My Worship Revolution

Short clip, but enjoy.  I sure did!

Day two is over…here’s what it looked like:

Morning worship with Mark Roach

Dang it…i couldn’t get out of bed.  I’m sure it was great.

Dean Batali

Dean Batali hosted the first session this morning that lasted til lunch.  Dean is a writer in Hollywood who has worked on "That 70’s Show" and "Buffy" as well as some other shows.  Check out his bio to get more info.  As a Christian working on shows like these, you can see under his bio on the re:create blog that he catches some heat from Christians.  What was interesting is that he doesn’t fully disagree.  He says he doesn’t like these shows and in fact sees them as damaging to our culture, however he’d rather be there making some sort of difference rather than not. 

Dean is clearly very passionate about being a missionary in Hollywood as well as the need for us to reclaim the arts as Christians.  he points out that in order for us to make an impact in culture, we need to have somewhat of a voice in an industry that is responsible for shaping our culture.  We need to not throw out our televisions because there’s filth, rather we need to be knowledgeable about what others are watching.  And just about every story out there has a redeeming truth, although you may need to find your way past some of the crap to get to it.  The question becomes, "Where is the line of what is worth sifting through and what isn’t?"  (Great question, by the way.)

Before coming to Revolution I worked for a couple years in the entertainment industry.  Every time I have come to a crossroads in my life I have wrestled between a call to full time ministry and a passion to be a professional artist, rubbing shoulders with other artists who need Jesus, too.  I have several friends who work in Hollywood, many of who I now only have minimal My Space contact with.  Point it, I too have a strong desire to see Christ followers in the field more and nore, despite how difficult it can be, and much of what he had to say resonated deep with me.

Here’s a couple of good quotes from our conversation with Dean (keep in mind these are loose quotes cause I can only type so fast…and besides, I’m not a journalist.  You’ll get the point):

• Go to where the damage to the culture is being done and be a part of damaging that culture so that it may be redeemed or preserved.
• Salt is not meant to preserve or restore something, but rather to slow down the decay.
• “Compromise” is another word Christians need to reclaim.  It isn’t always such a dirty, horrible word.
• We seem to think that unless we’re getting these big victories we’re not being effective, but we can at least help to stop the decay.
• Where is the "Christian" Vagina monologues?  We need to go out into the culture and tell our stories in the arts.  (That one probably sounds a bit odd out of context, but I think you’ll get it.  If not, we can talk in the comments.)
• I like to ask groups, "How many people of you have watched something in the past month in TV or film that offended you?"  Then I’ll ask them, "How many of you prayed for Hollywood after seeing that?"

Good stuff.  Moving on.

Tim Hodge

Just in case you’re wondering, that isn’t him, it’s a picture he drew.  Tim Hodge is an illustrator who has worked with Disney and now with Big Idea.  He came to share with us the basics of storyboarding and how we could use that in our creative projects and meetings.

He had some interesting stuff and some good practical practices to share.  Unfortunately, he was right after lunch and a pretty mellow guy, and that combo made for a difficult time of sitting for a while.  Regardless though, i think I can come away with a couple of good rules to be thinking about in the future when we do video.

As a side note, I love modern technology!  Look at this picture and see how many computers you can find:

Correct answer is 6 (a few of them are tough to find, but they’re there.)  Of course, half of them are probably iChatting and e-mailing.

Dinner

Yup MORE food…and GOOD!!  We had dinner at a place called Saffire.  Cool vibe good food.

And here’s me and Bobby.  Yeah, B squared, Bobby to the second power, Boobbies, whatever.  (Partial credit for name ideas going to John Voelz.)

What’s even crazier?  He is the pastor of Revolution at The Crossing Church.  Coincidence?

Tonight there were two awesome worship artists that played.  Check out a quick clip of Bebo Norman:

After Bebo was Jon Abel.  Jon’s written some great stuff, at least one of which you may have heard Chris Tomlin play, Awesome Is The Lord.

One thing that listening to these guys worship has definitely done is once again inspired me to really want to try writing something again.  I’ve wanted to in the past, but never really written anything cause for some reason it scares me to death.  One way I know I’ve been listening to a great singer/songwriter is it makes me want to go home and pour my own heart out into a song.

Anyway…day two rocked!  now I’m gonna go iChat with my wife and kid, watch last nights episode of 24 online, and go to bed so I don’t miss out on Mac Powell tomorrow morning.

Good News:

I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything about losing weight.  I’ve even heard some questions and some complaints from some of you that I haven’t posted.  The good news is I’ve been planning on starting up with the dieting again, and I’ll definitely be filling you in.  The bad news…

Bad News:

is I don’t think I’ll be losing any weight this week.

