2010

Welcome to the future...
Sitting at Epic at 2:50am with a whole bunch of students at the first Revolution lock out.  We are currently entrenched in a battle of the band Rock Band style!  We brought in the new year over at the Bowling ally.  Man how I wanted to throw the Big Lebowski quotes around.  Anyway, I got to chat with my homies back in Vegas.  No real changes for me this year.  Just want to be a better leader, husband, musician, artist and Christ follower.  I hope to inspire and be inspired this year.  Peace out.

Things I See

There are many passages of scripture that bring us comfort and encouragement as we journey on toward our final home.  But, one in particular is my favorite.  John 14:1-4.

¹"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. ²In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. ³And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. ⁴You know the way to the place where I am going."

Sometimes I miss little things in life because of the stresses and business that tends to consume me.  Mostly do to the fact that I can't say "no" very well.  However this Christmas, I got to see the truth of this passage while preparing a gift for some wonderful kids.

Mark Thomason is a great friend and keyboard player.  I am blessed to know him and his family.  Mark asked if I would help him transform his home office into a playroom for his girls, Erin and Emily.  We started on Tuesday with removing office stuff and painting, and finished at 2am Dec 25th.

Now during the prep and painting, the running of wire in conduit, I never really had a spiritual though.  We may have talked about the worship set for the coming week, but nothing deep or life altering.  To tell the truth, setting up a wii, projector, screen, sound system and lights, we were more irreverent that reverent.  But something happened to me on Christmas morning when the girls had opened all there presents and then went down stairs to put them away.

Emily saw the bow on the door and said "did we get a new door?'.  I about fell over.  Mark told her now and had the girls open the door to there new game room.  It was awesome!  The girls were blown away!  Erin looked around with her mouth hanging open.  Emily stopped in the middle of the room and turned around to face her dad and mom and yelled "This is awesome!"  That's when what Jesus told us in John 14:1-4 hit me. 

While we are sleeping and doing life, our Jesus is working on a room in our Fathers house for us.  And I know that I will walk into my room and yell "This is Awesome!"

Primal by Mark Batterson

This is my first every blog book review.  In some ways I am excited, and in some ways I'm scared out of my mind.  The book I was asked to review was Mark Batterson's new book Primal.

First the book is a great read.  I would say a must read for anyone looking to rekindle the spark for Jesus that gets weak as we journey through this life.  Mark does an incredible job of breaking down complex truths in a practical and understanding way.  Mark explores the mysteries of Jesus' command to love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.  In each section of the book, he takes us through each of these aspects and breaks them down for us.  I enjoy the very technical information that mark uses explain the great scientific mysteries, and how he is able to tie them to God our creator.  The illustrations are clear and easy to grasp.  If you are not into tech stuff, you may not fully enjoy the book.  However, Mark also includes other, equally engaging stories to bring the point home.

I conclusion, I feel Mark has done a great job of communicating to us the need to get back to the basics of our faith.  He did so in a respectful non-comdeming matter as well.  While reminding us of where we are lacking as Christ followers, he only needed to remind us of the wonders of God for us to realize we have strayed the course.  And don't we all need to get back to the basics of loving God?

Peace...

Monday downloads...

Cool week for sure.

• Staff meeting/Christmas dinner was amazing.  It's like Christmas at all our evening staff meetings though.
• Made sure the sound system we installed at Priceville Elem worked for their xmas program.
• Unloaded a bunch of furniture for Jeans co-worker who lost her home in a fire.  It came all the way from Houston, Tx.  The generosity of people never ceases to amaze me.
• Went shopping for that same family on Friday night with the Revolution Youth.  Great times with great young people.
• Shot 2 video segments for Epic.  We actually had a director and sound guy.  Made editing real easy too.
• Got my first book in my blog review.  Trying to finish it this week.
• Started working out with Marlin Gill in the mornings.  After my first day, my bronchitis from last week flared up and took me out again.  I'm back though for tomorrow.
• Watched Christmas Vacation with the Potters.  Amy had never seen it.  She has now!
• Amazing services at Epic yesterday.  The band was spot on.  The Tech team didn't miss a transition and The Kids from Journey did an awesome job!  Way to go Pastor Kenny!
• Made fried mashed potato cakes yesterday for Jean.  They were great, especially with cheese on top.
• Went to see the Dave Matthews Band in 3D movie with Justin Potter and David Simon Friday night.  Amazing 3D and really inspired me to get off my butt and do some Dangerous Hours shows.
• Came to realize that adversity is the catalyst to great things.  Makes you determined to push through to the finish.
• Great vision casting meeting with IV this week.  Lots of great things in the future for Epichurch.tv. and more importantly, the people of Northern Alabama. 
• Filled in the last puzzle piece that is live streaming.  Working out the kinks now so that we can "go live" with an iCampus at Epicchurch.tv.

Just excited about the future with my wife Jean.  She is the best life partner.  She teaches me stuff all the time about being like Christ.  She is only beginning to see the leader she is gonna be in the kingdom.  Look out people!

Monday downloads...

I was sick, sick, sick all last week.  But, God saw in His wisdom to heal me before Sunday.  So all went well at Epic.

