the next step

Ok, so one more life & stories category blog for now. Wanted to let everyone know who reads this and may not already know- Rachel and I are going to be moving back to the East Coast. Pennsylvania, to be exact. At least, for the time being. We don't have too much lined up for there, but...

there is a poor job market here in Medford, and if we wait, we will not have the money necessary to move. While we've connected with some people out here, generally, we don't have too much in the line of friends and family. those who have been so for us- thanks so much! But we have a need to be back near family at this point in time.

We also need to be in a place where we can heal and hear from God, and unfortunately, here is not a place for us at this point. we don't have a church, and only have a few close friends.

beyond that, being on the East Coast will allow for better job searching in churches and such.

There are a number of reasons that have led us to this decision, some of which i've noted, some of which i haven't. but after some consideration and prayer, we believe this is the direction we're feeling led now.

thanks to all for your prayers, love and support! We're going to be moving at the end of this month- probably around March 28th.

feel free to ask any questions or anything. and... yeah.

San Francisco Weekend- the pictures

enjoy!


Rachel and I on the boat to Alcatraz.


island of Alcatraz


Dave & Kassie on Alcatraz


cool tree on the walkway up to the prison


cell block


City of SF from Alcatraz


Hard Rock Cafe for dinner


BB King- excellent


Beatles, anyone?


Rachel and Sonia


Driving down Lombard


Golden Gate Bridge

you can click here for the full photoset. Also, stay tuned on my youtube for a video from the weekend.

San Francisco Weekend- Day 3

The end of the Road, and the “must-see” of Frisco.
First off, early in the morning I awoke. We didn’t have early tickets to anything on Sunday morning, but I just couldn’t sleep. It could have everything to do with the fact that our rooms were not very large and not well ventilated. AKA- the ceiling fan that’s supposed to cool the room down- doesn’t actually work. I mean, at least it gets a breeze going, but it’s still really warm in there. Don’t get me wrong, though- we paid $65/night for this hotel that is right in downtown San Francisco. And on the weekend of the Chinese New Year parade.

I took an absolutely frigid shower at the hotel. The hot water was somehow off for our floor when we got to showering. It reminded me very much of my Ukraine experiences when there was no hot water and I showered for weeks in cold water. Ice cold water. Apparently, I was the only one brave enough to actually step into a cold stream of water. Everyone else did “bucket” style showers.

We left the hotel at a good time, giving us time to do a couple things without needing to feel rushed. Those couple things may be obvious now, as you’re asking yourself where was our Golden Gate Bridge trip. And on the way out there, we decided it was time to DRIVE down Lombard St. It was a fun experience, and not as hard as one might think. It’s fun to drive down, but Rachel hopped out to take pictures of us going down.

We next followed our noses out to the Golden Gate Bridge. It’s really cool- and fun to drive across. But, to be honest, the Bay Bridge is much longer, though certainly not as cool. Because it’s a suspension bridge, and due to the need to withstand heavy winds off the ocean, it has the ability to horizontally shift up to 27 feet to keep it from collapsing. That’s totally cool. And the huge wires that hold up the supports and all- 36 ½ inches around, I think. Majorly huge.

So, after going across, and going back across for the fun of it, we decided that it was time for us to head home. So we head back into San Fran, only following our logical sense thoughts to get back to I-80 to head toward Sacramento. Reminder here- we haven’t had breakfast yet, or coffee, or anything. So, as we get out of San Fran and pass Oakland, we stopped in Berkley to go to Denny’s.

Continuing on after breakfast, it’s a rather uneventful drive back. We saw the Del Taco/KFC again. And one of the coolest things was seeing this sign that we were not able to get a picture of. It is a miles-to sign- telling us that Ocean City, MD is 3073 miles away. Ocean City is where Rachel and I have gone to the beach before when we lived in PA. Check our pictures here and here.

Our conversation on the drive back ranged from so many different topics. At one point, it was discussed that urine can smell like coffee if nothing else is in the bladder. Funny part- hours later, Rachel is sharing about a social worker friend of hers who has one client family that doesn’t brush their teeth because they believe it to be a conspiracy. When asked about it, Rachel said, “oh, well, this is also the family that drinks their own pee.” And me, the comedian I am, answer the obvious question of “why” with, “because it smells like coffee!”

Overall, the weekend was excellent! We had a wonderful time, and got to spend some really good time with friends that we will be all too soon leaving. Anyone with the chance, find your way to Frisco. It’s a great place, with lots of fun things to see- and of course, way too much to do in just one weekend.

And as I close out this series of blogs, I really want to do this: here’s a list of what I can think of in television shows and movies that take place in San Francisco. I would love to entertain comments of other things missing from the list, or corrections on things, too.

- Big Trouble in Little China- great Kurt Russell movie. And, as I watched it again for the first time since I was young, I discovered that this movie had “Matrix” style moves way before “The Matrix” ever came out. I guess one less thing they’re original on…

- Full House- “what ever happened to predictability? The milk man, the paper-boy, and evening TV…”

- The Rock- of course. Connery, Cage- what more do you need to make a movie work?

- (Rachel, Dave and Kassie all seem to agree that this one is in SF) Who Framed Roger Rabbit- I remember something about the RedCar (trolley) being dismantled…

- So I Married an Axe Murder- “woman, wo- man. Wooooah- MAN”

- Mrs. Doubtfire- “see that Nattie- that’s called liposuction.” The classic “Dad dressed like a woman just to be a part of his kid’s lives but then his older kids find out and can’t tell the younger one and it all blows up in a restaurant when he’s supposed to be himself and the woman at the same time, but gets a little drunk and forgets himself and ultimately ends up all coming back in his face type” of story

- The Parent Trap- is primarily based in the California Wine Country- which is the Frisco area.

- Just Like Heaven- one of Rachel’s new favorite movies.

I’m sure there are more. Help me out, people!!! Also, bonus points for anyone going back to see how many different terms I use to refer to San Francisco. And super-bonus points if anyone knows of any variations that I have NOT used.

Thanks for reading my running commentary. I’ll get back to some of my ranting and hopefully get some thoughts relating to spirituality or something out soon.

San Francisco Weekend- Day 2 (part 2)

End of the day:

Midnight+: This is the 3^rd blog. So apparently, this will be a 4 blog set. It’s another late night now. We’ve been out late doing what we do best- hanging out with people and just loving on them and being real. But I’ll get to that soon.

