Random selections of other blogs. Note: I am not responsible for content on other blogs.
Our second round of direct mail for LifePoint will hit mailboxes this week. We did our first round before our grand opening last year. We did the design in-house and have been working with Rush Printing to handle the printing and mail services. We will be mailing four different postcards to the same 25,000 households over the next four weeks.
Here are the final proofs (click the thumbnail to see a larger picture):
Card One
Card Two
Card Three
Card Four
Have you ever felt like you were in a movie? I had that feeling yesterday as I was walking into the Wal-Mart at Parkway Plaza. As I approached the outside entry, I noticed there were streams of people coming from all directions -- just to get in Wal-Mart. We were all walking in single file and no one was talking. It made me think that Wal-Mart has become the pied piper of capitalism ... only it draws us in, rather than leading us out.
LifePoint sponsored a booth at CityFest yesterday. Matt Tuggle did a great job helping unload and setup everything ... at the bright and early time of 7:30. After eating a muffin together, I left Matt to bolt over to Mission Valley in time to do a few things before our worship gathering started. After that, Jonathan and I headed back over to CityFest to relieve Matt, Charles, and Cory.
I told Jonathan that working at CityFest revived my days of working at the Heart of Illinois Fair in Peoria. For three summers during high school, I had a job selling t-shirts at the fair. I worked for one of those rolling booths that travelled the fair and festival circuit. We had about 50 or so different iron designs and I learned how to crank out t-shirts as quickly as possible. I also learned how to shout out at people walking by. I wasn't quite as eloquent as the two guys who worked at the lemonade stand next door ... but I did have a larger vocabulary :-)
Anyway, back to CityFest. We created a booth that showed the various sides of LifePoint with the overall theme being, "If going to church was like going to Starbucks ..." We had a chance to interact with a number of people and had 30 people enter a contest to win free Starbucks gift cards. Not too bad for a crowd that wasn't exactly at CityFest looking for a church.
At the end of it all, Jonathan and I broke everything down, loaded up, and headed home. It's Monday afternoon and I'm beginning to recover.
Who knows ... we may hit Octoberfest next!
We've been preparing for LifePoint's booth at CityFest for about three weeks. Our creative team has done a great job of designing a low-cost booth that is still very attractive. We are displaying various posters with scenes from around LifePoint. These include our worship gatherings, teaching times, KidPoint, and our LifePoint Cafe. I'm especially pleased that several of our featured artists are allowing us to have their CD's for sale at our booth.
Having a booth at CityFest is part of an intentional strategy of interacting face-to-face with our neighbors. We'll see how this one goes ... and then maybe we'll tackle Octoberfest in La Mesa!
I met this afternoon with one of the musicians who has played at our LifePoint Cafe. She was bringing me a stack of CD's for us to put out at our CityFest booth on August 13. We had a wonderful little visit, catching up on how things are going with her career.
After she left, I reflected on something that has long been a passion of mine -- creating an artist-friendly environment at LifePoint. I would love to see LifePoint become a place where artists are not only welcomed but where they take up residence. A place where they return to draw spiritual strength and support. A place where their creativity is encouraged and challenged to have redemptive value.
I think of what the Belmont Church was in the 1970s and 1980s as artists from the Nashville area began attending. A more recent example would be Mosaic in Los Angeles. Both seemed to foster an environment where the artist felt at home.
I believe it's hard for most churches to create an artist-friendly environment because most churches are not artist-friendly. "Creative arts" in many churches simply means the music they use. It's not a holistic, all-encompassing approach.
As I think through the various churches in San Diego, not many jump out as "artist friendly" churches. Certainly not among artists in their 20s and 30s. The work of many of these same artists have very spiritual undertones. Unfortunately, they don't feel a need to root themselves in a faith community. Or maybe they tried and didn't feel at home.
My hope is that God will use LifePoint to become that kind of faith community. And we're getting there ...
Life has returned to normal around the Hensley household. Tonya and the girls flew back into town last Wednesday night and we're are slowly getting readjusted to each other :-) Honestly, it's really good to have the girls (all three) back around.
By the time I arrived to pick them up at the airport, they were already in the baggage claim area. I inched my way forward trying to hide from them. Hope was the first one to spot me and I tried to duck behind a column. She came running at full-speed and jumped right into my arms. We both stood there for about 30 seconds as Tonya and Hannah began looking frantically for Hope. When they finally spotted us, Hannah took off at full speed as well. Fortunately, I was able to brace myself for the collission.
So ... life has resumed a certain pace and little piles are reappearing around the house. Life is good!
For the past six weeks we have been planning for an upcoming direct mail campaign. We were blessed with a donor who offered us matching funds and a friend who provided deep discounts on the postcards themselves. As part of the fundraising process, we solicited money from outside sources and planned for a special contribution at LifePoint.
