Loud & Clear

the future of computing

This has to be the most amazing thing I’ve seen in a very long time. Technology continues to move us in to areas we could never have dreamed or at least simply dreamed about in sci-fi fiction. But if you care to look into the future and see what your computer will look like in the near future, you have to check this out.

solitude retreat

I’m headed out this morning for a solitude retreat with much of the Worship & Arts teams. I’ve really been looking forward to going. Solitude is one of those disciplines I appreciate greatly when I actually do it, but am just not disciplined enough yet to schedule time for it.

I’ve a list of things on my agenda for this retreat:

There’s some life focus issues God and I have been trying to work though, along the lines of 7 Habits if you’re familiar with Stephen Covey at all. I’m tired of wasting life. You can call it time if you want to, but the older I get, the more I want to maximize everything I do with intention and focus. I feel God calling me to a higher level of personal accountability in every area of my life.

Also on the agenda is some songwriting with Paul Haugen. It’s been a long time since I’ve taken the time to write but as I’ve pulled my guitar out of the closet, it feels good to get those creative juices flowing again.

Finally, we’re beginning to work on our department budgets for the next fiscal year. I want to spend some time listening for God to make sure what I come up with is on his page, not just mine. It’s his church after all, I just get to play here.

I’ll fill you in on how it goes when I get back. If you’re interested in how it’s going, keep an eye on my twitter roll to the right.

farewell, my friend

It’s a little misleading of a title, since he’s not actually “leaving” Clovis Hills, but this week my good friend and co-worker Brent Riffel is stepping down from his role as Pastor of Discipleship Connections.

In the year or so Brent’s be on staff, he’s accomplished a huge amount, establishing a discipleship process that will be with us for a long, long time. Connect, Grow, Serve, Lead- this is the legacy he’s leaving behind.

What an awesome process this has been. I’ve never experienced a transition filled with this much prayer, faith, trust and expectation of what God has in store on both sides. The attitude in the office is awesome even if sad.

I’ll miss seeing you in the office, Brent. Your big handshake and bigger smile. Thanks for all you’ve done and I’m so glad I’ll get to continue to get you see you on weekends. I continue to pray for your family and what God has in store. Love you, bud.

Photographer needed

I’m closing in on having Free Mother’s Day photos all wrapped up. I have three scenes with all the materials. I just need one more photographer. I have two confirmed, but we learned last year that two just isn’t enough. I want to keep those lines down and let people have a great experience without having to stand in the sun too long.

So, if you’ve talent with a lens, or if you know someone with a knack for taking great photos, ask them to Serve at Clovis Hills on Mother’s Day weekend and give a huge gift to moms and their families this year. Or let me know who they are and I’ll throw out an invite. It’s going to be another great day at Clovis Hills. Let’s make this happen together!

***EDIT***

Wow, just hours after posting this a volunteer called me and agreed to be our third photographer. I’m always blown away at the amount of talent hidden inside Clovis Hills. And I love it when people use their gifts for God and his church.

picture by lucie the beat

new message series - Simple.

We start a new message series this week. I’m pretty excited about this series. In our fast paced, info saturated society (of which I am a prime example) we tend to think that nothing is simple. We watch behind the scenes documentaries, listen to DVD director commentaries and wade through the political idealisms looking for concrete strategies.

We look at our faith the same way. We need our Greek / English lexicon, our Strong’s Concordance, our 54 volume set of scriptural commentaries and hopefully a PHD to give us what the Bible’s really trying to say.

We forget that Jesus spoke mostly to the common people of his day. He used stories to communicate. He said, “Love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself.” And he said if you did that, you’d obey every commandment of the Bible. How’s that for Simple?

Is it time for you to get back to a childlike faith? Not blind or unquestioning. And going deeper has it’s place. But if you find yourself in spiritual analysis paralysis, or the thought of trying to understand a relationship with God seems overwhelming, or even if you’ve found yourself in a rut or stalled out and don’t know what to do next- you’re going to love this series.

my week in 4 letters

Sick.

