I know, I know ... not one full day after I vow to be a better blogger, I get bogged down with still more work. For what it's worth, though ... that bit of work turned out very nicely and now I get the thrill of dealing with the even more work that it generates to follow up on. Cycle of life for ya.

I'll eventually (as in, today/eventually) get around to posting Clayton Ring's special from the weekend. If you're in a rush, though, it's the same song he performed back in November.

On a completely different note, however, I happened to leave the TV on a rerun of 60 Minutes' segment on Joel. One huge difference, though. This time around, the reporter closed the segment by adding that Joel is in negotiations "to anchor a primetime reality series based on the inspirational themes of his Sunday sermons. The show will originate from Lakewood Church and tell the stories of ordinary people meeting extraordinary challenges." Just a hunch, but I suspect they'll have a little something in common with the Thanksgiving segments (example here). If anyone knows anything more about this, I'm sure there's at least a few zillion others who wouldn't mind them sharing.

And still one more point to prove I haven't taken up residence under a rock, I managed to catch up a bit on my sermon podcasts during the weekend, There's apparently a ministry under Rich Nathan's Vineyard Church called Joshua House ... and the recent sermons they've got listed compelled me to download them just in case I found some extra time. Can't recommend them enough, especially the latest (as of press time) "Losing My Religion" (mp3). I guess that's one good thing to get from a little added work ... more time to chill in front of the PC and crank my own podcast church.

On a serious note, among the prayers to keep in mind might be for some of our missionaries who landed in Peru only to be greeted by an earthquake. It doesn't seem to have been too damaging - by no means as bad as the one to hit there last August. Among the missionaries there are Lakewood's own Todd Hull and Tower of Hope Ministries. Here's hoping the rest of their time there is safe and enjoyable.

I threatened Josh the soundguy with a liveblog of his band's performance Saturday night, so I thought I'd actually follow through on the threat. Sound check was promising, the band is fully fleshed out this time with backup singers and a full band lineup. Things set to commence shortly (as of 8:43pm, that is).

First song up is "Say So" ...

Second up is "Friend of God" ... bilingual version of the song heard a few million times at both the English and Spanish services.

Third up, we finally get to some hardcore Latino tunage: "Todo Poderoso" ...

Next-to-last: "Lord, You Are Good" ...

And finally ..."Te Damos Gloria" ... a song heard probably a few million times at the Spanish service.

Abel Orta happened by and seemed suitably impressed, so who am I to disagree with a professional? I only messed up about a quarter of the lyrics on the last song (not bad for a white guy!). Josh had the task of keeping on their feet and did a great job of that.

ADD-ON: Marie, the lovely, sheep-chucking Admin. Asst. performed a drum solo for us as an encore. Clearly, we were in the presence of greatness.

Apologies for the light blogging of late (not to be confused with the light blogging right before then). In my defense, being sick stinks. Even worse, it rarely feels like I'm entirely out of it ... just a slight cough at times, worse at others. Weather, my own self-enforced work schedule, and I'm sure a host of other factors are kicking me on this one. But no more excuses.

I made it out to Wednesday's service, sat amongst a crowd, and probably shared that illness more than I care to admit. So Saturday, I contemplated getting to church just for Koinonia. Weather didn't seem like it would have that. So I get there at a normal early hour and basically play hooky up on the 4th floor, tweak the video stuff I've got to do for Koinonia, help out where I can with the sound crew (don't be too impressed, we're talking minimal level of "help" here), listen to Ryan Bell warm up before his gig at Koinonia, run into my favorite sheep-tossing administrative assistant at Lakewood, catch a little bit of Phil Munsey's sermon via the webcast, and otherwise just try to make sure that nobody else catches a cold because of me.

I'm sure there's a certain level of spiritual punishment for confessing this ... but it was actually kindofa fun way to spend the night. I learn a thing or two from the sound crew. I get to work on my timing for running lyrics to Ryan's music via MediaShout (still needs a little work). I discover that there's actually a minor audience for viewing the sermons upstairs. Oh yeah, and there's also the usual assortment of fun that goes along with working with thousands of dollars worth of AV gizmos. And it probably ought to amaze me more that the sound guys trust me to mess with the board at all when everything is set after a soundcheck. Hint: Don't mess with anything other than "PC Audio" and "CD."

Still, at some point, I need to add in a little live praise & worship with the big band. And Marcos is back on Wednesday night. Here's hoping this cold is over sooner rather than later. The Ryan Bell trio was a good substitute considering the circumstances. Still need to find a little time to do some CD reviewing, don't I?

This Saturday, we had a pretty nice group gracing the stage (for us) for the first time. On the bill, we just had Sam Scales (Shoutlife). But along for the ride, we were also treated to her husband Warren doing some sax work early on. After most of Koinonia had broken away for the teaching segment, we had a good hour-long showcase for both Warren & Sam, plus a two-song segment from Spring's own Tawana (Shoutlife/IndieHeaven). Since Tawana had her official CD release Sunday, I thought I'd showcase some songs from her new recording. It's definitely got a bit of leftover 80s vibe to it, so I'm likely to pick this one up ...

If you like it, feel free to bug Todd to book Tawana separately for us sometime in the future. And feel free to pick up a download from her ShoutLife page as well. A mere .99 will keep a little hop in your step for the day ... and beyond.

As luck would have it, I was lugging a camera around, so here's a nice pic of Sam & Warren at the end of the night:

OK, so I made some promises to blog a bit about Saturday - or, as I call it: Greg-fest. Here goes.

