Weekend Setlist (10/27 and 10/28)

Second weekend in our series Suburban Myths. We talked about the myth of control. There are times we all find ourselves wanting to feel like we are in control.

But control is a myth.
No matter what we think we are not in control.

What we have to believe is that there is one God that is in control. And that there are three things about God to remind ourselves: God is good, God is all-knowing, and God is all-powerful. He is for you, he knows what you're going through and he has the power to do something about it. You can check out the podcast here.

Here’s the music setlist from this weekend:

* You Are Good - Lincoln Brewster
* Famous One - Chris Tomlin
* How Great Is Our God - Chris Tomlin
* Control - Mutemath

How was your weekend?
Peace.

The Great Pumpkin

We have this tradition with my kids that we really enjoy. I have some fond memories of carved pumpkins from when I was a kid too. I remember being in college and carving a watermelon because I couldn't find a pumpkin in any of the stores. It turned out well and did it in kind of a frankenstein design.

Anyway, since my kids were old enough to do so, they've choose pumpkins and chosen a design they want carved on them. I cut the tops off them, they dig out all the seeds and we carve them up. Kristen makes a variety of sweet and salty treats out of the seeds while the carving commences.

I know a lot of people do this, but it seems like a fun memory with my kids.

The last couple of years it seems like our designs and carvings have steadily been better and better. These are the ones from this year. Can you tell which one is the boys' and which one is the girls'?


Any of you do similar or better designs (links to pics please)?
Peace.

BBQ and Baptism Video

This is the video we showed this last weekend highlighting our BBQ and Baptism in August where more than 100 people publicly committed their lives to Christ.

Peace.

Switchfoot Rocked My Face Off!

Dang!!! I guess I'm not sure what I was expecting but whatever it was got totally blown away by Jon Foreman and Switchfoot!! What a great show!

We took Dave, Deb, Izzy and Lynn as part of our Orchard Arts recruiting 'thanks' in September to see the concert. My entire team did a great job of recruiting volunteers this last month, but only one got to go on the trip this time (along with his recruit).

Had an interesting experience trying to get some food before the show but I'll let Dave share that one sometime. Star Plaza Theatre is a cool venue because it holds a few thousand people but keeps the entertainment intimate with the crowd. VERY loud or I'm just getting old, though I don't know if I would have wanted it any other way.

It was great getting to talk with the folks in our group and get to know them a bit (and for them to get to know my wife a little).

Relient K was pretty good too - some very talented musicians and very fun entertainers, though I had a really hard time hearing the lead vocals in the mix. Their first drum hit dropped the huge banner that is behind them, which visually was cool. Switchfoot had an LED type deal for their background which they changed colors on and sent various designs through - I think we need something like that at the Orchard!

Let me tell you, Jon Foreman is running all over the stage, jumping off the kick drum, banging on cymbals, walking on the seats out into the crowd and he hardly sounded winded at all! He did not miss a note. Man, does he have some great vocals!! They sounded as good if not better than their CD's. Great medley pieces they put together to pull in as many of their tunes as possible. Most came off the new CD, Oh! Gravity, along with Nothing Is Sound.

The last picture here is of Jon about 10 feet from us when he walked out into the crowd with some rope lighting and his mic. He then started his next song from there which was awesome!

Wish you could have been there. I did see one of my other multimedia guys and his family there - they had third row seats! Dawg!

Great show - don't miss the opportunity if you get one to check them out live!
Peace.

Switchfoot and Relient K

Tonight is the Switchfoot and Relient K concert! Man is it going to be awesome!

We've got great seats and it sounds like they will be performing in a really cool venue.

We're taking one of my volunteers along with one of the guys he recruited to learn our multimedia systems. These guys were chosen through a drawing that we did (as kind of an incentive/reward) for recruiting a new volunteer in September. This is becoming part of our culture in the arts at The Orchard - to recruit others to do what we do. I love how this continues to grow within this team!

Anyway, hope to have a bunch of pictures of the whole event sometime soon.
Peace.

The Great Reading Date

Yesterday evening I had the chance to finally take my daughter Kylee out on a date.

She is so fun to hang out with! I assured her that time would fly and she soon might not find it cool to go out on a date with her old dad, she said that would never happen... and that I wasn't old :) I told her I didn't feel old and just smiled back.

