At the end of every year, my buddy Dana does a little year in review and what’s ahead kind of post on his blog; I liked the idea and so, as with any of my best posts of this year, I’m going to steal it.

2008 was a big year:

In January, I got to spend two weeks in Africa with a great team and see a part of the world I’ve never imagined.  Almost a year since the trip, the images are still burned into my head and I’m prayerful that I’ll get back there sometime soon, but more so that my trip would continue to impact my world view.

I got a promotion and am now in charge of the weekend services which has been a blast (though it certainly comes with some tough things).  I get to think globally about our services; what we say, what the room looks and feels like, etc.  It just makes me more aware of what an amazing team of staff and volunteers we have at Clovis Hills and I’m excited to see how God makes us even better next year.

I got to write and record an original song that was featured in a video for the Southern Baptist Convention.  I wrote the song in Africa and got to work with Dana, Tim and Jill on making it a reality.  We got to perform the song at the Christian Music Awards in August at the Warner’s theater and are going to do it at Clovis Hills in January.  It was an incredible process, one that I have fallen in love with and want to do more of.

Social networking has changed my life!  I have developed some real relationships with people through Twitter (I know some of you think it’s dumb), connected with family and friends in new ways through facebook, ditched the myspace page and blog fever has spread at Clovis Hills (okay, not entirely, but there are a lot of people who read them and a lot of people writing them which is really fun to see, considering I got made fun of for blogging by some who are now getting ready to start one of their own; you know who you are!).

The best news of all is, of course, that Jenn and I found out we are having our first child; a girl.  I’m really excited about what this means for our family.  I’m excited about watching her grow and helping her fall in love with Jesus and hopefully, become an unbelievable rock star (but no pressure).

With the ups, come the downs of course.  Jenn changed jobs and that affected our income significantly, but it also affected her happiness and made life better all around for her, which is a win, as it also makes life better all around for me!  

Our cars were broken into three times this year and aside from the frustration and feeling of being violated, I’m grateful no one was hurt and that God continues to provide for us to pay for all of these things.

I’m so excited about 2009 and I hope and pray that God blesses all of you in the new year!Â

So, I was going to write a post showing video from our big Christmas services a couple of weeks ago, but instead, I think I’ll write about my camera being stolen from the back seat of Jenn’s car along with about $200 in Christmas presents that needed to be exchanged, which prevented me from doing so. 

That was a long sentence; sorry.  

As you may know, I have the most desirable car in the free world as it has been broken into twice in the last 4 months.  However, what you may not know is that Jenn’s car is number 2 on that list because it was broken into last night and our valuables were pilfered.  

These incidences have been perhaps the most frustrating thing ever, because we will now have paid $750 in deductibles to replace three windows and 2 stereos and because our camera and other merchandise are covered under our renter’s insurance, we’ll be paying another deductible for that.

That’s right, nearly $1000 in 4 months to purchase things I already own!!

I’m thinking of doing a stakeout.  I’ll park a car right in front of my apartment and surrounded by 37 other cars of equal or greater value and watch as the vandals repeatedly break into one of our cars! Then I’ll provide an accurate description of the perpetrator and the vehicle and wait patiently for him to do it again.

This is ridiculous!

Here’s to a burglary-free year in 2009!Â

Dana posted this video on his blog and I thought I’d share as well.  Dana’s wife, Michelle, with help from Frank’s wife, Vira, put on a Christmas party every year for families staying at the Fresno Rescue Mission.  They asked us to come down and play some Christmas carols for the kids and it was an awesome time!

The song at the end of this video is by Luke Mundy and is free here.

This is the second song Luke and I worked on a little while back and since he posted it on his blog, I figured it was ok for me to do the same.

It’s called “Savior of All.”  Luke is singing and came in with most of this song done, we just reworked the chorus a bit and added a bridge.

Hope you like it!

So, as many of you know, Jenn and I are expecting a child (hope we don’t get something else, cause we’re expecting a child; see how weird that phrase is?) and we’ve been thinking about names.  A couple of months ago, we even asked you all to help, and while some of the names left a little to be desired (Dana, you know what I’m talking about), there were many good ones.

Because we’re thinking about names, this news article caught my eye.  Essentially, the story goes like this.  A parent goes to a grocery store in New Jersey to get a birthday cake for his 3 year old son and wants to put the kid’s name on the cake.  The store refuses because the name is offensive and now the parent is appealing to the media for some sensitivity.

You might be thinking, “What name could be so offensive that they can’t even put it on a cake?”

His name: Adolf Hitler Campbell. 

His father said that the past doesn’t matter and they gave their son that name because no one else in the world has it.  Well no crap!  It’s Adolf Hitler!  They have two other children as well.  Their names (and I swear I’m not making this up): JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell, and Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell (named for SS head Heinrich Himmler).

These poor kids will grow up with the three worst names in history because their parents are morons. 

Seriously?! I’ve heard of bad names before, but these take the cake! (sorry, I had to do it).

Read the full article here.

So we had a rehearsal yesterday and began talking about blankets and staying warm during these cold months.  The Snuggie was brought up as an alternative to standard blankets and I’ve got to say, I disagree.

This thing is the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen.  If you ever come to my house and catch me rocking a snuggie, you have my permission to video tape it and broadcast it all over the internet because I would have officially become lame.

Take a look.

Here’s a little song I wrote.  You might want to sing it note for note.

Actually I co-wrote it with Luke and though I’m not totally sure he’s ready for me to throw it up here, I’m doing it anyway.  After all, trust isn’t really the backbone of a good partnership is it?

I hope you like it, and if not, Luke wrote most of it. 

If you do, it was all me!

Here it is.

What’d ya think?

Last weekend we did the hardest thing we’ve done since I’ve been here; a musical.  It was a combination of Granger Community Church’s series, “Let it Be…Christmas” where they used a Beatles song each week to walk through the Christmas season and of “Across the Universe, a movie-musical using Beatles music.

Our drama guy, Kevin McGill wrote an amazing original script which he and I devolped and our band ripped it up like John, Paul, George and Ringo.  Here are some pictures below. 

 

 

What and amazing weekend!

Okay,

So I have finally gotten around to sharing this song with all of you; sorry it’s taken so long.

This is the song I recorded (with a little help from my friends) for the Southern Baptist’s California Missions Offering video.

I had to edit it down a bit as it maxed out the file size limitations so it fades out at the end.

Enjoy!