The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.

Inspiring.  How differently would we look at life if we measured it not by traditional measures of success but by how well we have fought and struggled.

I’m so excited that I get to be back here in Minnesota again for round 2 of training  three more teams who will be traveling to Guatemala, Honduras and Mozambique.  Their first day of training was yesterday, and they’re already off and running.

Below are a few photos from our morning worship time, and a video of a typical day.  You can read more about CTI Music Ministries on their website, and read about any of the teams under “blogs” there.

(A)typical day from CTI Music Ministries on Vimeo.

First, I’m returning to Minnesota for two weeks in June (and possibly another two in July) to assist CTI Music Ministries with the training of the summer missions teams traveling to Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Mozambique, Honduras and Guatemala.  My main role there is going to be leading worship every morning and guiding the spiritual focus of the community, but I’ll also be assisting with musical and audio training.

Then in August I’m again volunteering with Teen Leadership Foundation putting on a summer camp for foster teens in Orange County.  This is my third year helping with this camp and I’m returning because of the impact I’ve seen it have on the lives of at-risk teens.

I’m really excited about being able to be involved with each of these ministries again this summer because I believe strongly in the work each organization is doing and in the people behind each.

If you’re interested in being involved as I take on these opportunites this summer, here’s how you can help:

1) Prayer.  We’ve all heard it said that this is the most important thing, but it’s true.  I’d be honored if you would commit (by letting me know via comment below or email) that you will be praying for the teams I’m training, for the foster teens, and for me.  I’ll be posting additional prayer requests and information here during the coming weeks.

2) I need to raise $1500 to make these things happen. This will cover travel costs to and from Minnesota and for the expense of putting on the camp this summer.  While I’m in Minnesota, I’m going to continue working part time remotely to keep the support I need to raise to a minimum.  If you would like to give, you can do so online by clicking the button below.  If you would like a tax receipt, please email me and I will give you an address to mail a check to.

Thank you so much for your support, it means so much to me, but more than that I’m excited for you to take part in the work God is doing this summer through these organizations.

sometimes I need reminders.

Shall I use my powers for good . . .or for awesome?

Happy turkey day.

This approach has a couple advantages over things like last.fm wordpress plugins, like being able to select exactly what you want shown, and automatic linking to amazon for affiliate commissions.

I’ve packaged everything up into a wordpress plugin and put it on my github page here: http://github.com/jaredmoody/wp_now_playing

It also comes with a nice applescript so you can submit what’s currently playing to your blog with a single click:

I’d love some feedback on it, and patches are also more than welcome.

Please report any issues on the github page, thanks!