Travis Johnson

Phil Stacey is about 3 years younger than me.  I don't know him well.  But, we went to the same school and are connected by a ton of mutual friends.  For instance, our music guy at Life Pointe, Omar Lagudali was in Lee Singers with Phil.

Last week, Phil was in the bottom 3 of vote getters on AI.  He needs your votes to go to the TOP 10.  This is important.  The Top 10 goes on tour together.  It would be HUGE for Phil's career.  As a fellow alum of Lee University, I'd like to see him do well.  Maybe he'd be more famous than some of our other music alums like Scott Stapp of Creed, The Avalon people, 4 Him, etc... 

Tonight, I am going to watch AI.  Then, I am going to repeatedly text/call my vote for Phil.  Lee students and Alumni are going to try to deliver 1,000,000 votes.  I am going to try and do 100 votes myself.  My wife will do some.  And, I am hoping that you will crank in some votes for Phil as well.  What say you?

Check out some of the Phil Stacey conversations and make up your mind:

tagged phil stacey - coaching troubled idols - AI Phil Stacey - PS Not Good Enough

Please read the below entry in the context of a debate among students and alumni of a solidly Christian university which does not reconcile the practice of homosexuality with a Biblically Christian witness.  As originally posted on the MySpace Lee University Message Board:

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Running around in barefeet, I stubbed my toe. As I looked around for some sympathy from my pops, my 6 year old voice began to quiver and tears began to well up in my eyes. Once I made eye contact with Dad, I would let out a real cry so that he would pick me up and make it all right. But, that isn't how it would play out.

My dad reached down and rubbed my blond head and said, "shake it off Big T." Trying to live up to that name, I would stick my toe in the warm dirt to make the pain go away. At six years old, I was learning the how-to's of manhood from a man who grew up in the era of John Wayne, Charlton Heston, Warren Spahn, and Ted Williams.

Somewhere in the span between that time and this, the John Waynes have become interior decorators and the MySpace message board for my alma mater has been over run by guys impersonating gals and dudes who are afraid to eat an egg for fear of damaging the creation of a God they believe does not exist.

Of course, my lament will do nothing but throw the effeminate guys into a tissy. My MySpace account will probably get spammed with electronic color-coordinated cat scratches. But, hopefully, it will cause the dudes who are in doubt about the gender given to them at birth by their Creator or cosmic coincidence (whichever their fully-formed 19 year old minds are fully assured of) to reaffirm that its cool to be a man.

So, gentlemen- change your MySpace layouts from your presently lavender/purple combo and start a campfire, go fishing, shoot something, play basketball, watch some football with your hand tucked conveniently into your waistband, or do something that reaffirms that you are in fact a guy. And, by all means, if these few words on the world wide web are deemed a little bit offensive by you, shake it off and put some dirt on it. Its going to be ok.

I had a great time at my alma mater on Thursday and Friday celebrating Dr. Conn's 20th year as the president of Lee University.  We sat with Tony and Heather Byrd, Phil Harris, and Torrey and Polly Herrin at dinner Thursday.  Then, we enjoyed a concert in the Dixon Center after which I had a good conversation with Dennis McGuire.  I may share some of that conversation later at COG Catalyst.

Friday morning, I sat in on Pitching Your Tent at the Postmodern Carnival: Witness in a Pluralist Context seminar led by Tony Richie and Cheryl Bridges-Johns.  I always enjoy listening to Cheryl.  It was my first time hearing Tony speak.  I wish I had been able to take notes.  They both had some interesting things to say about everything from ecuminism to seeker-sensitive ministry to Brian McClaren.

Then, we participated in the Celebration service.  The Symphony, mass choir, wind ensemble demonstrated one thing that Lee probably does better than most, music.  Dr. Carolyn Dirksen captured the past 20 years at Lee in an inspirational talk.  Dr. Conn spoke to the students and alumni concerning their roles and realities. The highlight was when he introduced K.C. Coomer III, representing the class of 2009. He left Lee and returned one year later after a tour in Iraq where his best friend was killed in Fallujah.  He received a seemingly endless standing ovation.

We caught up with a lot of old friends.  It was especially good to sit down with my pastor, Mitch Maloney and my 3 girls.  I am always challenged by his vision and friendship.

When I left the Lee campus, I drove away with a significant amount of pride for my school.  Dr. Conn is a phenomenal leader of what I would consider the premier evangelical Christian university in America.  It has really shaped my life.  My parents attended as did my grandparents.  I imagine that one day my girls will attend Lee as well.  I can't imagine what the school will have to offer then (much less what it will cost!).

On the way home, I thought about my girls moving away one day over a chili dog at the Varsity.  I guess that's one good thing about Lee being so far from Miami, the Varsity is in between Lee and the Atlanta airport.  Not bad...not bad at all.

tagged: lee university - paul conn - dennis mcguire - "church of god" - mitch maloney - cheryl johns - tony richie - tony byrd - torrey herrin - phil harris

photos: Lee University on Flickr - Humanities Building Great Sky Photo

Kelly's Celebration '06 entries: l.u.celebration '06 - webbs @ lee - the varsity - i can walk...just don't want to - cooler weather of n.c. - pop roberts house
 

Posting from the Savannah Homewood Suites, the most signage-impaired hotel I've ever stayed in:

Kelly, the girls, and I are on our way to Charlotte to see my grandfather, W.J. Roberts.  We call him the "Silver Fox."  Kourtney calls him "Pop Roberts."  He is an awesome man.  McKenna has never met him.  He hasn't been feeling well and the doctors haven't given him the best news lately.  But, at 87, he still mows his own lawn and gives me a hard time.  I'll post an entire entry later on some really inspiring things about WJ.  I'm really looking forward to tomorrow.

