Yesterday finished up a long weekend. We had an incredible day at the Journey. Erik Started his new teaching series, "Love Sick". It was really good. I hope to have the video posted to the website by Wednesday. Jeff Bode and Alex Perry were hilarious! If you don't know what I'm talking about, you're gonna have to watch the video.
That brings me to my next subject. Our celebration service last night. Jeff and Alex both have been serving at the Journey, relentlessly, for over a year now. They are two, high-capacity, highly motivated guys that I'm blessed to be friends with. These guys will do anything at a moment's notice if it means helping someone out or just making sure the job gets done. I give you both props! Last night was a celebration of all our volunteer staff. We had a big chili cookoff and then gave out some pretty cool door prizes. I think there was an ipod, a digital camera, and a few gift certificates to places like Mojave Rock (day spa). After that, we gave out our Journey Awards. These are special recognitions to certain individuals that have made a HUGE difference in the way the Journey has moved in the past year. I want to congratulate all the recipients, but also say that everyone, who has served, is more than appreciated. I was privileged to be in the room when deciding on who was going to be the actual recipients. I can promise you... it was VERY hard to decide. So many people have been instrumental in what we do.
After the awards, we ended the night with a bunch of music. Man, I love my praise team. They are some of the most talented, God seeking people I've ever been around. You guys make my job easy! I love you all and am so blessed to serve with you. That goes for my tech team too. Last night Jon Ayers pulled me aside and told me that what he had the chance to see that evening had stirred something in him even more than there was already. Jon is my tech team leader and is an awesome guy. He told me he wants more! He wants to learn as much as he can about video editing, filming, mixing (video and audio), and computer softwares. He is majorly on fire for what's going on in that place. It just goes to show that when you put God at the center of your life, you never know what He's gonna do with it. Jon is a guy who, up until this past year, was just someone who came to church, liked what was there, but didn't know where his place to serve was. He got introduced to the tech team, and what do you know? He found out that he had, not only a talent for that stuff, but a calling on his heart to really KNOW it. And now, he's the leader in that area. (which, by the way, for those of you who don't necessarily know what a tech team does, everything you see or hear on a sunday morning, they're responsible for! Without them, we'd be standing in the middle of the room with an acoustic guitar and a megaphone!) I'm excited about where Jon is going and can't wait to see him rise up in his leadership and bring people like himself into the folds.
We finished the night with an awesome moment! Every week, during praise and worship, we have about six or seven little kids (and I mean little-we're talking 2 to 4 year olds) who sit on the front row and play air guitar, jump around, dance, raise their hands in the air and sing every word, as loud as they can. Every one of them have a little guitar that their parents have bought them. (Guess I'm going to have to start a music school!) The parents tell me that they all sit at home and act like they are leading worship. My son is one of them! We'll be sitting here at the house trying to watch "The Amazing Race" or something, and Cason will get his guitar out, stand in front of the TV and start banging away on it! He'll say, "Alright everybody! Welcome to the Journey, everyone raise your hands! Let's sing, Church!" Tiffany and I spend the next ten minutes doing what he says. (If we don't, we never get back to "The Amazing Race"!) But we also do it cause it's awesome!!!!! It's amazing to see God work in his little life, and we want to encourage that as much as we can.
So, anyway, the kids all have a favorite song. It's called, "Sing Sing Sing". It's by Chris Tomlin. If you've never heard it, get on itunes and download it. It's probably my favorite song too! It's a jammin', rockin', full on slamming praise song. When it was time for the last song, we asked all the kids to come up on stage. (They all had their guitars with them, by the way. They figured that since it wasn't a normal sunday service, they would bring them and jam with us on the front row!) We played "Sing Sing Sing" to close the night out and they all did it with us, on the stage. There were so many cameras going off, I felt like we were being chased by the paparazzi! I'm going to be honest with you, I thought the doors were going to blow off that place! It was BANGIN'! Everyone who was there was singing at the top of their lungs, including the kids. I actually pulled my ear monitors out so I could hear it, full force! It was incredible.
I just want to say to all of the Journey. You guys make what we do, as a pastoral and leadership team, worth every ounce of energy and time we spend. I can't imagine ever doing anything but what I'm doing right now. I thank you for the privilege of serving you, and serving with you. Let's keep praying that God will ignite this Jesus Movement that we've so desperately been praying for! I love you all.
Here are all the songs from yesterday:
Glory To God (Steve Fee), He Reigns (News Boys), Jesus Is Alive (New song by Steve Fee- don't know where you can get it yet, sorry), People Get Ready (Song I heard at an IHOP conference again, don't know where to get it), Everybody Praise the Lord (Lincoln Brewster), Breathe On Me (Todd Fields), Your Love Oh Lord (Third Day), Saviour King (Hillsong), God of This City (Chris Tomlin), Sing Sing Sing (Chris Tomlin).
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