This morning, as Rachel and I ate breakfast, we saw these couple people go by- in wheelchairs. They were talking on cell phones and, funnily enough- using their legs and feet to move themselves up and down the street. Later, as we went out to shop before dinner, we saw the one guy sitting there begging for money.

Other random thought- Rachel and Kassie found themselves resisting the biggest temptation a girl will ever face- looking down the loaded barrel of a Louis Vuiton Store and not spending any money (or even asking to).

So, we left the hotel to go shopping before dinner, except we really didn’t plan on spending money. Just going into stores we didn’t have in Medford and enjoying being in a city. But after a little while of that, we decided to try and catch a cab to the Wharf where we intended to eat dinner. Honestly, the gene that allows people to catch a cab- it’s not in either Rachel or me. She may love cities, but we can never live in or near one because we can’t catch a cab to save our lives. We spent a half hour in NYC on our honeymoon trying to catch one. We spent a good half hour walking around- heading toward Fisherman’s Wharf in order to be closer when we caught one. But, man, it was so hard to get one. The whole “Chinese New Year” parade. Which, by the way, I did find out the Chinese New Year wasn’t this weekend- they just had the parade today.

Decided to do dinner at the Hard Rock Café. Good decision- I’ve never been to one before. Despite having been in a number of cities in my life, I’ve never been to one of these before. A few funny anecdotes from all this- we sat in a table underneath a hat that had belonged to Michael Jackson. Very funny for us for a number of inside joke type reasons. Near us was a jacket once worn by Sting. Eddie Van Halen had signed a guitar for this Hard Rock. They had a guitar signed by Journey, which was amusing because I’ve had the song “Don’t Stop Believing” in my head most of this weekend- and singing it out doesn’t actually relieve me of having it in my head. Sometimes, it intensifies it. Finally, a guitar signed by George Harrison. Good stuff, good stuff.

Dave and Kassie headed off to spend some time together and Rachel and I headed down the street to meet and old friend of Rachel’s from YWAM- Cheesecake. Explanation- this girl’s name is Sonia. Middle name Lee. Sonia Lee. Very similar to Sarah Lee- aka- Sarah Lee cheesecake. So she gets called “Cheesecake”. This is very similar to the girl who decided I get to be named “Grape juice” because my last name is Walsh- similar to Welch. And Welch’s makes grape juice.

So we just walked around for a while, sat down outside for a while talking. But we decided it was getting kinda chilly, so we walked around a little more trying to find a nice little café type place to sit down. We found one, after putting out names in at the Rain Forest Café’s waiting list. And apparently, while Rachel and Sonia were standing in line waiting to get coffee and I was resting my legs and feet, Rachel mentioned something about Family Guy and the Simpsons. And for some reason, that made a huge difference in the direction of the conversation, and, ultimately, the night.

See, apparently, she had not been saying much and watching what she said because she didn’t want to offend a “pastor”. And those of you who know me know I’m not the type of guy to get really offended at stuff and I realize that if people are going to offend me, I’ll have to deal with it if I care about that person at all. So, anyway, finding out from her that hearing I’m a real person who’s not an uber-conservative went a long way toward us just being able to have real conversation among the three of us and not just have trivial small-talk that so often pervades conversations of people who get together to “catch-up.”

She becomes the second person in a short span of time to tell me if I were the pastor of a church, they’d be there in a heartbeat. It’s good to hear things like this sometimes, especially after having received really “beat-me-up” comments from someone recently that have gone the contrary to that. It doesn’t matter who says it, hurtful things that are said still hurt people- surprise. So hearing things like this from the people who I would want to reach with the Gospel or have as a core of people means a lot.

However, not to be the only one receiving encouragement, after having talked to Sonia, she shares with us what an encouragement it is to have spent time with us because we’re not very conservative, and neither is she, but she lives with 3 roommates who are super-conservatives and so she has a hard time being herself around them without feeling judged. So we feel as though we’ve had a really good night, and though it’s really late arrival again, it’s been a good day. Long day- and very eventful, but very good.

San Francisco Weekend- Day 2 (part 1)

3:00pm- “Gentlemen, welcome to The Rock!” Woke up at 7am so that we could head out at 8:30 to reach our destination of the early-bird Alcatraz tour (9:30). We found that our hotel has short shower heads, a small shower and a very small continental breakfast. Muffins and bread for toast, juice and coffee were the options. So Rachel and I went next door to the coffee shop and enjoyed breakfast sandwiches.

We took a quick walk down the street to one of the trolley-car depots in town that would take us down to Fisherman’s Wharf. As we turned on Powell St, we saw bleachers set up and signs for the Chinese New Year parade. I thought that usually happened in February, but apparently the first weekend of March is it this year. We discover that the trolley just down the street from the hotel is shutting down at from 3-9:30pm. So apparently we don’t take that trolley back to the hotel if we need to get back between then.

The trolley ride is, of course, one of the things everyone must do when in San Fran. It’s one of those things that are famous. And this trolley ride took us right beside the famous Lombard Street. Presque Isle, Maine has its own Lombard Street. It’s a steep street on the northeast side of town. But it’s not curvy. And not THAT steep. Until I was in high school, I didn’t realize that street got its name from the famous one in SF. And, I think my earliest recollection of Lombard here is seeing it in the original Tony Hawk’s pro skater- and if you can get going fast enough, you can get a sweet combo for just jumping all the way down Lombard.

Back to Lombard in real life, it’s early in the morning, so nobody’s trying their luck getting down the street. If anyone wants to, this is likely the only chance you’ll get to try the street without a dozen cars in front of and behind you, thus keeping you from moving down the street very well.

I thought the trolley would let us off a little closer to Fisherman’s Wharf as it had that name right on the trolley. But it was a little hike for us to get to pier 43. But we were looking for Pier 33. It’s already 9:10 and we’ve got another good hike to the pier. I was walking fast- a good dozen strides ahead of the rest of them. I was reminded of being in Boy Scouts and how my step-father and one of the other scout leaders were fast hikers and walkers. It’s not that we couldn’t keep up with them, we just didn’t because we weren’t fast walkers as they are.

