My Worship Revolution

Alright, as promised, here’s the message audio from Sunday if anyone desires to listen to it.  Although, I realized that is also in the post below the confessional in the player that is embedded, as are the notes.  So if you decide to listen, a couple of my own thoughts and info having listened to half of it so far:

• I’m my own worst critic.  I hate listening to myself speak.  I always think I sound like a dufus.  Just FYI.  But I learn a lot recapping.
• The beginning scripture is our youth pastor, Kyle Hopkins.  His wife happens to be named Rachel also.  (She led worship.)  We’re not pregnant.  We’re not praying for a boy.
• The first few lines of the drama got lost.  And oh yeah, it also included a series of pictures on the screens from NYC.  Katie did a great job.  I saw several people wiping their eyes.

That’s it.  Check it if ya like.  Hit the play button below.  Lates.

So I’ve been trying to find the best way to get our messages online and podcasted for a bit now.  Hadn’t been able to put a ton of time into it yet, when 3 or 4 weeks ago, I get an email from a friend of ours about this resource called SermonPlayer. 

Now I’ve used it so far for this whole series.  And it’s been great!  As you can see below, it has a player you can embed on your site if you want to.  You just jump on it, upload audio, video, artwork, notes, whatever.  And it all gets packaged in the player, it hosts a web page for you, and they even take care of the RSS feed.  That makes it easy to get it podcasted through iTunes as well.

And the best part…right now, the audio hosting is free for the first year!  So we’re now up and running without putting a penny into it for now.  After a year it’s like $30 a month or so, which really isn’t so bad either, I don’t think.

So check out our current series below, or, especially for you CLC’ers, especially you getting involved in Life Groups CLC’ers, subscribe now via iTunes.  We’ll have a link to subscribe when we get our new site up, hopefully in a couple weeks here.  And all you church leaders that need an easy way to podcast, check it out!

Yeah…I’ve been through 3 G strings in 2 weeks.  What the heck?!  Otherwise, great week!  Check it out:

Good times.  This week, they give me the pulpit.  I got some work to do!!  Lates.

Haven’t been able to catch up on posting any this week.  A Worship Confessional should be on its way this week…(Steve).  Anyway, went out of town (well, Watsonville) with the wife and spent the day off Monday together childless (thanks Glenda!!).

Yesterday and today are filled with all sorts of uprading and keepin busy.  Monday and yesterday:

Hung some newer JBL speakers

You can see the old speakers on the stage floor here

Gettin the new AVIOM system setup (training the teams tonight!)

And got the room all pinked and retuned…sound WAY better already, and I haven’t heard it since the tuning part!

Now don’t get the idea that I did all…well…really any of that.  We have some great guys from Legend Theatrical here in Scotts Valley that we hired to do the hard work.  I just spent most of my day helping out yesterday with info on our systems routing and making decisions, but it ate up my day nonetheless, and today won’t be any better!

Also in the upgrade department, the chicks restroom is now nothing but studs and a little bit of leftover drywall.  Steve started really movin yesterday on the bathroom and kitchen remodeling. 

Exciting stuff happening here at CLC!!  And hopefully this is just the beginning!

Keep in mind, Michael Jackson truly is my favorite entertainer of all time.  The greatest.

He started out black…then white…

And now…Indian?
(RSS readers, come check out the video):

That was just painful to watch.  Yet strangely hilarious at the same time.
How could they do that?  Or worse yet, how do they take it seriously?  Ouch.

HT: Creative Procrastination

Well, I’d seen him from a distance, but finally up close and personal.  I even got  picture:

That’s right, it’s The Pink Guy.  This dude is like an Icon here in Santa Cruz i guess.  Everyday he just walks up and down Pacific Ave in downtown Santa Cruz.  Check out his MySpace.

You see, in Santa Cruz, they all got a gimmick and this is his.  Pac Ave is an interesting place, just some info for all you who aren’t around here.  I love it!  Had a blast today at Lulu Carpenter’s sippin coffee, working, and people watching.

I was thinking about starting a series here where i could weekly, or every so often at least, go to Pacific Ave and get video and pictures of the strangeness of Santa Cruz.  Samuel suggested I call it "Freak of the Week."  I guess I’ll be nice and just stick em under a category of "Santa Cruz."  Maybe sometime I can go down and try to get an interview with The Pink Guy.  What do you think?  Any interest?

Well, today is the final weigh in.  For Tri To Lose.  And you’re gonna have to watch the video for the details!  Then go ahead and click the donation button below.  I’m looking forward to being able to bless Invisible Children with a big chunk of change from all of our efforts.

Anyway, go ahead and check out the video for the final weigh in:

So there ya have it.  We were able to raise $440+ here at this blog alone.  Thanks again to all of you who sponsored.  And I encourage you to feel free to give a little even if you didn’t.  It’s a great chance to hand over a big chunk of resources from our community here online.  If the link above is too difficult for you, shoot me an email so we can work it out.

