I love the act of sitting down, writing, studying, etc.
The problem is all the distractions.
In the midst of beautiful technology, there are a million ways to get of course from the heart of what you have set out to accomplish. When you’re pouring a bunch of hours into study, research, and writing- you want to make the most of your time. I need all the help I can get and found a few great tools to aid me in the process.

Unfortunately, these programs run natively on an Apple, but you can get the general idea and search for the same kind of thing for a PC.

Write Room: Hog Bay Software
Free Trial ($24.95 for full version)
I love MS Word, Pages, and all of those, but to write full screen without distractions is my goal. Write Room takes away all the tool bars, docks, icons, etc. and just allows a free writing space. You can change all the colors to fit your style (i.e. text, background, word count) and also set the parameters for how wide and tall the text typing area is. I was skeptical at first, but I am able to write faster and more in depth without all the extra nonsense. I would encourage anyone with a heavy writing load to pick this up.

Focus Booster: Focus Booster
Free
I rarely take breaks. Because of this my eyes get tired, my hands begin to hurt, and my body just slows down. In comes Focus Booster. It sets interval work times and sounds an alarm (you control how loud) when you take a break. The cool part is everything is customizable from the session length, break length, ticking sound on/off during session, and you can set the counter to be above everything if you want to visually see how long (or short) the time period is. I’ve embraced this because every 45-50 or so I am able to get up, check in with some of our staff, see how projects are coming together, break for needed phone calls, etc. If you stress out about time mangment, this just might be a life saver for you.

Think: Free Verse
Free
Having too many windows up and projects around can be a distraction in and of itself. Think changes that by only allowing one program up at a time. You control whether the rest of the screen is black/translucent. Also, it works with Focus Booster so even if you have your writing project up, Focus Booster can still be on top. Just a little way to reign in the chaos of too many things at once.

Now these are some things that help me on a daily basis, but what about you?

What are some things you use to be more productive in work/ministry?

I’d love to hear about them.
Jason *over and out*

The Christmas Story.
Jesus birth in a manger.
Mary. Joseph. Stable. Wise Men.
We’ve heard it from many different angles.
I’ve never quite heard it from this perspective before…

Love the song and Dustin Kensrue’s style of communicating. Thanks Chris for the link.
Enjoy.

Jason *over and out*

Excited as we dive into another week of “Merry Mixtape” this Sunday.
We’ll be taking a look at the life of Mary and what we can learn from the woman who raised the Son of God. You won’t want to miss it.

10 a.m. Every Sunday Morning
Ocean Lakes High School in Va Beach
http://www.forefront.org

So, yesterday I received this message on Twitter:

It was in reference to this website…

I cannot tell you how much I have been laughing at iJames Playhouse.
Every year during Christmas we release gag type gifts that people could purchase (in theory, if they actually existed). We do this to have a little fun and break the craziness of what sometimes can be an overwhelming holiday season. We’ve come to find out around Christmas time as new people and long time Christ-followers walk through the doors each week- they’re feeling “IT.”

“IT,” is the pain of losing a loved one. The hurt of a broken family. The pain of being fired froma job you’ve been at for years. The sorrow of vocalizing to your family you won’t be doing presents and you cannot afford to keep the lights on. The grief of failing marriages. The regret of a life spent making ill timed decisions and focusing on yourself. In the opening of Forefront’s services, we try to laugh. We desire to laugh. We do this on purpose as a body, because God is the giver of life and life should be spent being thankful for His grace, love, and compassion. For the person that has walked through the doors experiencing a daily does of “IT”- our prayer is that this little big of laughter will break through the wall of “IT” so when we begin to sing, take communion, give our offering, listen to God’s word preached, and feel His spirit move in the room… that through our man made feeble attempts to connect to another person through laughter, God will show up and use His power to make a kingdom size impact on their lives.

As a body, Forefront believes in breaking down walls to pave the way for God to work. It’s not on us, it’s on Him. So, as we break down walls with little videos like iJamesPlayhouse.com, it begins to spread and people begin to say (like a recent message I got on Facebook, see below). I pray for efforts to connect with people where they are and this just made me tear up knowing God is moving what we do…

“I haven’t laughed like that in awhile. A friend shared it on Facebook. But, they sent a link to the Forefront internet site too. I am thankful that they did. I am going to come out next week to experience your church. I don’t want you to think it’s because I want funny videos. I thought it was great, but after reading your section about what you believe and then your internet site part about global and local service, that’s why I’m coming. Thanks for making these. I don’t know if you intended it or not, but I never would have gone to your website if my friend hadn’t shared the Facebook video with a link to it. See you Sunday.”

I am in awe of how God can use little silly videos & parody websites as a door to bring people to a place where they can hear the Gospel (God’s good news) communicated to them. The iJamesPlayhouse.com website will be releasing a video every day leading up to Christmas. Have fun sharing those abroad on the web and we’ll let God do the rest.

Jason *over and out*

Being sick has it’s advantages. Spent some time this evening looking through iPhoto and figured I’d share some of my favorite photo memories of the last year. Enjoy.

What Moments Defined You Over The Last Year Or So?

It was December 14th, 2008.
The exact time eludes me, but the call came around 2 a.m.
We’re sorry, but Sharon Godley has died.
For the many of you who read this (Christian or not), please pray.
Pray for my wife Carrie and father-in-law Jodie as they remember her life.
Also, pray for other families who are hurting over the memory of losing a loved one.

This is the last photo taken of Sharon before she died.
It was a time when we saw her happier than ever. Holding her new grand daughter.

Sharon,
You raised an amazing daughter and I am taking good care of her.
Chloe is growing up so fast and we tell her how amazing her grandma was.
Jodie is doing well. He misses you, but he stays busy.
Carrie thinks about you often, but knows God has taken away all your pain.
Have fun dancing and we’ll be there before you know it.

Love,
Jason

A few shots from the music/worship during the 3 day Men’s Retreat. It looks better full screen. More updates on things that happened and how God moved.

Jason *over and out*

Please take a moment to pray for the men who are spending a few days together and diving in to what it means to be a man in God’s eyes. This retreat to the Outer Banks is a great opportunity for these guys to share, open up, and allow those walls to come down in a safe place with other fellas.

In 1 Timothy 6:6-19 (which is our key passage for the weekend), we’re looking at the only man in the New Testament to be specifically called, “a man of God.” (v. 11)

As we unpack Timothy’s life and character, the guys will be looking at 7 key things a man of God is known for.

- A man of God is known by what he focuses on (v. 6-8)
- A man of God is known by what he does not fall into (v. 9-10)
- A man of God is known by what he flees from (v. 11)
- A man of God is known by what he follows after (v. 11)
- A man of God is known by what he fights for (v. 12)
- A man of God is known by what he is faithful to (v. 13-14)
- A man of God is known by what he looks forward to (v. 14-19)

Once we get back we will be talking this up a bit here on the blog and looking at what being a man of God truly looks like in God’s eyes, not society’s eyes.

Thank you for praying for these men and I cannot wait to see how God is going to move in their lives to change people’s hearts.

Jason *over and out*

Out of our constant pull to be a part of our community and serve them- some key leaders and local people have banned together to start AidNow.org. It’s mission is to impact the lives of people in Hampton Roads, Mexico, Vietnam, and beyond. Things are getting underway, but here is the promo.

More coming soon.