And I don’t mean that like, “Dude, that movie was sick!” or “That car was so pimped out it was sick!”  Really, just plain sick.  Not just me either. The whole family. Which in some way I should be grateful we didn’t trade it around over the next three or more weeks.  But still… ick.

With that, nothing really interesting to write about this week. If you missed last Sunday, you missed an awesome team teach with Steve and Kimberly.  I still hear people talking about how “this is only a snapshot, not the whole movie” as encouragement to each other. If you missed the message last Sunday, you can catch it here.

In good news, I think we’ll be able to bring back Free Mother’s Day Photo’s. I have two photog’s confirmed though I’m still looking to secure a third. I love doing this. I dig not only seeing my family (especially now that we have a boy), but also dig seeing all the other family’s that go to Clovis Hills.

I’m working in the tech booth this Sunday as the technical director. Never done it before, so if you’re in services this weekend and something goes wrong, it’s probably going to be my fault. Just fair warning.

*EDIT* Disaster has been avoided. It turns out I’ll just be observing this weekend instead of technical directing. Probably not a bad idea over all, and really, a service upgrade for you guys.

twitter explained

First, I have a camera full of pictures of the Worship Night I haven’t been able to get through yet and get up here. So, if you’ve been waiting for the promised pictures, hold on, they’re coming!

Now, to the title. I tried to explain in a previous post exactly what Twitter was. You may have noticed I added a Twitter widget to this blog. Well for those of you who are more visual and/or audible, here’s a video to help clear the whole thing up. Props to Micah Foster, youth guy at New Harvest Church, for finding this first.

music is context

I love it when we do secular songs in church. I think it’s easy as Christians to isolate ourselves from the rest of the world, even though Christ calls us to reach it. Not conform to it, but influence it. On the other side, your regular non-church person is looking for context to the message they hear in the church.

When we find songs that can speak to the message, it “re-brands” the song. When you hear that song on the radio the next time, you remember the message from that service when you heard it live. It gives the song itself a new God context and I find that really cool

All that to say, Jill rocked the Sara Bareilles song we did this weekend.  Kimberly put it best that when God asks us to do something and we’re angry or disappointed with him, we don’t want to. Just like the song says, “I’m not going to write you a love song / ’cause you asked for it.”

Here’s Jill in action if you missed it.

do you Twitter?

Do you Twitter? I’ve recently stumbled upon this amazing phenomenon. It’s a micro blog. It’s a mix of a blog and an instant message. Or maybe a mix of a blog and a text message. Confused yet? Here’s how it works.

Write what’s going on in your life in 140 characters or less. It’s just a snapshot. A thought. A moment in time.

In line and that guy in front of you decides to write a check and goes through three pens before finding one that works? Twitter it! Find yourself doing something fun, boring or just plain weird? Twitter it! Have an odd thought that will make your friends chuckle? Well, you get the idea.

It’s designed to work best if you connect it to an Instant Message (or a client like Twhirl) or your phone (as a text message) so wherever you are, you can either find out what’s going on in your friends life or share what’s happening with you.

You can follow people, they can follow you. You can follow famous people. They probably will not follow you. But your friends will. Or follow your friend’s friends and make new friends! It’s all social interaction at it’s best.

It may not be for you. But you might want to give it a shot. I’m digging it right now.

Worship Night

This Sunday night, April 6th, at 5pm is the Night of Worship at Clovis Hills, the first of several on the way. This is going to be an awesome event. I think the guys we have in our band are some of the finest in the valley. I can’t tell you how many comments we get that say the band was a major reason people came to Clovis Hills!

If you dig the music at Clovis Hills, then don’t miss this weekend! Paul and Kimberly have been working to create an evening of extended worship and prayer. This won’t be something that takes energy from you, but should recharge your spirit. Don’t miss it! I’ll try to post some pics of the evening on Monday.