What to pray...

So many times I hear people say that they don't know how to pray, or what to pray about. So in an attempt to assist in the solution to this dilemma, here are some things to pray about.

1. Prayer is talking to God. You can do it standing, kneeling, driving (don't close your eyes), working out, sitting at your desk, laying in bed, laying on the floor, chillin' in the back yard while the grill turns raw meat into a juicy mouth watering delight.

2. Talk to Him (God), like you would anyone else. You don't need to talk the way people did 400 years ago. He is God, so if you start off with "Ok, so check it out God...", He will listen.

3. Be real...He sees and knows more than the fat dude in the red suit. You won't surprise Him..

4. Talk to Him about your day

5. Talk to Him about your boss.

6. Talk to Him about your pastor. Specifically ask Him to bless your pastor. Why pray for your pastor? He is the one who genuinely cares about your spiritual journey. Your pastor lives, eats, and breathes the mission God has placed him on. Pray for his family, kids, finances and anything you might pray for yourself. Do the same for all the staff and volunteers.

7. Ask Him to protect your pastor and your church. From what you say? From all sorts of crazy things that happen to people in this world.

8. Pray for the nursery workers who watch your kids. If you don't have kids, pray anyway, it won't hurt.

9. Pray for God to bless your employer...yes you read right. If He blesses your work place you will have a job for a long time. No down sizing here people.

10. Pray for God to change you...notice how I didn't mention change others? Micheal Jackson said it best "I'm starting with the man in the mirror". Okay I'm sorry for that.

So if you start talking with God (prayer) about these things, you will be praying. And then you will say, "wow that way easier than I thought". Then spend some time saying nothing to God and listen to Him. He will answer, trust Him, He will.

UNLV

I got the chance to get out and enjoy the Vegas sunshine yesterday and serve students at UNLV. Each week a group of us from Five20 take coffee, doughnuts , Ramen cup-o-noodles and whatever else we can hand out, to serve the students on campus. I love being Jesus to the community. I get to meet so many cool people and hear cool stories. Played some Frisbee and guitar and handed out tons of Five20 flyers. I even got a little sunburned...nice. I have been waiting for the cold weather to subside and the warmth of spring to begin. Most people think I'm crazy when they hear me say I love Vegas. I don't mind the heat at all. Been here 11 yrs and love it. I mean Jesus rescued me in Vegas, baby. That makes this city cool in my book. No pun intended.

We are planning on setting up a little living room on the campus in a couple of weeks. We want to give the students a chance to sit in our living room and share life with us even if it is for a few minutes. If you get a chance to come and join us, please do. I'd love to share the experience with you.

My Guest

I have invited the wonderful and talented Tyrin Neal to be a guest blogger. Ty is the family ministry Pastor at Grace Point Church. He is my close friend and confidante. I am glad to call him friend and his family, family. He has a wonderful wife named Angie, and three awesome kids; Kenzie, Tatum, and Ian. I will let him fill you in on any other details he wants to share.

I'm glad to have you aboard Mr. Neal.

Obviously!

It's an honor and privilege to be invited to contribute to the mighty Wojo's blog - I sit trembling in fear and awe! Thanks!

Thanks for the intro!

Not sure what to blog about so let me just overstate the obvious:

God's pretty friggin cool!

It really messes me up when I think about who He is and how He loves me! I know this is obvious, but I suck! I can't get over how He loves me in spite of me and all my shortcomings. To top it all off, He gave me an awesome wife, killer kids and a sweet Church - Grace Point! One more - I get to be on staff at Grace Point!

I've got the best wife on the planet!

She's my best friend. That sounds so gay (especially since I have that Queen song going through my head now) - but it's so true! We've been married for almost 13 years now and I still feel like a teenager in love (or heat... sorry Babe) when I'm around her. I love hanging out with her, talking with her, taking long drives with her, doing everything with her! I just love being with her! She's a keeper! She has sacrificed everything for me to chase my dreams and has never once complained! I love her!

I have really cool kids!

My kids are really cool. They love each other and love hanging with their parents. My house is like one big stand up comedy show - everyone is a comedian - including my kids. We love to prank, play jokes, act goofy - whatever to get a laugh! I love it! I'm so glad God blessed me with some cool kids and not squares!