5 minutes before we needed to be there, Rachel asked what time it was and the answer made us hurry up. Reaching into her purse for our pre-paid, pre-printed tickets, we almost ran in order to get to the Alcatraz ferry. It’s 9:29- an easy 30 seconds to spare. No worries! Feeling fortunate to have even pre-printed the tickets so we didn’t have to stop at the window, we moved to the lower level, front of the boat and enjoyed the cool breezes coming off the bay.

Alcatraz is one of the coolest things you could possibly do in San Francisco. There are lots of “tours” that will take you by the island and let you see it, but only one ferry that will take you to the island (which is a national park) and let you walk around. It’s a lot of sloped roadways and stuff to get up to the prison and to different areas of the island (surprise, surprise- sloped roads in San Francisco). They have a decent video that has been produced by Discovery Channel for people to view.

No, they don’t actually show “The Rock”, but they do let you go into and through the prison block. It’s not like in “So I Married an Axe Murderer” where the Rangers escort all the tours (and certainly not having Phil Hartman referring to “Machine Gun” Kelly)- they now have audio tours (reminiscent of the audio tours at the famous castles I saw in Scotland) that will take you through the prison. It was very thorough and really cool. The Rangers do offer alternative types of… well, for lack of a better term, classes. More specialized types of tours of Alcatraz- stuff like “escape from Alcatraz” and things like that.

Anyway, after having had our fill of the whole island, prison and more, we got on the 12:15 ferry back to the “mainland”. As we got back to pier, we headed back to Pier 39, one of the more loaded piers with stuff at Fisherman’s Wharf, for a quick bite. We decided it that we would walk around and enjoy some of this stuff there while we were there. Just as we got back, Rachel had called her friend who lives in SF and made plans to meet her at Pier 39 this evening. And we’re planning on going there for dinner, as well.

There were lots of fun stores to look in and see cool stuff. I was totally taken by this one store Rachel and I went into- Field of Dreams. It’s got some amazing sports memorabilia- signed photos, framed photos, signed baseballs, and lots of other fun stuff. On the way in the door, I notice this large picture of the World Series Champion 2004 Boston Red Sox- signed. I figure, it’s gotta be just a copy or something, because, after all, the price tag only says $51.99. We look around- they’ve got signed Ted Williams stuff, non-signed less expensive stuff, but finally, at the prodding of the salesman, I’ve gotten the ok and decide to spend $52 bucks on something for my office wall. Well, just as we’re getting it to the check-out, Rachel notices that there’s no decimal in the price we had seen. That’s right, $5200. Oops- that’s just a small error on our part- sorry, we can’t afford that.

Feeling like a complete stooge and idiot, I decide it’s time to leave so that my embarrassment can subside some. As we leave, we met back up with Dave & Kassie and decide it’s time to head back to hotel for a little afternoon down time. Rachel’s feet are sore and we’ve still got a little hike back to the trolley. But as we get back to the trolley station, there’s a HUGE line. I mean, probably a half dozen trolley cars packed full worth of people ahead of us. After standing for about 15 minutes, we decide that it doesn’t matter if we got the all day trolley pass; we’re going to get a taxi. Because it’s not worth waiting in line, and in a half hour, they’re shutting down that line of the trolley.

By now, we’re all quite warm. Sitting in the sun, no breeze cuz the harbor is a few blocks away. I’ve donned my Red Sox cap since before the pier experience. And we’re all hot, a little sweaty and feeling kinda gross now. So, we leave the trolley station in search of an empty taxi. Finally finding one, we get a nice, albeit terrifying (going up and down the steep streets in a cab) drive back to the hotel.

Rachel is almost dehydrated, having eaten very little and had even less to drink. Dave is also quite tired- ready for a break. So, we grab some of our grub and eat, and drink and try to recoup a little before dinner and then hanging out with Rachel’s YWAM friend tonight.

San Francisco trip

stay tuned in for the next couple days for the comprehensive "San Francisco weekend" blog. I've pretty much typed it all out, but want to go back over and make sure it's all good. I had intended to blog daily over the weekend, but couldn't find a wireless to connect to- despite the fact that the hotel should have had one for us.

anyway, here we go...

San Francisco Trip Blog:
Day 1- leaving & arriving

As I’m a terrible blogger, I felt this would be nice- to do a 3 blog series on our weekend trip to San Francisco with some friends of ours. So here we go.

We left Medford after Rachel and Kassie got off work to go get some quick food at the grocery store. After all that stuff, we got on I-5 around 5:30 or 5:45. Of course, we were looking forward to going over Siskiyou Summit. It’s the highest mountain pass on the entire I-5- which spans from San Diego up through Seattle and beyond to Canada. A full north/south highway on the West Coast. I’ve only been all the way up and over the pass once- and that was driving out here. 4310 ft above sea level. It had been raining and even snowing in the valley off and on all week (which snow is uncommon in the valley- a sign that even MORE snow lay ahead in the mountains). And there was a LOT of snow packed beside the road. Despite the potential of driving through the snow, there were only clouds around the mountains- no snow on the road.

As we began our descent into California, I was reminded of the only other time I’d been on I-5 this far south. It was the trip out here to Oregon, and as we drove forth, the idea that the Northwest is a bunch of pot-smoking hippies was reinforced as we drove through the town of Weed. Luke said it best in his blog of the drive out- they must have all gotten together and came up with their favorite name for their favorite plant and named a city that- Weed.

It was a rather uneventful drive, however. And it got dark shortly after we crossed into California, so we weren’t able to see much, anyway. We drove through the town of Redding after a couple hours- Rachel had taken the girls in the youth group to a water park there last summer. It was apparently not all that great of a place, but better than nothing and nothing is what Medford has. Just another reminder that while we may live in a town of decent size, and Redding is a little bigger than that, there’s still NOTHING around for miles and miles.

Our conversations were pretty varied, but so many things ended up falling into one of two categories. Either we were quoting "Family Guy" and reliving favorite episodes or moments, or we were talking about things that made me think of "Oops, I crapped my pants". Different stories relating to control issues leading around different ways our bodies releases its non-used materials. Absolutely hilarious, but, for you, my readers, you only get the ambiguous retelling.

