Take A Break From Christmas Break

Are you sick of being at home?

Do you miss your friends?

Are your parents telling you to find something to do...outside of the house?

Then we have the answer for you!!

Join us on Thursday, January 1st, 2009 at Calvary Chapel for the 2nd Annual Christmas Break Game party. We will get started around 5pm and will finish around 10pm. There will be a Wii, some exciting games like Communist Church & Bang! You're Dead! and, of course, a HALO Tournament. So bring your friends and $5 for pizza and snacks.

It will be a great time to get back together since we have missed so many Wednesday Nights this month. I am looking forward to catching up with you and then giving you a headshot in HALO!! God Bless and see you Thursday!

More Promo Videos

More Promo videos for the Game Night - Thursday, January 1st, 2009 - 5pm to 10pm

My New New Favorite Thing

I am so fickle...

Just like a teenage girl...

I probably shouldn't have written that...

Anyway, I think I have just found my new favorite thing. I seem to find a new one just about every week. (Last week's was pandora.com, an online streamed radio program that is TOTALLY Free!) This week's is YouVersion, an online Bible study/reader site.

But this Bible site is unique. It was created by the creatively technical geniuses at lifechurch.tv (an online church) to help people engage the Scripture. So it is set up like familiar online community tools like YouTube, mySpace, Facebook, etc. It has a Bible reader window that you can search and switch between numerous versions of the Bible. It has study notes, but it also lets you link to posted comments from other online users. You can then rate those posts by relevance.

You can also tag verses, write a personal journal or add your own content (such as comments, video, pictures or links). You can also invite friends or follow other users. Pretty interesting stuff.

I am planning on trying it out with a study my D-Group is doing on Isaiah. I just used it for the first nine verses and found all sorts of great info, cross references and had a wonderful journaling experience. I'm pretty excited.

I think if you try the site, it may become your new favorite thing also...

At least for this week.

Let me know how it works for you. God Bless

Bible Study for a Busy Schedule

Many people tell me it is hard to make time in their schedule to read the Bible. I found this video that may help streamline the process for you.



God Bless and enjoy your Ice Day!

A Christmas Challenge

Last night at 180 Youth Ministry was one of mixed emotions for me.

I was so glad to have church as the weather had threatened to cancel. I was excited about Chad sharing some of his music and stories from missions in the Ukraine. I was sad because it will be our last Wednesday night service until after the first of the year. But I (along with others I believe) was moved as we thought about how we can transform our Christmas giving into something that makes a difference.

The challenge was issued that we buy at least one present in a manner that makes a difference in the lives of someone in need. This could be as simple as buying clothes or food for a family locally in need. Or it could be as radical as not giving any purchased presents but using your money instead to send to World Vision or the Advent Conspiracy.

As I shared last night, one of the movements I am the most excited about is TOMs Shoes. It is a business that sells these really cool slip-on shoes and for every shoe purchased they send a pair of shoes to a kid in a foreign country who can't afford shoes. This Christmas they are making a push to send 30,000 shoes to kids in Ethiopia. Check out this video about it:



So now, whether you were there last night or are being sucked into this solely on the blogosphere, you are challenged to use your ordinary practice of gift giving and transform it into something that makes an extra-ordinary difference.

Let me know what happens. Post a comment with your stories. I can't wait to hear. God Bless

Service Project

Unfortunately, it looks like the service project I was working on for us has fallen through. There may be an opportunity at the end of the month that I will keep everyone posted about. Also, I am interested in trying to get some young people involved in helping with the process of answering need calls in the community. If you would be interested in being involved in that type of thing, please leave a comment to this post.

I do want to encourage you to continue the process of living with less in your personal life and looking at the individual needs around you. And please share your stories with us this week: frustrations at trying to clear your schedule, pain in giving up stuff for others, blessings from getting to give to someone, peace from the freedom clearing your life gives. Whatever your experience, post a comment about it. God Bless.

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Worship Options Part 2

A couple of weeks ago I posted some YouTube videos as possible new worship approaches for us. Today I came across a video showing another church actually taking one of those ideas and putting it into action. This particular video starts at the end of the message for this church's Sunday morning service. As you will see, what occurs is a surprising and totally new way to do the response time!