The radio sucks!

I know I'm going to sound like an old man on this one, but man the radio sucks! New music is awful for the most part. Thank God for the surge of independent labels! Expand your musical horizon and go to www.pandora.com to check out some new music that you will never hear on the radio!

That's it! I know, it's like when you buy a jar of peanut butter and the label states: THIS PRODUCT CONTAINS NUTS! Duh, of course, you've just overstated the obvious! The main ingredient of milk is, you guessed it, milk!

Enjoy!

Monday Musings

We had a great weekend at Grace Point. We started a new series called Pushing Daisies. I love seeing the set designers and crew pull together and wow us each new series. Some thoughts about this weekend.

With the video shoot at Lake Meade and the horrible weather, I am a full supporter of sound stages.

I know now why we pay 10 bucks a ticket for a movie. Lot's of valuable people behind the scenes that you don't know their names, but need to get paid for all they do.

I now understand why George Lucas had heart problems during the filming of Star Wars.

I can edit a roll-in video in 1 hour....complete with sound tracks.

Devin is an awesome director and has a great eye for film. And you thought he was only a great Pastor. Dude!

Regular people have mad acting skills. Our cast for life boat rocks! Jack Nelson, Jennalene Beuanaventura (soon to be Mrs Jack Nelson), Christi Barbour, Sarah Davi, and Jon Anderson.

Our bands are getting tighter as a team. You guys tore it up....

I forgot to sing a whole verse on a song in the second service. For all of you who don't believe I'm as old as I am...believe it. The mind is the first thing to go.

I enjoy playing music by the Dave Matthews Band.

I got to share the gospel with a guy in New York while purchasing some video equipment.

My wife is one in a million. Even after having a crappy week, she poured out her love and wisdom to her group of teenage girls. They meet at our house every Friday night. It is good to see her investing in the future.

Five20 was great last night. Good music and good food. If you haven't come, you should. Even if you are older than 25, you should come.

I love being on staff at Grace Point. I get to work along side some great people.

Life Boat Short

One of the coolest and challenging things I have tackled at Grace Point is video. Video is one of those mediums that you love and hate all at the same time. It is thrilling, exciting, tiring, frustrating and cool all at the same time. Last night we shot on location at Lake Meade in the middle of a wind storm. We had to totally change our location last minute with all the talent waiting on us. Bummer. After we relocated to a protected area that would allow us film with out blowing away, we, I actually, realized I forgot a very important piece of gear. The interface unit that allows the audio to be recorded on the computer. AAAARGGGH! Now that's not so bad if you are only a few minutes away, but Lake Meade is an hour away from our office. Jeremy Duncan made the run to get the gear in no time and we got underway.

Wetsuits are hard to get on period. They are especially hard to get on when they are one size to small and your changing room is the cab of your truck. I got it on with the help of some friends who basically had to force me into the suit. I don't even want to know how i looked.

We started filming a I got some great shots of the life raft and crew from in the water. After about an hour in the lake, I was thankful for the wetsuit.

You can't even to begin to imagine all the work and prep work that had gone into this shot. A big thanks to everyone who helped out. Gonzo brought his huge trailer which was a huge blessing.

Gotta go because it is getting late. I'll talk more about the shot later.

Jean...my love.

You can never realize the strength of your relationships until they are tested in the fires of life. Jean, my wife, and I, have traveled may roads together since we met in 'o3. I remember having to push our Beetle to get it started. I remember it catching on fire (lot's of smoke, not a lot of damage). The hot water line broke under our apartment once, that was fun. Riding the bus everywhere, I miss that sometimes. Levi passing away. Jean's Dad having heart problems. Car problems and more car problems. Each curve ball life has thrown at us, we have stepped up and taken a swing at least.

