Filed under: Ordinary Life
So, I’ve seen this book quiz floating around on several friends blogs. I couldn’t resist any longer.
You’re Roots!
by Alex Haley
While almost everyone agrees that you’re brilliant, no one knows quite
how to categorize you. Some say that you’re a person with an amazing family tree. Some
say that you’re just a darn good storyteller. Others say that you’re both and don’t much
care where to draw the line. What is known is that your people have been through a great
number of trials and that you are where you are because of hard work. You have nothing to
lose but your chains.
Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.
Many of you may have seen this powerful dramatic presentation of the power of Christ floating around on YouTube. It’s basically a modern interpretation of the prodigal son. We used it at Calvary for Easter to connect with our theme of Life: Again, showing that no matter how far we fall or how much gets in the way, we can always turn back to Christ again and he will restore our life.
While it was so much more powerful in person (especially with the full scope of all the lighting elements that were happening in the room) we did manage to catch it on a simple one camera video.
Good Friday and Easter Sunday were amazing. I thought all of the services this past weekend at Calvary went really well. We had about 4000 people total on campus between all the venues. I know it’s just one weekend, but there is so much we pour into it because we know that there were at least 1000 people there who only come once or twice a year. If we can create opportunities for those people to connect with God, then all that effort is worth it. If we can get some of them to see their life through a different lens and take a next step with their faith, that’s a great thing. In the end, I hope that many lives were really changed and some were challenged to make life-altering decisions.
However, now that Easter is behind us – it also means that my huge excuse over the last few weeks of “we’ll get to that after Easter” is now shot. It is now post Easter and there are all sorts of projects that we have to get moving on. The list is extraordinarily huge and it seems like every time something is knocked off the pile, two more things are added on. I hope that in this next month, we can get on top of it all without losing the creativity, relevance and excellence we are always striving after.
Filed under: Extraordinary Life | Tags: church, easter, production, worship
I got this email from Highway Video yesterday. I hope it blesses you, too.
For Worship Teams…
Many of us work to the point of exhaustion to prepare for Easter. We know it is a time when God calls many people to our doorstep that we may not see any other time. Sometimes we work so hard that we forget: the work has already been done! Christ has already conquered death! All that’s left for us to do is celebrate it… and enjoy the journey.
So as you are working on getting those chords right, remember to laugh.
As you prepare the service, don’t forget to serve each other.
As you celebrate Christ’s love, make sure you also celebrate your love for each other.
Father, as we lead people before your throne this week,
help us to not lose sight of the forest for the trees.
May we…
love one another
serve one another
and enjoy the fantastic friendships you have granted us in the company of this fellowship of believers.Help us to take people down a path that leads to you.
Guide our steps.
Speak to us
Speak through us.
Indwell our hearts that you may overflow into our worship.
We place our efforts before your throne.
Use them as you will.
And as we work hard to stay on the road, help us to also enjoy the journey.We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ,
Your crucified Son,
Our risen savior.
To him be the honor and glory and praise forever.
Amen.
A few years ago my friend Tammy gave me a book called “Daily in His Presence” by Andrew Murray. It’s a book broken up as a daily devotional and I’ve been trying to read it every day lately. Below is today’s text. I thought it was powerful that amidst the business of prepping for tonight Good Friday service and Sunday’s Easter services, this is what I read:
“I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. My message and my preaching were… a demonstration of the Spirit’s Power.” I Corinthians 2:2,4
Paul’s whole ministry and bearing were in agreement with Christ: crucified in weakness, yet alive by the power of God (see 2 Corinthians 13:4-5). Paul strove in all things to be the same as Christ.
Shortly before, Paul had written that the cross is nonsense to those that are lost, but for those that are saved it is the power of God (see I Corinthians 1:18)
Paul sought after the same sort of weakness as that in which Christ was crucified. In everything he emulated the spirit of the crucified Christ. He tried above all not to convince with words of human wisdom, because that would diminish the power of the cross (see I Corinthians 1:17). His message was not proclaimed by learnedness or fluency of speech, but by the powerful working of the Spirit (see 2 Corinthians 2:4)
Is that not perhaps why the power of God is so seldom felt in the ministry these days? Christ may well be the subject, but we can also place too much store in human learnedness and fluency. Then too little is seen of the image of Christ who gives godly supernatural power to the ministry. Pray that God will give to the life of every preacher and every believer the stamp of Jesus Christ, the crucified.
My prayer is that those who are presenting the truth of the Gospel this weekend will be used by the Spirit in powerful ways to point people to Jesus. I’m also praying that the Spirit will be moving in people’s hearts and that lives will be transformed.
I’ve bought more than my fair share of Ikea furniture. I’ve mastered the do-it-yourself construction process to the point where I hardly need the wordless instruction set.
I’ve also gotten to a point where the painful labor and time draining experience of building Ikea furniture and then watching it fall apart within a couple years has begun to outweigh the benefit of Ikea furniture cheapness.
So, when I got the email from my mom saying that Ikea is now going to sell cars and had the pictures below that show Ikea’s first production model … I could really relate.
