Will you be there?

Sunday night is going to be really important. You should want to come...

To what you ask?

I'm glad you asked...

VISION NIGHT 2009

6 p.m. in the Worship Center

We will go over the great things God has done in the last year as well as what he wants to do in the coming one.

It's going to be good.

Be there!

Just do it!

Wedding from Canada

Hey,

Some of you may know that part of my vacation will be in Victoria Canada where our Student Ministries Director Chris is getting married on Aug. 8.

I know there we a bunch of you who wanted to go but couldn't so we are going to do our best to broadcast the wedding here online.

Once we have the details finalized I will post the link here so you can watch.

Stay tuned for more and block out some time starting about 3:45 p.m. Mountain time on Saturday August 8!

Time for Vacation

I am relieved that it is finally time for a vacation. It's been a while since I was able to get away and I get to do this with my wife and little boy for two weeks!

I won't be at FBC, but I will be in church.

I won't be in Pocatello, but I will stay connected.

I won't be working, but I will get things done.

I am really looking forward to the whole thing, except for the 10 hour drive there and back.

Oh Well. It's worth it. So updates will happen but not often. Until then, I won't see you until August!

Things your brain forgets when you don't sleep

Micah has chicken pox. What that means is he is really unhappy and daddy doesn't get to sleep. As a result there was one really important thing that I forgot to mention yesterday!

Vision Night

Sunday, August 16

6 p.m. in the Worship Center

You need to be here for this. We are finalizing the new years' budget and will have that for you to vote on, we will also have updates from the elder team about the new governance and several other important things. There will be some time for your questions too!

It really is important that you be here for this. We need you to help us and to communicate with us so that we all call accomplish what it is that God has out there for us to do!

I'm going to be there. Are you?

Brakes or not!

So in case you didn't hear yet we've hit a snag.

We lost the brakes in the bus going down a hill this morning as we were leaving for LA.

No injuries, no damage. Just a jumped curb some ruin vines and a shaken up crew.

Needles to say the plans for today have been changed. We'll miss out on the Dream Center but we should still be able to get to the convention center in time for the start if DCLA.

As the week goes on it becomes more and more obvious to me that we are being fought against. The enemy seems to have a vested interest in keeping these students away from this event. His biggest problem is that he is not in charge. He can throw all kinds of issues at us but we are being watched a guided by the one who is really in charge!

The enemy has nothing that our God can't handle.

What you can do is pray for us and with us. The things that God has in store for each student on this trip is out of this world.

I will keep you updated as I am updated.

Learning to lead better.

As a leader it can sometimes be difficult to find ways to grow. Lets face it, after so many books my brain just wants to shut down.

Conferences are great. But if you hadn't noticed most of them are not here and not cheap. That's one of the reasons why we have been trying to get more things here. (More on that in a future post)

However, I just got invited to be a part of something both very cool and very challenging. I'm going to be participating in a Creativity/Leadership Coaching Network with Carlos!

I'm really excited for a few reasons...

• I get to hang with some great people
• I know that God will use them to challenge me
• You will get some of the rewards of my growth
• I will be able to learn how to leverage online interactions for community building
• We may be able to transfer some of this to the region

There are a lot of other things I probably don't even know about yet but I'm still excited.

Starting in October I'll be meeting with Carlos and four other creatives from around the country once a month, and with just Carlos once a month.

It should be awesome!

Something New

Hey all, so I have an idea for something new for us. I know that there are several of us here at FBC who take photos, I also know that there are several who take really good photos! 

I've been trying for a while to come up with a way to access and outlet all of the creative photogs that are running around this place, then Carlos started something at his church in Atlanta and I thought, "Maybe we could try it here."

So here's the scoop. Let's call this the official start of the discussion about the Pocatello Photography Project.

Sketchy details...

• Open to anybody
  
• We would have a different project three or four times a year (relationships, power, moments, etc.)
  
• We would take photos that center around the project theme
  
• Photos would then be submitted and chosen for display and other creative uses
  
• We would build community together by meeting at the beginning of each project
  

It's just the start of the idea. 

What do you think?

I've already been approached by one local artist (who goes to church @ FBC) about using his work in our worship services.

The creative opportunities are nearly endless.

This is something we are going to do... but I want your input as we start.

Let me know what you think and if you want to be involved.

Sunday's Gonna Rock!

Hey just thought I would drop a note to everyone. In case you were wondering Sunday is going to rock! Jesus has some awesome plans for us and I don't want you to miss them! Bring a friend and come ready to encounter the Savior!

