Great Quote

"Of all people, Christians should be addicted to quality and integrity in every area, not looking for excuses for second-best. We must resist this onslaught. We must demand higher standards. We must look for people with real creative integrity and talent, or we must not dabble in these creative fields at all. All of this does not mean that there is no room for the first halting steps, for experimentation, for mistakes and for development. But it does mean that there is no room for lazy, entrenched, year-after-year, established mediocrity, unchanging and unvaried."


Franky Schaeffer (from his book: Addicted To Mediocrity)

American Idol Update: Top 8 girls

The top 8 girls are performing tonight. They all want to be in the TOP 12... but 2 of them will be going home this week. No pressure... right? Let's see how they do.

First up...

Katie Stevens: This girl CAN sing, but hasn't really wow-ed anybody since her audition. She is going to be singing Kelly Clarkson's "Break Away". Hmmm. This better be good. She has a very rich tone for a 17 year old... but her pitch is a little "if-y". She's not much of a performer either. This is not a very strong performance to kick things off. It won' t help her this week.

Siobhan: is singing "House of The Rising Sun"... strange? Nice a cappella beginning. I don't care much for the song... but she sounds great. Great voice. I think she may be the girl to beat.

Lacey: Is singing "The Story" by Belinda Carlisle. WOW... this song has one of the most difficult melodies ever. Accuracy is everything on this tune. She is doing a great job with it though. Cool vibe... nice job! I liked it.

Katelyn: Carole King's "I Feel The Earth Move". She has a softer voice. She will need a little more "soul" in her voice... more power... to pull this one off. It's just not working. Not a great performance.

Di Di: She's singing a Fleetwood Mac tune tonight. I like what she is doing with this song. She is definitely stronger with the guitar in her hands. The only other time that she has sounded good on the show was when she played the guitar Hollywood week. So far she has not been able to perform with the band though. That will probably hurt her along the way.... but I think she's safe this week. She sounded pretty good on this tune.

Paige: She's doing Charlie Chaplin's "smile". She looks nervous. She sounds nervous. Oooh... this is not good at all. This may be her last week on the show. I'm just sayin'....

Crystal: Tonight... she is singing "Give Me One Reason" by Tracy Chapman. WOW... she sounds great on this! Perfect song choice. Too bad she's not doing her own guitar work though. After that intro... I thought maybe she was going to shred. Still... really good stuff. Maybe the best of the night! Very nice.

Lilly: She is singing Patsy Cline's song, "I Fall To Pieces"? OK... before she ever gets started... this is going to be weird. Talk about bad song choice... and the mandolin is not helping anything. She does still have the uniqueness factor going for her. I just don't know.

Tonight.... I have to go with (not necessarily in this order)...

Lacey

Siobhan

and Crystal.

When Life Hands You Lemons...

...Innovate

Earlier in the year... we were informed that we would not be able to use the auditoriums (this past weekend) at either of our new campuses. School sponsored events were scheduled at both locations on the same weekend. WOW! What are the chances?

So... your first thought is... "But that is where we meet every week. Where do we go? All of our equipment is optimized for THOSE spaces. What are we going to do?" Then... after that initial reaction... you just have to get creative and find a way to make it work. That is all CREATIVITY is...problem solving... right? So... after a few of our world famous NewPointe meetings... and many multisyllabic words uttered from our tech guys... a plan was devised. At our Millersburg campus (usually meets in the high school auditorium) the service was moved to the middle school auditorium... and we didn't miss a beat. At our Louisville campus... the service was moved to the CAFETERIA and had what we called "Cafe Church". It was a HUGE hit! We will definitely do it again.

Here are a couple of photos from "Cafe Church" in Louisville:


































Check it out: Very cool "unplugged" worship vibe... everyone sitting around tables... unbelievable food at every table... white paper table covers that you could write on with markers (provided)... a big upstage screen for the video elements and the message. It worked! So what could be perceived as a HUGE "set-back" (early on)... turned into a fantastic experience for everybody.

Again... when life hands you lemons... INNOVATE.

