Random selections of other blogs. Note: I am not responsible for content on other blogs.
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.
