My Worship Revolution

Just when I thought I’d been as disgusted and appalled as I can be by Fred Phelps and his "God hates fags" cronies at Westboro Baptist Church, I come across this video.  DISCLAIMER: As far as I’m concerned this video is way more offensive than any sexual content, violence, or language.  You’ve been warned.

And for those of you who may not be Christ followers, please hear me when I say that these people in NO WAY represent the attitude of Jesus, Christian beliefs, or even the rest of the "Baptist" church.  They’re whack!

HT: The Warning Knock

Dude…this guy is unreal.  how does he do this?

Too bad the crowd is horrible!

Survivor finale – last Sunday.
24 finale – Monday 05.21
American Karaoke finale – Wednesday 05.22 (Was pullin for Melinda, now it’s all about Blake!)
LOST finale – Wednesday 05.22

The temporary end of my nightly bondage is in sight!!  What will I do with all my free time!?

Here we go friends!  It’s time to finally start really shedding the pounds!  Check out my weigh in:

Like I said, now is your chance to get involved.  Sponsor per pound and it all goes to Invisible Children to help kids in war torn Uganda.  Still don’t know what I’m talking about?  Check out my prior posts here and here.  I’m in myself for three bucks a pound.  So to pledge, leave me a comment, or if you’re a bit more private shoot me an e-mail.

And finally check out the blogs of the others who are doing this, and feel free to join us too!!

Rachel Marchessault
Pete Kim – Has a few donors…and I think his wife’s in on it too.
Annalynn Catalasan – Has at least 1 pledge for $5/lb!
Dustin Bryson – Has $6/lb on his comments from one post!  (One ups to 10 after 20lbs!)

Man, Rachel and I are laggin, and we helped start this…we need some help!

I’m stoked to share that since posting about "Tri to Lose" there are at least 2 other bloggers who have joined us in this adventure!  Annalynn Catalasan and Dustin Bryson!  Plus there are 2 others I’ve been contacted by that haven’t quite committed yet.

But I still need some sponsors to help make this happen.  Whether I like it or not, I’m also a bit competitive and can’t have them getting more pledges than me!    If you missed the original post, please check it out here.

Also, to learn a little bit more about what’s going on in Northern Uganda, check out these links:
What is the LRA?
Resolve Uganda
Invisible Children

So, will you help out?  A buck a pound?  3 bucks a pound?  A quarter a pound?  It’s all good, just join me.  E-mail me here to get involved, and I’ll post weigh in #1 on Wednesday.

Here’s the skinny from Sunday.  A few video clips again, but from a static camcorder on a tripod in the balcony. 

I am so incredibly blessed to have two of the most amazing mother’s in the world in my life, my own and my son’s.




Mom, thanks for all the years of supporting me, encouraging me, and putting up with me!  Ever since I can remember, my mom always encouraged me and told me I could do anything I wanted with a little hard work and ambition.  She helped instill a belief in myself and a desire to excel that has had a huge part in making me the man I am today.  Thanks for everything mom!  I wouldn’t be here without you…literally. 

And then there’s my wife, Rachel.  One of the reasons that I knew she was the one I wanted to spend my life with was the qualities in her that I knew would make her an amazing mom as well as wife.  I truly belief the first way to be a great parent to your child is to be a good spouse to you partner.  For many years, my wife has been THE BEST at this.  But now, as Caleb has entered our life, even knowing that she would be a great mom, she has far exceeded anything I ever could have imagined.  She is the most patient, loving, caring, responsible, and beautiful mother to our on.  Rachel, thank you so much for your dedication to me and to Caleb.  I can’t wait for the many years ahead of raising our child into a bold and courageous man who will follow after God with all of his heart.  You’re amazing!

Alright, so I think I’m gonna slightly betray rule #6 over here, but against my better judgment I think I’ll go ahead and share my opinion.  It may ruffle someone’s feathers.  So if you have really fundamentalist feathers (which I admit I did at one point in time) you are welcome to stop reading now and come back for tomorrows worship confessional. 