Creative Music Video

I used to LOVE to do stuf like this (on a MUCH, MUCH smaller scale) when I was a kid. This is amazing. Pay close attention to all of the little details and the timing of it all. You may want to watch it several times. I did. Check it out:



Thanks, Kimberly Payne for sharing this video with me. Great stuf!

NewPointe Songwriting Session

Every other Tuesday afternoon... I will be meeting with our other two worship leaders to write. It is something that we have been wanting to do for a long time... but have never actually "scheduled" the time to do it. The plan is to write "something" every time we meet (even if it's not very good). The idea is to make ourselves create, shape and craft lyric and melodies as long as it takes... until a song is formed. Along the way... we believe that God is going to take that effort... and bless it... and use it to create original worship songs. Songs that we can incorporate into NewPointe's worship experience... and then (maybe even later this year) record them.

This was our first time to write together... so we did a lot of brainstorming and talking about how we might approach the writing process. Here is a little snapshot of our session yesterday.

Step 1: We prayed. Our prayer was that there were no selfish motives for writing and that what came up with would be for God's glory not our own.
Step 2: We talked about the "concept" for the song that were going to be working on. For yesterday... it was worship song to go along with a message about Jesus - The Shepherd that will be included a series that starts on Easter Sunday.
Step 3: We began to write words and phrases (anything that came to mind) on a huge mirror in the room that we were working in. They were words that describe Jesus (our shepherd)... words that reflect how we feel knowing that He is our shepherd... words that represent the opposite (or why we NEED a shepherd). These words may... or may not ever be a part of the lyric. It was just an exercise to get the creativity flowing. I also poll-ed my FaceBook friends for some thoughts before we met.
Step 4: We read scripture. We wanted to make sure that our inspiration was coming from the right source. : ) We read mostly from The Message translation of the Bible. Great stuff! It became the foundation for everything else that took place in that meeting.
Step 5: Then we began to share ideas. For this particular song... it became sort of a "lyric first" composition. It doesn't always happen that way. We could have started out with a really great melody or a single musical riff... but it just naturally flowed this way. We talked about the flow of the lyric... and the story that it would tell... and about how we are going to "set up" the chorus. It wasn't long before a melody and chord progressions were forming... and we we began to see something that resembled a song.

I am excited about what will come out of these sessions. Please pray for us as we continue to write songs that will reflect the hearts of our NewPointe family... and songs that will invite people into God's presence. Someday... we hope to have a whole community of NewPointe songwriters. Wouldn't that be AMAZING?!?

American Idol Update: Top 20

The guys are singing tonight instead of the girls. Evidently Crystal Bowersox was rushed to the hospital... and they changed the girls performance to tomorrow night. Hey... I figured American Idol would just say, "Tough... we've got a schedule to follow". They are actually human! Well... tonight the guys continue singing from the Billboard charts. As always... I am blogging in "real time" AND... these are just my opinions. You don't have to agree. Here we go:

Michael: This guy is HUGE! He benches 505!!! Are you kidding me? Did you see him curling Aaron Kelly? Impressive. He is singing "This Is A Man's World". WOW! He sounds fantastic on this tune. I love it! This could be a professional recording. Perfect song choice. Michael has definitely set the bar for tonight's show. NOW... I'm a fan.

John: He's doing a John Mayer tune, "Gravity" tonight. Here he goes: He has a nice tone. Pitch is a little unfocused. The song was pretty boring too. Hmmm. Not very strong.

Casey: He chose Gavin Degraw's "I Don't Want To Be". Great! He's playing his guitar on this one. Casey can shred. He is the first legit guitarist I have ever heard on American Idol. Here he goes: OK... I think I had rather hear him play... than sing tonight. He's good... but not anywhere near a Chris Daughtry rock vocal. AND... it IS a vocal competition. Simon is right on. Not enough grit to be a true rocker.

Alex: He's singing "Everybody Knows" (John Legend). I like his voice. Cool tone. The performance is a little boring... but he sounds really good. Great advice from Simon.

Todrick: He's doing a Tina Turner tune. Hmmm.... interesting. This guy is really into doing female artist tunes. Let's see what he does with this one. He is a little lose on this. I'm not a fan of this guy. I don't think he'll last much longer.

