"He Goes With Me Everywhere I Go"

Shoreline Review for 3/30/08

Shoreline is our weekly meeting for our High School students @ Watermark. We meet on Sunday nights at 7:00 p.m. on the 4th floor. Here's my take on Shoreline from this week...

Attendance: Average
Fun Factor: Above Average
Leader Presence: Above Average
Music: Above Average
Message: Average/Above Average


This started out week 1 on our new series "LoveSong". It's a 4 week series that consists of 3 weeks on the Song of Solomon, and then the last week will be sort of a now what message from 1 Thessalonians 4. This night was fun, and our kids are bringing their friends to hear about dating and relationships...

Wake Review for 3/30/08

Wake is our weekly meeting for Junior High students at Watermark. We meet on Sunday mornings at 9:00am on the 4th floor of the Watemark Tower. Here is my assessment of this week's Wake.

Program Outline
Attendance: Below Average
Fun Factor: Above Average
Leader Presence: Average
Music: Above Average
Message: Above Average

This was the week we made the big switch from the 11am service to the 9am service. We worked really hard to make it extra fun for all those Junior Highers who had to arrive 2 hours earlier than normal. First, we came in early and hooked up three griddles and made hundreds of pancakes (with and without chocolate chips). We also had juice boxes, donuts, pigs in a blanket, and coffee for everyone. Next, we picked up an extra couch and chair and created an all-new "Guest Suite" for visitors. We stocked the "Guest Suite" with energy drinks, candy bars, CDs, and cool new t-shirts that say "Your Mom Goes to 9 o'Clock Service".

After a fun game and some rockin' worship songs, we showed a highlight video from DTown (See Below) and enjoyed an interruption from my personal favorite skit character, "The Interrupter". After some more worship, Braun Brown shared a great message with our kids from Acts 16 about how our lives can sing in the midst of hard times. If you're interested, click here to see the discussion guide that the Small Groups use throughout the week.

FREEZE!

Here's a pretty cool video a friend of mine sent me...

True Confession: I Love Reba

Sooo...My wife likes to Tivo the television show Reba and watch it in the afternoon. I used to make fun of her for watching such a cheesy show but every once in awhile she would catch me laughing at certain lines I would overhear. It wasn't long before I heard enough funny stuff that I started joining her when she would watch. That was the point of no return...It took no time for me to become an official Reba fan. Don't knock it 'til you try it!


P.S. The character named Van (pictured above on crutches) is my favorite.

For Music Lovers (Or Music Likers)

I hate keeping my favorite websites to myself and I thought I'd share this one with anyone who knows me well enough to visit this blog. Pandora is a website designed specifically to help you discover and enjoy music that you will like.

Some crazy scientific music lovers started something called the Music Genome Project in which they have come up with over 400 attributes to describe songs and a complex mathematical algorithm to organize them into "genomes". To create a song's genome, a musician working with the project spends 20 to 30 minutes analyzing each song. Basically, you go to Pandora.com, type in the name of your favorite song or artist, and they use their information to create an "internet radio station" with music that fits the same "genetic description" of the music that you already like. It's awesome.

Type in "Mika" and see what happens. Then try "David Crowder Band". It's a great way to discover new music that fits your exact personal prefernce!

My girls on Easter...

Our second family picture of 2008!

Me and my girl...

Ellie on the way to church

Ellie quickly found out there was candy in the eggs!

Seven Downloads

I'm so over David Archuleta. He peaked too soon and his immaturity and over-bearing stage parents have put serious doubts in my mind about whether or not he's a sure thing to be the next American Idol. At this point, I'm rooting for David Cook, Michael Johns, and Brooke White.



Cook would be my favorite to win but I've begun to question his apparent originality. Like many others, I was initially blown away by his performances of Lionel Richie's Hello, The Beatles' Eleanor Rigby, and most recently, Michael Jackson's Billie Jean. Unfortunately, the arrangements have all leaned heavily on other people's creativity. As it turns out, a little research will reveal that Incubus was the first to rock out Hello, Doxology first amped up Eleanor Rigby, and Chris Cornell was the first to switch up Billie Jean.

