Avoiding the Need for God

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Creative Matters

May 26, 2011 in Church, Reading with 2 Comments

I realize that I’m biased on this since I was able to write a chapter for it, but I am really proud of how the Creative Matters eBook turned out. It is a free eBook written by a handful of people in creative roles in the Church today and all of us sharing a few of our insights into creativity. Rarely do I come across a book on creativity that actually gives the reader practical advice to follow through on.

I had my team read this and it has created a lot of great conversation for us. Click here and you can download and read it for free!

Here are a few of the quotes to whet your whistle…

“Creativity and safety are incompatible.” Cole Nesmith

“[Churches] get caught in exploiting rather than exploring the creative calling.” CJ Alvarado

Continue Reading…

An Evening with James Hetfield

May 14, 2011 in Church, Music with 9 Comments

I can cross something off my bucket list. I had the incredible opportunity to spend an evening with one of my childhood heroes… James Hetfield (lead singer of Metallica). On Thursday night we showed the documentary Absent and then had the producer, Justin Hunt (who goes to Central), and James here for a Q&A afterward.

I’ve had the opportunity to meet a handful of people who’s work has influenced me and I’ve been super impressed with most of them but extremely disappointed in a few. As a result, I try not to expect much out of these experiences so I don’t walk away frustrated. I’m proud to say that James is a class act and blew me away. He is a living story of redemption and it is fascinating to hear him talk about how his life is being transformed.

Jesus with Tattoos

April 24, 2011 in Church with 5 Comments

We have a guy that attends our Mesa campus who has a tattoo shop. His arms are covered with tattoo “sleeves” and he looks like he’s in his late thirties. He’s quiet but immediately likeable. He’s a guy that you assume has quite a story behind him.

His name is Bobby. But nobody calls him that.

He is lovingly called “Bobby the Baptist” because he can usually be seen a few times a month baptizing someone in one of our services. It isn’t uncommon to hear him say something like: “I was recently giving _________ a tattoo and we started talking about Jesus.” Shortly after they usually end up in the water with him.

Bobby was one of the people to play Jesus in our Easter services.

The Stress of Easter

April 14, 2011 in Church with 9 Comments

Okay, so planning Easter services for 19 services on 4 campuses can be a little complicated. You might even use the word stressful.

To counteract this one of my team members decided to design an “encouragement hallway” with a bunch of hands to high-five you as you walk through. Check it out…

Don't miss the hand up high on the right at the end of the hallway to finish it off!

Creativity at its finest!

How are you getting ready for Easter? Hopefully you are having conversations and already inviting people to experience it with you! He is risen indeed!

Avoiding the Need for God

April 13, 2011 in Bible, Church, Spirituality with 14 Comments

“Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with David but had departed from Saul.” 1 Samuel 18:12

We fear things beyond our control. The recession, job security, the future of our kids, etc. We also have a natural fear of submitting to God. Because God doesn’t always deliver like I think He should.

I remember a few years ago we prayed for 600 baptisms to happen in one year at Central. We had never reached anything remotely close to that number in a year. In fact, that was why we were praying for such a big change. It was an audacious (borderline humorous) prayer to actually pray. But we did. And the crazy thing was that we saw more than 1000 people baptized at Central that year.

Riding that wave of momentum I then launched a specific ministry goal that I had my team begin praying for. It was equally bold but I was excited to see God do it. I even made magnets as reminders for us to put on our refrigerator doors.

It never happened.