Well, I’ve decided to take a big personal step; I am starting a blog! My intention is to engage with you, my reader, and to discuss topics that are important to our faith journeys as well as share aspects of my life that I hope you will find interesting. If you know me, then you know what this looks like! If you don’t, let me give you some insight into what you might expect:
First, I Pastor the BridgePointe Community Church. I will have served here 10 years in February of 2016. We are a volunteer led, multicultural ministry located in Lawrence, KS. You can learn much about the church browsing our website. I will post sermon teasers on the blog to give you insight into my weekly message and you will have the opportunity to listen to the messages that I deliver on Sundays in their entirety each week as well as view the Key Note that accompanies the message under the sermon tab. I hope to begin an interactive Bible study online as well.
Understand that I consider myself fairly technologically savvy, so “I ain scurred” (I am not scared), however much of this- OK, all of this is new to me- I am really stretching myself here; please be patient with me! In other words I am talking to you like this blog is going to hit the ground running….. Let’s see what happens.
I will be recording and editing my messages each week and will do my best to post them as close to the date I deliver them as I can. I hope you will find my messages encouraging and challenging. If I had to give you the CliffsNotes version of what to expect, I would say I am more focused on my relationship with Jesus than I am concerned about religion. That’s how I feel so that’s how I teach. I am not perfect, not even close so I try my best to listen well and judge little. I wish I could say not judge at all but things always hit me one way or the other so good or bad I usually have an opinion. My opinion is mine and your opinion is yours. I will keep mine to myself unless asked to share it and will give yours every consideration.
I also enjoy sports. I am particularily fond of, and in no certain order: the LSU Tigers, the Detroit Tigers AND the Kansas City Royals (like Ricky told Lucy- “I got some ‘splainin’ to do.” I will explain in the future), the New Orleans Saints, the Kansas Jayhawk Men’s Basketball team and the Women’s Volleyball team. I also love High School Football, so since we live in Lawrence, I pull for the Lawrence Lions. I also stay up on my High School, Sumner Academy of Arts and Sciences in KCKS and home town Macks Creek, MO basketball teams- they are both typically pretty good.
I am also a musician. A saxophonist. I enjoy smooth jazz, classic rock and R&B. I’m really not “down on” any music, I just like some more than others! I identify mostly with Groups like: Earth, Wind and Fire; Hall and Oates; Huey Lewis and the News; Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters as well as individuals like Gerald Albright, Kirk Whalum, Warren Hill, Prince, Eric Clapton, John Mayer and many Blues artists! In short- if it’s got soul, it’s good to go! I also play with different people around town from time to time like Lester Estelle, SR (his picture is the one included in the post) and a group led by Randy Seedorff called Soul Purpose.
There are so many things I enjoy and so many things I look forward to discussing with you so my plan is to break my blog into days and topics. For instance:
Sundays I will post a blog teaser called From the Rev’s Heart. This will give some insight into what I will be speaking on that day. It will be fairly short and the intent is to get people ready for where we are going on Sunday morning. I will post the message and Key Note under the sermon header on the BridgePointe website (you are here now!)
Monday blogs will be called Did You See This? It will include water cooler fodder, hot topics around our nation and heads up for any events at BridgePointe or the Koinonia cafe’.
Tuesday will fall under the header Taco Tuesday– we will have restaurant reviews and recipe sharing as well as point you to all the great places to eat for any occasion (I am a self proclaimed expert in this field!). I will also probably post some photos of some delicious dishes that will make you shake your head (don’t judge me)!
Wednesdays will be called Wednesday in the Word. I will post some verses and some questions for consideration. I hope this becomes and interactive event and if the interest is significant we may go to a specific time, say 8pm on Wednesdays for a great time of learning and prayer!
Thursday will be called Random Thought Thursday. You know where this is going….
Friday Night Lights will be the modus operandi for my athletic outlet. We will discuss all things sports; High School College, Professional and beyond.
Slow Jam Saturdays we can talk and share music. I will keep you up to speed on the local music scene, keep you abreast of all the great groups that are coming to town and where they are playing so you can get the best tickets and share with the blog how awesome the show was!
I hope this blog becomes very interactive, I look forward to growing and learning. Once the blog gains some momentum (i.e. once I figure it out and learn how to apply myself to it) I hope to add to the content daily. Hopefully the schedule I outlined will help you manage your time as you know when to look for the things you find interesting. If something comes up and you would like to talk more but the blog is not the appropriate place to discuss your situation or question, feel free to email me at dc_nusong@msn.com . I will give you every opportunity to express yourself.
If you are into social media, friend me at: https://www.facebook.com/dennis.carnahan and/or you can find me/follow me on Twitter @theRev_Carnahan .
Thanks for checking out the blog, I look forward from hearing form you, I hope we enter into some deep, life changing conversations!
Blessings-
Rev
PS: A big thanks to Josh Levitt for designing and hosting the website and helping me get this blog going! You can find a link to his services on the Friends of BridgePointe page!