foolishnotions.net

so, i’ve been home a week and my brain is still bulging from c3.  i have to say my absolute favorite part was talking to the volunteers.  in a room full of thousands of people from all over the place i seemed to coincidentally locate the one seat that would place me right next to a fellowship church volunteer. half of these great people served, or had a family member who served on the media teams.  it was crazy.  after the 2nd time abbye just looked at me and asked, “so, what high capacity volunteer did you get to talk to this time?”.  so, i want you to meet them too… as best as i can remember:

• chris - volunteer sound engineer.  he happily ran down the whole process he has gone through to become and serve as the sound engineer for their video recordings.  he is one of, i think, 4 guys who serve in this position.  he serves usually one to two weekends a month and spends, about 10-15 hours at the church on those weekends for rehearsals and services.  he used to be in radio in his earlier life.  he patiently, knowledgeably and happily answered every question i had.  super nice guy… so inviting, humble, easy to talk to and passionate about the vision of fellowship church.
• john - husband a video girl. this man had the most impressive set of teeth i have ever seen in my life. and he smiled a lot. i like that. his wife spends a lot of time at fellowship serving on the video team getting scriptures, lyrics and video elements ready. so, he stays with the kids… because, he said, “that is the most important thing i can do”. he is a software engineer who designs programs medical research. and i am sure that he is a very rare individual.
• cash - a 60 something, clear thinking, spiritually sound dynamo and small group leader. he had tons of wisdom which he shared with me and eric, an oregonian youth pastor (of 17 impressive years ) who happened to be sitting between us. eric had some really difficult questions.  cash listened hard, responded with only key tidbits of wisdom and had only encouraging words. i’m sure eric left encouraged and ministered to - maybe more from cash than t.d. jakes.  cash and his wife have been members of fellowship for many years.  they came at first because their daughter loved it and invited them.  they were not church attenders at the time but quickly started to grow in their faith and got involved in volunteer ministry.  they shared with us that through the years they have not always agreed with everything that went on at fellowship but they were undeniably on board with the vision and actively involved as volunteers and not going anywhere.  so refreshingly mature and level headed…  all had the right reasons.  (oh yeah, he had a great laugh and a voice that definitely was made for radio - wow!)
• jack - a really kind and friendly (50+ year old) man at lunch. i never actually found out what he does. he was just nice, easy, down to earth, witty and fun - an absolute breath of fresh air… that was enough.

the speakers were absolutely amazing.  and i’m sure i will post thoughts about some of the things that have been rolling around in my heart.  but honestly - i think i got more from sitting next to these 4 kind gentlemen and from the hundreds of helpful friendly volunteers.  i never had to look for information.  and i never felt hounded or weirded out. they were the unexpected icing on the cake.  kudos fellowship volunteers… you simply rock!!!

little side note for my home church family:  if you are a rock volunteer,  please never underestimate the value of where god has placed you.  without you - there is no ministry at the rock.  whether you spend 5 minutes a week or 15 hours a week.  do it with all your might and all your passion being confident that what you do matters greatly in this church, in our city and for the kingdom of heaven.  i love you all.  thank you for your heart for god and for all you do at the rock.

little known fact about me: i really look forward to reading
my akismet spam comments.  wow, that sounds really needy
when i just put it out there like that.

it’s the only one but it’s a start. this makes me happy.

posted from iPhoneSlide.com

today I clean my desk BEFORE I look at my to do list. how does it get like this?!?!?!?

posted from iPhoneSlide.com

posted from iPhoneSlide.com

this friday abbye, matthew and i leave for nashville with gafa to visit dony & reba mcguire’s church, the river at music city. the girls are going to spend some time with the dancers there and i am going to get to work. i’m not sure exactly what they have in mind, but i am looking forward to sewing some go seed into another ministry. then on tuesday we’re off to dallas to meet bryan and jen for the c3 conference at fellowship church. i am soooooo excited. i have sooooo much to do. so in the interest of multi-tasking here is my to do list…

1. finish the van wrap templates and send them to print. here’s the comp… (all done - just need to get some model releases - will print as soon as i get back from dallas)
   
