Friday 5s: 5 Current Top 5s

5 Current Favorite TV Shows:

1. Community
2. Conan
3. Chuck
4. The Cape
5. The Mentalist
   *oddly 4 of the 5 start with a "C"

Top 5 Bands/Artists I'm Currently listening to:

1. Gungor
2. He Is We
3. Snow Patrol
4. Jon Foreman
5. Chris Tomlin

Top 5 Current Foods:

1. Chips and French Onion Dip
2. Footlong Chicken Bacon Ranch on Flatbread (at least till March 1)
3. McDonalds Cherry Pies
4. Bruno's Pizza
5. Jimmy John's Subs

Top 5 Current Prayers to God:

1. You are God. I am not. Don't let me get the two mixed up.
2. Teach Katylynn to love You and love others.
3. Provide every need in Moses's life right now.
4. Grant me wisdom and courage
5. Thank you.

Top 5 Current Activities with Katylynn:

1. Singing Songs
2. Reading
3. Dancing
4. Playing Hide and Seek
5. Disciplining her (groan, but reality)

5 Events I'm very excited about

1. Tomorrow Night's Fall Kickoff at NMC: The Preteens are going to have a ton of fun. Jr and Sr High are going to be rocked by a fantastic film. Our Wednesday Night programming kicks into full gear!
2. Feed My Starving Children: We are going to be taking a weekend to prepare 300,000 meals that will go out to those starving in the nearly 70 countries the ministry supports.
3. NFL Kickoff: I love the NFL. The Colts and Fantasy Football are the main reason, but I also love Sunday afternoons watching the game. Tough to beat.
4. Fantasy Baseball Playoffs: I've played Fantasy Football and Baseball for 8 years now, and I've never won a championship in a league I truly care about. This may be my year in Baseball. I have a stellar lineup. Some key injuries (Dustin Pedroia and Justin Morneau) need to get off the DL to really cinch up the team, but there's hope!
5. November 1-11: Katylynn will be celebrating her 3rd birthday with Mickey! Through a sweet deal, we've been able to put together a vacation in Florida that we didn't expect to do. We figured last February's romp would be the last for a while with the upcoming adoption.
   

5 Katylynnisms I'm loving

1. "I'm throwing blueberries at you." One day she decided to throw imaginary blueberries our way, which we then catch in our mouths. It's good for a few minutes of entertainment every day.
2. "I'm struggling a little bit." She's become quite the little daredevil on the playground or on our furniture at home. This little quote comes out when she finds herself in a precarious position that will require assistance.
3. "Hewwwooo." Said to strangers passing by. Everybody is her friend.
4. "That's ridiculous." Only said once... it was last night as we drove home from Wakarusa. She was opening up cd's I had gift-wrapped in the back seat. She opened two, and as she looked around she said, "There's no more. That's ridiculous!"
5. "I love you bery, bery much." Said randomly is when this is best. I'm pretty sure she picked this up from a collection of books she received from our youth staff at the time of my dad's death. On the inside cover of each book is a sticker with the picture of her Granpda reading to her. It says, "In memory of Grandpa Kip, who loved you so much."
   

A New Top 5

Haven't done one of these in a while...
We just disconnected our home phone and the internet at home. We're giving it a try for till the end of the year to see what it does for our finances as well as our emotional and spiritual health at home. So far, it's been annoying but surprisingly refreshing.

This has made us more aware of the Wi-fi hotspots around town where we can quickly get on the web for free.
I often work outside the office on projects or messages as it helps me get my creative juices flowing to be in interactive environments. Here's my 5 favorite free "Wi-Fi hot spots."

5. Sufficient Grounds at Bethel College - I'm actually typing this post from there (it's Friday, this post is set to go up Saturday).
4. Panera Bread in Goshen - I rarely head to this spot, but it's a place for extended times of study and preperation.
3. The BP/McDonald's in Wakarusa - I've never used it, I just love the fact that it's there.
2. Martin's Supermarket in Nappanee - The deli area on second floor is a great place for silence and solitude from 9:30-11:30, 1:30-4:30.
1. Main Street Coffee House in Nappanee - Triple spiced chai latte and a bagel. Bible study and blogging. Happens at least weekly.

An Olympic Top 5

After reading Jeff Simpson's letter to NBC, I had to get up a post in agreement concerning the gymnastics commentators. Al, Tim, and Elfie are a tad too dramatic for me. While watching the Women's team competition, I'm fairly certain the word devastating was uttered more times than it is on The Day After Tomorrow, The Poseidan Adventure, and Armegeddon combined.