Check out the Comparisons:
Hello performed by Incubus
Hello performed by David Cook
Eleanor Rigby performed by Doxology
Eleanor Rigby performed by David Cook
Billie Jean performed by Chris Cornell
Billie Jean performed by David Cook

Bonus Link:
I couldn't help but include Michael Johns rockin' a Queen medly

Letter to Me

On Easter Sunday, we encourage our students to celebrate the resurrection with their families at "big church". We cancel "Wake" on Sunday morning and partner with the High School ministry to host "Journey to the Cross" on Sunday night. This annual event is a great time of worship, communion, and reflection for the whole family.

For this year's theme we wanted to highlight leader testimonies and the life that Christ has brought even through the death that sin has brought into each of our lives. We presented the testimonies using the theme "Letter to Me" and we had the leaders share what they would say in a letter to themselves if they could give their younger self advice or encouragement. It was a powerful and challenging time of testimony and reflection.

Here is a sample of what went on.

Because He Lives...

Here is the "director's cut" of the latest Igniter Media offering for Easter of 2008 (See the original - minus the child ending - here). I especially love this clip because it features a handful of vocalists from Watermark (Shout outs to Cary Pierce, Sarah Stehlik, Sasha Thomas, Kyle Richardson, Linda Martin, and Charlie Thomas). Since two of the guys from my Community Group are on staff at Igniter, you might say I'm a little partial, but in my estimation they produce the best church media in the world. If you've got some time on your hands, check out more Igniter Videos here and/or here.

I also wanted to point out the very, very latest from Igniter...another new short for Easter called "It's Not Over" (featuring the vocal stylings of Todd Wagner).

23 Reasons Why I Don't Belong

Last week, four of the guys from my Small Group were honored with the "Shine the Light" award at the BATTLECRY Conference in Dallas. I'm not a huge fan of conferences, but since my guys were being recognized and getting a chance to speak in front of 10,000 people and since I was invited along with their families as a VIP (read free steak dinner at Adolphus Hotel), I decided to check it out.

At the conference (held in Reunion Arena), there was a portion of the evening where the head guy requested that all the youth pastors in the house come down to the stage to be prayed over. I was resistant to the call since I hadn't actually brought a group to the event but the younger siblings of my Small Group guys prodded me to go...so I went.

Near the stage, amidst the sea of youth pastors, I had a very odd and chilling feeling. I felt like I didn't belong. It wasn't just because I wasn't there with my group enduring the same horrific experience of caring for and feeding large numbers of teenagers while on the road...It was something more than that. For some reason, I have always felt fundamentally different from almost every other youth worker I've ever met. This kind of bothers me so I've been thinking about it a lot. I decided to come up with a list to help me process things.

23 Potential Reasons Why I Feel Like I Don't Belong in the Fraternity of Youth Pastors:

1. I've never worn any form of facial hair
2. I haven't been to seminary
3. I can't relate to the experience of swallowing a goldfish
4. I've never made a huge group of people all wear the same hot pink t-shirt in public at one time
   
5. I don't enjoy talking about the "shifts in youth culture"
6. I get along with, feel supported by, and am inspired by our church's leadership
7. I have fun with our entire church staff
8. I don't like playing Halo
9. I'm not overweight
10. I don't do Sunday School
11. I don't do a large group gathering on Sunday night, Wednesday night, or any night of the week
12. I don't do a camp during the summer
13. There is 0.000% of me that thinks it would be a good idea to take a group of kids to one of those massive Christian music festivals
    