The "day" technically began about 9am Friday since there was a bit of a need to work overnight to get some work done. Tis the season. By the time Saturday rolled around, I got to spend several hours doing more work. I hope this is sounding like more fun to you readers than it was to me in real life.

By the time we wrapped up our Saturday morning gig, I did manage to get two consecutive 30-minute naps in before heading to church. Technically, there were several birthday wishes via the assorted social network thingies I'm on as well as in my email inbox (which, thanks to -you guessed it - work, I'm still struggling to catch up on). But the first confirmed physical "Happy Birthday" happened to be the one and only Michael Hodge as I was peacefully soaking up an extended drum solo prior to the band practicing. By the way, Jonathan Camey rocks. Just sayin'.

By this time, I'm tired. Like really, really dog-tired. I do fine as long as I'm moving or standing. But if I'm sitting still, I run the risk of just zonking out. The catnap got me through the much-needed music fix. Heading up to Compass Class, I found myself taking inventory of every method to possibly keep myself awake. I wasn't above just slapping myself. Not that there's a shortage of willing takers for that task, though. But I do ok. No nodding off whatsoever.

To the sanctuary we go. And by "we," I mean my fellow too-tall fellow-traveler Steve. I'm absolutely certain that there are short people who dread seeing us locate seats directly in front of them. But I alert Steve as to my situation and let him know that he's in charge of elbowing me if he sees me nodding off. Surprisingly, I did ok here, too. The only tough part was during Victoria's "baby dedication." Problem is that it's a fairly isolating moment for single folk like me. We get to watch a gaggle of parent-types standing up while we usually take the time to make sure the cell phone is off ... or maybe play a game of tetris if Victoria gets a bit long-winded. The added challenge is that I'm going from the usual clapping & dancing of praise and worship to just sitting there. I might have lost a moment of time during this.

What I was really worried about was the sermon itself. That's 30 minutes of sitting tight. My initial plan was to try and take copious notes - thinking that the mental tactic would keep me alert. Not sure how much to credit that since my notes were only modestly thorough. But I made it through the sermon perfectly fine. Enjoyed it wonderfully and soaked up every ounce of it. I'm just as shocked as you might be. Especially once you calculate that I'd been up for over 34 hours by the time Joel started.

I knew I had a lot to look forward to once I made it up to Koinonia. First off - Carrie & Michael. Secondly - the gig, for me, means I'm jumping around a bit, so the activity was sure to keep me awake.

First things first ... Carrie & Michael brought the entire Celebrate Recovery band with them. The guys take a good deal of pride in the assortment of characters they put around them for that project and the results show. The band abounds with great singers and great musicians. If you make it to Celebrate Recovery when Carrie & Michael are on the road with Joel, it's generally the same band ... and you get an even better demonstration of the heart those guys have for the group they're leading in worship. If you've got a Friday free, it's a good idea to take in the band.

But for us, this was an added treat. I sort out the itinerary and load up the video. I needed to sort the order of tunes for display, so I head to the stage to see if they have an idea of that sort of thing. Carrie offers her trademark "Whatever you want to do, honey" to Michael. And then somehow the opening tune is left for me to decide. I opt for "Everywhere That I Go." A wise choice if I dare say so. After Carrie runs down the rest of the setlist for me, I'm given a standard disclaimer: this may all change depending on how the spirit leads them. Good warning.

The band gets their intro. Michael offers up to the crowd: "Isn't being single great!" Bold move considering that Carrie was right next to him. We didn't have a PowerPoint for the lyrics to ETIG - which strikes me as odd. But it's a popular song and it had everyone on their feet immediately. No lyrics needed for that one. Second tune was "He Reigns" - the Newsboys version. Unfortunately, the only lyrics we had were for another tune by the same title. So no lyrics here, either. Third song, we were good for: "How Great is Our God."

The last song, Carrie called an audible. Setlist be darned. A quick check on the system would indicate that we had no lyrics for that one. But a funny thing happened prior to that.

I jokingly referenced last week that Carrie & Michael's appearance was a birthday gift for yours truly. I offered that with a sense of jest and mocked self-importance. Well, turns out the gig really was set up as a birthday present. Marie, the lovely, hard-working, sheep-tossing admin asst. instructs me that I'm to present a gift to the Two Hearts duo after the third song. Struck me as a little odd that we'd do that sort of thing, but this was Carrie & Michael we were talking about. Besides, I was too frantic in trying to make sure everything was going perfectly from my little corner of the AV booth to question things. I'm offered the story that I'm presenting since I'm such a huge fan of the guys. Fine, whatever. Todd takes over the mic after the third song, I get a queue to hit the stage, and then Carrie tells the crowd that the gift is really for me ... and then proceeds to brag on me a bit to the whole crowd. I collect my 200-or-so-strong version of "Happy Birthday" complete with Michael Hodge acoustic work accompanying the number. And then exit the stage with an autographed copy of Joel's latest, a John Maxwell devotional, and a couple of cards with a mass of signatures wishing me well.

The whole sting operation seems to have been the work of one Todd Hull, our hard-working pastoral staff dude. Job apparently well done. As if I needed any further proof to the power of music - and more importantly, Carrie & Michael's music - I'm feeling absolutely no indication of weariness after their set. We even had a guest speaker at Koinonia doing a little 50 minutes or so talk on relationships. There wasn't even the slightest threat of me nodding off despite the lights being down and the sound being a bit muffled where I was sitting. Even took several hours to wind down once I got home afterwards. Might have to blame my pseudo-theft of a Ryan Bell CD from Todd for that. Great stuff that I'll have more to blog about later. Ryan makes the occasional appearance at Koinonia as well ... and never disappoints.

