audiojunky

Shoestring Stage Design - Part 6

2009-06-19T17:47:00.002-04:00

6. We’re a church not a night club.

I’m gonna be frank here...the Holy Bible (and by holy I mean the KJV of course...or any other version) doesn’t say a word about stage design, lighting, audio being to loud or church having a certain look. It is something that the bible doesn’t touch, nor would it have a reason to because the church wasn’t confined to a physical building while the scriptures were being written. The confines to a traditional building wasn’t created until a few hundred years later. Today the stigma comes from a time when the piano and organ were the only things allowed on the stage. You lit the room so that people could see the Bible, the equally as important hymnal and the pastors face. Audio reinforcement was only for the pastors voice if you were lucky enough to have it and media itself was non-existent. Unfortunately that is all wrapped in tradition. Some churches are so steeped in tradition that they condemn you for putting on an appearance of “the world” in using lighting, and media in your services.

Paul is a huge influencer of the modern church, he wrote a large chunk of the New Testament and most of his thoughts that were injected into the body of Christ, were radical. The immediate church, the Jews, thought that only they were the body of Christ. Then it opened up to the gentiles. Paul began to bridge that gap, but preaching the Gospel to the gentiles opened up a whole new can of problems. (1 Corinthians) The gentiles had so many gods that they followed that they were just adding one more into the mix (sound familiar to today?). So Paul had to find ways to preach relevant unwatered down gospel to the gentiles in ways that they could comprehend. Does this relate directly with stage design? No, but it does come with the term “relevant”.

Most churches are not relevant because church is supposed to be “church” and not a night club. The stage is a place to preach from not a theatre platform. I’m not necessarily sure I see the difference between a performance of Le Miserable and a reading from Proverbs. Both are supposed to engage and evoke emotion. Both are supposed to have a meaning and a purpose to the audience and both are supposed to leave you walking away saying WOW. In fact, the Bible should always leave you walking away saying WOW and if it’s not then maybe you need to re-evaluate some things.

Isaiah 43:18-19 “18 Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. 19 Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”

This stigma of the church tradition is something we are cautioned about repeatedly in the Bible, the Bible that so many try and use to support legalism at its finest. A pastor friend of mine once said something to this effect:

“We need to be grateful to and acknowledge the accomplishments of the church in the past, and move on to do greater things in the church.” - Jason Mahr

I talked about the MTV generation in a past entry. The church has got to be able to be culturally relevant enough to reach the kids who are consistently bombarded with an anti-biblical message. Sorry but the Bible as it’s presented by door to door evangelism and tiny tracts printed on fake 1,000 dollar bills doesn’t grab people any more. They had their time and place, and the church would not be where it is today without that.

I worked in a restaurant where this type of evangelism was used by Christians. I would see a tract laying on a table with the tip (or in many cases they would leave it AS the tip, shame on them). Instead of watching a fellow server pick it up and immediately laugh and make fun of God, I picked it up and threw it away. I’m not ashamed of my Christ, but I am ashamed of people who think that it’s about a piece of paper asking “ARE YOU GOING TO HELL??”. People I worked with knew I was a Christian and respected my relationship with God and even asked questions, but it’s because of how I lived, and my relationships I built with them. Church has to be on a much more personal level. Cultivation of relationships and discipleship need to take place in order for people to grow deep, but you have to grab them initially. A dead stage with limited presence isn’t going to draw anyone in. You need to be able to create that sense of intimacy, energy and captivation in order for people to pay attention. You don’t need strobes to be culturally relevant but you might want to open yourself up for a bit of color and design.

This swings the other direction and one can do way to much to go the other way and make it seem like church is a party and end up distracting from the gospel or worse, not preaching the gospel at all. There are many churches across America who in effort to become culturally relevant have swept the gospel under the rug in exchange for some flowery words that make them feel better about themselves and their sin nature. So there is a balance that you have to keep in order to be true to Christ as well.

So this is a major part of the creative process as well. You need to evaluate your design and your process to make sure that it isn’t detracting from the gospel or the presentation. There is also the element of making sure that you’re being relevant and adding depth to what is going on.

Shoestring Stage Design - Part 5

2009-06-14T18:35:00.000-04:00

5. I need inspiration, HELP! -
Experiment, fall on your face, don’t be afraid.

Every body is uniquely gifted in some form of creative aspect. Whether you’re the analytical creative who is able to code his brains out to some significantly controlled creative beauty or you’re the type of person who is happier with a paint brush or piece of charcoal in hand doing you’re darndest to create the next big piece of artwork. But no one gets any kind of creative product unless they try at something and fail a few times. Edison definitely didn’t create the light bulb on his first try. Bell had to have a few attempts at the telegraph and phone. I can almost bet that the Sistine chapel has a couple spots with cover up paint from one goof or another.

"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Design is knowing which ones to keep"
Scott Adams

The point is even if your ideas are crazy or wacked out, or you don’t know how you’re going to accomplish them, go for it anyway. I can guarantee if you don’t know how you’re going to get it accomplished someone around you can figure it out. Or if you give them a round about plot of how to get it done, they’ll improve on it. The first thought I have for your inspiration is to surround your self with other people who can do things. Other creative people to help inspire your process, other analytical creatives who can help streamline and shore up some of your inconsistencies in your process. These can be your most immediate and useful sources of inspiration.

Secondly start surrounding yourself with other creatives in your field and closely related through networking sites. You’ve got twitter.com with a slew of techies and creatives and media pastors and the like that will help bolster your creative quiver. You will be amazed what insight and ideas you can come up with through reading some other creatives blogs or pictures that get posted of other worship services and or concerts that people are putting together. Sure you might not be able to recreate it exactly but you can pull elements and ideas from it. Go blog diving, most people who are creatives have their blog site in their twitter profile, and in their blogs exist a plethora of other creative blog links.

Gather resources that aren’t necessarily in your field. I personally love to browse through graphic design magazines. These magazines aren’t related to stage design but they get my creative juices flowing, and usually remove that creative block that comes up when im in a crunch. Surround your office with stuff that inspires you, pictures, colors, action figures etc. Most creatives do this in one aspect or another. Another resource kind of related is then industry magazines, http://www.tfwm.com/, http://www.churchproduction.com, http://www.worshipfacilities.com/.

Take breaks. Go outside for a bit, nature is one of God’s most creative masterpieces and if there is one thing that can always initiate inspiration is going outside for a bit and looking at the natural architecture God put out there. The colors that flow so naturally together. The textures, the shadows the gentle chaos that exists. It truly is an awe inspiring masterpiece.

Here are a list of some blogs and creative websites that I enjoy using to get ideas from.
http://www.churchtecharts.org/, http://anthonycoppedge.com/problog/, http://visualworshiper.com/blog/, http://worshipvj.com/, http://www.gregatkinson.com/, http://christavalare.com/, http://productionmusings.com/, http://www.collidemagazine.com/, http://www.elementlabs.com/ProjectsPage.html,

Honest

2009-06-13T20:27:00.001-04:00

I'm sitting here in this youth camp just taking in the worship services this week and honestly just soaking it in. Yeah I'm not paying attention to the speaker because I wanted to type this out as it was fresh on my mind.

Worship is a lifestyle I've talked about it before. Worship, the music, the lyrics is an expression of worship but it is also a message. We can sing and speak the words and have no idea what were talking about.

Two songs that have stuck me are Mighty To Save and You Are Sovereign Here. The first the title says it all. Christ came to this earth to save the unrighteous into righteousness. 1 Peter 3:18. Unrighteous there is no one righteous. There is someone on your mind right now that you think it is impossible for them to be saved. The person I think of is my brother. He wants nothing to do with God. He could care less. He is unrighteous. BUT God is mighty to save. He came down to save him and he can and will do it regardless the state of his unrighteousness. I was blown away. Somewhere along the line I put him out of the realm of possibility of the reach of God's grace and righteousness, that same grace that is extended to me and I definitely don't deserve it.

Secondly is the song you are sovereign here. Stephen Miller wrote it and it's lyrics are amazing truth. In the midst of unrest and in the midst of your world falling apart he is in control. At the same time when. The sun is shining, the breeze is blowing and life is amazing. God is in control. HE is sovereign here.

No life won't go the way you want it. It won't be easy most of the time. The health and wealth message that is given most of the time along side Christianity is total bunk. Sin came in and ruined perfection. So were spinning our wheels most of the time to just make ends meet and stay on track with God. We can not do anything to fix it. Life got broken a long time ago so of course it's going to suck big ones. But in the midst of that HE is sovereign here. He is in control even though it seems like were crashing and burning. How can he allow it? Why would a good God allow such pain sin and death? It's because of the original sin of man. Adam broke off that communication with God and it's been a down hill go since then. God sent Jesus to bridge the gap. Not as a quick fix or a pick me up but as a promise of eternal life with him. So it's gonna be rough until the day He comes back to claim us, but he is sovereign here. He is in control and Mighty To Save.

Sorry if there are misspellings, grammatical errors or wrong word choices. This came from the iPhone.

30 seconds from now

2009-06-07T19:16:00.002-04:00

Sitting in an airport more often than not makes me want to write. What spurred this one was a girl missing her flight by ten minutes and then spriting off in tears. consider it a creative break from my current series.

30 seconds from now

Hey girl I see the pain in your eyes
The way you try to hide
But you can't hide it any more
It's about to all spill out.

If you think no one notices
If you think no one cares
I do
If you think it's all over
If you think you can't pull through
I do

The world is over thirty seconds from now
Tomorrow is they day that will never come
Just one more breath and it will be ok

Hey man you think no one sees you cry
That you don't wanna fight
You don't know what's in store
And you want to her

If you think there's no answer
If you think it can't be real
I do
If you think it's going to end
If you think no lights comin' through
I do

The world is over thirty seconds from now
Tomorrow is the day that will never come
Just one more breath and everything will be ok

Put aside the tears and grab out to something bigger than yourself
Hope in something more than the fear in your heart
Because I do

The world is over in thirty seconds from now
Tomorrow is the day that will never come
Just one more breath and everything will be ok

Shoestring Stage Design - Part 4

2009-06-03T14:40:00.002-04:00

4. Where do I find materials???

Your local hardware store. No seriously. Lowes or Home Depot are a great resource for throwing something together for your stage at a decent price, especially if you have someone in your church who’s handy with a hammer and saw. More than likely you have someone in your volunteer team who fits that description, and if you don’t maybe it’s time to start broadcasting that you need a volunteer to fill the shoes. I bet if you offer it you’ll get someone. Put it in the bulletin (a concise but explicit description of what you’re looking for) or on your website.

"Design is in everything we make, but it’s also between those things. It's a mix of craft, science, storytelling, propaganda, and philosophy."
Erik Adigard

Second depending on your need you may find local distributors of products in your area. In Houston I found a warehouse distributor that sells corrugated plastics and other sheet materials of the like. This stuff has no bounds for creative uses. It’s cheap too, $10 for a 4ft x 8ft sheet, and it lights really well (previous entry with the heart is what it is made from). Most of these places have a will call for you to come in and pick up whatever amount of material you need, and they work with tax exempt organizations too. Call around, ask when you find a place on line if they have a local distributor to you

If a local resource is impossible or hard to find there are always the big wig companies. See if you can deal direct though rather than through a re-distributor. Usually going this route will shave a few bucks off of your end cost because you’re cutting out the middle man. Get you’re own personal representative within the company that you deal with directly. Form a relationship with the person during your phone calls for orders (a working relationship people). Negotiate, negotiate, negotiate. I don’t know how many times people get on the phone and just take face cost. Most of these companies can fudge a little bit in your favor. Don’t be afraid to ask “what can you do for me here” or “what options do you have that could cut the cost down”. Unfortunately the phrase “in today’s economy” works in your favor a lot of times because these companies are just eager to have business, especially if you’re project is a little on the larger side (yes price negotiation is possible almost anywhere, you don’t know until you try).

Are you looking for lighting gear? this is a good time to start shopping around. Don’t go to a place necessarily because it’s local. Some of these places especially for tech needs like lighting, or simple consumables like gaff price gouge you. Same deal goes for sound gear, or any other gear or consumables. When you’re looking for materials such as plastics or wood, look at it’s reuse possibilities.

Don’t throw scraps away unless there is no possible use for them. Buy in bulk if you can help it and see a use for the left overs in the future. Bulk usually gets you a hefty discount in most arenas. Your church budgeting council (whether its one person or a whole team) will thank you later even though the bill might be a little more daunting to hand them. Also with most companies you can create terms with them for payment, kind of a credit with the company. This ensures you get your product quickly and they bill you for it later. It makes for ease of future purchases, and potentially can help with costs later down the line assuming you pay on time according to your payment terms.

Finally, look around your church. Someone is usually a pac-rat there are always scraps of this or that, in the youth building i found scraps of corrugated metal that I used to face that platform and podium pictured above. That helped tie it into our stage well. There is usually scrap wood, material and various odds and ends that can be used to piece together some creative stage stuff. A little gaff tape or solder and viola....a unique work of art you can be proud of.  

Shoestring Stage Design - Part 3

2009-06-03T13:54:00.003-04:00

LIGHTS, action, camo.

You can do a lot of things on your stage to give it some presence but if you don’t have it lit right or well you can ruin the look. Light has multiple functions, first is to give light on the subject so that the audience can see what is going on. This is incredibly important if you’re doing IMAG (image magnification). You want your subject to be well lit, no shadows or hot spots, and you want them to pop off of the background, especially if you’re against a black or dark colored backdrop.

The next, and most important responsibility of light is to paint the canvas of the stage with color. Color evokes emotion and so you must pay particular attention to how you color your stage. Here is a link to a site discussing color and emotion please forgive the post modern spiritualism crap weaved in. I don’t want to get into art 101 here, and im pretty sure you can google what emotions are evoked with each different color, and what colors go together with other colors. Also, match your backgrounds. Either choose a complimentary of lighting with your slides/lyrics used in worship or a matching color. You don’t want to end up with a puce on stage (a visual equivalent to the color of puke...). You can cover your stage with objects meant to be lit but until you add those strokes of color your stage doesn’t really become engaging or active to the worshiper.

Creating action in your lighting doesn’t necessarily mean using moving lights or chases programmed to timing of the music. While you can create motion using these effects you can create motion on your stage using static lighting. What I mean is highlighting the action points on your stage. Use solo lights. Use back lighting to create shadows. If you’re not using IMAG you have potential to do some very cool lighting effects during worship by back lighting your entire band and dropping out the front light. These silhouettes can create some amazing action on your stage and you didn’t even spend any extra money to get it. Just a few dimmer channels.   

The reason I said camo in the title is that camo has depth. In order to create a great stage look you need to create that depth look with your lighting. No one wants to be bored or disinterested with what they’re looking at and most artwork that is extremely flat is not any fun to look at. It doesn’t evoke anything and does not engage. I’m not saying you need to have 500 colors on your stage, but having multiple colors and depth of shapes helps create shading and dimension. Speaking of camo, have depth to what you light. Layer fabric and texture for a unique look. I found a roll of shrink wrap backstage the other day and the thought occurred to me, why not hang that, pull and stick it together and then light that for a multi dimensional stage look. It’s all about lighting, texture and using what is available. If you want to use literal camo, do that too. go to an army supply store and buy up some of the tent camo to light (the white stuff preferably, or paint the green/tan stuff white).  

Lighting can add a lot to your stage design with out adding any or little cost but is definitely something you need to go into with planning and purpose. Things can of course be done on the fly as you’re putting it together. Most of my genius inspiration comes on the fly ;-). But a game plan works wonders in saving time while you’re setting stuff up.

...still to come

Where do I find materials???
I need inspiration, HELP!
We’re a church not a night club.

Shoestring Stage Design - Part 2

2009-05-28T17:42:00.004-04:00

2. Projection is your friend.

Something that is coming up into church production is projection. If you’ve got the equipment to do some cool projection in your environments you have an inexpensive way to add some engaging worship elements. Of course the cost here is time in producing unique elements but you’re able to taylor each piece custom to your need. There is a whole new market of creatives that have begun to open themselves up to the church world. Worship VJ, video jockey - yes this is a throw back term to radio days...a disk jockey. This person is one who creates visual worship environments using projection in a space.

"The visual image is a kind of tripwire for the emotions."
Diane Ackerman

One growing form of this is environmental projection. Taking projectors outside of the confines of the screen and projecting on walls, sides of buildings, on people, across platforms, etc. A couple of people who are doing this well are Cameron Ware check out his blog on visual worship at http://visualworshiper.com/blog/ or Greg Dolezal & Stephen Proctor over at http://worshipvj.com

VJ (short for) :: Video Jockey (meaning) :: One who creatively captures and effectively communicates a specific message using a wide range still and moving imagery.

If you’re worried about creating a variation of staging elements, cost of materials or lack of creativity on the stage, but you’re knocking it out of the park on the video elements why not consider taking your strong point fully into the room. Imagery can help engage and enhance worship, and it is also a good idea to have the input of your worship leader/pastor. You don’t want to do something that detracts from the spirit of the song or moment. At the same time you may run into some pastors who are either not entirely creative or what you are trying to accomplish goes over their heads. In that case take care not to offend, but also take care to mold and shape their suggestions into something they can own during the set. I have found myself sitting during many worship sets across quite a few different churches where I scratch my head at the background selection. I don’t think that was the intended reception for it, but that is certainly what came across.

This is something you can chance regularly without much effort or expense so get creative with how you project and what you’re projecting. http://www.renewedvision.com/ has a couple pieces of worship software for the mac that has many different applications for the worship environment including a way to split images across multiple screens. I am by far no expert in this area, but am continuing to explore new ways to engage the worshipers in new ways.

"Designers can create normalcy out of chaos; they can clearly communicate ideas through the organizing and manipulating of words and pictures."
Jeffery Veen

to come...

LIGHTS, action, camo.
Where do I find materials???
I need inspiration, HELP!
We’re a church not a night club.

Shoestring Stage Design - Part 1

2009-05-27T16:06:00.004-04:00

-designing creative worship environments on a tight budget

I work for a youth ministry doing technical production and don’t always get the largest budget with which to be creative. I have to justify for every penny I spend because sometimes, the ideas I have are a little more harebrained than one might normally come up with. The designs have to be more engaging than it would be for an older demographic because kids are bombarded with incredulous stage designs and production values. You can’t one up music videos, MTV or VH1 music award shows, Miss America pageants, Good Morning America or American Idol. Thankfully you don’t have to. No one expects anything from the church which is a good thing...and an incredibly sad one. So the only limitations you have are set by yourself and whoever governs your stage design. Once you set a certain level of design you’re going to have to keep it up in one way or another.

The best way I can tell you to keep up your level of design, is surround yourself with creative people, resources, and when you buy materials buy multipurpose. Design stuff with a future use in mind because one day instead of going out to buy a gaggle of one thing or another you’ll already have something you can either use in lieu of, or along the same lines of what you’re initially thinking. Also if it’s a disposable material...try and get as many uses out of it as possible. Either incorporate it into your next design to keep costs down, or use it soon after. These are some ways to keep an air of consistency throughout your designs.

In these next couple of blogs I’ll talk about my design process and how to create some cool stuff with what you have and a little help from home depot.

Substance abuse or looking good?

