I've accepted my first writing assignment for Collide Magazine. I'll be writing an arctile on multi-site church technology. Multi-site churches have been a growing movement in the past few years that I think is a very interesting evolution of the business-minded leardership in the American church the past several decades.
I like the multi-site idea because it allows for strong central teaching for a large community, but still allows more intimate community to develop through the smaller churches that are formed. The members of the satellite churches can have a more personal relationship with their local pastor, instead of being a face in the crowd for megachurches.
Mosaic is not a multi-site church, but we have recently shifted to two services. We did this because (1) we wanted to keep the gatherings small and (2) we were out of room at our location. I imagine that if our evening service expands, we'll have to look into considering a multi-site or multi-community structure.
tomorrow i'll be interviewing Russ Hall of Long Hollow Baptist Church and next week i'll be talking with Dennis Choy from North Coast Church. If anyone has any suggestions for other churches doing multi-site, please let me know!
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when we only have limited resources, there are only so many things we can do.
at LifeWay, though we may seem like a very large company, we have very limited resources. the fact that we're able to get as much done as we're able to due to the incredible talent we do have working for us. however, because I'm acutely aware of the limited resources we have, I went into my new position accepting that there would be times when I would need to settle for what would just work, instead of what would work best.
this morning I came out of an incredibly encouraging meeting. looking at the upcoming schedule for I'll be working on, between now and March I'll likely be uploading between 500-1000 media files to be purchasable on LifeWay.com. The nature of some of the files is going to require some enhancements to our download services. knowing what's coming down the pike, I was expecting to have to fight hard to get a solution that would just work.
the meeting came today, and i realized the faith that LifeWay has not only in the work I'm doing, but also in me. essentialy, I was told that I wasn't dreaming big enough. I'm going back to the drawing board and requesting not what will just work, but what I think I will work best.
this is the kind of work I love. I love being told by my managers that my idea is acceptable, but they know that something better can come from me. I love the idea that I can think about what's best for the customers first, and worry about the work and technology second.
then, maybe fifteen minutes later, my manager expanded this task even further. i don't get to just think about the download manager (though that comes first). i'm now looking at how we present downloadable media as a whole - how they integrate into the catalog, how their product pages look, how we sort and organize them.
doing things the right way, and not just shoehorning new ideas and products into old models, is a huge task... but, man... i did not expect to enjoy my work this much.
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This semester is the closing chapter of my MBA education through Liberty University. I can already tell, however, that I'm going to enjoy it immensely. This semester, for me, is all about global business. I'm taking 3 courses this semester:
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International Business
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Global Economic Environment
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Policy & Strategy in Global Corporations
you know you're enjoying your job when you work half way through lunch before you realize it's time to eat. yes, I really am loving this job that much.
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i'm not usually awake by the time we get to church on Sunday mornings. i mean, i'm physically awake... but my body and mind hasn't left the cloud of dream/sleep just yet. even though church doesn't start until 10 or so, I usually don't wake up until about quarter 'till and then it's a mad dash to get ready, out the door, and into church before the music actually starts. so, for me, my Sundays typically begin with the opening chords on some worship song and the aroma of coffee.
that said, i don't typically bring many stories with me on my mind to church. i usually wake up with the "it's a new day" attitude. today was different, though. i woke up a little earlier than usual, so i was more awake. i still had the events of the night before on my mind, processing through an awkward moment that happened.
as i sat there, i wondered what other people's stories might be in the room with me. i can't imagine that they don't all wake up late and rush out the door like i do. perhaps they're still processing through whatever happened to them last night, or the week before... or perhaps walking into a church brings back a flood of memories from when they were a child.
whatever it is... of the 107 people or so in church this morning... people bring in stories of their own, and they get to mix and mesh and drop hints of theirs and learn of other people's. it's a strange tension.
on one hand... i felt like i wanted to stop everything. i wanted to stop the worship, stop the preaching, and just let everyone share their story. not the deep stories... not the themes of their lives... i just wanted to know what everyone did that morning. what got them to church this day.
on the other hand... it was a beautiful thing that, amidst whatever pains and joys, lonliness and comforts, 107 or so people brought their stories and managed to get up, get out of bed, and spend a little over an hour to sing/listen/worship, listen to a pastor's sermon, smile and greet friends, and do lunch afterwards. their stories for that day included a brief encounter with a Holy God and (just as important?) a brief encounter with His bride, the church.
