My Worship Revolution

"I hope that we will continue to be able to look upon art and artists as one of the factors which can be used to draw nations together. . . . We need emotional outlets in this country and the more artistic people we can develop the better it will be for us as a nation."

-Eleanor Roosevelt

This post is part of todays Watercooler Wednesday at Ethos.  Go check it out!

So the next several weeks feel like they will be pretty darn crazy.  Here’s the lowdown:

This Week
Just took my wife and kiddo to the airport.  Bachelor for the week.
Flying to Washington with Ed to interview a potential Youth Pastor candidate.
Taking a final (hopefully…if I pass) CLEP test to finish the units for my degree.
Helping plan sermon series for the rest of the year.
Training day for Royal Family Kid’s Camp.
Trying to get worship sets planned, creative elements ready, and Life Group flows written for next 3 weeks ready because…

Next Week
Royal Family Kid’s Camp.
It’s a camp our church does for abused and neglected kids in the foster care program.  I’m the camp pastor this year so I’ll be out all week long.  No time for planning.

The Week After
Road trip south with David Thaw to Saddleback Worship Conference.  So for those who were wondering, yes, I’m going.  Hopefully we’ll be getting together with some old friends Sunday night.  And if you’re in the area and wanna try and hook up for a lunch or somethin, hit me up please.

And In Other News…
A little gift arrived in the office for me today!

Adobe Creative Suite Master Collection!!

Thanks a ton to our IT extraordinaire Michael Larson for the hook up on this baby!
InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat, Flash, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Contribute, After Effects, Premiere Pro, Soundbooth, Encore.
Don’t know how to use most of those programs well.  In fact, a couple, I don’t even know yet what they do…yet.  But I can’t wait to learn!!  I’ll be makin some time for that!

How’s your month shapin up?

Stories have power.  Words have power.  And it doesn't take many.
With just a few words you can tell a huge story and invoke emotion.  Even tears.
Not sure you believe me?
Check out this video.

I saw that video at my friend Pat's blog.  I wasn't expecting to be taken by it.  Just thought I'd check it out.
Next thing I know, several of those pieces of cardboard made my eyeballs moist.

Stories have power.
I want to know yours.
I'll start:

FRONT: Found worth in pleasing others & working hard
BACK: Finding worth in pleasing God & loving family

Now you.
Be creative.
Share what God has done in your life.
What would your cardboard testimony say?

Today (Sunday June 8th) was birthday number twenty-nine, only one year away from twenty-ten!  As everyone so kindly reminded me all day when they heard my age.
“You got one more year!”  This was commonly heard.
Apparently life ends at 30.  Hehe.

A few thoughts and recap of the day for those interested:

Facebook Birthday:  Social networking can be great.  I had people posting Happy Birthdays all day long.  In reality, lots of them wouldn’t have without the ease of Facebook.  Some look at that and say it isn’t worth much then.  I, on the other hand, appreciate hearing from everyone and appreciate the ease it allows for in communicating.  So to all you who wished me a Happy Birthday on Facebook, thanks a ton!  I was surprised how much it actually brightened my day.  If you said it on MySpace, haven’t even checked it yet.  Didn’t occur to me til now.  You should be using Facebook instead anyway.

And that’s not to downplay those of you who called or sent snail mail.  Even cooler.  You get my point with the Facebook thing though.

Community Service:  Today instead of having our typical gathering, to end our Outflow series the church left the building to do service in our community.  So consider this my Worship Confessional as well.

We gathered and sang 2 songs.

• Stir In Me – an oldie for me, but only the second time we’ve sung it here.  It’s an all-time fave for me and I couldn’t resist eventually introducing it here.
• Be Glorified – A real oldie, but also one of my old faves and thought the words worked well for the morning.

From there we did a few announcements then organized to go.
I led a team doing yardwork and other maintenance for a couple neighbors right around the church.

Met 2 other neighbors while we were out.
One was very thankful for the work we were doing in his next door neighbors yard and said he was really glad we never moved as a church.  Glad to have us around.
Good to get to know neighbors and create a positive image!

Creative Planning:  I then spent from 1pm-4pm in a meeting planning creative elements for our next series, One Prayer.  If you haven’t heard about this series yet, check out the website!  over 1300 churches, over 787,000 people.  We’re starting a week late cause of our service weekend.  but hey, we’re Santa Cruz.  We show up late to everything and we like to be the rebels.

It’s been way too long since we’ve had one of these creative meetings for our services.  It makes a big difference and I am REALLY excited about plans for this next series.  The video teachings may be a stretch for our church, but if we can get past that, I think this series really has the potential to be the highlight of this year!