The age old question, form (looking good) over function, or do you design for the series topic (the substance)? This is the first thing that I start throwing against the wall like cooked spaghetti and if it sticks I go with it. This is all dependent on what you’re asked for. Sometimes you can come up with some incredibly creative elements that fit your theme, and other times you can’t touch it with a ten foot pole. If you’ve got a series on relationships, there is a plethora of material you could use that would be either inexpensive, edgy or laying around your house that you could use to knock it home visually to your audience. If you’re allowed, a bed in the center of your stage could give a bit of the forbidden allure to the topic at hand. I’m pretty sure everybody has a spare bed somewhere in the church that you could manage to wrangle up there. One church in Ohio built a large heart-shaped bed in the center of their stage. Whimsical, edgy and communicative. What I decided to do was create four foot 3D hearts out of corrugated plastic, some lumber and our existing LED lighting fixtures which gave me any amount of color options I wanted on stage. A 4ft x 8ft sheet of this plastic was $10, it took two per heart and I created two. Lumber add another $25. So i created unique staging elements with a theme for around $70.

I’ve been amazed at how often those outside the discipline of design assume that what designers do is decoration. Good design is problem solving.

— Jeffrey Veen

Not everything has to be with a theme though. Sometimes your creative layout can be with the way you stage your band, use your existing lighting, and maybe a few other pieces just to create a nice visual look. Ikea paper lanterns and bulb strands are an incredibly cheap, reusable and warm creative resource to give a homey, ‘cool’ look to your stage. You can vary your look too with different sized paper lanterns, and what I found is if you’ve got LED par cans just use the frame holder in the can, slip the paper lantern ring into it and viola you have a color changing paper lantern you can hang anywhere on your stage. I used these to create a homey ambience on the stage, but not necessarily adhering to a particular themed look.

Sit down with your team and decide if there is a particular creative element that will drive your series. It may be something small to accent your entire design that will make people stop and go wow. Sometimes even your theme or series can be lacking in the creative flow. This is a good time for you to make magic happen. Boost the creativity of the group by coming up with some crazy awesome stuff looks wise. Sure the theme may be lacking in creativity but that doesn’t mean you have to.  

to come...

Projection is your friend.
LIGHTS, action, camo.
Where do I find materials???
I need inspiration, HELP!
My name is what?

you fail, I fail, we all fail. hooray.

2009-05-19T15:29:00.002-04:00

Alright I suppose that is a little depressing.

But it is entirely true. I sit around the youth office and we have discussions about Christian media and how much it makes Jesus cringe. So I'll just go down the list of what makes Jesus cry.

Christian Media
Christian Music
The Church
The World
You
I

sooo everything?

Most of this is the ME factor.

We are selfish and cannot see beyond our own goals, dreams or accomplishments.

Isaiah 2:22 Stop regarding man in whose nostrils is breath, for of what account is he?

This is not a natural phenomena, nor is it a recent one.
This thing called, sin (what is sin? sin is anything that is not a part of, or perfect or righteous in God) it came in and separated man from God, it put us on the outside looking in so to speak. It introduced a selfish agenda into our nature instead of a God centered agenda.
It's not recent either. Go back in time and you find examples of biblical proportions of selfish ambition and vain conceit (Philipplians 2:3). Moses, out of selfishness beat the rock to get water out of it when he was told to just speak of it. Adam and Eve wanted to be "like god" and ate the fruit.

To dig down under the surface we see most of these huge moral failings happen when man begins to rely upon either another human or themselves for strength and understanding. It happens to everyone in some way, shape or form (1 Corinthians 10:13). There are also right and wrong ways to deal with it.

The sooner we start realizing that everyone is at fault and begin relying on God and not man the sooner we can rectify the situation and begin NOT grieving God in all of the trivial things. I'm not there yet either. I grieve God daily.

Ephesians 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Religion put Jesus on the cross.

2009-04-02T19:29:00.003-04:00

It's getting close to easter.

Lately more than normal my mind has been going to the Cross. The story of a man, born to die an untimely and brutal death is a compelling one. I was reading a bit in Erwin McManus' book Soul Cravings about the love that Christ has for us. I put that book down a little over a year ago and today I found it sitting in the floorboards of my car and decided to read a bit of it. The book is disjointed, and I remembered why I put it down in the first place, but it took me back to the cross.

Speaking of Christ's compassion, his love for us and the reason he had to come down as a human and die in order to save us, is because there wasn't any one else he could send to do it. An angel could not be that sacrifice, the bulls, rams and birds? they were only temporary. Christ came to put an end to the separation between man and God once and for all.

Now what does this have to do with Religion putting Jesus on the Cross.
I take it to heart when I hear things come from super conservatives. I grew up super conservative and I've seen how it destroys lives. How the legalism and stumbling blocks (which we are told NOT to be) that are set up in Christ's name sake has driven people from the cross instead of to it. I'm not going to take a blog to point fingers. As reminded by Chris we are to speak the truth in love, and it would not be love to sit and bash.

This whole concept of legalism and super conservatism reminds me of the Jews and their failure to see Christ as the answer to scripture. They were so stuck in their scrolls that they could not see the deity of God emanating from this man. God was to come back with a strong hand to rule the world they thought. He was going to come and rid them of the Romans. So when Jesus showed up on the scene in his pure white robe, blue sash, conditioned flowing hair and well groomed beard...oh wait. I'm pretty sure he wasn't your grandma's picture. Are you kidding? The Christ was a man. He got dirty, he smelled, he probably looked bad. He couldn't be the king. In fact most of the religious idiots in those days said Jesus was possessed by a demon.

It didn't take long for those idiots to stir up a hornets nest. The Romans could care less about Jesus, that is until the religous pius pitched a fit and refused to be moved until they were appeased. This religion, which was because of God's love, was rejected, turned into a self loving system, and turned against the very one who initiated it. This religion, it put Jesus on the cross.

I am sad to say that today...my religion also put's Jesus on the cross.

Romans 7:21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.

Many of what religion, or church sets up as "right" or "righteous" today begins with good in mind. Evil lies close at hand. It is that evil, that sin nature, that has put Christ on the cross.

Each sin is what put Christ on that cross. My religion, it put Christ on that cross. My sin, it put Him there. Those lead astray or kept behind because of their religion, that is what has put Christ on the cross. Sin across time was heaped upon Jesus at this one moment in order to completely forgive you once and for all. His love kept Him on that cross.

Thankfully it did not end there.

Christ entered the grave, defeated death and rose to give us new life. From this point we are not enslaved to sin. We have an option to get out. Our sin nature is still in full effect fighting us at every turn, but we've got an option. We can walk away because our sin, it was already dealt with.

So stop worrying about the spec in your brothers eye. I've got a log in mine I'm trying to pull out. I'll worry about that for now thanks. Maybe you ought to try and get rid of yours too.

You know what they say about assuming.

2009-03-25T11:43:00.004-04:00

Assumption - 2. The act of taking for granted, or supposing a thing without proof; supposition; unwarrantable claim.

Inference - The act of reasoning from factual knowledge or evidence.

I'm going to make some general assumptions and or inferences, and these may be offensive or racist but they are assumptions most people make.

Asians are incredibly smart.
White people are rednecks and are prone to alcoholism (and psychotic break downs)
Black people are ghetto.
Indians either have dots or feathers.
Hispanics like tacos.
People from the south talk with a drawl and say y'all.
People from the north talk fast.
If you live in New York you're probably Jewish.
If you live on the west coast you're either a hippy or you're gay.
If you live in Florida more than likely you're a retiree.
European's do not necessarily have good hygiene.
If you're a teenager you're either sexually active or on drugs.
American's are pretentious.
Famous people are crazy.
Religious people are crazy.
America is a Christian Nation.

Don't worry I'm getting somewhere with this.

I was on the elliptical last night at the gym and saw several TV shows on that were crime scene shows. The first assumption/inference that I made was that Crime Scene shows are popular. Think about how many there are, and I'm not even going to google this I'm just going to name them off the top of my head. CSI, CSI New York, CSI Miami, Law and Order, Law and Order:SVU, Law and Order: CI, Bones, Criminal Minds, Ghost Whisperer (yes this is a crime show), NCIS. Ok I think you get the point, there are more. Americans are obsessed with crime shows. Or are we?

I began to seriously think about this and made another assumption/inference. If we're obsessed with crime shows we must be obsessed with finding answers. If we're obsessed with finding answers then we must be asking questions. Then it hit me. The reason we watch TV is because these shows are asking the same questions we're asking. That is why they're so successful.

TV shows dont' tell stories as much as they ask questions that are in tune with the general population.

What happens to people when they die? Is there retribution? How can we know we're doing the right thing? If there is a God why are all of these bad things happening?

Getting out of the crime shows you begin to look at other popular shows.
Lost - poignently asks the question is there life after death?
Heros - asks whether there is more meaning to this life than just to live it?
24 - asks whether or not there is an absolute moral system?
American Idol - asks if there is more to this life.
The Bachelor/ette - asks if there is someone out there who can fufill them.

These questions seem fairly spiritual in nature no?

I'm just going to make an assumption right now but I'm going to assume that we were created to ask these questions.

So God created man in His own image, in the image and likeness of God He created him; male and female He created them. - Genesis 1:27

Behold, God is great, and we know Him not! The number of His years is unsearchable. - Job 36:26

That all the earth’s people may know that the Lord is God and that there is no other. - 1 Kings 8:60

We were created by God in God's image, if we are in the image and likeness of God, then it is safe to assume we are created to know him. Unfortunately we don't know him (sin entered the world and cut that off). It is not that we can not know him though, we have the ability to know God, know what He is about, we just have to look for him...or ask questions.

Now how do we apply this?

Everybody's got their ten cents on this one, here is mine.

As a church we're supposed to be available with the answers to these questions. Now the bible doesn't explicitly teach on each of these questions, but it gives us a pair of glasses with which to interperate facts. Take science for instance. No the bible isn't a science text book, but it gives a form and structure with which to interperate science. Otherwise, left up with our own devices we come up with self-centric solutions that make us god. Unfortunately a lot of churches are not equiped in general to offer answers to most questions that are raised in society today. Instead we think we have to go cram our own personal "bible" (interpretations) down people's throat. Jesus told it how it was when people raised questions, but didn't cram it on people who didn't want it. I think that is part of Jesus' attractiveness. Oh and what he did cram the bible down was the actual church...because they weren't getting it right...sound familiar?

Personally I think we need to dive in and start answering the questions we have our selves so that we in turn can answer others like minded questions. Making our faith our own.

Professionally I'm going to turn this more on the Christian productions that happen because of the crap that comes out of 'hollywood' under the guise of Christian media. Right now we produce media (not all but as a whole) that are answers. The media doesn't pose questions so much as force "answers" on people. The truth of God is as foolishness to those who don't beleive so why start with the assumption that they believe, then you are only trying to reach believers. Maybe instead of trying to produce "Christian media choc full of the 12 essential rules, regulations and answers that everyone needs to fufill their lives" we should start producing media that identifies with the deepest questions and yearnings that every person has.

Why do you think Touched By an Angel ever made it through and lasted. It dealt with the question of Life after Death. Yeah it was cheesey, was not necesarily a protestant view either (Neither was the Passion of the Christ and yet Christians claim that one as a banner). The Passion of the Christ didn't deal directly and identifiably with the diety and authority of Christ. It just showed the brutality of the Roman's toward a man (he died, it showed his humanity, the imagry around the satan and hell was honestly a big vague, and i appologize if it did deal directly but from what stuck with me was more the brutality from that movie, not Christ's diety). Christians understood it to be the reason behind our salvation, but an unsaved person could see it as just another gory history lesson, but it lead to questions. I think that is why it was so effective.

It allowed an open door for questions.
What are you doing in your ministry to allow for questions and dialogue with the community?

Let's get away from the assumption/inference that this is a Christian nation and that everyone knows at least informally about Christ or 'religion'. That was true in 1950. That is not so much true any more. Walk down the street, ask someone who God is....there are hundreds of definitions you will get and most won't be the God of the Bible. Who was Jesus? You're going to get a few odd looks on that one.

Instead let's assume that everyone has questions (and that is a VERY safe assumption).

What are you going to do about it?

what I'm listening to these days.

2009-03-20T13:10:00.002-04:00

Ok,
This is a pointless blog where I tell you about music I've bought lately. Why? Because I can and because I want to. Descriptions will be brief.

Mayday Parade (self titled) - Suggested by Heather
Great CD. Catchy, poppy, fun to listen to.

The Fray (self titled)
Similar to their last album, although their cd layout is different, goes from fast to slow, but the fast isn't all that fast and the slow is down right melancholy. By the end of the cd you're left on a downer and wonder where your razor blades are...no but serioiusly. It's good, but not as good as the last.

The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus - Lonely Road
This is a guilty pleasure CD, I loved the last and I like this one. I'm a sucker for that pop punk sound (insert missing Blink comment here and glad they're "back together")

Jake Holman -I'm EP
I'm biased towards this guy, but that's because I know him personally. He's got a great voice, and huge musical talent.

Cloud Cult - Feel Good Ghosts
This is one of those odd epic trippy albums, some great instrumental parts. The vocals are unique. Not bad though, just unique.

The Faint - Fasciinatiion
A good electronic album if I ever heard one. Just something to groove and get you going. It definitely moves you creatively .

The Ting Tings - We Started Nothing
Yeah this purchase was influenced by the Apple Ipod Shuffle commercial...and I don't care I'm happy with this purchase. Once again a great up tempo electronic quirky album. I dont care for all of the songs, but I did find my self singing along with most of them...yeah

Jimmy Needham - Not Without Love
This guy is the Christian Gavin DeGraw/John Mayer. His lyrics are cleaver and he's easy to listen too. Not a rock out CD, or a worship CD but its great music, and it's pretty deep too.

Amusement Parks On Fire (self-titled)
Great chill rock music to take with you on a long drive.

Mute Math - Spotlight (EP)
I kept telling myself I would not buy this because I was not impressed with one of their live late night preformances. I like it...oh well. so much for that idea. Thankfully this EP doesn't sound like they've sold out, I don't know what their live stuff is like now though.

Some other random crap i picked up was Pinball by Akira Kiteshil, a great little electronica ambeint piece. and Pop Ambient 2009 (Varioius Artist CD) makes for some great background music as you're working.

So there you have it folks, that is what I'm listening too.

Straight from the AudioJunky

this one may be low on my top ten

2009-03-16T20:34:00.002-04:00

But this past Sunday night I had another worship experience that makes it on my top ten most awkward moments in a church.

I went to The Woodlands Church where Jimmy Needham usually leads worship. This was spring break weekend...Jimmy Needham was not there.

Instead there was this band. I will say this much, they were all talented musicians. Now moving beyond that they looked like a lumberjack, a hot chick, someone from a hardcore band and some dude from the chess team merged to form this band. Looks you can get around. There were no familiar worship songs were played, all of their own stuff. The opening lyrics were something like, "Rip open my chest and stand inside, burst open my veins and blood run down". Something odd like that. Almost everyone of the songs went like that.

So then comes the question. If the band was engaged in authentic worship and this verse is true why not worship anyway?

John4. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.

I must say it was distracting, not only because the lyrics were just odd, and it was hard to understand what they were singing when they sang. It was also distracting because it seemed more like a "worship CONCERT" than being lead in worship. Also I would say 98% of that room was confused and weirded out by what was actually going on and then intent of the evening.

I tried to engage in worship, but the atmosphere was truly not conducive.

Worship is not always music either, it's you're lifestyle. You don't walk out of the 'worship service' and stop living/worshiping in spirit and in truth. I believe that verse is talking about the people God is seeking are those 24 hour worshipers. Get some coffee, wake up, and realize your calling. Each is uniquely different and still so much the same because the same spirit binds us all.

video me

2009-03-08T18:45:00.000-04:00

I'm trying this out.

http://12seconds.tv/channel/audiojunky

Watchmen

2009-03-06T12:03:00.003-05:00

*PUCH* I've always been better than you, you just don't under stand what I'm doing, that's why I'm the worlds smartest man. *AUUGGGGGGGHHHHH* *kicks and misses* *breathes hard* you're never going to get away with this, the world must know what evils you have been committing under that mask. *LAUGHS* *throws caped guy into the air* If you ever do tell the world...who is going to believe you.

That was the last 20 minutes of The Watchmen. Proof that superhero's/villains dialogue during their fights. If not for that the movie was pretty good. A little drawn out (then again when watching it at 2am anything seems drawn out). Great amounts of violence and gore. For that I was pleased. Seriously some of the sickest fight sequences in a movie of that kind.

Be forewarned, there is plenty of nudity and sex to go around in the movie, so it's not something you want to take the family to go see, or go to on date night.

Over all I would give this movie a 6 or 7 out of 10.

I got more excited for the Harry Potter, Star Trek and Transformer II previews though. Seriously who's with me on those?! JJ Abram's is going to kick but on Star Trek and hopefully revive the series. Yeah I'm a Trekkie nerd. You get geeked over stuff too.

Ok my post is actually over so I'm going to go back to work now.

PS I got my iPhone replaced yesterday because the vibrate/ring button fell off. I still love my phone, and now I have a new one. It's syncing my music and all of my contacts have already been restored. Thank you Apple, or making my phone experience so amazing.

relationship qualifiers.

2009-02-28T16:21:00.003-05:00

Was talking to a friend today about relationships and what we look for in the opposite sex. Here are some qualifiers. (but not necessarily disqualifies).

*copied*
intelligent, funny, sarcastic, is ok with not talking all of the time (just hanging out), cute, walks to her own beat (cookie cutter in her looks and personality is not good)
enjoys movies, traveling(anywhere and everywhere), music, concerts
likes/tolerates sci fi,can handle my eclectic music selections (don't worry I'm not going to force you to listen to hardcore) and can take sarcasm like there is no tomorrow.
oh, love Jesus but that's a given.
and be ok with me making no money working in a church
*/copied*

does that describe the perfect woman? nah.
It's a start.

There are days when it would be nice to have a relationship, and others where I'm glad I don't have to put forth the time or effort.

My perfect woman is out there, waiting for me, for the right time. I'm gonna wait for her.

There have been times where I've found someone I've total compatible with, but because of my inability to be subtle at crucial moments, I have ruined it.

I suck at relationships, and maybe I'm afraid of commitment. It sure as heck ain't about sewing my wild oats and being tied down to one person.

Today relationships take longer because there is more to do beyond family. People have more opportunities to see the world, work interesting places and seek out risky opportunities. If you're held back by a spouse you'll never know the 'what if' and so a lot of people put that part of the equation off for a while longer. I sure wouldn't have ended up in Texas very easily had I been married or in a relationship.

a story from yesterday.

I was walking to Japinero's (sushi) from my car and walked across this loading area. Some ladies in a car whipped it into the space and came inches from hitting me. They did it on purpose to scare the ever loving crap out of me. They waved me over to their window, if we hit you and you messed up your teeth we could have worked on your teeth. These ladies worked in a dental office. I was kind of pissed because...well I'm not sure why, this whole thing was super awkward, its funny now but at the moment it was not. I just kind of gave them a look and said, I've had enough oral surgery to last me a life time I don't want any more.

Then I walked away...someone was being mr. grumpy pants yesterday and that someone was me.

