Music Set 12.07.08

Here is the music that we used for 12.07.08 - Week 1 of "Fear Not".

My Glorious (Martin Smith)
O Praise Him (David Crowder)
Madly (Steve Fee)
Jingle Bell Rock (Joe Beal/Jim Boothe as performed by Geoff Moore)

Steve preached on Matthew 1:18-25. Here is the general outline:

When Life Doesn't Turn Out Like You Planned
1. Choose Compassion
2. Do What's Right
3. Listen for God's Direction
4. Obey What God Says
5. Trust God

Make sure you come next week (12.14.08) for week 2 of "Fear Not."
Remember that this is an invitation service so make sure to invite some friends.

--Will

Music Set 11.30.08

Here's the music we used for 11.30.08 in our final week of "Crazy Love":

Can't Buy Me Love (The Beatles)
Beautiful One (Tim Hughes)
Your Love Is Extravagant (Darrell Evans)
Jesus, Lover Of My Soul (It's All About You) (Paul Oakley)
Blessed Be Your Name (Matt Redman)

Looking forward to next week as we start our Christmas series, "Fear Not"

--Will

Music Set 11.23.08

Here's the music we used for 11.23.08

Long Train Runnin' (The Doobie Brothers)
Our Love Is Loud (David Crowder)
All We Need (Charlie Hall)
How Deep The Father's Love For Us (Stuart Townend as performed by Skillet)
Everlasting God (Brenton Brown as performed by Lincoln Brewster)

--Will

Music Set 11.16.08

Here is the music that we used on 11.16.08

When Love Comes To Town (U2 as performed by Todd Agnew)

Hallelujah (Brenton Brown)

Madly (Steve Fee)
Your Love Oh Lord (Third Day)
Forever (Chris Tomlin)

--Will

Crazy Love Promo

Crazy Love Promo @ Yahoo! Video

What is Reveal?

Good question. Glad you asked. As we get ready to kick things off in a few weeks, I thought it would be good to let this first post answer that question.

Purpose: Reveal exists to be a place where the glory of the Lord can be revealed to a world desperately in need of the presence of God. Our focus verse is Isaiah 40:5.

How: Reveal will be a worship gathering of First Baptist Church, Rock Hill that will officially launch to the public on January 25, 2009. The worship gathering will involve very contemporary, band-led music along with multimedia and interactive elements.

Music: The music will include remixed hymns, contemporary worship (i.e. David Crowder Band, Shane and Shane, Matt Redman, Third Day, etc.) and some secular music.

Where: Reveal will meet in the Apex in the Rock student center at 481 Hood Center Dr.

When: Reveal will start at 11:55am on Sundays. The public launch will be January 25, 2009. However, the launch team began meeting in September. Our first worship gathering as a team was September 14.

Who: Everyone is invited to be a part of Reveal. There is no age-limit, no dress code, no previous experience required. We desire for Reveal to be a place where God can reveal Himself to you regardless of who you are, where you come from, what you've experienced in the past, or what you're experiencing right now.

Hopefully this answers a few of the pressing questions that you or someone you know may have about Reveal. However, if you need to ask something that's not answered here, you can post a question in the comments or email me at jamieb@fbcrockhill.org.

-- Peace, Jamie

Crazy Love

The computers at the church are still conspiring against me. I tried to post from there a couple of times today and still can't get through. Sooo, it's Friday night. I've been shopping at Target and Best Buy, got ice cream at Coldstone, stopped by to visit my favorite Lab, and now I'm home.

So I thought I would remind everyone that we kick off our Crazy Love series this weekend. Remember our start time is now 11:55 instead of 11:45.

Also, we have begun announcing Reveal in the church newsletter so I'm keeping the What is Reveal post at the top as much as possible just in case we have some new visitors wondering what's going on.

I'll see you Sunday.

-- Peace, Jamie

Music Set 11.02.08

Here is the music that we used on 11.02.08

Washed By The Water (Needtobreathe)

All Who Are Thirsty (Brenton Brown)

--Will

Back on Line

Looks like whatever was causing the problems is over and we're back on line. That being said, this Sunday, we will have a very important meeting at 11:45am in the Apex. Please plan on being there if at all possible. I think September and October were very important times. The two series allowed us to look at transition times between small group and the beginning of Reveal. They allowed us to get a feel of what being on stage is going to be like. They also allowed us to see how important planning 4-6 months ahead is going to be. Now it's time to start getting ready for January 11 and 25.

January 11 is the in-house launch date. Reveal will be open to anyone who wants to attend. January 25 is the public launch date. We will begin advertising Reveal and January 25 in the next few weeks.