To help encourage our kids to read this school season, we set up a reading reward system (you can read about it on Kristen's blog). This system has been great with the reward being that after a certain number of hours of reading, the boys get a date with mom and the girls, a date with dad. The kids have done exceedingly well with this!

So, Kylee and I got to go out this week and she wanted to get steak. What can I say, she's my girl! So we had a nice dinner where I got the line of the night - "Wow this is so good! Not as good as mommy's, but very, VERY good!" Thought that was funny.

We stopped to get some coffee together and then went to pick up a shirt for her mom to wear to the concert on Tuesday night.

Kylee is such a bright kid and I love her a lot. It was truly a memorable experience and I look forward to her reading many more hours and us having the chance to go out and have fun again.

My prayer is that when she does really begin dating, that she is respected, cared for and treated as kind.

I still don't look forward to those days :)

Peace.

Weekend Setlist (10/20 and 10/21)

What an incredible weekend!!

Both Saturday night and our two Sunday services went beyond my expectations. We had prayed as a staff that God would just blow us away with what He would do this weekend and it was phenomenal!

Great beginning to our new series Suburban Myths and a great launch for our new Saturday Night services!

Here’s the music setlist from this weekend:

* The Time Has Come - Hillsong United
* O Praise Him - David Crowder Band
* Only You - David Crowder Band
* Awakening - Switchfoot
* Brave - Nichole Nordeman

Would love to hear about it if you were there and got to check out the Orchard this last weekend.
Peace.

Live From The Orchard...

... it's Saturday Night!!

That's right, we just launched our third service, which began this weekend on Saturday night at 5pm!

What a great evening! We had to make some tweaks here on there on the technical side, but let me tell you, it was a home run - out of the park. My teams did a great job! The music was awesome, our new stage setup worked well, the audio was rockin', the screens were jumpin'...and on top of that, we had a huge turn out.

What a great way to launch a new service. We had 125 people commit to being a part of this new service to help launch our Saturday nights and we had about 250 adults in the auditorium last night! We had another 130+ in volunteers and children - just incredible. Great vibe and great feel. A lot of people that connected with kind of a tough message and that responded.

Very exciting!

Here's a few of the pics that were snapped last night during the service.
Peace.

Lines I want to use...

"You don't have to eat every Big Mac to know it's a delicious hamburger sandwich."
Kenny, from the TV show Frasier.

I thought it was funny at least.

Peace.

Wow!!

The screens are in and we rocked with them this last weekend! You almost can't really feel the impact they had on our room unless you were there.

It was incredible!

So our side screens and center screen are all wide screen format. We had a little trouble with the install and getting everything going the way we want it to be but this weekend they worked well. The sidescreens are 12 feet wide and 7 feet high, the center screen is 24.6 feet high and almost 14 feet high.

Everyone on our teams really put a lot of time and focus on getting everything to pop. We ALWAYS have room to improve and to tweak so that it's better, but I am very, very excited!

These are still just tools. I can remember a year ago talking with Scott about this idea and dreaming with him back then... it's still hard to believe that this part of it is finally in the mix. It's like having a whole new canvas to paint with! I can imagine some pretty creative things we could do with these screens, not to mention what others on my team can dream up.

It's going to be great! Just one more way to remove barriers and allow the life-changing message of Jesus to impact people.

Lights are next. We have them, just waiting to install after we do some electrical upgrades.

Hope you get a chance to stop by sometime and check them out - and then stay to be impacted by what God is doing in the hearts and lives of this community!

A few more pics for you to check out (click on them to see the big picture :)
Peace.

He's My Son

The first of my two sons turned 7 this week. My wife had some great posts about Seth. He's a great kid and I am very proud of him. I thank God every night for him and can't believe I get to be this guy's dad.

He's not perfect, any more than I am. He's full of energy and eats like there is no tomorrow. He's also very creative and fun to be around.

He's one of the most generous people I know and I pray that God continues to use that in him as he grows. Sure he has his selfish times like most people (including adults) but he shares almost everything he gets, even if it means he gives away the last of what he has. I love that.

I have to say, it's pretty cool to have this guy running out to my car every evening when I get home to tell me about his day (or what he's eating/ate... it's a toss up). He also reserves his gaming time on many occasions so that I can play a game or two with him.

I think he had a good birthday, but I am thankful for the reminder of how fast time flies and how important he is to me.

Thank you God for Seth!
Peace.

There HERE Too!!!

So, some of you are wondering,

"what happened?"

"did the big screen get installed yet?"