Driving through the Sacramento Valley, we saw that our clouds had left us and we continued driving in the moon-lit glow of the full-moon. Turned on to I-80 in Sacramento. Both Rachel and Kassie were quick to remark how much of a real city it was. It’s got almost a half-million population, but that’s more than enough when you’ve been living in Medford. As we continued, we passed Ikea- right off the highway. In all it’s splendor. I found myself as the voice of reason saying to Rachel that we don’t need any more stuff as we’re already trying to get rid of stuff as we plan to move. And telling Dave they don’t need any more stuff, either, as they’ve just gotten a new sofa. Way to be the buzz-kill.

In one of the funnier moments, we saw a KFC/Del Taco sign. I have many times before seen a KFC/Taco Bell sign. But never with Del Taco. We began making fun of it immediately. “uh, yeah, I’d like to have a chicken leg in my taco, please!” or “ummm- can I get a mashed potatoes and gravy burrito?” well, at least we thought it was funny…

So here’s where it got tricky- the directions we had said it was 47 miles to a merging of highways, then another 6 to our exit. We misjudged that so many times that it lost all meaning to say “I think this may be where they merge!” until it was so obvious, we’d have had to be blind not to see it. But being blind, we’d have larger problems as we were driving… when we finally figured the merge out, we began looking for the exit. But the directions provided by hotels.com didn’t give us the right name for the exit and so we blew on past, just looking for Harrison St. Exit. And not finding it. It was almost midnight by now and we’re just ready to find our hotel. So, after doing a little turn around and deciding to just pick an exit where we thought it was- we knew the hotel is only a mile or two from Fisherman’s Wharf- we found the street we were looking for without even trying. What joy. Note to self for future- don’t use hotels.com directions again. I lay that blame on Rachel- I would have mapquested the directions, but she just printed out the directions from hotels.com an called it good. Not to pick on her or anything, though…

And from there, it was relatively easy- follow the directions again till we find our street. And as we traveled, we passed clubs and shops- and Kassie, who apparently has Rachel’s love for “real” cities, but only having lived in Salt Lake City, found herself loving this city. So, as we pulled up to the hotel- which was so amazingly well displayed that we missed it the first time- I found myself thinking- “I know who’ll leave her heart in San Francisco."

stay tuned for days 2, 3 and the picture recap!

pray-er types

I decided last week as I was praying with many different people that I wanted to do a blog about different praying styles. I think my interest in such a touchy subject began in high school when a friend of mine somehow picked up a small quirk in the language in her prayers. It mildly amused me, then i quickly chastised myself for ever having been so irreverent as to laugh at the way someone prays.

However, as reverently as possible, I wanted to share with you, how, over the years, I've found many different quirky ways people pray. Anyone who wants to tell me that I'm just being sacrilegious and i need to focus on God- try to grow a funny bone or something. This is just for fun and I actually hope someone will laugh with me on this as the may actually realize they know someone who prays like that... or because i've gone ludicrously over the edge.

1. The "Father God" pray-er- we all have probably at one point in time or another seen one of these. They are the person who every other word of the prayer comes out as "Father God" so a small tidbit of the prayer may look like- "we just ask, Father God, that you, Father God, would put your hand, Father God, on this worship time, Father God,..." actually funny stuff when you retrospect it, but I don't encourage anyone to laugh during prayer time! (Also, closely associated with the "Father God" pray-er is the "Lord God" pray-er- simply replacing Father with Lord, but to the same result)
2. The low pray-er- you probably know this person, too. The person who kinda 'gets in the zone' when praying and their voice just changes. It becomes REALLY soft, often times at a higher pitch. something about his/her prayer just seems so fervent when the pitch raises and the decibel level decreases. I find myself in this trap sometimes, and then laugh at myself when i'm out of it. (consequently, thanks to Seinfeld for the name of this- just like the "low talker" no one could hear)
3. the "best-friend" pray-er- this guy prays like he's just talking to his best friend. He says "uhhh..." about a million times in a 2 minute prayer. And they say stuff that makes some more "religious" people kinda cringe. But it's actually really cool because these people don't have a clue what they're 'supposed' to do- they just pray what's on their hearts. But kinda funny when they pray stuff like "Uhh.... God, give me the... uh.... strength to... uh... love You more... and, uh... stuff"
4. the "all-powerful" pray-er- this girl still reads only the King James version of the Bible that was written in 1612 and therefore, finds it completely irreverent to address God in ways other than "Thee" or "Thou". The prayers are very magnificent with lots of grandeur in the delivery. They fill the room with the person's volume and fervency. There are small hesitations in the prayer that are not looking for words, but simply to add to the effect of the prayer. Unfortunately, funny as some may find this later, this type of pray-er is dying out slowly as the church becomes more 'irreverent'.
5. The "written" pray-er- while at college, I found myself experiencing written prayers during chapel. I heard much criticism of this, and to the opposite- almost no one actively supporting it (although there may have been many who did so, but did not voice their support). It's mildly amusing to think of some people who write their prayers out before praying them- which actually makes it praying twice. I think i'd laugh really hard to know someone sat down and tweaked the prayer to make sure the right words were said- this almost implies more thought into the way an audience or group of people hears the prayer because the scriptures are clear that God knows our hearts and thoughts and the words we use are not as important as the time we set aside. But, to the credit of this, i know that chapel at Messiah was always a very crowded time- trying to facilitate a real experience in only 45 minutes that included a chapel speaker on almost any given tuesday or thursday. Having been the organizer for an elective chapel, i know how hard it was to try and do so many different things in that time.
   

So, there they are. What I was able to think of off the top of my head. Did i miss any? or did you resonate with some of these? Do you know some of these? am i just being sacrilegious?

Top 5 Concerts

Having been to one of the best concerts i can remember, i have decided to do this post. First, i want to share some of the quality of memorable concerts.

first- sing-a-bility. the better i know the band, the better the concert can be. unknown bands can barely be given high marks because i don't know the music (and loudness usually makes it better, in general) and the enjoy-able factor is lessened usually. noteable exception to this is the band "Disciple" whom i've never heard of, and is a little heavier than my usual taste, but did a great concert regardless. not top 5 worthy, but good.

second- as noted above, volume. concerts that don't make my clothes vibrate on me, particularly from the bass or kick drum, are not worth my time. that is, if it's a rock concert. the "Shane & Shane" worship night at my college church calls to mind a different type of concert that was still great.

thirdly- blending of the old and new- especially on a concert tour when they're promoting a new disc- if they do too much old stuff, no one is enticed to listened to the new stuff and if they do only new stuff, everyone gets bored and goes home.

fourth- overall general feeling, including stage presence of the band. 'nuff said.

with all that said, i do want to mention this- this list excludes the music festivals i've been to- Creation, Purple Door, Kingdom Bound- they've had some GREAT concerts- some of them comparable to the best. but too many to remember between the many different years i've been to these festivals.

now the list:
1. Audio Adrenaline- venue- Messiah College. My favorite Christian band of all time. I cannot argue that, especially when considering the nostalgia factor. they were not on tour so their set list was whatever they wanted it to be- old, new, audience suggestions (Although they didn't listen to me yelling "scum sweetheart"). but they stuck to the best stuff and went out from there. excellent.