Thursday, we will be in Cleveland, TN for Celebration '06 at Lee University where I'll be representing the Class of '97.  I am a big L.U. evangelist.  I love going back, especially for this event.  Everytime I'm there, I get to see a few new buildings that have gone up.  That place is rocking.  It is a great school being run by a great leader. 

I got a call from the Rabbi today.  He's there along with a lot of good friends I really look forward to seeing. 

tagged: lee university - paul conn - Church of God

Barbarians of the New Dark Ages is posted by Meldenius at Trespassers Will.  It is the text from Dr. Matthew Melton speaking at Thursday's Lee University chapel service.  I hope the audio is available soon.  This is a MUST READ for every Christian that is leashed to technology.

tagged: Matthew Melton - Lee University - ipod - pda - technology

In 1991, I met Paul Conn at the Florida State Camp Meeting.  I was looking at my options for college.  On my horizons were the University of Miami (via Naval ROTC scholarship), Miami-Dade Community College, and Lee University.  I wanted to go to Lee and I wanted to go to UM.  But, because I was a few days late on my ROTC scholarship application, I was not going to receive my scholarship until my sophomore year.  Miami-Dade was my outlet in the event I couldn't afford to go to Lee.  Meeting Dr. Conn cemented my desire to go to Lee.

God really favored me after my third try taking the ACT and I received a presidential scholarship based on that score.  Somehow, I managed to improve my score by a full 4 points.  I ran to Lee excited about life.  My parents also made major sacrifices to get me there and I worked through college from my sophomore year on.  I finished my senior year and graduated by paying my final semester with a Discover Card.

I will never forget my first few days there.  During that time, I met friends that are today more like family than friends(Matt Robinett, Jamison Creel, and Eric Kemerling).  Matt recently moved here to Miami where he is an ER doc, Jamison is an 8 year missionary to the Palestinians, and Eric is an Army officer.

When I walked into the scholars banquet, Dr. Conn came and greeted me by name.  I was blown away.  That was the first real moment of impact by this brilliant leader who was instrumental in shaping more lives than any other person in the history of our fellowship of churches.  He is intelligent, charismatic, compassionate, relational, and strategic in his ministry and leadership.  In my opinion, he is also one of the greatest communicators I've ever heard.

My head was screwed on pretty straight in spite of the fact that I spent my sophomore year working off demerits I earned during my freshman year so that I could keep intramural sports eligibility.  I will say I had nothing to do with toilet papering the entire campus the night before Homecoming.  The rumors that I blew the lid off of the dumpster outside of Ellis Hall with a match-head bomb was absolutely wrong.  I know who did it and am more than willing to spill my guts on that tall skinny dude from Atlanta. 

Steve Sherman, the Dean of Students seemed to keep a seat open for me in his office.  My best bud, Matt threw me under the bus in that office at least once to save his own hide!  Slacker.

On the functional side, I reflect on the gorgeous fall weather, the smell of fireplaces burning, the changing leaves, the crisp Tennessee air, the late nights, the early mornings, the cliffs at the Hiwassee River, Blue Hole on the Ocoee River, the afternoon classes with other hoodlums who now pastor and have turned into fine gentlemen.  I reflect on the professors and faculty members like Matthew Melton and Phil Barber who believed in me and spoke positive words into my life.  I reflect on impersonating Gerald Knowles and Tony from Philly over the speaker system in the Old Ellis Hall.  I will never forget the challenging chapel services and the God moments where I came face-to-face with personal sin and chose God over my sin and then stumbled onto a lifestyle of radical follower-ship of a risen Christ.

From my years at Lee, I got a first class collegiate education, a gorgeous wife who loves me passionately, great friends, my first full-time ministry opportunity at a great church, a deepened passion for Christ, and abundant opportunities.

Being in a reflective mood, I am asking what if... What if I had not gone to Lee during my malleable years?  What if I had gotten a 4 year NROTC scholarship instead of the 3 year?  I would not have met and married Kelly.  I would not have made the friendships I have.  I would not be in Miami today.  You never can tell but, I likely would not be in full time ministry.  What strategic decisions am I facing today that can potentially change the course of my life?  Am I prayerfully submitted to God so that I am recognizing and engaging those opportunities with courage and decisiveness?

I ask God that we would all immerse ourselves in the awareness that God directs the steps of His people.  I pray we do not inject ourselves into His agenda, manipulating or second guessing His course for our lives.  I also pray that we are brave and confident of that calling and walk in it not bowing to the pressures of double minded and unstable people or people who mean well but do not see to the end through the same binoculars you see through or who are simply people who are not brave enough to handle their own battles but glibly boo from the stadium as we battle in the arena of passionately lived destiny.

Life is worth living aggressively and with passion.  Living it, remaining shape-able, flexible, and fixed on a future of promise is imperative.  God is the author and finisher of our faith and life. Let us walk humbly and thankfully for His grace in our past and confidently for His future grace and direction.