First, the positive and fun part.  Last night, Rachel and I drove a couple hours away to see Leeland in concert.  Thanks to Jane for babysitting for us!!  I first became familiar with Leeland at Re:create, and he was the bomb, so well worth the drive I figured to enjoy worshiping with him.  And it was.

First there was a guy named Jimmy Robeson who opened up for him.  He’s from Maranatha Chapel in San Diego.  Really enjoyed him.  Here’s some pics and a clip:

Then, after a 10 minute break, Leeland stepped up.  And they were awesome.  A bit too loud for Rachel, perfect for me.  I love watchin this kid lead.  Again, some pics and clip:

Now you’re probably wondering, "Why the disclaimer?  Bobby’s said nothing but nice stuff about the music so far."  Maybe I won’t break rule #6.  We’ll consider this a discussion on strategy.

Before Leeland’s last couple songs, we’re informed by overseeing staff pastor that we are going to take one more short break, but that we aren’t going anywhere for this one.  They want to be sure that everyone knows the reason we are gathered to worship, and next thing you know we’re at a mini Harvest Crusade as homeboy teaches through Luke 7 to share about God’s plan of forgiveness.

My cynical self is now a bit irritated.  Perhaps I should be excited that people get to hear the Gospel.  Maybe I should be praying for those who need to know Jesus.  Instead, I’m wondering what non Christ follower would actually be at this event anyway?  As far as I knew the purpose of the evening was part of a musical tour, not an evangelistic crusade.

Now some of you are already saying, "If one person is saved as a result, it was worth it."  Fine, I get that.  I guess it’s just a difference of opinion in strategy for me.  If you are having an outreach, call it an outreach.  What I think tweaks me is that it seems to come from the mindset that every event a church holds, they must present the gospel and have an altar call.  I went to a church that actually had that policy at one time.  If we had a ministry game night, make sure the Gospel is shared and people have the chance to accept Jesus.  Maybe that’s one of the reasons people don’t want to bother coming to our events anymore.  They have finally learned that we can’t just get together and have a good time, rather there’s always the bait and switch.

At times, let’s just have our events (especially one that was clearly designed for the already Christ followers) and if non-believers are there, trust for once that God is working in their heart and will continue to afterward and bring them to the appropriate event, or better yet, relationship to bring them across "the line."  OK, end rant.  Otherwise, it was a great fun night with my wife and the music was great.  I recommend you check him out if he’s gonna be nearby.  And I think I intentionally made this long so that people who might not like it or don’t care will have stopped reading by now. 

Now I wish I could find a way to make it feasible to get to L.A. to see United.  I bet you they won’t pull that trick!

my wife rocks.  She sings, teaches, cooks, cleans, shops wisely, changes a mean diaper, puts up with me, and now edits video!  If you didn’t see it already at her blog, check out her first video with shots of Caleb in Southern California during their visit:

One thing I like to do is encourage all of y’all to start blogging.  Especially now that I have a whole new community I’m getting to know.  "Why," you ask?  Well, I actually like getting to know you by hearing what you are up to and seeing what interests you around the web.  Don’t know what to say?  Just start by sharing a little bit about what you do during the week.

And so I will continually encourage and hope to see the CLC list on my sidebar grow.  And so, it has begun.  I received an e-mail this morning with the news.  So welcome Marc Armstrong to the blogosphere!!

This is the scary, "I have a really sharp tool and I’m comin to get ya!" picture.  Marc is on the tech team at CLC.  He and his wife are long time attenders of CLC, and his wife, Jane, is our children’s ministry director.  He has a blog to share about his life as a dad.  Go check it out.

So come on CLC’ers!  Let’s get this community goin?  And soon I’ll have a post to help you newbies make your blog reading much easier and quicker.  Anyone else around here have a blog I’m missing?