Keep praying that we will be able to connect with unchurched and dechurched people in the Rock Hill area. Keep praying that our church will become passionate about reaching people who are desperately in need of a savior.

We'll see you Sunday.

Peace - Jamie

Music Set 10.19.08

Here is the music that we used on 10.19.08

My Glorious (Martin Smith)

Beautiful One (Tim Hughes)

She Walked Away (BarlowGirl)

Every Breath You Take (The Police)

I Am Free (Jon Egan)

--Will

Music Set 10.12.08

Here is the music we used on 10.12.08

Opening Song (Full Band)

Run - Collective Soul

Acoustic Worship Set

We Are Hungry - Brad Kilman

Kindness - Chris Tomlin

Hungry - Kathryn Scott

Your Love Is Extravagant - Darrell Evans

Communion Song

Breathe - Marie Barnett

Closing Song (Full Band)

I Am Free - Jon Egan

--Will

Blogging

I've had trouble blogging from the office. So I'm doing this from home tonight. After a very busy Sunday, I took yesterday off to hang out with my family. It was a fun day. We headed to Asheville to eat at the Moose Cafe, to shop at the farmer's market and to stop by Granddad's Apple farm. I have video of a running llama that hopefully will make it to the internet sometime soon.

Reflections from Sunday:

• I enjoyed preparing for Sunday as much as I enjoyed Reveal on Sunday. Preparing the message, setting up the room, even lighting the candles meant a lot to me.

• The acoustic worship set was a cool change of pace. Ending with "I Am Free" was an awesome way to walk out of a worship gathering.

• Being a part of the Lord's Supper is always a sobering and exhilarating way to remember what Jesus did for each one of us.

• Thanks to Stacey Cooper for putting out the snacks for the band and technical team.

Just a reminder that this week, we will be wrapping up the "Born to Run" series with a sermon about the greatest runner. Friends are invited to join us since it is Friend Day at FBC.

-- peace, jamie

Born to Run, Week 2

This morning we looked at Moses and how he ran from his mistake. I would love to get your feedback about the worship gathering. Below are the elements of the worship. Feel free to post a comment or email me (jamieb@fbcrockhill.org).

-- Peace, Jamie

• Countdown (Shane and Shane)
• Welcome
• Song (Run)
• Prince of Egypt, clip 1
• Message, pt 1
• Music (We Are Hungry, Kindness)
• Message, pt 2
• Music (Hungry, Your Love Is Extravagant)
• Prince of Egypt, clip 2
• Message, pt 3
• Communion
• Music (Breathe)
• Closing Remarks
• Music (I Am Free)

Also, feel free to comment on the visuals including the handout.

Sunday at Reveal

Will and I have spent the past couple of days preparing and planning for Sunday at Reveal and I am completely pumped for what's coming. It will be totally unlike anything that we've experienced so far. It will be experiential, interactive, reflective and celebratory. Yep! It's going to be awesome.

Unlike last week, we want to begin right at 11:45. So whatever you've got going on, I would encourage you to get away and be in the Apex by 11:40 to get ready. At the close of Reveal, we will be celebrating the Lord's supper which is always one of the favorite events in my walk with Christ.

Also, this Sunday we will not have evaluation forms at Reveal. But please take mental notes and come here on Sunday afternoon to offer your reflections.

Tomorrow, I am heading to Atlanta for Catalyst so blogging may be sporadic until next week.

-- peace, jamie

Stephanie Godfrey

Here's Stephanie's testimony from week 2 of our Reveal series.

Stephanie Testimony @ Yahoo! Video

MMQB

I'm still trying to get back in the swing of blogging after my two weeks in conferences and retreats. Sorry that it has been so sporadic. Here are my reflections from yesterday (and the first three full weeks of Reveal).

• The band is kicking it and getting better every week. As much as I enjoyed Are You Ready? and Give a Little Bit, Life Is A Highway was even better. Also, finishing with I Am Free left me wanting more. In fact a few of us were still standing around about 20 minutes later like we were hoping that it wouldn't end.
• We are still working on timing. Yesterday was the first time that we didn't get started at 11:45. I think we actually got things going around 11:50. We want to get started on time and will try to get back on track this week.
• The feedback on the Eval forms was great. Thanks for filling those out. A couple of things from the eval cards that I think I should comment on. First, the scripture not being in sync yesterday was my fault. I didn't get the passage back to Hunter in time. I put it up the week before and I will work on getting that straight from now on. That is a big pet peeve of mine also. Second, we got a lot of positive feedback about the Amena Brown video. I think Amena does a fantastic job and the video dovetailed nicely with what I was saying yesterday. Thanks for picking up on that.
• Finally, if you didn't complete an eval form yesterday and want me to email you a blank form, let me know. At this point in the life of Reveal, feedback is vital. In fact, I would love to hear what you thought of the new setup for the "communication card" from yesterday. It was much more concise than in the past.

