Archive for Misc.
It’s Friday??? December 28, 2007
I will have to admit–this week has been a little messed up for me…I can’t keep my days straight for some reason. This week…
- I have ENJOYED hanging out with my girls! Charisse is beginning to laugh out loud–WOW!
- I have also enjoyed some chocolate chip bread that a wonderful lady in our church bakes for me every Christmas!
- I have enjoyed my brand new one cup coffee maker that “Santa” brought me…I think he got it from Starbucks!
- I have enjoyed getting a little extra rest!
- I have enjoyed coming into the office and really being able to focus on what I feel God wants me to speak on over the next month or so–and I am EXCITED!
- I have enjoyed hanging out with friends…EXCEPT for last night at the Cracker Barrel. They “discontinued” their baked apple dumpin’ for the “holiday season” and, instead, have some “yummy pies.” Uh…NOTHING is better than the dumpin’! I was so sad!!!
- I have enjoyed getting an invite to eat at Fogo de Chao next week before the bowl game!!!
I will be posting a little more next week…I hope all of you have had an awesome Christmas break!!!
A Few Friday Thoughts… December 21, 2007
This has been a crazy/busy week…here are some things running through my mind on this Friday morning…
- Right now Lucretia and Charisse are watching some sort of video–and EVERY TIME they do so when I am at home I sing “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” all day long. AHHHHHH! (I can also sing it in Spanish…just in case you are wondering!)
- This story about Tony Morgan made me laugh out loud!
- Last night we had our staff Christmas party…and I laughed so hard I nearly got sick. One of the things I’ve learned so far in ministry is that at staff MUST laugh and celebrate life together.
- During our creative planning session yesterday I heard screaming in the parking lot–I looked out the window to discover Joe Sangl in an elf costume (complete with yellow tights) riding around in a golf cart – I will never look at him the same again!
- Yesterday I had the privilege of hanging out with six church leaders from across the upstate and hear about what God is doing in their churches–it was so encouraging and I cannot wait to do it again.
- Our Christmas services are just about here…and I am PUMPED. I was informed today that we’ve distributed over 15,000 tickets. We still have a few hundred seats left in our Monday services. Yesterday I walked into the sanctuary and saw the stage for the first time–DANG!
- Oh yeah, I know I’ve said this already–but get their early Sunday…the service is going to begin in a really “unique” way and I would HATE for you to miss it.
- AND also–please remember that it’s ok if you forget your ticket–we are not turning anyone away!
- I really do miss college football…and I have NO IDEA where that came from.
- There’s that “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” song again–why must children’s videos sing things over and over?
- I will be posting after the Christmas services and then MAYBE sporadically next week…we always shut the office down the last week of the year to allow our staff a breather.
- That’s it–I’ve got to go workout now…there have been WAY too many “goodies” in our office lately and the Bible says in I Opinions 3:17 that, “Thou shalt not pass by Christmas goodies without partaking in the goodness that the Lord has allowed.”
- (OK–I made that verse up–that’s really not in the Bible!)
Lucretia’s White Chocolate Cake Recipe!!! November 20, 2007
I remember several years ago walking into my house and hearing my wife say those words I LOVE to hear her say, “Perry, I found a new recipe and tried it out…I think you will like it.”
She’s always right–I DO always like whatever she cooks–but she was ESPECIALLY right on this particular day. She knows I love dessert. Seriously, I believe the 11th commandment should have been, “Thou shalt have dessert at every meal!” And so…on this particular night she made a…
WHITE CHOCOLATE FUDGE CAKE…let me explain…
It’s basically a plain vanilla cake mix–BUT–you mix in white chocolate pudding with the mix…thus giving it a rich flavor. AND–in between the two cake layers is a layer of thick, rich chocolate fudge! THEN…the icing on the cake (literally) is a mixture of white chocolate and whip cream! Trust me–if you put a piece of this cake on the top of your head your tongue would slap your brains out trying to get to it!!!