Yesterday was the day for our special contribution. For the uninitiated, a special contribution is simply a second offering. This would be our first special offering since starting LifePoint last year. Doing a special offering during summer is a bit risky because of the unpredictability of attendance patterns. Yet, in order to do the campaign this fall we needed to have this offering in July.
So ... we began promoting it and encouraging people to make plans on how they could help. The Lord smiled down upon us. We had our largest crowd of the summer and the offering even exceeded my own expectations ("Oh ye of little faith," as the King Jim would say). We raised over $3,000 for our direct mail campaign -- in addition to what was given in our regular offering. And all of this from a group of 52 people, many of whom were first or second time guests!
As I introduced the offering, I mentioned that though small in number we are strong in spirit. That was certainly manifested yesterday. As we counted the offering, I was a bit overwhelmed by the faith and trust that people are beginning to have in LifePoint. God is indeed good.
I'm teaching this weekend from Acts 26 about the implications surrounding how we answer the question "What do you I believe about Jesus?" The chapter is essentially Paul retelling the story of his conversion before Festus and King Agrippa. As I was reading through it I was struck by this section:
"I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the saints in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I tried to force them to blaspheme. In my obsession against them, I even went to foreign cities to persecute them" (Acts 26:9-11).
What struck me about it is this: the opponents of Jesus often take him more seriously than his followers.
I've been doing a bit of reading to get ready for my next teaching series in August ("Who is My Neighbor?"). It is a series that will look at the local and global implications of being a Christ-follower.
But I must admit ... this book is beginning to change my opinion of Jim Wallis -- not that my opinion matters to him! In the opening chapters he describes the meaning of conversion and how it applies to both the private and public aspects of life. In essence, as Christ-followers we are enlisted into a new kingdom -- one that has very public manifestations. One of my favorite lines is where he is describing the self-centered nature of American Christianity and talks about our tendency to pray more for parking spaces than world peace.
I must also admit that it has been a pretty hard-hitting book. Not something you would expect from a wishy washy evangelical :-) I'm already thinking that I may make a few copies available next month at LifePoint. Who knows, I may invite Jim Wallis to come out and speak!
After having three of our directional signs stolen, we had to order new signs for LifePoint. I used this opportunity to upgrade our signs to something a little nice (and they even weigh less). Here's what they will look like:
Tonya and the girls are in Memphis to visit her parents. Meanwhile, back on the homefront ...
OK, I'm not necessarily your typical bachelor for the week kind of guy. I don't eat only off paper plates or use the same cup over and over. I have reused the same bowl and spoon for cereal, but only after washing them each time. I have shaved -- in fact, I've decided to grow my goatee back while the girls are away.
But I do find that it's easier to eat out than to eat at home. After last night's planning session for LifePoint's booth at CityFest, we had left over pizza. No one would take it so it went in my fridge. And ... I had cold pizza for breakfast. While out and about, I went to Red Brick Pizza for lunch. It was close to where I was going to pick up our new signs. And ... for dinner I will likely the rest of yesterday's pizza.
Cold cereal and leftover pizza. It's not that bad of a life.
I'm sitting at Cosmos, working on graphics for Sunday. Across the way from me are two old ladies, probably in their late 60s or early 70s. After discussing something (I'm not sure what it was because I wasn't listening THAT close) they started fighting like little kids. One threw down her paper and said, "If that's the way you're going to be then I won't even bother." I tried my best to conceal a smile. A part of me wanted to send them to separate rooms for ten minutes.
I'm excited about our upcoming series at LifePoint. It's called "Who is My Neighbor?" and looks at our responsibilities as Christ-followers to make a positive difference in our community and world. In some regards, it's part Good Samaritan -- having compassion on those within our walk of life. It's also part global stewardship -- how our choices and actions affect a much larger area than just our immediate circle.
Last Sunday, three of our directional signs turned up missing. Not simply misplaced but missing. Stolen. Removed. Evaporated. Three signs, three different intersections. So ... keep an eye out on Ebay for something that looks like this:
Summer is an interesting time for churches, even more so for new churches. Churches experience what is often referred to as the "summer slump," meaning that attendance dips during the summer. My coach says it's even worse for new churches. We've experienced a bit of the summer slump at LifePoint but with many positive signs as well.
We continue to have first time guests at our worship gatherings. We've had guests at our last two events -- beach day and the 4th of July outing. As a church community, we thrive on relationships more than raw numbers. It's about making personal connections.
We're making positive strides towards our next direct mail campaign. We have been blessed by the generosity of individuals and churches (way to go Santee Christian Church!) alike. It's humbling to see so many different people support the LifePoint vision.
We had Steve Denney come out last Sunday and share with us the story of what God is doing in downtown San Diego. Steve and his team are preparing to launch a new church in the heart of the city. At the end of his presentation, we circled around him and asked God's blessing on his effort. We recommitted ourselves to being a church planting church.
