EASTER SUNDAY

We had a great Easter Sunday this year. Easter was the pinnacle of our "I Live" message series. We had a 16 member choir, which is always special, especially in a Church of Christ! We took communion "family style" in all three services- which means everyone went to stations as family and friends to take the elements together. Two of our members, Paul Shinsky and Mike Hover, performed a drama entitled "Wineskins". It captures a conversation between two Jewish priests and their questions about their decision to crucify Jesus.

As you can see, we had an awesome set built, complete with a stone that could "wheel" away. Both my wife, Vicki, and Jodie Anspach built this awesome set. Originally, it was a cave and jungle scene with vines, trees, and plant life. It all faded into an ocean scene for last week's youth conference: Illuminate. The theme was "LOST" . . . after one of my fav TV shows! Anyway, with a few quick changes, it transformed into an empty tomb and was backlit for a glowy morning effect! Not bad, eh?

One of things that was very special to me was being able to arrange the song "Hosanna" by Hillsong. It is currently one of my favourite worship songs (I even added the "u" for our Aussie friends). If you haven't heard it yet- look for it on their latest CD "Saviour King"- it is an incredibly moving and passionate worship song! Teresa Graney did the solo and rocked it! It was one of the highlights of the day!

Overall, it was a powerful and moving Easter. Every year, the pressure is on to communicate, in the most creative way possible, the power of the resurrection. And sometimes, we try TOO hard. This was a Sunday that we didn't have to try- we simply let the story speak for itself. And I believe that made all the difference.

Super Bowl screenings in Church not illegal now

For those that keep up with all the issues surrounding copyright and the church, one of the biggest topics of discussion has been around showing the Super Bowl on the big screens at church. Is it OK? It's on free television, right? Well, technically, up until this announcement by the NFL Commissioner

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3256621, it has been illegal. Now, many churches have hosted Superbowl parties and unknowingly broken the law. Other churches are aware of the infringements and decided to do it anyway. Well, NO MORE!

Still, this leads to the deeper issues surrounding church copyright: what we can and cannot post on the internet or podcasts, what movie clips we show and what songs we can project or copy. It gets pretty hairy out there. CCLI licensing for worship music, CVLI for movie clips, movie screenings at church are supposed to be viewed as if you are a public venue, so you should pay royalties, etc., etc.

There simply needs to be more education about what we should and should not do. It's hard because we are in ministry, right? Should we HAVE to pay for these things if we are a "non-profit" organization? But even so, shouldn't we have integrity with how we conduct the legal side of our ministry asthe children of God? There's a million rabbit holes to go chasing here as well as many situations I am completely not smart enough to answer or clarify. Some foundations and insights can be found here:

http://www.churchca.com

I am still wading through much of this. It gets deep. But I happy to say that I try my best to be copyright compliant with as much as I know how to. What are your thoughts on the issue of the church and copyright?

GULF COAST GETAWAY AND ARRIVING

One of my favorite events to lead worship at every year has to be Gulf Coast Getaway. 2,000 college students come to gather one cold January weekend in Panama City Beach, FL. They come from Christian student centers, Christian colleges, and even college ministries at church. Chris Seidman, Randy Harris, and Watershed for a whole weekend- whew! John Ross also painted 4 paintings simultaneously- one for each side of the stage. This conference always pushes us to bring new worship music too- in a good way. There’s no singing “I Will Call Upon The Lord” here! Instead, we sing songs like “Be Lifted High”, “Let God Arise”, and “At The Cross”. But what really makes this event different from others has to be the PASSION from those students. You can walk into the conference center and feel a spirit there that isn’t at other places.

You see, at a lot of youth rallies and conferences we go to, many teens are made to attend or only go because of the cute girls they may meet, etc., etc. And though that may happen at Gulf Coast- I can’t say that that is the main reason they go. College students go because they WANT to be there. It is obvious. The worship is always AWESOME- and not because I’m up there on stage at all. All we do is gently nudge the ball toward the hill, and they take it from there. THEY SING THEIR FACES OFF!

And I always love to glean more understanding from the “wise monk”, Randy Harris. In my opinion, he’s the best we have in the COC. He impresses me because it’s obvious, as he shares stories, that he is still on a journey to draw closer to God. He is open and honest with his struggles as he finds his way through faith. I think people love him so much because they identify with that. We often hear preachers and gifted speakers telling us how to live better, what to do, and what to say. But sometimes, it’s more powerful not to have an answer for everything, but be confessional in the their triumphs, their stumbles, their doubts, their own walk of faith.

It is my firm belief that if we ever feel like we have “arrived” spiritually, then we have lost our way.

Peace,

-chris

Chik-Fil-A?

So, a few weeks back we were in Shelbyville visiting my family. My Mom said, "You want to eat lunch at our new Chik-Fil-A?" Being in Michigan, we don't get too much of that restaurant . . . so we jumped at the chance for that chicken goodness.

We pulled into drive thru and laughed out loud. I've never seen one quite like this.

Apparently, these are "tester" drive thrus to make sure they will turn a profit before they come in a build a real restaurant. Still, the small, square, cow-spotted buildings are pretty hilarious looking!

We're just glad it tasted good!

New Christian Tshirt Company

I found this site through a link on a blog I was reading. T-shirts with speaking in tongues on it! I'm not sure what to think about this! You must see for yourself. http://www.holyghosttees.com/ -chris

Genna's snow walk video

A day in the snow!

We looked out the window the first morning of this new year and BEHOLD, 8 inches of snow fell overnight! The above picture is the front of our house (our front yard is evidently the best place to put shoveled snow). So, we got Genna ready to play in the snow for a bit while I cleaned off the car.

She got her boots and hat on and was ready to go!

Helping Daddy shovel some snow. Our first walk in the snow.