I was out of commission for about 12 full hours by the time I did check out for the eve ... er, morning. Forty straight hours to celebrate my fortieth birthday. I might not look forward to my 90th if this trend holds up.

In sum, a good time was had by all. Thanks to all involved for a fun night. I might have to go on a "hug fast" for a short while. After what seems like a few hundred Carrie Hodge hugs, I'm just now starting to feel the blood circulating again through my upper body.

Yeah, a second reminder here for tomorrow. Apparently, the Koinonia Krew is giving me a nice birthday present in the form of Michael & Carrie Hodge performing for us. Get up there after service if good music means anything to ya.

And as an added plug, consider this:

Koinonia. Saturday Night. Michael & Carrie Hodge. That is all.

Seriously, what more need be said?

Perhaps I should just cave into a moment of honesty and admit to a series of rants here. But that's not my intent, so I'll decline. I'm instantly over the realization that I was effectively bounced by a pre-teen at KidsLife; I've resolved whatever internal conflict I might have previously had with regard to the element of a rant in my second excerpt of Peterson's "Christ Plays ...." So given those entries, I'm reluctant to add the following. I said reluctant ... not unwilling.

So, without giving away any details or telling tales out of school, there was a point made on one solitary moment this past week that just rested on my mind in an incredibly uncomfortable way. It was in regard to Koinonia and the small group discussion format. What registered with me was that it seems there was one person (with conversational agreement from another) that spoke negatively of being forced to have "cheap conversation" with people we don't know. I didn't think much of that at the time - other than to turn my attention to any conversation more positive than this.

That phrase apparently had ample opportunity to sink in. And, in the words of Simon Cowell, "if I'm being honest ..." the delayed reaction on my part was probably on par with one of the more comical Marcos Witt, "Hey Buddy!" type of moments. That's at least the honest reaction I now have to revisiting the conversation.

But my point isn't to passively instruct anyone else why they're wrong about this. It's to highlight something for those going forward in any small group environment that's similar to ours in Koinonia. The concept of herding a large group of folks at once and sorting them out into tables of 8 or so means that a variety of methods take place at once. On one side of the extreme, there's the cliquish table where every seat is saved and the message to any first-timer is simply "You're not one of us." At the other end, you get what I've sometimes lovingly referred to as a table of leftovers ... the people who don't fit into any particular clique, aren't good at fitting into cliques in general, and oftentimes - people who have never met one another.

And that's sorta where the "cheap conversation" crank comes in. I don't doubt that there are numerous beneficial and productive personality types beyond my own that don't adapt as easily to groups of total strangers. And to some - or, more precisely: many - it's tough to have a genuine conversation with people you've known for a grand sum of 2 minutes.

What I find unsettling, however, is that the concept of "cheap conversation" isn't a reflection of the format - as was the point in the version I heard. If I can offer this as nonjudgementally as possible, I'd suggest that it's more a reflection of the conversant. Think about it. What makes you engage in conversation that you would openly confess to as "cheap?" Is it some forcible social custom that leads you to a table that is essentially the anti-Cheers - where nobody knows your name? Or is it that we guard ourselves so heavily - well beyond what might be necessary - that we fail to make any genuine connection to someone that we're exchanging words with?

Now, I offer that with every effort to not judge the person who offered this opinion. I've been at tables where even I have to admit that the conversation - what little there was - was cheap, disposable, and seemingly non-productive. In part, that's what drove me to facilitating a table. I figured if I couldn't rely on some other MVP to crack my own introvert qualities (lovely thought they may be), I'd simply have to be the change I was looking for. I'm equally sure that, more often than not, I failed at this mission. Part of the growth process, I suppose. As luck would have it, I now get the thrill of sitting in a booth and pushing buttons during this time. Yet, in an odd way, there's a small group that forms around that as well. It's as if I've stumbled, tripped, and fallen down a flight of stairs to eventually find something of a community.

Unfortunately, I don't know of a better approach than the stumbling, tripping, and falling down a flight of stairs approach. But, for the life of me, I fail to see fault in the format or concept of Koinonia in any situation where I find myself in cheap conversation based on people I don't know, people I don't want to get to know, or people I wish I wasn't around. When I'm in those situations, I've got nobody to blame but myself. That's blame for not taking the time or interest to see past whatever it is that's holding me up with this human being that God has given insurpassable worth to; that could probably use an ounce of grace for every hundred that I need; that may have some need being met in genuine conversation that is totally out of my line of sight. In other words, if I see the conversation as cheap, then I have a hard time concluding that I'm viewing this person as cheap. And that is, I suppose, why this remark sank so deeply in me - to the point worth being blogged about. If someone sets foot in my church, earnestly seeks to go about engaging in community with fellow believers, I would have nothing but dreaded fear of being judged right then and there for my thoughts.

I'm not sure exactly how universal my conclusion is to every similar scenario here ... but I'm willing to start with the hypothesis that it's more prevalent than the one that blames the format.

Any other thoughts on this?

To the extent that this is deemed a rant, then {/rant}. I'll have far more glowing verbosity come Monday. Anyone who a) saw the service and b) knows me ... knows why.

I mentioned briefly that I'll be facilitating a Movie Night outting for us Koinonia types in and around Lakewood proper. We're congregating at Skewer's Cafe & Grill on Richmond & Weslayan at 7pm, breaking for movies around 9ish or whenever a good movie is on.

