LeviLowry.com

Randomness

2008-08-21T12:55:00.000-07:00

Random stuff from my head:

Last night was fun, we had Sprang and Meagan over for steaks to celebrate my birthday. We got some fresh top sirloin, it was really good. Heather has this maniacle marinade she puts on steak that is really good.
Two early morning meetings in a row this week. I was wise enough to go to bed at 10 pm last night.
We took breakfast in for the teachers at Doris Cullins Lakepointe elementary. We have developed a great partnership with them and they contacted us about a month ago about helping with a breakfast. It was a blast with lots of them asking about the church and thanking us for the food. Chiloso never dissapoints.
Took the van in for a scam of a checkup. I won't go there, but it will cost me $150.
Rode my bike home from Garland. It was HOT. Some cars drive way too close to bikes on the rode. I thought one dude was gonna clip me with his side mirror.
I have struggled with this week's sermon more than any sermon in a while. I am usually done and preaching it several times at this point and this week has been tough in terms of sermon writing.
I am pumped about where we are going for the next 12 weeks as a church. We are going to introduce some new stuff, do two series, and stay in one book of the Bible for 8 weeks. I think it will be a blast.
Heather keeps gloating about how her blog has more visitors than mine. I'm glad it makes her feel so good.

Rain and Getting Fat...

2008-08-20T06:54:00.000-07:00

We have finally gotten some much needed rain. We had something like 19 of 21 days of 100+ degree weather. Now it has been raining or at least overcast for several days. I want something in between the dreary weather and the scorching heat.

On another note, I NEED to start exercising again. A few weeks ago I thought I was going to hit the running hard again and it simply has not happened. I have put on about 7 pounds in the last few months and can really feel it in my stomach and energy levels. Both are drooping. I need to get those pounds off and another 15 as well.

Great Customer Service

2008-08-19T08:23:00.000-07:00

I have a fairly expensive piece of software for Bible Study on my computer. Expensive is relative, but I don't drop $200 for software very often. Anyway, the software was not working with Vista. Imagine that!. Anyway, I sent an email, got a quick response, then called Tech Support. The guy that sent the email answered the phone. He actually ANSWERED THE PHONE! No pre-recorded stuff, no being placed on hold for hours, he simply answered my question and directed me to a free download that would solve the problem.

It was nice that there was no "service" fee or "upgrade" fee. No need to argue and get all hot and bothered about getting pumped for more money. They simply helped me get what I needed. Great Customer service in an era when many companies fail to meet expectations.

Weekend Recap

2008-08-18T07:00:00.000-07:00

We showed the second in our series of three movies in the park. We showed Cars and had a better turn out this week. One kid came up to Andrew after the movie and said, "Thank you for showing my favorite movie. He even had a t-shirt on with the movie's main character on the front.
Several of us were pretty worn out Sunday Morning after being out late with the movie on Saturday night.
We were down a few hands for set-up but we had a few surprise ladies show up. They did a fantastic job of jumping in and helping with the set-up, especially the kid's rooms.
We had a some strange sound issues happen, some crazy unexpected songs coming out of the system while the band was playing. It may be due to a damaged electric drum kit. We are still learning all the sound set-up stuff and will get it down pat soon. I remember telling our sound guy a few weeks ago that it could take us a month or two to get things just the way we want them.
We got everything torn down quickly because a bunch of people pitched in to make it happen.
20+ people from church went to Double Daves after church. It is a pizza buffet and I am sure that some of us qualified as glutton yesterday afternoon.
We had a BUNCH of families gone this weekend. Looking forward to school starting so attendance will settle in to a more normal level.
Had friends over for dinner last night. They have young kids like us, we had a blast with them.
I stayed up too late watching the Olympics and had a hard time gettting out of bed this morning.

Crazy Birthday...