As a lead pastor, it's easy to get bogged down with numbers -- they're all around us! But it's more important to be focused on people ... for it's people that matter most to God.
Did you know they have boot camps for people who start new churches? It’s true – Tonya and I attended one in Sacramento in January of 2005.
Granted, there are no drill instructors insulting your mother or having you drop and do push-ups. From what I can gather, the food at our boot camp was a bit better than the “other” boot camps you hear about.
At our boot camp, we learned the fundamentals of how to start new churches. During the first session, I can still remember our coach telling us, “We are not sending you out to start a church but churches.” “It’s not about one church but many churches.”
Since everyone in the room was a first-time church planter, it was a bit overwhelming just to think of getting one church off the ground! And here this guy was telling us to expand our vision even more.
I’m glad he did. To truly impact a city or region, we need an expanding number of healthy churches. To reach the most people, we need to be focused on starting a movement and not on building one large church.
Even though LifePoint is not yet one-year-old, I still want to challenge you to think in terms of giving birth to more churches than just ours. God may grow us to the point of sending out a daughter church or starting a satellite campus; he may simply allow us to partner with other churches who have a similar vision.
However God chooses to accomplish this, may we rise to the challenge and help change San Diego along the way.
I've always enjoyed the Fourth of July. As a child, we spent nearly every 4th of July at Fondulac Park in East Peoria. The land in between softball field was transformed into a patriotic celebration. Funded mostly by the Jaycees and Knights of Columbus, this event drew most of East Peoria -- or at least it seemed that way to a young kid.
Once during my high school years, we went to Pekin rather than Fondulac Park. To this day, I'm not sure why. It's not that Pekin was very far away; it was less than 15 minutes away. But it wasn't East Peoria or Fondulac Park. They didn't have the dunk tank or vendors selling hot dogs.
Yesterday we spent the morning hours hitting the free museums at Balboa Park -- the Natural History Museum and the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center. It's truly a gift that different museums are free every Tuesday.
Later in the day we connected with some fellow LifePointers and headed south to Chula Vista and Coors Ampitheate. A number of local churches were sponsoring fireworks and a free concert by Kirk Franklin and P.O.D. Not necessarily my musical genres of choice, but the event was well-attended and well done. The fireworks were actually pretty impressive.
So ... I hope you enjoyed your 4th of July as much as we did!
We haven't recorded a podcast at LifePoint for the past three Sundays. On the first Sunday, the voice recorder attachment broke off. On the second Sunday, the lapel mic I bought specifically for the iPod didn't work. The iPod kept telling me no mic was attached. So ... one of my tasks for this week is to head to the Apple store and pick up the first voice recorder.
Stay tuned ...
Opportunity Camp 2006 is now over and in the pocket. We had one of the best camps in recent years. With 100 campers and more than that staff, it was a great experience for everyone. Here are few pictures snapped by our camp photographer (scaled down for better loading).
Bobby ("Jack") interviews me on how campers can be on the evening show. One of my new responsibilities at camp is to serve as the "screener" for the evening program. All the little kids would come running up to me and say, "kenhensley, can I be on the show tonight"?"
Camp food rocks!
Bobby and Amy -- hosts of our evening program -- appeared this year as Jack and Janet from Three's Company. The week was spent looking for a third roommate to replace Chrissy. Bobby and Amy are both actors based in San Francisco. Amy and her husband just returned to the Bay Area from NYC.
Campers sing during morning assembly. Even though most of these kids are not regular church-goers, they pick up the songs really quick.
Jackie helps a camper on the ropes course. Besides being a youth pastor in Texas, he also doubles up as a ropes course instructor. And he grills a mighty fine BBQ brisket.
A camp tradition -- taking pictures with Mr. T at the beach. Chris is pointing, Eric is holding.
Spending a little free time together.
The green stick is known as the "spirit stick" and is given to the cabin or tent that shows the most spirit at circle time. Sporting the nice sweatshirt is Ishmael, a long-time counselor at Opportunity Camp.
I liked the picture but I have no idea what they're talking about!
It's either a fish story, a rap song, or sign language.
I left San Diego yesterday around 3 PM and headed north to Los Angeles and then over to the 101. The 101 follows the Pacific Ocean for much of the northern route. Coming out of Los Angeles towards Santa Barbara is simply beautiful. It was a clear sky and the ocean was magnificent.
First coffee stop: Camarillo. Had to use my pocket pc to find the closest Starbucks. Second coffee stop: King City.
After leaving King City, my next intended stop was Salinas -- the lettuce capital of the world. Nearly bought the farm before making it to Salinas. A mattress fell from a truck in front of me, causing the first car to swerve off the road. The mattress then bounced over the hood of the next car and landed directly in front of me. I ran over it with my left front tire and dragged it for just a little while. Fortunately, I never lost control of the car and everyone was ok. This all happened while talking on the phone to Tonya.