PS Hulu made Boxee.tv stop feeding their stream to their product so now other than spending money on itunes shows my appletv is a brick...thanks hulu for being nonsensical.

in my life be lifted high

2009-02-20T19:12:00.002-05:00

I'm sitting here and listening to a worship rehearsal go on and I'm listening to this chorus' lyrics.

In my life be lifted high

In my world be lifted high

In my love be lifted high

Is God being lifted high in my life right now?

I would say in some areas yes, but the harsh reality is there are more areas that I would have to answer no to that question.

It's not that there is something in particular wrong. I haven't taken a nose dive. I haven't run off the road. I haven't been an unspeakable horrible person.

More like a low tire. Maybe the crash after a caffeine high.

Something feels a little lopsided, A little sluggish.

I think that at this point as I just take a second to step back and evaluate. I am not putting my life in light of who HE is. How great God is. How he provides for me at every turn. How undeserving I truly am of his mercy and grace.

Last night in Bible study we talked about salvation, about sin entering the world and separating us from God and it began to make me think how unworthy I am of that grace. I am certain that on a day to day basis I do things that grieve the spirit of God. I am a selfish, lustful, prideful, harsh, bigoted creature. The simple fact that I am living is a testament to God's mercy and grace because if it were up to myself I should be struck down where I stand.

Christ 2,000 years ago took on flesh. Gave up the comfort of being God and subjected himself to pain, hunger, temptation, disappointment, loneliness, and ridicule. He was beaten, spit upon, abused. He had his flesh ripped from his body, beard plucked from his face and hair torn out of his head. He was hung from a cross and had every bone popped out of socket. That was nothing in comparison when every sin that had been committed and would be committed suddenly was placed on Christ, the sacrifice once and for all. Then because God who his all holy, all righteous and all just and cannot be a part of sin turned his back on His Son.

Jesus died, once and for all as the final sacrifice for mine and your (insert sin here). He was put in the grave but it didn't stop there. He resurrected and ascended to Heaven. Giving us the hope for a future with Christ and also claiming victory over death and the grave that had been introduced by the original sin of Adam. We weren't made for death. We were not made for separation from Christ. Jesus' sacrifice fixed that. There is a simple answer for that hole that everyone longs to fill, and thank goodness it's nothing you or I can do.

So another question is... Why don't you or I live like we're saved?

It's one thing to sing 'in my life be lifted high' and it's another thing to live like it.

It isn't easy. I struggle every day. I know you do too. You will until that day when you are with God and in your glorified body. The people that say once you're a Christian you will never have another problem, temptation or struggle is a liar, and you know where liars go. (just kidding... kind of)

My current prayer:

PS. 51:12 (ESV) Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.

If I was building a new facility I would…

2009-01-23T10:17:00.003-05:00

*warning tech blog ahead*
I was asked to write down my thoughts on what a new building a/v wise would look like. It is all subjective to your space and your needs so it's kind of vague in a lot of areas.

If I was building a new facility I would…

Infrastructure:

Accessible lighting positions, either by catwalk or motor lift trusses.
Enough power potentially run my equipment (mainly lighting) , foreseeable/unforeseeable expansion and have enough power to run outside events with little to no problems.
Run lines not only to where I want cameras now, but expansion in the future.
Pipe grid over the stage for easy access and multiple hang locations.
Stage wise, depending on how modular you want to make things I like the portability and flexibility of using breakout boxes rather than floor boxes so I can just drop my inputs near my audio sources. (Modular power is a huge plus as well)
I would make sure that my audio booth is out in the sweet spot of the room so that the mix is as even as possible.
Build a couple isolation cabinets somewhere off stage to throw your guitar amps. No need to give antsy old people another complain point and it gives you more head room on your DB range.
Inputs to your video system from the stage. DVI, 5pin BNC (any other host of signal inputs you can think of.
Plan for people. Dream up of a couple staff members you’d like to see in place to take care of some things, even if they are part time positions. What would the dream look like though? Someone to do lights full time, audio full time, video full time, staging full time?
Set up a volunteer infrastructure. Develop a way to plan, schedule and get people involved. The biggest sell to keeping people in church is getting them and keeping them involved and taking ownership of the services. It’s a huge reward watching people get gratification out of what they’re doing. (sometimes you may sacrifice a little bit of quality or consistency, but in the scheme of eternity what is that?) planningcenteronline.com is a great resource to track, schedule and plan worship services.

Equipment:
I’m not going to specify to many brands because a lot of the stuff is totally subjective to your needs and your budget.

I love the Digico boards just because of their flexibility in the mix environment and sound. Their effects plug ins aren’t so great though so I would make sure you have a good selection of outboard gear with digital i/o for loss of integrity. I would definitely go digital for the flexibility you gain for having multiple services (helps with different service styles, etc.) The Yamaha M7CL is a good midsized board. . Go with something that is expandable, you want to be able to grow beyond your current needs. Whether you buy something that has more channels than you would ever imagine using or you buy something that can add i/o modules. Also you want something that is going to be easy to train people to use, and practically dummy proof. Shop around, this is a huge needs based product.
Buy something with aviom support(or other IEM capable system) Killing your stage volume is a huge must. It will save people’s ears and take care of the mud that you end up with in the FOH.
Cabinet wise I would find an audio guy you trust (a lot of A/V guys take churches for a ride) to spec out your room. Some venues are going to sound amazing with a line array, and others are going to sound great with a specific cabinet set up. So again I’m not going to specify a ton in this area, except invest in a professional. Meijer make some killer install sound though, and the more wattage the better. I’d rather have a killer system that I scale back on a regular basis than a system I have to push and worry about frying every Sunday.
Lighting console, I like Jands Vista. It’s again a very flexible piece of equipment without a huge learning curve. They have a huge spread of devices to choose from, and its both a mac and pc based platform, so If you want to take work home with you, you can. One thing I would suggest investing in if you’ve got the extra money is a CAD visualizer so when you’re programming offline you can see what you’re doing a little easier.
Buy a hazer, CO2 based hazers hang around longer in the air because it chills the solution. Oil based sticks around in the air longer too, although there aren’t many oil based that are considered to safe.
Video again is subjective; you definitely want something with big expansion capabilities. You don’t want to get something that is going to limit you in 2 years when you decide you want 3 more cameras in your service. I would also think very hard about the HD/SD issue. I would get a board that is compatible with both (we’re getting ready to install a grass valley kayak). In a church environment especially the HD components are not practical at the moment. HD projectors do not come with enough lumens for the buck to support a bright stage environment versus a SD projector.
Renewed Vision’s Pro-presenter software is something I’d seriously recommend to anyone for words/graphics. It’s simple to use, robust for almost any need you would have and wit h it’s modules like the triple head to go system you can get some pretty sweet video effects (triple head to go is an inexpensive way to do a seamless video across a triple projection system).
Depending on the ceiling height I would consider using all intelligent lights for my lighting. (minus house lights) Martin makes a nice looking intelligent light with a conventional bulb so you have great lighting for video and have the versatility to throw that light anywhere you need it.
Projection the big names are Eiki and Christie, same company, different names. Sanyo is the same too. 16x9 in my opinion is better. People are getting used to seeing that everywhere, and it just looks better. High contrast. High contrast high contrast. There is nothing worse than looking at a washed out image that isn’t actually washed out. (10,000:1? Yes please). DLP is better for cinema projection LCD technology is best for graphic reproduction. So again, venue & purpose come into play here.
Cameras are a ballpark that I am not to experienced in so I don’t want to touch to heavy on that. Full cameras are easier to work from a ‘broadcast’ perspective than a handy cam or portable cam. The most expensive part of the camera is the glass. So depending on your venue size make sure you’ve got enough zoom capability in whatever lenses you buy. Cameras that work well in low light are a plus too. That way in worship settings you’ve got more flexibility in how you light and how you shoot.

Take Aways:

The biggest take away is expansion. You can always build for your needs now, but then in 4 years when you’ve outgrown your current potential you’re in a pickle again. So go big that way you don’t have to go home.
The second is budget. Make the church budget committee realize that the building isn’t the big cost, A/V is. To do it right you need money. Radio Shack does not qualify as decent A/V.
Third is time. Take the time to get some professionals you trust in to go over your new space with you and build the best system possible for what you need. (worship style, culture, and current needs vs. future growth)

Religious Fashion Shows

2009-01-20T23:48:00.004-05:00

This is going to be an interesting blog post, and something that is very open ended. My thoughts are not your thoughts and so forth.

I want to talk a little bit about worship and the 'religious fashion show' that we put on. I heard a comment that modern worship music is shallow and repetitive, and that hymns are where the meat of theology are.

I'm not going to attack hymns out right. I think they do have some great relevance to speak into our lives. I think a lot of time and effort by some great Christians went into writing those lyrics. Now had God given us those hymns in a book and labeled it the bible part 2 and gave explicit instructions that if we were to add or subtract from it in our worship, then we would be lead to use only those for our praise.

As I see it worship music is a stem of our passion for Christ and his instilling of creative ability in his children. Psalm is mainly a book of poems and songs written by David (and a few other writers) as their expression to God. I think that as we sit and reflect on God, who he is and what he has done in our lives that what results is true, authentic worship. For people who are lyrically and musically inclined this authentic worship will sometimes result in music being written. When a worship pastor selects songs to be done in a service, I think there should be a lot of thought put into the selection. Mainly as to how this presents the throne of Christ and how it connects to you personally and to the people you're leading.

There are a lot of subjective issues in worship. For instance, Friend of God does not speak to me in any way shape or form and I have taken an issue with the song. People who know me know that. If I were to get up and lead worship there is no way that I would use this song to lead by because it doesn't speak to me or lead me to the throne of God and result in authentic worship.

To say that one form of music is preferable over another is simply that, a preference. There is no reason to be dogmatic over style. If you are living a life of worship (which is what we are all called to do) then I'm not sure I see a reason to attack one side or the other.

Now to say that modern worship music is repetitive? I would say that is somewhat correct. I would not however say that there is something completely wrong with that. There are not a whole lot of words to tell my God how worthy he is. A lot of times I am left speechless in light of His grace. The repetitive chorus gives you something quick to latch on to, something that you are able to let go of having lyrics on the screen(or in your hand). Something you can own, close your eyes, lift up your voice and just let God in a few simple words how amazing he truly is.

Does every song provide that same type of experience, does each song do that for each and every person? nope.

I don't want to dive into theology. There isn't enough time in the day. If your worship leader is doing his or her job they should be diving into the meat of the song before it hits your ears in the auditorium. If there is something that raises an eyebrow then maybe it should be shelved until you can figure out why there is a question. I don't care if it's catchy, it does need to mean something.

An exercise of sorts: make up your own lyrics if you can't 'get into a song'. Sing them in the instrumental riffs. Tell God what he means to you outside of the song. I'll tell you what, it's hard to find the words.

So on to hymns. I can throw the repetitive arguments at the hymns as well. 18 verses and 18 choruses later of Amazing grace or Just As I Am and I'm about ready to run up on stage and shove the worship leaders head in the piano or pipe organ. I don't care if you know all of the verses and can sing all four parts to the chorus, that gets stale and stagnant. Hymns are also extremely liturgical.

liturgy

1 often capitalized : a Eucharistic rite
2: a rite or body of rites prescribed for public worship
3: a customary repertoire of ideas, phrases, or observances

If you get down to the core of liturgy you see repetition, tradition, and...dare i say it, staleness. The hymns have a hard time today because they are almost to wordy. They are also as in the case of a King James translation difficult to understand to people who didn't grow up on them, or don't speak old English. The reason people don't want to get rid of hymns is because of a word in that first sentence, tradition. This is the way we've always done it and this is the way we should continue to do it.

I'm not a fan of that statement at all. Change has been a HUGE catchphrase politically, but it has been at the forefront of the church for centuries. Jesus came on the scene as a catalyst for change, he wanted to do away with the Jewish liturgy. No body liked that to much either. Christ's statement to his disciples was, you're going to do greater things than I have done, now get going. You know what that says to me? KEEP MOVING FORWARD. Today's worship phenomenon is not going to be where it ends, and the hymns are no longer where it is at.

Yes modern worship music connects with me, but I hope that out of the inspiration from others as I grow in my faith, and grow in my age I will continue to connect and adapt as an influx of new worshipers lead music for me and other believers throughout the world.

I don't want to pick something I'm comfortable in. I want to invade the worship of those to come after me, that I may be able to speak life to them as well.

As far as the Religious Fashion Show goes, I was reading in Matthew 22(the Message) the last statement in that chapter was Religious Fashion Show. It's in reference to the religious leaders trying to trip up Jesus at every turn just so they could have something to justifiably mad at him with. It goes without saying I think that we see our own religious fashion show going on in churches today. In more ways than this issue, but we see it here too. I say it's all hymns, and she says it's all modern music. You're the pastor what do you say it is?

There is no kosher answer without throwing one or the other under the bus.

If we're living a true authentic lifestyle of worship then we should want our life to reflect and invade any worship style. It may not necessarily be what we like, but our heart should be able to commune with other believers under any circumstance and worship the creator with one accord.

If you can't get past the issue of music in one church there is always another church somewhere else that might be more to your liking. I would suggest going to that church rather than causing problems at the one you're currently attending. Christ did not command us to cause division but to be united as one body under the Holy Spirit.

Vision

2009-01-16T10:37:00.004-05:00

When you think of vision what is the first thing that comes to mind?

This is something that our staff is digging deep into over the next few weeks at Sugar Creek. Where have you come from, what are you doing and where are you going to go.

Personally I think vision needs to be incredibly detailed. Christ was explicit with his vision for Israel, he got specific with numbers of the people (you will be more than the grains of sand). He got specific for the land they were to be given (you will have the land between this river and this river even though its occupied by others). He was specific about time frames, about being captured, about growing, about the messiah coming.

Once the messiah was on the scene Christ got specific about his church. He gave a vision for who would lead the church, how it should look, how it will grow and how it will end.

Vision is specific because it gives you a place to go.

That being said, for all of you who live in the past, the past is important to look back on and reflect on. But you don't live there, you learn from there. The present is good as well. You end up staying in the present and your life will have no momentum. That is why you go toward the future.

A couple years ago I received a vision for my life and where I should be. I got a vision to work in a church, doing what I love and impacting the church for Christ through tech and media. I'm there. Now that I've reached that part it's time to recast vision for my life. What will it look like 5 years from now?

I don't think that vision is something that is stagnant and never changing. Sure set goals that are big, but somewhat attainable. Once you reach them wipe your slate clean and start again. Pray, recast the vision for you, your ministry or what not once you reach or come close to your current vision. It could take a couple years or it could take 20 years to get there, but don't stop once you get there. That just means you're growing and being active in your faith. Your faith doesn't ever stop so why should your vision stop, or run out, or die?

In developing a vision, I do think that it should be something that is bigger than yourself. Something that is totally outside the box, outside of your comfort, something that God is going to be able to accomplish, not you. I do not think however that it should be something so outrageous or vague that there is no way it is ever going to happen.

So I would say that some of the goals for 2009 are part of my vision. I also pray that God gives me a vision bigger than myself, something out of the box and outside of my comfort zone for the future. I'm not sure what that looks like yet, but I'm on the path to try and figure that out.

This could be more in depth, but I'm also sitting here and lending my ear to Kay Arthur as she speaks so that she doesn't clip or junk like that. Then after this is done my vision for the day is: I'm going to go get lunch and get a hair cut. The faux hawk is gonna go away. Time for a change. After that I'm going to bust out some prep work for Sunday (and a little for the saturday 'training session') and change out some projector lamps. Then a work out and who knows what happens tonight.

2009-01-12T18:39:00.003-05:00

It was presented at the table on Tuesday that we were having a round table discussion on our current series topic for the message on Sunday. The topic was on God, the Bible and other questions you may have about your faith, We're calling it EVIDENCE. One thing about students, and most people in general is that you're going to be sitting in silence for a long time because no one likes to get up and ask the first question, or sound like an idiot. So we needed some kind of anonymity. Kids automatically are drawn to technology like their cell phones. Services that take text and put them on a website for some kind of dissemination is pretty stinking expensive, and more robust than what we needed. Some churches do these types of things all of the time and need a little more consistent support.

If you've got the time, effort and a few volunteers you can get it done for free and offer students, or your congregation a chance to interact with you on stage, and maybe help a few people defend their faith.

Most people have texting capabilities today, if they're not paying for it monthly, they can send a text for $0.10. Set up a free email account, (gmail, yahoo, hotmail) just to name a few. keep the address name as short as the service will let you, 6 characters is the general minimum. This way people will not have to take forever entering it in their phone.

We set up a general email address to use on future occasions, it was short and easy to remember once we took it off the screen. Have your moderator or speaker get up and present it to everyone, phones today can send a text to an email address (in place of a phone number). If it can't then you've probably got an iphone or blackberry and can just email the address.

From there I opened up a group chat window in ichat (everyone on stage had macs) and would list off the questions while the people on stage answering the questions would sort through and let me know what questions they wanted to tackle next. Then my graphics opperator would copy and paste the question from the email into ProPresenter and display the question real time.

In a group of close to two hundred kids we had around 50 serious emails that came in (65+ if you count then ones asking why the guys on stage were so sexy).

While the answers may have been a little long, because this was the first time we've done anything like this, some of it may have gotten lost on the kids. We at least had peaked the attention of students and gotten into their world of text and technology in a relevant way. With the 30 some odd unique questions posed there was no way to answer them all in the hour slot. So now we're going to tackle each question in a series of blogs on the student website, www.lyf.net, also referencing some solid online resources so that the students can better defend their faith in an world that isn't alwas the easiest to stand up in.

If there is an opportunity to have an open discussion like this again a few tweaks to the process may be that one person instead of multiple answer the questions while another person on that staff or team is in the back sorting through and picking the best handfull of questions for the presenter to go through. (I was in the back acting more as a filter instead of a question moderator).

Research the topic you're planning on answering thouroughly, don't go up on stage and expect to know it all. Kids have some incredibly deep theological questions today because of the gap between school and the Bible. They are presented that it's either one or the other, not both, and that the Bible is a fairy tale (so take your guess at which one they end up thinking is better to believe in? It's not the Bible).

You may understand in your heart why you believe those things, but it's a little harder to articulate those issues on the spot.

The Obligatory New Years Post

2009-01-02T03:15:00.001-05:00

I'm sitting here on the plane ride back to Houston. So I figured I would pound out a blog entry while my iphone charges (watching a movie eats battery like no other, although I was kinda bored this afternoon and read twitter a lot too, so that might have had something to do with it). It's really dark out right now. I love looking down over the cities and looking at the lights at night. It really puts you in your place. How everything is orchestrated and how everything is put together by God.

2008 in a nutshell(semi-sequencial order):
- Work at Answers in Genesis
- Get entirely to frustrated while working there and want to quit.
- Set a date and when no job came got out regardless.
- Trusted God would put me where he wanted me.
- Worked for two months in a restaurant.
- Interviewed and landed a job placing me in Sugar Land, Texas.
- Saw God move in that he wanted me in Texas.
- Happily worked the past few months at said job.
- Met some great people.

2008 had its ups and downs but I'm happy with the way it turned out. It was rough on a lot of people and I praise God that even though things aren't exactly as planned he is still sovereign and he is still in control.

