Everett Bogue’s new book, Minimalist Business, is now available. If you’re interested at all in building a business online, either full-time or part-time — it’ll be worth it to you to grab a copy. And if you buy it within the first 24-hours (before 10 a.m. PST, Wednesday morning) you’ll save some cash as well with his special “early bird pricing.” Get your copy here.

You can also read some of Everett’s other work, How to Create a Movement (FREE), The Art of Being Minimalist or his blog: farbeyondthestars.com

Texas foster care statistics for 2009

In 2009, there were 27,422 children in foster care in the state of Texas.

Of those numbers, there were 5,442 children in Region 3 (North Texas)

In 2009, there were 6,510,210 children between the ages of birth to 18 in the state of Texas and 1,795,971 in the North Texas region.
Continue reading Texas foster care statistics for 2009

Texas child deaths increased sharply in 2009

280 Texas children died as the result of child abuse and neglect in 2009 — up more than 30% from 2008.

The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services is still trying to figure out why.

According to one think tank, the reason is likely due to increased teen pregnancies and increased poverty — which seems very probable. But Texas DFPS isn’t convinced.

Another possible cause is case workers being overworked (the average caseworker in the North Texas region is 20 investigations per day) and a turnover rate of nearly 24%.

Just my uneducated assumption is that Texas DFPS is removing far less number of children from their homes over the past five years — it would seem that if you’re removing less children, either parents are doing a better job — or you’re going to end up with more fatalities.

In 2005, DFPS removed 17,428 children from their homes.

In 2009, they removed 12,107 children from their homes.

There may be other factors to this — but that would be the first place I would look.

Austin’s KUT has a report on the issue.

You can also read the full DFPS study online — or I’ll post some highlights tomorrow.

HT Funky Shapes for the photo

Top songs of 2009

Laurie rockin' out
Laurie Rockin' Out | Photo by Jonathan Blundell

I used to think I listened to a broad range of music — but after working up a list of my favorite songs from 2009, either my preferred listening tastes are getting more defined — or perhaps 2009 just wasn’t a great year for new music. (Feel free to offer up your own theories.)

Ten spots filled by six different artists. It’s not as diverse as some, but it’s my list and what I’ve been enjoying this year.

Honorable mention:
Knights Of Cydonia – Muse :: this track came out in 2006, but I didn’t find it (or them really) until I saw them open for U2 in Houston. My Muse station has now become one of my favorite stations on Pandora and this track quickly became one of my favorite tracks. See the video on Hulu.
Continue reading Top songs of 2009

The Year in Review

11/365

Jim Gray (Beaconhill NW) offered up a great list of introspective questions for closing out 2009.

I shared my answers on his blog (whether he was looking for that or not :-)) and thought I’d share them here as well.

1. What are the 2-3 themes that personally defined 2009 for me?
grace. patience. love wins.

2. What people, books, accomplishments, or special moments created highlights in 2009?
publishing my first novel in Dec., working through the foster care process to get certified as foster parents, our first cruise with friends in February and our second cruise with family in July

3. Give yourself a grade from 1-10 in the following areas of focus for 2009:
vocationally – 6
spiritually – 6
family – 6
relationally – 7
emotionally – 8
financially – 6 – this one always worries more than it probably should
physically – 7
recreationally – 6

4. What am i working on that is BIG?
I don’t know that anything I’m doing would be considered “BIG”. I’d like to think of the things I’m doing as small but having impacts on individuals – such as our podcast, my novel, laundry love, and our community groups.

5. As I move into 2010, is a majority of my energy being spent on things that drain me or things that energize me?
It’s a mixture. From 8-4:30 much of my time ends up spent on things that drain me. My evenings and weekends I try and focus on things that excite me but I’m also trying to re-prioritize some things and find more balance among the things that excite me.

6. How am I preparing for 10 years from now? 20 years from now?
Probably not very well. I’m more focused on the next 6 months than anything beyond that.

7. What 2-3 things have I been putting off that I need to execute on before the end of the year?
I hope to be doing some video/audio production work during my week off as well as some projects for our tribe – including building an online solution for tracking our “members” as well as preparing for some training for our community group facilitators.

What about you? How would you respond to these questions?