I decided to spend the night in Salinas -- which turned out to be a good idea. Arriving about 10:45, I thought I'd see if I could find a spot to eat. Not a good idea. After driving down what appeared to be a crack street, I decided I wasn't all that hungry and returned to the hotel. Unfortunately, I had consumed mass quantities of coffee en route from San Diego and had trouble falling asleep.
The next morning I enjoyed a fine country breakfast just outside of Salinas in a little diner that reminded me of Covington, Georgia. From there I was at camp in less than an hour.
Gave my first talk this morning about Jesus coming to serve. The theme for camp is "The One-Liners of Jesus" -- looking at various statements of Jesus. The camp is smaller and younger. I believe we have 101 total campers and the oldest of them is only 14. A younger camp has it's challenges but getting beat up is usually not one of them.
I'm hoping to post each day but don't hold me to it.
Hannah and Hope had awards day this past Friday and then on Saturday, Hope walked the graduation line -- for kindergarten. She even gave a nice commencement address in her cap and gown (no kidding).
The techno demons reared their ugly heads today at LifePoint. We had no projection/multimedia whatsoever. None. Zippo. For whatever reason, we couldn't get any ouptut from the laptop to show up on our screens. This was the first time in nine months this happened. This was also the second week for using a new HP laptop with souped-up video capabilities.
Last week it worked fine -- just as normal. Today ... nothing! We rebooted, unplugged, replugged, twisted the plug ... nothing! All the settings for dual monitors, extended desktops, etc., were set the way they should have been ... nothing! Windows recognized two monitors were connected ... nothing! MediaShout recognized two monitors were connected ... nothing!
There were times I was wishing it was an Etch-a-Sketch so I could pick it up and shake it above my head. Come to think of it, I still might.
I'm not sure who came up with the phrase "pet peeve" to describe things that really annoy you. And if what I'm about to share applies to you, then you need help!
Twice in the recent past have I gone into a restaurant's restroom only to find that previous "occupant" failed to flush. What type of person goes into a restroom and leaves a parting gift for the next person? I would expect this if I were visiting my elementary-age daughters at their school -- it's the type of thing an eight-year-old boy would do.
On encountering my first "gift," not only did the previous person refuse to flush, it also appeared he was never trained to aim. Perhaps we need to leave a few Cheerios in our public restrooms and consider it a civic duty.
I've found a new online diversion that's actually semi-productive. It's called "Monk Email" and it's hosted by careerbuilder.com. You can dress up your own monkey, type in a message, and it converts the text to audio. Then enter a buddy's email address and you have just created a world of fun.
Here's the link: http://www.careerbuilder.com/monk-e-mail/
In yesterday's message, I talked about how churches in the modern area began sterilizing their environments in an effort to create a non-threatening atmosphere for non-believers. This was in response to the Baby Boomer generation leaving church en masse and then beginning to return in the 1980's and 1990's.
Innovative church leaders began eliminating church-speak, that highly specialized form of church language only known to insiders. They began writing music that was actually enjoyable and somewhat resembled what a person could hear on the radio. Pastors began wearing normal clothes. Church services became programmed and produced.
The result was that a few of the churches began attracting and keeping large numbers of Boomers. New models for church planting were created.
One of the casualties, however, was that many of these worship environments didn't convey much of a sense of worship. They were designed to look like theaters and religious symbols and icons were hidden away. Rather than creating sacred space, they created sterile spaces.
In some ways, these churches inadvertently become Christian versions of Wal-Mart. Big box stores/churches designed for convenience and consumerism.
This might have worked well for the modern, Boomer generation but it fails miserably with the postmodern generation. The postmodern generation values experience and wants to feel like they have entered a sacred space when they come to worship. Being a visual generation, they are drawn to visual expressions of faith and spirituality. Architecture, environment, and atmosphere have become important again.
Hannah and Hope had their first piano recital at the Piano Exchange in Mission Valley. They've had other recitals but they have all been in the home of their teacher. This was their first "public" recital and they each did a fine job. The Piano Exchange has a great recital room, complete with stage and baby grand piano. Tonya and I were both proud of the girls.
And then later in the day we took the girls to see RV, the movie with Robin Williams and Jeff Daniels. All four of us enjoyed it. It's a bit goofy, but that's ok.
Sunday was a great day at LifePoint. Our band continue to gets better and it sounded good again yesterday. We also featured a painting by a local artist -- Estevan Gargost. People seemed to really enjoy that.
Sunday night I drove up to Rancho Bernardo for the Global Day of Prayer service at Maranatha Chapel. Doug Duncan, our keyboard player at LifePoint, was playing keys in the worship band for the service. It was a great experience.
We have two new ads for LifePoint appearing in this month's editions of the Good News, Etc. and the Christian Examiner. These are 1/8 page ads targeting mature, adventuresome Christ-followers who might be interested in helping a new church community. You can pick up a copy at any local Christian bookstore.