Jermaine: Sure hope this song picks up. Another sleeper. This sounds like an Al Jarreau arrangement of a Marvin Gaye tune. Oooh... the ad lib section is PAINFUL. He was doing OK... until then. Simon said that he will go to church with Jermaine. Woohoo!

Andrew: He is guitar-less tonight. He's doing a James Morrison tune. What is up with all of the slow tunes? His voice reminds me a little of Danny Gokey. He is not nailing this tune tonight. His pitch is everywhere. WOW. Surprising. I think Michael Lynche has got this night hands down. I am a fan of Andrew... but this performance just didn't do it for me. I wonder if he could hear himself. Weird.

Aaron: He's doing "My Girl". This has always been mine and Abby's tune. Interesting vibrato. I like the quality of his voice. His tone is very pure. The runs that he is doing are too much of the same thing over and over. Great vibrato??? Did Kara just say... GREAT vibrato??? WOW! I thought it sounded "nervous" and uncontrolled. Oh well.....

Tim: He is just not a very strong vocalist. The performance was very forgettable. Can you say... gone. OK... Simon just shocked me. He liked him?

Lee: WOW... I like this guys voice. The higher notes are a little bit of a struggle for him tonight. Ouch! The longer this song goes on... he is just not reaching those notes. You can tell that Lee can "bring it". It's just not happening with this song tonight.

Well.. again... (surprizingly) Michael Lynche was the only strongest performance of the night. He led off... and nobody could improve on his performance. I DO home that these guys pick it up a little from here on out. So far... it's been a pretty boring season. The girls are tomorrow night. Let's see if they can raise the bar a little higher.

Until then....

A Little Reminder of Just How Small We Are...

This is a photo taken from the ISS Expedition earlier today by astronaut, Soichi Noguchi. What an incredible shot of the earth at sunset with the planet Venus in the background. It is a great reminder of how small we really are... and how BIG our God is. The words of an obscure old song come to mind. It is actually a song that I am including on a "hymns" project that I am in the process of recording (and hoping to release sometime soon). The song is called "How Big Is God". Here is the first verse and chorus of that song:

Verse 1:
Though men may strife to go beyond the reach of space
To go beyond the distant shimmering stars
This world's a room so small within my Master's house
The open sky... but a portion of his yard

Chorus:
How big is God... How big and wide his vast domain
To try to tell... these lips can only start
He's big enough to rule this mighty universe
Yet small enough to live within my heart

"We are worshiping an unrivaled, uncontested God of all kind of might and power and glory and awe! There is none like Him, anywhere in all of creation!” - Louie Giglio

The Me I Want To Be

We just started a new series @ NewPointe called "The Me I Want To Be"... and I can tell (already) that it is going to be a powerful series. You will always be you – a growing, healthy you or a languishing you – but God did not create you to be anybody else. When you flourish... you become more you. You become more that person God had in mind when he thought you up. You don’t just become holier. You become you-ier.

Our Video team put together this amazing bumper video to go along with the series. Wes and Keith: Great job! What I love about this video is that... in less than 2 minutes... it completely sums up the "big idea" of the series. We all have "stuff" in our lives that tends to "define" us. We are lazy, greedy, stressed out... you name it... and that is the "me" that we have settled for. BUT what is the "me" that God wants me to be? What would it look like if I could move closer to THAT "me". I want to be more generous. I want to be more compassionate. I want to talk about Jesus more. I want to be a better husband and dad. Whatever it is... you don't have to stay where you are.



Be sure to check out the BLOG that we created to go along with this series (www.thechangeinside.me) and then also join us for a 40 day fast. The BLOG is updated daily with new devotionals and scriptures to guide us through the adventure. So check back every day to see what's new. It is going to be a series that absolutely stretches us all. Don't miss a single week. If you can't join us at one of our 3 campuses... join us LIVE on line each week at 9:00 and 11:00 at www.newpointe.org.

American Idol Update: Top 24

I am so bummed that I didn't get to see the guys sing last night. I heard that I didn't miss much though. They will narrow the field a little tonight by eliminating 2 girls and 2 guys. If I had to chose the 4 based on what I have heard of them so far... I would have to go with Haley, Janell (or Lacey) and ANY of the guys except for Andrew or Casey.