I left a lot of good friends in Ohio who shaped my life for the good. God put me in the midst of more people who are going to initiate even more life change. I am extremely thankful for that and look forward to working hard this coming year and forming even more relationships with the people I have met, and have yet to meet.

One thing I do wish is that I would have seen my brother stop throwing his life away. He has a beautiful baby girl with his girlfriend, and unfortunately it's almost like they got a new puppy that mom and dad will take care of when the excitement wears off. If you pray, I ask you do so for him.

Something that I want to see in 2009 is that Christ uses me for His glory and significance. I want to grow in him, and I want to force myself out of my comfort zone and do something big. I don't know what that will be. I'm sure God will be all over that one though!

Oh yeah, I want to bungee jump, sky dive and take some trips this year too. Anyone want to give me a few grand to make those happen?

given a purpose to grow.

2008-12-29T13:39:00.005-05:00

If you go to google there will be a good debate over what the top ten religions are (size wise) but what there is not a whole lot of debate over is one of the fastest growing religions.

Islam.

While most people will nod to this 'fact', it is also something that will make your skin crawl. A lot of people (or maybe just me) still question why this religion is capturing so many people who are seeking. Christianity continues in most circles to be the largest organized religion, it is also the most criticized and is possibly atrophying(in the US anyway). Why can you see these obvious growth trends? Why is Christianity loosing people, even to the likes of Islam and the LDS church?

I can give two simple reasons that I see within the body of Christ as to why this is true (and to why Christianity is growing so rapidly in places like China).

REASON and ACTION

These two play heavily into your volunteer base as a church, especially youth ministry and student volunteers. Muslims and Mormons both put much action to their faith, Muslims albeit radicals see a jump in growth because of the action taken to their faith through jihad and their practices. Mormons are extremely active in converting people and reaching out. Most Christians sit on their hands. So you wonder why people end up falling by the wayside. I don't have an explicit answer on how to get people actively involved in their faith, and how to keep them there, honestly there are not enough tasks to fit every person's unique abilities and keep everyone involved all of the time. But there does need to be opportunity for people to put action to their faith.

Faith without works is dead.

If it wasn't for opportunities to serve, to make my faith real and to work out for myself why I believed what I believed I could have very easily fallen into the apathetic Christian column. In youth I worked in drama, in college I was not involved and could care less about church, when I graduated I became so involved in tech and ministry that it finally clicked. I cannot make my relationship with Christ work on my own. I cannot sit and read or pray myself into submission to Christ and his will, only through working out my faith can I find out my purpose in Him and through ACTION I not only put motion to my faith but put proof to my faith to others.

Islam gives action to their faith, Mormon's give action to their faith, Catholics give action to their faith (yeah penance and confession is action).

So what opportunities are you giving people to give action to their faith? I think we can cut the attrition rate by giving opportunities to serve. Traditionally the 'christian' church is a sit and gorge buffet. Then you go and live your life to cycle back to Sunday and do it all over again. Christ never intended you to sit on your butt and play church. Work with church members to find their fit. So they're not technical, make sure that they make it into another ministry. So they can't teach or aren't a people person but maybe they can push buttons like no body's business. You also have to take into account that this is on their free time, so gratitude is in order for even the smallest task.

The other part to attrition in the church is REASON. Most people don't know why they believe what they're told to believe. It plays into ACTION very well, because in order for people to put motion behind their faith they need to know why they're doing it. This goes back to youth ministry as well, start young. If you give kids a REASON to put ACTION to their faith they have a much greater possibility of staying connected to their faith after they graduate.

I see so many kids week in and week out who struggle with who they are and why they show up on a weekly basis. Most of them are forced to church by their parents and have no more REASON to be there than the next person. Stop teaching the prosperity gospel, stop teaching 'love' (clarification: by love I mean teaching that all there is to Christ is love, and that it's all fluffy feel good stuff) and begin giving people the foundation behind their faith, there is such a thing called sin. That is why we're stuck in such a degenerate world. Why is the Bible true? Why is God who he says he is? Science v. Creation, is there a difference?

I'm proud to be part of a ministry that is giving kids these answers and the traction to their faith, albeit this is something that is very difficult to keep on top of.

Statistically those who are involved and take ownership of something stay involved, this is true for just about anything you apply it to, whether school, sports, family or church. How can we increase our volunteer base to give people ownership of their faith? What opportunities in the church are we not exploiting to give people an opportunity to serve?

What is the REASON and ACTION behind your faith?

*edit*
What is it that motivates my life to action?
It's something that is hard to put words to because I just came to a place where I knew that is what I had to do.

I guess to put some words to it is the knowledge that I am doing what Christ wants me to do spurs me on. My service is my act of worship.

Once the action was in place, to the point where I was consistently serving I felt more of a practical connection to what I believed. It is my purpose to help lead others in worship through tech and to train others and give them the opportunity to do the same.

I'm not necessarily sure how to translate that to others though except for living it out, and praying I inspire others to the same. It is more of the spirit living in you, and pouring out through what you do. Some people figure out their calling the moment they're saved, some people are called to just be Christians where they're at. Me, I fought being called to ministry. I just came to a point one day for no particular reason where it made sense and I surrendered to whatever and wherever I was sent.

What not to do, medication style.

2008-11-24T14:16:00.002-05:00

I've been having sinus problems for the past month. I took some antibiotics while I was moving to TX thinking that would clear it up. Apparently not. It got better for a while, and it feels like it's coming back again. So i stopped at my local Walgreen and picked up some Mucinex D. If you've never taken the stuff it's pretty powerful. It will clear you out quick. I'm just not so sure my body likes pseudoephedrine.

What is interesting about it is it put my grandpa in the hospital (I had forgotten about that). It also doesn't let you sleep. I started taking the stuff Saturday evening, I slept all of maybe 3 hours that night. Got up and going Sunday (with no problems, I seriously was flipping out because usually I'd be dragging) couldn't take a nap that afternoon and was out till 1am without feeling tired at all. I had only taken one pill early that morning on Sunday so I didn't have it in my system once I got home and got in bed. I crashed and crashed hard when I got home. I tried to get up early and my body yelled at me so I crawled back into bed.

So there is a reason you need your ID to buy this stuff. Don't take it to often, in fact don't take it at all if you don't have to (a, it's expensive and b, it does some weird stuff to you).

Powerpoint? that's so 1995...

2008-11-19T13:37:00.003-05:00

Powerpoint, Microsoft's flagship presentation software has paved the way for thousands of people across the world to interactively and graphically present their case for many years. Unfortunately the flagship software has sunk. It is no more intuitive than your toaster knowing that you want to make toast and it doing it without you touching it.

Now I'm not saying there is any catch-all miracle software that does fantastic at getting your presentation to look great and makes your toast too. But if you want your presentation to look like it came out of 1995 then by all means go for it! The templates are horrible and the transitions don't look so hot.

I had to plug in a PC to our projectors which are 4:3 but we overshoot, and scale the output to 16:9. Sounds simple enough, and with ProPresenter and Keynote it actually is. It's not hard to find settings to do such things. BUT powerpoint? no way jose. I had to google it in order to find out how to change the output pixel ratio, and do you know what I found? you have to "trick it" becuase who would want to use a (now standard) 16:9 device with powerpoint?! I had to go in and set the 'print output page space" to change the screen out put...REDICULOUS!

So not only does it make youre presentations look like you're way behind the times, it also makes set up for tech people a nightmare. Some how I made presenters view dissappear as well and can't get it back...oh well not my latop not my problem :)

Something else is, PC's do not come standard with a decent video card/output device so if you're pushing to a projector over a long cord, or your PC and your projector were made in different eras then you're going to have a huge compatibility issue and will either end up with lines through your screen, incorrect resolutions, a video card to weak to actually display the distance you need without a booster in line, or a sucky image.

Mac's can do it out the box...seriously. Use Keynote. Tech guys will love you forever. Oh and know what you're doing somewhat!

Audio is a whole other ball park and most mobile computers suck at doing it from the mini-port.

So if you're going to use a PC and powerpoint, design your graphics well, make sure you're ready to go for any type of display situation and don't give your tech guy grief if he has to jump through 500 hoops to get your presentation to display (and it still looks like crap, part of that is probably your fault)

keeping you tech savy

HEY MAKE SURE THAT EVERYTHING STAYS PLUGGED IN!

2008-11-11T17:36:00.005-05:00

So what do you do when in the middle of your worship set you figure out that you've lost DMX control to two of your lights?

Sunday I'm producing the third service and running lights. Wildly enough as the stage strike is going on they decide to move the large drum riser to the center of the stage. I run up on stage to make sure that nothing came out of the audio snake. That would have been catastrophic if we had lost some channels of audio. (which the week prior the board unpatched a few channels and it was two songs in before we realized it) What I failed to check for is the DMX line that runs clear across the stage feeding the stage left floor movers.

First song comes along and I don't see any difference, second song hits and it's majorly blue...big problem, the stage left light is green. I go through the next few steps in the song...no change....still green. The stage manager goes out to check it, but he doesn't know what he's looking for so it stays green. The message starts, I pull down the working light and turn it green and bring it back in to match (hopefully that wasn't to noticible).

When the drum riser got moved it yanked the DMX control cable out leaving the two lights on the left totaly helpless...so making sure everything stays plugged in...didn't happen.

What would you have done differently? Just run the service sans change? Taken the lights out from the get go? Run on stage and fixed it yourself?

Living on my own: Episode Two

2008-11-09T16:05:00.004-05:00

This week I got to experience a Jerry Springer moment. Yes that's right I figured the only real white trash lived in Ohio (no offense but you know the area's I'm talking about if you're from there). I think it was Friday night I had just got in a while before from seeing a movie and I hear voices outside my door. At first it was just loud talking, a heated discussion if you will. Pretty soon it turned into a full out episode of Jerry Springer (well, if you were in another room with the volume all of the way up on the TV and all you could hear was the voices).

I'd say the fight lasted for an hour, The boyfriend kicking his girl out. She was screaming and pounding on the door (it felt like she was pounding on my door it was so loud). She wanted her dog back and her cell phone. He said it's his name on the lease and he didn't have to give anything back. So this went back and forth outside my door, and up and down the stairs multiple times. Thankfully about midnight they hung it up for the night and she left.

So that was one of the more interesting happenings...white trash lives on, I guess it's more of a culture that flocks to the apt. style living rather than a specific area of a state.

I've also been fighting with Verizon to get internet hooked up to my place. Finally Monday I achieved success! It took two calls and someone coming out to my complex to do who knows what to get it connected but it happened. I had gotten a phone call last week telling me that they hooked it up but they lied. I then tried to call them on Saturday (because who has time during the week during normal business hours to call about a tech issue) and the 24/7 tech support isn't so 24/7...it's actually monday - friday 8-6...anoying. That's over now, I can now play online games and stream tv shows from hulu and catch up on what I've missed.

boy...games and tv shows...I need a girlfriend.

I feel like I had some more disturbing life information...but I can't remember what it is. I'm still waiting for insurance cards and my permanent gym card.

The bank that I started a checking account in got robbed the other day too...thankfully beacuse a branch gets robbed doesn't mean your money goes bye bye...I'd be pissed.

Leeland and the holy spirit hoedown

2008-11-03T12:17:00.003-05:00

So the over all thought for the tech nightmare post was if you can't do it right when you're trying to do it big, then either a) don't do it at all, or b) scale back till you can do it right. One other thing I forgot to mention is the use of punch lights/audience lights as house lights...bad idea.

After yesterday's post on tech I figured I would bring the other side of the 'concert/conference' that made the entire thing just a little more on the awkward side. Gideon's Army was a charismatic organization that had put on the whole thing and frankly from the time we walked in it was kind of an awkward oppressive feeling because we were not part of the group. I kind of wondered what was going to happen when "Gideon" got up to introduce Leeland because intermittently he began saying unintelligible things, which I kind of shrugged off as the fact that I couldn't understand him to begin with.

The music started and people moved forward and all of the sudden people broke loose, dancing in the aisle ways shouting, etc. Now this could have just been an exuberant group of kids...so no condemnation there. Leeland started getting into it and went into a 20 minute rendition of just saying love, love, love or joy, joy, joy. Ok thats cool, but people were hoopin and hollerin like it was 1995. I didn't get it. So that kind of drug on and on and on and then out of no where the guy gets up again and starts praying because this was a "conference" to start igniting the passions of students in their schools. So wait...this was a student rally?

All of the sudden people started walking up on stage, to 'pray'. This girl grabbed the mic and started rambling nonsense then started praying and then back to some gibberish. Then another guy jumped up on stage and started praying and waving his hands. This was getting a little awkward. The pastor grabbed the mic and started praying again and had Leeland start to sing more, but he joined in with them in singing loudly into the mic and dancing on stage. By this point, besides looking like Benny Hin, he had lost all respect from me. This is the look at me mentality. What did Jesus say about the people who do this? They already have their reward.

Let's look at this from the reverse perspective, and this applies not only to this situation but what you do in your own church/life. We're trying to reach the MTV generation. These kids are already highly skeptical view of God, religion and church. You're going to hold a youth rally event, that you're going to encourage kids to bring lost people to. I'd say a lot of the kids have never been to church or, don't want a part of church because of past experiences. How to you expect to connect with them when your media and tech on the face value looks cool, but either doesn't work or doesn't look good? These kids consume exuberant amounts of awesome (production value) media, or go to expensive concerts. They're attention spans for this kind of stuff is short, you have to grab them and hold them, even if it's simple.

A lot of times Christians get pegged for doing cheesy stuff. Watch TBN, a large helping of Christian music videos and maybe a smattering of concerts online and you'll get my drift. Lady with big blue/pink/green hair in high backed gold chairs and fancy set pieces? A sub par music video that looks like a kid did it in his basement on his laptop and hand cam? a hand full of intelligent lights pointed at the ceiling?

I could take a ton of time and talk about speaking in tongues, go read the Bible, it's in there, the apostles did it because there was a need for each person to hear in thier own language, it's a miracle event. Gibberish not included. Can God still preform miracles today? yup, but speaking in a language all your own (and sounding like an idiot) to be more spiritual is not exactly what I'd call a miracle, more like acting like the Pharisee who is standing on the street corner praying loudly so that all can hear.

You expect students to invite their lost friends, who are skeptical to religion, to a place where they are ultimately going to feel extremely uncomfortable and probably become even more skeptical of religion. Imagine, you didn't know Christ, or you may not have to imagine. You walk into a building set up for 700 people and there are only about 200-300 people there. No one talks to you, and because you're an outsider you kind of get looked at funny. The event starts and people start going crazy, not just hey im having fun goofing off crazy but I'm possessed spinning and jumping around, flailing like a dead fish crazy. People start running laps for Jesus, a couple people get up on stage and start speaking in tongues, and the band is singing one word over and over again for 20 minutes. You can't figure out what is going on and by the time the speaker gets up to tell you what is going on you've completely disengaged yourself.

Now this all came with a gut check too. I had to stop and say, because I'm a Christian is it wrong for me not to get into something this much. Can I still say I'm joyful and not express myself outwardly like this. My conclusion is, yes I can. Your faith is expressed through many number of means and it does not have to be show-offy. Then I had to ask myself, is this junk wrong? You can take that in two directions. Personally for them is it wrong(without touching on biblical issues)? no, it is how they express themselves, if they want to dace like a fool go for it. Publicly is it wrong? I might have to say yes on that. Paul says in Corinthians to not cause any one to stumble, Jew, Greek, or the church of God.... Telling someone that they do not have the gift of tongues and there fore are less spiritual, or making someone feel completely out of place and uncomfortable is NOT biblical.

As Christians we are called to be a change agent in the world around us. Not a deter rant for those to believe. We should be providing warm, welcoming, challenging and growing environments for students that does not cause them to leave with more questions or down right rejection because of how we acted. (Not watered down, just being able to bring teenagers in without having them freaked out, the word 'church' is hard enough to swallow for the general public)

So does the holy spirit need to have a hoedown in order to meet us in a place? absolutely not, he's with us wherever we're at. Just be authentic, that is all God asks of you as a Christian. You'll get a better response from people too.

Leeland and the sword of faith

2008-11-02T15:45:00.003-05:00

I ventured out to see Leeland last night. I was kinda pumped, I like Leeland, musically, vocally and lyrically. They are one of the 'fresher' bands on the worship/CHR music lists. Frankly I think a lot of their lyrics hit home just because of their age group and who they're writing to.

I got into the place after Brandon told me it was part of a conference to find out who was putting it on, Gideon's Army. I don't mean this in a condemning or mocking way, but it was a charismatic event. (insert pause here). Unfortunately every charismatic event that I have had the pleasure of taking part in have seriously been the most awkward things I've ever seen. There are a lot of things you can point fingers at in 'Christianity' and say that is why people think we're nut jobs, this would be one of them.

I'll dive into the technical aspects first. We walk in to see a jib (that wasn't being used for the concert) sitting in the back, cool except it was covered in gaff tape and was a little chincy...oh boy. Secondly we notice the IMAG screen (yes singular, one not two) that had a live single camera feed with the gideon's army logo and some text overlayed. The music lyrics were overlayed in the same fashion and it really seemed the lady was typing them up as the song went on because they were not instantaneous. The text was a serif and was tiny tiny. There wasn't really ANY front lighting for video except for the bright white and blue lights coming out of the movers they had. The sound, well...that was intersting, the right speaker cluster wasn't on through the first song, brandon had to go let the sound guy know it wasn't engaged. Vocal's weren't real audible and it was very hollow(and a lot of bass, the room was a conference room too which didn't help). Back to lighting, the inteligent lights had about 2-3 moves and most of the light got thrown onto the cieling which made no sense to me. One more thing that was a nail in the coffin. They stopped everything to show a video on relief efforts going on in Galveston, cool, except the video made me feel like I was on an acid trip. The computer running the WONDERFUL graphics was A) a PC, B) extremely UNDER powered and C) MIRRORED. If you're in the tech world these three things on their own are bad enough but all together = a disaster. So you saw the person end the program and go back to the desktop and open up windows media player to start the video and they struggled to get it full screen. It was at this poin that I noticed the screen was not keystoned in any sense of the word. Once the video played it started chugging, in essence the computer could not keep up with the audio/video, so the audio seemed to seriously lag, and it was extremely choppy. The guy talked slow to begin with, and the audio/music was aweful. So out of 5 stars i give a .5 on tech crew.

Ok I would go on to part two of this blog and talk about the atmosphere but I don't actually have any time to go on to that...

So I end part one with this, Christian events end up extremely sub par in the tech/creative field and this is one thing that we get laughed at for. You cannot be taken seriously any more if you don't step up your game. Just throwing money at something does not necesarily make it quailty either, time, effort and experience come largely into play as well.

Living On My Own: Episode One (roll star wars theme)

2008-10-29T11:22:00.005-04:00

I've been in my apartment for 2 weeks now and I figured I would go ahead and leave a few stories. The apartment pictured to the right is my neighbor down and across from me. Every time I go by their door their garbage is sitting outside of their door in little bags. It will sit there for days at a time till one day it disappears...only to show up IN FRONT of the dumpster. Now I don't exactly know why it doesn't go IN the dumpster, or why exactly it has to sit in front of their door and make my walk to my door obnoxious either. It could have something to do with the elephant god picture thing that is posted right under their apartment number.