I love the south!

I’ll recap the day later on.  In the meantime, check out the re:create list in the sidebar to see what some other people are sayin.

So tonight we had a great dinner here in town at a church and live music.  A bunch of artists played some new worship songs they’d written and we got CD’s with the songs and chord charts as well as a bunch of CD’s from Word label’s bands. 

There was a songwriters circle of guys playing their songs.  The guys up there were Mark Roach, Michael Farren (Pocket Full Of Rocks), Mike Weaver (Big Daddy Weave), Jason Roy (Building 429), and Adam Agee (Stellar Cart). 

They all did great jobs, but i gotta tell ya, Michael Farren: brotha has got a freakin voice!  loved his songs.  I’ve actually never heard of his band but I’m stoked to check em’ out now.

So I understand that surprises abound during the week at Re:create, and I knew there was a surprise artist tonight.  So the guy introducing talk about this girl who’s been on their label for a while who’s gonna take us back to some hymns.  "ladies and gentlemen, welcome Miss…"

I’m sure I probably broke some copyright law putting that up (based on our earlier copyright streaming seminar).  Please don’t tell on me.  K?

That’s right, "…Amy Grant."  The funny part is, I’m always making fun of Rachel for liking Amy Grant and now I’m sitting here watching her sing like 50 ft. away from me without Rachel.  She was pretty jealous.  I hesitantly admit, though, even as much as I joke about her, she was really good tonight.  I actually even got a bit choked up during some of her worship.  (Dave, I don’t wanna hear it.) 

Sittin in a blogging discussion here in Tennessee.  Got here a little after it started, cause of flight times and all, but stoked to be here!

UPDATE:  It’s over now, time to move on.

It’s been a really long week.  I leave my house in just over 2 hours to catch a plane for Tennessee in 4 hours.  I probably won’t sleep tonight.  hopefully it will help me sleep on the plane.

Ever wanna pretend you are as cool as Jack Bauer?  Wanna feel like you’re ready to bite someones throat, suffocate you brother with a bag, or just kick some serious terrorist butt?  Get everything you need to dress the part here.

I’m all about the "Jack-Pack."  He fits so many goodies in there!  It would be perfect for my laptop…and my gat and GPS satellite super phone, of course.

(Thanks Randy and Will!  now update your blog Randy!!)

I think I mentioned this recently, but life just feels kinda rough lately.  Sometimes I think you just go through those season’s when God doesn’t seem so close and everything feels like an uphill battle.  I hope I’m coming out of it soon, but I’ve definitely felt discouraged more than once in the past few weeks.  Luckily I have the greatest wife in the world (sorry guys, it’s true) to help me through it.

A few nights ago I had a late night at the office.  I got home and her and Caleb were already asleep.  As I get ready to slip into bed I notice a short letter laying in my spot.  I’m not gonna tell you exactly what it said cause it’s really none of your business.  The important part is how much she loves me and encourages me.  She expressed her continuing desire to support me through every season I go through…WE go through.  And best of all, she reminded me of who I am in Christ.  She reminded me of all the qualities she sees in me that reflect who God created me to be.  Man I’m lucky!

Thanks babe.  I love you.

Apparently Mac’s are way cooler in the UK now, too.  Check out these UK/Ireland Mac ads:

So a while back I started hearing about this conference in Tennessee called Re:create.  The more I read from another blogger about the experience the more I was thinkin, "Hey, this is the sort of deal I’d really like to be a part of."  So I thought last fall about wanting to go, and then it slipped away from my memory as life and business continued.

Then a few weeks ago, I realize that it’s right around the corner and it’s probably too late to make it work.  But I also was in a state of spiritual lust per se for resources, connection, and refreshment.  So I’m in a time of worship last week, and walk outside to spend some serious time doing business with God.  As I head back in and sit listening to a speaker, I couldn’t help but get this sense that was something that I really needed to be at right now.

So, on such short notice, I looked into the possibilities, and was able to make the time and find some ways to make it work.  So, to make a long story short, I’m headin out to Tennessee next week to hang with a bunch of peeps with the same passion and heart.  It’s gonna cost a fair bit of money, so I’m still working on figuring out where that is all coming from.  I’m pretty stoked about it though, so I’ll find a way to work it out.   I just hope it’s all that I’m expecting it to be!

So I can’t wait!  And I can’t wait to share all about it while I’m there (with wifi in the hotel).  So, anyone wanna help me get to Tennessee??  (What can I say…no shame in my game here!)