80’s Themed Surprise Party:  My wife told me we were going to Maggiano’s for dinner, then out to see Indiana Jones.  I was wiped and oddly looking forward to a low key evening.  I walked in the door and a bunch of people dressed funny yelled surprise and the party was on.  I’m a people person and an extrovert, so it didn’t take long to shift gears and have a great time.  A quick shower and a 5 minute 80’s outfit creation and I was ready to go!

Rachel, although apparently it way stressed her out all week, did a great job planning this without me finding out.  Unfortunately for her I do have “Spider Sense” and the thought breezed through my head for some reason as I was walking up the steps, but I still didn’t really expect it.

The house looked awesome.  As you walked in it said “Welcome Back To the 80’s” and had pictures of me as a kid in the 80’s.  None of our picture frames had our pictures in them.  They all had pictures like the Seaver’s, the Cosby’s, a 3 picture tribute for the King of Pop himself, Ronald Reagan, and Paula Abdul just to name a few.  Thanks to Shawna for helping her decorate all afternoon.

Our friends James and Jill hooked me up with a gift I’m totally stoked about.  My Nike +.  Really wanted this probably more than anything.  Will be great for my workouts.  Thanks guys!!

Another Friends Birthday:  And it just wouldn’t be right to finish this post without recognizing my good friend Jamie who shares the same day of birth and celebrated her __th with a different last name than last year.  Swing by her blog and wish her a Happy Belated Birthday.

Now, I’m really wiped!  And with that, friends, I’m hittin the sack!

Also in the Santa Cruz news yesterday, Santa Cruz started taking appointments for same sex marriages starting June 17th. And of course the response was huge.

Now I’ve been thinking about weighing in on this whole issue, but withheld.  Here’s an excuse to go ahead now with a nice controversial blog post.

This has been a big issue in California again.  Many have discussed how we as Christians should react.
I received an email from a friend a few weeks back about a petition to sign to fight the decision and get same sex marriages overturned.  I deleted it.  (No offense if you sent me that email.)

Let me explain.  First of all, I have no problem admitting that I personally disagree with the homosexual lifestyle.  I have no problem saying that I believe it is immoral in the eyes of God.

I also feel that we can’t legislate morality.  That’s why I’m not a politician.  Laws don’t really change people.  Jesus does, one heart at a time.  Not into Christian clones, but into individuals becoming more like Him.  I’d rather spend my time sharing Christ with others and watch Him change us (me included) from the inside out than try to force change on people from the outside in.  That never works.  In Churchianity, it’s called legalism.

So do I agree with homosexual marriage?  No. Do I feel like it’s a hill worth dying on?  There was a time that I did.  Not so much anymore.

The big argument from Christians is that we need to “protect marriage.”  I have 2 thoughts to leave you with when it comes to that.

1. My marriage isn’t about the government definition anyway.  The legal benefits are great.  That’s why we do it.  But my commitment to my wife before God was a totally separate issue.  A faith issue.  That Can’t be changed.  I’m not suggesting that we start marrying homosexual couples in our church.  I just don’t see the California legal side as worth my time and energy to fight.
2. Above all, I can’t get past this one huge thought.  Our state government allowing same sex marriages is probably far less detrimental to the institution of marriage than the 50% divorce rate inside and outside of the church. (Read that again.)  Ouch.Why are most churches spending their energy outraged that the government is allowing same sex marriages, all the while continuing to marry and divorce each other inside the church at the same rate as the rest of our culture and not spending the time and energy we need to strengthening our own marriages?

Again, I’m not saying I agree with it.  And if it’s on the ballot in November, I may even vote to keep it traditional.  I honestly don’t know.  I just think there are more important battles to fight, and most of them won’t be won in the political arena.

Just my thoughts.
There ya have it.
Your turn.

Here’s an update from this weeks triathlon prep and weight loss effort.
Got about an hour run in at the gym Sunday.
Swam about 40 minutes Monday.
Did a nice jog on Wednesday morning.  Still need to map it to see how far I went.
Flaked on spin class Thursday since neither of my partners in crime were going.
Last night I swam about 2500 meters at the gym.

So theres the low-down.
Still trying to figure out my bike situation.
Have an old mountain bike I’ve been using for a while now.  Want a road bike for this stuff though.
Got a free one thats like 20 years old and needs to be fixed up.
Gotta figure out how to fix it and if it’s really worth it.

Anyway, check out the weigh in for the Raggamuffin Top Challenge.  Here’s the video to see how I did:

I know.  The last 2 videos have been pretty boring compared to past updates. 
It’s Saturday morning.
I’m tired.
Just bangin it out for the info for ya.
Maybe I’ll get more creative in the future.
Then again, maybe not.