Last night was not just a curve ball, but a pitch right to the head. After finding out we were having a baby, we lost the baby. Jean was in terrible pain and we went to the ER very early around 2:30am. They gave her something to help the pain, and performed an ultrasound. An examination confirmed that we would not be parents this time around. The doctor was wonderful and caring. We cried. We prayed. The rest of the staff was in Atlanta, praying for us as well. It was sad, and yet we were at such peace. We understood Job, we could identify with other couples who have had miscarriages, with people who say to God, "what's up?". The thing that has impacted me the most in the last 24 hours was, we supported each other and leaned on the Father together. I those moments of despair and pain, we turned to Jesus for comfort. We leaned not on our own understanding. We choose not to question the Master, but to believe in His will for us. I watched my wife take a hit last night. I watched her endure pain. I watched her face as she was told here pregnancy was over. And then I watched her as the peace of God enveloped her as if the very arms of the creator scooped her up. It was in that moment that I loved her more deeper that ever. In that moment, I respected her like never before. It was in that moment that I felt our relationship would survive anything. Except for the Lord's saving grace, my wife is my greatest gift from Him.

After we left the hospital, we went to Denny's and ate breakfast together. We held hands and enjoyed some eggs and hash browns. Good things.

I love you Jean.

Monday Catch Up

I did absolutely nothing today. Most of the GP staff is at a Church planters conference in ATL with Devin, so no meetings. After leading worship at GP and Five20, I'm in a vegetative state of mind. I will do my best to keep my mind from wandering to much (yeah right). But here goes...

Lost is the best...I say it every week, I know, but it really is.

• Sayid is an assasin working for Ben (really bad guy from the Island), and after the "rescue". Creepy to say the least. We now know that Jack, Kate, Hugo, Sayid and Ben got off the island. We know that Ben was right about the people from the boat.
  
• The whole shooting the "payload" time delay thing was very cool and shed some light onto a few theories.
  
• The instructions to follow the exact heading the chopper came in on, reinforces my belief the island in hidden in a fold of time. (see above)
• Hugo always has that "didn't see that coming" line. I have to say the way he played Miles, Kate and Sayid..."didn't see that coming".
• Still want to know more about Jacob, Michael and Walt.

Five 20 was great last night. We had 41 people show up to eat, drink and be merry. The music rocked even though we didn't have a "real" electric guitar player. I tried, I really did. We met some new people.

We, Jean and I, now host 3 small groups at our house. Tuesday at 6 for the Five20 folks, Wednesday at 7 for our rockin' GP group. And Jean leads a group for teenage girls on Friday. I get to go out on Friday 'cause no guys allowed for that group. Believe me, I don't want to be around. I am grateful to God that we have a house, and His peeps get to have community with us in this house.

Grace Point has some really awesome musicians, that I get to worship with...thanks guys.

Devin, Ty, Karen, and Derek are in ATL at a Church planters conference...that means I'm at the helm of GP for a few days...Yikes. It really is not a big deal, I just like to pretend.

I get to watch Surge while Devin in out of town. It is now official, I am the Hudson pet watcher. Sugar, Surge, and the little fish (don't know your name little dude), have all be under my care. I am honored...truly...really I am.

I love the staff at the Ice House lounge, where Five20 meets. They continually blow my mind with there generosity. Thanks Dave, Matt and Katie for your support.


Going out to dinner with some cool people tonight then off to the Neal's for some homemade Pumpkin Pie.


Later my peeps....

Five 20 and IG's

Five20 promotes Intentional Gatherings as part of our core values. IG's are basically home groups that meet outside of the Five20 gathering. We had our first one last night, and man did we have a blast. We had some great food, played Cranium, watched youtube videos of pastors who are real men because they pee standing up (see previous post).

We had 8 folks for our first night, and we were all at different places on the spiritual journey. Some Christ followers, others pre-Christians. We had a great time. We talked about community, social justice, building relationships, the proper spelling pronunciation of "Tilapia" (təˌl a piə ), and if you are able to use props when acting out a Cameo during Cranium. The men, who pee standing up, won. I just know I'm gonna wear out that "pee standing up" thing. It's just too funny. All of us walked away feeling like we were connected. We shared our food, our home, our stories...one of our "pre-Christians", started cooking up a storm after we found out the only meat he eats is fish. Dude, he is in charge of the food for next week, 'cause man, that boy can cook. I think we are gonna bust out some crab legs, shrimp, and grilled Tilapia for next week.

And finally, I made my world famous popcorn. That's right, popcorn right out of the pan, not the bag. That was the best. Anyway, can't wait for our Grace Point group tonight and then Lost on Thursday. Life is good!

Stay tuned for and important announcement from our sponsors....