"where's the picture of the massive center screen?"

... OR maybe that's just me and a few of you who have emailed me :)

The screens are all up! I thought the side screens were huge, ha! The center screen is like being at a movie theater! Ok maybe not quite that big, but it feels like it.

The projector for the center one is going up today, though we're having a few difficulties. Rest assured it will be up for this weekend and it's going to be spectacular!

Pictures?
You'll have to see it in person first or wait until after services on Sunday!
Peace.

There HERE!!

I can't believe it! Today is the day when we install our new screens!

We are getting two new, widescreen format, sidescreens that are about 7 Feet tall and 12 feet wide. These have already been installed and they look killer just by themselves!!

You wouldn't think that just changing the size of the side screens and going to widescreen format would make that big of a difference but, let me tell you... huge difference!

Here's a few more pics (taken with the my laptop) for you to check out. More to come as the day progresses.

Can't wait for the center screen to go up - they are working on the framing for it now. It's going to be sweet!































Peace.

Pudding Diet

So I think I've stumbled on to the most perfect diet.

After hearing a commercial for pudding cups that have only 60 calories each, I figured out the best diet I could ever go on.

I happen to love pudding - yes it's a weakness. But there is almost nothing like homemade chocolate pudding! In fact, when Kristen and I first got married, she use to make me my own bowl of homemade chocolate pudding for my birthday instead of a cake! No joke.

At any rate, with each cup only 60 calories each, you could have 20 of them a day and still only have about 1200 of your calories for the day!

That's it!
Who's with me?

Peace.

Sunday Setlist

10.07.07 Setlist

Let the Praises Ring - Lincoln Brewster
Mighty To Save - Hillsong United
Talk - Coldplay
Lean On Me - Club Nouveau

Today went pretty well considering I think I'm getting sick. My throat is killing me and my sinuses are a mess.

Luckily I don't have a very busy week this week... that's a joke of course.

Screens go up this week, along with new projector and switcher. We also have a couple of other events to schedule around so it will be interesting. Saturday night services start the 20th, and my arts teams are ready! Should be great.

Hope your week goes great!
Peace.

12 Months Ago...

Hard to believe that it was only 12 months ago I joined the Orchard team. So much has happened in the last year it seems almost unreal.

I am proud to be part of a healthy, growing staff that strives to hear God's voice and then obey Him. I don't think I have grown more in my life than in the last year on this team.

It has also been awesome to be part of a healthy, growing, and loving church family! You guys are great and I never tire of telling others about you. God continues to do amazing things in your lives and the stories you've shared with me over this last year have been incredible! Never give up your boldness. Never stop being excited about being a part of this community. Allow the passion you have for leading others to Jesus to keep burning within you - may that fire never be quenched!

Thank you for sharing your lives and this past 12 months with my family and me!
Here's to the next 12!
Peace.

Baptism Video

Just saw an article someone sent me that was written up in a 'Christian' magazine. The article ridiculed us for our Baptism Instructional video we posted earlier this summer. They never said our name (at least in the snippet of the article I saw), but they had a picture in the article of the ending shot of the video.

Hilarious.

We've taken the heat over it and yet it continues to be checked out. We've had the video watched on google video almost 13 thousand times!! Who's watching it?

Amazing how things can be taken out of context in such an.... wait what was the word that was used.... egregious (yeah that's it) way.

The video was funny.
We had fun making it.
I think people were put at ease about what to expect when being baptized.
100 people committed their lives to Christ in baptism just a few weeks later.

Great how God moves.

OK... I'm done with it. Just had to get it out of my system and this is my blog, after all.
Peace.

Psalm 119

Been thinking about this verse that I was led to this morning:

Psalm 119: 89-96 (from the Message)
What you say goes, God,
and stays, as permanent as the heavens.
Your truth never goes out of fashion;
it's as up-to-date as the earth when the sun comes up.
Your Word and truth are dependable as ever;
that's what you ordered—you set the earth going.
If your revelation hadn't delighted me so,
I would have given up when the hard times came.
But I'll never forget the advice you gave me;
you saved my life with those wise words.
Save me! I'm all yours.
I look high and low for your words of wisdom.
The wicked lie in ambush to destroy me,
but I'm only concerned with your plans for me.
I see the limits to everything human,
but the horizons can't contain your commands!

God has saved me. My focus is on His plans for my life. I am limited as human being but God has no limits!

Peace.