My Worship Revolution

Last night we finished up our series, The Games We Play, with an all-church game night.  If you’ve ever played games with Rachel and I before, you know we’re competitive!  It was loads of fun. 

We had a couple of Wii’s there.  A group of guys played some RISK all night (I have no idea when they left or if they ever finished the game).  I saw some Clue going on.  And of course the games I enjoyed were Pit and Apples to Apples…both excellent group games.  And I did finally win on the third game of Apples to Apples.

Here’s a couple of fun pics from the night:

And one of my personal favorite moments was watching the "girl fight" as Julie and Georgina took on some Wii boxing.  Check out the video below to experience it yourself!

OK, so I’m well over a week late with this one.  Since i didn’t get it out, I will try to bang out 2 this week.  And since I’ve gotta get 2 of e out there, I decided to make this one a bit quicker and easier by not including any video from the morning.  Sorry if that disappoints you, but the next one should be good to go.

One thing that I did that I forgot to mention in the video: for the music after the sermon, I had it all memorized.  So I got rid of the stand completely.  It’s something I know some of y’all probably already do, and something I want to work at trying to do more.  When I don’t have that crutch in front of me, I think it really does free me up to be less focused on the music.  Of course it didn’t happen this week.

Anyway, here’s the video.  Look for another to come in the next couple days I hope!

This morning I spent some time getting ready for our next series here at CLC.  I have a teaching team meeting tonight and a creative team meeting tomorrow for the series, and I’m getting stoked about how I think God is gonna work through these messages.

The series is called Remember and we’re gonna look at how God works through some ancient traditions that are still packed full of meaning for us today.  The traditions/disciplines that we’re gonna talk about over the next month or so are:

• Baptism
• Prayer
• Fasting
• Communion
• Sabbath

Tomorrow is the last message of The Games We Play and then we’re on to Remember.  Good stuff.

So an old bud of mine, Mr. Kurt Hunter, is an awesome singer/songwriter living down in SoCal.  And he recently joined this music video contest with Star 98.7, a radio station down there.  So I need y’all to do me a big ole favor, and go vote for him!  If you like him – vote for him.  If you don’t…well vote for him anyway!  Let’s see if we can help him "Rock The Vote!"

You can find the video here, or just watch it on my blog just below.

Go here now to vote for Kurt.  You only have til August 5th.  Good luck bud!

PS – I expect some kick back when this works, Kurt. 

Alright, so a long time ago, I got myspace so I could look at the profiles of a number of friends.  I didn’t care much for the whole system, but I found that it became a great way to connect with old and current friends.  It was nice to have and it mainly pointed people over here.

After moving up North, I realized that they still had my old email address.  So I never knew if I got a message, friend request, etc.  I tried to change it, but they send a confirmation to your old address.  I didn’t have access anymore, which is why I wanted to change it, duh.  So I found where I could ask them to change it.  No response or fix.  So I do it again about a month later.  The next day I can’t get on with any address/password combo.  I go to my profile.  All friends and info are gone.  Multiple emails to Myspace, no response.

Anyway I broke down and went ahead and started a new Myspace for now, but I’m way irritated.  Myspace sucks.  I guess I’ll just focus more on fixing up my Virb profile I never really finished working on.  Sorry to all you "friends" I lost.  Hit me up again I guess.

We’re better off over here anyway!

Alright…10 weeks in.  So, here’s where I’m at:

current pledges = $25.01 per pound

weigh in:      173.2 lbs
week1:        168.2 lbs    total loss:  5lbs         =    $125.05
week2:        166.6 lbs    total loss:  6.6 lbs     =    $165.07
week3:        163.6 lbs    total loss:  9.6 lbs     =    $240.10
week4:        165.8 lbs    total loss:  7.4 lbs     =    $185.07
week5:        164.4 lbs    total loss:  8.8 lbs     =    $220.09
week6:         ummm…
week7:        163.2 lbs    total loss:  10 lbs      =    $250.10
week8:        161.2 lbs.   total loss:  12 lbs      =    $300.12
week9:        161.2 lbs.   total loss:  12 lbs      =    $300.12

And this week…

Make a Pledge – Make a Difference

week10:       160 lbs.     total loss:  13.2 lbs    =    $330.13

3 weeks to go.

Here’s some video of our staff hard at work play during our advance.

Me – Worship/Connections

Kyle – Student Life

Jane – Children

If you live in Northern California, there’s a good chance you know the significance of that number.  If you’re a baseball fan, there’s an even better chance you know the significance of that number.  If you’re a Giants fan, there’s no question.  Here’s a hint if you’re still lost  -

755 is the homerun record set by Hank Aaron.  Bonds should be surpassing that anytime now.  Living where I do, my opinion probably isn’t a very popular one.  Rather than share it, I direct you to this great article by Rick Reilly in my last Sports Illustrated issue.

Well put Rick.  I love that guy!  (Rick…not Barry.)

Just got home this evening from our staff advance.  We spent a night camping
together in Big Sur.  I’m wiped!

In between all the fun stuff of campfires, smores, and visits from our neighbor campers we spent time strategizing and working through ministry philosophies and plans in anticipation of what God is going to do here through CLC.  As a staff we have been reading through Simple Church together.  It has been an amazing book that has really got us heading in a good direction.  I am pumped to see our ministry process of creating disciples take more form and begin to make an even greater impact through changed lives within our community.

Today Rachel and Caleb joined the team for lunch and some fun, bonding hiking time.  Actually, it was more of an excursion than a hike.  more climbing over rocks through streams to find the perfect water hole to relax and play in.  Not easy with a baby on your back, but it was a blast!

Yup, you saw it here.  Caleb’s first official skinny dip.  Doesn’t the picture look so Santa Cruz?

It was a great getaway with the team.  I have to say, our lead pastor, Ed, is an amazing team leader.  He has led in pulling together an awesome team of ministers who are all so passionate about Jesus and about reaching Santa Cruz, and it’s been amazing wrestling through our process together.  In fact, I honestly love that we don’t even always agree with each other, but we share openly and honestly, challenge each other, and work through it together.  I’m stoked to see what God is going to do through this team He has assembled!

I know it’s weird but I hate it when a female puts on eyeliner in a moving car.  One accident, and BOOM, there goes that eye!  I actually had a friend who was an EMT and said he had actually seen that in the ER a number of times, chicks with pencils right in the eyeball.

Anyway, yesterday I was driving home from the office and couldn’t believe what I saw:

Ok, it’s one thing to put it on when you’re riding, but yeah!  Ahe’s in the driver seat!  And we weren’t exactly stopped either.  Close, but we were moving a good 20 mph.  And not even a hand on the wheel…barely an eye on the road for that matter!!  And they outlaws cellphone handset use in the car?  Arrgghhh!!

Anyway, that’s all.  Rant over.