2008-08-15T13:18:00.000-07:00

Here is how my birthday went down:

Got up and started throwing away all the broken printers I bought a couple of months ago. Salvaged some parts off most of them that will go on ebay this week.
Went to Chiloso for breakfast tacos, got there 5 minutes too late and got denied. Boo!
Went to Chickfila and ate a crazy early lunch. I kept looking at this guy that looked familiar. The problem was he looked like a guy I went to college with in East Tennessee 10 YEARS ago. I never do this but I walked up and asked if his name was Rich. It was, we did go to school together and he planted a church in Forney 3.5 years ago that is doing very well. We plan to keep in touch.
Came home and started working on the garage again after watching the olympics for a while.
Sometime in the morning Heather's friend Xuan called to see if we wanted to eat my birthday dinner at The Crescent in Dallas. He husband Juan is the chef there. So we dressed up, and went up to the 17th floor and ate an incredible meal while overlooking Dallas from 17 stories up with NO kids because Xuan offered to watch them. YEEEEES!
I had quail, soup, ribeye, and chocolate bread pudding. Everything was wonderful. The wait staff was the best I have ever seen as well.
We had planned to meet friends back in Rockwall for Ice Cream at 8:00. There was a wreck and it kept a bunch of us from getting there until 9:00.
I ate Coffee Lovers Ice Cream from Cold Stone and didn't even have to pay. Our friends Philip and Sarah sneakily paid for it.
We went outside and ate and talked until the kids got too cranky to be out any longer. I got several gift cards and the Ocean's 12 & 13 movies.
There was another wreck on the way home. It was a rough day for 1-30 in Rowlett yesterday. We called our friends who had not left yet and told them to take an alternate route home.
I came home and opened cards, most of which had $$$ in them. I am trying to figure out what to do with the money. I am trolling craigslist for another Mountain Bike, we will see what happens.
It was a great day.

Rest...

2008-08-12T07:09:00.001-07:00

Met with Sprang yesterday to remind both of us that we need rest. The last few weeks have been insanely crazy for both of us and especially for Sprang. Of course we hear the joke that pastors only work one day a week, but we have had a lot on our plates, both with the church and on a personal level.

The Sprangs have moved out of an apartment, loaded all their crap in a pod, moved in with in-laws, hosted company, closed on a house, unloaded pod, hosted another set of company, set up house, moved everything into kitchen so they could get floors and carpet, moved the rest of the house in from the garage, fixed a bunch of little things you have to fix when you buy a house, and in the midst of all this he has preached twice, and done a ton of work to make the transition to the theater as smooth as possible.

Things are not slowing down either. There are series to be planned, movies to be shown, outside band gigs to be played, etc...

All this to say that Sprang and I are going to bust our buns to get our work done early this week and take two days off each of the next couple of weeks. It is not healthy for us to continue to work 7 days a week and well over 65 hours. Sure, there are times when the load is heavier than others and we are not afraid of hard work, but scripture prescribes a Sabath rest. Sometimes the best thing we can do for the church is remember to rest.

I am keenly aware there are people that work at this frenetic pace their entire careers. That is truly a shame. I take no pride in telling someone that I worked 60 hours in a week, because that means the three most important people in my life are sitting at home without a dad or husband.

We have asked a lot of a few volunteers at church as well who have busy lives outside of church. So to those who have given above and beyond, we say thanks, and we will not be tapping you on the shoulder for extra projects for a while.

Weekend Recap

2008-08-12T06:54:00.000-07:00

The weekend was crazy.
Friday night was the draft for the fantasy football team I am playing in. I am an idiot. I drafted two quarterbacks in the first four rounds because I did not understand how everything works. It will most likely prove to be a mistake that will cost me big-time this season.
Was up way to late Friday night. Went to bed at 2:00 a.m. and had to be at the theater Sat. at 9:30 to get our projector, extension cords, and table that we accidently packed the week before.
We needed them to show the Free Movie in the Park on Sat. night. The movie went great. Brad and his crew did an excellent job getting everything set.
We had a decent turnout, probably around 60 people at the movie. We are going to do some guerrilla advertising this week and see if we can double attendance.
Sunday was stressful. We are still learning the best system for set-up at the theater. We had a tough time with the sound on Sunday. The positive is that it was a learning experience and most people would never know there was a problem.
Sermon felt ok, could have shortened it by 8 minutes and been fine.
Watched the Olympics Sun. afternoon and loved it.
Took the kids to the Sprinkler Park around 5:00 and they had a blast. Keegan is fearless, Addy got the wettest she ever has.
Watched some UFC at Sprang's house, went home and went to bed.