14. I don't think using the words "extreme" or "generation" makes things more appealing to students
15. I'm grateful for how much money I make
16. I've been at my church for more than 2 years
17. I feel like we have more than enough volunteers
18. I wouldn't leave my church for any other church in the country
19. I work with Junior High kids and wouldn't consider it a "promotion" to work with High Schoolers
20. While I'm entertained and intrigued, I've never been able to sit and watch an entire episode of the Simply Youth Ministry podcast
21. I don't subscribe to Group Magazine
    
22. My strongest gift is probably administration
23. I like planning ahead (weeks, months, and even years)

That's all I could think of off the top of my head. Looking back at that list, I sound like a jerk. That's not my intention. I really do feel like it would be a good thing for me to break into this fraternity and be a part of the youth worker community. I hope I can get past the insecurities caused by these differences and find a way to jump in and connect. Maybe (hopefully) I'll find that I'm not that different at all.


Speak Out Reader:
Can you relate?

Bathroom Reading Down the Toilet

Salem Communications recently announced that they will be flushing the 30 year tradition of CCM Magazine after their April 2008 issue. As a long-time fan of Christian music and subscriber to this publication, I was extremely disappointed when I heard the news...but I wasn't really all that surprised.

You see, this revelation wasn't the first time I was disappointed by this magazine. In my opinion, they've slowly but surely been turning into poop over the past several months. Here's my little rant about why I think readers smelled the stench...

Name Change Shenanigans
When it first began 30 years ago, the acronym for CCM Magazine stood for "Contemporary Christian Music," specifically covering Christian music. In May 2007, with little respect for it's heritage, the magazine attempted to reinvent itself when editor Jay Swartzendruber announced in that month's issue that CCM no longer stood for "Contemporary Christian Music" but for "Christ. Community. Music." saying that they would shift away from covering Christian music by its label or distribution in an effort "to raise the profile of independent and general market artists of faith."

Translation: We have lost our identity in an effort to create a broader market appeal.

Amateur Authorship
Along with the name-change came the emergence of reader-generated content lifted from a MySpace/Facebook ripoff website called MyCCM.org. There was a time when CCM Magazine was a leading print publication due to well-written feature articles, album reviews, chart data, and the publication of concert schedules for all leading artists. Over the years, the content became more and more watered down and started looking like faith-tilted US Weekly communicating less-than-compelling messages like "Christian Celebrities are Just Like Us".

Readers are interested in art inspired by the Creator, not faux celebrities that aren't quite as famous or intriguing as their secular counterparts.

The "Jump the Shark" Moment
In January of 2008, CCM Magazine readers chose a band called Family Force 5 to win seven of their annual Readers Choice Awards including Best Artist, Best Band, and Most Underrated Artist. In case you didn't know, the band somehow managed to become an entity even more shallow and watered down than the magazine they were featured in. Consider the following:

• Inane Names. They lift their group's name from a line in the film Pulp Fiction. The title of their debut album, Business Up Front/Party in the Back, is a worn out synonym for the not-funny-anymore (unless you're Billy Ray Cyrus) haircut called the "mullet". The band members go by misspelled aliases. Soul Glow Activatur, Crouton, Phatty, Nadaddy, and Chap Stique.
• Copy-Cat "Originality". Band members think they created their own style and call it "crunk rock". What they don't know is that, to anyone whose heard music before, they come across as a very poor man's Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, Kid Rock, or Beastie Boys. Their "originality" is completely lost on anyone who is over 14 years old.
• Dumb lyrics. I know "dumb" is kind of a rude word so I'll offer some alternative descriptions: nonsensical, embarrassing, silly, confusing, uneducated, empty, humorless, and meaningless. There's a fine line between attempting funny and actually being funny. From the vocal inflections and the misspelled song titles to the pop culture references and choreographed moves, their constant reaching for comedy comes across as desperate and sad.
• Blurred spirituality. Family Force 5 isn't shy about their insatiable desire to stay up all night and party themselves silly. I know as well as anyone that faith and fun don't have to be mutually exclusive but one would be hard-pressed to find anything more than a glimmer of redemptive qualities in their music. Disco balls, confetti, dance routines, and Durty South heritage simply can't add up to spiritual substance.

