My Worship Revolution

A few months back I got this message at my You Tube account…

Just the other day I got a donation from ANCA school in South Korea.
How cool is that?

Check out Krissy's blog here and go say thanks.

If a bunch of 3rd graders in South Korea can partner with me on this ride, surely you can too!
Click here to support and see update.

While on my silent retreat in the mountains I read a list of resolves from The Soul of Fredrick W. Robertson, the Brighton Preacher by James R. Blackwood.
It's in another book I have, A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and Other Servants.

This particular reading for reflection was exactly that.  A list of resolves.  This was one of them.

Last week I was tweeting about some randomness I was doing and had a moment of nostalgia.  I remembered back to a time when I didn't assume that everyone wanted to know everything I was doing and thinking.  Crazy thought, eh?

I'm one of the last guys you'll hear decrying social networking and proclaiming the evil of it.  But there is a challenging thought there about how we choose to use blogs, Twitter, and Facebook.

Are the things you talk about simply focused on you, trying to create your own little rock star world where you are the center of the universe?
Or are you saying things to encourage, challenge, highlight, and better the people around you?

I want to try to do more of that.
Our culture already has enough consumers.
Let's create a culture that inspires people to become producers.

We all have something worthwhile to say.
Now figure out what it is, and go say that.

It’s less than a month before I leave for my ride.
Just over 2 weeks til the money needs to be raised.
Here’s where we’re at so far…

Actually, I’m about $75.00 under that.
Long story.  Just trust me on that one.

So time to kick it into high gear.
One of the goals is not just to raise money, but to raise awareness of the ride and the disorder as well.
Whatever it takes to do it, I’m in.  Well, almost, but I digress.
So I came up with this idea, or a social experiment, to see what we could do using Twitter.

Thus, we’re giving away an iPhone here.
Let me explain via video…

So there ya have it.
2 weeks.
Let’s flood Twitter, raise some money, and share about this ride and this opportunity.
Here’s the home page with the explanation of the whole thing: http://www.myworshiprevolution.com/bobbym/iphone.html.
And here’s a tiny URL to make it easier for Tweeting – http://tinyurl.com/my3qfz.

Thanks for continuing to follow along.
Some more fun news to come this week about the ride.

And hopefully, any other riders who Twitter can start using that hashtag as well and you can easily follow all the info as we ride in August.
Now…go and tweet, tweeps!

Here’s the deal…

On August 24th, 2009, a group of around 15 other riders and I will leave San Francisco on our bicycles to make the 670 mile journey to San Diego over the course of a week.

It is a ride to benefit the CA chapters for Hemophilia.
I am riding for my seven-year-old cousin Zach who suffers from this blood disorder.
For more info check out the home page for the ride here, or just check out this video first:

The goal is to raise both money and awareness, so I need get the word out.
And I want your help to do it.

Between now and August 12th, each day you twitter with the hashtag: #coastalrace09 and a link back to this post, you will be entered into a drawing for a free iPhone.
A few important details:

• The iPhone will actually come in the form of a $200.00 gift card for Apple (the cost of an iPhone along with a plan for new customers at Apple.com).  This way, if you already have an iPhone, you still have a great prize!
• The iPhone/gift card will ONLY be given away if I meet my goal of $3500 by August 12th.  So it would help you to give $10 and encourage others to do the same.  Check out the fundraising page here.
• Provided the goal is reached on or by August 12th, I will pull a winner via video or Livestream here at my blog within a week of that date.
• The more days you post, the better your chance of winning.  Every day that you tweet, your name goes in again.  And remember, encourage people to give too, or else there may not be any giveaway!

So go start Twittering away!
Be sure to join the Twub for this hashtag and follow along on the ride once we get out there as well!
Follow news about the ride and hemophilia at the blog here.
Also follow me on Twitter for updates on the giveaway.

Important Links

Coastal Race home page
Donation Page
#coastalrace09 Twub
Follow me on Twitter
Hemophilia & ride related posts
Bobby’s Coastal Race Facebook group

Video explaining giveaway for those who don’t like to read much

3 or 4 years ago, in a class at Vanguard, one of my professors (I think it may have been Roger Heuser) talked about the value of taking a silent retreat.  A day or two or three to just get away and spend the entire time in complete silence, and hear from God.  If you know me, you’ll understand why that sounded like total hell to me.  Which is why I figured it would be a good discipline for me to practice sometime.

So for years I have talked about wanting to do that.  Then I was in Atlanta a few weeks ago and met Eric (@double3).  A few days after I met him, he spent a night at a monastery in silence and solitude.  Thinking about that, I decided it was time and started looking around.  Rachel’s parents are coming into town this week, so I figured I could get away and not be leaving her alone with the kids.

