Church Hype

Take A Chance On Me

Me and my guys goofing around...it was a late night at the office. We were there until about 11:15. This little ABBA rendition was probably around 10. Enjoy!

The New Family Center

We are about to open a the Family Center. We did a quick walk-through video yesterday to put on a micro-site that I'm building right now. Check it out.

Sneak Peak to the New Building from Sugar Creek on Vimeo.

I'm Proud To Be A Part Of This

The thing I love the most about being on staff at Sugar Creek, is the value that is put on creativity. It's a big deal here. And I believe Sugar Creek is one of the most creative churches in the US when it comes to video and print media. Here's one of the intro videos produced by the team a couple of years back.

I'm So Happy I Could Eat A Horse

Wait. That expression is not right. I do that sometimes. Like

• I'm colder than a witch's race horse
• A penny saved is worth two in the bush
• Absence makes the heart grow sheep's clothing
• Beat a drawing board

There are some that I've never really understood the meaning. I know the idioms, but I really don't understand why we say it. Here's some examples:

Don't look a gift horse in the mouth. What on earth does that even mean? I know it means to be thankful for what's been given to you, and to not question the value of the gift...but how did we arrive at that conclusion? Did somebody receive a horse as a gift, then made the mistake of looking in his mouth? Did the giver get so mad that he took the horse back? Why did he get so mad? Was this a weird insult from days of yore?

If it's not one thing, it's another. If it's not another thing, it's something else entirely different. This could go on and on.

Who let the cat out of the bag? I really like cats. I don't think they should be put in bags. In fact, the next time I see another cat in a bag, I'm calling that lady from the Golden Girls who's an animal rights activist.

People who live in glass houses should not throw stones. If I lived in a glass house I would not:

1. Throw rocks inside my house
2. Throw rocks at my house
3. Walk around in the buff

You just put your foot in your mouth. Eww! I know people who can put their fists in their mouths. I know people who can lick their own elbows. But sticking your feet inside your mouth is just disturbing.

Heavens to Betsy! Who's Betsy? Was she in the Bible? When Betsy died, did heaven come to Betsy, rather than her going to heaven? I like to imagine Betsy as a sweet little old woman who, if she lived today, would have forwarded every email she ever received...and when I was just absolutely fed up with the 163rd forwarded email from Aunt Betsy, I called upon the Lord to just take Betsy home...to finally be at peace. She really had to keep a pretty frantic pace to forward all those emails.

I like to think I'm a pretty smart guy, but I'll be John Brown if I can't figure these idioms out!

A Kindergartener And An Octogenerian

God moved in a powerful way this morning at church. Around 100 people were saved at the invitation call. It was amazing! God is so good, and I was thankful to be there to witness the transformation begin in the lives of kids and adults.

There were so many decisions that there were not enough people to counsel. I've only been here on staff for a week and was unsure about the process they had in place, but I could tell that they were gonna need some help, so I went over to do what I could.

I counseled a little 6 year old girl named Taylor. She had a Hanna Montana necklace, and she was carrying a stuffed toy kitty. She was so cute! Her mom was so proud of her as well. As I counseled and prayed with them, I couldn't help but think about my two sons. I long for the day when they will come to an understanding of salvation and make a commitment to Christ.

I also counseled a man named Ray. He was in his eighties and had lost his wife of 62 years 3 months ago. His wife was a long time member of the church, but Ray never came with her. Today, Ray decided to come. And God was all over him. Wow! Even at 83, the Holy Spirit can break through flesh and pride into the heart.

I'm honored and ecstatic that God allowed me to be a part of this great day.

Conference Bike - Remix

I found this really neat online generator that randomly places words off a webpage, a document, or whatever. The more repetitions a word has, the larger it appears in the design. This was based off the Conference Bike post from the other day.

iPhone Sales Not Going Smoothly

My copywriter went to the Apple store this morning to get an iPhone. She got there at around 7:45 waiting for the doors to open at 8. It's 1:45 and she's still there. She sent me an email at lunch...here it is:

I'm stuck at Apple. I got my phone all was good, until they ran my debit card and charged me $506.11 instead of $42.00. (She had all of the $199 in gift cards...the remaining balance was $42)

Now, my old phone is dead because AT&T deactivates your old phone when they scan the bar code and enter your phone number. Now, they have to call AT&T and cancel my two year plan, return the iPhone, sell it to me again and start all over with the syncing.