Soooo...This is the band that CCM Magazine let on their ballot. In my book, the recognition garnered by the eye-liner wearing FF5 boys was the defining moment signifying that the magazine had lost a sane readership and sealed its own fate.

Contemporary Christian Music Magazine, I will miss you. I will always remember fondly the time when, every month, you would bring me something of flavor and substance that was always worth digesting.

File Under "Things That Make You Tilt Your Head"

Wake Review for 3/16/08 (There Was Cussing)

Wake is our weekly meeting for Junior High students at Watermark. We meet on Sunday mornings at 11:00am on the 4th floor of the Watemark Tower. Here is my assessment of this week's Wake.

Program Outline
Attendance: WAY Below Average (Spring Break)
Fun Factor: Below Average
Leader Presence: Below Average
Music: Above Average
Message: Above Average

We opened with a summary of and audio clip from the Jonas Brothers giving the "Fake Jonas Brothers" (Me, Bode, & Jeremy) a shout-out on nationally syndicated morning radio show, Kidd Kraddick in the Morning. We thought it was pretty cool but the kids weren't impressed. I had a blast leading music with Josh B. at the drums and Courtney L. on the bass. We rocked the city...at least we thought we did.

For our game time, Bode and I attempted a comedic call-back to our DTown sponsor by creating a deodorant sniff check game...with a twist. We turned it into a "You Got Took" prank by putting stink bait into one the of deodorant sticks. Not only was it a pretty stupid game, it also prompted a newcomer to our ministry to drop not only one, but two, cuss words while on stage. She wasn't afraid to tell everyone that the stink bait smelled like "S#*@" or maybe my "A*#". This foul-mouthed young lady seemed very innocent in her observations so I showed her a lot of grace and just gave the audience a perplexed look and quickly moved on.

It was a first and definitely a memory I will not soon forget.

For our teaching time, I had our Senior High Director, Mike Shelton, share on a topic of his choosing. He taught a message on community from Ephesians 2 and somehow managed to open his talk with a story about poop. If you're interested, click here to see the discussion guide that the Small Groups use throughout the week.


Speak Out Reader:
Ever experienced public cussing in your ministry? What did you do?

Amateur Video Production Resources

Our ministry makes lots of videos. Sometimes it's the little things like music and sound effects that really make a video work. Here are two great resources that we use all the time:

Freeplay Music
Find Sounds


Speak Out Reader:
Where can I find your videos? What do you use to make them?

DTown 2008

"DTown" is Watermark's version of the traditional "Disciple Now (DNow)" event. This past weekend, we had over 300 kids and 65 leaders in more than 40 homes around Dallas. We had Lance Sisco and Trac Cook from Pine Cove as speakers on Friday and Saturday and then David Liggitt (former Kanakuk K2 Director) wrap things up on Sunday. Jeff Capps led worship and we had a special concert from Ben Rector on Saturday night.

Bode put together some incredible videos for the weekend. Most of them reference our "sponsor" for the retreat...Deodorant.

Leonard T? Jake?

Two months ago, I posted three hilarious videos by the same guy. In each clip, he used a different name. (Click here to see the original post). Now I've found more videos and even more names (add "Leonard T" and "Jake" to the list). Check it out:





Speak Out Reader:
Seriously...who is this guy? I want an email address or something.

Wake Review for 3/4/08

There wasn't much to review this week since we spent most of the time centered around one big announcement...

Starting on March 30th, our Junior High (Grades 6-8) meeting called "Wake" will be meeting exclusively during the 9:00am service at Watermark. Click here to read a letter that explains the reasons behind the shift.

Our Trip to Costa Rica...

Here's a quick slideshow summing up the AMAZING trip we went on to Costa Rica!