Be sure to stop by Rachel’s blog to see where she ended up.  And I know Pete hasn’t updated recently, but swing by and see if he has his final numbers up as well.  (Pressures on Pete!  ;))  I don’t think anyone else stuck with it, but if I’m wrong…let me know!!!

Tri To Lose ends tomorrow.  Hopefully the video with the final weigh in will be up tomorrow, but no promises.  (I do have a job people!  ;))  Also still trying to figure out how to get Paypal setup to collect it all so we can hook Invisible Children up with a sweet donation.

A couple months ago they had an event I mentioned briefly on here called Displace Me.  As our little effort here comes to an end, check out this video to see what happened at that event:

Go to the website.  Learn more about how you can get involved.  If you’re in Santa Cruz, join a meeting at the Representatives office downtown this Friday.  Hopefully, more about that tomorrow.  If you’re here and interested, email me for more info.  Let’s make a difference.  Thanks.

OK, so I haven’t been all that shy with my opinions regarding Barry Bonds around here.  So how about one more post about it…for now.  I read this article this morning over at Monday Morning Insight.  He is in fact kinda fair to Barry and pretty nice to the guy.  But he pulls some great leadership lessons out of the whole ordeal.  It’s not short, but it’s well worth the read.  I’ll post it here in it’s entirety for you to check out.  Enjoy!

Chasing History at the Cost of Character

It’s
finally over … recently in San Francisco Barry Bonds broke Hank
Aaron’s celebrated home run record. Barry Bonds has now hit 756
home runs. Unbelievable. A record that once seemed untouchable has now
been broken. On such a momentous occasion, it seems like sports fans
would be going crazy. But in reality there is a wide variety of
opinions regarding Bonds and his new record. Under a cloud of steroid
use accusations, the record seems tainted somehow. Now realize it has
never been proven 100% that Barry Bonds has used steroids. At this
point it is merely accusations which are based on some rather
questionable practices in the late 90s and early 2000s when Bonds
really began chasing history with extraordinary superhuman type
performances.

Bonds has always been a good, if not
great, baseball player.  But it was during those years in question that
Bonds emerged as baseball player extraordinaire. And it is the
accusations that surfaced from those years that will forever taint this
historic moment in baseball history.

As I reflected on this event, I am reminded of the absolute importance
of character.  At the end of the day, it does not matter what I have
accomplished in life if my character is in question.  It does not
matter how many home runs I hit, how many sales I make, how many
dollars I raise, how many people I attract, how big my organization
becomes, how broad my influence stretches, how many books I write, how
large my bank account is, how much I own, how many records I break, or
how big my church is.  What really matters is who I am as a person.

What really matters is who I am in the training rooms of life. What
really matters is who I am when no one else is watching. What really
matters is who I am when the door is closed and the wife and kids are
not around. What really matters is who I am when I am alone at the
hotel. That’s where character is truly tested and proven.

I can never break a record and still be a great dad.  I can never lead
the company in sales and still be a person of integrity.  I can never
live in a capacious house or drive a luxury vehicle or own extravagant
things and still be a person of character.  I can never lead a big
church or be CEO of the company and still be a faithful and loving
husband.  You see it does not matter if my name ever makes it to the
limelight. What matters is whether I am a man who is “blameless” and
“above reproach.”

God blesses both the righteous and the wicked.  Some times in life
those who seem to live life with no regard for God are those who
receive the most attention.  And those who are faithful men and women
of character go unnoticed …. or should I say unnoticed by other
people.  In reality character never goes unnoticed.  God is always
watching. 

It does not matter if you are in a pit in a field thrown there by your
brothers or imprisoned as a slave in a caravan headed for Egypt or
sleeping in the servant’s quarters of Potiphar’s house or being falsely
accused for a crime you did not commit or sleeping on the concrete
floors of an Egyptian dungeon or forgotten about by those who have made
you specific promises or if you are second in charge of the largest
kingdom on earth, character always matters and character never goes
unnoticed.

Did Barry Bonds use steroids to help him break the home run record? I
don’t know. I am not sure anyone will ever know for sure.  What I do
know is that his record will forever be marred by a man whose character
has been called into question.  In the last few years, Barry Bonds
always seems to come across as a jerk – his attitude, his reactions to
the media, his comments about other people, his demeanor, his public
persona.  Is that the real Barry Bonds? I am sure his wife and kids
would say no.  But for the rest of us there will always be questions.
Do you know why? Character matters.

When we die, it will not matter how many home runs we belted.  What
will matter are the relationships we will leave behind and whether we
ran the race to the end and perhaps more importantly, whether we ran
with character.