i'll be honest.. there have been times in my life where i was worn out and frustrated with the church. even my own church has wounded me - and many of my friends - in the past. but i made a commitment to the church... and like any marriage, there are sturggles and pain and victories and allure. and, right now, i'm not simply "committed" to love the church... but I truly am falling in love with the Bride of Christ.
if we let go a bit... accept people's stories and where they are... it becomes a much more diverse world. the stories get more interesting. it kills me that so many people have been hurt by churches, christians, faith-based entertainment, bible study publishing houses, non-profits and so on and so forth.
i think the problem is that for so long the bride of christ covered her blemishes with makeup and didn't allow anyone to see her wounds. she presented herself as a supermodel and a calm housewife; she wanted to be simple, she wanted to make everyone comfortable, she wanted to perfect. oh, but real is so much better than a plastic mess.
ashley is so beautiful to me when she doesn't bother to put on make up. i love when she's able to relax and go the whole day in her pajamas. sure, i love it when she gets all dolled up to go out and such... but knowing the real her is so much more beautiful than any fakeness she could put on.
i love being at a point in life that i'm ok with not being perfect. i don't want to be perfect... i want to be able to improve. i want people to be able to give me real advice and put me on a better path. i want people to know me intimately enough that they can call out the flaws in me, or tell me when i'm doing something off-character. and that's the kind of relationship i want with the church. i want to be able to go to church and be real, and let the people there be real with me.
i dont have some kind of point that i'm building up to here, i'm just typing away. there's no catchy ending, no twist or nuggest of joy to take away.
i just love the church. i don't always understand her, but it's good to be able to love her.
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It's good to know that we as current day Christians are not the only generation to be faced with questions, misunderstandings, and confusing traditions about our faith. In our small group tonight, we're going to be discussing one of my favorite topics that is missing from your typical Sunday School upbringing: Melchizedek.
Melchizedek appears only a few times in the Bible. In the Old Testament, there are direct references to him only twice (Gen 14:17-24 and Ps 110:4). He is a mysterious figure who could, seemingly, be nothing more than a brief cameo of a character in Abram's life. Melchizadek is much more, however; he is a key component in the fulfillment of the prophecies of the Messiah.Melchizedek is, without question, one of the most mysterious characters in the Bible. He comes on the scene and then leaves so quickly with very little exposition to the reader about who he really is or why his blessing to Abram is so important. Jewish tradition surrounding Melchizedek only serves to further the mystery surrounding him (of course, as my wife reminded me to clarify, this is Rabbinic literature and not canon. I only mention this here because I find it interesting how many stories have accumulated about Melchizedek):- In the Midrash, the Rabbis identified Melchizedek with Shem son of Noah. (E.g., Babylonian Talmud Nedarim 32b; Genesis Rabbah 46:7; Genesis Rabbah 56:10; Leviticus Rabbah 25:6; Numbers Rabbah 4:8.)
- Rabbi Isaac the Babylonian said that Melchizedek was born circumcised. (Genesis Rabbah 43:6.)
- Rabbi Eleazar said that Melchizedek's school was one of three places where the Holy Spirit manifested itself. (Babylonian Talmud Makkot 23b.)
- The Rabbis taught that Melchizedek acted as a priest and handed down Adam's robes to Abraham. (Numbers Rabbah 4:8.)
Central to our faith is the Christ is Messiah. Throughout the story of the Jewish people, prophets are given messages from God, many of which have a double meaning: a message for the culture of that day and a message that foretold the future. The lump sum of these messages come to prophesy the coming of Messiah, who would be a kinsman redeemer for the nation is Israel to heal the broken relationship between man and God from the very beginning, in the Garden of Eden.
This Messiah would be both a priest and king. We often hear of Christ referred to as the Son of David, as Messiah was to come from the root of Jesse. This is where the prophecy of Zechariah muddies things up: Messiah was to be both priest and king (Zec 6:13). Priests come only through the lineage of Levi, of which the kingly lineage (Davidic lineage, tribe of Judah) was not. So how could a man be both a priest and king?
