- That was weird.
- I was just telling someone yesterday that we do a good job of covering everything that we know to do, but occasionally the unexpected happens.
- Today the unexpected happened multiple times.
- It started this morning with breakers blowing in the gym.
- Guessing as cold as it we were using extra juice.
- Speaking of cold, I was making the long walk in from the furthest parts of the parking lot this morning and my hand froze to my water bottle…wish I was kidding.
- More to come on the water bottle later.
- At the end of the 1st Experience the band was singing and then all the sudden you could hear Brian singing another song…What?!
- Our sound board has a USB port to plug a thumb drive into. We record everything directly to it, but it filled up and apparently the default is to automatically start playing the files on it.
- So you we hearing not only Brian live but also from a few weeks back.
- Memo to self: Check the space on the thumb drive each week.
- The next weird thing happened after I came off the stage from doing the announcements in the 2nd Experience.
- I grabbed my water bottle from backstage and was walking down the hallway so I could watch the rest of the music from the back of the gym before then heading back to the stage to preach the message.
- As I was walking I took a big swig and swallow of water….one problem…it wasn’t my water bottle…in fact it wasn’t anybody’s water bottle from today.
- Very rancid water that burned all the way down.
- Immediately my throat was burning which made it hard to preach then…also as the sermon kept going on I felt my stomach getting more and more upset.
- Needless to say I’ve spent some quality time this afternoon catching up on some reading. :)
- Oh but we’re not done…one more weird thing happened.
- After the bumper video in the 2nd Experience I walked out on stage and…nothing…no lights…waiting…waiting….I think it was probably no more than 20 seconds but it seemed like forever.
- Our light operator accidentally hit a quick launch key that starts a DVD player on the laptop.
- Apparently it’s not so quick and froze our lighting program until it opened.
- In the words of the great theologian Bart Simpson….”Aye Carumba”.
- Some weeks I don’t have much to report from behind the scenes…today…too much.
- Other than those blips though, I was happy with both of the Experiences.
- I think the chairs on stage were a cool visual.
- Brian brought in a lawn chair from home that was hilarious…it was about 2 inches off the ground.
- I asked him if was custom built for Vern Troyer.
- Andrea kept saying she was going to sit on one for the whole Experience and I’d never know, but she chickened out.
- Looking forward to next week…get to do the same message again 3 more times in the sanctuary.
- Have a great week and don’t forget to invite someone to come with you!
Inside Today’s Experiences
- Now that was fun!
- For those of you not with us, we recapped every series from 2009.
- That’s 52 hours worth of content that we condensed into an hour’s worth of highlights.
- I figured this was going to be one of those hit or miss type of things.
- Luckily it was a hit…I’m not sure I’ve ever had this much feedback so soon after an Experience.
- One of my big fears was whether it would translate to people who were guests.
- I had one lady come up afterwards who was from North Carolina and she said the format helped it all to make sense and she was wishing she lived close so she could attend all the time.
- The other cool part was the number of people who shared with me how it brought back memories to the week/series which they got saved or for some it was a reminder of when they first started attending.
- I was so excited for today that I was wide awake at 5am and ready to go.
- Set-up and the warm-up time were super easy today!
- That’s a good thing because the tech for today was crazy.
- Great job by Chris, Andy and Crissy making things happen behind the scenes exactly when they should have!
- Also I’ve got to give a big thank you to the band.
- In the midst of Christmas and everything else, they have spent 20+ hours at the church in the last week getting ready for and playing in Experiences.
- If you haven’t thanked them in awhile for what they do, please be sure to do so soon.
- In fact, I thought the standing ovation you gave them Christmas Eve after the Trans Siberian song was cool and I know they appreciated it.
- Back to today…it was strange for both me and the band because we were basically doing something the entire Experience…usually it’s one or the other at a time so you get a bit of a break. Not complaining, just different.
- It would be hard to post the audio online for today, but I am going to try to put together a video at some point in my “free” time.
- So in the meantime take the outline from today and go through each of the application questions so you see your growth from 2009 and evaluate in what ways you need to grow in 2010.
- The funniest/most painful moment of the day occurred backstage during the 2nd Experience during the 1970’s medley. Andrew wasn’t playing but was watching from the side wing. He got excited and went to do an “Elvis like” windmill with his arm, but didn’t realize I had come up and was standing behind him. When his arm came (rather hard and fast I might add) it grazed me in the face then hit me squarely in the upper chest. I t hurt but we had a quick laugh about it.
- He wasn’t laughing though when he then went back on stage and dropped his guitar, breaking a part of it.