It’s awesome!!!
I’ve talked about this cake before on this blog and from the stage–and SEVERAL people have e-mailed in wanting the recipe–well, I asked Lucretia to e-mail it to me so that I could copy it and so here it is. BUT…I am warning you–this cake is AWESOME and should only be eaten by people who can handle their cake in a responsible manner–here goes…
(My wife is very detailed–so she included everything she knew how to do–please do not e-mail me with questions about this, I have never made the cake, I’ve only eaten it so I do not know ANYTHING at all regarding the construction of this work of art!!!)
1 box white cake mix
water
vegetable oil
eggs (these three things are dependent upon what the box mix calls for.)
1 package white chocolate pudding
1 tsp vanilla
3 oz melted white chocolateICING
1 can vanilla icing
3 oz melted white chocolate
1 tsp vanilla
8 oz cool whip
FUDGE FILLING
1/4 c powdered sugar
6 oz melted chocolate ( semi-sweet or milk)
3 tbsp butter
2 tbsp lt corn syrup
DIRECTIONS
Make icing first. Mix can icing and melted white chocolate and then mix in vanilla. Lastly, fold in cool whip by hand. Allow icing to refrigerate while making other layers.
Make fudge filling next. Heat butter until melted and then stir in melted chocolate. Stir in corn syrup. Lastly, stir in sifted powdered sugar to warm mixture. Allow filling to refrigerate while making cake.
Prepare cake mix according to directions on the box. Mix in vanilla, pudding powder, and melted white chocolate. Place cake batter evenly into 2 greased, round cake pans. Cook per directions on cake mix box. Allow cake layers to cool before putting cake together.
Putting it all together – 1st cake layer, fudge filling, 2nd cake layer, and then ice entire cake. Refrigerate cake until ready to serve.
CAUTIONS
1) icing and filling need to be firm enough to stay on cake but soft enough to spread easily
2) make sure melted chocolates are mixed in well
3) make sure powdered sugar is sifted and mixed in well
4) I usually do not use all fudge filling in 2 layer cake. You can but fudge layer is fairly thick if you do.
5) I usually do not use all icing on 2 layer cake as it is also thick if you do, but some people like thick icing.
ALTERNATIVE
Above recipe makes average size 2 layer cake. Can double cake mixture and make deluxe size 3 layer cake with 2 fudge filling layers between each cake layer. I do not double icing and filling recipe if I make 3 layer cake, but if you like thick fudge and icing layers then you would need to double those also.
Monday AFTERNOON Reflections November 5, 2007
I didn’t blog last night…I tried to but my mind was going CRAZY with ideas. Here’s a few thoughts on this BEAUTIFUL Monday afternoon in SC…(is it REALLY November?)
- I’ve spent the last three days in Ft. Lauderdale, FL visiting a couple of other churches, it was GREAT except for the fact that it was the longest time I have spent away from Charisse since she has been born–THAT was HARD!!!
- The weather in Florida was awesome. I woke up Sunday and checked out the temperature here–31 degrees, then I checked out the temperature there–70 degrees, poor me! :-)
- I was able to meet up with Troy Gramling at Flamingo Road Church and was blown away at what God is doing down there. You can feel the excitement from the moment you pull onto the campus…and Troy did an excellent job at communicating God’s Word…his message rocked my world.
- After the service Troy was generous to give Jason Wilson and I some time & so we went to a Cuban restaurant. I’ve never had Cuban food–BUT–now I have & it was awesome.
- Troy ordered me two things…the first being a “Malta” which is a Cuban Cola. I’ve never tasted pee–but this has to be close–literally the worse thing I’ve ever put in my mouth. As soon as I took a drink he informed me that he didn’t like it!!!
- BUT…he redeemed himself by getting me to have Cuban coffee–AMAZING!
- On Sunday Jason and I got to hang out with David Hughs at Church by the Glades…once again I could feel the buzz when I pulled onto the campus, and the people were over the top friendly.