So as soon as I’m done typing this, I’m gonna leave to head to Big Sur Hermitage and spend about 24 hours in silence and solitude with Benedictine monks.

To be honest, I feel kinda weird about it now that I’m heading out.  I was up a few nights ago cause from 3-4 am cause it was so quiet I couldn’t stop my mind from racing.  Thinking about plans, dreams, disappointments, celebrations, concerns, vision, etc.  Add to that the unknown setting of a monastery, I’m kinda nervous, but looking forward to it at the same time.

All that to say I’m gonna go enjoy this view…

…with these guys…

…and do this.

Taking my Bible, Guide to Prayer, My Utmost For His Highest, and a sketchbook/journal.
And will hopefully hear God speak in the silence.
Catch ya on the flip side!

Feels like a busy week.  But in a real good way.
Basically it's less about the next couple days, and more about having to prep ahead for multiple things next week.

• Sunday – heading to a hermitage in Big Sur to live the monk life for a day with God. (More on that soon)
• In-laws in town Sun-Wed.
• Teaching first week of 1 Corinthians Bible Study Wed. night.
• Teach (and possibly lead worship) at youth Thurs. night.
• Leave Fri. for weekend jaunt to SoCal.

All that to share what I'm up to and say I'll get to bloggin when I can between putting some sets together, studying for 2 messages, and promoting the family concert night we're having while I'm gone.

Oh, and coming down to the wire for Coastal Ride fundraising too!  Check out the progress at my fundraising page and help me top off the giving!
Thanks!

For the past couple of months, we’ve been talking as a Life Group about how we can be a positive, visible force in our community, outside the four walls of our living room.  We felt like this needed to look like something we could do on a consistent basis, rather than some sort of 1 time service event.

So last month we had our first barbeque out at San Lorenzo Park.
San Lorenzo is a park near the County building in downtown Santa Cruz.  It’s kinda known for it’s homeless and drug dealing population.
On the 3rd Saturday of each month, we are taking our families out there to grill burgers and dogs and give it out free to anyone who wants to join us.

Last month is was a blast, not to just feed a bunch of people including homeless, but to actually spend time getting to know their names and just hanging out with them.  I love having Caleb doing ministry with us, learning early on to have compassion and recognize the God given dignity that each and every one of us inherently possesses.  There are so many stories behind each person, and lot of the ones we tend to judge by appearance are really not so different from us.

Here are a few pics from last month.

I’m looking forward to being out there again tomorrow.
Anyone who wants to join us, Please do!

You can meet us at the park at 11:30, or help us load everything up at my place at 11.
And if you can bring 5 bucks to help with all the grub, that would be great too.

Looking forward to meeting some new friends tomorrow and being Jesus to our community as a Life Group.

I wanna encourage you to take a few minutes to pray for and be challenged by Melissa and Dan.

Meet Melissa.
Melissa lives in Santa Cruz and works part-time at Elevation Church.
Melissa has lupus and a failing kidney.

Meet Dan.
Dan also lives in Santa Cruz.
Dan is a music teacher and plays drums for The Wild Rovers.
Dan has an extra kidney he doesn’t need.

As I type this Dan is in the O.R. beginning the procedure to give his kidney to Melissa today.
At 8am, Melissa goes in to get it.  And it will radically change her life forever.
Possibly even save it.
You can find out what’s going on at her husbands Twitter feed, @randyboose.

I’ve never had surgery.
The idea of voluntarily giving up an organ honestly scares the crap out of me.
I wish it weren’t the case, but I’m challenged when I ask myself if I would take that step for a friend.
Thanks for an amazing example of what it means to live sacrificially, Dan.

First, please say a prayer for the two of them.
And then, ask yourself what you can do to give yourself away in some small way to someone else today.

Oh…and check out this blog post about it from their pastor, Chuckk.

This past Sunday, and at Life Group last night, we talked about the environment.  We talked about taking care of the planet and resources that belong to God.  It’s not a political issue.  It’s something God honestly does care about.

Then, last night, while in line for Harry Potter, my wife and Christal were handed this pamphlet.

Anyone else kinda wanna see that lion go for that doll looking girl’ss head?
Sorry.  moving on…

From the front cover –

They have a website too.  ChristianVeg.org.

Umm, sorry, but when I consider ‘going green’, a “planet based diet” isn’t quite what I had in mind.
Anyone wanna join me at Betty’s Burger?

Hanging out with the boys this morning I took some video.
Caleb loves to tickle Micah.
Micah has a great little laugh going on.
Caleb just needs to work on not tagging Mich in the face.
Check out the video.

Now find a reason to go laugh a little today, too.
Have a fun one!