2. Switchfoot- Main1 Arts Center in Medford, OR. the concert described below. look at previous post to see why this one ranks up there.

3. Five Iron Frenzy- Performing Arts Center at Lancaster Mennonite High School. I went to this concert by myself- couldn't find anyone in my dorm to go with me, but ended up hanging out with the "Rock For Life" booth guys. this concert had some good lead up, but far and away, one of my favorite bands doing an excellent show. capped off by the ever excellent "Every New Day" song, but also by getting my picture taken with the band who was just hanging around afterward. also, them holding my sign saying they liked my band...

4. Supertones- Forum in Woodstock, New Brunswick. Getting harder to remember all the concerts that were far and above. However, the Supertones were one of my favorite bands from their first album. I have been disappointed of late, but this concert in 1999 was off the charts. my youth pastor, as i was a youth leader by then, was not taking a group so I took a group of kids from the group in my mom's van. it was worth all of it. And their "worship" set in the middle was totally novel then, and very visibly and extension of their hearts.

5. Third Day- Giant Center in Hershey PA. This concert was pretty decent. it's harder and harder for me to like Third Day, not for their music but due to other factors. But this was before that, and the concert, while it was good, would not be in the top 5 save for this one thing- the company was the best company i've ever had- Rachel. She and i went together and that made this concert.

noteable achievers- the Kutless concert i went to a year ago- "Hearts of the Innocent" Tour- where the band Disciple opened for them. Also, first Newsboys concert i went to- when i liked them and it was the first time (of 5) that i saw this particular concert. Audio Adrenaline at Cincy '98 was also quite good.

Switchfoot Concert review

tonight, i witnessed one of the best concerts i have ever been to. hands down. see my next post which will recount what makes a good concert and what my top 5 are. but here, i wanted to break down the concert a little.

first, the disappointment. the band opening for Switchfoot was named "Copeland" and they were ok. they were drummerless, making just two acoustic guitars. it was kinda Shane & Shane-esque, but not to their level. The voice was alright and i was pretty pleased with the guitar work of the 2nd player. But in general, a bit of a letdown and i'd really like to hear them with a drummer before making any final judgements.

2nd on the sad scale- the concert was supposed to start at 7- it didn't start till 7:25. and while Copeland only played for about 20 minutes, it was almost 8:20 till Switchfoot finally came on. that made for a lot of standing around. the venue was nice and all- like a large night club, but the floor was concrete so it was tough to stand on.

Switchfoot enters, people scream. sometimes, i wonder if the screaming is louder actually than the music. So they start to play and it's nice and loud, very peppy. I can't honestly remember the order of some of the songs, all i can say is that as far as concerts go, these guys know how to translate their good studio work onto the stage (something bands like Jars of Clay had a hard time doing early on). It sounds just like the "Nothing is Sound" and "OH! Gravity" albums from which the first few songs come.

I would honestly compare this concert to an Audio Adrenaline concert i've been to. They have an excellent album that is the standard by which everything else they do is compared. and so far, they're measuring up to "The Beautiful Letdown" pretty well, although I hardly know the albums since the same way. But, it's like Audio Adrenaline's "Bloom"- if they do a lot of songs from there and add a few here or there, they can't go wrong.

Well, that's the feeling I got. a good smattering of their albums, but in general, center it all around the best complete album they've done. They played well, had excellent stage presence and just in general, made the audience feel a part of the show and not simply spectators.

Notable things:
inclusions- "Learning to Breathe"- from their self-proclaimed early years album by the same title, this song apparently was voted on their website to be in the concert. good song, loved to play it on the radio when i was a DJ in college. ahhh... memories. also, "Twenty-Four", one of my favorite songs of theirs. done just with the acoustic and in such a way that you could hear the audience singing along loudly. excellent.

exclusions- almost "Dare You to Move" until they did it in the encore, which plays into the idea that they planned the encore. "Chem 6a", a classic song from the "Legend of Chin" album that seems to make its way around, even being joked around on the guitar by one of the "Copeland" guitarists... Also, "On Fire", a light song off "the Beautiful Letdown" that just sings of serenity and beauty.

other notes- one kid actually brought a lighter into the concert. i'm not sure how he got it past security and they appeared to take it from him, but for the early part of the slower songs, this kid was waving his lighter... i felt like i was in 80s heaven or something... (and the dragon comes in the niiiiiiight!)

This concert ranks an A+ on the concert-o-meter. with classics like "Gone", "This is Your Life", "Stars", "Meant to Live" and new classics like "OH! Gravity" along side the other songs you know you know but just can't put your finger on it- this concert was great.

Purpose of Youth Ministry

Firstly, this blog was written by request for the friend of a friend. I worked a little at a time on it over the past couple months, but I was very close to NOT finishing it as my friend Luke wrote something I felt was similar. But I had a few minutes in the early morning while I was at a conference and so here it is.

Youth ministry (as in ministry to teenagers) began in the 1960s. Para church groups actually made the original strides in youth ministry. The church had been doing Sunday School for some time and had become effective at reaching children with the Gospel. However, they were not able to keep the children after they had grown into teenagers. There were a lot of things vying for time and attention and the Church was not, by-and-large, keeping teenagers after they were out of Sunday School/Children’s ministry.

With that background said, I’m going to share a little bit now of what I view as NOT a good reason or primary purpose of youth ministry.

- a positive alternative for youth that offers a safe environment for kids and doesn’t have the negative effects that the world does.