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Pack includes:
We had a great creative response element last Sunday. We gave everyone in each worship service a piece of carbon paper and had them write down names of people they were going to invite to Easter at Calvary or who just need Jesus to enter into their lives. We had them keep one copy and the other copy was turned in and then given out to the staff and elders on Tuesday. We must have received well over a thousand lists of names on Sunday. I’ve personally got a stack of a dozen papers with a total of around 60 names that I’ve been praying for this week. I don’t know who any of the people are. But, God does. I’ve been convicted a couple times each day to remember to pray for these people. How much more will the people who wrote down these names be burdened to pray for their family, friends, and neighbors whose names they wrote down. I can’t wait for this Sunday to see how God moves in people’s lives because of these prayers.
This has also made me really look forward to a series we’re beginning at Calvary in May that’s all about prayer. I know this is an area that I need to really grow in. And, I feel like there are so many questions people have about prayer. So many people find themselves praying without really understanding who they’re supposed to be praying to, how they’re supposed to pray, why they should be praying, when they should pray, etc.
I think this quote from Martin Luther King, Jr is powerful – “To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.”
Do you think quote is true for your life? Have you seen God at work because of your prayers?
Saturday, Leslie and I went to an LA Derby Dolls bout. It was the Fight Crew vs. the Sirens in old-school roller derby action. I know what most of you are thinking…. they still do roller derby?…. and you went? I’ve got to say, the scene was expectedly unordinary and also surprisingly cool. It was in a bare-bones, converted warehouse now called The Doll Factory in Historic Filipinotown. It was a sell-out crowd. We went because Leslie’s sister Lisa is involved. She mostly helps out behind the scenes. It was cool to check out something that Lisa is really in to. I’m glad we went and got to experience this mixture of sports and entertainment first hand.
We also went briefly a few weeks ago to a fairly lame version of it at Holiday Skate in Orange. Having a huge crowd, bleachers and grandstands, along with an awesome banked track made it all so much cooler than the same thing at a normal roller rink. Even little things like the quality of the venue’s tech, live music, food and security were so much better in LA.
The environment and ambiance of an event are such critical factors in relation to how effective something is. While this was obviously true of roller derby, I think it’s even more true for the Church. How we package worship services is essential to how people perceive the validity of what we’re doing, how they relate to what’s being presented and to each other in that space, and how the elusive “buzz factor” is created. Yes, even the LA Derby Dolls can teach us something about how to do church better as we strive to be relevant and engaging without compromising our core message.
I just had an interesting conversation with Randy Harris. He was going on and on about how incredibly amazing the plot line for the TV show Lost is. He was really looking forward to finding out what happened in the latest episode in hopes that it might begin to tie up the overwhelming amount of loose ends the show’s creators have left the audience hanging with.
The problem is, I’ve never seen Lost.
I’ve caught glimpses of it and seen advertising for it. I’m totally aware of what the show is, understand the basic premise, and am even aware of some of the characters due to pop culture references that occur outside of the show. But, as Randy got really worked up about his passion for Lost and began detailing plot point and character arcs that were fascinating to him – I got totally lost. In fact, I also lost interest and thought to myself “I guess that’s cool for you, but I have no idea what you’re talking about” and I mentally checked out of the conversation. (sorry Randy)
This was a powerful reminder to me of how we can be passionate about our faith. We want to tell people about all the amazing things we’ve seen God doing in and through our lives. And many may have an awareness of who Jesus is and understand the basic idea behind it all – but when we begin to reference details of the Bible and challenge people to share that same passion, it can often fall on deaf ears. We have to always remember to put things in context as much as possible.
The good news is that while Randy didn’t convert me to being a fellow Lost fan just yet, he was able to begin a conversation that got me more interested in it. Seeing his interest in the show, and trusting his taste in entertainment, I may check it out on DVD someday. If another friend of mine was also really excited and told me about how great the show is, I’d be even more likely to check it out for myself.
I think the connection here is about as obvious as it gets. Tell those you know about your walk with the Lord. They may not totally understand it, but you never know if someday they’ll decide to check it out for themselves because of your recommendation.
Filed under: Finding God in the Ordinary
I can’t believe I missed it. I’ve been inching towards the 60,000 mile mark on my Rodeo forever. I only drive about 5 miles a day. We take Leslie’s Civic everywhere because the mileage it gets is about three times as good. So, it’s taken me a long time to get to a big mile-stone moment like 60,000. I was really tired last night, driving home apparently in a sort of daze and totally forgot to look down at my odometer. When I suddenly remembered to look down, it was already at 60,001 miles.
That opportunity to rejoice in that moment was stolen by my wandering thoughts and utter lack of focus. It reminded me of how so many things in life only come along once, and all too often we’re not paying attention. We can miss the moments that God has along our journey because we get distracted or because we’re just going through the motions. I hope that when it comes to the more significant markers in my life, I’m alert enough to recognize them and not let them slip by. May I have the sort of heart that looks for those moments of rejoicing and reflecting.
