Long Saturday

This has been a long day. I will elaborate more tomorrow... but I just got home, after running from event to event, and I am wiped out. Very good day though. Lots of movement forward. Lots to smile about. For now though... "Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream... (minus the rest of the song.. haha.) Peace.

Walk Their Walk

Walk Their Walk. I am playing an acoustic show at this event. Definitely come down and hang with me and participate in the event. All proceeds go to Zambia (the country I got to spend some time in a few years back). Click here for more info.

The Good Samaritan: Eyes of Understanding... Legs of Mercy

Missiongathering. 10:30am. North Park Theatre.

Great Discussion

Sir Ken Robinson shares his thoughts about creativity and our culture. Really good video.

Ministry is rough sometimes...

As if the title didn't say it all. This journey called "ministry" has my whole heart. I am so devoted to helping us all see a new vision of God and the church, that often times I get so wrapped up in the middle of it that I forget to breathe. The couple of months or so have been extremely exhausting, and all of my energy and focus have been completely on making sure the boat stays afloat. In the midst of that, I don't know if I've been communicating well with my closest friends and brothers. I think I've left some people out, and was reminded of that tonight. There is nothing that hurts more than when a good friend feels like they've been left behind. And there are no worse words than the criticism of those that you love the most.

Sometimes I just feel that I am on a rollercoaster that goes from the greatest ride of my life to the scariest back to the greatest in a blink of an eye. And I am just holding on, letting the ride dictate my moods and emotions. Grabbing the hand rails and praying that the lap bar keeps me safe. I know that God is faithful. I know that God loves me. I know that God is near. And in all of those "knows" I still just need God to wrap his arms around me and tell me that everything is going well. To give me rest and sanctuary from my rollercoaster.

There really is no easy answer to this. There is no quick fix. No words to "make it all better." But I wanted to share these thoughts tonight because they are things that I think we all go through... and things we all will get through. When we are real with ourselves, and real with those around us... when we truly look in the mirror and ask the hard questions.. when we can step back and honestly evaluate our life... thats when we can breathe. We can breathe in the love of God. Here comes my chance to breathe...

Halo 3

Yeah, it was awesome. Beat it. Loved it. Hoping for number 4.

Now Listening #2

Amy Winehouse. I know everyone is amped about her single "Rehab." But this girl has got talent on the rest of the album. Check out these two albums: "Frank" and "Back To Black." Bringing back the big band lounge music. A very cool website as well... click here.

long week

this has been a long week so far... and its only Wednesday. I am excited about the upcoming Sunday, I am excited about writing the album, I am excited about all the "newness" surrounding me these days... but this week has wiped me out already. Strength beyond my own...

Halo 3

Oh yeah. Its here. Its amazing. All hail Master Chief. Here is to hours in front of a television screen fighting The Covenant, The Flood, and whatever crazy thing Microsoft throws our way this time.

Timyra-Joi... Kidzbop.com contest

Hey Everyone. Timyra-Joi is a part of Missiongathering and is one of the most amazing young vocalists I've ever seen. She is in this contest called Kidzbop and is currently ranked number 1. Please visit the website and vote for her. You can vote once a day. Go Young Talent Go!

Set it up.. knock it down

A few pictures from the set-up of Missiongathering on Sunday. We could always use more help. hit me up -jay@missiongathering.com.

Red Bull Has Wings...

On Saturday I spent the majority of my day at the Red Bull Air Races. These things were phenomenal. Plane after plane dropped into the course so fast and just flew through it making the craziest, sharpest turns I had ever seen. The only thing that was missing was a good old fashion dog fight... that would have been cool. Here are some pictures:

To Missiongathering

Hey all you Missiongathering folks. Thank you for lettting me share my heart with you this morning and being so receptive. Im stoked to be on this journey with you all. Welcome to my blog. Welcome to my digital life. Lets have wonerful and great conversations with this forum.

Much love.

JS

Heart, Soul, Mind

This morning we started a new series at Missiongathering focused on having a "Samaritan's Heart." It was really cool to see so many people stand when Pastor Rich really challenged us as to whether or not we would start to work from our spiritual core. Im stoked to see people at Mission making their faith journey their own.

My Long Lost Brother

smiles all around...

Madden Football

So I should be sleeping right now, but instead I am getting my butt beat at Madden 07 by my good friend Troy. He is like the champ. I'm giving him all I have, but Im down by a TD with a quarter to go. Wish me luck...

Great Art

This is the latest piece from my good friend Jeremiah Miller. Amazing artwork. If you would like to see more of his stuff and support him by buying some of his art, click here.

Worship Cabaret

I just got done with my meeting at Cream (still a great place, come check it out). What an exciting time for the Creative Arts at Missiongathering. Jenn and I talked for about an hour about the possibility of doing kind of a worship collective some sunday where we incorporate musicians, poets, artists, digital artists, dancers, choirs, etc. from our community into kind of a worship collective time where we can respond to what God is doing in our own lives and in the life of our community. Great idea. I am excited about where it could go.