I actually thought Al Trautwig was John Tesh during the 2000 and 2004 Olympics. The mini soap operas between routines with his voice over feel equal to a soap opera.

As I've been I would give my top 5 solutions for Olympic Gymnastic announcers.

5. Harry Caray and Steve Stone - I know Harry is no longer with us, but could you imagine the fun that he could have with the Olympians names?

4. Mike and Mike - Greenburg and Golic, that is. I'm pretty sure Greenburg would know a lot about gymnastics. Bound to be fun.

3. Al Michaels and John Madden - Can't you just hear Madden's comments, and see his work on the telestrater? How about Michaels coming up with statements that will live forever, "Do you believe in underage Chinese gymnists? YES!"

2. Joe Buck and anyone - I just love this guy and his call. He's great at both baseball and football... why not gymnastics?

1. Bob Costas and Bela Karolyi - This is a little more serious, when they cut back to the studio and these two, it's intriguing and entertaining. Bela is crazy exciting, and then Costas plays the straight man with his subtle and sarcastic humor.

But alas, there is no perfect answer. For now, I'll enjoy swimming, and look forward to Track & Field next week.

Top 5: Summer Movies I'm Looking Forward to...

Top 2007 - Movies

My Top 5 movies viewed in 2007:
(from 1 to 5 this time)





Honorable Mention:
Rattatoullie, Enchanted, Shrek the Third, and, believe it or not, Live Free or Die Hard (yes I liked it Phil, are you happy?)

Did not see, and wonder if they could crack my top 5...
Gone Baby Gone, American Gangster, Juno, August Rush, Across the Universe.


Top 5 Worst Movies I saw:
1. Pirates 3 (I'll take too many plot lines for $500 Alex)
2. Spiderman 3 (I'll take too many bad guys for $600 Alex)
3. 300 (THIS IS OVERRATED! I'll stick to Braveheart)
4. Evan Almighty (I know... blasphemy; but it just didn't deliver)
5. Blades of GLORY (Will Farrel either nails it or misses big... missed big on this one; and good call Jeff... I'll now take you back as a friend if you'll have me.)

Top 2007 - Top Reads

My top 5 reads of 2007...

Top 2007 - Quotes

Some of the best quotes I've heard in 2007 (in no particular oder)...

We must relearn what it means to have prayer at the center of mission, and mission at the center of prayer.
-Pete Grieg in Red Moon Rising

Pray that the Sun will never set on the effects of your ministry.
-Greg Despres at NYGO.

Waaa... gurgle, gurgle, slurp, grunt (paraphrased)
-Katylynn Ivy Prenkert

"I don't think this is an accident that all these people have been brought together. I cannot believe that God would bring all of these people… with all of these resources… and talents and abilities…and that the ultimate thing that would happen in our midst is that we all feel better about ourselves.

I have to believe that God has brought this many people with this many backgrounds together to affect massive change in our culture that would lead to people saying 'JESUS IS REAL.'"
-Rob Bell on Mars Hill Bible Church's current efforts to engage poverty and the oppressed in their community.

"I've invested two months of planning into this night. I can't miss this opportunity to invest in the kingdom because of a basketball game."
-Dustin, a student in our ministry after finding out his snowed-out basketball game had been rescheduled to the same date as Maasai Night.

Every one of the above statements brought about significant change in the way I approach life and/or ministry.

Top 5 Pieces of Advice I've Received

The Top 5 pieces of advice I've received.

**disclaimer** I've received so many pieces of advice in my life that I really shouldn't call this a "Top 5", but I am because it fits in with the series.

5. Be who you is, because if you is who ain't, then you ain't who you is…

-Brennan Manning

(pastor, speaker, and writer)

4. Candy is dandy, but fruit will make you poop…

-Dad Possible

(from the Disney show Kim Possible)

3. Everyone needs to just slow down…

-Eric Hochstetler

(next door neighbor, Junior year of college)

2. We must relearn what it is to have mission at the center of prayer, and prayer at the center of mission…

-Pete Grieg

(author Red Moon Rising)

1. Use things and love people. Never use people and love things.

-Jeanette Prenkert

(fabric store owner and mom)

5 Sites

Here's the scenario... due to a freak accident involving your modem and Mountain Dew, you are only able to visit 5 Websites...meaning a domain name and all the pages that fit inside that domain name.
You cannot get to any page that links outside the domain. Once you've typed in the 5th website in the address bar, your computer is locked into those sites forever.

Where do you go?