I have more to say about this Sunday's gathering, but I will hold off on that until tomorrow.

peace - Jamie

Music Set 10.05.08

Here is the music we used for 10.05.08

Life Is A Highway - Tom Cochran (as performed by Rascal Flatts)
All We Need - Charlie Hall
O Praise Him - David Crowder
Agnus Dei - Michael W. Smith (as performed by Third Day)
I Am Free - Jon Egan

--Will

Starbucks Coffee

In August, Lori and I went to visit some friends (Jesse and Tamara) at Lake Toxaway, NC. They were on vacation visiting some friends (Jeff and Heather) that they went to college with. Turned out that their friends went to Fuller about the same time as I did and, although we didn't know them there, we had several mutual friends.

Anyway, they now are living in Columbia, SC and are planning on becoming missionaries to Sudan. They were in Charlotte looking into a missions organization yesterday and so they called us up and we met them at Starbucks for coffee.

We talked about a lot of different things: Sudan, Missionary Life, REVEAL, church in general, contemporary worship, and getting people plugged into church and using their talents. Interestingly enough, the quote on my cup directly spoke into what we were discussing.

The Way I See It #291

"In a world where celebrity equals talent, and where make-believe is called reality, it is most important to have real love, truth and stability in your life."Bernie Brillstein.

(Brillstein produced shows and movies such as Hee Haw, The Muppet Show, Saturday Night Live, The Blues Brothers, Ghostbusters, Dragnet, Ghostbusters II, Happy Gilmore, The Cable Guy, and The Sopranos.)

We discussed at length the notion that our generation is seeking out community. At Fuller, community was easy to come by because almost everyone was going through the same things. But for some reason, when you're out of the "school" culture, real life gets in the way.

At REVEAL, we want to create community. We want people to come and feel comfortable and be able to build friendships. We want to do life together. We want to build relationships with each other and with Jesus Christ. What we don't want to do is create more religion. Today's generation doesn't want more religion, what they want is more relationship, what they need is more relationship with Jesus Christ.

--Will

Born to Run

We kick off Born to Run this Sunday. It's a chance for us to look at who or what we're running from and what we're running to. It should be an aweseome three weeks. We'll see you this Sunday at 11:45am.

Peace - Jamie

Born to Run Promo @ Yahoo! Video

Music Set 9.28.08

Here is the music we used for 9.28.08

All We Need - Charlie Hall
O Praise Him - David Crowder
Open The Eyes Of My Heart - Paul Baloche

--Will

Music Set 9.21.08

Here is the music we used for 9.21.08

Give A Little Bit - Supertramp (as performed by The Goo Goo Dolls)
Glory Defined - Building 429
Glory Revealed - Candi Pearson-Shelton
Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone) - Chris Tomlin
You're Worthy Of My Praise - David Ruis (as performed by Jeremy Camp)

--Will

Music Set 9.14.08

Here is the music we used for 9.14.08

Are You Ready? - Creed

In The Light - Charlie Peacock (as performed by dc Talk)

My Glorious - Martin Smith/Stuart Garrard

God of Wonders -  Steve Hindalong/Marc Byrd

Word of God Speak - MercyMe

--Will

Monday AM Quarterback

I love the NFL! One of the things I love to do is look back at all the games that were played and see the TD celebrations and the big hits. Today, I get to look back at something more important and more exciting - our first Reveal gathering. Here's my expert summary of yesterday - WOW!

I know there are things that can be and need to be changed and tweaked. But for our first time, the whole experience went very well.

Like I said yesterday, it's been a journey to get where we are today and I don't think any of us truly know what God has in store for us on this path. I know that the journey is just now getting started. But I am incredibly excited about being a part of God's movement in Rock Hill.

--Peace, Jamie

Hog Jog

This morning I headed up to Charlotte about 7:oo to run in the Inaugural Hog Jog 5K. I haven't really been training specifically for a 5K. But I have been running 2-2 1/2 miles about 4 days a week for the past two months or so just to stay in shape. On Thursday I ran about 3 miles to see where I was compared to my past 5Ks. [For the record, my best 5K was 24.30 at the Greenville News 5K about 3 1/2 years ago. I was in the best shape of my life.] On Thursday, I was hoping for about 27 minutes. Then, reality set in. I'm 40. I eat chips/ fries for lunch almost every day. I drink two cups of sweet tea from McDonalds just about every day. And I haven't turned dessert down in a looooong time. My time on Thursday was over 31 minutes. WOW!