Here we go: I always hate those choral sounding group songs that they make them do to open the show. They all look so uncomfortable... and it's pre-recorded... so what's the point. AND... this song is a poor choice anyway. Please make it go away!

OK... the first round of girls:

Siobhan - safe (I thought she played it too safe Tuesday night. She can really belt it out... but she chose to go soft. I also didn't think that it was fair that the mix was so bad for her song. It sounded like the band was muted... and all we were hearing was the "bleed" in her mic. She sounded great though. She is probably my favorite female vocalist at this point in the competition.)
Haeley - safe (Really??? I thought she was outta here.)
Michelle - safe (The best performance for Tuesday night. Good voice. She carries herself like a seasoned performer too. Don't know how versatile she is... but she is could be a contender.)
Katelyn - safe (I thought she was true to the tune that she picked. Another contender.
Katie - safe (She can sing... I'm not a fan... but she can sing. That song was WAY too big for her)
Janell - gone (She sounded so much better with her guitar Hollywood week. WOW... what happened??? I guess she just couldn't pull it off with the LIVE band. I knew that she would be going home tonight though. It was pretty bad Tuesday night.)

Allison Iraheta is singing tonight. Cool! She was my pick for last season. I still think that she would have been a better choice (long-term) than Kris Allen. I love her voice. I love the raspy-ness. She sound a little more raspy than normal tonight. I wonder if she is sick? I hated the tune... but I am still a fan of that voice.

Paige - safe (She was a little "screamy" on Tuesday night... but she can sing.)
Lacey - safe (She had a bad night Tuesday... her pitch was all over he place. I thought she might get eliminated tonight.)
Lilly - safe (She still has the quirky/unique vote from America... but that will get old after another couple of weeks.)
Crystal - safe (Again... I'm not a fan... but she CAN sing. What was up with the harmonica? That was horrible. I have heard a two-year-old spit in a harmonica and it sounded better.)
Didi - safe (Another quirky voice. That is popular so far this season. Again... I think it will get old. Especially when she has to stretch to do a genre that is out of her range.)
Ashley - gone (I think she got voted off because she was just trying to hard. She was over-singing and her pitch was all over the place on Tuesday night. She also picked a ridiculous tune to sing. ONLY Leona can sing that one.)

The guys: (Didn't get to hear any of them sing last night.)

Michael - safe
John - safe
Aaron - safe
Todrick - safe
Tim - safe
Joe - gone (I don't remember much about him.)

Kris Allen sings next. I have to admit... I am not a big Kris Allen fan. I like him as a person... but not feeling him as an artist. He's just OK.

Casey - safe (Great!)
Jermaine - safe
Lee - safe
Andrew - safe (YES!... all the way, baby!)
Tyler - gone (Good)
Alex - safe

Well... there you have it. You know... I have heard people say "This is the best season ever!"... or "Best talent ever on American Idol."... but I have to strongly disagree. I sure hope they bring their "A" games pretty soon. So far... Andrew is the only one with "the goods" to go the distance. I am afraid I'm losing interest in the show already. AND Ellen... is a total waste. She brings absolutely nothing to the judging of American Idol. I don't even think she is all that funny yet. Maybe at some point she will bring HER "A" game. Come on, Ellen... at least be funny!

Oh well... until next week....

Married Life LIVE

Our big Married Life LIVE event was this past Saturday night @ NewPointe... and we had an AMAZING NIGHT. The marriage essential this time around was Cultivating Communication. We went with a western theme: "The Good, the Bad and The Ugly". It was so much fun! My wife, April, did the decorations for the event this time around... and she knocked it out of the park. Here are a couple of pics of some of the decorations:

We always have a great time putting this event together. It takes a lot of hard work, creativity and hundreds of volunteer hours to pull it off... but the "pay-off" for us is seeing hundreds of married couples having a great time... making new friends... and letting down their "guard" to hear God's truths about how to work at a healthy God-centered marriage. It just doesn't get any better than that.