My List:

1. www.google.com - Cheap, but I would go here. So much of my web activity filters through google and its afilliates... google reader would allow me to access much of the blog and news world without leaving the google domain, google maps would help me getting where I want to go, google's picasa helps me manage and display photos, I'm just starting to use google calendar as my scheduler, google analytics shows me the basic traffic in and out of my blog... I think you're getting it.
2. www.youtube.com - Interestingly, owned by google. Often highlighted on this blog as the spot to find random, funny, and sometimes mind-blowing videos, Youtube offers much more. I don't know how many times I've gone to youtube to find that news story I missed the night before on the major news network, or to see the "big play" that won the game, or to check out the new music video from whoever is hot right now, or to see how the office cast spent their summer.
3. www.derryprenker.blogspot.com - I love blogging... so I'd continue coming to this site and writing stuff. Oddly enough, blogger is powered by Google as well.
4. www.biblegateway.com - This is my main online study stop! Most of my lesson or message prep involves at least one stop at this site.
   
5. www.yahoo.com - Really the only reason I would need Yahoo is for the Fantasy Sports. This would be a tough call because I would have to sacrifice my cbssportsline.com fantasy team... but I'm trying to think for the greater good here.
   

The reality is that AT LEAST 80% of my internet time is spent on the 5 sites mentioned above.

There you have it. You've read this. Now you're tagged. Let the world know where you go!

*edit... how brilliant is it that I misspelled my own website? It's so pathetic that I'm not even going to change it.

Top 5 -- Movie Endings

Sometimes, all it takes for a movie to be great is a great ending. Whether it's the "big reveal (last year, it was The Illusionist and The Prestige), the inspirational (The shot in Hoosiers, Private Ryan standing in front of the grave), or the completely absurd (the choose your ending of Wayne's World or the police bust in Monty Python's Holy Grail)... I love a great ending. Here's a Top 5 for me...

5. The Usual Suspects - Who is Kaiser Soeze? I remember watching this movie and being confused, bored, and ready to turn it off. The final 5 minutes made it all worth it. If you haven't seen Kevin Spacey's Oscar performance as Verbal Kint, it's worth a watch... but I recommend the TV version; very bad language.



4. Napolean Dynamite - The first time I watched this movie, I didn't laugh out loud once. Yet, when it was over, I remember looking at Janelle and saying, "That movie was really funny!" The dance scene followed by the music montage is funny and profound, as you see the unfolding of this total social misfit's impact on those around him. Then, the post credits wedding scene... priceless!




3. Dead Poet's Society - No matter how many times I watch it, I tear up a little when Ethan Hawke jumps up on his desk and shouts, "Oh Captain, my Captain!" One of Robin Williams better performances.
Mr. Keading - "I stand upon my desk to remind myself that we must constantly look at things in a different way. "



2. The Return of the King - I know, there were about six endings. I know, it was really long... yet, how else could you do this. There had to be conclusions to the various layers of the story. And with each ending there's a profound and moving statement. My personal favorite, the moment that all of Minas Tirith bows to the Hobbits.



1. Shrek - I love that it was unexpected. In a world that says "All that matters is what's on the inside... as long as your pretty," and "Do the right thing, and you'll get exactly what you want," I loved the ending of Shrek. It was one of the most refreshing movie moments when Fiona remains the ogre.



Many more to include... The Shawshank Redemption, Last of the Mohicans, The 6th Sense, Remember the Titans, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Citizen Kane, The Sound Of Music, Stand By Me, The Sandlot, Braveheart... the list could go on... feel free to throw in your personal favorites.

31 Memories of 2006; Memory #13... My top movies

Here's my top 5 movies in '06:

1. Stranger than Fiction... posted about it here.
2. End of the Spear... posted about it here.
3. Cars
4. 8 Below (I'm a dog lover; what can I say?)
5. Talladega Nights

Honorable mention... V for Vendetta, The Prestige
Still haven't seen, and could creep into the top 5... Invincible, The Nativity Story, Apocalypto, World Trade Center.

Very disappointed with (not worthy of links)... The Breakup, Pirates 2, Da Vinci Code, Click, MI 3, and most other "blockbusters".

In my opinion, this is one of the worst movie years in a while.

31 Memories of 2006... Memory #12... Box Office

The top 5 grossing (domestic) movies of '06 to date:

1. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest $423,315,812
2. Cars $244,082,982
3. X-Men: The Last Stand $234,362,462
4. The Da Vinci Code $217,536,138
5. Superman Returns $200,081,192

3 sequals and one based on a book.
It's no wonder nothing original is being made!
We keep chucking money out for remakes, sequals, and "based ons"
I post my top 5 tomorrow.

