Friday Funny – 7/3/09

As a tribute to the the great state of South Carolina and to the 4th of July, I proudly present this installment of the Friday Funny!

So… what are your plans for this holiday weekend?

Production and Purpose 6/29/09

I LOVE creative story-telling! Ken Wilson does some amazing work for NewSpring Church in Anderson, SC! Check out this piece from a recent service:

If you have seen a great example of “production and purpose”, drop me an email and it might get featured here!

murphy24p[at]gmail dotcom

Friday Funny 6/26/09

A little longer than most of my submissions, but I love this one… and I miss this show so BAD! Enjoy:

To pull it or leave it

On April 18, 2008, I posted a short report on a video shoot that I did with Jon & Kate Gosselin. More than a year later, it is still the most read post I have ever had in the short life of this blog. Obviously, with all of the recent media attention on the Gosselins, my post must come up with regularity in general searches on this couple… After watching the episode of Jon & Kate Plus 8 tonight, I’m torn; should I leave the 14 month old post that speaks of a genuine couple who made time to speak with me and how much more appreciation that I had for their show after talking to them… or do I pull it down after reading:

On Monday June 22, 2009, legal proceedings were initiated in Pennsylvania to dissolve the ten-year marriage of Jon and Kate Gosselin.

I’ll be thinking about this for a few days…. What do you think?

Today, I danced with Cinderella

Interesting what a finality there is to a wedding… Regardless of how long this child has been my daughter, such a definitive line is drawn the moment she says “I do”. Perhaps that is why the father-daughter dance can be such an emotional one. Does her marriage mean that I’m seeing her for the last time? No… I’ll see her again in just a couple of weeks, and who knows how many more times after that? Yet, there I was today… dancing with my oldest daughter in what seemed like so much more of an end for me, for us. I held her so tight, I shed many tears, and I listened to the words to our song:

Well, she came home today with a ring on her hand
Just glowing and telling us all they had planned
She says, “Dad, the wedding’s still six months away
But I need to practice my dancing
Oh, please, Daddy, please?”

So I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
‘Cause I know something the prince never knew
Oh, I will dance with Cinderella
I don’t want to miss even one song
‘Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight
And she’ll be gone (Steven Curtis Chapman)

Friday Funny 6/19/09

I love the 80s because I LIVED the 80s! I’m going to have to call this week’s installment of the Friday Funny my own little tribute to pop music, mullets, and terrible videos that I couldn’t get enough of 25 years ago… good grief, it really was 25 years ago… I’m old. Enjoy:

Who is your favirite 80s band?

My new gig

I have had many jobs in my life, some memorable, others not-so-much… but this weekend I step into a new role; Father-in-law. My oldest daughter is getting married Saturday and by doing so, I gain a son-in-law. From the moment my daughter was born, I knew that this time would come… now that the moment is upon me, I’m dealing with so many emotions. I’m sure that this will be the first of several posts that will mostly be me waxing emotional about this chapter change in my family…. and pictures will follow too!

To be continued…

Back-loaded worship

I remember the weekend that I interviewed at Seacoast Church… my first experience in their Saturday night service caught me a little off guard; the service began with worship… no surprise there… but it seemed that the music stopped just as quickly as it had started, after just two songs. What? Hold on… this might be a deal-breaker, and we hadn’t even sat down to talk much yet! First and foremost I am a worshiper. I love to sing and praise God! I had heard about churches that only do 2-3 songs, but I could never picture myself working for one! I decided not to pass judgment right away… I figured I’d sit through the entire service before I made up my mind…and I’m so glad I did! Almost a year later, I can say with great confidence that this is the best job I have ever had!

Seacoast has a format unlike any church that I have ever been to: We start with two songs, generally upbeat, to shake a little of the week’s crust off… then maybe a couple of announcements, a short time to meet some people and then right into the week’s message. Once the sermon is complete, we enter into a what we call response time, which is an intentional time where our congregations (we’re multi-site) are encouraged to take some time to reflect on the message that they have just heard. We usually have three songs during this time that have been chosen to go along with the message. People can sit quietly in their seats and reflect or pray… or sing along. I have found this time to be a great way to digest what I have just heard and pray about how I can apply it to my life.

What I love most about response time is that no one is in a hurry to leave. Our people have really embraced this pattern in our services. I’ve been in so many churches that have a typical format where all of the worship music is at the beginning, followed by the message… and I’ve been in so many church services where half of the people were just staring at their watches and waiting for that last fill-in for the sermon outline sheet so they could cram it into the back ot their bible and forget about the message before they get out of the parking lot. I really feel that having some time to process the message and respond to God at the end of the service helps me to retain so much more of what I have heard and even want to explore more into the bible about the topics.

What is your church’s “format” and does it work for you?

(For anyone who would like a peek into how we do things, we have an internet campus that holds services much like those in our campuses at 9:30 & 11:15 am Eastern every Sunday: http://internet.seacoast.org)

Friday Funny 6/12/09

I realize in this age of video, it can be difficult to tell what’s real and what’s staged… but if nothing else, this is funny! Notice the wide range of age in the “particiPANTS”!

Unplugged – Saturday Cafe

I read a great post from Anne Jackson last week that left me a little nostalgic… so I approached this Saturday morning differently. Anne wrote about the reverence of reading scripture in paper form; this is something that I, like so many, have gotten away from. Being on-line so much, it was an easy transition to do a lot of my bible reading via various websites and digital forms. This also means that when I’m “reading” (or just getting a quick reference, which is often the case) it’s incredibly easy to pop around to my other tabs, checking my email, facebook, the weather, and any number of other distractions. Anne’s post help me to remember that it is important to unplug from all of that and dial into God and His Word… that in those quiet times of reflection and meditation is where I am going to get the most from that time with Him.

So today I spent an hour, or so, with my bible… the real one with pages and notes, and verses that I highlighted some time ago… no computer, no phone, not even music… just me, my Creator and His book… It was different… it was good.

I know we all love out technology and connections, but don’t ever forget the connection that we all need the most.

-Peace.