Cream

Im hanging out in a local coffee shop on Park waiting to meet someone from our Mission community interested in the Creative Arts called "Cream." Definitely a great place. My soy chai latte was perfect, free wi-fi and I've already run into two of my friends here. Check it out if you get a chance.

Connections

Over the last season of my life I feel that God has really been showing me just how important it is to have people around you that are going through the same things you are, and are on a similar path as you. From mentorship, to friends, to random contacts its such an amazing thing to be connected to someone that is going through the same things.
Which brings me to the concept of worship through music. Being a lead worshipper is something that takes all of your heart and all of your passion. And typically, we as artists and musicians, are very sensitive to how people receive our passion and heart Recently, I received an email from a lead worshipper friend of mine who is reading my blog:

"I also read your post about titled "Encouragement" and it sounds similar to how I often feel about our team here. Its just so fun and crazy and tiring to be allowed to play a role in what God is trying to accomplish in our respective cities. The people we do ministry with makes a big difference. I'm glad you are having a good experience with your team. So many churches dont have that luxury...though it should be the norm."

Connecting with others is so necessary to our spiritual journey and to our growth as spiritual beings. Knowing that there are others going through the same things that you are in not only reassuring, but helps to sharpen your own creative passion and heart.

Street Angels PR

I opened up the new issue of "Risen: the spiritual edge of pop culture" today to find an advertisement for Jedidiah that lists Street Angels as one of their supported causes.

If you dont know, Street Angels is a ministry here at Missiongathering that is focused on reaching out to homeless teenagers here in San Diego. Twice a month we get together and go hand out "backpacks of love" filled with essentials (deodorant, stamped envelopes, toothpaste, snacks, flashlights, socks, underwear, etc.) to homeless teens. Jedidiah has been a big supporter of Street Angels for about the last year or so.

If you'd like to learn more about Street Angels click here, or to watch the Street Angels documentary (highly recommended) click here.

Street Angels getting some Jedidiah love. Awesome.

Shiny Toy Guns

My good friend C-Rob produces and directs training videos for SWAT, Rangers, and the Police Department. As such, he has "prop weapons." Last night... I got to play with the prop 9mm. Yeah, I know... I should be in the movies.

Street Gatherings #1

Our first installment of "Street Gatherings: music for the street soul," are two guys we got to hang out with last night throughout our rehearsal.

We've been busy in writing new songs for our upcoming album, and in the middle of rehearsal, two guys came to join us on the steps yelling, and whistling and clapping after each evolution of the new song we were writing. After rehearsal, they came over and introduced themselves: Daryl (in the puffy jacket) and Red Beard / ZZ (in the red shirt).
Daryl is a songwriter / poet and shared a few of the songs he's been working on with us into our PA system. Red Beard used to play saxophone, but said he had to pawn it to get beer money a few years back. It was interesting to hear their stories and their dreams. Daryl wants to move to Nashville to write songs and we told him he should totally give it a shot.

They were full of encouragement and had some funny lines to share with us... and I quote:

"You guys are the next Pink Floyd and U2."
- Red Beard
"It's progressive, but its rock and roll. Everyone loves rock and roll. Finally, you guys can put POD to rest."
- Red Beard
"If you want a lyricist, I have all the songs. I have all the songs. I have all the songs. My mother was a singer. I have all the songs." - Daryl

Street Gatherings ROLL-OUT

One of my favorite parts of rehearsal is when passer-bys "join" us for a tune or two.

To give some background, our rehearsal studio is in a nice four car garage in a storage building here in North Park. The garage doors open to the adjacent ally that is attached to a fish market (stinky) an art gallery, coffee shop, and an old church. Needless to say, it can get kind of seedy at times as there is a large population of homeless men and woman in the area.

So I've decided to start a portion of my blog that is dedicated to these people, their stories, and the memories we get to make with them. Im calling it "Street Gatherings: music for the street soul."

Mickey may need to invest in a leash...

encouragement

After such a long and draining day, I got to sit down with our leadership team tonight for our staff meeting. To be honest, I was really, really, really drained and just wanted to go home with some ice cream and a good flick and call it a day. But as I sat and talked about the next season of Missiongathering with our leaders, I was given such a fresh breath of air.

Its amazing to me just how much passion and heart goes into who we are as a team and as a church. I couldn't help but look around the table and just be thankful that God has placed me in this church and as a part and voice on this team. I didn't leave the office until about midnight, but I really didn't even want to leave.

Thank you Missiongathering. Thank you leadership team. Thank you for the passion and grace and heart that makes us who we are.

