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Upon arriving at Willow Creek we were greeted by many volunteers and found our way to check-in. We then got a seat in the back as the lights faded and a center light shone on a snare player.

Then the lights went to the center aisle where an entire drumline joined him and took the stage.

Then we had an amazing time of worship. It was high-energy and so well done. I felt called to worship and got to fully engage. It was an environment worthy of “how can we do that?” There were 5 singers, 3 guitar players, bass, drums, aux percussion, sax, and keys. I really enjoyed the fact that everyone in the band seemed to be leading worship, not just playing instruments. Most every singer participated in spoken instruction. There was also scripture reading by several singers.

Another high point was the fact that it felt like one big time of worship instead of several songs. I really loved the flow, segues, and the myriad of sounds that came to enhance it all. Each song was a piece unto itself and had it’s own unique sound but still fit together as one great time of worship.

Then after a good drama, Nancy Beach took the stage to encourage us to continue to find new ways to reach people. Yesterday’s methods might not meet today’s people where they are. She encouraged us to follow God as He leads as the most creative being ever and loves His church more than we do. To help you, here are my notes.

• I am called to be faithful.
• Sometimes we don’t know how deaf we are until God opens our ears.
• God responds to a surrendered heart.
• Psalm 40:3 “He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD.”
• What is MY new song?
• Can a new song be a new way of communicating God’s truth or expressing the idea of God’s truth through other mediums, especially artistic mediums, such as graphics, videos, dramas, dance, and music?
• Do we do ministry out of memory or out of imagination? Are we doing what we have done before or what we have found by seeking God?
• Communicate God with FRESHNESS
• Willow is doing Wednesday nights different. It begins with a corporate worship time in the sanctuary and then breaks out into sessions geared towards people in every step of the Christian life. There will be session for new believers all the way up to seminary level classes for those fully devoted to Christ.

Wanna see all of my Willow Arts Conference 2008 recaps?

Ever listen to an album and your jaw drops in amazement? The only way you can describe it is “Wow” or “What the heck”? Not to mention you listen to it on a couple-hundred thousand dollar sound system. Then you take it to your office and rip it to MP3 and listen to it several more times? Then you play it for every person who comes in your office?

That is the new CD by McKendree Augustas - titled “A View for Opened Eyes” - in a nutshell.

As of today you can download it from:

iTunes for $9.90

or

AmazonMP3 for $7.90

Samples are at both sites.

He told me today that physical copies are available and he would have order details soon.

Visit him at McKendreeAugustas.com.

A couple weeks ago I did a shoot with Mckendree Augustas for his new album. Here’s the keeper for the poster. Pope Saint Victor did the artwork and post-processing.

http://www.virb.com/popestvictor

There might be some of the pics going on the album art so I’m interested to see how Victor processes them and his design.

If you listen to Underoath (or if you don’t you should) then this will make your day/night/mid-afternoon. It’s a music video with clips from Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” set to the Underoath song “Some Will Seek Forgiveness, Others Escape” off the album “They’re Only Chasing Safety”. It’s intense. Watch it loud and on full screen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uin8Cphh1U

What’d you think?

Is there any other word but “wow” to describe this morning. Maybe “wow!!!” with three exclamation points might do.

When I got to St. Simons Community Church at 7:00am as usual on a Sunday, not much felt different. I had been coming to work at this new building each day for two months. Until today we were still having church in our shopping center location. I helped set up graphics and sermon notes as I sometimes do in the sanctuary then headed to the Roof Top – a room we will be using mainly for students and young adults.

It wasn’t until I got in “my” room – the Roof Top – and flipped on the sound system that it really hit me. “We’re about to have church. Holy cow.”, I thought, then said aloud. On Sunday mornings my main role is production of the middle school service we call Rush Hour. When I sat there holding my printout from Planning Center and began getting things in order on our iMacs and set up the stage is when the fact that a mob of middle schoolers would be in there in only a couple hours truly hit me. Still, it was crunch time. “No time to concern myself with ‘wow-ness’”, I thought.

I finished the stage and headed back into the sanctuary to make sure the volunteers in the video booth were taken care of. All was well. Music in the main service was amazing. The team did an outstanding job. Congrats, Fred, on an awesome first day. As it got closer to 10:00am I headed back out to make sure everything was done for Rush Hour. Turns out none… NONE of my content was on the iMacs. The computer that did have the content was put in the Clubhouse – our elementary schooler’s room. I had a scary moment when we thought it had been cleaned up and all non children’s ministry stuff was deleted. Luckily, it wasn’t, so onto a portable hard drive it went. After fixing that I was ready.

The band was ready to practice at 10:00am so we sound checked, got a few kinks worked out with the wireless gear, and let the kids in at 11:15am.

What I saw next put me in a state of awe. We had around 150-200 middle schoolers enter in the room. This number was double our PEAK numbers from recent months. Simply shocking! As we got started the energy was apparent. We played a game, heard a welcome, and then got a talk from our associate youth minister Justin. His talk was outstanding and so very appropriate for the time. The summary goes something like this, “God is big. He is all we need. This building is just a place that we can get together and worship Him. If that isn’t the reason we built this place then it needs to be turned into something else because it is worthless without the focus being God. He is worthy of our worship.”

Amen. Amen.

Next the band played. Shannon, if you read this, all I have to say is that I am amazed at how well things went. You guys sounded fantastic. I have nothing to say but “wow”. I got word from Travis, our Tech Director and my boss that he could hear our subs in the sanctuary. You’d have to know our facility to really grasp that but let’s just say it was pretty fun to hear. You can’t blame me, I had to give our FOUR brand new EIGHTEENS a workout.

Once I got the band’s mix straight I got to sit back and finally just enjoy what was going on. During the last song “O Happy Day” by Tim Hughes it really hit me hard and I started to tear up. All across the room were kids raising their hands worshipping God. They got it. It wasn’t about the building. Right then it was all about God. They were connecting. It was glorious.

I cried because years of work culminated today. Hours and hours of work all met at this junction and we had church. Hours and hours of work just for some kids on a small island in Georgia to have a place to get together to meet God. I cried because I got to be a part of it. It was all worth it. Every second I spent was worth it. I’d do it again for another moment like that. Praise God I get those moments every Sunday.

As far as the rest of the church, Fred McKinnon, our Worship Director, has a pretty good summary he began with, “Wow”. Also, Shannon Lewis, our Youth Worship Director, has a recap he calls “Wow”. Funny, we all wrote these before reading each other’s.

Here’s my summary: 2000 people total on campus. Almost filled to capacity. God was praised. We have some kinks to work out. God is good.

Read Shannon’s and Fred’s for the juicy details.

Today truly deserves a Wow. Praise you God.