Movies in the Park

2008-08-08T08:09:00.001-07:00

This is a poster advertising our FREE movies the next three weeks. This one is hanging in Starbucks at Dalrock & 66. I saw one just a few doors down at Palio's Pizza too.

Special thanks to 2 people:

Sue- thanks for hanging these posters in local Rowlett businesses. This is a HUGE help to us!
Sprang- thanks for designing such a sweet poster. It looks great, not cheesy like a lot of church stuff out there.

More Quick Hits

2008-08-08T07:57:00.001-07:00

Got the van back. But not after an intense discussion involving the promised 12 month/12,000 mile warranty. It was not pretty.
The cruise control is not working on the van and the steering is making a weird sound. UHH!
Good to have the van back. Hopefully it will run for another 4 years or so.
Heather got offered the job at the Community College. Kinda got offered a job. They LOVED her and told her to develop classes and they would post them. She is an amazing teacher. Her reviews from administrator's always came back very high. Usually much higher than her other grade level teachers.
It has been a busy week. The message for this week is weird to prepare. We are covering a topic instead of a portion of scripture. Topical preaching is not my cup of tea but a legitimate form of preaching.
I am excited about the end product. I think it will be very practical.
Went to the circus last night. It was crazy good. The Ringling Brothers circus is the best, HANDS DOWN! Two hours of pure entertainement.
Heather got our group $30 for $7 each. We were on the lower level. We are NEVER on the lower level for anything.
Bello, the main clown, was amazing. I looked up his salary this morning. It is amazing as well, coming in at $600,000 per year. I would honestly say that he would not be overpaid at $1 million.
Running errands today and tying up some loose ends.
Today is my Dad's birthday. Would love to be with him. Distance is the hardest part for our family being in TX. We are so far from relatives, but are grateful for the family God has given us in TX in the form of neighbors and friends.

Quick Hits

2008-08-05T07:05:00.000-07:00

Church at the theater was awesome. The place looked great and we made some notes to improve things for the coming weeks.
We are showing National Treasure 2 Book of Secrets this weekend at Twinstar Park in Rowlett. Movie is FREE and begins at 8:45 or when the sun goes down.
Had several people express and interest in serving with Catalyst. This pumps me up more than almost anything. Very cool.
Went to a meeting regarding the building on Princeton. We won't go there today.
The building is coming along nicely.
Been reading Job in my quiet times lately. He was one hacked off dude, even wanted to have a face to face with God. It has been fun to see the raw emotion articulated in Job, very easy to relate to.
Got a call today that our Windstar is ready for pick-up. It only took 8 weeks. Two months our van has been in the shop. It will be like seeing an old friend. An expensive old friend, but an old friend nonetheless.
Still loving my new Verizon phone. It is a Voyager and it rocks. I used the GPS feature today to get to a meeting. Super cool.
It is still smoking hot in TX. Opressively hot.
Heather is at a job interview to teach at Eastfield Comm. College. She would be teach elementary home school kids. We really need her to get a couple classes to make it worth her while.
This post is posting 4 days after I wrote it. Thought it posted days ago.

It is Stupid Hot!

2008-08-03T13:07:00.001-07:00

For anybody that reads this on the East Coast, know that it is crazy hot here. It will hit 107 today. This Texas heat s brutal!

Busy Week!

2008-07-31T12:19:00.000-07:00

Things have been pretty crazy this week both at home and with the church as we prepare to move into the theater this Sunday.