• My Grandmother Tina Hallock, 99, passed away Tuesday night.  It was good to spend time with her over Thanksgiving.  I will miss her for sure.  She took me in when I had no where to go, and was always excited to see me when I would come to visit.   I'm glad she can now rest.
• Spent the greater part of last week in bed due to a self induced NyQuil coma.  I love that stuff.
• Great times at The Brick on Friday night.  Got to hang out with some cool Epic people and listen to a great band/Artist.  If you get a chance, check out Michelle Malone.  I also got to hear a potential guitar player for Epic.  Good times.
• Traded some stuff to Guitar Bob for an amp to have as part of our backline at Epic.  It is a Line 6 Spider 2x12.  It will work perfectly for what we need it for. 
• Ate some great Italian food at Melody Gills home on Saturday.  Wow, what good stuff that was.  Melody is the CEO of Doctors For Doctors and is huge part of our creative team.  Thanks Mel!
  
• Finished the Pushin' Daisies Series yesterday.  This 2 week series on heaven and hell was a very cool way to segue into our Christmas series "Better Days".
• Even though our ace keyboard player Mark Thomason was out yesterday, the Band did a phenomenal job.  We had pedal steel player Warren Lynch back with us.  Good stuff.
• Got to watch the Drs4Drs and Epic community get onboard to help out a single mother of 5, whose home burned down on Tuesday.  The response has been huge.  Within a week, she has another house on the way, and lots of stuff to fill it.
• Picked up another student this week.  This now means 3 for me.  Yes, finally getting back up to where I was in Vegas.
• Jean handed out Hot Chocolate at the Decatur Christmas Parade on Monday night.  I stayed home and slept.
• Watched the 4 Christmas' last night.  Pretty funny, but the 4th Christmas was not as funny as the other 3.  Seems like they ran out of things to mock.  I thought Tim McGraw and Dwight Yoakum were hilarious. 

Anyway, today already is shaping up to be the beginning of a great week.  Peace.

What if?

I've been thinking about this for a long time...

Questions I have:

1. Can a volunteer serve multiple churches at once?  I help out church A on Sunday morning because they are portable.  I am on staff at church B that is not portable.  My free time on Sunday is spent serving at another church.  This is really a good one for musicians. 

2.  Can resources and materials be shared between churches? I think this happens more than sharing people.  Lifechurch.tv is great at this.  They give it away for free.  What about chairs and lighting, or PA equipment.  What about another church using your facilities for something like meetings or special services, maybe even band rehearsals?

3.  Supporting another churches ministry?  Epic does not have a homeless/hardship ministry.  We don't have a food pantry, clothes closet or kitchen.  We have 3 Sunday services and a  Wednesday night youth service.  That's all we do AT Epicchurch.tv.  But we support 2 other churches who have established homeless/hardship ministries.  One is the Neighborhood Christian Center and the other is The Dream Center.  We funnel funds and people to both of these ministries to help them realize the vision God has placed on there hearts.  We maximize everyone's potential by working like this.


Just a few thoughts.  Comments please.

Monday downloads...

Wow, the weeks are flying by!  Soon it will be Christmas.  I missed last week, so I may have a little bleed over.  But It's my blog.

• Cookie went back to Vegas Tuesday.  We had a great time hanging out with her.  Looking forward to her spending the summer at Epic.
• Great time cruising abound Birmingham.  Got to meet some very cool people on my tour of Bham music stores.  My favorite was a tie between Highland music, and Homewood.
• Started production on our new Video announcements.  It's gonna be cool.  Announcements are needed, but really mess up the flow on Sunday mornings.  Just my thoughts.
• Had to most amazing rehearsal Thursday night. 
• Helping a friend in Vegas with an arrangement for his drumline.  Very honored and humbled.
• Used Motion to create a video roll in for our Pushing Daisies series.  Technology is amazing in that it lets regular people like me do great things with video.
• Visited the NCC in Decatur this week.  Glad to be a partner in the work with them.  
• Totally "tuned" the PA system at Epicchurch.  Sounds way better!  Thanks Mark and Ownthemix. 
• Getting to do some book reviews.  Scary for me.  I'm really stepping up my game for sure.
• Went to Elaine Gills financial seminar on Saturday.  It is always good to hear financial wisdom.  No matter what stage of the financial freedom journey you are on, there is always something you can learn.
• Hung out with the Thomason's on Saturday afternoon to watch Alabama roll over Florida.  Great game.
• Tried to find a church in Cullman for Saturday night service.  Lets just say they were not where mapquest gps had them located.  Matter of fact, they had no map on the web either.  Reminded me that it's the little things that count in ministry.  Updated maps are important.
• 3 Rockin services yesterday!   Foo Fighters, Pink, Hillsong United, and Nickleback all in the mix yesterday.
• Long nap after services yesterday...4 hours.  I was wiped out.  Worth it for sure.
• Caught up on The Office and V.  Still undecided on V.  Can't wait for LOST!
• Started Justin Potters Maori warrior tattoo.  It's gonna be amazing.  Stay tuned for pictures.

I'm sure there was more, but that's okay.  Peace.