With this need for Messiah to fulfill the prophecy and be both Priest and King, Melchizedek becomes a central figure to the validity of Christ as Messiah and, thus, a major character in the theology of our faith.Even more so, the priesthood of Melchizedek (the priesthood of Christ) brings us eternal hope. Looking back at the second reference to Melchizedek in the Old Testament brings us here:
The Lord has sworn an oath and will not take it back:
"Forever, You are a priestlike Melchizedek." (Ps 110:4)
The great theologian, Paul, explains it to us thusly:
The priests of Levi were finite and imperfect. Ultimately, their priesthood was to be abolished because a better priesthood came not "based on a legal command concerning physical descent but based on the power of an indestructible life." (Heb 7:17). So the history of priesthood is as such:
- Melchizedek was a priest of the Most High God, possibly reigning over the area of Jerusalem (as he was King of Salem, which some believe was the former name of Jerusalem)
- The role of priesthood was given to the descendant of Aaron, descendant of Levi
- The coming of Christ, through the power of an indestructible life, continued the priesthood of Melchizedek
Therefore He is always able to save those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to intercede for them. (Heb 7:25).
Recently I've been doing some freelance work, getting to stretch my flash design skills and such. It's been quite fun, to be honest. The marketing strategist for the latest freelance piece I did had the boldness to let me know that (a) this wasn't my best work and (b) it needed to be better. She was incredibly kind about it, and didn't come near to saying it in those words... but she was right. The end product was not what anyone had envisioned.
The problem? The final piece is/was due by noon today.
As a freelancer, it's tough when you infer that someone thinks your work didn't meet the standards they wanted. A thousand thoughts run through your head... where was the miscommunication? will i get to work for them again? how can i do it better next time?
Thankfully, we got an extension for the final deadline (the html ad is going to an outside vendor). This gave me a chance to rework the whole thing.
So... I started from scratch. Same basic layout and idea... but with a LOT more detail work and making it more image based than text-based (which is what I thought they wanted). I'm proud to say that I was able to pound away and deliver a piece that is much better than the original product.
As a freelancer, there's a huge relief in being able to actually hear your client smile over the phone because of how well they like the piece. It was well worth the effort to push it through, skip personal work/entertainment, and get a piece that works for the client, as well as yourself.
So, without further ado, I present a link to my LifeMatters HTML ad.
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Last week I wrote an entry about mentoring. In it, I mentioned that one of my business-mentors, who doesn't even know me, has been Robert Scoble. Scoble is a blogger who effectively changed the way a large number of people (myself included) percieved Microsoft by giving us a glimpse into the daily life of its employees.
Amidst all the various people that link to his blog, he noticed a little link coming from blog into his. He took time out, came on over, and read my post on my needs for mentoring. And then he posted a little thank you note.
This is why he "gets it." I'm no one important to him; but, for whatever rhyme or reason, he took time to post on my blog. To a blogger, having one of the people come by your blog and post anything is quite the honor. But that's the magic of blogs... it lets us all interact with people we'd normally have no other avenues to connect with. Him posting on my blog reminds me that I need to join the conversation on others blogs more frequently.
Growing up, I've had this image - mostly from Hollywood movies and the like - that people of great success don't often interact with people of less success. The CEO of a company doesn't have time for the guy answering the phone. A millionare isn't interested in a struggling coffee shop owner's daily life. I don't know if that's really true or not. Quite regularly when I've reached out to people that I consider to have had great success, I've found them to be very human and sometimes even humbled by my admiration of them (not that I'm anyone special).
This is the beauty of things like blogs... it allows people of great success to reach down and say hi to people of less success, and vice versa. Scoble gets to post on my blog, and I get to post on his. This approachability is going to be key not only for people, but for corporations, the government, and the church.
So thanks, Scoble, for stopping by and saying hello. Thanks for showing how important transparency is, and how approachability can change perceptions. And if you're ever on your way to Nashville, you can have a lunch on me.
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Back when I was trying to pitch stories for Mavel Comics, I didn't really know what format they were looking for. Andy Schmidt was giving me good feedback, but I never quite knew what all I should include in the pitch. This hurt my chances, as I wasn't thinking the pitch out to their expectations. There was one pitch I wrote that Andy liked and said he wanted to know more on... but he didn't bite because I made the story too long. He wasn't looking for a mini-series from a fresh, new author.