I'm partial to Ratatouille myself, but there's nothing that suggests you can't see whatever movie strikes your fancy. But if it helps to get a visual, here ya go:

As promised, I've got only a slight bit of info to retell after Saturday night's service. I had a rather unique experience that night ... I got to sit on the front row. Amazing amount of leg room up there. That, I can get real used to. But it made for a very different praise & worship. Typically, I'll key in on the band, try and learn something new from Michael on guitar or just revel in the moment with any number of the more expressive band or choir members. This time around, it was hard not to just spend the whole time focusing on Cindy, Israel, Stephen & Da'Dra. It was a fun experience.

Upstairs at Koinonia, we had another unique experience. We've been altering the format a little, kicking off with a bit of praise and worship upstairs. In the two weeks we've been doing this, we've had to call an audible or two due to the occassional surprise, glitch, or unlocated musician for that night. Nathan Walker got the ball rolling with a nice three song lead-in to the Nooma video, Rain. Typically, we don't have any music on stage till after our group discussions. This time around, it was great to see so many people getting into Nathan's music right from the get-go. Also great to see that we're raising the bar for the Koinonia experience. Kudos to Todd for his vision on that front. Next week, we'll have something totally different in store for folks. And as a reminder - Heath Rosborough hits Koinonia on May 5.

Anyways, there's a video clip up from the Sunday version of the Saturday service. Soak it up ... the whole thing was great.

Pray for me.

In Brennan Manning's Ruthless Trust, he refers to a call from a musician and friend, Michael Card:

After gospel song writer and recording artist Michael Card finished a concert in Wembley Stadium in London, the audience rose to their feet in sustained, thunderous applause. Their unharnessed enthusiasm demanded one curtain call after another. When the brouhaha finally ended,. Michael ran to his dressing room and called me long-distance here in New Orleans. "Please pray for me right now, Brennan," he begged. He knew that , like me, he could easily be seduced by the siren call of success, the unbounded adulation of his fans. "I don't want this stuff," he fairly shouted. "Ask Jesus to set me free."

To this, I can now relate to in some small way.

While I may not have been out performing in front of thousands of fans, I did have the good fortune to spend time talking to one of Lakewood's own musicians, Randy Allison. As we prepared for some Koinonia fun (he performing, me doing a dose of technical mumbo-jumbo), I got a rather ample portion of ego inflation. The particular cause of this has something to do with the degree to which this little blog seems to have gotten what I'm told is some positive reactions among the band. I'd go on and on with tales told out of school that might better illustrate why I might be excused to floating a bit higher these days, but I might have to start accepting all of Randy's encouragement as a gospel unto itself. Needless to say, it was all very good to hear.

Call it coincidence if you want. But all this comes after a particularly great praise and worship at this weekend's service. Not just because Carrie & Michael Hodge blessed the stage with one of my favorite Two Hearts songs: Never Forget. One particularly well-received moment was the inclusion of two of Israel Houghton's new tunes, Everywhere That I Go and We Have Overcome. Those two songs have an energy level unto themselves that just gets magnified when they are included in the same service. The whole musical side of the night was perhaps one of the best I've seen in the nearly two years I've got to benchmark it against. I can't wait to make it back for a repeat viewing.

Another coincidence - if we want to keep calling it that - was Joel's sermon. The message was on setting a good example, letting our lives be our ministry. To me, that's long been viewed as one of the most beautiful, yet difficult to fulfill messages Christ left with us. Obviously, at Lakewood, we accentuate the positive. And the message was replete with examples of how to let our own light shine even when the situation makes it challenging. Lending that positive attitude is just as important to be that positive attitude since we're never fully aware of who's watching.

Some time ago, God put before me a wonderful example of this. It happened that I was dining out (Luby's to be precise) and was a bit flustered from the hectic pace of the day. It wasn't that I was in any sour mood of any kind, but I was certainly focused a bit on just me, isolated from the world thanks to my MP3 player, and there's no telling what my body language was saying ('cuz Lord knows I wasn't paying much attention). The woman ahead of me on this slow night at the restaurant, however, had all the good cheer in the world to spare. And not in the weird, scary Hare Krishna way ... just as sincere and well intentioned good spirits as you could possibly imagine. She made sure to lend me a smile and a kind word for the day. She proceeded to do the same for everybody working behind the serving line, the cashiers, and no telling how many other people. I pray that she's still at it. It was all I could do that night to just stand in awe of this woman and take a few notes. Whenever the memory bank flares up, I still try to include her in a prayer that she continues that example and is surrounded by enough of God's favor to live her life in a way that builds her up even higher in that regard.

On my way out of the Sanctuary Saturday, I figured I'd lend a nice word to Carrie Hodge. To do this is no small feat. You literally have to brace yourself for the excitement that Carrie exudes. And I'm even more convinced that the word "handshake" is simply not even in her vocabulary. I'm convinced that I'm all hugged out for the week now. But in my simple effort to congratulate Carrie and verbally applaud her performance, her response to me was the same as it was to everyone else who did the same: "God is good." Would that we all find it so easy to deflect the praise and give God the glory. Fortunately, God continues to put good examples in front of us. Maybe it's His way of saying we should keep the notebook handy at all times.

So back to my story. As luck, coincidence, or whatever we're calling it now, all I managed to do on a Saturday was go to church, hear an incredible praise and worship service, receive a great sermon on letting our lives be our ministry, and then watched as Carrie and Randy gave great examples of that sermon - which makes me appreciate the Lakewood band even more.