I just googled it and I'm guessing that it is the hindu god of success, Ganesha. Or the god to remove obstacles...well i wish he'd remove the freaking obstacle of garbage sitting in front of these people's doorway! Then again that could be what they're testing out, and he's moving it down to in front of the dumpster every few days.....no

Then there is car wash lady, In one weeks time I saw her out there washing and waxing her car twice. It could be OCD or it could be she just forgot she did it a couple days earlier. I haven't seen her out there doing it this week but it has been a little cooler and I haven't exactly had time to sit around and watch for her this week either.

I ventured out one day to get my hair cut at the mall. It was an extremely awkward 20/30 minutes. The guy was gay and did not talk all that much, so sitting there for 20+ minutes being touched by this guy who wasn't saying much is kind of awkward. Then when he did bring things up it would be things like, so you're new in town, 'by yourself?' there are some cool places to hang out at, and then at the end he said, I'm really glad you came in today. Really captain awkward? If it wasn't for the fact that he gave a good haircut I'm not sure what I'd think.

I'm still battling to get the internet in my apartment so I am currently thiefing wifi from the public access at the complex. The only problem is I'm just on the edge of the signal so in order to latch on to it I have to have my laptop against a window and even then it's a 50/50 chance whether or not it stays connected. It was supposed to be up yesteday but once again they failed to meet their date, so now i get to call and complain! I'm wondering if I can use this as leverage to get out of my verizon contract for my wireless...hey you're not living up to your promises and pissing me off so I'd like out all the way, thanks.

thanks for reading

Stage set 101

2008-10-28T19:00:00.003-04:00

Alright the task this time around was to school or be schooled. Thankfully the former happened rather than the latter. My first huge task was to tackle the stage reset in the youth building and they had some pretty big goals what with extra projection and such.

Thankfully after a week or so of work and stumbling through my first set I can call this one a success. I'm sure not all will turn out that way, and I'm sure there will be ways I can streamline the process and clean up around my runs.

The biggest feat on this stage set to tackle was the broken 'screen' floating on stage. First off, it was pretty cheap, foam core boards you can find at your nearest hobby lobby and some lumber and brackets at your local hardware store. Make a rectangle, create some varied height surfaces using angle brackets, spray paint black and then attach your foam core. (warning, if you fly your support structure before you hang your foam core make sure you have plenty of people around who are not level challenged otherwise you might end up with more of a disaster than a unified but 'randomly chaotic' design.

What did we use to hang the boards, some really sticky vent tape, but I'd even go as far to suggest using something a little more hardcore, liquid nails comes to mind (although there is some set time required before hanging) or white screws.

Play with patterns then throw up a couple of projectors and see what happens.

Next post: Living on my own: episode one.

woops - Texas day 1.2

2008-10-13T19:04:00.002-04:00

I guess I was supposed to blog about how I was going to be moving to texas...the funny thing is that as of last night I moved (at least in person, but not all of my stuff).

I'm tired and this is going to be kind of succinct but here's what happened in the short.

Sugar Creek Baptist flew me down, everything went great, I proceeded further in the process to get a job, then they offered me the job. I accepted. Within two weeks I have found a place to live, and last night I flew in to start today. My stuff is being driven down by my awesome parents, and I'm staying with a guy from work for a few days till they get down here. I got in last night at 11 after some delays (1 technical and lets just say it was interesting with no AC on the plane while we were grounded for 20 minutes with some black people who wouldn't shut up about how scared they were and they wanted off the plane).
I got in about 11p cst and finally got my luggage only to get to the rental car booth and they said oh you need a credit card, how about a debit card, ok...run it through...you're not 25 yet this isn't going to work...what do you mean it's not going to work. Apparently if you're not 25 renting a car on a debit card doesn't work because they think you're not going to have the 'credit' to rent it. IT'S COMING OUT OF MY CHECKING WHO CARES ABOUT CREDIT?! so finally I call the manager in there (after midnight) and he approves me for the car AFTER I agree to pay for full insurance coverage...I'm tired and pissed at this guy. So now I'm paying double for my rental car. I jump on the road only to get super lost in the industrial part of Houston. Finally I whip the car around off the highway and see a sign for where I'm supposed to be praise God! I make it in about 1am to Brandon's place (which is 2am for me since I'm still running on est).

Today I got up, went in to my first day just a bunch of getting oriented to life on campus, recieved my janitor ring of keys to almost every door in the place. Checked out where all the stuff was I needed to know. Ate food, more checking out of stuff I need to know, setting up my email and then setting up my desk (kind of).

I'll throw up pictures on facebook tomorrow.

thats my blog for today.

flying out

2008-08-23T10:44:00.003-04:00

Welp the next time I update will probably be an indication whether or not I'm moving.

Some stuff has been moving mighty quick lately. I had a second interview with Sugar Creek Baptist Church out in Sugarland Texas not two weeks ago. That went well, I emailed a few days later because they said they would set up number three with another guy, gave some times and said let me know when you would like it to happen. Tuesday of this week I get a random phone call, i recognize the area code and pick up. Third interview in the can, I thought it went well, but apparently they thought it went really well. I got a call a few hours later asking if this weekend I was free to fly down because they wanted to get me in before the youth were out for some reason (the position I'm in the running for is working in the youth ministry). I said HECK YES I CAN. The next day I had flight confirmations in my inbox and right now I'm sitting in Cleveland Airport waiting on my flight out to houston.

I really fell like this has been a God thing.
I've never felt like leaving Answers In Genesis was the wrong option. I still feel that way to this day, it's a great, God ordained place, but it was not for me. I had said when I left if I couldn't find anything that I would serve at a resturaunt in the interim. Frankly I feel like God was waiting for me to do that, to see if I actually would, to humble me. Days later I started on this process with the church. I feel totaly comfortable, and at peace with the entire thing.

Now the thing is, this church process could pan out to be nothing at all, and I understand that, but I'm also excited just to see God moving. If not here, then somewhere else. It is a confirmation for sure that I want to be part of a ministry full time in some respect doing what I love to do, media/tech work.

So a bit about this position, It's an Assistant Techincal Director. I'd report to the TD and the youth worship pastor. I'd be in charge of the tech for the youth ministry (lights, sound, video, stage design etc.) and then whatever else needs done. Doing training and team building with the youth involved in the services.

Bascially not a strech of the imagination seeing myself fill this at all.

Thanks to all who have prayed for my job situation.

My waiting room has been a couple months, and thats short in comparison to some peoples. Yet God is faithful to his own.

A lot is going on

2008-08-12T17:43:00.002-04:00

The last time we talked I was busy but nothing that paid.

This week I started training again at Bravo's Italian Cucina (kitchen).
I walked in friday and was hired saturday. (no I didn't stay over night and camp out till they hired me).
Sunday morning Eric got the bright idea of tearing out the entire FOH console area and rebuilding it. (since we were going to do the install of a new board anyway)
So for the past 3 days I have spent A TON of time at church ripping out, running cable, planning, figuring out logistics of placement, getting supplies and arguing over the best way to do it.
Oh there has been a lot of prayer, that we're ready for a crash run through tomorrow afternoon for our wednesday night service.
I'm updating the graphic for the sermon series tonight.
I start doing follows on thursday for work.
Oh and tomorrow morning I have a second phone interview with Sugar Creek Baptist in Sugarland, Texas.
Busy Busy Busy.
In between training/following at Bravo's I'm going to be finishing up the install of the FOH system and hoping that it all works completely for Sunday morning.

For some reason every time I see a car with Obama '08 on it I am seeing a repetitive trend...they're black, same with tacky yard signs. Today I saw a car that had used window paint to paint OBAMA '08 on the rear windshield. Sure enough he was black. I didn't think his platform was ethnicity but it sure has turned into that. Every black person is proud to have someone of their own skin color running for the big man upstairs.

My thing is...the differences stop with the fact that he has more melanin...they fail to notice that he doesn't talk like he walked out of the ghetto...in fact he talks like your average whitey. So the next time you go to buy a car pennant that proudly beats your candidate choice into the side of your motor vehicle remember...check out the platform, background and dedication. The person you vote for is more than skin deep.

Its been a few days you know what that means...

2008-08-06T22:07:00.002-04:00

updates!

- I've run sound twice during the day and 3 times during the evening at church this week.
- I created a sermon series graphic.
- I managed to only make it to the gym once this week so far (horror upon horrors)
- I still don't have a job and am starting to get yelled at for it.
- I want a job but am having problems finding one. (and while I don't really want a restaurant job I can't seem to find one there either)
- I've eaten poorly this week. (ie out a lot)
- I ordered a new soundboard for church.
- I have slept in the basement every night this week because my dad refuses to actually make the house cool.
- I am almost always hot.
- I am wearing jeans right now and with it being hot it's a bad idea.
- I need to move out of my house (job first) and find a place on my own soon. I love my family but it's time.
- My mom and I are at odds a little bit this week because she's overly emotional. It can't be menopause because she already hit that...is there something else?
- I've still got some things to finish up for church this week but I need to apply more places to work first.
- I'm running sound at a wedding friday/saturday and church sunday (6day sound week).
- This has turned into a really dumb post.

Remember how I talked about the waiting room a bit ago? It was echo'd back to me by a man in my church who I'm 99.99999% sure never read my blog. Really kinda cool for God to confirm that he has me waiting for some reason.

The Weekend Recap

2008-08-03T15:35:00.003-04:00

If you haven't noticed a trend I'm going to try and pick up a consistency in my blogging, and it's just gonna be me. No frills, no gills, no if's, and's, or but's.

I put a bit about this before hand but my friend Nelson decided it would be a good idea to sit a moving chainsaw down on his foot.

No Nelson...not a good idea.

So most of yesterday was spent hanging out at hospitals.
First one was to see Niki because she had her baby and there were some complications, a few surgery's later Easton's on his way to recovery and doing fine. We sat in the waiting room for an hour because we thought there were already people in Niki's room...there were not.

Secondly we went and saw Nelson P. Floyd. (We being the two Rachel's and I).
He was still in recovery and in a lot of pain (go figure) so we went and got food and walked through Urban Outfitters (which is painful when you have no job). I bought flip-flops.
We got back to the room and there is Nelson half smiling half grimacing. This Asian nurse saying things heavily accented about his bowel movements, we're all trying not to laugh because he is confused. Then she grabs his foot that he just had operated on...he was trying not to say bad things to her.

She leaves and his comment is...WHY UP UNTIL NOW HAS EVERYONE BEEN CAREFUL AND IT'S THE ASIAN!....
racist nelson.
Then he tells her Morphine does not help the pain and makes him itch "You want me to stop?", "No keep it coming"
druggie nelson.
IF YOU COME BACK BRING ME FOOD
hungry nelson.

if you're driving through a neighbor hood where everyone is on their porch staring you down you're automatically a racist...even if you're white and the people staring are white.

Tonight I'm going to hang out with Spiderman and Batman and little kids. I just hope after some fair warnings that the two super hero's put their weapons away before they take the stage again...and thank goodness precious few people will actually know what I mean by that.

The Rose For Sharron

2008-08-01T23:37:00.004-04:00

First of all...I've got to say tonight is one of the most beautiful nights in Cincy that I have ever experienced. I seriously felt like I was on the beach the entire time.

Secondly I've got some great friends to hang with...even if one of them feels like her head is going to fall off.

Now on to Sharron's Rose

You see...tonight we sat at Starbucks for who knows how long and talked, about God, life, friends, friends almost cutting their foot off (yes Nelson), love, well...love in respect to people finding it.

It was getting late, probably 9ish and people have been going in and out of starbucks ordering drinks, sitting and talking. We outlasted most of them, but one stuck out in particular. I watched this guy walk up and sit down without even going into the bux to order a drink.

While this was unusual enough, he had a rose in his hand.

So he sat there for a while, and because he was in earshot, I texted Erika to see if she noticed the awkwardness of the situation. I figured...well this would be the last time he shows up early for a date. (first thing...who meets the date somewhere, secondly why starbucks). Eventually we figured this poor guy must have been meeting someone from a match.com/eharmony.com site.

Hi I'm Eric,
Meet me at Starbucks on Union Center at 9pm. I'll have a rose and a pack of ciggarettes. (well...I'm sure he didn't mention the later) I'll be waiting for you there.

Why oh why in our culture is this a good idea...blind dates pale in comparison to this because at least your friend has gotten a good look at your date before he/she set you up.

After a while longer he got up and left.

Now before you all go awwwwww......as soon as I was sure he drove off Erika and I busted out laughing. Seriously...apparently there is something wrong with us. I guess his perdicament was kinda freaking hilarious. If I told you to meet me at a starbucks over an email and to look for me carying a rose or some other missplaced sense of romanticism would you show up?

I mean with all of the people there it is entirely possible that his potential date showed up either by herself (or hisself, Erika pointed out that he crossed his legs like a woman) or with a friend, tested the waters went in purchased a coffee and left (or maybe even sat and watched the poor guy).

He had a large look of dissappointment on his face.

Rachel got upset that we laughed after we let her on to the goings on...which is why we didn't include her in the first place. She told me to have the love of Jesus.

Since when didn't Jesus get a kick out of stuff? Seriously, at this point I'm pretty sure that if a book of the Bible was being written it would be said:

Jesus Laughed

I would too if I were God and saw all of our self important triumphs and losses...but maybe thats why I'm not God? Oh well...I like to think God laughs with me when stupid stuff happens

So that is my story of Sharron's rose...or pottentially Sharrod's rose (if he were black and gay).

The Waiting Room

2008-07-29T12:00:00.002-04:00

Each person has their own waiting room. Something I'm being forced to learn. I feel God has called me in a particular direction and now he's told me to sit and wait. I'm not sure I like waiting, but that is what he's got me doing now. I think that is probably one of the most difficult things to possibly do, especially when you feel like you know what you should be doing, and aren't doing it.

So as an encouragement, you're not alone in your waiting room, whatever it is you're waiting for. You could be there a few day's like Jonah in the belly of the fish, or many years like the children of Israel in the desert with Moses waiting on the promise land.

So until then I glory in Christ and what he will do when the time is right. Even if I don't like waiting.

The One Who Sees Me

2008-07-24T14:36:00.002-04:00

Genesis 16

Just a couple quick things. I love reading and figuring out small pieces of God's character.

Last night at church we were challenged to spend 10-15 minutes in prayer and reading scripture each day but not taking our own agenda or grocery lists of to-do's to God, and just listening to him. Every single person is guilty of this, and while I'm not consistent in my personal time I want to be...and it is refreshing when I do it.

So just some words.

Genesis 16 is all about the conception of Ishmael, Abraham's son via Sarah's servant Hagar.

Hagar becomes pregnant and the when she does she lost respect for Sarah. Sarah then tells Hagar to leave.

The first thing I see here (and i had to re-read this passage to even understand this) is that God takes care of his own, and will bring about restoration.

God tells Hagar, yeah you're pregnant, now what? you don't have any where to go and the baby needs taken care of...go back to Sarah. I could give you examples out of my own life where i see this taking place either with me or others, and if you thought long enough I'm sure you could too. God brings about the restoration necessary for life to go on...did he fix the problem the way Hagar wanted it to be fixed? probably not, was the proclamation that Ishmael is going to fighting for his entire life what she wanted for her son? doubtful, yet God worked. God restored Hagar to Sarah, maybe not under ideal circumstances, she was still pregnant you know, and she probably still didn't see eye to eye with Sarah.

Secondly the obvious statement is God is the one who sees me, he saw Hagar's affliction, her pregnancy.

Although obvious it is incredibly powerful.

A little glimpse into the character of God, even when we're not expecting it, even when we're hiding, even when we don't want to be found, God sees us. Then, we see God. We see God for who he truly is, we begin to see his plan, we begin to see that he's always been there watching over us. Like Hagar we see God as the protector and restorer. It does not say here that God fixes everything just right with a cherry on top and everything is peachy keen, it just says that God saw, and in return she saw God.

That is actually a powerful statement...to see God...
just relish on that for a second.

are you seeing God? am I?
What am I burying myself under, trying to hide myself from God with?

2008-05-16T14:10:00.002-04:00

1 Corinthians 3:18-20 (The Message)
18-20Don't fool yourself. Don't think that you can be wise merely by being up-to-date with the times. Be God's fool—that's the path to true wisdom. What the world calls smart, God calls stupid. It's written in Scripture,

He exposes the chicanery of the chic.
The Master sees through the smoke screens
of the know-it-alls.

I'm not even sure what to say right now. My heart is torn. I feel so bad for things going on in my family. My brother who wants to become like the prodigal son an flee home with as much cash as he can and party his life away. My aunt who has become addicted to cocaine and heroine.

A family in my church loosing a father and a brother within weeks of each other.

Then I read a passage like this....
Any words I have to offer are ones of stupidity. Why? Because they are of myself...my wisdom is nothing.

Also...what people see for themselves as wisdom is also fruitless. Mere stupidity, but because this is what the world tells them is good...they believe it. Or even if they don't believe it initially, they trick themselves into believing their own smoke screen.

God expose our own futile attempts for wisdom in our lives. There is so much pain and suffering, so much torn apart. Things that can only be healed with your wisdom, mercy and grace.

Please hold my tongue and shine your light to expose our own smoke screen.

Send Me

2008-05-14T23:57:00.002-04:00

To be completely honest...I haven't cracked the word in a while.

Don't ask me why, I couldn't tell you, more out of selfishness of my own time i suppose. Lately though God has been impressing on me prayer, and through prayer he has begun to redirect my mind...it truly is amazing once you start redirecting some things in your life what you begin to see happen.

Something I gleaned in church a few weeks ago has stuck with me, and this has begun to be my prayer, the position, passion and peace of Christ.

Position - That I would see where and for what reason God has me in each situation.

Passion - That God would instill in me a passion for him, and that it would become evident in my life.

Peace - That no matter what I am dealing with, struggling with, frustrated with, that the peace of Christ would come over me.

Tonight I read these things...and once again...applies to my prayer.

Isaiah 6 (English Standard Version)
3And one called to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!"4And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5And I said: "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!" 6Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7And he touched my mouth and said: "Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for." 8And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I said, "Here am I! Send me."

Sometimes you just have to sit before the Lord of Glory and revel in his majesty. To realize how unclean you truly are. Isaiah was not just talking about 'saying things he shouldn't' here when the angel touched his lips with coal. He was talking about the status of his heart, and the heart of the people of Israel.

Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

So this was such an internal issue that Isaiah saw himself as totally unclean before the Lord, which we all are...and yet he has cleansed us.

Our response should be...send us.

I certainly don't live a 'sent' life.

But after this week of emboldened prayer...I'm ready to go again.

1 Corinthians 1 (English Standard Version)
26For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30 sanctification andAnd because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and redemption, 31so that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."

Let's face it because of sin we're all stupid. It's just that some of us recognize it sooner than others. The secular humanists of this world have their accolades and that pat on the back and piece of paper hung above their desk is about all of the congratulations they're going to get in light of eternity.

The low in Christ are those that are raised up, redeemed, and able to boast in something greater than himself.

So going back to Isaiah, is your heart clean? are you ready to be sent? What is your calling? Are you boasting in the Lord rather than yourself?

I pray I am.

I pray for position, passion and peace.

God here am I send me.

Search for a verse, get a smack in the head.