It's not worth it. Already. But since they have $506.11 of my money, I'm stuck here until they figure it out.

I thought about going to an iPhone this morning. Glad I didn't. I'll wait until next week when Apple's got their stuff together.

Hey Joe...Let's Have A Meeting At 11:30...On My Bike

This, my friends, is the Conference Bike. Some say it's silly. I say it's as important to manual vehicle transportation as corn cob holders are to the full enjoyment of corn. This bike has 7 seats. Each facing inward toward each other. Each rider is pedaling in tandem with everyone else.

"It's not just a bike: It's a PARTY ON WHEELS!" Not my words, these are the words from the website. But I believe it's true.

How nice would this be? Seriously. You know how ministers go and do "visitation"? A lot of churches don't do that anymore...but this would be perfect for visiting sick people in the hospital, home bound people, etc.

 

Great thing is, there's enough seats for every ministry. Of course the pastor would be behind the wheel. To his right would be the Administrator. To his left would be the music minister. This makes sense really. The administrator and the music guy have the pastor's attention more than anyone else does. They were both able to call "shotgun" before the rest of the staff could get the conference bike.

While riding shotgun during the "conferide" is enviable, the guys to the left and the right of the pastor would prefer to be behind the wheel.

The administrator tries steer.

"No, we can't replace the orange shag carpet in the sanctuary - no money for that." This is reminiscent of the old person who can miraculously drive 45 mph and ride the brakes at the same time. What he's really saying is,"I don't want to spend budget money on new carpet just right now. Let's pull back the reigns on our spending for this budget year."

Or, "You guys have been working so hard, everyone can take off half a day on Friday. And go buy yourself a new iPhone 3g for $199 at your local Apple or AT&T store on the church credit card." Kinda like the country driver on a farm road. If you want to pass him on a 2 lane highway, he'll kindly pull off on the shoulder so that you can get on your way. He's a peaceful, good natured fellow who wants to get along with everyone.

What, your church administrator is not like the peaceful farmer? Ours is...I just assumed everyone's was.

The music minister is sitting quietly on the left.

He's so peaceful, prayerful, earnest. He just wants to praise the Lord. And he "could do that better if I had complete control of Sundays". He really wants to get behind the wheel and see what this baby can do.  Occasionally, he actually gets to drive the bike. Mostly during Christmas, or Easter. It's where most of the music guy's budget goes. These events get the most attention. The most promotion. And this is where his ministry shines. It shines like it's never shone before. And in the precious moments during the final key change, with sweat dripping from the brow of a satisfied man of God, he has to put the bike back in the pastor's garage. Those moments on the bike were the highlight of the year. Until Easter rolls around and he gets to back the bike out of the pastor's driveway and take it for a spin one more time. 

"But that's only three seats" you say? Yep. The other 4 seats have the College, Student, Children's and Sr. Adult ministers. They'll never, ever steer the bike - ever. They get to ride on the bike. They even get to pedal. But everyone knows they're only there because 3 guys can't pedal a 7 person bike.

First Day, Drinking Loogies, and Getting Acquanted

Today began my new journey at SCBC. First, let me say I work with a great team of people. Everyone is extremely talented, and it's pretty cool that we are privileged to serve God with our creativity.

Highlights from today:

• I had heartburn
• Located a Sonic for lunch - somehow this soothed my heartburn
  
• Learned that there are no Sonic's in California
  
• Toured the local Fry's, Sam's Club, and Office Depot - actually really cool. Since it was my first day, I got to go shopping with someone else's money. Christmas in July!
• Told a story about how I accidentally drank snot from a Dr. Pepper can
• Ate a Reese's and some Soft-Baked cookies
• Found where the coffee pot is located
• Was told that I should go to MinistryCom in OKC - pumped about that...it's where I was born. Bud, maybe we can hook up while I'm there
• Went into detail about the mani/pedi my old boss took me to get on my last day (Thursday)

I think that's about it.

Maybe tomorrow I can convince my boss that I need to go tour the local Pac Sun...then tour the nearest batting cages and/or golf course. Both for creative inspiration of course.

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Anything Short Of Sin

I know this is probably old news for some of you, but I just saw it again and had to post it here. Those crazy knuckleheads! I wonder if playing the angry leader character was a stretch for Craig Groeschel.