I've written at some point in the past about how music had always been the way that helped me connect with God in the years before I had a church home. So perhaps it's a far cry from coincidence to suggest that this blog has gravitated a bit towards the musical. What's odd is that my initial thought was that maybe someone out there in the world might connect with God a little bit like I do and enjoy Lakewood on at least a few of the levels I do. The thought never occurred to me that it might also be the occasional word of encouragement back to the very band and choir that I'm trying to spread that light with. From the front of the stage to the back (and even to the sound crew), I just hope that I never fail to run out of those words of encouragement.

Though at some point, I should just drop the word "coincidence" from my vocabulary.

Yeah, I did manage to pick up Marcos' book over the weekend. Regrettably, it's behind a few other books I'm in the middle of for work. I have to confess that the topic is one that I'm slow to be drawn to. I don't exactly go around in fear of much these days. But I know there's bound to be something good in anything Marcos puts into print, so there's something I'm sure to be taken from the book one way or another.

The sermon, of course, was just your typical Marcos Witt level of awesomeness. It's not every weekend that you get what amounts to an improvised sermon. And it seems to be par for the course with Marcos that once you feel you've started and things get rocking, Marcos will look at his watch and realize he's got about 4 minutes left.

But you can't help but leave with a lighter heart after a Marcos Witt sermon. I'm sure the book will have much the same effect.

On another note, it was Game Night at Koinonia on Saturday. Once more, they open the arcade up for us old-schoolers. And once more, my dominance of air hockey, Mrs. Pac Man, and Galaga are firmly established.

Life is good.

Yeah, so the new year means that the Monday Video routine took a week off. Chalk it up to a victory for an out-of-whack sleep schedule. But thanks to YouTube's far easier means of blogging video, there's no reason that YouTube Tuesday should take a week off.

This video is a favorite for the Koinonia warm-up videos. Watch it, and you'll see why. Enjoy ...

Yeah, so the new year means that the Monday Video routine took a week off. Chalk it up to a victory for an out-of-whack sleep schedule. But thanks to YouTube's far easier means of blogging video, there's no reason that YouTube Tuesday should take a week off.

This video is a favorite for the Koinonia warm-up videos. Watch it, and you'll see why. Enjoy ...

Yeah, so it's a shame the Koinonia gang couldn't put together an exciting party of something for the new year.

Kidding ... Sunday night was a riot. Apologies to all of those who had to miss it. Among the pleasures was getting the opportunity to see something relatively close to a full Heath Rosborough solo performance (with a heckuva backup band). Granted, the performance was about half his stuff and half recognizable praise & worship tunes. But it was loud, which in my mind, helped. I had the unigue pleasure of serving as the effective "street team" for Heath, so it was great to see a good number of people hearing his music for the first time and come over to the table to pick up a CD and/or ask a few questions about the guy. I've got my review of Heath's CD back here. If you like it, buy it.

Among the items I've been negligent to blog about this slow week is the fact that next week's service is now officially a must-see. I blogged a rather humorous Marcos Witt excerpt of his latest sermon. In it, he "challenged" Dr. Paul Osteen to sing for us this past weekend as well as Joel to dance for us ... all things that we got in a Marcos Witt sermon. Well, I think Paul hit a home run with his decision to call Joel's bluff. Seems the good doctor did a rather nice Elvis ballad for his wife just to put the onus on Joel to dance for us next weekend. I kinda wish I'd recorded the sermon to have the full video of it, but sleep had to win out for the late night I'm now winding down. Fear not, if Joel busts out some disco moves, it will be archived ;-) Just to be on the safe side, though, don't miss service this next weekend.

Anyways, hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday season behind them now and a great new year to look forward to.

Checking the Koinonia Calendar online, there's at least one gem to mark on the calendar (in case there's any threat of you missing this date):

10/21 - McNair Wilson

I apparently had a few positive reactions to Wilson's initial stop at Lakewood. Then, as now, Wilson stops by as part of the Creative Arts Summit at Lakewood. Like a dolt, I neglected to get tickets this past weekend, so I'm stuck paying an additional $10 now for the pleasure. D'oh!

At least Koinonia is a freebie.

Not to detract from Heath Rosborough's musical appearance at tonight's Koinonia gathering, but a quick look through the upcoming calendar indicates that we're in for another treat on September 16. The Lakewood band is giving us another late night of praise & worship. I blogged about the last time the band played and it sure seemed like it was probably the most well-recieved Koinonia entertainment experience in my time with the gang.

Worth noting that Heath led that band last time. So consider tonight something of a warm up for that. But since I've never actually taken in a full Heath show at Koinonia before, I'm looking forward to tonight just as well (total fluke given that I've seen Shauna & Kelli about a dozen times it seems ... they play again on the 9/30). Still, would it be considered whining to ask for at least a brief cameo by Aimee for the 16th? ... or a co-Hodge tune?

I know, I know ... demanding audiences like me can be so difficult at times ;-)

ADD-ON: I should add that the reason I got spurred to checking the calendar was the newly redesigned emails for the weekend services. Much nicer look to them if you ask me. It's at least organized in a way that's designed to invite a reader to the Lakewood website. Kudos to whomever is responsible!

