- Wow that was too much fun as we kicked off our Party series.
- I love it when things just sort of click and everything comes together.
- Even better two more people became followers of Christ today!
- The morning started out normally but something happened to my right contact during the set-up time. I couldn’t see…so I had to call Lisa to bring me a fresh set.
- Missy Kibbe did a great job of getting the refreshments set up and welcoming the early crowd to the party.
- By the time Brian got the party song started, the energy was already high.
- We’ve been wanting to do that song for a few years now and it finally made sense to do it.
- Loved seeing everyone singing, dancing, shouting, pumping their fists in the air…awesome!
- Brian and his team created an incredible stage design.
- When during the middle of Party all the lights finally came up…you could see the wow look on people’s faces.
- When it came time for the band to cover Trans Siberian Orchestra’s, Carol of the Bells, I was super nervous.
- They worked for hours on Thursday night just on that song.
- In case you couldn’t see it, Adam and Andrew were both getting quite the finger workout.
- Basically if you can pull off something like that you can do anything…both of them stepped up big time and did an awesome job.
- Thanks also to the rest of the team for their parts as well…especially Gayle who played what is meant for 4 keyboards on one by dividing our keyboard into basically two. Her left hand was playing one instrument her right hand the other.
- If you’ve ever been to or seen Trans Siberian, you know the crazy light shows that accompany their music. I thought considering our budget is a good million or two less than theirs, Brian did an awesome job creating a light show to match.
- I told the 11:15 crowd how rowdy the early crowd was and gave them a chance to outshout the early group…man I couldn’t believe the lungs you people have. :)
- I was pleased with both messages and pray that it will have a lasting impact on people.
- I also found out afterwards that over $6000 more dollars came in today to benefit needy families in our area. Thanks for stepping up to the challenge that both Earl and myself gave this past week.
- Again this year we should be able to help approximately40 families who wouldn’t have a Christmas except for our help.
- Already looking forward to next week…going to keep the Party going!
Inside Today’s Experiences
- I’m useless without my wife.
- What’s that have to do with today…
- She had her wisdom teeth taken out Wednesday and has been having trouble sleeping so she slept in the guest room last night so I could get a good night’s sleep.
- She’s the one who is normally in charge of the alarm clock and even though I set it and double check it last night…I still messed up.
- Imagine my surprise when she wakes me up this morning at 8:30 and says, “Aren’t you supposed to be at church now?”
- Oops…luckily the team is proficient enough to function without me during set up and our morning run-through.
- Except that someone forgot to unlock the back stage door (which I normally do) so when I went to go on stage during the 1st Experience, I was again greatly surprised to be locked out.
- Other than that it was a really good day.
- The team and both crowds were really energetic, which makes preaching so much easier then.
- Have already had about a dozen people stop me to say how convicting today’s message was.
- Andrea absolutely tore it up on the song “Battlefield”…great job!
- I think everyone had fun with the word S’mikheh.
- Aaron heard me preach a similar message to this one 3+ years ago where I talked about S’mikheh and he still says it from time to time.
- Two of the ladies back in the tech area this morning thought that it was funny that I wear stage make-up on Sunday’s.
- Hey it’s not like I’m Adam Lambert or anything, but a little foundation to smooth the skin and cut down on the glare never hurt anyone. :)
- Please pray for our bass guitarist Brett. He never showed up today and we’re hoping he just overslept since he works late on Saturday night’s. Or since we had practice on Saturday instead of Thursday because of Thanksgiving, it’s also possible that he thinks today is Friday. In any case we’re worried about him since we still haven’t been able to reach him.
- All in all I really enjoyed this series…Brian designed an awesome stage…we got to hear from Doug for the first time…many more people came into a relationship with Jesus…lives were changed…all because Jesus is a Maverick unlike any other.
- Tonight is Hanging of the Greens or HotG as we like to call it. Only time I get to hear I’m hot. :)
- Have a great week. Be sure to invite a lot of people as we kick-off the PARTY series next week.
Inside Today’s Experiences
- Another great day!
- Had a few minor issues in the set-up time this morning but other than that everything went according to plan.
- We changed up the order today and it was effective…we’ll do more of that in the future.