2008-04-22T13:51:00.002-04:00

Philipians 2 (The Message)
3-4 Don't push your way to the front; don't sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.

12-13 What I'm getting at, friends, is that you should simply keep on doing what you've done from the beginning. When I was living among you, you lived in responsive obedience. Now that I'm separated from you, keep it up. Better yet, redouble your efforts. Be energetic in your life of salvation, reverent and sensitive before God. That energy is God's energy, an energy deep within you, God himself willing and working at what will give him the most pleasure.
14-16 Do everything readily and cheerfully—no bickering, no second-guessing allowed! Go out into the world uncorrupted, a breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society. Provide people with a glimpse of good living and of the living God. Carry the light-giving Message into the night so I'll have good cause to be proud of you on the day that Christ returns. You'll be living proof that I didn't go to all this work for nothing.

Matt Holman made reference to Philippians 2:3-4 on Sunday, so i looked it up, read the whole chapter and got a wow factor.

Am I about others? Do I do what I do for God, with the fervor of God? Do I do it without bickering? Am I living proof of Christ? Am I living in responsive obedience?

Sadly...I cannot answer yes to most of these at this moment in time.
I want to.

I'm praying

2008-03-27T08:03:00.002-04:00

This life is either a crazy leap of faith or just crazy.

I'm still trying to figure out which one, in the mean time I pray.

Pray that God's will be done, and peace be had.

if you're gonna be stupid you had better have a dang good reason

2008-03-25T19:13:00.003-04:00

I think that there is a difference between someone being completely ignorant of something and someone being willfully ignorant.

I run into this a lot; names, places and incidents have been omitted for...mostly my protection.

Some people when they give you that blank stare, or an answer that just seems retarded...it's because they honestly have no clue what you're talking about or what they're talking about. It isn't their fault because they don't know any better.

Take faith for example, young Christians may make an ignorant comment about scriptures, or about spiritual matters in general and it's because they've either been taught that and don't understand they need to look for themselves, or they're taking their world view and applying it to the bible, and things don't add up. Then you've got Christians who do know better, they've been seeking after Christ for a very long time, they know to search the scriptures, and to petition God and yet when they bring up subjects they shouldn't they develop foot in mouth disease.

These things go on outside of spiritual matters too. People will WILLFULLY ignore facts, or will not go searching for facts themselves and instead go straight to someone else after hearsay and point a finger. Why are they being willfully ignorant when the facts are a few steps or keystrokes away? This makes me want to do nothing more than beat said ignorant person over the head. The naturally ignorant person can be aggravating, but you eventually just shake their head because they don't know any better.

I guess the question I have to ask myself is when a person moves beyond naturally ignorant and into willfully ignorant? I could guess as far as age and maturity it hits somewhere in high school after puberty (personal opinion, and no im not talking about the age of accountability here). In the work place I'm not sure, but there is surely an amount of time where you can begin just blaming yourself and your unwillingness to actually learn anything new or do things differently instead of blaming the fact that you don't know what your doing or don't understand how things are done.

How often am I willfully ignorant?

At this point...you become more of a roadblock.

(the message)Romans 14:22-23:
Cultivate your own relationship with God, but don't impose it on others. You're fortunate if your behavior and your belief are coherent. But if you're not sure, if you notice that you are acting in ways inconsistent with what you believe—some days trying to impose your opinions on others, other days just trying to please them—then you know that you're out of line. If the way you live isn't consistent with what you believe, then it's wrong.

Misnomer of presidential proportions

2008-03-22T11:55:00.005-04:00

I'm going on my political rant for the season.

Yes, I've said that I backed away from primary voting because I don't believe in the capability of any of the candidates. That doesn't mean I'm not following this muck up of a race.

Politics have always been a murky topic, people suspect the worst, develop conspiracy theories, throw mud, supply false promises and give constant non-answers to people needing actual answers.

I just finished reading John Grisham's latest novel surrounding law, but also politics, and the practice of dirty politics. How a person of financial power can basically purchase an election by pumping funds into the backing of a candidate.

Yeah I'm gonna sling a couple conspiracy theories. First of all take a look at our potential candidates.

Senator Hillary Clinton, Senator Barack Obama, Senator John McCain.

Ok Hillary Clinton is a long shot, she's a white woman, and she's backing a lot of her own campaign out of pocket, and still, eliciting a lot of public funding. She's seen as a cold yet overly emotional and unstable persona. Everyone saw her bid for the nomination as eminent at some point only because she is a very driven person, and sitting as navigator to Bill for two terms probably didn't satisfy her lust for the limelight. Let's see how he likes being first lady.

Barack Obama...well he's black, that is a start. Where did this political nobody come from? Where the heck is is funding coming from? Hillary has the money in the bank...but Obama? He's pulling in millions of dollars in funding...this no name black senator comes out of political obscurity to give Clinton a run for her money and rises to the point of being noted as one of the most 'influential and exciting candidates' of the 2008 election. People say he's going to bring back what America has lost. People are being sold on it. My biggest question is...who's gaining from his political possibility and what is the biggest gain with him in office? What stance will he take for, or against that is going to put money in someone else's pocket?

John McCain has tried to vie for the republican nomination before, and got squeezed out because he wasn't the best candidate. What makes him so great now? This guy might as well be a democrat as far as hardline republicans are concerned. He's got money coming in from big business and what not. But not nearly enough to win an election. I'm not going to touch on him much because he doesn't have as much controversy surrounding his campaign, and to be completely honest with the republican track record I don't think he has a prayer of winning this years presidential election. (not that I like the alternatives).

Then there are the other presidential un-hopefuls that will run under some kind of independent ticket. These people are in the game to 'win', but what they're really doing is pulling away votes from one party or the other. Depending on their stances and whos putting the money in where, then that could swing the vote either way in a close election.

"The overall gap between the three senators also increased: McCain has now raised just over $60 million, compared with Clinton’s $156 million and Obama’s $194 million."
"The two remaining Democratic contenders ended the month with a healthy amount of cash in hand: $33 million for Clinton and $39 million for Obama. The numbers are not quite as close as they appear: Obama has less than a million dollars in debt, while Clinton owes nearly $9 million in addition to the $5 million loan she made to her own campaign in January."

-cnn.com

So my first conspiracy is of money. Who's got it, and who wants it? Why these candidates and how is it going to help them?

My second issue, not so much theory, is the fact that this campaign to select the DEMOCRATIC RUNNER...not even the freaking president, (which i think most Americans are probably confused on at this point, they're going to expect to see both Obama and Clinton on the ticket!) has become about skin color and gender.

All candidates run around with a banner proclaiming change, none of them are willing to state what change that is, and then they attack each other based on their 'experience', lack there of, and ends up kinda pointing the finger at the others gender or skin color.

Grow up.

Obama identifies with blacks...duh...Clinton identifies with old people and hispanics...what?

Clinton's ticket has ended up more as a novelty because she's a woman...ooooo we've never done that before...we're sick of where we're at....she says the word change...VOTE FOR HER!
Obama has taken the same novelty ticket because he's a black man. What ever that has to do with novelty or capability I don't know. He grew up abroad for a lot of his years, he didn't grow up as far as most people are concerned "urban". He's not Randy's "dawg", and he certainly has enough sketchy background himself for people to be wary of him and the democratic party in general.

Why has this come down to color and gender? well...besides the fact that it is the most obvious subjective factors in this election (because both candidates are liberal enough that they bleed a rainbow) both candidates have decided to make it about color or gender. Obama has been quoted as talking about skin color, and trying to identify with white people because his grandma is white...who cares. (oh and not to mention the fact his pastor has gone on racial rants which obama had to 'smooth over)

"“…but she is a typical white person who, you know, if she sees somebody on the street that she doesn’t know, there is a reaction that has been bred into our experiences that don’t go away and sometimes come out in the wrong way…”"

- Obama - cnn.com

So now we've got a race that the republicans can't win because of a bad track record and apparently they're either severely lethargic in our fund raising campaign or have no backers this round until the democrats go buck wild in office again and screw everything up worse. Not only this but the republicans are fighting with a campaign of novelty. Theres a woman and a black man up for a potential presidential nomination and instead of people being glued to issues, real politics and the betterment of our great nation, they're enamored with the color of obama's skin and clinton's lipstick or pants suit. Oh and they like to see how many times each person can say the word change and not actually give a reason how or why. I guess that's better than making false promises or promises that they can't keep. This way you know they're lying through their teeth because they're not actually saying anything at all.

Unfortunately ideas and words that resonate with people take hold stronger than actual substance does.

So at this point I bid adieu. Vote wisely...and actually read up on the issues.
This campaign is extremely reflective of the cash bleeding that goes on all of the time in office, and yet no one is willing to speak up to that account.

Don't vote on novelty either...because all you'll end up with is a cheap piece of eye candy that melts after a while.

going out of mind sale

2008-03-11T08:19:00.002-04:00

I'm going to be stepping out of my mind here for the next week or two.

A) I'm the only person at work for a while supporting all of the speaking events on site, and events etc. Couple that with the regular work that needs done, all of the emergencies that come up (which is more often than not) and the fact that there are only so many work hours in the day...I'd rather jump off a bridge.

B) I'm at church every night from the time i can be until between 11 and later (last night 12:30, tonight who knows). This puts my sleep habits between 4 and 5 hours a night. I am trying to get a fiber optic curtain up and running with no luck yet and if you have any hints as to how to hook these suckers up DMX, either give me a call or come help me and I'll love you forever.

C) I haven't been to the gym in a week, and it isn't looking promising this week. That right there is enough for me to loose my sanity all together.

So there is your explanation as to why I look like I haven't slept, at well or look otherwise disheveled.

patientless waiting

2008-03-08T16:09:00.002-05:00

Romans 9:16-17

It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy. For the scripture says to Pharaoh: "I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth."

I'll tell you what, have some self worth issues, or problems thinking that you've got what it takes and then read something like that.

It never depends on what you do...but on God's mercy...I've messed up, I've run away before, I've tried my own way, I've tried on my own power to do it God's way...but it all comes back to God's mercy.

AND that he might display his power in you and proclaim it through you...wow...because of this I feel totally unworthy, yet I know this is his plan...in his timing. Later Paul goes on to talk about how God created some vessels to be in palaces and some to do common work. Whatever we are doing...do with all of our might to show God to those around us.

It's incredible. I picked up my bible wanting some 'inspiration' something that talked to my specific state of mind and particular influence and I get EXACTLY what i needed. God says...you're where you're supposed to be. My mercy is sufficient to deal with your position and your state. Just let me control it. You need to be ready to be used however I want you to be used.

I'm ready...waiting...impatiently...but I'm waiting.

something written, something lost

2008-02-19T10:14:00.002-05:00

There is one light beneath me
A signal of life
Its so empty below why would I go
Love

That light is flickering now
Threatened life
Why should I throw down my own
Love

A savage black has set in
No hope left
Can one send hope back down
Love

When the sun won't come up
His face unseen
A hand cradles you forward
Love

No greater love

_____________________

Whats with this upset
I'm not sure I understand
I'm in a place that doesnt make sense
Where up is down and down is right

I can't take this place any more
So take its place
Out of my mind with myself
One step closer to separation anxiety

Finding myself is hard
When I look in the mirror
I dont see myself returned, only pieces
Where is the sun? I live in a hole.

I can't take these pills anymore
So take their place
I'm uncomfortable with myself
One step closer to falling off the edge

I know my cries are heard
Not bouncing back to earth
These cuts were meant to heal
You took their place too
Find me searching

Ive seen this play out before
And you took my place
I can make peace with myself
One sacrifice made it easier to go on

Do what it takes and take what it does

2008-02-02T22:52:00.001-05:00

Do what it takes to make it through
Take what it does dish out to you through it all

Proverbs 20:
9 Who can say, "I have kept my heart pure; I am clean and without sin."
27 The lamp of the Lord searches the spirit of a man; it searches out his inmost being.
30 Blows and wounds clean away evil, and beatings purge the inmost being.

After reading Velvet Elvis a while back I understood a little bit more about the Jewish priests and the way that they taught. Most of the time the priests would answer in questions, if you look to the way that Jesus taught, it was in questions, questions that were self answering and pointed to the truth of the matter.

It is as if Solomon, wise king, is doing the same here. Someone has perhaps condemned someone of a wrong doing. Some great sin has been committed and everyone is pointing a finger. So...who among you can say that I've kept my heart pure; and I'm clean, without sin.

Frankly I think at that point everyone would have backed down, every person who said they had not, would have lied, and thus sinned.

Sin is not one of the big 5 (because everyone ignores half of the ten commandments). Sin is not even one of the ten commandments being broken. Those were given to the Jews because they were hard headed like we are and needed a physical reminder of what was already written on everyones hearts at conception. Why do you think that the 10 commandments are basically obeyed in most societies to some extent with maybe one odd twist here or there. We were all created with the same genetic pre-disposition to obey God. Sin, distorted and disrupted that pre-disposition to something anti-God.

This is what sin is. Anti-God. Apart from God. God cannot have anything to do with the sin nature, so anything that is apart from Him is considered sin. Unfortunately because we are born into this sin, because of the original sin, we do it day in and day out. Sure some people commit one of the big 10, but that makes them no worse off than someone who told a small white lie, or had a dirty thought. It was apart from God.

No one is above this.

Except Jesus, born without a sin nature.
Because as declared, the sin nature is passed down through the man, and Jesus was born of a virgin woman, Mary.

So how do you know when you've done something apart from God, how do you know you've sinned?

Go back a few years to the now obsolete technology, the overhead projector.
Light would shine through a transparent sheet of plastic, and project whatever ink stood in the way of the light onto the wall. The image that appeared was the absence of light.

Think of God as that overhead projector, he blasts us with his pure unadulterated light and whatever is not of him stands out like writing on the wall. His light searches you out. It exposes your sin, and Christ says, see you've got it too. No matter how small.

You hang your head in shame. How could Christ ever love me? How could I have so much sin?

Something I struggle with daily.

It's ok.

I've heard people say, well once you "get saved" you don't sin any more. I think the wordage of that phrase is a lie from satan. That is something that is used to guilt more Christians from being effective in their walk.

Once you accept Christ you have an out from sin.

Does that mean you always take it?
Heck no.
We're geared that way. We want to sin, because it's fun for a while.

Let me take a step back to the accepting Christ part. The last verse in proverbs talks about beating the evil out, and beatings purge the inmost being. Unfortunately this is misconstrued in some religions as abuse, and self abuse. I think that it's talking about a couple things, a) the blows that come to your ego or your personality because of the admittance of your sin. It hurts to say, I'm sorry. I screwed up. For some reason though, this is also cleansing. b) It has almost a prophetic meaning, speaking of Christ who through his beatings, and death was brought the ultimate cleansing for each person from their sin.

Because on the cross Christ took every person's sin upon himself that ever lived and ever would live. God had to turn his back on his son. Why? because God cannot be a part of sin.

Christ rose from the dead so that we may have the hope of salvation and ever lasting life from this dead and sinful world. Free of guilt.
A free gift.

We're asked to follow him, but that is a small return.

Let His light filter through you and expose the sin in your own life, things you need to confess and claim the blood of Christ over. Reading these passages have brought to light things in my own life.

My own writing on the wall.

What is yours? (meant as an introspective question)

A Jewish Disaster

2008-01-26T22:28:00.000-05:00

Acts 14 (The Message)
1-3 When they got to Iconium they went, as they always did, to the meeting place of the Jews and gave their message. The Message convinced both Jews and non-Jews—and not just a few, either. But the unbelieving Jews worked up a whispering campaign against Paul and Barnabas, sowing mistrust and suspicion in the minds of the people in the street. The two apostles were there a long time, speaking freely, openly, and confidently as they presented the clear evidence of God's gifts, God corroborating their work with miracles and wonders.
4-7But then there was a split in public opinion, some siding with the Jews, some with the apostles. One day, learning that both the Jews and non-Jews had been organized by their leaders to beat them up, they escaped as best they could to the next towns—Lyconia, Lystra, Derbe, and that neighborhood—but then were right back at it again, getting out the Message.

It is amazing to me how much scripture parallels modern society, heck, even my own church.

First, I've been reading Proverbs, it is a challenge to check myself against every verse. Am I going through life with wisdom, or as the fool not fearing God? (here is something for another time)

I've also been reading in Acts, reading of the choosing of new disciples, the stoning of Stephen, the conversion of Saul.

Saul or rather Paul, starts his ministry off with a bang. He and Barnabas are tearing it up through the cities preaching to both Jews and Gentiles, to anyone who would hear, and to any who would believe. Kicking the Jews in the tails with the realization that God left his inheritance not only for the Jew but the non-Jew as well.

Of all people, you would think the Jews would leave them alone, they are Jewish by birth. You would also think that, because what Paul and Barnabas are preaching aligns so closely with scripture of old, and prophecy fulfilled, they would either believe or at least step out of the way. You would think that with the miracles being preformed in front of their eyes and the authority of which they proclaim the scripture that maybe, just maybe the Jews would at least back down and admit that there was something else in control here.

No.

Some believed and the others...well they deceived.

This division, this deception, goes hand in hand with religion today. Yes, it even happens in our own church. People become so wrapped up in their idea of what religion should be. They see authority given to one man, one woman, one teacher, one preacher. They put their trust so much so in fallible man that they loose sight of Christ. Out of this begins division, small seeds planted among those teetering on the edge of true faith, or even those who are saved, but are weak and easily influenced. These people begin to think that it's all about the man. They loose sight of the cross, or miss the cross altogether. They become so entrenched in their religion that they take the messengers of Christ and stone them and leave them for dead. Not caring one way or the other what happens to the body of Christ.

Unfortunately this is how satan works. He sends a few, they may not even know it. They sew deceit and deception among the ones gathered to hear the gospel. A small whisper turns into a murmur, that murmur builds into a subtle cry and that cry bursts into a roar.

Can you hear it?
It's the same tactic used before Pilot.
GIVE US BARABAS! CRUCIFY HIM!

So maybe the passages of Proverbs apply more than I realized as I typed....are you the man following wisdom, or the foolish man seeking his own flesh?

Further in the chapter, Paul does get stoned, he's left for dead. The fools missed something though, he wasn't dead! So what did he do? He got back up and after some recovery began preaching again, and ruffling the feathers of those Jews that stoned him. He didn't go after them, but continued preaching the truth of Christ.

Go ahead ruffle some feathers. In love and perseverance never give up.
You have been called in Christ to deliver his message to as many as would listen, some seed upon hard ground, some seed choked by weeds, and some after careful cultivation of many others, will grow into belief in Christ. So while you may not see direct fruits, your labor is not in vain. As time goes on it becomes harder to show people truth, because they have been deceived. They have convinced themselves of non-truths as truths.

Be of good courage because of the hope you have in Christ Jesus.

The Messed Up Messianic Message

2008-01-13T18:08:00.000-05:00

It's been a while.
This one is going to be a little raw and honest and maybe at times incoherent.
I was in the desert for a while, and I'm ok with that because it created such a thirst and hunger for my God and a disdain for where I was it made me physically ill.
That is why I'm seeking the face of God, have asked him to restore me, and am actively seeking accountability in digging into my word daily.

Proverbs 4 (the message)
Learn It by Heart
20-22 Dear friend, listen well to my words;
tune your ears to my voice.
Keep my message in plain view at all times.
Concentrate! Learn it by heart!
Those who discover these words live, really live;
body and soul, they're bursting with health.