Since Tonya and I have been trying to "count our points" each day, I've discovered a new attraction to granola. Granola bars, granola cereal, granola in my yogurt. I have consumed more granola in the past month than in the past five years. Yummy!
I've also been working on the drafts of a new direct mail campaign for LifePoint. To keep costs down, we're handling the design in-house and it has been fun to stretch a bit. You can view the first working samples here. These are scaled down to 800px width and compressed for quicker viewing. The originals are much bigger (6x9).
Last Sunday we had our first guest speaker -- Steve Denney. Steve and his wife, Ali, have relocated to San Diego to start a new church downtown. I've grown to enjoy Steve's friendship and we hope to be supportive in whatever way we can.
Our worship band continues to get better with each Sunday. A few weeks ago we fielded a band that included an acoustic guitar, keyboards, bass, and drums. Every now and then we'll throw in an organ blend just to mix it up. We've been blessed to have God assemble a talented mix of musicians with servant hearts.
Tonya and the girls only have about 10 days of school left and then they will be out for the summer. Tonya will be teaching third grade in the fall (she's been teaching first grade) and she's excited about the change.
Tip of the day: Nature Valley's "Oats and Honey" granola bars only have four points total.
Since redesigning the newsletter at LifePoint, I've included a side column that features a bit of humor. A few samples should suffice ...
Forgotten Bible Slogans
Songs You May Never Hear Quoted at LifePoint
I normally get gas at a local independent station that's around the corner from our house. It's close and convenient, and generally cheaper than other places. The owner seems a bit fiesty, in a good way. Not too long ago, he posted this sign: "Fight Back: Drive Less."
Today I needed gas and stopped at a different station. After swiping my debit card and starting to pump, I heard these voices and realized that they were showing CNN on the credit card screen. On the pump. It was one of these "real crime" shows that feature combative attorneys and "forensic experts." Even though gas costs more, it still takes the same amount of time to pump.
As I was pumping my gas and getting my news at the same time, I thought to myself ... "This is absurd." Now, I must confess, I actually like the idea of having something to occupy my five minutes of pumping. Otherwise, I might be tempted to do something exotic like clean my windshields.
But how can you absorb the news in such little bursts of time? The truth is, you can't. You can't make sense of it because it's just mental spackle. It's just there to fill the cracks in your day.
Even though our culture encourages us to be disjointed, we have to be intentional about staying connected in a meaningful way.
Since the pre-launch days at LifePoint, I have been blessed to have had Bruce White as my planting coach. During those days Bruce was also serving as the director of church planting for the Southwest Region of Stadia: New Church Strategies. Earlier this year, he made the decision to return to the staff of Eastside Christian Church in Fullerton (click here to see his staff picture).
Since then, I have been given a new coach -- Dan Scates. Dan's main job is serving as the multi-site minister for LifeBridge Christian Church in Longmont, Colorado, a church of about 3,000 people. Dan is also coaching other church planters.
Why mention all of this? Because I believe every new church pastor needs a coach.
Starting in June, we'll be hosting a regular "pizza with the pastor" at LifePoint. It will be a time for regulars and newcomers to hear the LifePoint story as well as our vision for the future. And there will be free pizza ... hand-tossed by the pastor.
Our new series at LifePoint will focus on rediscovering the church that reflects God's heart. We'll be using the book of Acts as our roadmap.
Click here to watch a video on how NOT to share the message of Jesus.
Below are some rough drafts of a potential direct mail campaign we may run for LifePoint. Comments / suggestions are welcome.
I paste the following article for your consideration. I receive these daily emails that deal with electronic marketing, internet trends and issues, etc. This came today.
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Mourning In The Internet Age
By Max Kalehoff
Relationships--whether physical or in the virtual world--are the fabric of life, and one inevitable fact in life and relationships is death. So it is natural that as the Internet and social media become more ingrained in people's lives and identities, death and mourning will follow accordingly. We're so early in the evolution of the Internet that death is not something we intuitively associate with the Web, nor is it something we completely understand. But one thing is clear: we all will eventually embrace its presence and impact.
For the living, social media can play a massive role in the mourning process that follows death. It can enable more efficient communications with our immediate and extended personal networks. For example, a blog or e-mail group could be set up to communicate key details and updates to family members, friends, colleagues and distant contacts, either at home or across the globe.
The Web also can serve as an important platform for expressing grief and emotion, as well as a tribute to the deceased. In reference to social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook, Warren St. John recently wrote in The New York Times that "personal Web pages have suddenly changed from lighthearted daily dairies about bands or last night's parties into online shrines where grief is shared in real time."