My car is free... free indeed

So I finally got to the tow yard... 8 minutes late. They told me I needed cash to get it out after hours. I got cash. Now I have my car back, everything squared away, and pretty white writing on the windshield that wont come off for a few weeks to show for it.

oh what a day

i love the city of san diego... no, i really do love the CITY GOVERNMENT of san diego (insert sarcasm here). after a full day of getting my car towed, a few full hours at DMV, getting lost finding the towing yard, and finally having to leave the line at the tow yard to make an appointment... im tired. and i am still carless. lesson almost learned...

what a sunday!

Missiongathering: YOU ROCK. We had a great gathering on Sunday, and Im feeling really good about where we are headed as a community. We are free... free to live into who we are and who Christ has created us to be. Marvelous Light.

the indian

its funny how we develop and pick up these weird traditions. one of my traditions that i picked up in college has been to give the indian in disneyland (on main street) a quick hello and goodbye fist pound. After all... he is my homie. yesterday, i passed that tradition on to my little sis. look out indian, your fists are going to be pounded raw...

disneyland 2

we had a blast yesterday at disneyland. so good to just hang with my sister for a whole day in one of my favorite places in the world. here are some pictures from throughout the day:

disneyland here i come

i am leaving for disneyland to hang with my sister in about 10 minutes. im stoked... fo' sho'

disconnected

i was thumbing through the pages of the latest "Church Production" magazine and ran across this ad. Either the players at the church really dont like eachother, or someone has really bad BO. oh worship industry... when will you learn?

currently listening

Broken Social Scene. A collection of indie kids from Canada giving us some great music and great lessons in collaboration. Check them out: http://www.noisefactoryrecords.com/bss.htm

growth

"Every organization wants to grow. But tomorrow, who will really care how fast you grew? Isn't it more important to know what you are building with your growth, and why?" - Brad Saathoff

I ran across this in some of my random reading and thought it really spoke to the whole journey of church planting. Starting a movement like Missiongathering has been really hard with its joys and frustrations. The word that has been sticking out to me lately is "Building."

The reason its so hard is because we are building. We are building a new vision of church. We are building a place where the love of Jesus is the center of all we do. We are building into lives around this community.

The joy is in the commitment to the building process.

workspace 3

this is what my desk looks like when its media set-up time. gotta love the mac power.

work space 2

much better

work space

so i was just in the middle of finishing the production cues for this week and was looking around at my desk. What a mess! I've been working too hard the last few weeks. I've got cough drops, gum, tea, glue, pens, notepads, wrappers, levels and even an old beanie all on my desk. Gross.

3:10 to Yuma

Hallelujah! The Western is back. Last night I went and saw the new Russell Crowe / Christian Bale movie - "3:10 to Yuma." It has been a long time (last I can remember was Tombstone / Young Guns) since a good western was put out there. Good flick, with a great message of overcoming yourself and re-defining the vision you have of yourself. I aint no rancher.

land rover?

I know its weird, but I found some amazing images in a shameless Land Rover plug magazine called onelife.

wisdom beyond me

I had a great conversation today with my mentor and was just reminded how important it is to have someone to talk with that has walked the paths you are currently walking. Michael has been an amazing voice in my life, and our conversation today really reminded me or how lucky I am to have him in my life. If you dont have a mentor... pray about it, seek it actively. I think we all need those influences.

If you havent had a chance to check out The Violet Burning... do so. Great band. Great music. Great leader.

grace.

album thoughts

im working on some material for the new TBR album. here are my thoughts on the subjects I want to write about:

The God of Love
The God of Grace
The God of Peace
The God of Hope

any thoughts about these attributes of God? stories? scriptures?

Images of the Gospel

We just finished a series called "Jesus and the Empire." Through the duration of the month, we did a community art experience called "Images of the Gospel." I got to spend some time interacting with the pieces and was just blown away by all of your thoughts and expressions. God is moving at mission. here are a few photos of the boards:

appleicious - ilike

so i just got back from a staff meeting at the mall. after the meeting, we made the journey to the apple store. i saw a guy watching an episode of "The Office" on the new iphone, there were people checking out the new nike ipod sport kit, and i even sat for a few minutes with all the new features on ilife '08. if you dont own a mac... you are missing out. there is no other technology store with the type of energy and amazing stuff out there.

buddy miles and Love-In

this afternoon i went to a show called "Love-In" at the North Park Theatre. the playbill called it a "celebration of the summer of love." All the great hippies of 1967 were there including Strawberry Alarm Clock, Jesse Colin Young, Earl Thomas, and even Vince Martell from Vanilla Fudge. Yet the experience of the night was watching buddy miles (who can no longer walk under his own power) get out on stage and engage the crowd. I mean everyone (EVERYONE) was up on their feet, with their hands in the air the entire time he was sitting on stage. It just goes to remind me that leadership is something that comes from the soul... its not manufactured, but its something that comes from way down deep.