Funny stuff

I saw this on Matt Hudgins' blog. It is the funniest thing I've seen/heard in a while. Wow! Just follow the link by clicking on Matt's name above and the click on the video under the title "Men, if you want to be biblical, pee standing up". Again, Wow!

Monday Musings

I live for the weekends. Everything about my life comes to a climax every Sunday. Each week people work basically Monday through Friday and then check out for the weekend. This is not my normal week. I just get rolling after our creative team meeting Tuesday. So after doing music for two venues, Grace Point and Five20, I'm pretty much toast on Mondays. So this is my way of "checking out" for the weekend, which is actually the weekday, but who cares anyway.

• The musicians at Grace Point rock!
• The musicians at Five20 rock. These guys don't even get to practice at all before we hit the stage. We rely on the charts and our commitment to Christ, to be ready to go Sunday night. Awesome!
• Planning Center Online is the best online software for keeping volunteers in the loop on what is going on. Thanks Mitch, you're the best.
• Five20 is reaching people that didn't even have Jesus on the radar 4 weeks ago...Yessss
• My wife is an awesome woman of God and the best ministry partner I could have ever imagined. Thanks for your heart honey.
• Devin tore it up yesterday. Thank God for podcasting, cause if you missed this one, your gonna want to hear it for sure.
• Being a worship leader is the best
• Using loops during worship is a challenge
• Technology is cool
• Technology sucks
• I love my Audio guys...Jeremy, Jeff, Danial, Gregg, Jack, Jason, Jon...you guys are the best.
• Our graphics department is growing and I love it...way to go Jennifer and Fernando
  
• My best friend Tyrin Neal, lost his Grandfather this past week. He is in Kentucky with his family this week. I am sad for his loss and miss him greatly. He is a first class man of God and minister. He is getting to share at the funeral...cool.
• Starbucks, Rockstar Coffee, and the Holy Spirit make you an unstoppable worship dynamo...a UWD for you acronym people.

Mondays are also date night for me and Jean. Yessss

Lost week 2

I love this show. What can I say. Last night was as confusing as ever and I loved it. I love that Lock outright asked the question "what is the black cloud?". I imagined all across America, millions of people saying "yes, yes, what is the black cloud?". And then not to find out, awesome.

It is against my Christ following nature to wish someone dead, but come on, kill Ben already.

I knew from the time Naomi said everyone on flight 811 was dead, that the wreckage and the bodies were a plant from Ben's group. The question is, who is/was Naomi working for?

Don't like the new characters much. I hope they get some better back stories on them soon. I do like the "talking to the dead" guy, Miles. He's got that Anna Lucia type attitude.

If you haven't gotten Lost yet, get going. It's a great journey.

The Big Game

Okay it has been one crazy week! So many things to talk about, so little time. I just picked up an iMac for the office to do all my video/audio stuff on...I love it. Mac doesn't pay me for endorsements, but I can't believe I ever had a PC. Enough on that.


Sunday night we didn't have Five20, we watched the Big Game down at the Ice House instead. We took one of the old screens and projectors from Grace Point down there and watched the game on a really big screen. I'm not a big fan of watching sports on tv. I really would rather be on the field playing, or at least be in the stadium while the game is being played. The big game was only the second football game I watched all season. I had a great time, wanted both teams to win, but ended up rooting for the Giants. It was one of the most exciting football games I've seen. There is this sense of camaraderie when all the guys are hanging out and cheering for their favorite team. My wife even enjoyed the game .

Back to the normal Sunday night gig with Five20 this week. If you have not been, you should make it a point to come. The food is great, the people are friendly, and the music rocks.

Lost

I have looked forward to the new season of "LOST" like a kid who is waiting for Christmas morning. But unlike some of those Christmas's that you got nothing you ask the fat guy for, Lost delivered like a champ. I am hooked even deeper than before, if that were possible. I watched it with my best friends in the world, and we were all blown away.

I knew Charlie would be back, just didn't know how they would do it. We theorized that the person in the casket in the last episode of season 3, was Micheal. I think it is Lock. The fun in all this is the writers will keep us on the edge of our seats for sure. I'm sure we will be taken on a wild ride in the weeks and months to come. I'm pumped!