I fully expect to pay a steep price for adding this to the conversation, but check out the mop on top of the guy pictured with Liza Minelli:

This sorta came up in post-Koinonia conversation Saturday night. It's not much of a surprise that Wendell has a background in professional acting. But apparently, our beloved Koinonia pastor had a pretty amazing run. The film with Liza Minelli, "The Sterile Cuckoo," did quite well ... or so I'm told. Liza flicks aren't my preferred genre. I was accussed of being a Star Trek fan over nachos Saturday night. Alas, I'm more of a comedy buff with an appreciation for a good horror flick every now and then. Anyways, Wendell's played Charlie Brown and Dick Van Dyke's son and he apparently turned down a lead role in Harold and Maude ... all of which rank as rather cool in my book.

So what became of our once promising actor-turned-pastor? Here's where the bio posted on IMDB picks up things:

A soul-searcher by nature, Wendell questioned the direction of his life and, after much traveling and study, immersed himself in the Christian religion. He married in 1978 and is the father of a daughter and a son. Reminiscent of the perennially boyish and now balding Ron Howard in looks and demeanor, his career has pretty much fallen away since he turns down most roles he deems morally objectionable. In later years he taught acting in Hollywood, and eventually became a minister.

And we're happy he did. Our gain is Hollywood's loss.

Now if we can just figure out the mystery of Wendell's hair ....

From the televised sermon: "Controlling Your Moods" ....

Another important key to not living our lives moody is we have to learn to be realistic and not idealistic. Idealistic means that we think everything is going to always go our way. Everybody's going to treat me right today. Every freeway is going to be traffic free. I'm going to get out of this parking lot tonight in five minutes. No, that's not realistic. Even Jesus said "In life we will have difficulty." I know people that are so idealistic, that they set themselves up for disappointment.

And I'm all for expecting good things. I'm all for expecting the best. But the reality is we live in an imperfect world, with imperfect people. And there are going to be things that don't go our way. Sometimes simply so God can test us. Sometimes so our character can be developed. If you're expecting your children to always be perfect. Your spouse to never hurt you and that every break go your way, then you're setting yourself up for disappointment. A better way to live is to say "God, here are my plans for today. I'm submitting them to you believing for the best. But whatever does or doesn't happen, God my trust is in you. And I believe that because I keep my trust in you you've already promised that you'll cause all things to work together for my good."

When you have that kind of attitude, even if your plans don't work out, even if you go through some dissappointments, you don't have to be frustrated. you know that God has you in the palm of your hands. You know in those tough times your character is being developed. You're growing. So you can stay consistent and enjoy that day anyway. But don't set yourself up for disappoinment by expecting everything to always go perfect.

For some reason, this jumps out more at me this time than it had before. But I think it speaks directly to those who would suggest something less of Joel's ministry. But I guess this is just one of those sermons they choose not to hear.

This actually ties in a bit to the section covered in Koinonia by John Maxwell. The chapter was on "The Approachability Principle." The point of it is that, by making ourselves approachable, we help others become more at ease with us. Think about it. If you don't know how your boss is going to react to bad news, are you more or less inclined to approach him with it? If your friend has wildly differing reactions to certain topics, does that make you more or less likely to bring them up in conversation?

There's a section of this principle in which Maxwell notes that one way we help make ourselves more approachable is to delay our emotions, maintaining a consistency in mood. That set off a bit of discussion after the video at our table (abley led by FBB commentor and my good friend Dale). I think there's some inherent difficulty in grasping this point, though. After all, didn't Maxwell have another principle in this same book that spoke to the need to confront people ASAP whenever conflict arises? But to the degree that this principles get confused, I think it's that we confuse our reaction with our emotions. They're not the same.

Emotions are best formed gradually. I've never been one to make a great deal out of first impressions, despite everyone saying how important they are (and, really, they are). Part of that is because I've been through enough moments in life that I've been grateful to have a second chance at making a good impression. But there are moments where something or someone rubs you the wrong way far more quickly than you'd like it to. When that happens, however, I can address the situation or person involved far better if I keep an even keel. That's different from my emotions, which may as well be to strangle someone. But I may learn something in the course of addressing the situation that gives more background to it then I had before. So what's the point of letting off a hotheaded emotion if there's a reasonably good chance that it's not fully formed by fact? It doesn't do me any good ... I'm not sure how it really does anyone else any good either. That's not to suggest you should store up everything and never let it out. But it is to suggest that you should go with a fully-formed emotion moreso than one that doesn't have enough information behind it.

So I get to Koinonia at the tail end of a very long, physically draining day. I'm part of the early crowd, so I spot a nice, cozy, plush armchair and plop myself down. It felt good on the aches and pains within and I wasn't about to move. Not for anything. Then along came Cordell. After a bit of trickery involving a friendly handshake greeting designed to take me off-guard, I get asked if I might like to facilitate a table. This looked like a somewhat sparse crowd by normal Koinonia standards and I guess that included MVPs to lead discussion at tables. Now, immediately in my mind, I believe I took Cordell's name in vain several times and steeled myself to give him a peice of my mind for trying to lure me out of this all-too-comfortable chair. What came out of my mouth, however, sounded vaguely similar to "Sure." I'm not certain how such slipups happen, but off I went to pick up a notebook and to take over a table.

All things considered, I have to confess that everything went perfect, wonderful, and splendidly. I found a table of about 4 that needed a facilitator and, in the end, nobody got hurt. I recognized one person from the table, which was of limited help toward easing any anxiety - I knew he wasn't an easy conversationalist (an observation that I'd change before the night was through), and I'd only met him once before. So there wasn't a whole lot of familiarity of the personalities I had to work with. Still unresolved is that I'm not that good at leading group prayers. I'm more of the individualistic type in that regard and besides, my natural voice doesn't carry very well. And as I'm looking over the material for discussion as the John Maxwell video plays, I've got a decision to make - do I think about what the heck I want to include in a group prayer? ... or do I think through how I want to get the conversation going? I put my money on the hope that I can farm out the prayer and I'm accomodated nicely in that regard.