- I guess that’s what God does to people who punch the pastor. :)
- All in all a very good day and hopefully an inspiring look back at all that God has done in 2009.
- Enjoy the pics below.
Primal
I’ve had the privilege through the years because of my past job working for Purpose Driven of meeting and getting to know some of the top pastors throughout the country. One of my favorites and someone I’ve been able to get together with on quite a few occasions is Mark Batterson. I love going to Mark’s office because he always has a fascinating stack of book lying on his desk that he’s either about to read or is reading. Mark has a philosphy that every “-ology” is a branch of theology and teaches us something about God. I bring all this up for a reason…
Today Mark’s 3rd book he’s authored, Primal, hits the bookshelves. Thanks to Mark and the good folks at WaterBrook Multnomah I was given an advanced copy for review. As in his previous books, In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day and Wild Goose Chase, you’ll feel smarter for having read Primal because of Mark’s extensive research into so many “-ologies” and application of those to practical Christian living.
Of course the goal is not to just get head smart, Mark wants your relationship with Jesus to be transformed. So the basis of Primal is simplifying what it means to be a follower of Christ. Jesus Himself said that it boils down to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength” so Mark uses that as a jumping off point to discover what it truly means to loves God. In 179 pages, broken into 4 sections you will explore the words, compassion, wonder, curiosity and power.
For me personally the first section on compassion and the last section on power spoke greatly to me. However the nice thing about Mark’s writings is that even in the sections that may not be as relevant to you at the time, there are always a thought or sentence that will strike you and cause you to think and pray about the implications to your life.
I highly would recommend you take the cash that your grandmother stuffs into your Christmas card and go out and buy this book. I don’t say that because Mark is a friend, but because it really is a good book and he is an important voice to the church in our time and generation.
Inside Today’s Experiences
- Well that was interesting.
- Figures that on Christmas weekend we get a huge snow storm that kept all but the die-hards from coming out.
- 2 or 3 times per year the message is purely evangleistic in anticipation that many unsaved people will be in attendance.
- We you have 50 feet of snow (give or take a few feet) it means basically only Christians are going ot be there.
- Surprisingly though we still had 2 people commit to Jesus for the first time.
- That’s awesome!
- The team had fun with today’s Experience.
- Did you ever in your life think that you would go to church and get to hit beach balls around?
- The Party series has been both fun and impactful.
- 18 people have now become Christians during this series.
- I loved the music today…a great mix of hard and fun to soft and thought provoking.
- As Lisa said, “It was amazing to see the same people who were having fun with beach balls at the beginning, crying at the end as they reflected on the condition of their souls”.
- Cressa, Jenny, Andrea and Gayle did awesome on both O Holy Night and It Is Well.
- I laughed in both Experiences during the Awareness Test videos when people realized they had been tricked.. In case you weren’t with us, check them out. Awareness Test 1. Awareness Test 2.
- When I walked off stage during the 1st Experience I was carrying my chair off as well so I forgot to turn my mic pack off. Apparently you could hear me briefly talking backstage…oops.
- All in all not a bad considering all that was happening.
- I’m currently typing this and observing the team as they practice for Christmas Eve.
- Be sure to join us at 5:30 for what should be a memorable Experience.
Inside Today’s Experiences
- Wow what a day!
- 13 more people became followers of Christ today…amazing!
- Wish the roads hadn’t been so bad so more people could have been there, but God knows exactly who needed to be there and they were.
- The set-up for the morning was interesting with people rolling in when they could because of the bad weather.
- In fact, Aaron never made it to church until the 2nd Experience which kept us from having the dance part of the Experience that we had planned.
- Oh well at least he and everyone appear to be safe.
- Great to be able to dedicate 6 children this morning.
- Even better was I was able to get the baby to stop crying during the first one.
- Usually I have the opposite effect. :)
- The first Experience had a lot of behind the scenes technical issues, but as usual the team covered them well and for the most part I don’t think it was too evident.
- To be honest God really did something awesome with today’s message. I felt comfortable with it, but once it was actually being delivered I realized that God might be up to something special.
- As I shared after each message, we can never allow God showing up like that and people giving their lives to Christ to get old.
- What an honor that we get to serve Him!
- Met a group of people after the first Experience from the Hanover First Church of God.
- They are getting ready to start a contemporary Experience and came by United to get some ideas.
- I absolutely love being able to help other churches in any way that we can!
- Please pray for them as they get started.
- I also had some family in attendance at the 2nd Experience including 3 from FL.
- Welcome to our weather!
- Well time for a nap…day’s like this always kick my butt.