We hear this so much. We want to offer a “fun” alternative to the world for youth. Many youth ministries can be seen doing this when it seems that all they offer is fun and there is no real Gospel teaching or discipleship. There’s a national Christian radios station with a broadcast tower in our area whose slogan is “Positive Alternative”. Even Christian music- while alternative may not be a bad thing, it should not be the main thing. Youth ministry should be more than just “an alternative”.

The purpose of youth programming in the church should be primarily this:

Providing a venue within the Church for evangelism to and intentional discipleship of teenagers and working toward their incorporation into the Church.

I like this working definition because it outlines a few key things. It provides that we are not just serving our own, but there needs to be a reaching out. Just as churches should grow through conversions, youth ministries want to see that positive growth. Reaching lost people with the gospel is important. Hand in hand with that, it also outlines that youth ministry should be used as a process to be discipling teenagers. It doesn’t take someone who’s cool or someone who knows it all- it just takes being real with them. As our primary focus should be the kingdom of God, however, and seeing as Jesus commanded his disciples to “make disciples of all nations”, it makes sense that discipleship should be a major concern. And as my Evangelism and Discipleship professor in college used to state, Evangelism and Discipleship are like “fruit and fiber”- why have one without the other?

Also we hear a lot of talk about how the youth are the church of tomorrow. But the truth is, just because they are young does not disqualify them from participation in the Church today. They are the Church of today AND tomorrow. The Church has not simply stayed the same for the past 1900 years and in the past 50-100 people have decided to change it. Christ’s body has been like the organism it is- shifting and changing since its inception. It does not mean that to shift the “look” of Church (without compromise of the message of Christ) is to betray our heritage.

Finally, I’d like to make the point that youth ministry, just as adult ministry, should rarely be about the “Get as many people as we can here and preach the evangelistic message to the so that hopefully a few will respond”. I do not mean anything against large evangelistic meetings, but to do so has met with such poor follow-up results. If we are about making disciples as much as we’re about simply evangelizing, then we MUST recognize the small value of getting someone to say a prayer at an event and then not ever think about that again. In youth ministry especially, teens want people to be real, and they themselves aren’t going to make a commitment lightly at an event if they don’t think they’ll do anything about it after the event.

There, I think I’ve hit my creative quota for the day. Does anyone who reads this have any other ideas? Or thoughts? Or, most especially, any dangers of youth ministry? I haven’t listed any of those- maybe I’ll blog those another time. But I welcome the thoughts for such a topic.

and this little piggy went wii, wii, wii...

I got my major birthday present yesterday. albeit 3 days after my birthday, it was worth the wait. I wasn't expecting it on my birthday because before Christmas, stores couldn't seem to keep this in stock- and still can't. But I have a friend who's an electronics manager at a local wal-mart. And when he got the shipment yesterday, he clocked out and went and purchased a Nintendo Wii. Which he gave to Rachel, who paid him back for it and it then was given to me as my birthday present.

I have been very excited about this. I can't think of any one game system I have gotten so close to it's release. But my gaming experience goes far back. I seem to remember we had an Intelevision when I was very young. When I had my heart surgery when I was 6 (1987), mom purchased a Nintendo Entertainment System for my brothers and I on our way back to PI from Portland. It was an early one. it came with ROB the Robot and the game Gyromite and Duck Hunt(for those of you who are thinking, yes, it WAS before they all came with the Super Mario Bros/Duck Hunt combo cartridge). Sometime shortly thereafter, our grandmother unkowingly got one of the best games ever made for us for Christmas- the Legend of Zelda. Unlike so many times it is portrayed that grandma gets the "golf pro" game or something lame like that- she actually asked a guy in the store and he directed her to the Legend of Zelda as one of the hottest games at the time. It still stands the test of time.

For Christmas in 1993, I asked my dad for a Super Nintendo. It had been released a good time earlier, but by now, they were findable and they had just released the 3rd Zelda game- A Link to the Past. this is consequently perhaps the best Zelda game created (in regards to the story). Ryan got the Zelda game, I got the Super NES. it was a good combo as he was the best gamer in the family and i took after him as much as i could (he may have just had more time since he had 4 hip surgeries and was bed ridden for a long time- his bed was moved into the living room so he could watch tv/play games).

I remember Ryan got an N64 not too long after it was released and I liked playing it- I remember playing the Ocarina of Time in the spring of 1999 during my spring break (leading up to a huge youth conference he and I were going to with his church's youth group) and I beat the game in 5 days. It is the best game of the Zelda's with the combination of graphics, good story and excellent playability with a small learning curve. In getting my own N64 system, however, I was quite late and i only got Ryan's extra one as a Christmas gift.

I was also late with my GameCube, which i waited until fall of 2005 to buy one, as i was laid off work and also figured it to be useful in my ministry stuff. I only bought this for the Zelda game, but was rewarded with a handful of fun titles. and also rewarded because of the multiplayer fun games that my youth group eat up when i bring my system for fun nights.

Now, Rachel has gotten me the Wii. which is exactly what you do when you play it- say "Weee, Weee" because not only are you playing a game, but you are forced into it. you are forced into Boxing, tennis, bowling, baseball and golf (meh) by swining the bat or racket, rolling the ball and punching. it's excellent!!

much like the GameCube, I REALLY wanted this for the Zelda title that was released- since I had been anticipating the Twilight Princess for over a year now. And it doesn't disappoint!! But as for the system, those who laugh at the title should still be awed at how engaging it is to play! you cannot simply sit on the sofa to play it!! And for the price, it beats the other ones in it's generation- beating the already been out for months xbox360 by at least $150. And with some great launch titles.