So I set off to Charlotte with some lowered expectations. I had two goals - one, finish the race without stopping and, two, don't die. Obviously, I accomplished one of those goals.

Here's a recap of my race:

My playlist for the race:

• Vertigo, U2
• Stars, Switchfoot
• Love Shack, B52s
• Check Yes, Juliet, We the Kings
• It's the End of the World As We Know It, REM
• Feels Like Tonight, Daughtry
• Like Whoa, Aly and AJ
• Awakening, Switchfoot

Pre-race - I stretched standing next to a tent that was cooking BBQ . . . at 7:30am. The smell of BBQ at 7:30am is not as good as it is at, say, lunchtime. I decided to loosen up by jogging up and down a couple of blocks. I had seen other people do this so I thought I'd give it a try. I was sweating when I got to the Start line.

Mile 1 - I get through Vertigo and I'm feeling really good. Most of the first mile is downhill. Stars kicks in and I'm feeling ok.

Mile 2 - Right after I start mile 2, I realize that the rest of the run is going to be uphill. As I near the half-point marker I pass a guy whose shirt says "You can't stop the Rock." He's walking so I guess you can slow him down even if you can't stop him. I make a tactical error at the H20 stop. I pour water over my head and it gets my left ear bud wet. I'll have to spend the rest of the race playing with it.

Mile 3 - As I begin mile 3, the course is going straight uphill. At some point during this mile, this thought crosses my mind. "If I could have any superpower in the world right now, I would want the super power of two extra lungs." Let's just say I'm strug-a-ling. Then things go really bad. Not only does the Rock pass me, but a little girl (maybe seven or eight) goes by me. I also make my second tactical error. "Feels Like Tonight" is a mistake on the playlist. How could I make that mistake? That's a rookie error.

The last .1 miles - I pass the 3 mile marker and hit the home stretch. I kick it into high gear, and by high gear, I mean I don't fall down and crawl the rest of the way. I cross the finish line in 28:59, well off my best time, even below my initial hope. But I didn't stop. I kept running the whole way. And I didn't die. So I accomplished both goals.

One other thought did occur to me as I ran. It's a 5K. Why do they set up mile markers? It doesn't say 3.1M on my t-shirt. It says 5K. It's odd that they don't set up kilometer markers.

Thanks for indulging me in my race recap. I think I'll go have a banana . . . or maybe some pancakes.


-- Peace, Jamie

Last Minute Reminders

• We kick off our Reveal Worship Gatherings with a series entitled "Reveal." For two weeks we'll focus on how and why God reveals Himself to us and how we are called to reveal Him to our world. This week we'll be looking at John 1:1-18 if you want to get a head start on Sunday's message.
  

• We'll have our two 10:30 small groups meeting this Sunday. Our college/singles will meet in room 318 with Paul Nigro teaching. Our couples will meet in room 319 with me leading a Bible study. If you didn't join us last week, it's never too late.
  

• If you you need childcare during Reveal, pick your children up from the classrooms and meet in the cafe outside the Apex by 11:40am. Sara Pryce is leading our childcare team and has a team to take care of the little ones. By the way, during the fall, we are going to need everyone to step up for a week or two of childcare doody, er, duty. So when Sara gives you a call, just say yes. That will allow ALL of us to experience Reveal and give our input into the planning. Sara, put me down for childcare on November 16 and December 14.

• We want everyone to be in the Apex by 11:40 this Sunday. This will help us get started on time and get us into the habit of respecting everyone's most valuable asset - time!

See you Sunday!

--Peace, Jamie

Admirable

Last week, Bulgaria lost to Slovakia 82-0 in a women's hockey game. You can read about here. That's right 82-0. I'm not a hockey fan. I've only been to a few minor league games and one Carolina Hurricanes game in person. I've tried to watch it on TV a few times. But I always have problems following the puck around (even when they had the weird blue glow on them). Plus, I'm not very familiar with the rules and strategy. So usually the only excitement that I have at hockey games are the fights and the goals. The best games were always 10-9 games with a couple of 30-45 second scrums on the ice.

When I read the 82-0 score, I started thinking what it must have been like to be on that Bulgarian team. Demoralizing. Demeaning. Depressing. Then I dug deeper and realized it was worse than the score indicated. Yep! Worse. They were outshot 139-0. 139-0! That means the Bulgarians skated around on the ice for 60 minutes and never once got a shot at the goal. Plus, they lost the first two games in the tournament by scores of 30-1 and 41-0. Finally, they were outscored in the tournament 192-1.