So, for this novel, I wanted to be sure that I was approaching it the right way so that in the end I could hopefully get it published somewhere/somehow. David Webb at B&H was able to help me out and get me their novel proposal form. Looking over the elements they want included, I realize that I made the right choice in taking this approach first. Working through some of the information they want will help me better frame the story as a whole, and help me make a more complete work.
That said, there were several things in here that I really hadn't thought all the way through, or really even begun to work on...
Audience
So who is going to be the audience for this book? Even without an MBA, it's common sense that for a publisher to go through the process of editing, marketing, printing and selling a book, there has to be a market out there for it. What I find interesting here is that I would think that a lot of this work would already be done by the publisher themselves. They know what sells of their own books and what doesn't. And, well, sci-fi Christian books simply don't sell right now.
For me, I'm going to have to do some research here and discover why sci-fi Christian books don't sell. Are they marketed wrong? Is there an untapped audience?
Also, as part of the "audience", I would think this is where an author can come in and claim their own audience. If Neil Gaiman or Ted Dekker write a book, they bring with them an established group of readers. One of the nice things about having a blog is that I can claim a small built in audience... but right now, that's pretty small.
Suggested Package
How do you determine if a book is worthy of a hardcover or not? Is it it just a budget book? For my novel this is where one of the key marketing elements will come into play for me: this book needs to be digitally distributed. I don't imagine a hard cover book... but if I don't ask for one and I shortchanging my manusrcipt?
Purpose/Vision
In essence, this is asking whether or not this book is intended to have any long-term effects on the reader's life. I can honestly answer this one fairly easily: yes. One of my goals with the novel is to make me think about what the future might be like and, in turn, let the reader think about it. In studying to be a futurist, I've read and seen very little so far about what the future of religion and spirituality might be like. That's one of the primary topics I want to discuss in this novel. Honestly, that's a bit of the crux of this novel... to introduce Christians to the idea of thinking past two generations from now and considering how their actions today can influence the lives of people 200 generations from now.
Author Platform
It makes sense... if the author has oppertunities to speak at various locations, that's a personal touch and gives the author more chances to sell the book. So, um... anyone want me to speak at their conference?
Endorsement Opportunities
Essentially, who would be willing to put their name on your book to promote you. Who do you know that already has an audience that can bleed into yours. This is where all those nice quotes on the back of the book come from.
Competing Products
This is your best friend and your worst enemy. If there aren't any competing products out there... is your idea so novel and great that it can create an entire new marketplace? If there are too many competing products... why would yours stand out? Again, this is purely business... but important business. An author must know his or her contemporaries.
Those, of course, are just some of the elements that B&H is looking for, outside of the expected synopsis and themes and such. I think a lot of this legwork is important, though. There's a difference between just wanting to write (which I can do on here any time) and wanting to be published. If I'm not willing to go the extra mile and do the leg work... how bad do I really want to share my story? And if I don't want to share my story bad enough... why should the publisher take the burden of risk on publishing it?
As an aside, I'm giving myself the deadline of September 30th, 2008 to finish the manuscript. Yes, I know that's nine months away... but even still, that's qucikly approaching. I'm taking the summer off of school, so that's when I expect to get the bulk of the writing done.
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I've been thinking a lot lately about mentoring. How it should work, what the purpose is, etc etc.
When I mentioned some of this to my friend Shawn about how I'm trying to figure out what mentoring means and how to intentionally vs naturally mentor someone he asked: "What are you mentoring him for?" Currently, I think there are three areas of my life that I need mentors and, as well, should be mentoring someone else:
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Spiritually
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Professionally
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Relationship (Marriage)
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Spiritual: I think I'm actually looking more for a rabbi here. Someone like Christ was to the Disciples. Typically I think this would be the pastor of whatever church you're going to. I love Gary, and he's a great teacher... but he has had his hands too full with actually running Mosaic. Where's a wise old sage when you need one?
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Professional: I love the way that Penelope Trunk persues professional mentoring. She unashemedly says that you must have one. I would love to have more intentional mentors both inside and outside of LifeWay. John Porcaro has been great at helping me understand marketing through our brief conversations and I hope to continue to be able to learn from him... I'm not sure who I can learn from about doing video conversion and such, which is my new daily job. Or do I not look at today's job, but towards tomorrow's? Is there a better word for this, or is "mentor" the most appropriate?
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Relationships: This is a tricksy one. I think the best way to learn is by being open about your marital relationship with other people - couples, married, and singles all included. I love that we've grown closer to to Kris/Laura and Benji/Lesie. I do wish we had older couple to learn from as well, though. This is the hardest to seek out, I think... because just like a relationship, this has to happen naturally. Perhaps this is just best defined as close friends?
In my circle of online blogging friends, there is a distinct trend calling for a change in how we do Christmas. Ariah consistently makes me ponder my spending, and Sam lets me know that Christmas is not my birthday. But... I like giving presents. And I like receiving presents. For me, it's not selfish thing or a materialist thing... it's the way I express love and receive love best.Before Ashley moved out here, part of her "required reading" was the 5 Love Languages. I have purchased, given and recommended this book than any other. For me it is one of the foundational books that we should read to better understand our fellow humans. The book describes five ways we give and receive love:
Now, Sam encourages people to give better gifts. What he means by this is give someone a gift that truly helps them or helps someone else. My wife has embraced this and did a decent portion of her shopping this Christmas at the The Hunger Site. For everything she purchased there it benefitted the actual people who made the scarves or ornaments, as well as giving food to various people groups through her purchase.
But... I struggle with giving those kinds of gifts. I honestly do.
I wish I could be noble in that way. I wish I could buy a water buffalo or some life-changing thing like that. Instead, I take my time and seek out a gift that shows the person: "Hey, I get you. I know your likes, your dislikes, and what it is you want." Can't I let my gifts this one day be about what they want instead of some practical thing that they need?I love tension. It creates opportunities for conversation and expansion of thought. And, for some people, buying food to help a family in Africa is exactly the gift that they would want, and I would be happy to give that to them. But that's the key... I want to give me friends and chosen family gifts that they want, and that I want them to have.
Last week we had a Christmas gathering for our small group. I was so excited to be able to find little gifts for everyone to show them I cared. Because Ashley and I are more financially stable than we've ever been in life, I was able to splurge and spend more on my family that I ever have in the past... looking under the tree at the gifts we had gotten my dad, sister and their spouses lit up my own eyes with excitement. I couldn't wait for them to open what we had gotten them.
And this Christmas... oh how excited I am. For the past few months (since August) I have been buying my wife little gifts here and there. I've abstained from buying myself toys or video games or what not so I could spend extra on her. As she opens each present, my memories will come to life at the joy I had in buying her this thing or that thing, thinking to myself, "she'll love this!" or "i wonder if she'd like that" or "this gift... she'll open this present with that present..." or "i can wrap this that way". For months I've had these secret moments of joy that I got to hide from my wife and on Christmas she will open an outpouring of months of love, thought and sacrifice.
Of course, being a gift-giver, that's how I see it. It doesn't matter if it's a movie or a book or some random gag gift just to get a reaction... it's a neatly wrapped message that says "I love you."I would love to give gifts that were "better" gifts like Sam says. But to me... we should be doing stuff like that on a regular, sacrificial basis. For Christmas I want the gifts I give to be about that person. From me to them, for them. I know, I know... they won't always think of me when they play a certain game, eat from a certain bowl or use some random gardening tool. But when I see it lying around their house I'll know what it meant. I'll know that, in my language, I said "I love you" the best way I could.
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- Gift Giving
- Physical Touch
- Acts of Service
- Quality Time
- Words of Affirmation
Now, Sam encourages people to give better gifts. What he means by this is give someone a gift that truly helps them or helps someone else. My wife has embraced this and did a decent portion of her shopping this Christmas at the The Hunger Site. For everything she purchased there it benefitted the actual people who made the scarves or ornaments, as well as giving food to various people groups through her purchase.
But... I struggle with giving those kinds of gifts. I honestly do.
I wish I could be noble in that way. I wish I could buy a water buffalo or some life-changing thing like that. Instead, I take my time and seek out a gift that shows the person: "Hey, I get you. I know your likes, your dislikes, and what it is you want." Can't I let my gifts this one day be about what they want instead of some practical thing that they need?I love tension. It creates opportunities for conversation and expansion of thought. And, for some people, buying food to help a family in Africa is exactly the gift that they would want, and I would be happy to give that to them. But that's the key... I want to give me friends and chosen family gifts that they want, and that I want them to have.
Last week we had a Christmas gathering for our small group. I was so excited to be able to find little gifts for everyone to show them I cared. Because Ashley and I are more financially stable than we've ever been in life, I was able to splurge and spend more on my family that I ever have in the past... looking under the tree at the gifts we had gotten my dad, sister and their spouses lit up my own eyes with excitement. I couldn't wait for them to open what we had gotten them.
And this Christmas... oh how excited I am. For the past few months (since August) I have been buying my wife little gifts here and there. I've abstained from buying myself toys or video games or what not so I could spend extra on her. As she opens each present, my memories will come to life at the joy I had in buying her this thing or that thing, thinking to myself, "she'll love this!" or "i wonder if she'd like that" or "this gift... she'll open this present with that present..." or "i can wrap this that way". For months I've had these secret moments of joy that I got to hide from my wife and on Christmas she will open an outpouring of months of love, thought and sacrifice.
Of course, being a gift-giver, that's how I see it. It doesn't matter if it's a movie or a book or some random gag gift just to get a reaction... it's a neatly wrapped message that says "I love you."I would love to give gifts that were "better" gifts like Sam says. But to me... we should be doing stuff like that on a regular, sacrificial basis. For Christmas I want the gifts I give to be about that person. From me to them, for them. I know, I know... they won't always think of me when they play a certain game, eat from a certain bowl or use some random gardening tool. But when I see it lying around their house I'll know what it meant. I'll know that, in my language, I said "I love you" the best way I could.
what can i say? life got in the way, and it wasn't meant for me to write a full length novel in the month of November. However, thanks to NaNoWriMo, I've got a great start with some great ideas and a few chapters to build off of. I will see this to completion, even if it's a few months away. At this point, I'm thinking I might even take a few days of vacation spattered here and there to work on it.
In doing things like this, I like to know what all the possibilities are. If I'm going to write this thing; poor my time, energy and ideas into a manuscript... then I want to make sure that there's at least a chance that someone will discover it and enjoy it. I've done some minimal research and found that, at the very least, there is one place I will be able to publish it:
Amazon Digital Shorts
More likely, however, I would put it for publishing through Amazon's digital services, which would allow a different pricing structure. Either way, this will allow the manuscript to be read on a Kindle... which... would be very fitting (if you've read the first chapter). I would like to firmly state that the manuscript did begin before the Kindle was released/publically known about.
So on my quest for information regarding my publishing options, I got a chance this past week to meet with David Webb of B&H Publishing House. I was quite pleased to get to know him; he seemed to be a genuinely nice guy who is as passionate about books as my wife is. It didn't hurt that he had artwork from an Alex Ross calendar or a Worf mug in his office, either. What I liked about Webb is that he told it to me straight: there isn't much room for sci-fi in the CBA market.
Seeing as I'm getting my MBA, I was actually quite interested in his perspectives on the market, as well as the future plans for the B&H fiction line, in general. I found it amazing how much the market is geared toward women... as most faith-based products are nowadays. Why aren't men buying faith-based entertainment?
We talked briefly about the struggles I would have with writing a Christian-based sci-fi novel, but he also offered some like a group of authors who recently went on tour promoting their sci-fi and fantasy work. Webb was very encouraging when we got to the end of the conversation, as we both agreed that sci-fi was a great place to explore faith. Being followers of Christ allows us one constant - that God is and always will be God. So even if I place my story 100,000 years in the future... God is still God. And that allows me a world of creativity.
So I now have two assignments:
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Finish the novel
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Write the pitch
So... I recently got a new job, working as a Digital Media Producer for LifeWay. What that means is that I will get to prepare our normal content for online delivery, including audio, video, and print. This is something I've been doing for LifeWay in iTunes for over two years now, but this new position will have me doing it for all of LifeWay.com. Needless to say, I'm excited.
As a part of this new position, I'll also get to be creating some original content. While we're still in the process of creating the necessary digital workflow, I've taken my downtime to drop in on people's offices and get them to talk about what they're working on. The videos are then placed throughout LifeWay.com... I've already got several of them out there.
So, you might see some (all?) of the videos show up on my blog here, just to keep you updated with what I'm working on here. I figure a little video wouldn't hurt to spice up the site, too. Enjoy, and try to give me some feedback on if I should collect them all here, or keep the blog and my LifeWay work separate. Thanks!
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Last Sunday, I got to partake in worship at my church in a way that I never have before; I got to help lead with the worship band. I don’t sing or play any instrument, though. Instead, I got to read.
Now, that may not sound innovative or different or special. I mean, I’ve read scripture before in services… pastors usually read quotes and what not… but this was a little bit different. It was more of a spoken word piece, where the band played music and I read along, integrated into it. For example, I read this piece while the band played the song “Breathe Me” by Sia (and was sung by my wife… which was awesome to get to partake in leading worship with her, btw). Integrating the two just… worked.
continued
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for the upcoming Deacon article. so i figured i'd blog about it... since the article is about blogging. The camera guy is hanging over the cube next to mine... ah, dynamic shots.
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a few days ago, self-friend Ariah posted a blog about November being National Novel Writing Month. I've been meaning to get some more writing out of my system, and the encouragement of knowing there are hundreds of people doing the same thing at the same time has led me to bite the bullet (hooray for mob mentality!).
The goal for myself, Ariah, and hundreds of other people is to write a 50,000 word novel in the month of November. I'm not sure if I'm doing this for the creative/social experience or because I (apparently) love punishment so much.
This is also one of the reasons I posted the short story yesterday. Translating the comic script i wrote a few months ago into a short story was a test to see how much I could write during lunch. The short story was written over two 45-minute periods... the story is 1900 words long, so I should be able to average 1000 words an hour. At that rate, I would need to work at least an hour and forty minutes a day.
Oh, why did i just break that down to myself like that.
Other November projects:
1) Be a good husband
2) Run with the dogs at least twice a week
3) Work a full time job
4) Develop and lead lessons for our small group
5) Finish up my Intro to Future Studies Master's class
6) Develop Nathan Jey's website
7) Film and edit a wedding
8) Finish Halo 3 (only one level left!)
Yup, I'm a glutton for punishment. There might be some occasional updates here on the blog, or even some sample chapters and what not. Please take some time to comment on them... I'll need some encouragement during this sprint/marathon of writing!
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With a flair for the dramatic and emotional, former soldiers recall their battle stories. The feel of an enemy gun. The discomfort of the dark where they hid, waiting. Waiting for you. You’re not just a soldier. It’s not even simply about being a hero. It’s about being a savior...
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i love taking photos and sharing them on flickr. i love th idea of taking random videos some day and sharing them on youtube. the problem with both of those things, however, is that in taking them you end up taking yourself out of the action and out of the moment. and so, it's an eternal struggle of being a part of the moment, or recording the moment.
maybe i'll just hire someone to start taking random picutres for me.
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I’m stuck with a “hard” decision. Let’s just be honest for a bit here and expose my struggle: the thing that I’ve been wrestling with the past few nights out to the ether of the internet: should I, or shouldn’t I, buy a PlayStation 3? This shouldn’t be such a spiritual struggle, should it? I mean… it’s just stuff, right?
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Indeed, our house has been started!
We met with our (new) sales agent a week ago today and met our house's project manager for the first time. I must say, Fox Ridge has some great employees as they catered to our needs and somehow continued to laugh at my stupid jokes. The project manager definately seems to know his stuff and appears to be a hardworker (he was drenched with sweat when we got there).
We've been told that the average build time for a Fox Ridge home once it gets started is 80 days. However, because of the dry season we've been having, some of the houses in our neighborhood have been built in as few as 55 days! This means we can expect to be moving in between August 14th and September 8th. Excitement abounds.
So right now, our house is a big pile of wood. It's kind of odd thinking how much that pile of wood is going to cost us. It's also amazing to think that it's going to transformed into a home we'll be living in, creating memories in, raising children in, eating with friends in, crying in, fighting in, breaking things in, and praying in.
Ashley and I are looking forward to building this house together and turning it into a home. In the meantime, we're moving to an apartment. But that's a whole other story...