Heath Mullikin

The 8 People You Meet at Christian Conferences

A conference speaker — Are you a conference junkie?

I meet a lot of people at Christian Conferences. Today, I am attending the Newspring Leadership Conference (#nlc) in Anderson, SC at Newspring Church. I’ve been to all of them so far(this is year 3) and the speaker lineup includes Matt Chandler, Steven Furtick, Criag Groeschel, James McDonald, Perry Noble, Judah Smith, Andy Stanley, Judah Smith, and Jud Wilhite. The first 2 years were challenging and life changing and I will miss Mark Driscoll this year. I have been to a conference at Willow Creek before and that was incredible, but mostly I’ve stuck with local and denominational events. Our district has a yearly retreat that is required for full-time pastors and it is always refreshing. In 17 years of attending conferences, here are a few [Read more…] about The 8 People You Meet at Christian Conferences

The Techology Show moves to Tuesdays!

Now on Tuesdays at noon EST.

Just over three years ago, Tony Casey, Matthew Tietje, and Steve Stanley had the idea to start a podcast that would cover technology, theology, and everything in between. The Techology Show was born to see what technologies pastors and churches could use to have a greater kingdom impact. I was serving in North Carolina at the time and started out as a monthly guest to talk about youth ministry.

When I moved to South Carolina in August 2010, [Read more…] about The Techology Show moves to Tuesdays!

Social Media Research Part 1

Screen Shot 2012-09-02 at 7.51.56 PM — Daily Social Media Clicks

I decided to do some Social Media research to find out if the information I was reading on when is the best time to post on Facebook and Twitter was true. My goal was to see what times and days people were more likely to click on a posted link and to see what types of links people would click on. HootSuite makes this all possible. It enables me to schedule tweets throughout the week and track my clicks using their ow.ly link shortener. Their new “Hootlet” button(which ironically was released soon after Buffer came on the scence) makes tweeting out web articles and pages a snap.

What were some of my goals? [Read more…] about Social Media Research Part 1

The Devil is in the Distraction

923163_97520514 — What’s distracting you?

Some people think that God set everything into motion and has been sitting back watching since Creation. I don’t think that’s true. I think He is always active, always involved, and always engaged in what’s happening in the world. People blame the devil for everything. Dead car battery? The devil. Runny nose? The devil

As a pastor, I get to see God transforming [Read more…] about The Devil is in the Distraction

3 Things That Will Ruin Your Fantasy Football Season

The Flair for the Gold Championship Trophy — Not Everyone Achieves Fantasy Football Immortality

I’ve been playing fantasy football since 1998. In 1999, we held our draft as part of my bachelor party. Needless to say, I’m a big fan especially since I don’t have to buy a USA Today every Monday to type all the stats into an Excel spreadsheet to figure out the points anymore. I’ve had some great years and some terrible years. I’ve been in good leagues where everyone was committed and terrible leagues where the rules were changed weekly. Over the years, I’ve accumulated a lot of trial and error knowledge about how to build a winning team. There are certain things that will spell defeat for you no matter who you are. Here are the 3 things that will ruin your fantasy football season.

Stupidity

There’s no need to buy 3 Fantasy Football Preview magazines every year, but you need to do some sort of research. Drafting Peyton Manning in the first round last year because you didn’t know he had 4(!) neck surgeries is inexcusable. There is no bigger fan of Warrick Dunn than me having in on my teams for 7 straight years, but even I knew not to take him 4th overall his rookie season. (Sidenote: never pick a rookie in the first round. Peyton Manning went UNDRAFTED his rookie season in our league before being picked up as a Free Agent and leading Yo Mama to the title.) You know what kind of teams draft 3 Defenses/Special teams? The kind that finish 4-10. You want to draft a kicker in the 6th round? Be prepared to get laughed at via live draft chat and ridiculed when you cut him in week 2. Smarter men than men write great draft strategies. Go read one of them….no really.

2. Injury

The year after I picked up rookie Peyton Manning I decided to keep Super Bowl MVP Kurt Warner as my QB(we kept 2 players every year.) Kurt was oft-injured in season 2 while Peyton Manning became…Peyton Manning. One year I followed the popular “draft Running Backs with your first 2 picks strategy.” I got Larry Johnson and Duece McCalister in Rounds 1 and 2. Yeah, that was the year Duece tore up his knee early in the season and Johnson soon followed. Last year, Jamaal Charles and Kenny Britt were 2 of my top 5 picks. I was undefeated while they were healthy, but neither of them lasted 3 weeks. The Stud Stable never recovered from those injuries. Some injuries you can’t explain, but you should never say,”I thought Darren McFadden was much more durable than this.”

3. Apathy

This is my biggest pet peeve in fantasy sports. I think people should be arrested for not filling out their lineups weekly. People are all hyped up in August and September, but by week 6(and bye weeks have started) people stop caring and watching. Maybe their team is lousy. Maybe they’ve been bitten by the injury bug. Maybe they don’t even watch football. I’m not saying you need to be checking the waiver wire at midnight on Sunday and Monday, but at least sit your guys on their bye weeks. Fill out a lineup weekly. Cut Kevin Kolb. DO SOMETHING!

What do you think? Do you play Fantasy Football? What am I missing? Does your league make videos like this?

3 Reasons I’m Going to See The Dark Knight Rises at Midnight

batman knife — You know you’re a Batman fan when your mom buys you a Batman knife.

Tonight marks the opening of The Dark Knight Rises, the final movie in Chris Nolan’s Batman trilogy. A group of us are going at 6:30 pm to our local theater to watch all 3 movies tonight with The Dark Knight Rises starting a midnight. I know that seems a bit crazy to many of you, but here are the 3 reasons [Read more…] about 3 Reasons I’m Going to See The Dark Knight Rises at Midnight