Heather has wanted carpet of a long time. Truthfully, it was long overdue. But they could not have picked a busier week to install it. Nonetheless, we have new carpet and love it!
I have had a bout of stomach troubles requiring the ingestion of many Immodium AD tablets if you know what I mean.
Been ordering, buying, and recieving stuff we will need for the theater.
Got a postcard sent to all our regulars with the new service info.
Worked with Jonathan to draw a diagram of how everything will be set-up. Truthfully he did it all, but it was my idea.
This morning I met Sprang at 6:30 and we went and loaded all our stuff out of the trailer and into a uhaul trailer. It only took about 40 minutes. (Mucho thanks to Andrew for letting us use his truck. That thing is a vintage beast.)
From there we went to Stillwater Community Church to grab some of our gear from there.
From there we went to Chiloso to grab a quick breakfast taco.
We arrived at the Theater at 9:00 a.m. and got all our stuff loaded into theater 3 under the big screen. It is an incredible storage space and is a huge asset to us as we won't have to load and unload a trailer each week.
We both made lists of odds and ends we will need to buy as we head into Sunday.
Good friends B-rad and Jono are working on the staging and the lighting system should arrive tomorrow.
Like I said before, it has been a busy week.

Running again!

2008-07-28T08:18:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago something strange happened in my lower leg during a morning run. It was just below my calf around the top of my achillees tendon. It hurt like crazy and I knew immediatley that it would need significant rest if I wanted it to heal properly.

I went on a test run this morning and things went well. The last few weeks have been so hot, I could not bring myself to run in the afternoon or the evenings. One day last week the temperateure was still at 98 degrees at 9:30 p.m.

This morning at 6:30, it was relatively cool. I ran with a bottle of water and listened to a sermon from Northpoint Church in Atlanta, GA. It was a powerful story of Forgivness. It seems like every time I hear a message on forgiveness, God speaks to me about a relationship that needs work. It is funny because I don't walk through each day hating anyone or even thinking about a grudge I am holding, but nearly everytime I hear a message on this topic, God reveals something to be done. I will wrestle with this as I pray about the next steps to take.

I hope to develop a routine of running, cycling, and swimming. This should keep me from getting bored and allow my body to recover from the runs that can be pretty rough on the joints.

If you are looking for a "cool" part of the day, I highly recommend the early hours of the day.

Monday Morning Recap

2008-07-28T08:04:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a GREAT day.
Music was excellent. We did some slower songs, which I enjoyed. It looked like people were worshiping even though they did not know a couple of the newer songs.
Great crowd. Nearly 60 people with 4 families out of town. We did have several out of town guests that evened things out.
People seem pumped about the move to the Theater.
We made a huge oversight, we forgot to put in print the time the service will begin. We will send many emails and a post card to make sure our people know that the service will begin at 9:45 a.m.
Went to the Wet Zone water park with the kids yesterday afternoon. That was a lot of fun. Addy likes the pool, Keegan loves it. He has no fear.
Ate at Which Wich yesterday. Great sandwiches, excellent flavor. Only downside is that Heather and I honestly would not be able to split a sandwich and feel satsisfied.
The pool wore the kids out. Heather called and said Addy slept until 10 this morning.
Can't wait until Sunday. I am completely pumped about the move to the theater.
One of our older atendees said, "you may outgrow the building we are building before you ever move in" . That would be a great problem to have.
This should be a crazy busy week!

Roller Coaster Heaven

2008-07-25T13:45:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Heather and I went to Six Flags with our friends Brendan and Caitlin. We started out the day by riding a "warm-up" ride. Some kind of a bobsled coaster thing. It was fairly boring so we headed over to the Titan. It is a t0p 5 American Roller Coaster in a lot of polls.

There was literally no line. I wish I had a camera yesterday. You could walk right onto the coaster at certain places on the train. I never ride up front on coasters because the line is usually extra long. Yesterday, there were only five duos ahead of us so Heather and I rode in the very front spot of the coaster. It was unbelievable, the first drop was absolutely amazing. There is a video here of the perspective we had.

We circled around and rode it again because there was not much of a line. Then we went to the Texas Giant (Number 1 wooden roller coaster in 1999) and sat in the very back car. Very bad choice. It was like getting beat up the entire ride. Brendan is actually still sore today. This Video looks like it was shot from the seat we were in. You can see how jerky it is. I thought I was going to need a doctor visit after it ended.