Some areas I lucked out on last night. We didn't get any more takers for our table, so we ended up with a total table of 5 instead of the usual 8. That certainly made it easier for me (the rookie) to manage time around the table and see that everyone got in as much (or as little) as they might like to talk about. It was also a topic that I could relate easily to (we were on "The Trust Principle" of Winning With People). Another luck of the draw - three of the five at the table were techies. Where else can you go to hear in conversation: "Hold on now, this is a holy place, we'll not mention the likes of Windows ME around here."

I'd contemplated signing up as a Koinonia MVP before, but I was never sure that I was at a point where I wanted to go from taking in the material to putting out the material. I'd seen several MVPs lead a group, many that do so very well ... some that still have a few areas of growth in that regard. There are a handful of MVPs that I thoroughly enjoy because of their particular area of strength. So I've got a short list in mind of how to do the role effectively and how to make the night a total wreck. Saturday night only added to both of those lists.

One thing that struck me as most notable from this experience and worth sharing, is that 3 of the 4 at my table were infrequent Koinonia visitors (as opposed to us habitual types). One of the individuals noted his difficulty in connecting with people at Koinonia. It struck me as odd because he was a very outgoing person and a good conversationist. But at the beginning of the night, he noted that in several of his prior experiences, many of the groups meeting already had some well-defined cliques. And after we wrapped up our discussion, he noted that most of the groups he'd met with would break up, dissolve, and leave people like him with not a lot to do.

I think there's something to that. Even among great group leaders. Part of it's just a natural function of the fact that, as you meet more and more people, you eventually make a lot of friends at Koinonia. I'd mentioned to this man how, when I was headed out the door last week, there were no less than 5 people who had to stop me, say hi, catch up on some bit of conversation started from way back whenever ... and there I was thinking I was pretty much done for the night. Good problem to have, really.

But there's also a leadership aspect involved with Koinonia that ought to be demonstrated. Namely, be as attentive as possible that you're building relationships at the table you've committed to working with. It's easy for conversation to shrink to a one-on-one level. But even in looking back to those MVP types that I appreciate the most, it's been the fact that they take some responsibility for developing more friendships and other relationships. In the past, that's been me cast as the one being reached out to, and being the recipient of some of that focus. And that takes a lot of responsibility on the part of someone facilitating a table. In short - it's a responsibility. Not a difficult one, just one that requires a bit of focus. Not everyone at my own table was as sharing, not everyone wanted to open up, and not everyone necessarily wanted to stick around to talk. To each their own. But for those that did, there's a distinct responsibility on the part of MVPs to effectively demonstrate what those of us who brag about the Koinonia group for: being a great place to make friends.

I have to admit that, on the way home, I thought it highly coincidental that I'd have to utilize just about every lesson tought in Maxwell's "Winning With People" in the span of about 2 hours. Even more refreshing was seeing many of those lessons taught by the others in their own way. As the music took over for the night, our table shrunk to the three techies sharing a lot of great conversation about a lot of non-techie stuff.

One of the things that I do feel God has been putting in my heart as of late has been to take more and more of a look at (and get involved with) helping the homeless. One of those too-rare moments of conviction came once when I was riding the train into downtown on a drizzling summer day. You see quite a few homeless people along the way, but there was a moment when I saw a man wandering the streets that sort of cut through the impersonal jadedness that overtakes you after seeing enough of something. Among the revelations I've had since then were that, despite the great amount of help and assistance that has been put out into the world, there seems to be a shortage of effective solutions to get people back on their own two feet. There are some that do great work at this. But the bulk of solutions out there for homelessness seem to be temporary solutions that, if they do offer some resources to get people back into the mainstream, are overwhelmed and stretched thin ... and as a result, end up as nothing more than temporary warehouses for wayward souls. Another is that, in my own area of town, there seems to be a shortage of shelters in what is a growing section of the county. And a great deal of unique situations come up here. I recall reading how, after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita had led a great deal of Vietnamese to Houston, they didn't migrate to the official shelters at the Astrodome or Convention Center. They didn't trust those resources, so they ended up in group houses in the Asian areas of southwest Houston ... unregistered, with a lot of people wondering what happened to them.

So, in the process of taking all of this in, I've had a flood of ideas and random thoughts. But I know that things are going to work on God's time. There's a lot to learn, a lot fo see, a lot to experience. So where does this fit in with Koinonia and why am I including it? Well, turns out one of the techies has some friends who have converted a ware house in central Texas to a homeless shelter to take in some of the hardcore situations being run out of shelters in the urban counties. The setting removes them from what may be temptations and other negative effects back home. The warehouse is used for actual work as well, and there's apparently been some talk about creating some work opportunities that help the guys develop habits that might lead to them getting back into the workforce, or at least making enough money to live what life they can while in this facility.

Some of the thoughts, ideas, revelations, whatever that have come up over the past few months strike me as far more than coincidental. The three of us at the table had a good long conversation about the shelter. We exchanged contact info. If the timing ever works out, I may even end up out at the warehouse for a weekend. And more importantly, it appears that the gentleman who mentioned to me how difficult it had proven to connect with others at Koinonia saw the other side of the coin this time around.

So that was my Saturday. I think I'm almost at the point where I can forgive Cordell for making me work.