- David is an excellent communicator and is in a vision series right now entitled, “No Perfect People Allowed.” (We might use that in the future!) He did an excellent job of explaining to his church why they communicate God’s Word the way they do.
- After his SIX services (two on Saturday and four on Sunday) he and several of his staff took over Carrabbas and Jason and I joined them to just talk about church for several hours. I am not sure how much coffee I consumed…but it was a TON!
- After leaving there Wilson and I hung out at my brothers house where my sister in law cooked one of the most amazing meals I’ve ever had.
- Oh yeah…almost forgot–on Saturday we found a Sports Bar with the Clemson game on…and we watched it. (I had ice water on the rocks!) When we sat down Clemson was trailing 7-3, but by the time our food made it to us we were up BIG TIME.
- And then South Carolina lost–THAT’S a great football weekend! :-)
That’s it for now–got to go to the house and see the two most amazing women on the planet!
Three Really Quick Things… September 18, 2007
#1 – As I said here last week, I am REALLY pumped about our All Access event taking place on October 21-22. If you still want to come there are some spaces left…we are purposefully keeping this a little less crowded so there is more time for our staff to interact with all who are attending. You can register here if interested…and my advice…don’t attend alone, bring a friend or two!!!
By the way…our staff is pumped about this…NOT because we know it all BUT because we learn SO MUCH in these types of environments. Seriously, we have discovered that there is MUCH to be learned simply by the questions people ask.
#2 – Unleash ’08 is going to be off the hook! We already have 390 people registered…and it isn’t even taking place until March 13th.
Here’s the deal with Unleash…you can register for $45 (the price for last years conference) until September 30th…after that the rates will increase. Oh yeah…for $45 per person–we actually “lose” money because of what it actually costs to put on the conference.
(I put “lose” in quotes because it’s all God’s money–so we don’t actually lose anything!!!)
Trust me…this is going to be fun…we are expecting a sell out!!!
#3 – Lucretia, my wife, is going to be doing a guest post on this blog; however, YOU are going to drive the subject of the post. What questions would you like to see her answer here? Maybe it has to do with being a pastors wife? Maybe it has to do with how she landed a guy who looks as good as me? :-) Whatever–send in your questions and we will take the most popular ones and answer them here next week!
A Couple of Other Things… September 5, 2007
OK…I said a couple–but there are really four. (Hey, I made a 790 on my S.A.T–BACK OFF!)
- You have GOT to read this post on Jake’s blog–this is one of the coolest things I have ever read. Folks, THIS IS CHURCH!
- Tony blew me away with this post about the Clemson game…if the church became as passionate at the fans were at the game the other night…this nation would once again be a Christian nation.
- I am REALLY excited about speaking at Clemson’s FCA on Thursday night! Please pray for me!
Finally, a friend sent me the following quote from Martin Luther last week–it REALLY encouraged me, I hope it will do the same for others.
Be Sure You Get That Scripture Right!!! July 26, 2007
Here are a few true instances of people who used the wrong Scripture references…and it turned out BAD for them…
#1 – I had a female friend several years ago who always signed her letter with Proverbs 17:17. (Isn’t that sweet?) She wrote a guy friend of hers (who had a crush on her) a letter and accidentally signed it Proverbs 7:17–he could not speak for days!
#2 – A pastor was going to read II Corinthians 5:1 out loud at a graveside of a funeral…BUT instead he opened his Bible and read I Corinthians 5:1 out loud…he quickly recovered and immediately said, “But I don’t believe it!!!”
#3 – I was speaking to a youth group one time and was going to do the entire talk on I Timothy 4:12…I told them that they needed to really take this verse to heart–memorize it–put it where they can see it every single day. BUT…instead of the previous verse I mentioned I accidentally told them to turn to I Timothy 2:12 and never caught my mistake–and I could not figure out why the ladies looked at me like they wanted to kill me the entire time!!!