Sunday, May 29, 2005

Are You Being Fed?

Many Church planters and churches that are striving to reach their community get asked the question about whether their sermons are "deep" enough, or they hear someone with a lot of history in church mention something about their need of being "fed" spiritually.

About their participation in a church plant, one friend had someone say to them something like, "I just want to make sure you're being fed."

Feel free to use my answer to that:
"I just want to make sure you're eating the right kind of food and getting enough exercise...Oh, and by the way, how's your digestion? And are you burning enough fat???"
Ok, so maybe you don't want to be that sarcastic, but I hope you get the point. Sometimes to get healthy, you need to eat less and do more...

Friday, May 27, 2005

Getting a Church Plant off the ground...

Ken Miller in Buford, Georgia has a great post and a great reminder about something I've been talking about a lot at North Point, lately. Getting a Church Plant off the ground can be a tricky thing, but it doesn't have to be rocket science...

Check it out here.


Store Wars...

Ok, we haven't had a chance to go see the latest Star Wars movie. We will probably go next week some time. Until then, this video definitely has tided me over...

Check out "Store Wars" here.

I don't know enough about it to say anything about organic foods, but this video absolutely cracked me up...


Store Wars.... Posted by Hello

Tuesday, May 24, 2005

One Mad Christmas

I had a church recently ask about a dramatic musical that Leona and I wrote a few years ago called, "One Mad Christmas." I forgot that seasonal musicals have a long shelf life! Especially ones that are set in a certain time period, like this one is.

"One Mad Christmas" Posted by Hello

Just for fun, here's how it begins:

SCENE ONE: A DOWNTOWN STREET SCENE IN FRONT OF “J.J.’S CAFÉ AND NIGHTCLUB IN MADDING, NEVADA, 5:30 P.M., DECEMBER 24,1960.

(Lights come up on a blind man who is holding out a hat on a street corner. A few people on the street pass by him.)

(“The Money” Underscore 1 begins)

(VOICE OF) COOPER: It all started with a bad cup of coffee. My wife Erin and I were on our way to visit her parents for Christmas when we started arguing. First it was the coffee -she still makes it too weak – then it was money. Since we were married last year, money seems to be the thing we argue about the most. It’s maddening! My name’s Cooper. Cooper Weston. I soon discovered that this was going to be one Christmas I would never forget; and it happened in a town called Madding. That’s right, Madding. Madding, Nevada, on Christmas Eve, 1960.

_________________

What a blast from the past. Leona and I wrote the musical after being unable to find any good dramatic musicals for our church Worship Arts Ministry one Christmas. We had presented several "Broadway" style musicals in previous years, but there just weren't any new ones coming out that year. After viewing a couple of original plays that some other churches had created, we lost our minds and just decided to write one of our own.

"Surely we can do better than that!" we told ourselves.

Oh yeah. Real easy...Original script that makes sense, original songs and musical score with lyrics that don't sound ridiculous or cliche', a functioning set design, staging and scene changes...we could probably knock this out in a weekend, right? About a year and a half later, we started rehearsals.

Creativity must be driven by Discipline; Innovation strengthened by Order. These things take time and hard work.

It's hard to describe what it's like to have something you've initiated from scratch become a reality. To hear lines that Leona and I came up with around a campfire in Colorado being quoted and performed on stage is a pretty surreal experience. But we didn't put it all together on one weekend around a campfire. It took hours and hours of working through story twists, plot development, character development, writing of dialog, composing music and more. Sometimes it was incredibly fun. Sometimes it was just work. But the payoff in the end was huge.

"Starting something from scratch" is a pattern that has always been a part of my life. When I was a kid, I wrote a book (short story actually, and no, you can't read it) and developed a ventriliquist act with my brother, Kenny, and performed it for my elementary school. When I was a teenager, I started a Christian Club at our High School, help start a band, and on and on it goes.

It's amazing to see how God has used that throughout the years, and especially now that we are doing something similar with North Point Fellowship. A church that didn't exist before we got here. Very cool. And no, it hasn't been easy, either, but these things take time and hard work...and the payoff in the end will be huge.

I believe that God has put a creative spark in all of us. Think about it for a minute. What have you ever created from scratch? How has God used it for His glory? On the other hand, what great, creative idea have you come up with that was never really fleshed out because it was missing the discipline needed to see it through to reality?

Tuesday, May 10, 2005

Affair Proofing Your Marriage ...Again.


There has been some interest in this message I did several months ago, so I've made it available on our website. It's a good reminder of really important stuff. Enjoy! Posted by Hello

Read The original post here.

Listen to the message here.

Narnia Movie Trailer is Up!

Moviefone.com has the world premiere of the "Teaser Trailer" for "The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe."
Click here for more!


Lucy, Susan & Peter bow before Aslan Posted by Hello
Author: Walden Media | Source: moviefone.com

It looks like they have done a good job bringing the book to life. Yay to that. The trailer made me happy. ..I'm going to bed, now.

Sunday, May 08, 2005

Tape Sneakers


Tape Sneakers Posted by Hello

Ok, my oldest son, Matthew is incredibly creative. Actually, all of my kids are creative. I wonder where they get that? Anyway, he started out making "duct tape" wallets and selling them to friends. Then he stretched himself a bit and made these shoes. The soles are from a pair of "flip flops," the shoestrings and eyeholes are real, but the rest is really made from "duct tape."

Wow, you really can do anything with duct tape. He'll make you a pair for $20....really.

I couldn't be more proud. :)

Tuesday, May 03, 2005

Harvest Ridge Retro Family Picnic

View the gallery here.


From the "Harvest Ridge Retro Family Picnic" Posted by Hello
Photo by Cassandra Robison

This event was a blast. Meeting neighbors, eating hotdogs, drinking lemonade and playing "Retro Relays" like the "3 legged race"...man. We need to do this more often.

Actually, we will be doing this more often.
There are about 3 more of these planned for various neighborhoods around the Alliance, Texas area as the summer progresses.

This event was a good example of something that I will be covering in a book that will maybe one day actually get published. And that something is a chapter called, "Why The Church Must Get Outside of its Building" (or something like that). Of course,
in many ways, that describes North Point for the summer, but more on that later.

I think that this event tapped into something that people are really longing for. Something basic. Something at the core. In a way, it's a throw back to a simpler world and feelings of nostalgia. But it's more than that. I think it reflects a longing for real community. And although most haven't achieved it the way God intended, real community is part of God's design for what Church is supposed to be about. We're not there, either, but that's the beauty of being a part of a new church. We haven't arrived by any means, but we're working hard at building the right foundation.

Incidently, I was really "unwired" at this event, but in a good way. And the homemade megaphone that I used actually worked better than most of my techno tools at the moment...

Sunday, May 01, 2005


North Point Summer Posted by Hello