So be sure to swing by Los’ blog and check out some other partners in fatness slimming down and see how they’re doing.
And join in, too. 
You know you could be healthier!

Dear UCSC AFSCME protesters,

I am a member of the local community here in Santa Cruz.
My wife called me to find out what was going on on Friday June 6th, 2008 at the corner of Mission and Bay.  I was at my computer.  She was trying to get to Longs with our son, but the only way she knew how to get there was blocked.
She was a bit frustrated, but I was intrigued to see what was going on.
I am all for peaceful protests to raise awareness and support.

It was down the street from our office and home, so myself and 2 friends walked down there.
You were protesting unfair wages.
Possibly a very just cause.  I don’t know.
I watched and listened as you chanted.
“What so we want?  Justice!  When do we want it?  Now!”
“No contracts, no peace.” (Thought that was an odd one.)

Then I saw a lady in a mini van approach the intersection from Bay.
Police were redirecting traffic several  blocks up on Mission, (closing off 4-5 blocks of businesses) but apparently she came from elsewhere.
Perhaps she was on her way to pick up a child from the preschool/elementary school across the street.  Who knows.
I watched as you refused to allow her to pass and used intimidation to make her turn around.
This is when my outlook and demeanor changed.

I imagined my wife and child alone in the car as you intimidated them.  That pissed me off.
You may call it kindly letting her know that she could go another way.  You may believe you were not intimidating, but friendly.
I define 15-20 students surrounding an innocent lady’s minivan intimidation.
I watched as three of “Santa Cruz’s Finest” stood in the middle of the street talking and not helping the lady at all.  Even after I pointed out the situation in case they had missed it.  Glad to know I could count on them to take care of my family.

As I walked away, I overheard the lady who works for Santa Cruz public transit talking to a student.
“We carry you back and forth here.  We never cross your picket lines.  We always respect you.  You could have given us some warning so we could reroute our buses ahead of time.  Not cool.”
I watched frustrated business owners talk with police.
I listened to local residents upset because they couldn’t get anywhere.

As I said, I’m all for activism.  I’m fine with protests.  I live in Santa Cruz.  I better be.
There are ways to get messages across and be heard without angering a majority of the community and cutting your support base.
You may have a very worthy cause.
It may be a cause worth my support.
Unfortunately, I don’t know.
Today, your methods unfortunately spoke louder than your message.

Sincerely,
A disappointed Santa Cruz resident

Read this!  Don't just notice another Twitter post and skip it!

First of all, I know I've neglected the blog this week.  I repent.  I'm sorry.  We'll try and turn that around.  And I'll get to those questions in the next week or two.  Really, y'all lobbed up some softballs.  Nothing too tough or intense there.  Now back to Twitter.

My Life Group has made fun of me repeatedly for my love for Twitter and desire to see them all get onboard.  This week, I came across some great post at my friend JVo's blog.  You've got to see what they are doing with Twitter at their church here, here, and here.

A while back I posted a Leo Laporte video on Twitter in Simple English.  But for those of you who still doubt it's usefulness, you have to check out this video of Twitters CEO shring all the ways Twitter is being used.  I liked it before, but now I'm really becoming a believer! 

Jack Dorsey Presents Twitter from biz stone on Vimeo.

You may not be willing to jump in yet, but you sure can't argue that it isn't useful!!  In fact, the way I see it, when we're willing to get creative and risky enough, I think we can leverage all sorts of new technology to work in our favor, whether it be for social reasons, a business, or using it to share our faith, connect our community, and enhance our worship and learning experiences.  And I love that Westwinds is willing to puch the envelope and try something crazy.

So, that being said, what other uses can you think of for Twitter?
Or what technology doesn't exist yet that you wish did?  Maybe you could create the next thing to revolutionize the way we do life!

HT: JVo – thanks for the video and the great info!

Alright Tim.  This one's for you.
And we'll try and keep em more consistent again, y'all.
We had a great gathering this past Sunday.
Check it out:

How bout you?
How was your weekend?

My birthday is coming up soon.
Most of you I do not expect to get me anything.
For close family and friends, however, my Amazon wish list has reappeared over to the left.
Unfortunately you can't add Jamba Juice gift cards from Amazon.

Seriously though, while I don't want people buying my stuff, birthdays make for a fun time of sharing wish lists and cool things that I've found.
The coolest being the waterproof nano box and headphones.  How cool is that?  When I save up the money these will make for a much more enjoyable swim workout!

So what fun items are on your wish list that I need to add to mine?