There's a reason that my friend has 3 ps3's sitting on his shelf while he sells out of Wii's in mere minutes. Way to go Nintendo- you may not win the console war, but you will win a lot of people back with the innovative control style and the easy of use with the new controller!! as a Nintendo guy for most of my life, this one does not disappoint!!

yes, yes, i know

So, i know numbers are not everything. and as a matter of fact, they are often barely times anything at all. but we had our youth ministry Christmas party on Friday, Dec. 15 and had an all time high of 17!! it's been exciting to have been here for a year and all, but this was by far the most exciting number. it's the largest anything youth group thing i've done as a youth pastor (since i've basically tried to build two youth ministries out of nothing) and i'm stoked...

i know we're affecting our kids out here and all- and i know that we're making a difference. and that's good. i guess i just need a reminder sometimes. we don't have too many more now than we did when we arrived, but at the same time, i can think of at least 5 of our regular/semi regulars who were NOT attending when we started here. and I can think of at least 3 or 4 who are no longer going to our church so not attending, either. so we've kinda lost some and replaced them- but from the "numbers" view, it's stayed the same.

the big thing is that we have been able to not lose most of the kids who were here when we started. that was a BIG concern- that most of them were too far gone for us to keep them. and i'd say we lost one becasue she was ready to head out, but the others were family reasons that they stopped attending our church. And the rest that were around, we have done what we can and gotten them in- even the one that i was SURE i was going to lose from the moment i came out here. not that we don't connect, just that he was already kinda doing another thing for church... but... yeah. so now, we've got some kids that have been very inconsistent since we came here that we're trying to get more involved... and of course, i've been trying to get in the schools to make my face more known to the friends the kids in the youth group will invite.

anyway- i'm just pretty excited after having a big number tonight. hopefully our friday nights will continue to produce some growth (since that's what they were designed for). ok- i'm exhausted from not having a minute of rest since early this morning... i'm about to pass out...

CNN article on Christianity

I found this as I was scanning the headlines today. I was very impressed that this comes from the son of Jim & Tammy Faye- considering how super-conservative they are. I think the article speaks for itself, but goes along well with some of what i've been more recently feeling from a political standpoint as a Christian.

i'd love to entertain any thoughts...

feeling like stealing

As I feel like i'm stealing another idea from Luke, i have still decided to do this. I hope he sees it- I especially since Larry Bird is one of my celebs. So despite seeming to follow luke into the blogging world and now with this celebrity look alike... I still beat Luke to moving across the country, which, by the way- was over a year ago. wow...

anyway- enjoy

oxymoron

I was thinking about this today as I was listening to a relatively new CD- new to me. I'd bought it for the worship ministry at church- resource not only for music we may play, but also to play in the background before and after service. it was a worship CD with a bunch of different groups and worship leaders.

And I got listening to a version on there that they had of the song "Rescue" from the CD Desperation. The original was done very well and was just in general, good. this newer (really other- the song is only 2 years old- and only popular the past year or so) version was, in my opinion, inferior. it was not only a cover, but a cover done with little to none of the band's own flavor in it.

the group who performed it, however, was what got me intrigued enough to write a blog. it's the band "Newsong"/

now fofgive me, but doesn't that sound weird? Newsong is performing a bad cover of someone else's song.

Christian Pop-culture

Rachel called me this morning. in a Christian bookstore catalogue, she notice this. Wow. that's all i can say. apparently the caption in the catalogue says "now your kids can dance for the Lord".

It really was a confirmation to me because the other day, i wrote down a question that I really wanted to get some discussion on. It was spurred on because I was reminded of this Christian comedian. After watching some of his stuff, I found him to be funny. But the people who told me about this guy, Brad Stine, are kinda sheltered kids. It made me really want to start a discussion about something that is becoming so huge now. A popular, christian sub-culture.

We've already got (and had for some years) Christian music. I remember that when I was in high school, I would only listen to Christian music. And while I firmly believed it was a matter of my own personal convictions, I would secretly wonder about how serious people were about their faith who listened to "the radio" or CDs from non-Christian artists. Obviously, this was wrong thinking on my part. While there are obviously some bands that promote sin or even simple immorality, there are many non-Christian groups that don't have anything specifically wrong with their music.

There have also been books for some time now, too- including popluar Christian novels. But even now, there are books that have reached "craze" status, regardless of if it's Christian or not.

Anyway, back to the point- it used to be just Christian music. But recently, there have been videos and movies (look at all the apocalypse movies), comedians, video games- seemingly everything. And it makes me wonder WHY. Can Veggie Tales DDR seriously be to help someone's spirituality?

I want to ask the question- does it make us more or less spiritual if we choose (or choose not) to engage ourselves in this sub-culture simply because it's Christian? should we not be disappointed at the poor quality some Christian bands display, but they get a contract because they're "Christian". should we not want good music, funny comedians and well written books?

I am reminded of the band Tree63 telling about being in South Africa (where there music is top-40 type stuff) and there's no Christian or non-Christian music. if a Christian band wants to get recorded, then they have to be GOOD- good enough to compete with non-Christian music.
so I ask the question that I have been wondering for a few days...

Does the popular Christian sub-culture of today reflect:

a)A positive alternative to the negative influences found in normal popular culture?

b)A way for Christian parents to shelter their children and teenagers (or for Christian teens and adults to shelter themselves) from the bad aspects of popular culture?

c)the honest desire of the hearts of Christians to use their gifts in ways to share the Gospel, or at least be a positive influence?

d)desire on the part of media corporations to make money off the segment of the population who designate themselves as Christians?

e)A true desire to be a people who are "set apart"?

f)some combination or these or something else entirely?

I would LOVE to entertain some thoughts.

While I work, I'm away

While I'm working on a new post for a friend dealing with youth ministry and its purpose, I have been visiting his blog and while I waited quite a while for him to post something new, it was well worth the wait! click here to read his most recent post that has impressed me. And be encouraged by his transparent honesty.

visit from family

I had a wonderful visit this past weekend from some of my family! My mother, step-father, grandmother and mom's best friend came to visit Rachel and I out here on the West Coast! We had a very fun visit, spending a lot of time travelling to some of the fun things and places near us! Feel free to check out the pictures that I have posted on my flickr. I also have added some new pictures to my profile here, so feel free to look at those and comment!

a quick overview- they arrived on thursday evening just in time for me to hear from my piano player that she would not be at worship practice, so with practice cancelled, we helped the check into the hotel and then had them over for dinner (a crock pot meal we'd been cooking). I spent most of the day friday with them- getting a start later in the morning- going to lunch with Rachel around noon time and then taking them to a few places around (noteably- up Mt. Ashland near us which is almost on the California border). Saturday, we got an early start and went to the Redwoods, including driving through a tree and also went to the southern Oregon Coast. It was a GREAT day.


Sunday, I had arranged to preach in church and we had a pot-luck following. After that, we took the rest of the afternoon to drive up to Crater Lake. It was the first time Rachel and I had been, despite my desire to have gone many times this summer. It was simply amazing!!!