2. get things ready for my team on sunday for week one of question authority.
3. publish sunday’s podcast
4. finish gafa parent production packets for our may production, creation.
5. send myles monroe postcard to print. no hi res pics yet. done accept for images…. ready to go to printer after c3.
6. send creation poster to print. need to discuss wording during trip. all ready to send upon return from c3.
7. finish hooking up par cans in fellowship hall.
8. design an ad for gafa about our summer classes to run next month in wilmington parent magazine.
9. start graphics for our easter series. going to have to work on this while i’m gone
10. go to the bank.
11. go shopping.
12. do laundry.
13. pack.
14. pay bills.
15. find someone to watch cam this friday (after school) and next monday (teacher work day)

woo hoo!!!! here we go….

the awakened man’s dream
::me

(greenfield lake… circa digital photography. one of my favorite shots.)

i must, i must, i must find a way to have a healthy lifestyle. i used to be such a faithful gym rat. i love the whole gym culture. i like aerobics, lifting weights as well as outdoor sports. i still do. unfortunately, since having a child and leaving freelance life for the 8 to 5 (snicker)… there are now a lot of other things i love to do that, quite frankly, out prioritize my time in the gym.

today ernie is filming down at the movie studio all day. realizing that a trip to the gym wasn’t going to be all that productive, cam and i threw his bike in the back of our new (to us) blazer and headed off to greenfield lake. i ran and he rode his bike for about 20 minutes. now, wilmington is really flat. but somehow greenfield manages to feature 2 or 3 hills that most of you would laugh at me for labeling as such. it wasn’t long before cam’s little legs pooped right out. not mine, of course. yeah, right - ok. they were burning after 5. then we saw the paddle boats.

perfect, i thought. “hey, cam. you want to get a paddle boat?”

he perked right up, “oh, yeah, sure!! maybe we’ll see some alligators!!!”

[-- !!! --]

so, off we went. cam steared and i paddled. for those of you who read my blog but have never been to wilmington, greenfield lake is an absolutely beautiful place. above is a picture i took several years ago when we first moved to to the area. there are tons of cypress trees growing right up out of the water dripping with spanish moss and teaming with wildlife…. turtles, ducks, egrets, herons and yes, your occasional gator.

we were moving. my legs were burning. upon observing that it seemed more difficult for me to paddle when we made a hard turn, my loving son’s face took on a decidedly mischievous countenance. he suddenly discovered a whole new level of enjoyment that comes from watching mom sweat and groan as he spun donuts in the middle of the lake. ha, ha. we had so much fun scoping out the animals and navigating the back side of “wilmington bayeux”. sunshine, nature, laughter - - no bugs… and a 50 minute workout. it was just right.

i didn’t dare take my camera with me, though i wanted to. i know me a little too well. it would have ended up at the bottom of the inky abyss. plus, it was the middle of the day and terrible lighting for photography. but there was this one tree - oh, man was it beautiful. i simply must strap a camera to myself and head out one evening to capture it. it grows all by itself right out in the middle of the water on the backside of the lake. it has curves to rival the prettiest of women and is adorned with layer upon layer of thick, lush and lacy moss reaching all the way down to the water’s black reflective surface. [sigh] one day i’ll get it.

god did such a great job making wilmington. if you’ve never been here - you should plan a vacation here sometime. it’s much cheaper than disney an absolutely has it all, beautiful beaches, parks, great museums, an aquarium, a historic riverfront downtown area, ferry rides, pier and surf fishing, screen gems movie studios, theaters,  outdoor volleyball, a water park… and art - lots and lots of art. plus, there’s this really great church… :-D. i love living here… ya’ll come visit us. let us know when you’re coming!

footnote: kudos to the kid running the boat shed who understands that, on a slow day, $7 is actually more than $0 and happily let us ride since he didn’t have a credit card machine that would charge us the full $10 fare. smart people are refreshing.

67 and sunny… [sigh] I love living here.

posted from iPhoneSlide.com

just finished the graphics for our 2008 glory academy of fine arts production, creation. i am sooooo excited. a theme like creation promises endless possibilities for a veritable sensory feast.

so, here we go. it’s full on until may. woo hoo!

if you are in wilmington may 16-17, 2008 make plans to come to the rock to see our full length original production. lights, dance, music, multi-media, costumes, hair, make-up, full set….

it’s going to be great!!! man, i love my job!

sidenote: so, i showed this to a few people around the office and
almost without exception the response was, “did YOU do that?” [with emphasis].
i don’t know how to feel about this. maybe i need to start stepping it up a bit.
so, i think they all need to comment to help restore my shattered self confidence.