Speaking of all of those hours of preparation... the part of the event that I get to lead is working with the MLL Band. I think we have the best team in the world to work with. The guys that we had lined up for this MLL band came out on a Tuesday night to practice the music... in the middle of our biggest blizzard yet. Roads were closed... ALL other activities at the church had been canceled... and these guys braved the weather (One team member drove all the way from Canton [45 minutes away] in the stuff) to show up for rehearsal. In spite of what was happening outside with the weather... we had one of the most FUN rehearsals ever! Here are a few pics from rehearsal:

Rodney messin' with Q's tuning


















Jeff sharing some of his musical wisdom


















Dennielle and Wes going over the vocals to "I Gotta Feeling"


















We always have a lot of fun music at MLL... and this one was no exception. We opened the event with The Black Eyed Peas' "I Gotta Feeling"... The throughout the night we played tunes like "Shout", "Listen To The Music", "Jive Talkin'", "Smoke On The Water" and "Kiss Me Through The Phone". We closed with a great tune called "Let My Words". Dennielle did a fantastic job with that song. Then... as the crowd was leaving... we sang a very "Roy Rogers-esque" version of "Happy Trails" complete with clip-clops. The whole night was amazing. There were 3 NewPointe original videos based on the Too Light/Too Heavy commercials. We played a couple of games with a green screen. We ate a lot of great food. Our drama team had a hilarious sketch to set up the message... and then... Kevin West shared an incredible message on ALWAYS speaking words of value into our spouse's life. POWERFUL! Our next Married Life LIVE is Saturday, October the 16th. Make plans to be there! Until then... here are a few more pics of Saturday night's event:

Cool Creative Video

This is one of the coolest, and most creative videos that I have seen in a long time. It is an advertisement for Rethink Communications. The content is extremely inspirational for creative thinkers. Check it out:

American Idol Update: Hollywood Week - Day 2

It's very unusual that I am home on a Wednesday night to see the show... but I am leading worship at our Louisville campus this weekend and our band rehearsals are on Thursday nights. So... I will actually get to see one of my very first Wednesday night shows ever.

It's group night... and who will survive to go on to the next round?

It is always interesting to see what the contestants come up with when they are forced to collaborate. When they are expected to agree on a song... learn harmonies (which most have never done)... choreography... AND actually blend with 3 or 4 other vocalists. Now THAT'S when the real drama begins. I just hope the judges are able to see through all of that junk... and still send the best on to the next round. So far... my favorites are: Andrew Garcia, Casey James, Katie Stevens, Janell Wheeler and Mark Labriola.

Once again... I am going to blog as I watch the show. Now... these are just my opinions. You don't have to agree with me. So here we go:

Yep... the drama has begun. Auugh! Enough with the fighting already... get on with the music. It is amazing to me... how many really good singers cannot harmonize. WOW! It sure doesn't HELP them on group night. So the first 20 minutes was dedicated to nothing but... DRAMA.

Well... it's all happening so fast that it's hard to really post any details of what I'm hearing. It seems that for many of these groups... all of them are making it through.

Mary Powers is really getting on my nerves. The whole "taking charge" thing is way over the top. Nobody wants to listen to her... including the AI staff. AND... that team is absolutely falling apart. No surprises there.

No Way! Mark dropped his words! He's done! Ladies and Gentlemen: Mark Labriola is officially OUT of the competition. That dude could "bring it"! What a bummer. I guess Simon's no tolerance rule is in effect. He said,"If you forget the words... you're going home". I just can't believe that it is happening to Mark... .and yet so many average vocalists are moving on to next round.

Janell sounded great! She's through!

Andrew rocked it! Great! He's through!

Casey nailed his part too! (OK... the 3 Men and A Baby group was "stacked"! They all went through.)

OK... here is Mary's group The Dreamers. WOW! They are pretty bad! They put Mary through to the next round? No way! I didn't think ANY of them would go on.

Well... 71 made it through to next week... but only 24 will continue from there. It should be a good show next week. I am just bummed that Mark won't be there. Oh well... see you then!

American Idol Update: Hollywood Week - Day 1

It's Hollywood Week... and I am going to begin giving my "take" on the show starting with tonight's competition. I will be blogging in real time. I have a couple of favorites that I am really hoping to hear tonight. We'll see.