Check out the '06 list here.

25 Thoughts on Christmas: Thought #5... Christmas Movies

There has been a ridiculous amount of Christmas movies made over the years. This year's installments include The Nativity Story, Santa Clause 3, and Deck the Halls highlight some of this year's holiday installments. Here is my top 5 favorites...

5. Simon Birch - It's probably my favorite movie of all listed, but it's not completely a Christmas movie as the storyline spans throughout a year. It does, however, have one of the greatest Christmas scenes ever made. The church Christmas show gone wild makes me laugh every time I watch it.








4. Elf - "You sit on a throne of lies." It's just got some classic scenes. Outside of Stranger than Fiction (which is in a category of it's own), this is my personal favorite of the Will Farrell movies. You cotton-headed-ninning-muggins.





3. Die Hard - Your classic Christmas story... Nothing says Happy Holidays like washed up cop teams up with rent-a-cop to overthrow evil terrorists diabolical plan to blow up a building and make a ton of money. But it happens on Christmas Eve, so I'm counting it as a Christmas movie.








2. A Christmas Story - I watch this one almost every December. Some classis scenes in this one as well. The flag pole. The lamp. The snowsuit. Fa ra ra ra ra ra.. ra ra ra ra. "Oh Fudge." "You'll shoot your eye out, kid."








1. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation - Watch this one almost every December as well. I laugh out loud every time I watch it. I personally find this to be the funniest of the Vacation movies as well. Don't we all have a Cousin Eddy in our lives?




Man, I guess I don't get in to the traditional warm fuzzy Christmas movie. I'm definitely not the only one with opinions on this one. For others top Christmas movies, check here.

31 Memories of 2006: Memory #3... Books

While I was in India, I read Velvit Elvis By Rob Bell. This was my 1st book of '06. I didn't inhale a ton of books this year, but here's my top 5:

5. Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster: Our IMPACT team went through this book, so I read it for the 3rd time. It's just a great book. It reminds me of the joy that's found in obedience and the deeds that back up my faith.

4. The Magician's Nephew by CS Lewis: I read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe in '05 before watching the movie, so I decided to go back and read some of the other books from the Chronicles of Narnia. This was another 2nd read. I love the Narnia series; they revive my imagination and creativity.

3. High School Confidential by Jeremy Iverson: I've talked about this book quite a bit recently, so I won't do much more. Read what I said here and here.

2. Velvit Elvis by Rob Bell: It inspired me, frustrated me, offended me, and made me think. It was in reading this book and thinking back to McManus's Barbarian Way that I was inspired to stop being a Christian and start living as a Christ Follower.

1. The Bible: Sorry if it sounds trite and overdone, but the reality is that the best stuff was written in this book, and the rest is just commentary.

Honorable Mention: I am Not but I know I am by Louie Giglio; Engaging the Soul of Youth Culture by Walt Mueller, The Beginner's Guide to Intercession by Dutch Sheets.

I'm hoping for '07 to be marked by a few more books read.

(Sorry for the lameness of this post. I've suddently lost my ability to bold, link, and put up pictres.)

First Serve Sat

First Serve Sat

For those clueless to what 1st serve is... It's a movement at NMC where we come together the 1st Saturday of every month, and go out in the community and serve.

Here's 5 highlights from 1st Serve Saturday:

1. Walking in through Entrance E, you could just sense the excitement. You could just feel an energy in the room.

2. Jeff Simpson had his Freshman Small Group spend the night at his house this morning. They stayed up all night playing video games and shocking each other. After the night of chaos, they still chose to give 4 hours to help paint the basement of the Bethel College Retreat Center.

3. I watched as Kathy and Katie, two great friends of Janelle and I, got to know each other. Katie just started attending NMC this year. Kathy is a volunteer in student Ministries. They live within a mile of each other. Now they've served together, and they know each other.

4. Everyone had a choice of where to go. Out of all the spots, our Seniors chose to go to Greencroft to spend time with Senior Citizens. I often hear how the younger generation doesn't care about the older, or vice versa. This was a proud Youth Pastor moment for me.

5. Personally, I woke up at 7:00 with about 50 reasons in my head why I didn't want to go serve. I was dreading the challenge I'd thrown down to our Senior High Students to lead the charge when it came to this thing. I wanted to roll over and sleep some more. I'm glad I didn't.

Top 5 Podcasts

Have you enjoyed the power of the Podcast? If you have I-tunes and/or an I-pod, you need to. Subscribe and enjoy various casts of pod. Here's my top 5 podcasts:
(note: Not all the links can get you to the podcast. You will have to go to I-tunes to find all them.