It makes me wonder why the Bulgarians even showed up for the tournament. At the very least why show up for the last game after you've been outscored 110-1 in the rest of the tournament? Then when it was 31-0 at the end of the first period of the game, why not wave the white flag, go to Fuddruckers and get a hamburger? Didn't someone on the team see the insanity of playing a game when you couldn't get a shot on the other team's goal nor could you stop the other team from scoring at will?

If we look hard enough, we can always find a reason to give up and quit playing or working or striving. We've all had days or weeks or months where nothing seemed to go right, where we spent the entire time futilely trying the stop the other side from scoring, where we couldn't even get a shot against the competition no matter how hard we tried. We've all had times in our spiritual journey when we've battled apathy, or found it hard to hear from God or struggled because we feel inadequate in our faith. Well, at least I've had those times. Thankfully, we serve a God who never gives up on us. No matter the score. There are a lot of perseverance quotes out there. Google them if you want to spend some time browsing them. But this is my favorite.

-- peace, jamie

ps - Unfortunately for the Bulgarian women's hockey team, perserverance didn't help them out at their tournament. With their losses, they were eliminated from 2010 Olymipics. Better luck next time, ladies.

tick, tick, tick

The countdown is on and 1145 at fbc is coming fast. The band had their final rehearsal last night. The creative team meets tonight for the final time before our first gathering. I'm exciting but sleeping better. Although, I am having a recurring dream of driving you, the Reveal launch team, around on a bus in the mountains as we desperately try to get the fbc on time. If you wake up with motion sickness, it's because I'm driving too fast around the curves.

Two requests as we get ready:

1. Pray for each other. We are engaged in spiritual warfare and I believe that Reveal will be used to reach people for Christ. Because of that, spiritual attacks are going to happen to try to tear us down individually and as a church.
2. Be in the Apex by 11:40 this week. We will get started right at 11:45 and want everyone to be there as we kick off. It may be tough to get away from conversations in the hall, but it will be worth it.

-- Peace, Jamie

THE Great Debate

Some stories are too good to pass up. Check out this link for THE great debate of the 21st century. I'm just glad that we got that cleared up!

-- Peace, Jamie

PS - Yes, I know it's fake but still good for a laugh. But the fact that it COULD be real is enough proof that churches either shouldn't have marquee signs or should be very, very, very careful with them. Enjoy!

Labor Day Weekend

I hope you and your family enjoyed the last long weekend of summer. My family took advantage of the last Sunday night without church commitments to go sightseeing in downtown Charlotte. We did some shopping at one of my favorite stores (World Market), then took the LYNX Blue Line from South Blvd to downtown. We stopped by the Museum of the New South and the Light Factory before grabbing some supper at Rock Bottom Brewery. Then on Monday, we cruised over to Matthews, NC for Matthews Alive for the afternoon before hitting one of my favorite pizza places - Wolfman Pizza - where we ate a Cheeseburger! Cheeseburger! and a Shrimp Pesto pizza.

I try not to spiritualize every event in my life. But having almost two full days with my family to play, rest, and chill at the end of a busy summer reminds me of how much God wants us to recharge our batteries by getting away from the stress, worries and busyness of everyday life. I hope you had a chance to do that this weekend.

-- Peace, Jamie

Creative Team Meeting

Just a reminder that the creative team will be meeting tonight at 6:00pm in the Rock.

-- Peace, Jamie

The launch of the Reveal worship gathering is getting closer. On September 14, we will have a two week closed launch. That is, we will have worship gatherings that will be open only to those on the launch team. To get ready for September 14, we need to do two things.

First, we will have a meeting on Sunday, September 7 at 11:45 am for every member of the launch team. At the meeting we will discuss what we will be doing on Sundays for the rest of the year as we prepare for a January public launch. This meeting should last about 30 minutes. If you will not be able to be there, I would appreciate knowing in advance (jamieb@fbcrockhill.org).

Second, we will begin two new small groups this Sunday. They will meet at 10:30am. One will be for college/ singles. It will meet in room 316. Paul Nigro will be teaching. The second will be for couples. It will meet in room 319. I will be teaching this class. Beginning this Sunday, September 7, these small groups will meet every week. If you are going to continue being a part of a 9:15am small group, you may join one of our 10:30am small groups or attend the contemporary worship before our 11:45am meetings/ worship gatherings. If you have any questions about the groups, please feel free to give me a call.

Again, thanks for being a part of the Reveal launch team.

-- Peace, Jamie

Clemson and Carolina Began Recruiting Him Yesterday

The future OL anchor . . .