What a full day of church fun for the night. No amount of blogging can truly capture it all. But a couple of things warrant at least an effort. For starters - Compass Class. OK, so there's a slight non-fatal problem of communication going on with upcoming topics. The series on dating actually starts (I think) July 1. That means June has a four-part series. This time, it's on Spiritual Warfare. First up for teaching duties was the always enjoyable, multi-talented Tracy. We had a slew of scripture references thrown in and I tried to capture what I could. So in case anyone's up for some study time, I'll add that at the end. For now, one primary point of focus comes from 1 Peter 5:8-10

⁸Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. ⁹Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

¹⁰And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.

I thought it too coincidental that Tracy would crack open "Wild At Heart" towards the end and pretty much riff from a section that I first took a look at back in December. Spiritual warfare is a central aspect of Eldredge's books aimed at men (and I suspect has a significant role in his books aimed at women) and I think he presents it in a way that addresses us where we are in real life terms.

Someone in the class asked about there being a litmus test of sorts for determining if something was spiritual warfare. I tend to agree with Tracy that this tends to fall somewhere near a "I know it when I see it" type of call. But inching from that toward something of a more precise explanation, I tend to think of Eldredge's concept of "I'm not here" as a handy guide. It tends to be that most acts of spiritual warefare begin with the notion that the Enemy isn't present. Eldredge speaks of "good people with good hearts want[ing] to explain everything on a 'human' level." In other words, there's nobody else here ... just us humans. If there's no positive spiritual aspect present with what's being done, then you can probably bet there's a negative one present. It's typically when we think nobody is looking that someone is.

We closed the class with 4 R's of Spiritual Warfare, so I definitely want to share those, along with some scripture references to each.

• Repent James 4:7
• Recognize 1 Peter 5:8-9; John 10:10; Ephesians 6:16
• Resist 1Peter 5:8-10; 2 Corinthians 10:3-5
• Replace Matthew 4:1-11

There's a great deal more that was given in class, but rather than try and capture it all myself and expose my own shortcomings as a secondhand teacher, I'll refer anyone to pick up any book by John Eldredge. I can't top that stuff.

As an added bonus, it was great to see a growing crowd at the Saturday night class. If there's a group of teachers that deserves a large class, it's the Waypoint crew. There's still good seats available, though. I had two good fortunes to experience Saturday night: one being that my friend Mark was able to make it to Compass Class. The other was to get to talk to Patricia later at Koinonia. I occassionally bump into Mark in my 'hood since he works near where I live. I mentioned the Compass Classes to him the last time I saw him out & about (actually, as he was giving me a lift to the bus station). I realized after we'd parted ways that I had a few of those handy cards for the class on me to offer, but I guess I was just left hoping that a good verbal sell would be encouragement enough for him to make it. I lucked out & he did. But Mark's got a great heart for God, so I'm sure he would have made it eventually. Patricia is forever endeared to me for offering one of the coolest answers to a Koinonia introduction moment. We went around our table offering our names and what type of person we wanted to be. Patricia offered up "a sea diver." I should point out that if I dared to speculate as to Patricia's age, she'd have me shot. She's much too sweet to admit to that, of course. But since she was the first one to go, I have to admit there's no way anyone could top "sea diver" as an answer. After the session on Maxwell's book, we had a good chat. Turns out she's a big fan of Carrie Hodge's. I had to turn her on to Carrie's CD, of course. It was all I could do to not march downstairs and demand they open the bookstore back up to buy a copy of it for her.

Good thing this weekend was as fun as it was ... it'll have to get me through next weekend when I'm off to Ft. Worth. I'll get something up on Marcos' sermon whenever I get back by to pick up a CD of it. Hoping to take care of that ... well, literally in a few hours.

So how does the band manage what is effectively an all-nighter for some of the members? Judging by the Koinonia concert, it was a spartan crew on stage: the usual suspects at drums (Steve Allison), bass (Rankin Peters), sax (Randy Allison), keys (Larry Ratajcak) ... with Tommy Peters on lead guitar. Essentially the backing band from Nobody's Fool, add Randy, and drop in Heath Rosborough & a trio of singers leading the tunage.

No complaints whatsoever. This was, by any definition, an incredible show. Where Koinonia is a format that allows the big church to get smaller by putting us in small groups, the more intimate setting with the band allowed for a great glimpse into the individual talents on display. I did have the good fortune of briefly meeting Tommy after the show as well as Steve & Larry on the elevator ride downstairs. By all appearances, they had a blast since everyone was all smiles and appreciative of the reception they got.

It was actually my first time taking in Heath's singing and the guy's definitely got some talent that deserves to get a wider audience. Naturally, my own primary focus was on Tommy's guitar work. The lighter lineup meant that the guitar was far more pronounced and that more than meets with my own approval. Even more encouraging was that most everyone else in attendance seemed to dig the show as well. While the crowd usually tends to thin out somewhat after 10pm - this time, there was a mob still on hand at 11. It was a real treat to hear the songs done with some heavier guitar work and that just may be the kick I need to get back in the habit of practicing guitar ("sporadic" would be a kind word for that habit as of late).

Oh, and I meant to nudge Pastor Wendell on the idea of getting Michael & Carrie Hodge to do something like this, maybe with some of the Two Hearts material. I've really got to make up for that. Otherwise, I don't think he or anyone else would truly appreciate my more ongoing followup push to get Aimee Beard to do a show or two or a hundred. That comes afterwards. Or maybe I take that concept straight to Aimee the next time I see her around. So many options.