5. Simply Strategic: With the Tims from GCC. My buddy Dustin does the editing of this podcast. Plus, it's guys who are in my backyard. They basically walk through various topics of ministry.

4. Blue Man Group: These guys are creative, artistic, and very entertaining. It's a video podcast, so you can enjoy so much more

3. Mosaic: Erwin McManus shakes things up. He loves Jesus, but isn't so excited about Christianity. He will inspire you and make you think.

2. Mars Hill Bible Church: Rob Bell is the man behind the messages here. Almost every week he helps me read the Bible in a new light.

1. Simply Youth Ministry: These guys are too funny. Their show's subline is "Just enough Youth Ministry so you don't feel guilty listening during work." It's a youth pastor's must listen/watch, but anybody will enjoy them.

Football Movies

We are on the eve of the first all-out college/NFL football weekend. Since I already gave you my Top 5 Baseball Movies, I thought I'd give you my Top 5 Football Movies. To be honest, they're a little tougher to come up with than the Baseball movies.

5. The Replacements - It probably doesn't even make my top 100 all-time movies. I've probably watched bits and pieces of it every other week on TNT. For Football movies, it was something a little different. I'm a sucker for Gene Hackman.





4. Friday Night Lights - Watching this one had moments that reminded me of the High School I went to. It's not your normal "sports movie". It was pretty depressing. The darker side of "when High School football becomes religion" came out in this movie. I always laugh uncomfortably when I see the scene with the 30 year old guy wearing his High School championship ring, living in the past. An all-to familiar scene.
And no, I'm not that interested in the TV Show.




3. Jerry Maguire - Tom Cruise second football movie (his first one wasn't too terrible). Some great moments in this one. Lipniki (man, he's all grown up) is hilarious. Cuba Gooding Jr. is top-notch. "Show me the money!" This is about as close to a "chick-flick" as I can get.


2. Rudy - How can I grow up in the shadow of the Golden Dome and not love this movie? "Ru-dy, Ru-dy, Ru-dy..."This has everything a good sports movie should have in it. Against all odds, the underdog fights his way to the top. Probably #1 on the list of movies that guys would say has made them cry.
Plus, Samwise Gamgee is in it. Most people will say Rudy is in Lord of the Rings, but not me...





1. Remember the Titans - I'm a sucker for these stories. So many great "redemption" stories in it.
Great moments... Gettysburg... Gary and Julius face off after practice... Coach Yost confronts the refs
Great lines... "Who's your daddy, Gary?"... "Attitude reflects leadership, Captain."... "Alice, are you Blind? Don't you see the family resemblance? That's my brother."
Besides Lord of the Rings, this is probably the movie I've used the most in messages. It may rank in my top 10 all-time movies.


*** Disclaimer: I'm yet to see Invincible. I'm sure this movie would crack the top 5.

5 things to do when you can't sleep

It's almost 1:00 am, and I need to get up at 6:30 tomorrow morning. I need to sleep, but I can't. I layed around too much today. Here's my top 5 to do when I can't sleep:

5. Surf the net - I tend to find myself researching fantasy baseball or football, or checking the blogosphere. Only do this when I know I'm not going to fall asleep.

4. Chanel Surfing - There's some pretty funny old movies or other odd things on TV after midnight. Right now, I can choose from the Jackie Chan classic Rumble in the Bronx, a High School favorite Dangerous Minds, or Baseball Tonight. Baseball Tonight wins.

3. Read - If I pick up a book, I can put in a good 1/2 hour to an hour of reading before I wake up at 3:00 am with the book folded under my body and paper cuts across my chest.

2. Play Mind Numbing Games - The two I most commonly play are 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon (an oft mentioned game on this blog) or "Name the Players at the Position". I either pick a MLB or NFL position, and try to go through every team naming their starter. Each game usually is the remedy for sleep.

1. Pray - I think this comes from my early-life practices of sitting up at night and thinking about eternity, getting the hell scared out of me, and praying that God would forgive me so I wouldn't have to go there. IT WAS EVERY NIGHT AS A KID!
Now, I find that some of my most significant connecting times with God have happened in those moments of silence at night. It's a lot of listening, repentance, wrestling with who I am and who He is, and a fair amount of intercession.

Well, I think tonight it's time to name every starting QB in the NFL. We'll start in the NFC North... Grossman in Chicago, Favre in Green Bay, Kitna in Detroit, Johnson in Minnesota... I'm already tired!