unMediocre

Well, I’ve been slow as Christmas (hah!) when it comes to getting back in the game now that Dinner in December is over. What is DID? I’m glad you asked!

For the last 9 or 10 years, we at West Ridge have done an outreach-focused dinner theater at Christmas time. It’s evolved through the years, but typically it’s a mixture of music and comedy. Table Hosts come and decorate round tables in the Worship Center with beautiful table settings, and then their guests join them for the evening. It’s a pretty classy affair.

Historically it’s been more of a sketch comedy/variety show format, but this year we played with something different… A “play” of sorts.

The story was basically a sit-com style behind the scenes look at a morning talk show called “Good Day, Hampton Bay.” I’ll try to rip some of the footage from the actual “play,” but for now (since I’m still kinda jetlagged from my trip back from DID-ville), I’ll just post some of the video elements that helped make up the news show. They’re pretty sweet. Jeffrey Morris, one of my key volunteers who does a good bit of our video production put these together. Very nice work.

Enjoy! [BTW, for those of you who read my wife Annette's blog, she's "Beverly Stillson" in the "Good Day, Hampton Bay" opening credits.]

West Ridge Church “Going Green”

Extreme Christmas Home Makeover

Good Day, Hampton Bay Opening Credits

Dinner in December is HERE! Opening show last night went very well. I am SO proud of our amazing team. Actors, writers, musician, video geniuses, set builders, stagecrafters, stage crews, lighting designers, tables servers, table hosts…the list goes on and on. I so wish I could post pictures or clips, but there are still a couple thousand folks who still have to see the show, so I can’t blow any surprises. I’ll share a lot more after Saturday night’s show has been, um, shown.

This idea isn’t necessarily new… I believe Willow Creek was the first to do this, but we first saw it when our good friend Tommy Politz over at Hillside in Amarillo, TX did it a few months back. It’s powerful when you see theirs on YouTube. They’ve had nearly 2,000,000 views already.

As powerful as it is to see another church do it, when you see faces you know…shoulders you hug…people you serve with…and broken hearts you’ve cried with step onto the stage to make statements like this, the breadth of God’s mercy takes on a whole new persona.

God is gracious.

Take a look…

Crazy morning at West Ridge today… It was Brian’s first Sunday in town since his trip to Africa, and he told an amazing story about a girl who was healed of Malaria after our team prayed for her. She and her sister had been “treated” by a witch doctor in their village, but the sister had died the week before. So the girl’s grandmother asked our team to pray for her. Well, needless to say, God won this little wrestling match.

So we showed a quick video of the prayer, and then Brian dove into his message. It was a bit of attack on Satan and how we don’t have to take on the identity that HE tries to give us.

Then, during the second service, there was a bit of a “mishap.” Packed house, right? The most people we’ve had on campus since Easter. Things are hopping.

But then things started smoking.

“Bwooooop! Bwooooop! An emergency has been reported in this building. Please evacuate immediately…”

So, in an effort to avoid a hefty fine from the Fire Marshall…oh, and to prevent potential burns, smoke inhalation, etc., we evacuated.

Brian had to shout from the stage since the audio rig automatically powers down when the alarm trips.

I was in the green room at the time… Told the band guys who were chillin’ to get on outa there, and then walked the backstage area to make sure it wasn’t something in our area. Hazer off? Check. Guitar iso room clear? Check. Lighting bars smoke/fire free? Check.

It wasn’t a fire…fortunately.

Read up on the cause and other little tidbits of our little adventure at Annette’s and Brian’s blogs.

I’m not sure who coined the phrase “Worship Confessional.” Whoever you are, I hope you don’t mind me jumping on the bandwagon.

So it appears that quite a few folks appreciated my honesty last Sunday. I don’t have any embarrassing stories to tell this go round. (Unless you count my breaking my own rule and wearing an almost white shirt. The result was lyrics that were washed out on screen leaving me tongue tied during the first service.)

Sunday was phenomenal. There is a huge sense of anticipation at West Ridge and throughout our community for Community Makeover Weekend. (read this and this for more info.)

We filled the stage again this week. I know it’s cool to have a small band with just one or two really good singers downstage. But I am a firm believer in MULTIPLE SINGERS! Now, I’m not talking a line of singers across downstage. (there’s nothing wrong with that AT ALL, but it doesn’t fly in our neck of the woods for some reason) And I’m also not talking typical 3-part harmony. I’m talking well-thought-out vocal parts coming from all over the stage. It’s as much visual as it is audible. And at many points throughout the service, the singers may just be singing unison while your audio engineer controls how they sit in the mix. The effect? It’s like having the crowd miked. I think the benefits of that are pretty obvious… When the folks in your crowd feel like they can hear the people around them singing, then they are less intimidated to sing along themselves. And a full crowd of singers pouring their voice out to God is the goal, right?

From time to time, we like to reverse the order of the service a bit (not arbitrarily… but specifically when we know there’s something being taught that could fuel a genuine response from the crowd. Think Matt Redman’s thoughts on worship being a response to revelation…good stuff).

This Sunday, the service looked like this:

Baptisms (~20 this week…since this week a year ago, we have seen over 330 folks baptized at West Ridge!)
“Let God Arise” [Tomlin]
“Knocking On the Door of Heaven” [Redman] (we’ve been in a series about prayer, and Jake wrote a new arrangement of the tune… AWESOME. I had a blast singing it.)

Then we dedicated a team we’re sending off to Cuba this weekend.

Then Brian concluded the Prayer miniseries and led the crowd in a time of prayer.