Brendan and I weren'tt feeling so good after that so we found some shade and ice water to cool down. After a few minutes we sought some AC and a saw the goofiest show in the world. It was horrible and one of the actors split is pants during show. That was the best part.

Then we were off to the "Roaring Rapids" Heather and I were completely dry until the last rapid section and it SOAKED our backsides. We were off to the batman ride, but it didn't work out and it was time to head home. It was a good day and the first time we have been to Six Flags without the kids, which was nice for a change. I felt like I needed to ride the kiddie train because that is about all I rode last year with Addy.

Life Change

2008-07-24T22:03:00.000-07:00

I have heard or overheard several people lately talk openly about areas of their life that they are working on. That is encouraging as a pastor to hear folks talking about this because it means several things.

It means they realize they are not perfect and aren't willing to stay as they currently are.
It means the Spirit of God is speaking.
It means they are responding in obedience to the Spirit's work in their life.

I believe God can use people that are striving to fix areas of weakness in their lives. I believe he can use these people to build His kingdom right here in Rowlett, TX.

This has been rocking my world.

2008-07-23T08:01:00.001-07:00

I don't think I have every posted a you tube video on this blog, but this video/story has been a huge encouragement to me. Funny thing is that I don't know why it has impacted me the way it has and I can't even put into words how it has worked on me. This next sentence may seem weird. I think that it may be a source of strength to me in the future. Enough from me, just set aside 6 minutes, and prepare to be moved.

Addy Time

2008-07-21T20:41:00.000-07:00

Last week was a crazy one. I worked every day and did not take a day or even a half-day off. I hate weeks like that. I invest time into my family and especially into my daughter, Addy.

This morning I carved out a couple of hours and took her to see Wall-e. I think we both thought the movie stunk. 30 minutes into it she asked me if it was almost over. We stuck it out, but I have no desire to see it again. We both enjoyed Kung Foo Panda much more. We did sneak candy into the theater by means of her purse. Seriously, $4.00 for a small drink or candy. Give me a break.

Tonight I took Addy to her swim lessons. She did great. It was fun to see her being so brave in the water. She had to put her face in the water and retrieve and egg from the teacher's hand, float on her back in the teacher's arms, jump off the side to the teacher, use a kickboard, and blow bubbles in the water.

She is getting so big so fast. She no longer looks like a baby or toddler, she is like a little person, a kid with a great sense of humor. I love my daughter and will make sure she gets the attention and affection she needs from her dad. We only get one chance to raise our kids and nobody is perfect, but I want to do the best I can to show them what it means to be a God honoring Father.

Monday Recap of Sunday

2008-07-21T20:28:00.000-07:00

Got up early and went to a church across town. These guys are buddies of mine. The crowd was dead. The music was good and the pastor was dead on and the people looked like zombies. It was weird.
We had a great crowd at church. 57 which is great for meeting at 2:00 p.m. in the middle of July.
Next weekend is our last Sunday at Stillwater Community Church. I love Pastor Kurt and his people, but I am SO ready to move into the theater.
I went to see Dark Night again and kept thinking about how cool it will be to have church in a movie theater.
Sprang did a great job speaking yesterday. He put a lot of time in the prep and it showed.
The sound was back on track this weekend. We actually figured out what was causing the weird reverb the week before. Andrew the sound guy was Johnny on the Spot this week.
This post scared the crap out of me. This dude planted a church 10 years ago and is moving to the Vegas Strip to start over from scratch. That straight up scares the mess out of me. I want to be here a long time and have no desire to start from scratch again.
This move to the theater is putting a few families in a bind. They have been worshipping in two churches because we have an afternoon service. I am praying with these families about where God wants them to land.
It was stinking hot yesterday. The poor a/c units at the church we are in, just don't cut it.

Mixed Feelings

2008-07-18T19:58:00.001-07:00

From Wednesday morning through Friday lunch, I have been at our District denominational meetings that happen every year. My feelings are mixed as I sit through these sessions. I look around the room and see the average age of our delegates making decisions for us hovering around 65+. I see the heritage, but I also see reports of many churches that have been stagnant or in decline for many years. I struggle with feeling angry and sorrow for these churches. One church actually reported an average Sunday morning worship average of seven, yes, I said seven. I look around a room and see people that stand as if they are mummified when we sing songs that have been written in the last 5 years while whooping and hollering when we sing the old hymns of the church. I have been challenged to engage in the music we have sung and to realize that it is all about WHO we are singing rather than WHAT songs we are singing.