23-27 Keep vigilant watch over your heart;
that's where life starts.
Don't talk out of both sides of your mouth;
avoid careless banter, white lies, and gossip.
Keep your eyes straight ahead;
ignore all sideshow distractions.
Watch your step,
and the road will stretch out smooth before you.
Look neither right nor left;
leave evil in the dust.

The Christian walk is not for the meek, it isn't for the person who wants to throw in the towel. IT ISN'T EASY. You fall, you get back up, you fall, you get back up, you fall, you get back up. What's different between my life, and the life of a non-Christ follower is I have a reason to get back up, and I have a coach screaming at me from the sidelines to get my tail in gear.

Now maybe I'm wrong in my title, but somewhere along the line Christians have messed up the message of the Messiah. The reason of Christ is to seek and save those who are lost.

My brother today moved out of the house, he broke rules my parents set up so that he could claim they kicked him out, and then said they were some kind of Christians. Why? because they did not accept him for who he is, what he wants to do, what he wants to be a part of.

Somewhere along the line the message of the messiah got messed up when it was conveyed to him...and unfortunately to many other people out there.

Lost is a word that has two parts, the first part is that there is something you were originally part of that you became separated from. Before original sin man walked with God. When sin entered the world, we became separated from God. There is where we got lost. Our nature is now apart from God.

The second part of being lost, is that you are actively seeking something. In this case...you're seeking to fill the original hole that was left when sin separated us from God. A lot of people have filled that hole, some people have stuffed it so full they don't even know they're still lost. Why do you think there are people who seem so happy, content or filled where they are at without God? Some people have loosely packed that hole, so they're still looking. There are cracks in the facade.

So the purpose of Christ is to seek and save those who were separated from himself by sin, and are actively seeking the reason they feel so empty.

So why has the churched messed up this message?

Somewhere along the line we were lead to think that the message of Christ is only about love. Jesus loves the little children...

Genesis 19:24 (the message)
"Then God rained brimstone and fire down on Sodom and Gomorrah— a river of lava from God out of the sky!—and destroyed these cities and the entire plain and everyone who lived in the cities and everything that grew from the ground."

Lot begged God to see if there was anyone righteous in the city, and so God, being loving, let Lot search the city.
He found no one, and because of his righteous anger and inability to be a part of sin, destroyed the city.

Even though God said we are to love the sinner, we're not supposed to love the sin. God said we're not supposed to judge peoples heart...but that is because that is reserved for Him. We cannot judge, or have righteous anger because we are not righteous, and what righteousness we may pretend claim, it is like dirty rags to God.

Today in church we sang a song, I am a friend of God.
This song irritates me to no end, I know in my heart it is theologically wrong and today it hit home why. God called us sons and daughters in his kingdom. As sons and daughters we are subject to his discipline. If God see's us mess up, fall over, drop out, he can smack us in the head if he wants...I know I just had that happen! If we're just friends of God then we're not actually part of his family. Merely observers of his grace and mercy to his family (tasting of his glory...). He can't actually discipline us because we're outsiders. He can't provide his blessings either because we're not heirs to his throne. I praise God that I'm not just his friend but I'm his son, recipient of not only his blessings but his correction as well. Goodness knows where I'd be at if I didn't have that.

Oops, I guess it isn't PC to talk about the wrath of God because God is love...

I could seriously go through and pick apart attributes of God that are less than the PC Jesus with the long flowing hair, perfectly groomed beared and dazzling white teeth (and dare i mention white skin?...wait Jesus was not caucasian? no he was Israeli...probably fairly dark, not black, but probably dark...and dirty...and probably had nappy hair, he was a nazarite, no hair cutting etc.). I think most people reading this understand those things of God, maybe not completely, otherwise there would be a more correct understanding of Christ.

Why else when you ask who Jesus is do people give you quizzical looks, backwards answers, and theological garbage.

I think with this blog I'm just scratching the surface of what I really want to discuss. I'd like you to be part of it. Leave your thoughts. Verses. Questions, commendations, condemnations or the like. I need to sit down and organize this into an outline and do a deeper study on it, but I wanted to get this down and out before it left. I have some good thoughts when I jump on the treadmill and I don't even think I remembered half of what came to mind while this topic was at heart.

Happy discussion. I look forward to it.

PS...my brother moved back in within hours only because he doesn't have a car...or license.

Something's bout to break

2007-11-15T11:55:00.000-05:00

You know when something is about to break when satan kicks it into overdrive all around you.
Not even things that directly affect you every time, but things that will distract you just enough.

The past week God really softened my heart, made me more sensitive to the spiritual battle that is going on in my own life.

I went down to Orland, FL for a worship/leadership conference with Hillsong, and even before the conference started, God began to show me things. One verse he gave me to begin claiming over my life is Colossians 1:9-10

9For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,

I have begun to pray this over my life, that God would fill me with the knowledge of his will through spiritual wisdom and understanding. It is incredible the peace I began to feel over my life. I like to know what's going on, not in detail, but at least a general understanding. Reading this and praying it began to help me understand God's timing. He wants us to know his will, but in the mean time, while we're working all of that out, I am to live a life worthy of Christ.

Something else that was given to me this week is in part of that, to pray scripture. I'm not talking the health, wealth and prosperity prayers of "the prayer of jabez" and filler junk like that. I'm talking, take a psalm of praise, a piece of scripture applicable to your life and situations and begin praying it to God. Letting the promises of his word fill your heart. Talk about memorizing scripture, start praying something back to God that he has written and he will begin to impress it upon your heart.

I had a lot of other things impressed on my heart in the past week, a lot surrounding worship (because of the time and place), but also a lot concerning things like pride, watching your tongue, spiritual discernment, and the freedom of Christ. Much of this was spurred from conversations had with some guys this week. Out of the overflow of this I'll continue to speak.

Like Paul, I've not quite made it there myself, but I'm working towards Christ. There are a lot of things in my own life that I have to work on, work towards. Praise the the one who paid my debt, that he is there walking with me every step of the way, cheering me on, aiding me in my walk, and releasing me from the sin that holds all of us back from experiencing true freedom in Christ.

I'm in florida

2007-11-06T17:08:00.001-05:00

I'll have some stuff to say later

Who do you say God is

2007-10-26T13:05:00.000-04:00

Working for a larger Christian ministry I hear statistics thrown around at an amazing pace. Things like when children decide to put their faith on the shelves (middle school?!) to the reasons people give for walking away from their faith. One that continually befuddles me is the fact that a large majority say that they believe in God.

What I want to know is who these people think that God is.

In Joshua, the Old Testament prophet talks a lot about serving God, and serving gods. The way it's described it is almost like you're looking at modern day America.

If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you, after he has been good to you. Joshua 24:20

God has been good to us, our country is one of the most profitable nations in the world, and at the rate we're going and leaving our morals, and wiping them under the rug, I'm afraid we're going to be seeing the disaster and end of us quicker than we think. The upheavals and turmoil that we are seeing within our own nation today is just the birthing pains of what is to come.

Unfortunately we have a president who Christians praised, but now claims that there is more than one right way to salvation. Whether being PC or not, who is he saying God is? You walk down the street and ask someone who God is and you'll get hundreds of responses. He's Allah, he's buddah, he's the God you put on your shelf and ask requests of, he's the one you blame for everything bad in your life, or he's the one you give credit for when everything goes right, he's the genie in the bottle for all your wishes, he's the dusty bible on your shelf that you only bring out on holidays, he's an after thought, he's distant and just watching things play out, he never existed to begin with, he's just there so we have something to hope in.

But you have forsaken me and served other gods, so I will no longer save you. Judges 10:13

Do you want God to say welcome into my presence good and faithful servant, or depart from me I never knew you?

Who do you say God is? Is he your savior, is he real to you?
Or are you putting him on your shelf until it's convenient for you?

Do you believe in a God, or do you believe IN God.

throw in the towel

2007-10-22T20:07:00.000-04:00

There are some times in life where you're ready to throw in the towel. You can't stand the way things are going.

I think God brings you to that point sometimes just to show you whose boss.
Saturday I read this while I was at work and frustrated with things.

Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

I realized at this point when i read it, that I was anxious about my life, and about what I'm supposed to be doing. Wondering if what I see as my God given passion and desire is really what He wants. and this was causing frustration and a lack of peace.

At that point I read that I had to stop in my tracks and pray that God take away the anxiousness, praise him for being active in my life and bring my petitions before him.

When I stopped and gave it to him I got a peace I couldn't understand. I'm still frustrated, and am realizing that like the Cross I have to pick up daily I have to give this to him daily until he takes it completely.

He knows what I can bear. I praise him for his control and for his timing. Patience is something that must be worked into me (into you) and unfortunately it's a painful growing process.

Something Simple

2007-10-13T09:39:00.000-04:00

Last night as I was driving home, I passed a hospital.

The first thing that struck me was the lit up cross on the side of the building, and then right after that the word MERCY lit up beside it. If people only knew how true that was. Yes the hospital is named Mercy, yes you can find some extent of mercy at this hospital, but oh how much more mercy you can find at the cross. Mercy that will forgive every sin you've committed, every sin you're going to commit. Mercy that will never abandon you, grow tired of you, stop loving you, give up on you, run out for you. There is so much mercy at the cross of Jesus that sometimes we fail to comprehend it.

We go through life acting as if there is nothing we can do to be clean enough. There is nothing that we can do to make it in God's eyes, that we've done to much wrong to deserve the mercy of Christ.

But that is just it, we have done to much. There is nothing we could ever do to make us deserving. We deserve hell, that is the penalty everyone has hanging over our heads. Each of us know deep down that we deserve nothing, we all deserve to die horrible deaths for everything we've done...yeah even for the little things.

God stepped in, stepped down, died a horrible death so we wouldn't have to. Became the perfect sacrifice so that we can be covered, paid for, extended mercy and grace to.

So even when I fail, mercy covers me.

It can cover you.

At the cross, at the cross where I first saw the light.

At The Cross - Hillsong

Oh Lord You’ve searched me
You know my way
Even when I fail You
I know You love me

Your holy presence
Surrounding me
In every season
I know You love me
I know You love me

At the cross I bow my knee
Where Your blood was shed for me
There’s no greater love than this
You have overcome the grave
Your glory fills the highest place
What can separate me now

You go before me
You shield my way
Your hand upholds me
I know You love me

You tore the veil
You made a way
When You said that it is done

And when the earth fades
Falls from my eyes
And You stand before me
I know You love me
I know You love me

Healer - Ten Shekel Shirt

Healer heal me
Savior save me
Maker change me
Lover love me
Cuz I'm so tired of living for
The kind of love
That only lasts for a while
The pain, the shame
Tear me up inside

So I fall on my knees
To get back on my feet again
And I cry out for You
Would You please speak to me

they will know us by our love

2007-10-11T18:54:00.000-04:00

Since I haven't blogged in a bit I'll start off with a few recent things.

I bought plane tickets for Orlando next month and will be going down to the Hillsong Conference. Boy am I looking forward to this fellowship with other believers.

Today I walked into the men's restroom at work and couldn't help but notice that someone had picked their nose and wiped it on the wall in front of the urinal. How old are we?!?!

I am sitting in Panera right now and some rude lady cut me off in line and everyone around me got mad. It was kind of funny.

I read this in Hebrews 10 today. (the message)

19-21So, friends, we can now—without hesitation—walk right up to God, into "the Holy Place." Jesus has cleared the way by the blood of his sacrifice, acting as our priest before God. The "curtain" into God's presence is his body.
22-25So let's do it—full of belief, confident that we're presentable inside and out. Let's keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps his word. Let's see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching.

Earlier in the chapter Paul describes the sacrificial system given to Moses and Israel for redemption. How year in and year out a man had to go before God and plead that these people's sin would be taken away. That the same thing had to be done time and time again.

Now there is a new system. Christ came as the only sacrifice ever needed from this point forward, for those who claim him.

Now we can go before God and talk with him. Jesus' blood gives us this open access to God, frankly it is kind of part of the whole redemption of man that we will see when Christ comes back. It is a part of righting creation, because this communion with the almighty creator is in part how it was with Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve had pure unadulterated access to God's throne, they not only had his ear, but he had theirs, an AUDIBLE voice. While we don't have that exact access right now, we still have it in part. We can talk to God and we can be so in tune with him we can feel his leading in our lives, and be spoken to through his word and through his people.

I really like how the message put this piece of the scripture "Let's see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching."

I am a creative person, I like seeing things done in new ways, and coming up with new approaches to things. What hurts my heart and what passion God has given me is for the church and trying to help people understand that tradition (while having a place) does not necessarily mean that something is right or wrong, that is for Christ and the scriptures. So when it says, let's see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, that speaks volumes as to what the church needs to be doing. Does that mean we need to be going into the bars, clubs, porn shops, etc. No, but it means that we need to be sitting down and concentrating on how we can reach the people who's lives are ripped apart by these things instead of pointing out their sins.

How can we reach out to them, and show them Christ's love, Christ's intervention, and healing power. Tradition and legalism is not something that will ever appeal to these people, in fact it is more than likely one huge reason that they are lost. Christians are known for their legalism, tradition, and bickering (how many baptists does it take to change a light bulb....wait a second we'll hold a committee). We need to involve ourselves with making Christ easily accessible to those who don't know or don't understand what Christ is really about. Hold a committee about what really matters, how to reach people. Knocking on doors and singing hymns may be good for the ones who know and grew up with that, but that doesn't happen much any more.

What can I do.

they will know us by our love

skin on

2007-10-05T23:58:00.000-04:00

From the Prophet Isaiah 7:9 (b)

If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.

From the Epistle Paul, Hebrews 9:14

How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleans our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!

Two statements, both equally as powerful. One a statement of hope, one a statement of warning.

I enjoy taking a look at contrasting statements in the Bible, because most people see these as contradictions, or out right heresies. How can God be love and judgmental.

Let's take a look at the first verse from Isaiah. The warning, that statement that engulfs much of what *gag* religion has become today. If, this word is part of an if then clause, signifying cause and effect, signifying a choice to be made. So all you Calvinists out there get over it, we have a choice. If you do NOT stand firm in your faith. There is the cause, you don't stand firm in your faith, not the faith of your mother or father, not the faith of your pastor or teacher, YOUR faith. This means that at some point you had to make this faith your own, if you've never done that you can stop reading. Go sit down with the Bible and start asking yourself and God if your faith is your own. Standing firm on something means that there was some kind of foundational truth, meaning the word of God. Yes the word of God is true, unfailing, and unchanged despite what some people may try to force you to believe. So if you do not stand on the word of God, the faith that you have claimed as your own, THEN (here is the effect) you will not stand at all.

Ouch.
If you have no basis for your faith, if you do not believe the word of God for what it is, then you basically have no reason to stand for Christ, others will walk all over you, and you're going to look like the biggest moron this side of the Mississippi.

Welcome to modern religion.

The second statement I don't need to brake down quite as much. God, came to this earth to eradicate the old covenant that he made with Israel. He determined that it became obsolete because they did not obey it in the first place, and that it was time as creator to come down and take care of not just Israel but all of his creation. The hope that we have in Christ is this, that once we have accepted his blood we are washed of sins, past present and future.

Don't stop there. Your fluffy messages of peace love and joy and the Christian faith need to stop. Christianity is not some fluffy pie in the sky, in the sweet bye and bye, when we all die we'll fly with wings like angels.

There's work to be done son. The gospel is that of a commission, once you have found Christ get out there and share it, work it, flesh it out. Wrestle with it, build your foundations. Church isn't about a meeting come Sunday, love it and leave it. I see Christians come into church each week like that. I see them leave each week like that too.

What are we doing to make a difference, what are we doing to stand firm in our faith so that we're not lying on the side of the road like a poor beggar. Once we accepted the blood of Christ our consciences were cleaned of all sin so that we can claim the riches of Christ, stop begging on the side of the road and start working out our faith in him.

Oh yeah, I kind of forgot to mention the last part in that verse in Hebrews...THAT WE MAY SERVE THE LIVING GOD!

First of all we are supposed to SERVE, not sit on our butts. Second of all the God that we serve, he didn't die and stay buried. You see the discovery channel got it wrong kids, Christ rose out of that grave and left nothing but the burial clothes in the grave. People witnessed this resurrection, people testified to this resurrection. Why? so that we can claim the hope we have in Christ.

That's why I love and identify with Paul so much. I love service, I love the fact that Paul is blunt about the fact that Christians are downright terrible people most of the time and that they are the ones that unfortunately need a lesson. You can't expect lost people to act godly. They're lost, expect them to act how they act. Stop wallowing in it. It's a done deal they're heading to hell unless you do something about it. You can't do something about it until you get the beam out of your eye and start putting some work into your faith.

Faith.Work.Love.Service.Life

I wonder

2007-10-05T16:10:00.001-04:00

I was driving to work today.
Apparently there was an accident. Traffic was backed up for a good 15-20 minutes.
I didn't really care, I was running early. I turned up my music.
Some people did care though. One lady got extremely aggitated, and did something rash/stupid.
She decided to turn around in the grass median on 275 nearing the 74/275 split.
For those of you that know the area you know that the median kind of looks like this _/ (only not quite that steep).

She was frustrated enough that she decided this was as good a spot as any to make a U turn and so she took off, and because she was in a front wheel drive car she became majorly stuck as her front wheels went up and hung over the edge of the median, not quite meeting the pavement. There they spun and there you could see her gesturing wildly.

I laughed.
Because the second she did that traffic broke up and everyone moved pretty quickly down the highway.

Then I caught myself and wondered why Iwas laughing at someone else's misfortune.
Deffinately not Christ like. How often do I do things like that?

The finished product

2007-10-03T15:40:00.000-04:00

The CD Imprint

The Track Sheet (cue/que sheet)

step up, step out

2007-09-30T15:22:00.000-04:00

I'm not talking about some dance move here. I'm talking about things surrounding Jesus' life.

I hadn't had any one on one time with God lately, It was a long, stressful week with getting over a sinus infection, work, church. No time to stop and think really. So I was kind of angry, bitter, tired, frustrated, annoyed with life.

I got in church and there were hardly any people there. It is kind of disheartening because this service has been going on for a year and instead of seeing any kind of growth, we're seeing all kinds of atrophy. When you're seeing atrophy you have to stop and wonder, what the heck is going on. Is there something being done wrong, for the wrong reasons? Why is God not blessing this outreach.

Then it hit me...this is an outreach and we're not out there reaching to people. that is why there is atrophy in this service that is geared towards singles and college students. The same people show up week after week and most of the time extremely late. They come in sit down, 'soak' and leave. They don't bring anyone with them, they don't try and initiate any type of growth opportunities. (I'll inject, I can't say I'm completely on top of this either, but I do invite people occasionally, and I have a desire to see this ministry grow since I was 'there at the conception'). Atrophy is a do nothing disease and this is where the first "Step up, step out" principle hit me. Christ talked a lot about service, he lived out service. Christ and his disciples said, either you step up to the challenge and the commission I have given you or step out of the way so that other people can get it done. Start building that muscle, start giving it opportunities to grow otherwise it will atrophy and you won't be able to do anything.