Worship Workshop is Here

Last week I told about a workshop we had coming. Well it's here! WE are a go!

Carl Albrecht, Leann Albrecht and Ed Kerr will be with us in southern Idaho for a day and a half of worship and teaching. It is going to be awesome! For all of the info go check out the site and register!

Here are some highlights though....

• $45 per person - You can't beat that!
  
• Friday night and Saturday - Use what you learned that weekend!
  
• Beautiful Burley Idaho - My home town!
  
• The King Fine Arts Center - Wait till you see it!
  

Number one though.....

wait for it....

It's the best...

Our KING, REDEEMER and GOD will be there! Worship is going to happen!

I hope to see you there.

Mad At Church?

Are you mad at church? To be honest I get mad at church. I know that this might seem like a trick question because Bill talked about anger and Chris and Karl talked about bitterness. But it's not.

There are people who are mad at church. Not mad at A church (although I would wager there are those too!) but mad at THE church. Let's face it, we haven't always and continue to do things the wrong way. Even Jesus got pretty mad at the church in His day! 

So this is where we are. As you drive around town for the next few weeks you're going to see billboards that say www.madatchurch.com. You should check it out. Seriously! We are really stretching out here because we feel like the things that Jesus talked about are important! 

We've screwed stuff up and it's time that we own our mistakes and set things right. So if you are a part of the FBC family then get ready because we need to do this. If you're just checking this out then I would encourage you to come on out on a weekend and see what we're talking about.

There will be more updates coming and invitations for you to hand out soon! 

The Abacus is here!

Thanks to everyone who voted in my poll. Based on your recommendation I have now received my abacus and am trying to learn how to use it!

Ok, so I didn't really get the abacus, although I did have a few people ask me if it was a new line of computers that they hadn't heard of yet. For those of you who don't know what it is! What I did end up getting though is the MacBook Pro.

After much research I'm convinced that the Mac and Windows machines are exactly the same when it comes to the hardware. The only real difference is in the OS. There is a new version of Windows coming out this year and it looks pretty neat, but I needed something sooner than that.

So I went ahead and got the Mac. I have to admit it does look very cool. But coolness aside, it is just a tool. In fact all of the cool things that I have are only tools that Jesus has given me to help point to people to Him! I have to remember that otherwise I just get to wrapped up in my stuff. I would bet that there are some of you who need to do that today! You need to recognize that your stuff is only yours because Jesus wants you to use it in a way that brings glory to Him.

I'm not saying don't enjoy it. I love playing my hand-built, custom electric bass. But if I only used it for me then I would be wasting it.

The Mac is cool, but I hope that because I am able to have it someone, or many someones, will get to know Jesus, who, by the way, is way cooler than Mac and Steve Jobs any day!!

It's hard to blog when you don't have a computer!

If you can't figure out why it's been so long since my last post you should read the last post. I've been bouncing around from computer to computer and space to space the last few weeks. Good news though, the office space is almost finished. I get my cube back but new and improved! The insurance is going to cover the replacement cost of my laptop and I was able to get most of the data that I needed off of it!

Here is my conundrum though... I haven't really decided what kind of computer I should get so... if you have any recommends let me know...

Hopefully I can get something quickly and then I can get back to regular work. We have some big things coming and it would sure be nice to have a computer to work on them!

Let me know what you think in the comments or take the poll.

Election Day

Tremble before him, all the earth!
The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved.

Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;
let them say among the nations, "The LORD reigns!"

1 Chronicles 16:30-31

This Spoke to me today as I was thinking about the election. A lot of times we focused on ourselves and kind of forget that there is a bigger picture in place.

Despite how we feel sometimes the world is not going to come to an end just because someone does or doesn't get elected. Look at the first verse there. "the world is firmly established; it cannot be moved."

But what really gets me is the last part. Why are the heavens rejoicing and why is the earth glad? Because "the Lord Reigns!" Not because we are pursuing green technology, not because one party gained more than another, not because of anything that we can do. It is because the LORD REIGNS!

I have to remind myself of that a lot. I can find myself in places where it doesn't look like I'm going to get out. It's in those places that I have to remember that THE LORD REIGNS.

So as we move forward into whatever the future holds we must remember that Jesus is in control and has the final say on everything.

Heads Up

Hey,

Just wanted to remind you guys that Daylight Savings ends Saturday night. Don't forget to chang your clocks otherwise you'll end up watching our warm-up for the first service. (It's ok if you want to come and watch!) So enjoy an extra hour of sleep this weekend and get pumped up for what God wants to do on Sunday. It's gonna be awesome!