Of course, the Internet has been encroaching on death and the mourning process since the advent of the earliest online communities, such as USENET and proprietary discussion boards within Prodigy and AOL. Mourning also is evident on patient and wellness support communities like WebMD We're also seeing mourning occur on more personal interactive platforms, like personal blogs and uploaded home videos on YouTube. In a society that often treats its pets like humans, we also see pet mourning extend online, as with the tribute to Sam, the world's ugliest dog And virtual gathering spots like MySpace are spawning a new breed of directories and obituary sites for the deceased.
I don't mean to sound morbid, but it will be interesting to see how the Internet continues to shape death and mourning as we know it. I'm sure we'll see a lot of privacy issues factor in, as personal identities created online must be dealt with when the people who created them die. This will probably become a standard line item in our wills, and in estate cases. I'm sure search-engine indexing will be called into question. We're in uncharted waters, and this is an inevitable trend we all must think about.
What do you think?
Max Kalehoff is vice president of marketing for Nielsen BuzzMetrics, a global measurement service for consumer-generated media.
I received an email this morning from an old college friend who had just found our website. In his email, he asked me why we chose the name “LifePoint.” That’s a great question!
Since we’re neither Baptist nor Methodist, using those names were out of the question. One of the drawbacks to being non-denominational is that you lose potentially catchy names like “First Baptist.”
But seriously, we chose LifePoint because we believe there is a point to life. Every life is a gift from God and therefore every life has a purpose. Ultimately, the point of every life is to find its way back to God.
Though we often refer to ourselves as simply “LifePoint,” the other two words in our name are not insignificant. Our full name is LifePoint Christian Community. We are unashamedly Christian, believing that Jesus is still the way, the truth, and the life.
We also like to emphasize the relational side of church. A community is a collection of diverse people who are learning to live alongside each other. That’s what God intended the church to be.
What’s in a name? Quite a bit.
As some of you know, Tonya and I no longer work in the denomination in which we were raised. Back in 2001 we felt God leading us into a more contemporary, relevant environment and it all ended up with us starting LifePoint.
But we still have many friendships and relationships from the "old" days. A few weeks ago at the Pepperdine Bible lectures we ran into a few former classmates from college. Here's a picture or two ...
My favorite open mic is quickly becoming by high school students! The audience is becoming more and more teenage and young teen at that. Unfortunately, I think this may be keeping some of the "older" artists away because it's not a listening audience. In fact, it's a rather rude audience. I'm not getting THAT old ...
Every now and then I get to feeling a bit goofy and I'll make up a graphic for one of my messages. The first one below is the "clutter gnome," the little guy who sneeks in your room and messes up your papers. The last one is the background we've been using for this series.
Just a reminder ... we podcast our weekend teaching series and you can find it here. It's also available by doing a search at iTunes.
It's a rough life ... first off to Orlando for the National New Church Conference and then to Malibu for a week-long Bible conference at Pepperdine University. For those of you who haven't visited Pepperdine's campus, it's definitely not Kansas State. The campus is built into the Malibu hillside with dramatic views of the Pacific Ocean. It's absolutely incredible. My college offered not-so-dramatic views of Dairy Queen.
After a second week of classes and workshops, I'm ready to be a regular joe again.
It's not very often that I use an exclamation point in my blog heading. Especially since I've been using all lowercase letters and to use proper grammar seems out of place ...
But last night's cafe was worthy of an exclamation point. We featured two local artists -- Dustin Shey and Gregory Page. Both did a fantastic job. Dustin went solo, just him and his acoustic guitar. I first met Dustin back during the pre-launch days of LifePoint. It was good stuff.
Gregory Page is the first artist I've invited to the LifePoint cafe that I hadn't first met in person. He's very well-known in local music circles and I can see why. He brought along an awesome female vocalist and a violin player. He himself started off with the ukelele and then went to the acoustic guitar. It was fantastic ... in spite of our demon-possessed sound system that seems to have a mind of its own.
We'll be hosting another cafe at the end of this month ... stay tuned.
I'm really looking forward to tonight's LifePoint Cafe. We're hosting Gregory Page along with Dustin Shey. Page has worked with Jewel, Steve Poltz, Jason Mraz, AJ Croce, and many others. He's the first artist we've hosted that I haven't met first in person. I've only listened to his music online. It ought to be a great show!
A new Shakeys Pizza Parlor opened near our house. It's the first one I've been to since growing up in Peoria. We used to go this Shakeys on University in Peoria. It even had a player piano and you could pick the songs it played. Nothing but fond childhood memories.
So you can imagine my excitement to have a new Shakeys nearby. The excitement had greatly dissipated during the 50 minutes it took to get two mini pizzas. The whole time I kept thinking about this article in USA Today that talked about the new ovens Papa John's is installing that can bake a pizza in four minutes. Shakeys must have running low on coal.
Ok, I could have blogged last week but the simple truth is ... I didn't want to. Well, actually, I had things I wanted to blog about but I didn't want to take the time to do it.
