The economy has hit us hard at Clovis Hills as it has everyone else.

I think over the last several months there’s been a feeling of hopelessness around here; like this ministry thing is a lost cause.

We lost 7 staff members to this recession and it has seemed like at every turn all of us have been reluctant to try anything new or different for fear that we would alienate people or that we’d miss the mark.  That fear has kept us from really getting excited about all the things that have gone right and there have been a lot.

I think I may have been more of the problem than the solution and unfortunately, that’s caused me to have a pretty crappy attitude at times, doing, what is and has always been, my dream job.  Imagine that, getting paid to do what you love to do and finding any way you can to make it suck.

That’s all changed now, though.  This is the summer of dreams, baby, and we are going for it.  Over the next couple of months we’ll be driving hard to a relaunch of Clovis Hills that coincides with our first sattelite campus, West Hills Church and we’ll be getting back to what made this place special at its founding.  We are, after all, the church for people who hate church!

It’s the summer of dreams because we are amping everything up, from creativity in music, drama and video to lighting and technology and making the weekend at Clovis Hills a place you’d want to invite your unchurched friends to.  Our production team and I are going to be working hard this summer to make sure we’re getting all of this right and by the end of the summer/beginning of fall we’ll be in full swing, taking risks and swinging for the fences.

This is what I signed up for.

This is why I love my job.

This is what I’ve been called to do and I am stoked to see it happen.

You don’t want to miss what’s coming!

It’s official, the kid is here!

Here’s how it all went down.

Grace was due on may 9th.  By May 12th, she still hadn’t come and there were no significant contractions so that morning we scheduled an induction with our doctor for Thursday the 14th.  We were pretty relieved that we finally had a date and with nothing to do for a couple days we hit up a Grizzlies game with the Huffman’s and my in-laws.

The game was a blow out, the Grizzlies won, and we left having had a pretty good day.  That night, however, the real fun started.

Jenn woke up at 3 am with what she called her first big contraction.  Thankfully she was able to get back to sleep and didn’t have to wake me up.  I would have gotten up, of course, but at 3 o’clock in the morning I’m not sure how much help I would have been.

She woke up again at 5 am and that’s when the contractions started getting consistent.  We were timing them and went about our regular morning, trying not to get our hopes up.  We went into the hospital the Friday before and were sent home so we didn’t want to repeat that.

After 2 hours or so of consistently strong contractions we decided that this was it and we would go in.

We got there and they “checked her” and she was dialated to three.  This meant we were staying!

We got into our room and started the process.  Jenn walked a lot and the nurses monitored the baby.  Our main nurse, Jill was fantastic!  She was fun and helpful and let us know what was going on every step of the way.

After 12 hours of labor and one very helpful epidural, Jenn had made it to 10 and was ready to push.  After just 30 minutes of pushing Grace was here!

Mom and baby are both doing great and we’re enjoying life.  Here are some pictures.  I’ll post more soon.

Thanks Dana.

Yesterday, our Kids’ Pastor, Dustin, and I met two of the fellas from the band at a tea party.  While extended pinkies and crumpets could have been a part, that wasn’t my experience as we took part in a nation-wide protest of higher taxes and bigger government.

I’ll spare you from getting too political, but I just wanted to give my impressions of this event.

Dustin and I got there and were wandering around for a while taking it all in and the crowd was, shall I say, colorful.  I wondered at one point if we had stumbled into a Nascar event as there were a lot of scraggily beards (not including mine), “distinct” personalities and giant American flags.

As we hung around a while and listened, though, it got pretty good.

I was a little leary about going, at first, because, though I feel like I can have political discussions and am passionate about a lot of what goes on, I was afraid it would turn really negative and hateful and I don’t want to be a part of that.  My initial fears were squashed right away as this event was not a hate rally, but a genuinely peaceful protest by people who love this country.

There were some pretty good speakers as well.  We saw former Fresno Mayor Jim Patterson speak as well as a Pastor from Visalia who’s “grandfather times 5″ was knocked unconscious at the original Boston Tea Party.  I’m not sure why that gave him the right to speak, but what he said was pretty good and he really knew his history.

My favorite part, though had to be all of the signs.  People brought out the big guns for this deal and I felt a little out of place without one.  Signs that read, “I am not your ATM,” or “President Ba-roke-us Obama” were along the funny side while others were your typical protest signs.

We stayed for an hour or so and the spirit of the crowd was very positive.  We signed the registration card saying we were there and though the line was long, people were making conversation, telling jokes and avoided getting frustrated.  I don’t want to make any gross generalizations that suggest that a liberal rally would be less cordial, I’m just giving you my observations.  I’ve never been to an event like this so perhaps they are mostly pretty positive settings.

The overall sentiment was that things have got to be different and, in my mind, the means not just a difference from the last 75 days or so, but from the last 8 years.  Recent articles that list the members of congress who have taken the highest amount of earmarks for their states has Republican names on it right next to the Democrats.  Before Obama’s stimulus package there was President Bush’s stimulus package and so on.

The problem is that our leadership on both sides has forgotten what it’s like to be an average American and has decided to throw money at problems while gaining power for themselves.  The best thing about the Tea Party was that instead of name calling and partisan rhetoric, there was a real sense that the outrageousness from both sides of the aisle needs to stop.

If you were ever a Cosby kid and you want to release a CD called “The Miles Long Mixtape,” you should re-think this cover.

I’m just saying.

Today is my favorite day of the year.

Today is a day when hope springs eternal.

Today is the Giants opening day!

I have been a Giants fan since the second grade when Terry Durham and his dad, Jim took me to my first game at Candlestick park.  I couldn’t sleep the night before.  I literally went into my parents bedroom at 4 o’clock in the morning and cried because I thought I wouldn’t be able to enjoy the game because I’d be tired the next morning.

That didn’t happen.  I was wide awake for the entire car trip and for the Giants 11-3 victory over the Montreal Expos.  Will “the Thrill” Clark, Kevin Mitchell and Matt Williams all hit two homers each and the Giants stomped ‘em.  I was hooked.

Since then I’ve followed the Giants while living in LA and being surrounded by Dodger fans.  I’ve gone to Dodger Stadium wearing my Giants jersey (scariest thing ever!), I’ve seen my team come within 4 outs of a world series championship only to have it taken away by the hated Angels, and I’ve seen Barry Bonds (say what you will), the greatest player of all time, become the all-time home run king.

Today, anything is possible.  The Giants are just as in contention as anyone else and though it may not stay that way come July or August, today they are.

Today everything starts over.  Everybody’s even and today my Giants are going to spank the Milwaukee Brewers!

Go Giants!

This can’t be right!  There’s no way it’s true!  There couldn’t possibly be something dumber than the Snuggie could there?

Thanks to Dana I have found something that is.

The footie pajamas for grown ups.

I know that some of you may look at this and think, “hey, that’d be nice to return to the comfort of my childhood and rock some pj’s with feet!”  If that’s you, then let me help you out.  You’re an idiot!

Don’t do it!  Don’t be that guy (or girl)!  Don’t spend $40 to act like a three year old.  I do it for free all the time.

Seriously people, be a grown up.

And I’m done.

These guys are coming this weekend.

Ryan Morgan Recording Update 2 from Eric Szyrko on Vimeo.

You don’t want to miss it.