So do I think that something needs done? yes, I think people need to get off their butts and stop thinking of this service as a ministry for them and start realizing it is a ministry for them to participate in. You wonder why there is so much drama, angst, bickering, and bitterness within a group of people. It is because these people are looking for chances where they can be served, filled, babied, uplifted, gorged, and become downright selfish. Instead these people need to be jumping in along side those who are working, and lend a hand. They need to stop gorging themselves and put into practice what Jesus lived, service.

Second principle that I think comes more out of Jesus' lifestyle rather than teachings is that of "Step up, then step out". Jesus came to this earth, started his ministry, gathered followers, poured himself into the followers and then stepped out of the scene. While there are more reasons than just this. He did this in order that his followers would be able to grow, learn and understand on their own, rather than leaning and relying on Jesus to always take over a situation when they did something stupid. That doesn't mean that you stop being involved, but once you have helped/fed a person spiritually you have to take away the bottle and let them go on their own. The it cycles back around to "Step up or step out". That person then becomes responsible to reach out and begin pouring themselves out into other people.

Unfortunately the church, my church, our church, the body of Christ takes neither of these principles to the road.
Atrophy sets in.
People complain, become bitter, get annoyed, bicker, pick fights.
Numbers dwindle.
Christ is not glorified.
God finds someone/somewhere else to move.

Responsibility, What's that. Responsibility, Not quite yet. -MXPX

2007-09-29T09:38:00.000-04:00

New Music to check
Matchbox Twenty: Exile On Mainstream -

Turn Off The Stars (self titled)

This Beautiful Republic: Even Hero's Need a Parachute

Paramore: Riot

Oh praise the one

2007-09-19T15:14:00.000-04:00

"Oh praise the One, Who paid my debt and raised this life up from the dead."
"what a privilidge it is to carry, everything to God in prayer."

The power of worship. To lay stripped bare before God, worshiping Him because of who he is and what he has done. To sit your burndens down at the feet of Jesus. To look like a fool in front of all others in order to have holy communion with the one who created the universe.

Oh how sweet it is.

How sweet it is as well, to share in part the same spirit with other believers. To share excitement in the movement of the holy spirit. To share the same anguish over the same spiritual road blocks and blinders.

As Iron Sharpens Iron.

I've said it before,
Get ready. God's moving. Are you ready for this?

What would you do

2007-09-18T17:48:00.000-04:00

If God told you to get up and move?

I'm not talking about across the state. I'm talking Africa, the other side of the continent, Some remote part of Cambodia? Somewhere far away from your family and friends. Somewhere outside of your comfort zone. This may not be a completely logical move either, just a movement because God said Go.

Would you go?

Would you be willing enough to give up everything and go somewhere different, do something different, be something different?

Love God, love people, and be willing to let God show up.

2007-09-16T09:49:00.000-04:00

Psalm 31 (the message)
23 Love God, all you saints;
God takes care of all who stay close to him,
But he pays back in full
those arrogant enough to go it alone.

24 Be brave. Be strong. Don't give up.
Expect God to get here soon.

Churches today skirt the fact that God is a righteously vengeful God. It isn't politically correct to tell people that if you do not serve God, ultimately it will come back around to bite you. So pastors will preach the fact that God will take care of his saints, but will brush by the fact that it says, the saints who are close to him, and skip the fact that it says he pays back in full those who are arrogant enough to leave God alone.

The questions that present themselves in this single verse is, are you loving God and staying close to him? and, In your willing ignorance are you being being arrogant, and self-centric in your worship/life-style/person?

It isn't an easy question to ask yourself, because you've gotta dig deep. You've got to get some of that dirty laundry out before God. You've got to be honest with yourself on how much you really go to church, serve people and live your life selfishly. You may say you're doing it for God but how often do you do it just because it makes you feel better about yourself, or you're worried about what other people think.

God is righteous, all-knowing, all-powerful. Perfect. He alone has the right to speak the truth, condemn us to hell, love unconditionally, forget and forgive, punish, and call each and every one of us arrogant fools.

Whom are you seeking?

The next question. While you are seeking, do you expect God to show up?

Or because you can't see, touch, taste, feel, smell God, do you only partially think he might find the time to show up if his schedule is not to busy.

I think so many times we place our mortal concepts of time and place upon God, and say since he is not here physically, I do not expect him to be present in my every day life. God is at church and I leave him there, God only helps those who help themselves (how often do you hear that one), God only comes in times of trouble (and here you can ask, why the pain, suffering and death). People think you cannot expect anything of God because he is so distant.

This is not the case, we're the ones distancing ourselves from God. Once again this is because of our own foolish arrogance.

If you would just take a second to sit down, shut up and expect God to show up, expect Him to do something, expect the creator of the universe to be there when we call (and even when we don't). Something might actually happen.

Put some practical shoes on and start walking your faith, you might be surprised what happens when you're willing to let your arrogance go. Decide you don't know anything about everything.

Love God, love people, and be willing to let God show up.

More concepts

2007-09-13T16:35:00.001-04:00

A START

2007-09-12T17:31:00.000-04:00

time to get the creative juices flowing...boy is this rough...

this is a first pass...gotta come up with a couple design variations.

I'm happy with how it's going though

Goal-Set-Match

2007-09-11T13:17:00.000-04:00

I took a body fat percentage test today at the gym and found out I reached my goal of getting around/under 10% body fat.

Pretty cool.
I want to say I started a year ago at 20% or more. (whatever the high end of average for my height/weight/age was)

so that we may serve the living God - Hebrews 9:14

2007-09-09T19:30:00.000-04:00

To be honest God has really got me unsettled. I cannot get ministry off of my mind for anything, it's unsettling and exciting at the same time. I know that God has placed this on my heart, and I am resigning myself to the fact that I'm gonna have to get ready to go wherever he decides he needs me.

I've been struggling with this for a week now, and really feel like it's time to take my thoughts beyond my thick skull and this keyboard. I mentioned it briefly to my mom, who at the thought of me moving anywhere outside of Cincinnati usually has a stroke, kind of lit up and said "I always knew you'd go into ministry".

Like I said, I've got no direct calling yet. Just an urge, a very strong urge that has left me restless to serve my living God.

I struggle to read my Bible daily (heck, most of the time weekly or monthly), something that I need to get back into, and skimmed through Hebrews looking for a word. Why Hebrews I don't know, but I came across chapter 9. Verse 14 begins talking about Christ's sacrifice and his blood covering all of our shame and sin, so that we may serve the living God.

Yeah, I struggle, daily. I'm glad that God never said that being a follower of Christ resulted in an ease of life, because I'd have quit a long time ago. That would be an out right lie. We have struggles, but because of something miraculous 2,000 years ago, we can have a relationship with, and serve the living God.

Serving the living God.

I don't get to serve a dead God, a distant God or a disillousioned God. I serve the living, life giving, awe-inspiring God. This service that I have been enveloped into is what has my spirit restless.

A year ago I was not the same man I am today. I was burned out, resistant, and angry with a lot of Christianity. At the end of my four years of college I was pretty sick of the church establishment and the way that Christians treated eachother. I was never to the point of denouncing Christ, but I deffinately distanced myself from him, and others. Over the last year God has worked on my heart, stuck me in a Christian organization that has allowed me to grow. He's placed me in a church were my spirit has been refreshed. Where he is moving and I was able to jump right in. To Serve.

That is what this verse is talking about, Christ's blood, the same living and life giving God that created our universe ex-nilo, covered my guilt, my shame, my burned out mentality, my bitter spirit, my brokeness, my dissappointement. Now he has placed in me a desire and passion to serve him. His refreshing spirit has lifted me up out of the pit of dispair and I praise him for that.

Does that mean I don't struggle, no. Does that mean I don't get dissappointed from time to time with myself or others, no. Does that mean that I don't get burned out from pushing myself to hard (heck no, after all of this I learned I thrive on pushing my limits).

It just means I have something to go after, a drive to keep myself going when I feel like I'm going to drop. A reason to keep looking up day after day. A reason to serve my living God.

I know that things are going to happen because satan is attacking at all sides. I don't ever think I've seen so many attacks at once, and frankly I'm starting to realize where some of them are as I type this. Satan doesn't want you to serve. The complacent, lazy, gourged, self-righteous, pious Christian that I used to be is right where he wants you. Doing absolutely nothing to further the kingdom. It excites me that these attacks are taking place because I know God's about ready to drop a freaking bomb. It also scares the crap outta me because that means stuff has got to change. Change in me, and for me.

I need to be changed from the inside out. Praise God he's doing a new work in me!

I love change as much as I love habit. The thing that scares me is what kind of change this is gonna be. Africa? I'll go. North Dakota? (as boring as that would be) I'll go. Get married? (as far off as that may seem in my singleness) I'll go. Poverty? (hey, if I don't have any money what can the creditors do?) I'll go. Seminary? (as much as I don't feel called in a full pastoral position) I'll go.

Now that I've poured out a little I think I can settle down some. It's hard to keep all of these thoughts inside. It's like a pressure cooker, it's gonna come out sooner or later (whatever it is that you've stored up). I'm just grateful for what is pouring out of me. It has seriously come up a lot in some conversations I've had recently and I really need to sit down with some of my leaders now and let them know the impact they've had in my life lately and get some guidance on where to go now.

thanks for listening

Bathroom Pet Peeve

2007-09-06T13:08:00.000-04:00

Most guys know and abide by certain rules. Among those rules are certain bathroom etiquette. I.E. if there is a row of urinals and they're all empty but one, pick the farthest away from the other guy.

I'll be honest with you, bathroom etiquette is a pet peeve of mine. I notice if you didn't wash your hands, or if you picked the stall right next to me, and if I'm in a predicament where I'm supposed to shake your hand (even if I haven't seen you near the bathroom recently) I'm gonna be reluctant to touch you.

So you will be understanding when I say that things like...talking in the bathroom is a no brainer. Don't frackin' do it. Seriously, if I'm standing at the urinal taking a piss and even though your washing your hands, I don't want to hold a conversation. I'm there to mind my own business. No I don't want to shoot the breeze with you while you're outside my stall and I'm taking a crap, I don't care if I work with you. It even comes down to, we're both washing our hands, and you want to start up a conversation. A quick hi or how's it going will suffice. Going on to tell me how your weekend went with the in-laws, or what you had for lunch (which apparently didn't agree with your stomach) is not kosher at all. I think it's even more annoying when you walk in on a conversation like this in progress. You're clogging up the entry/exit to the bathroom with your conversation. Leave.

The kicker is when you're standing at a urinal, and someone walks up next to you and insists on having a full out conversation with you whilst peeing. This in and of itself is bad enough but when your co-working/whoever turns toward you because they're an 'eye contact' person is worse. This makes me want to zip up mid-stream and walk out. Who taught these people bathroom etiquette? It's down right disgusting how many guys, break these simple man-laws...

In public I've had someone walk up at the sink and strike up a conversation about the shoes I was wearing. I don't care if you're a fag or not, don't talk to me in a bathroom, ESPECIALLY IF I DON'T KNOW YOU (and knowing me still doesn't give you the right).

Yes, that's right, all of these things happen to me...and it seems to be the rule rather than the exception. It is my hopes someone reads this and makes a bathroom etiquette sign that will be posted in male restrooms across the world. That way there is a simple reminder that in the bathroom no contact is good contact.

happy peeing

prayer

2007-09-03T21:54:00.000-04:00

I really wish there were masters programs out there in church media. The longer i go along I feel a stronger calling to this, and I'd really like to get my masters too.

Hearing our singles pastor's testimony Sunday on how he was called in to ministry, really resonated with me. How usually when you say you're not going to ever be called to something God usually calls you there. I would deny ever feeling a calling into ministry until lately. I'm not 100% sure about it, but I've been drifting in that direction. I would even be ok with going to Africa if lead there.

So if you think about it, pray as I continue to work with this. I want God's will for my life, I'm not sure where this is going yet, I'm not even sure what I want in life.

thanks

family guy - starwars

2007-09-01T17:26:00.000-04:00

Hilarious

300

2007-08-30T14:55:00.000-04:00

Last night I went over to Jeff's house and we watched 300. It was deffinately worth the re-watch even though I had to fight sleep during the last half hour. There is a lot to talk about with this movie, even though it's claimed not quite as good as the graphic novel to movie adaptation of Sin City. I think what this one lacked against the dreary hit Sin City was multiple plot lines to keep you engrossed. Rather 300 relied on the fact that you were watching a stylistic interpretation of actual events. The characters did not lead you to become attached to them, but then again, would it be right to become attached to a rough, war-lord Spartan? I think that the quick paced, killing spree that took place is enough to raise the hair on anyone's neck and get any action seeking male 's blood pumping.

Technically this movie was beautiful. I loved the use of contrasting color used throughout the movies, mainly golds/tans/greys and deep reds. Red for the most part indicative of passion which is something that the Spartans were full of, tan/grey I would guess to lean towards disparity, barrenness. There are many scenes where people are left standing alone in the midst of or against a tan color. There is also a lot of usage of heavy shadowing, something used to forshadow a lot of the betrayal that is to take place.

Because of the style, not much if any blood is actually left lying around or on anyone or anything (yet much is spilled). This brings the level of gore down a notch or two when viewing. Knowing that this movie was mostly green screened, I am rather impressed by the use of technology, lighting, keying, camera movement and design to fill this movie (as well as acting, when was the last time you tried fighting something that wasn't there).

Warning, there is a fair use of nudity, as indicated by previous Miller movies.

I'd give this movie a 4.5 out of 5 on entertainment/viewing and about a 3 on story.

A State of the Hardcore Union Address

2007-08-25T00:36:00.000-04:00

I went to a show tonight, the first I've been to in a while. It was kinda sad the way hardcore music has ended up. All of these scenester kids running around trying to act hardcore. Since when were athletic shorts and cut off tshirts scene? Every 12 year old jumps into the pit now, regardless of whether or not it's time to go.

As far as the music goes, anyone can play hardcore, but you're not always hardcore. The intricacies of hardcore were amazing, and now you have simple drum beats, and guitar rifts that leave nothing to enjoy. It's just a barrage of loud noise to assault your ears. Oh well who knows what the future holds for hardcore. Maybe it will take a turn for the better and all of these bands who have potential will get their heads out of their arse.

I think an era has passed and it's time to move on.

stop going to shows

They Never Got There Because They Never Listened

2007-08-23T14:32:00.000-04:00

"Where am I going?"

There are a few times you ask yourself that question. You ask it when you graduate highschool, and again when you graduate college. You ask it when you're in a serious relationship, you ask it when you're in a job (or trying to find one).

How often do we ask ourselves in general where we are going?

They Never Got There Because They Never Listened

This is a quote from Hebrews 3 out of The Message, talking about Moses and the Israelites coming out of Egypt. Other versions say because of their disbelief they were unable to enter the promise land.

They weren't watching out for where they were going! They didn't listen to God and so they weren't able to enter his promise for them.

So I ask again...where are we going? are we listening to God? are we able to enter what he has laid out for us?

This is a hard question for me as I take a look at my life, daily struggling to enter the word and seek God, it's been a while and I'm searching for my groove. Praying God will keep me accountable and consistent. I want what he wants for my life, whether that is where he has me here and now, or he is prepping me for something in the future.

I've hear people say don't worry, God will direct you. I even tell myself that sometimes. God said to listen to him, to believe him. He never said we could not or should not ask where we're headed or to look forward. We may not get a quick or definitive answer, but we still need to ask, to seek, to follow and to listen.

Singularity

2007-08-21T11:43:00.002-04:00

Mae's newest album Singularity happened to be sitting on a shelve in FYE last night as I was walking by. It caught my eye and when I saw that it was Mae, I picked it up and walked straight to the register! Destination Beautiful was a great album, very melodic and mellow and totally consistent from front to back. This album is the exact opposite with a great upbeat tone and diverse sound from track to track. Mae keeps their beautiful melodies and haunting vocals and delivers it with a new energy and catchy rifts that will have you loving every second of this new release.

As Cities Burns was an group that i discovered some time ago when I went to Nashville with a few friends. Their aggressive vocals and high energy mixed with incredibly lyrics and amazing melodies drew me in. This sophomore release on Tooth and Nail's label has that same energy and lyricism but to be honest I was a little shocked at the lack of aggressiveness in this album. Apparently with age comes some serenity in their music, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. They've matured a lot vocally and musically and there is still an heir of their former aggressiveness. If you are partial to a little bit softer style but still enjoy some hard edge to your rock, then give this one a try.

Stepping on you with a smile since 1954

2007-08-20T05:21:00.001-04:00

Most management principles and leadership training seminars tell you that service with a smile is the key to success in your career. This is entirely true, if you're not willing to get down and dirty then you're not going to be able to go any where.

Now take that statement service with a smile...and put it in terms of religion. Apparently in the realm of the religious, and more as a rule than an exception in christian realms do we see it take a whole other meaning. Somewhere down the line, in some great movement of faith someone had to have taught that what Jesus really meant by being a servant, was that Christians are to step on everyone else, but do it with a smile.

I was a server for about a year or so. I enjoyed it, I love serving people. To be honest, one of the groups of people that drove me to hate my job were 'Christians'. You could usually tell who these people were when they came in. Dressed casually, but nice, or dressed extremely nice. They usually come in with the whole family, or if older their spouse. Smiles from ear to ear, and 'joy' oozes from them as they just sat in the presence of a gifted pastoral figure that made them feel good about themselves for not being as much as a sinner as those that weren't there. Because you're serving on a Sunday you must not be a Christian. Strike One (and usually that is enough strikes that you get an attitude). These people sit there and smile the entire time, they usually forcibly order for their kids the cheapest thing on the menu, then order soup and salad for themselves (so long as it's unlimited). Mom makes sure the kids get milk, no pop, and then mom and dad have a glass of tea. What I never figured out is how I got them mad. They never seemed to stop smiling, but at every turn they were complaining and sending me back and forth as if they were the only table I had. In fact, most of the time they went to a manager, not about me directly, but about their experience as a whole. The whole time, stepping on you with a smile.

That was kind of mild in comparison with some encounters I had, and yes, that was a real situation with a real family in a real restaurant that I served at.

What about working in a Christian environment? Surely that wouldn't be so bad? Everyone is working towards the same goal, with the same end in mind?

People seem to think that because they're a 'Christian' and you're a 'Christian' that if they want you to do something and you're supposed to serve with a smile then you have to do it. There's that old two step, making life more miserable in the religious community. Unfortunately once again, this happens to be the rule rather than the exception while working or serving in a place that is supposed to run like the church in the bible. A church that Paul described as the body of Christ, fluid, one coherent machine, one mind.

This is extremely aggravating to most Christians. Yet we put this golden rule into practice with others right after we've been crushed between the proverbial toes of some other pious religious moron.

I'm not going to pretend that I haven't done this to any one, because I'm sure I have. I'm also not going to try and suggest a fix for it because I'm not sure I have one beyond Christ's calling for us to serve Him, and placing ourselves and our agenda to the side.

back in black

2007-08-16T12:32:00.001-04:00

I'm rejoining the blogsphere.

I wouldn't say it is because of withdrawls, more like I need a place to vomit my mind every once in a while. I may put up the occasional review, I may even get geeky or techy on you. Just be prepared for whatever comes out of my mind to be thrown up on here.

-audiojunky-