I spent last week in Orlando at the National New Church Conference. It's a gathering of all kinds of nutty people -- people who have started a new church or who are considering doing so. Either way, you're a bit nutty.
It's hard to describe the conference's atmosphere, or mojo as the Seattle crowd would say. Electric. Passionate. Creative. Risky. It was either the Holy Spirit or the air conditioning, but I felt more than a few tingles.
Speakers included Mark Driscoll from Mars Hill in Seattle, Gene Appel from Willow Creek, Ed Stetzer, Dave Ferguson from Naperville, Larry Osbourne from North Coast, and a dude from Walt Disney Co.
There were about 100 people there who were connected to Stadia. I got to visit with Marcus Bigelow, Stadia's president and the guy who ignited my calling to plant churches.
All in all, it was an outstanding week.
We left this past Monday to drive to Lake Havasu City to see friends from the Bay Area. For our Monday route, we chose the charm and beauty of Barstow and Needles. For our theme song, we chose Jay Farrar's "Barstow." "By the time we make it to Barstow, we'll be more than halfway to _____." Those of you who have been to Barstow and Needles can fill in the blank. Those of you who haven't been to Barstow or Needles, save yourself the trip and use your imagination.
We arrived at Lake Havasu on Tuesday and had a great visit with Curt and Kim Russell (and John and Jake). We knew the Russells from our church days in Walnut Creek. Curt works for PG&E and recently took an assignment in Needles. Needless to say, they live in Lake Havasu and he drives about 35 miles to work. He's overseeing the clean-up of a contaminated site.
Most people in Southern California think of Lake Havasu as a party town. Many western college students will head to Lake Havasu for spring break and I can see why. It's hot, sunny, and there's water. Lake Havasu also has a number of snowbirds; typical of Arizona. But there are people who actually live there year-round. It has a number of nice parks and family activities. It even has two Starbucks. (Though I committed a coffee faux paus and bought coffee at McDonalds on the drive out of town).
For the route home, we opted to go South to Yuma. This meant following the Colorado River along AZ 95 until arriving in Yuma. We stopped in Quartzsite, AZ, and enjoyed a fine dining experience at the local Carl's Jr.
Unfortunately, the air condition does not work in Tonya's van. As we travelled south to Yuma, the outside temperature peaked at 102 degrees. Of course, it only felt like 98 degrees to us. I think the girls did better than I did. After entering San Diego County, Tonya's van also decided to start cutting out. Three times we had to pull over, wait a few minutes, and then start back up. It didn't appear to be overheating. It may be time for a new van.
So ... we arrived back in San Diego around 5:00 and within minutes the girls were in the pool. By 6 PM, dad was asleep.
We fielded a full band this morning at LifePoint. It was good to have a full stage again -- we had bass, djembe, guitar, and keyboards. I also announced a new schedule change that we're making on April 30. We'll be moving to a one-service format with worship being at 10:30. This will give us the 9:00 time slot to do occasional classes, seminars, etc. It will also give us the benefit of having one larger service rather than two smaller ones. More to come later ...
OK, I had about fifteen minutes of free time that I used to Photoshop a few pictures of the Easter Bunny. Actually ... I wanted to put something a little off-beat up on the LifePoint website.
Jan. 3, 2006 — It wasn't until Jim Tudor got his new Honda Element that he noticed a quirk in its design. Why was the boxy vehicle's sunroof over the empty back seat instead of over his spot up front?
"I found out that it's supposed to be for my surfboard," says Tudor, who's 56, a grandfather of two who never surfs anywhere but the Internet. "It was really only after the fact, when I started doing a little reading on the car, that I found out I wasn't supposed to be the one driving it."
Here's a link to a sermon video a few of our media guys put together. They went to a local mall and asked people what they knew about Jesus. I've reduced it in size for quicker loading. If you'd like the the uncompressed version, let me know.
Last Saturday I ran into a guy at Hannah's softball game. Our daughters were on the same team last year. What I really appreciate about him is the fact that he reads ... and I mean READS. He is constantly reading things for the purpose of stretching and growing. I'm always sure to ask him what he's been reading and he usually throws out three or four things I should read.
Last Saturday was no exception. We spent the better part of the game talking about a theology of governing. Fascinating stuff.
Too often Christ-followers bring a superficial line of reasoning to very complex stuff. It doesn't have to be that way. We should not be afraid of wading into the deeper waters because that's where the mystery (and truth) lies.
There's this guy who comes into Cosmos nearly every time I am there. He's always wearing a denim jacket and looks like Tom Petty. I'm expecting to hear "Free Falling" at one of the open mics.
This is confession time. Our pool has a vacuum system that runs along the bottom of the pool, sweeping up leaves, etc. However, it has a very bad habit of getting stuck in the corner where the steps are. So every now and then I have to go "set it free" and walk it to a different side of the pool.
Today at lunch I noticed it was stuck and went outside to fix it. After leaning down to grab the hose, I lost my balance and ended up in the pool. Standing up. I was in the water up past my waist. Shoes, wallet, everything.
But I fixed the sweeper. And it was stuck again fifteen minutes later.
Finally ... it's been over a week since I've last posted a blog. I'm sure this has been a major bummer for at least three people, two who probably live in the far reaches of Siberia. Thanks for reading!
Since 2003, I have had ongoing back troubles. If you were to ask my Georgia-based chiropractor, he would tell you I have a herniated disk in the my lower back. Ask the orthapedic and he would say it was two degenerative disks. Either way -- it hurts when it flares up!
Well, it flared up last Wednesday. Which meant that Wednesday and Thursday were spent lying on my side watching television. I felt my mind and body begin to adjust to the news cycle. Same stories every 30 minutes. By Friday I was able to move around, even drive to breakfast. Spent the latter part of the day back on the bed. By Saturday I was able to walk for extended periods of time. By Sunday I was able to speak at both services, though I confess to running out of gas midway through the second message.
Whenever this flares up, it creates an odd sight. My legs will be straight but my upper torso will be slanted to the left. I stretch, sleep on my left side only, and occasionally try to physically move my body back into alignment.
This time around, I started taking MSM as well as additional calcium. I also reverted to something that is probably due to my dad's influence -- I purchased apple cider vinegar and began drinking three tablespoons three times a day. There's no way I could drink that stuff straight ... I mix it with either honey and water or just straight apple juice. Does it help -- who knows!
Today is Wednesday, one week later, and I'm standing straight again. On my "to do" list once it settles even more is to lose a few pounds and start exercising.
Well ... there you have it. More than you ever wanted to know.
LifePoint turned six months old last weekend. We held our first public worship gathering on September 11, 2005, and it has been a wild ride ever since.
Starting a new church is so much different than working in an established church. In our previous churches, there was a certain continuity -- the ball kept rolling on its own. I could drive in the parking lot on any given Sunday and expect a certain number of people, and know that most of the volunteers would be there.
In a new church, you have to be comfortable with a high level of uncertainty. We don't know from week to week who may or may not be there. As a church that sublets our worship space, we also don't know what new stuff may mysteriously appear. We've shown up on Sundays and found choir risers (which we don't use), professional lighting racks, missing chairs, no cables ...
On the flip side, we couldn't have asked for a better rental arrangement than the one we have with Mission Valley Christian Fellowship. Working with them has given us a level of stability that is critical in starting a new church community.
There is also the blessing of working with people who are discovering church for the first time or rediscovering it after a long time away. I've always heard that new churches attract new people and it's true.
Personally, it has been one of the most tasking things I have ever undertaken. I can certainly appreciate how the apostle Paul felt when he spoke of carrying the burden of his churches. Numerous mornings I have awoken early with thoughts about needing to do something -- or wondering "how in the world are we going to do this?"
Well ... that's enough reflections for now. My coffee is getting cold.
Here are a few graphics I've been working on lately. Some are finished, others just drafts.
Last Saturday it rained cats and dogs, with my apologies to cats and dogs. We're talking serious rain, not the light sprinkle that most San Diegans confuse for a downpour. At about 9:00 AM I got Hannah and Hope together to make boats out of Tupperware and we sailed them along the curb. It reminded me of a similar time in my own childhood. We were visiting Grandma Hensley in West Plains, Missouri, and it thunderstormed. My cousin and I improvised boats out of old milk cartoons and set sail. Grandma lived on a steep hill and the boats often went faster than we could run.
Good times ...
After being called back for day two of jury duty, I was unceremoniously excused by the prosecutor. I think he felt that since I am a pastor that I might be reluctant to convict someone. I got that idea from the question that he asked me. Surprisingly, he didn't ask me my convictions about drinking. What kind of world are we living in?
The jury pool has begun to shrink. I'm not seated among the first 24 so I'm not sure about my chances. In my mind there are several I would strike. It's a DUI case involving an old lady - 2 counts.
Every now and then we venture downtown to the main city library. It's quite an adventure (Usually connected to the homeless dudes reading magazines to kill time).
Well ... today I needed to wash my hands and used the vintage air dryers in the men's room. It was so strong that it created a circle on the back of my hand! It was like turbo-dryer.
Our next LifePoint Cafe will be March 26 and will feature the music of Kim DiVincenzo and Kyle Phelan. Look for flyers to come out soon.
On another music note ... The Gooses will be releasing their first CD this Friday night at Cosmos.
I spent about five hours in the dentist's chair yesterday. For most of the morning he worked to replace a few old fillings and added two new ones. It's the strangest observation to be lying there while a drill is inside your mouth. The smell took me back to my childhood and going to Dr. Spaulding, a dentist on the south side of Peoria. Only Dr. Spaulding didn't have a television with headphones like Dr. Salazar did.