It was great to have some more familiar faces out here and wonderful to spend time with everyone. While i know not everyone can, rachel and I would love to entertain any of our family and friends who can come to visit us. That's all for now (been quite busy) but I hope to be posting some more topics in the near future as food for thought. don't forget to check out the pictures from this weekend.

remember

today marks 5 years from the day that the World Trade Center and Pentagon were attacked by terrorists. While I know there will likely be thousands of blogs of reflection, I wanted to give some personal perspective to any readers I may have, if I have any.

I remember where I was when I found out. Everyone has said since that this would be to my generation (whichever generation i'm a part of- Gen-x of millenial- but it works for both) what the Kennedy assasination was to my parents' generation. Everyone will remember where they were, what they were doing, how they found out. Just like the old far side comic with the forest animals gathered around sharing where they were with the caption reading "All the forest animals would forever remember what they were doing when Bambi's mother was killed".

I remember getting to my youth min class just in time to watch the 2nd tower fall after hearing vague reports after leaving chapel about some kind of attack on the pentagon. the planes hit the WTC before chapel started, but most of us were unaware of that because they'd either just crawled out of bet to be in chapel or else they were unfortunate as I was to have an 8am class on that thursday.

I also remember that we sat and talked for a little while during class, but our prof released us early becuase he figured that class was pointless then. Being in Pennsylvania, we were directly between the two major hits, and of course, not that far from the thwarted attempt, as well. i remember that i felt a little guilty for getting out of classes the rest of the day becaue at that time, i didn't really think i knew anyone who would have been there or was affected. but as it turned out, the associate youth pastor at my church was best friends with one of the guys who we discovered later was one of the people on flight 93 (western PA) who thwarted the terrorists. of course, with or without this, I found myself grieving for what this meant for the country and the people who WERE directly affected.

I remember members of congress getting together that evening on the steps of the capital building and singing "God bless America". I remember bi-partisan support of pursuing the terrorist groups responsible for this and seemingly all Americans in unanimous support of the strong leadership president Bush provided at the time. I remember that the petty squabbling that had engulfed our country not a year earlier as the debate raged over who won the presidential election was completely forgotten.

I remember that people were not opposed to needing to show up early for their flights when flights resumed. They were not opposed to extra security measures. There were no complaints because everyone was just happy to feel safe.

And I look at these rememberances as a stark comparisson to what I see again. I see Americans who feel safe again without reason as the terrorist have undoubtedly not stopped, but have been working on even more plans. I see Americans get angry for added security at airports instead of being happy that they can fly (hopefully) safely.

I see Americans hating the president, calling for his head, awaiting the day he leaves office. I see that there seems to have never been as big of a divide between the two political parties that dominate American politics as there is at this time.

and yet- today, we remember. Today is a day to commemorate those who died due to the hatred and malice of others- one of the greatest acts of man's hatred toward other men. Perhaps we can also remember how we were, for at least one moment, united. Perhaps we can remember that we don't have to hate one another or let stuipd divisions like political beliefs or affiliations divide us as people. Perhaps we can see that if we don't stop down the path we are on, we will have it happen again- this time perhaps from within due to the hatred that is bred within our own country.

Perhaps... as belivers in Christ, pehaps we can remember to pray. We can remember to ask God to show us the people around us as He sees them, not as enemies, but as lost people who are in despearate need. Perhaps we can remember that our faith has the ability to unite people and share the ultimate love.

rememberance and pride

I have been a fan of David Crowder Band since I first heard them. David Crowder has written a good book that I read. But... I just got the album "A Collision" by the band. And while it sounds pretty decent all-around, there's a song on it that bothers me. The song also made its way onto the latest Passion CD- "Everything Glorious". Maybe it just reminds me too much of another song that really kills me because of it's content... it's called "We Win" which seems close to the same theme as the song "I Win".

I have a friend- James- who told me that they were singing this song "I win" one day in chapel at his college... He got frustrated, went up on stage and said "Don't you get it- WE DON'T WIN- GOD DOES!" I was very happy for that because i'm a huge fan of thinking through the theology of songs before introducing them into useage for congregational singing. the lines of this song are "no matter what the weapon is, I want you to know that I win (echo- I win)" and the chorus is just a repeating "I win, I win, I win, I win..."

I like Crowder's song slightly more because it is WE win, not I win. there's a HUGE theological difference with using one word or the other, and even in corporate worship, singing all songs with I in there tend to get the focus on "I'm worshipping" not "we're worship together" and ultimately, focus away from who we are worshipping. getting back on topic, however, the lyrics of Crowder's song are along the lines of "Cause we've already won and you don't have a chance, yeah we've already won and you don't have a chance" however, offeste by... "This is for His Glory, His glory- we have already won".

to those looking for a short read, i apologize- those paragraphs prior to this were only the introduction. This newer song and the other one that sends shivers down my spine have gotten me thinking about the nature of a few things. First, Crowder talks about shouting, shouting until the walls come down. It got me thinking about ancient Israel. They certainly had their share of victories, sadness and they are interesting to study. There are stories that we're all relatively familiar with like the battle of Jericho where they go, march around the wall and on the last day, they all yell (that would work GREAT- if the walls were made of Jell-o. ooh- then we could just eat 'em) and the walls come down. this is the story that got me thinking.

Then there's the story of Gideon, who weeded out almost 32,000 to get the 300 guys voted "most unlikely to fight and win a battle" in high school. He took those 300 because God asked him to trim the army down and those 300 went into battle and without even raising a sword, they routed the enemy.

Both of these stories are not to be studied by generals or military geniuses. The strategy will not win the battle in the natural. But when God told them to, He took care of it. It makes me wonder, however, what did people think after the battle. They seem to have forgotten what God did for them so many times (the book of Judges- they got oppressed again) the people seem to have forgotten. But they didn't forget what was done- it's hard to forget that the reason we are not oppressed is because the enemy was defeated. So perhaps pride is the reason. God did things HIS way to ensure that no one could take glory for them, but as the participants fade away and pass away, perhaps the descendents have forgotten what was done for the people who came before.

And so perhaps we have people bragging about "I win" because they have forgotten that we didn't even fight the battle. We may struggle, but the REAL battle that has already been won was won by Jesus Christ on the cross. it's not the struggle that we have today against sin and perhaps evil powers, but Christ's victory over sin that matters most to us today. And we would do best not to forget it.