Then we opened the gates…

Chasity Tibbits sang “Hosanna” [Hillsong] (Chasity’s new to our team… She nailed the heart of this song. Powerful)
“The Time Has Come” [Hillsong United] (this was new to our crowd, but the point was to get the lyrics into their mind as we went out to gear up for CMW…)
And then we prayed together by singing “God Of This City” [Bluetree b. w. o. Tomlin]

We almost got a little crazy there at the end. I try not to use the saying “God moved” unless I REALLY believe He did…and God moved.

It was turning point kind of morning. (and I don’t use that phrase flippantly, either.) God is doing incredible things through the West Ridge family these days. I know a blog can often be nothing more than a place to brag or to make our lives sound more interesting than they really are…but it’s a thrill to be able to say that God really is doing something specifically intended to bring Himself glory on a pretty decent scale right here in our own neighborhood.

It’s going to be an amazing few days… I can’t wait to hear the stories that will be written by this time next week!

So I had a blast leading worship this morning. Steve is taking a couple of weeks off, and I took this morning for him and will also be on stage next week. Here are some highlights from today…

We added some singers to the band this morning. We usually just have 3 or 4…today we had 6 or 7. Doing it again next week. I loved it. Having more folks on stage just adds a new dynamic.

I tortured the team unnecessarily. For some reason I told them to be ready to play at 7:15am. And they were. The problem was in that my alarm was set for its normal time, so when I woke up this morning, my mistake hit me square in the face. By the time I arrived on campus, the band, singers, audio crew were warmed up and ready to go. This made me feel very guilty. But they were good sports about it.

The band and singers made it a very fun morning for me. They are a bunch of all-stars. Jake Collier, Brad Avery, Jason Foust, Jon Osbourne, Chris Foust, and John Marsten were the players. I feel a little like a high school kid coaching the Lakers when I’m leading these guys. Corey Brown, Judy Bloye, Paul Estes, and Allison Weathington (and Jason Foust) were on mics with me. It’s hard to beat that lineup!

During the first service, Brian was so excited to start teaching that he jumped onstage one song too early, so we ended up cutting a song unexpectedly. It was a good thing, though, because he ended up going WAY over his time! I tell you what…give the man a few weeks off, and he’ll make up for the time when he gets back! Hah!

Brian taught on prayer and absolutely nailed it out of the park. I love it when he gets to dig in to something that he’s that passionate about. It’s contagious.

The Set List:

• Glory Of Your Name [Watermark]
• How Can I Keep From Singing [Tomlin]
• Perfect Love [Hillsong United]
• Til I See You [Hillsong United] (only during the first service)
• Wonderful Maker [Tomlin/Redman] (only during second service…piano and vocals only…very tasty)

It rained like CRAZY most of the morning. My brother said it was drowning out the delay and even the piano in portions of Wonderful Maker. And the ceiling is 40-feet over the crowd!

I led the entire morning with my fly open (not intentionally)

Now to go sleep it off.

Annette and I are sitting in a waiting room waiting to see a new OB as we begin our third pregnancy journey. We’ve been here for two-and-a- half hours already. Blah. Lots of sitting. Lots of waiting. Lots of ‘interesting’ people. And LOTS of magazines.
I picked this one up, and Annette noticed the type-o. Front page. Featured article. Fairly large print.
In the green room yesterday morning, I encouraged our band, singers, production team…everyone serving as a worship artist…with this thought:
Don’t waste a word.
Every word matters. Whether you’re singing it, teaching it, accentuating it with a drum hit, or displaying it on a screen, every word should have value.
If it doesn’t, don’t say it.
In the marketing world, the value of a word is spent to convince your target audience. In the publishing world, it helps reinforce credibility. In the context of personal relationships, the cheapening of our words over time can fuel a lack of trust.
And as we lead our churches in worship, a wasted word can make or break the clarity of our message.

I just want to go on record as saying that West Ridge has the absolute best band and production team of any church I know of. They tend to slide under the radar when it comes to recognition outside of our walls, but I assure you they are a cut above.

The entire team did a phenomenal job on Sunday. From the “Indiana Jones” opener (from the reviews I’ve seen, hearing our band play the theme song may have been a better use of time than seeing the film) to the richness of the music…from the camera work by David and Dan to the direction by the team upstairs led by Hart…from Chris’s audio mix to Sam’s lighting work…the smooth transitions. Everyone came together using their mad skills like true professionals. It is an honor to work with these people every week. I may be the “producer,” but by the time Sunday roles around the real reason I show up is to watch and be inspired by how these folks let God use them in such a unique way.

Little sidenote to encourage everyone… The Engineering Manager from KCBS in Los Angeles was in town this weekend and was in our second service. He stopped by front of house and told us that we had the best run venue he has seen outside of LA. West Ridge Production team, consider your back patted. We all know that we’re not trying to impress people… But compliments like that tell me that you all succeeded at creating a welcoming environment free from distraction that helped people worship their Creator. THAT is significant.

Two of my dear friends (one is my boss, one is a coworker) have jumped on the blog-train… Check them out!

Brian Bloye – brianbloye.com – Lead Pastor at West Ridge

Tim Grandstaff – thetogetherway.com – Genesis Pastor at West Ridge

The last 8 days in a nutshell… This is long and high drama. Sorry… But it might make you feel better about YOUR week.

Saturday:

• Kenni throws a humiliating fit as we leave a birthday party. (was that voicemail from DFACS?)
• At mother’s day dinner, Caia screams like a pterodactyl every 9 seconds. Happy Mother’s Day, my love!

Sunday:

• Would be 45 minute drive to visit the grandmoms takes 2 hours. Caia screams the entire way…literally. [Teething]
• Kenni tells Annette what we got her for mother’s day…before we give it to her.

Monday:

• Emergency gas leak inspection at home. Gas company won’t even let us answer our phone in the house. Nice. (I won’t tell you how long we’d been smelling the gas.) (more…)