OK... so here we go:

Katie Stevens - Great voice... smooth vocal... a lot of style. A little strange to watch. Don't know why... but she makes me "uncomfortable".

Andrew Garcia - This guy is my favorite so far. He already has a very unique and creative approach. Here he goes: WOW! I LOVE this guy. What a great interpretation of Paula's tune! Andrew will go all the way to the end, baby! All the way! Great singer... great performer! Definitely my early pick.

Janell Wheeler - I like the raspy quality to her voice. She's pretty strong.

Lilly Scott - She sounds like an old jazz singer? I don't know? There is something that I like about her. It's kind of like listening to Zooey Deschanel as she sang "Baby, It's Cold Outside" on Elf.

Michael Lynch - I'm diggin' his version of the John Mayer tune. Nice voice. His tone is a little to thin. His voice reminds me of season 2 winner, Ruben Studdard. I think his voice could get old on a whole song though. I don't know. We'll see how he does.

Casey James - WOW! The first "legit" guitarist on American Idol... EVER. Great voice too! I like him a lot. Casey will make things interesting.

Didi Benami - Yet another very unique vocalist. She reminds me a little of a Colbie Caillat... or Sara Bareilles.

Crystal Bowersox - How does such a huge voice to come out that small frame? She can "bring it" though. The crowd really enjoyed her performance.

Until tomorrow night.....

Weekends @ NewPointe: Set-list

As we continue our "Monopolized" series @ NewPointe... here are the songs that we used this past Sunday and for the coming weekend:

Last week...

"Livin' On A Prayer" - Bon Jovi

"Rise and Sing" - Fee

"Amazing Grace / My Chains Are Gone" - Chris Tomlin

"Surrender" Lincoln Brewster

This next weekend...

"If I Had A Million Dollars" - BNL : )

"I Am Free" - Desperation Band

"Marvelous Light" - Charlie Hall

"Came To The Rescue" - Hillsong United

"Freedom Is Here" - Hillsong United

Be sure to join us for each week of this powerful series @ NewPointe. If you can't make it to one of our 3 campuses... you can always catch the services LIVE online every Sunday morning at www.newpointe.org. Hope to see you there!

Behind The Scenes: A Morning @ Our Millersburg Campus

I had the privilege of leading worship at our Millersburg campus this past weekend. April and I had an awesome time out there. NewPointe: Millersburg meets in the auditorium at West Holmes High School every Sunday morning. It is a great experience all the way around. While I was there... I learned a couple of things about Millersburg:

#1 They have really got their act together. What a great experience and a great group of volunteers to serve along side of.

#2 They LOVE Bon Jovi! Ha ha!

You'll have to check out this behind scenes glimpse of my morning @ M'burg... to see what I mean.

Weekends @ NewPointe: Set-list

Yesterday... as we continued our "Monopolized" series... these are the songs that we used:

"Happy Day" (with Black Eyed Peas, "I Gotta Feeling" bridge) - Tim Hughes

"All Because of Jesus" - Steve Fee

"All We Need" - Charlie Hall

"Center" - Charlie Hall

"Dear, Money" - Josh Wilson

Be sure to join us for each week of this powerful series @ NewPointe. If you can't make it to one of our 3 campuses... you can always catch the services LIVE online every Sunday morning at www.newpointe.org. Hope to see you there!

More Random Photos

Here are a few random photos that were just hangin' out inside my phone... waiting to be shared. Enjoy!

My gurlz.

My baby gurl.

How many NewPointe worship leaders does it take to figure out the newest version of ProTools?

"So you're sayin' we wouldn't even have to move the mic stand... right?"

The temperature last Sunday morning... according to the dash of my car. 1 degree (not including wind chill factor). OUCH!

Eating at El Chico (one of my favorite Mexican restaurants) with my mom and dad while we were in Nashville on Christmas vacation.

The chicken, mushroom and bacon burrito that I ordered at El Chico. Mmmmmmm.

How many NewPointe staff guys can you fit in a Dodge Caravan? Well... at least 7.