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,413206,00.html

Going All the Way

Took some time this week to finish up a book by Craig Groeschel about marriage called Going All the Way. More precisely it's a book about how to prepare for marriage but it has some great insights about how to maintain a healthy marriage for couples. For those who are not married, I highly recommend that you read this book BEFORE you get involved in a relationship. Some of Craig's most insightful advice is about preparing yourself for a dating relationship.

Here are some quotes from the book that I thought were great.

"A good marriage is never easy. But it is absolutely possible."

"If you want something few have - genuine closeness, trust, respect, and lasting commitment - you'll have to do what few do."

"Loving the Lord first is a practical principle for getting the most out of life. Only when the Lord is in His rightful place can we move beyone the first and greatest commandment and start successfully living out the second priority - loving someone else." (My take - we know this. But there are too many times in my life when I'm not practicing this.)

"Jesus is the One."

"Sin is like a good sneeze. It feels good coming out. Then you get snot everywhere." (This was an aside in the book but made me laugh out loud.)

"God gave us those words (Song of Songs) to show us how blessed sex can be when it stays within His will. This isn't about good or bad, it's about order."

"Sex in marriage is about so much more than a pair of orgasms. It's about shared souls."

"Right after giving all of ourselves to our Savior, the married Christ follower is to give everything to his or her spouse."

"A marriage that's going to last isn't based on a one-time decision to put God first and spouse second. It requires a commitment that you affirm daily."

"Passivity in marriage is disastrous."

"Wherever sin lives, intimacy dies. And where intimacy lives, sin dies."

"Here's a more important question, and I'll admit, a more challenging one: What person do I need to become so I'll be ready for a healthy, fulfilling marriage . . . and bless my spouse-to-be?"

About thinking of marriage as a covenant instead of a contract, Craig says this, "The goal of a smart contract is to increase my rights while decreasing my responsibility. . . Think of a marriage covenant as an unconditionaly surrendering of one's rights while increasing one's responsibility."

--peace, jamie

I'm Back

I thought I would find some time over the past 10 days to do a little posting but instead spent the time hanging out in Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, eating ice cream, doing yard work, and getting crushed by my daughter in Mancala, among other things. But I'm back now and will do more posting this weekend.

Just a reminder though, that we will have a Reveal team meeting on Sunday at 11:45am. We should be done in about 30 minutes. See you then.

-- Peace, Jamie

Next few days

I am leaving for Pigeon Forge, TN in the morning. So I won't be posting for a few days. Don't forget our next Reveal Team meeting is Sunday, August 24 at 11:45am.

--Peace, Jamie

Yesterday . . . and early this morning

I learned a few things about Isle of Palms yesterday. First, it's not a long trip. It only took us about 2 1/2 -3 hours to get there. Making it even easier, it's almost all interstate driving. Second, when there's a blue flag flying, that means there are 'marine pests present.' Yesterday that meant that nasty little jellyfish were swimming around stinging people. I stayed out of the H2O. Not because I'm scared of jellyfish but I'm not that into pain and stinging especially when I'm not expecting it. The rest of our group threw caution to the wind and hopped in the water. Only two were stung. Just glad that one of them wasn't me. Third, IoP is close to Mt. Pleasant which meant that we were close to Andrew Kiel's home. Andrew's parents invited us to their house for supper - frogmore stew. More than just feeding us, though, they welcomed us in, gave us a chance to get cleaned up, to drink a lot of lemonade and chips, and to rest for a while. The frogmore stew was amazing! A few of us ate way, way, way too many shrimp. But Andrew's parents were more amazing. They told us stories about Andrew, showed us pictures of Andrew, and welcomed us like we were their own.

I walked into my house at 11:00pm and promptly fell asleep on the couch. My alarm clock woke me up at 2:01am. Why? you ask. Because the perseids meteor shower was visible in our neck of the woods from 2-5 this morning. I went outside to make sure we were going to be able to see it. I saw a couple of meteors and then woke my daughters up. For the next hour, we lay on our backs looking up at the night sky watching meteors shoot across the sky. It was cold. I was tired. It was uncomfortable. But we had a blast. We laughed and tried to see who could spot the most metoers. We decided that it was kind of like riding space mountain except there was no roller coaster, and space mountain is over quicker. If you missed the perseids meteor shower, here's a time-lapse video from 2007.

As we prepare to kick off Reveal in September with a focus on God revealing Himself to us, it's awesome to have interactions with Him through nature. The ocean waves, the starry sky, the falling meteor, and, yes, the stinging jellyfish all reveal to us a little of who God is. Are we listening? Are we watching? Are we aware that He's there?

Pray for our creative team meeting tonight at 6:00 and the band practice at 7:00.

