“An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered.”
I am spending the bulk of this week in Orlando for the Exponential Church Planting conference with my pastor Jimmy Holbrook and our worship leader Justin Mann. We are having a lot of fun and I can say that we have broken many laws, but have not been arrested…YET.
I have learned many things on this trip
I have learned a lesson about why you don’t eat with your elbows on the table. Jimmy eats so often that I have developed a blister on my right elbow from lifting my drink and food to my mouth. Ouch.
I want to welcome Thad Hubbard into the world. My brother and sister in law moved to Nashville a few weeks ago and welcomed a new baby at the same time. Talk about some stress. We are going to see them next weekend and I can not wait. I love the faux hawk that he is sporting in the picture. I can tell you that I am pretty excited and seeing this little guy. It is really kind of hitting me recently that I am a real uncle. I have got to start studying up on what uncles do. Right now I am reminded of my Uncle Richard. He helped me learn to tie my shoes, mostly by telling me I was doing it wrong and then telling me, “life is hard for a kid who can’t tie his shoes.” My mom said it was hilarious and took me over two hours to learn. Uncle Richard also loves movies and always asks me what I have seen lately.
Part of me wants to be an uncle similar to Gene Hackman’s grandfather in The Royal Tenebaum’s. He had freaking blast with those boys. I guess time will tell.
While I am writing this post I am watching Cassandra’s Dream about an Uncle who convinces his nephews to murder a business partner. It is scary how the things you blog about intersect with what you are watching on TV or listening to. LOL
I had a great time at www.Harrahchurch.com with Justin, Mike, Timmy, and Daniel yesterday. It felt so great to play out like that again. Harrah Church recently built a new worship center and it was a great room. There is a least one new large housing edition being built next to the church. Greater things are yet to come for Harrah Church. Pastor Jimmy Holbrock was bringing a great message as usual, he is a real old school laugh and yell preacher. His sermon was called Ear Pollution and spoke about the power of our words and how we can say hurtful things to others. Dang good message. It is part of a series call Green, which is about learning to live at peace. I had to listen to it again this morning while capturing some video.
I saw some great volunteers working together at the church. The Kraeer family works together in the A/V running sound, lighting, and video. It is great to see a family serving together. What a legacy.
The church’s student ministry is gearing up for a performance of The Diary of Anne Frank in January. During the performances they will have exhibits in the lobby area about genocide that is happening throughout the world today. It is really great to see the church bringing attention to these issues to the community. I hope to get back to Harrah Church soon and lead some worship and see some more friends.
Head over to www.harrahchurch.com and check out the church, watch the sermon, and send Jimmy an email telling him to start blogging.
I have spent the last 4 days in Estes Park, CO in a retreat with some of the coolest guys in the nation. I signed up for a program called Rhythm in Twenty earlier this summer. It is a two year journey into discovering more about calling, passion, and the strength of community.
I had a blast with these guys traveling around the mountains, fly fishing in the streams, watching the elk in rut, relaxing in the evenings, and studying the themes that are running through our lives. I look forward to sharing more about these new friends over the next two years as we celebrate the work of God in our lives. The experience of connecting and worshipping together deeply moved me. During one of our worship experiences this group of men sang loud and with a passion that arose from deep within their hearts and souls. The devotion to the will of God in these men and their love of family, community, and the joy of life astounds me.
What can God reveal to 20 men committed to helping each other grow? I don’t even want to try to label it. I am expectant, yet leaving plenty of room for God to do more than I could ask or imagine. By "plenty of room" I mean I can not even imagine what will happen. I am already being reshaped by my experience. This is a group of theologians, church planters, pastors, entrepreneurs, poets, warriors, risk-takers, men…
I want to invite you to check out the Rhythm web site and encourage you to join the next group that begins in May. You will not regret it and will grow exponentially during your journey. It may sound weird to say that on the front end of this journey, but my experience this weekend has proved this to be true: the world will not be the same because of our time together.
I first meet Ryland Russell at the University of Central Oklahoma in 2003. He and his wife were working with my friend Tommy Haines of RealChurch at starting a worship experience on campus. It was an amazing experience seeing so many people connect with God. Ryland and his band led the worship and I had the privilege to run sound. When I left Waterloo Road to come to Arrow Heights I was tasked with finding my replacement and I only had one person in mind. Ryland is an amazing and gifted worship leader with many other amazing skills. This is starting to sound like a man-crush article. Scary.
So last night I saw that Ryland had posted a video of his band singing Jesus, Paid it All that I wanted to share with you guys. Watch the video, go to his web site, invite him to lead worship at your next event, buy his new album.
Ryland Russell Band – Jesus Paid it All – SYATP 08 from ryland russell on Vimeo.
YouVersion