I guess more than anything, I will walk away with a sense of encouragement. I have had many of these older Christians offer words of encouragement, pledges of prayer, and stories of perseverance. One lady told me the story of her father starting a church in New England in the late 1940s. Several times the church was almost closed. 60 years later the church is the strongest in that region, it is a story of perseverance, of hope, of endurance. She told me not to quit when the tough times come.

Over these days I have felt many emotions, some good and some bad. One thing is for sure, Sprang is strictly forbidden from ever forming an orchestra.

Silky Smooth

2008-07-15T08:39:00.000-07:00

So I went into Great Clips for a haircut, mind you my hair is about a 1/2 inch long to begin with. I tell her to shave it down with no guard. So off she goes, gets it all shaved down, just a little stubble left.

Then she pulls out he hairdryer to blow away all the little hair clippings, and I think I am nearly done. Usually, they try to get me out of the chair in about 60 seconds. Then the lady pulls out another blade for the clippers, and shaves it down some more. Again, I think the haircut is over, WRONG again. She pulls out the neck trimmers and goes to town on my scalp. It was a sweet haircut that took 15-20 minutes. She got a sweet tip!

Here is the final result:

Major announcement: Catalyst is Moving in August!

2008-07-13T18:30:00.000-07:00

If you missed church today you missed a huge announcement. Catalyst will be moving into the Cinemark movie theater at the Harbor in Rockwall. Hopefully the first service happen on Aug. 3rd, and it will be a "test" service for our church family. We will invite friends the following week after we have worked out the kinks.

I want to break down the reasons for the move and share some needs that we will have.

Reasons: these are in somewhat random order.

The NFL is going to be starting up soon. The 2:00 p.m. time slot will be a death sentence during the football season. Since we are a church that desires to connect with people that don't go to church, it makes sense that we give them a fair chance to actually come. Most guys in dallas are sitting in an EZ chair eating some nachos and driking a beer at 2:00 Sunday afternoon. Those are the guys we want to come to Catalyst. Don't misintepret this as us saying that football is more important than God, that would be missing the point entirely.
Stillwater Community Church (where we are currently meeting) is going to be doing renovations begining in August. This would be a major inconvenience for us.
2:00 p.m. is hard a families with small children. Prime time for naps is sometime between leaving the house at 1:30 and arriving home at 3:30 after our service. This should be good for families with small kids.
2:00 splits the day. It is hard to get anything done before or after the service.
A Theater definitely fits our style/vibe better than the church we are in now.
It exposes our church to folks in Rockwall that have no idea we exist.
A theater is a common place for people to go, it should be easier to invite our friends to church.
The Cinemark at the Harbor is a well knows Theater. Everyone that lives in Rockwall and Rowlett knows where it is without giving directions.
Our church building will most likely come to completion just before Christmas.
We can't spin our wheels until Christmas. We believe God wants us to grow during this time, not just twiddle our thumbs.

What we will need:

We will need people to sign up to help with set-up and tear down. For a variety of reasons that I can't post here, it will be a fairly easy process, BUT we still need several sets of hands to pull it off.
We will need people to join our welcome wagon. We have one chance to make a first impression. We need to amp up our greeting in a major way.
We need two people to step up in a huge way.