--Peace, Jamie

End of the summer

Yep, summer is almost over. How do I know? I'm going to Isle of Palms today with about 15 college students to hang out one last time together before they start heading back to dorms all over SC. To top it off, we get to hang out at Andrew Kiel's homestead and eat frogmore stew or brunswick boil or whatever it's called. It'll be a late night. We won't be back until midnight or after.

Don't forget we have a creative team meeting tomorrow night at 6. Our next Reveal team meeting is Sunday, August 24 at 11:45am.

-- Peace, Jamie

Links

Here are a few stories/articles that I've found interesting this week.

Mark Batterson has a great post about how we often look at Scripture.

For those of us who have trouble focusing with the Outlook alert going off, check this out.

Perry Noble lost a lot of weight and has some advice here, here, and here. Yesterday at Cracker Barrel, I had two eggs and a banana for breakfast. I haven't done that in a while.

Wondering what would happen if I took a golf club to the top of a mountain and tried to knock a golf ball off the edge? Wonder no more!

I started reading these stories about the Minnesota National Guard. Carve out some time for a very compelling journey.

Finally, a book recommendation - I Became a Christian and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt by Vince Antonucci. I finished it about three months ago.

Have a great weekend. I will see you on Sunday!

-- Peace, Jamie

Burgers

I know this has nothing to do with Reveal. However, I was listening to WBT this morning and the topic of great hamburgers came up and that gave me a chance to think about some of my favorite burger joints.

Two things you need to know. One, I LOVE a good hamburger. In fact, a lot of times I'll pass up the chicken chipotle or tex-mex steak (or whatever else is on the menu) at Ruby Tuesday's or Fridays and order a burger because I would rather have a burger than a steak or another chicken dish. Second, I'm not talking about chain restaurants like the afore-mentioned Ruby Tuesday's or Fridays. Although, those types of restaurants can make a very good burger. I'm definitely not talking about McDonalds or Burger King or Wendy's. Those are just inexpensive ways to satisfy hunger. I'm talking about the local-owned restaurant that the locals know very well.

Here are three of my favorites.

Dixie Drive-In, Greenwood, SC - I grew up in Greenwood and somehow missed going to the Dixie until I was in high school. Once I found it, I spent too much time there ordering the infamous Dixie Cheese Half and Half, which is simply a juicy cheeseburger with a plate of fries and onion rings. This was my first encounter with the local greasy spoon that made a hamburger from heaven.

The Clock, Greer, SC - This one almost doesn't count because there are at least 10 Clocks in the Greenville area. While they all have similar menus, they are all different. I've eaten at two different Clocks and neither comes close to the one in Greer. The order here is a chili cheese plate, all fries, and a sweet tea. Get the cheeseburger with chopped onions and cut in half. Marjorie, Victoria and I were in Greer a couple of weekends ago and made sure we stopped by. Yep, it was as good as I remember.

Peaches, Myrtle Beach, SC - A confession: I've only eaten at Peaches once and that was over 20 years ago. That's how good I remember the burger being. I think I ordered the cheeseburger basket. Time may have made my burger much better than it really was. But I like to believe that Peaches is so good that I still haven't had a burger that made me forget sitting at a counter on Ocean Blvd in tacky shorts, a Panama Jack muscle shirt, and docksiders (no socks) with a couple of buddies enjoying the best burger in the world.

How about you? Got a favorite burger joint? I'd love to make a road trip and enjoy a burger with you if you do!

-- Peace, Jamie

Reveal Schedule

Thanks for a great meeting yesterday. I am excited about where we're heading from here. Here's a preview of upcoming events for Reveal.

August 24 - Launch team meeting @ 11:45am
September 7 - Launch team meeting @ 11:45am
September 14 - Reveal worship gathering (for Launch team only)
September 21 - Reveal worship gathering (for Launch team only)

Beginning September 7, Reveal will be a weekly, ongoing part of our lives. It may take place as a fully planned worship gathering (as it will on September 14 and 21) or it may be a planning meeting with elements of worship and teaching (as it will on September 7).

Look for more info about our September 14 and 21 gatherings coming soon.

-- Peace, Jamie

Healthy Fast Food Restaurants

The title sounds like an oxymoron. Are there really any healthy fast food restaurants? Here's a Yahoo! article that discusses that very idea. For you to fully understand why this article interests me, I'll have to take you back a few years. Five years ago this Christmas, I stepped on the scales and my parents house and went 'whoa! Where did those extra pounds come from?' I spent the next three months playing around with exercising and cutting a few calories and pretty much got nowhere. In April, 2004, I bought a treadmill and got serious. And when I say I got serious, I mean I counted almost every calorie that went into my body. It became somewhat of an obsession to know how many calories were in everything I ate. Before my family would go out to a restaurant, I would look online to see how many calories were in each meal and decide what I could and would eat. At most sit down restaurants, I ate a chicken caesar with no cheese and dressing on the side. I cut out sweets, french fries, and, hold on to your seat, sweet tea from my diet. At meals, I would announce how many calories were in a serving of each item. I know how many calories are in a Blizzard from Dairy Queen (more than you imagine) and how many are in a Krispy Kreme donut (a lot but not as much as I would've imagined). Trust me, come dessert time, my family usually asked me to keep my caloric info to myself. For the most part, I think I obliged them. By the end of 2004, I had dropped a lot of weight and was in probably the best shape of my life. At the very least, I was in the best shape of my adult life.

Here's what I learned:

You definitely have to educate yourself. You can find healthy alternatives at any restaurant. You may have to dig for info. But there are good healthy options at any restaurant.

It costs more to eat healthy. That didn't surprise me. Buying fresh fruits and salads cost more than buying a frozen pizza or a double cheeseburger off the McDonald's value menu.

You have to be committed and intentional. When I was serious about dropping some pounds, I kept a goal in front of me the whole way. There were incremental goals but there was also one big goal along the way as well. I had to be intentional about the foods that I ate and how I ate them.

Why do I share this with you? Because during that time of my life, I saw parallels between my physical and my spiritual life. It's easy for us to get lazy and satisfied spiritually. We can become sedentary spiritually. How do we break out of a cycle that says, "I'll get started tomorrow?" First we have to realize that we need to break out of our spiritual doldrums. We have to step on the scale if you will and see where we are spiritually. Then we have to make a commitment, set a goal of where we want to be spiritually. Then we have to get active and involved. I laugh about the time between Christmas, 2003 and April 2004, because my idea of exercise was to walk two miles twice a week at a very leisurely pace. But getting started was the best thing that I could have done. It costs more to be committed spiritually. It will cost money, time, hobbies, possessions, etc. But it ALWAYS is better for you. Mark Batterson put it this way, "If we were to always act in our own self-interest, we would always obey God" no matter how much our logic, our intuition, or our own desire for self-preservation protests.

Step on the scales and let the Holy Spirit lead you into a spiritually active, fulfilling life.

-- Peace, Jamie

Launch Team Meeting

Yes, we do have a Launch team meeting tomorrow at 11:45am in the Apex. But I also wanted to give you the date for our next meeting - August 24 at 11:45am in the Apex. Put that on your calendar as well and make plans to be there. The month of August will be incredibly important to getting Reveal off the ground successfully.

-- Peace, jamie

Sunday Meeting

Once again remember that we have an extremely important meeting on Sunday, August 3 at 11:45am. It shouldn’t last more than 45 minutes. I’ve already had a few people let me know that they won’t be there because of travel plans but if it is possible for you to be there, please do.

Here’s why: We want to finalize our Launch team as soon as possible. Once we do that, we need to begin having members of our Launch team sign up to be on a support team. Ultimately, Reveal will be as successful when we have a committed core that is passionate about Reveal and what it stands for.

On Sunday, one of the things that we will do is begin putting together our Support teams. Here’s a link to a more detailed description of our Support teams. To give you an idea of how large a project Reveal will be, here are about how many adults we will need to staff an ongoing ministry at Reveal.

Band – The Reveal band is led by Will Beaty. There are about ten people in the band and we are still searching for a keyboardist.

Multimedia Team – We will have four people serving on the Media team each week (on sounds, lights, and video presentation, and a stage manager). Right now, Andrew Kiel is serving on sound, Hunter Platt on video, Ben Pryce as stage manager.

Parking Team – We will need to have 2-3 people in the parking lot every week directing traffic and welcoming people to FBC.

Greeting Team – We will need to have 4-6 people greeting people at the doors to the Rock and to the Apex each week welcoming guests and making connections with regular attenders.

Connections Team – We will need to have 2-4 people stationed at tables to give out information and answer question before and after Reveal.

Counseling/ Follow-Up – We will need to have 2-4 people each week who will serve as counselors following Reveal gatherings as well as to make follow-up visits and calls during the week.

Childcare – We will need at least six people each week to take care of children while their parents are in the worship gathering.

If my math is correct, and it may not be, we will need 20-27 people every week not including the band to make Reveal the quality gathering that it needs to be. But that’s just on a weekly basis. We will need to double that number so that everyone has a back up for those occasions when travel or illness keeps someone home.

Between now and Sunday, be praying about where God can use you at Reveal. Remember to invite anyone you think may be interested in what is going to be an exciting part of FBC life.

-- Peace, Jamie