- Great to add Jenny Shifler to the vocal team…we’ve been on her for awhile to help out and she finally auditioned and made it!
- Speaking of the team, Brian did a great job of leading Uprising by Muse.
- That song is everywhere right now and it fit perfectly with the message.
- We added some additional special lighting effects for the song and it worked awesome.
- To be honest after a really good first Experience or message , I usually have an “oh my we’ve/I’ve got to do it again”.
- Today everything went great at the first but the 2nd was even better…that’s awesome!
- Met a visiting pastor from VA after the 2nd experience. He actually said, “Wow that was quite an experience that you all create”.
- I love that when someone actually calls it an experience. That’s what we try to create each week…an experience with God…sometimes we do, sometimes we don’t. Today though was definitely a great day.
- Tomorrow I’m taking a group to Baltimore for a conference…pray for us as we travel and that everyone will come back energized and ready to kick the devil in the butt.
Inside Today’s Experiences
- Really good day!
- Loved being able to just hang out.
- Doug gave a great message for the launch of the Maverick series.
- He had been sick all week long so I was glad he was feeling better.
- So nice having others that can step in and deliver God’s Word in a United like way.
- Although Doug talking about the trampoline and being able to see into the neighbor’s yard was a bit disturbing? :)
- Peeping Doug.
- The 9:45 crowd was rowdy today…loved it…great energy!
- Brian and the team did a great job with the new stage design…looked really cool!
- Thanks to Dan Bogle for the loan of the motorcycle and to Dan Fry for playing the Maverick in the bumper video and for revving the bike on stage.
- Dan said when he did it at the first Experience the entire front row jumped.
- It was cool, but the fumes on stage were strong.
- Thanks for Kris and Klayton, two more new techies today!
- The band as always was amazing…I threw them a wrinkle at the end of the first Experience by asking them to start in the middle of the song…no problem, when you’re that good!
- Other than a couple minor things, it was a smooth day and many shared with me how touched they were by Doug’s message..yea Doug, but more importantly yea God!
- Also since I forgot, here’s the link to last week’s Reality Check video.
Inside Today’s Experiences
- Not the best of days but anytime you’ve got people giving their lives to Jesus, there’s not much you can complain about.
- We had a brief power outage this morning during set-up time which delayed things a bit and then we had a cable connector go bad on my mic which meant Andy had to do some early morning solidering work.
- We had two of our teens running projection and lights today and both did a great job. Well done Ben and Dustin!
- As always the worship team did an excellent job…both crowds seemed to really be into the music today!
- I re-did the message on Monday, which I’m glad I did…still not one of my best but I think the point was clear…don’t be just a consumer, become a contributor.
- I’m glad this series is over…not because I didn’t like it, but because I’m really excited about the Maverick series which starts next week.
- I got to see a little bit of the stage design changeover that the team was doing this afternoon and it’s going to be awesome!
- During the 1st Experience announcement time I kept getting tongue tied. I couldn’t figure out if I wanted to say, “the dictionary definition” or the “definition in the dictionary says”. My mind couldn’t figure it out so I kept saying, “the defionary”.
- The more I tried to get it right the harder it got…finally I just gave up.
- I met a great couple after the first Experience, who just moved here from Hawaii, who get what we’re all about.
- They loved United and realized it’s not about making them happy but reaching out to those who are far from God.
- I attribute this great attitude to their former pastor when they lived in Virginia Beach.
- He’s a friend of mine by the name of Vince Antonucci. Vince is passionate about reaching out to his community and just took a big step of faith by leaving his church to start a brand new one on the Las Vegas Strip.
- Thanks Vince for such an awesome job of teaching and modeling for people that it’s not about what we want, but it’s all about sharing the good news of Jesus with others.
- Speaking of…make sure you invite lots of people for the new Maverick series…I think people will be surprised by the fresh look at Jesus we’ll be taking.
- Be there…be there early…and don’t forget to sit up front!
- I’ll be posting the final Reality Check video later in the week…great job by Brian and Aaron in making these happen!
- Ok time for a quick nap before heading back over to the church for our annual congregational meeting…come on out to hear the exciting things we have in store for 2010!