Here is a shot of Dwight "bringin' it" in one of our Monday AM all staff meetings.




















Our place during the most recent Ohio snow storm.




















April layin' down some BGVs in the studio





















My sister's dog, Lilly, loves to look at herself in anything that reflects. Here is a pic of Donna doing her make-up. Lilly is enjoying the view on the back side of her mirror. TOO CUTE.
















Watching a little TV with my buddy, Mocha.

April's Second Chance Creations

My wife is one of the most creative people that I know. She has a real knack for taking something that appears to be old, used and worn out... and turning it into something very unique, creative and cool. When she walks through the woods... she doesn't just see limbs, acorns, leaves and rocks... she sees beautiful natural arrangements and centerpieces.

Well... April has wanted to open her own store for quite a while now. She has really needed a place to display and sell her unique creations. So I am excited to announce that she has opened her own online store with Auctiva and E-bay. The store is called (appropriately) April's Second Chance Creations. You can check out her new store right here. She only has some of her refurbished jewelry listed at this time, but very soon she will have her arrangements and re-purposed creations listed there. She will also be selling her stuff out of a store in Walnut Creek, Ohio starting in March of this year. More details about that adventure to come. Be sure to check out April's Second Chance Creations.

Unbelievable creativity on a limited budget

If you haven't seen this viral music video yet... prepare to have your mind absolutely BLOWN. Evidentally... it was created by Fede Alvarez, an amateur producer from Uruguay. He spent a total of $300 (three hundred dollars) to make the video. AMAZING! Now... he has been contracted to work on a movie for the company that produced the "Spiderman" movies. He stands to make a whopping 30 Million dollars on the deal. Not bad... huh? You can read the whole story here. I love to see creativity at this level... with such limited resources. We really have no excuses... right?

Check it out:

This Weekend @ NewPointe: Set-list

This weekend we kick off a new series @ NewPointe called Monopolized. Here is a list of the songs that you will hear for the first week:

"Rise & Sing" - Fee

"O Praise Him" - David Crowder

"How Great Is Our God" - Chris Tomlin

"Take My Life" - Chris Tomlin

Be sure to join us for each week of this powerful series @ NewPointe. If you can't make it to one of our 3 campuses... you can always catch the services LIVE online every Sunday morning at www.newpointe.org. Hope to see you there!

This Weekend @ NewPointe: Set-list

As we continue the "Can You See Him" series this weekend @ NewPointe... here are the songs that you can expect to hear:

"I Can See Clearly Now" - Johnny Nash (Geoff Moore & The Distance arrangement)

"Sing Sing Sing" - Chris Tomlin

"Salvation Is Here" - Hillsong United

"Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus" - Hillsong United

If you can't make it to one of our 3 campuses (Dover, Louisville or Millersburg)... you can always catch videos of our services LIVE every Sunday morning... right here. Hope to see you there!

Evaluation

I love this ESPN commercial! These guys crack me up! You know... it's always good to get other folks' perspectives on how we are doing.. eh? Evaluation is not always so easy to hear... but it's soooo important to our growth and progress in anything we do. Especially in the ministry.

Weekends @ NewPointe: Set-list

OK... I have got to get back to posting the set-list for our weekend services on a regular basis. Every week... we get asked about where to find the songs that were played. So... keep checking back here... and I'll keep posting the tunes.

Here are the songs that we will be using for services at NewPointe this weekend:

"Everywhere" - Michelle Branch

"All We Need" - Charlie Hall

"Beautiful Jesus" - Kristian Stanfill

"Mighty To Save" - Hillsong United

"I See You" - Rich Mullins

Just in case you were curious.... here are the tunes from last weekend:

"Apologize" - OneRepublic

"Awesome Is The Lord Most High" - Chris Tomlin

"Not To Us/Here Is Our King" - Chris Tomlin/David Crowder

"Majesty" - Delirious

"Let It Go" - NewsBoys

It is going to be another powerful weekend @ NewPointe. If you can't make it to one of our 3 campuses... you can always catch the services LIVE online every Sunday morning at www.newpointe.org. Hope to see you there!