We need someone that will lead, train, and oversee the set-up and tear down. This needs to be a person that can delegate, and motivate. This cannot be a person that will try to do everything on their own. Someone that likes to do the behind the scenes work would be great. We will have diagrams of each room, lists of where signs go, etc... A lot of leg work will be done ahead of time. We need someone to oversee this area so Sprang and I can continue to pour time into vision, prep, and relationships. If you think this may be you, call me and we can grab a bite and dream of ways to make set-up and tear-down a ministry that is so dynamic people actually look forward to getting up extra early.
We need someone with a passion for hospitality. We need someone to oversee a group that will greet people with a smile and serve up coffee and doughnuts with nothing less than a holy passion to make people feel at home. We need someone that will train others to realize the importance of a warm greeting. (I have a habit of going to other churches just to check them out, today when I showed up to the door as a first time guest, the greeter was literally turned around talking with friends and I almost had to push by them to get in the door, THIS CANNOT HAPPEN AT CATALYST!) We have money budgeted for someone creative ideas someone has for this ministry. If you think you may be the person, give me a call, I will buy you anything you want at Starbucks as we see if this may be your sweet spot.

Sorry for the eternal post, but we have lots to to do in the next few weeks. We really need God to raise up two leaders, pray that this would happen quickly.

Sunday Night Mind Dump

2008-07-13T18:10:00.000-07:00

Today was weird. I have made the comment before that when demons are thrown out of people they land in church sound/video equipment. I think we had a few today.
The computer decided to stop displaying the scripture as I was reading it today. Luckily I did not know this happened until after the service.
I got up to make a major anouncement and there was a crazy echo effect on my mic. I don't mean a little echo, by a MAJOR echo. It really threw me off. You feel like a clown standing in front of a group of people with each word repeating two or three times as you talk. If I am completely honest, it hacked me off in a major way. The weird part about it was that the sound guy did the most drastic thing he could do and completely unplugged the effects component from the sound board. There is no reason the echo should have stayed around. Understand that it was not his fault. Something crazy happened in that system today.
I made the decision, because we are in a tiny room, to preach without the mic so I could stand at the lower level, I had a major object lesson component that would not work if I was trying to hold a microphone in one hand. It sucked the life out of me. It just wears me out talking loudly for an extended period of time.
It was 102 degrees today and the church we are renting has two residential a/c units to cool the place.
I was literally dripping sweat and wiping sweat out of my eyes as I preached. Not ideal.
I felt like God gave me an incredible message and I did not "nail it" because I was battling huge amounts of frustration the entire day.
I am so ready to move out of this church. I love Pastor Kurt and his people, but honestly I am frustrated beyond belief with having to to trust somebody else's equipment when it doesn't seem to work consistently. We demand a lot more of their sound system with our style of music than they do.
I could do the "Pastor" thing and leave out the frustrations of the day and put only the nice churchy stuff, but I'm crazy enough to be honest.
Very cool that my family was here. My In-laws and sister in law and niece were at church today, it cool to have them there.
The music was awesome before the demon invaded the sound system. Sprang continues to do a great job.
We had two guest musicians today, Samuel Holder, an electrical guitarist from Cornerstone Rockwall did a great job as did Dillon on the drums.
I think God really helped people today, it is a great reminder that God is so much bigger than a preacher or sound system. I could tell people were challenged to continue giving some struggles to Him today.
You guys are in for a treat next week, I won't tell you what it is, you will have to be here.

We got offered this....

2008-07-10T07:43:00.000-07:00

All we have to do is dissasemble it in Baton Rouge, and bring it to Rowlett. It had an original cost of $100k or more. It is an indoor play area that we would need to adapt for the outdoors. We would not be able to use it all, but it could be a great addition to our property. Who is up for a road trip?

Pimp Slapped by God!

2008-07-08T09:14:00.000-07:00

I love it when this happens. I don't know if you ever got backhanded by your mom or dad, but there was a lady in our church growing-up that blindsided her children with a wicked-fast backhand across the face on occasion. They never saw it coming. This was back in the 80s when it was more politically correct to maul your children in public.

According to the Wictionary, the term pimp slapped, refers to a strong slap to the face. As a pastor, this often happens in regards to a message I am working on. I cannot tell you how many times I have been going down one path regarding a passage of scripture and I just get knocked on the noggin' by God to go in a way that I had never considered. I have been severely pimp slapped this week and it is a good thing for all of us.

I am so excited about this Sunday and the message that he has for us. I know that God will be there, and if we respond in obedience to His Word on Sunday, it will be a incredibly powerful day in his presence.