My Knee Surgery Adventure

For about the past 16 months... I have been struggling with limited mobility and pain in my left knee.The pain has absolutely shut me down as far everything that I enjoy doing for recreation... from basketball... to softball... to volleyball... to tennis... (you get the idea). I have been totally inactive for all of this time (It has even effected my blogging capabilities - Bwahahahahha! Just kidding. I have just neglected my BLOG for a while.). I could not even climb stairs or hills without severe pain.

Well... after a cortisone shot and a little arthroscopic surgery this past summer... it was determined that the only course of action was to get a full knee replacement. So last week... I was admitted to Aultman hospital for the surgery. The procedure was supposed to take an hour and a half... but it turned into more like three. The hours following the surgery were long... and unbelievably BORING. I had to stay for 3 days. Well... while I was there, I decided to create this humorous little documentary video to pass the time. Enjoy:





The good news is: Once they got in there... they only had to replace half of my knee. The lateral side of my knee was completely healthy... so they only had to replace the medial. From what I am told... the recovery and over all mobility after therapy is supposed to be quite a bit better with a partial replacement. So for the next 6 weeks, my schedule is filled with physical therapy sessions and doctor's appointments. Hopefully... I will have a little more time to stay on top of my blog though. We'll see about that...

"September" @ NewPointe: Part 2

A couple of Sundays ago... we opened the service with Earth Wind & Fire's "September". It was just a fun way to open a September Sunday morning. Then we had our campus Pastor, Kevin West, come out to interrupt the song. Well... you'll see what that was all about. Sorry about the video quality. We do not have iMag at our campuses yet.

NewPointe: Louisville Campus (Launch Day)

This is a little glimpse into what my morning was like on the day that we launched our brand new NewPointe campus in Louisville, OH. I have about a 50 minute drive to L'ville every Sunday... so I try to make the best of it.



BTW: That's my girl, Abby singing the Ayiesha Woods tune. Dad was so proud.

EW&F's "September" this weekend @ NewPointe

We will be opening with Earth Wind & Fire's "September" this weekend at all 3 campuses. So... as I was sequencing a track for the band to play along with on ProTools... I decided to pull out an "old friend" and track the horns LIVE (It just didn't sound right with REASON horns). It didn't take long for me to realize just how long it has been since I have played my old Bach Stradivarius. It also didn't take long to remember how high the horn lines were on that tune! WOW! Can you say... bruised lips? Oh well... it's done... and the opener this weekend is gonna... ROCK! Don't miss it!

NewPointe: One church... 3 locations.

I am so sorry that I have neglected my BLOG for so long. Life seems to be coming at me a million miles an hour lately. This past Sunday morning was the launch of... not ONE... but TWO new NewPointe campuses. I have been leading worship at our Louisville campus to help build the music teams up there. We had an amazing day at all 3 locations. There were around 275 people who attended our service in Louisville... and over 400 who attended in Millersburg. We are so excited about what God is doing at all 3 locations. Here is a little highlights video that we put together to celebrate our launch day. After you take a look at this video... I think you will understand why I have not had a lot of time to blog. Enjoy!

Behind The Scenes @ NewPointe (Episode 3)

We loaded up the new trailer this past weekend... and headed to Louisville, Ohio for the first of 3 "practice services" at our new campus. All of the equipment had been purchased... videos were shot and loaded... all systems were in place... the volunteers were ready... and it was GO TIME. This little behind the scenes video is just a glimpse into what happened on our maiden voyage. Enjoy!




BTW: We had 91 folks in Louisville... and 140 in Millersburg for our first weekend. AND THAT WAS JUST FOR A PRACTICE! Pretty exciting stuff!!! I can't wait to see what God wants to do through NewPointe Community Church in Louisville and the whole Canton area. It's gonna be amazing!

Behind The Scenes @ NewPointe (Episode 2)

At NewPointe... we have a lot of fun in our band rehearsals. This past Wednesday night (because I was not going to be leading at the Dover campus) I had the opportunity to just "be there" for band rehearsal. Since i didn't have anything to do... I decided to give you guys a little behind the scenes look at what it is like when the band is running a song for the weekend worship set. This particular night... Wes Feldner and the guys were flat rockin' it out. Check it out: