Snow Day

My Mom and Dad came to visit us (from Nashville) this past weekend. We had a great time with them. My Dad is 71 years old and still a kid (I guess that is where I get it). He has been so frustrated lately that Nashville has not had a snowfall worth talking about. We teased him that he didn't really make the trip to Ohio to see his kids this time. You see... he had been watching The Weather Channel... packed his sled in the trunk of his car... and headed to Ohio... knowing that there was a good chance that we would get some snow this weekend. He came to Ohio to go sledding. Is that cool... or what?? Well... by Sunday afternoon... we had enough of the white stuff on the ground to take to the hills.

I now know where they get the "man's best friend" thing. Miley had a blast out there.



















My little sledding partner



















There he goes. 71 years young!















It was a great day! We all had an awesome time out there.

Well... they had to head back south (where the weather is a little warmer) yesterday... but my Dad got to go sledding... and that "made" the trip for him. I sure hope I am that spunky at 71. He is an pretty amazing man... and my hero!

Me and my Dad

A Very Funny Commercial

I was just watching Tiger play in the Buick Open this afternoon and saw this commercial for the Fed Ex Cup. If you haven't seen it yet... it is pretty funny stuff!

It's Here!

My new MacBook Pro just arrived today! (Well... OK... it belongs to NewPointe... but I get to use it.) Pretty cool... huh? Now I have to wait until Dave gets it set up with our network before I can dig into it. At least it's here... and my "laptop woahs" are soon to be over. It's just a matter of time before I will have my iTUNES library back!

Idol Chat (Season 7): Part Two

Here is a video of the guy that I think has the potential to go all the way this season on American Idol. His name is Michael Lee Johns. He has a very soulful voice and yet... I think he could probably "rock out" a few tunes on the show too. He seems to have his act together too. Now... I could be wrong... and he could get eliminated the first week in Hollywood... but so far... I am betting on this guy. Check him out.

I Am Converting...

... to Mac that is.

Yes... that's right. Even as we speak... a MacBook Pro with my name on it is on it's way from the factory to my office. As a matter of fact... Dave tells me that it was in Cincinnati, Ohio this afternoon. That means it should be here by tomorrow! As an musician/artist... I have always wanted to make the switch to Mac... but have never had the opportunity. I am looking forward to loading my Reason, Protools, FinalCut Express and Finale software onto this thing and taking it for a test drive. Well... it should be here by tomorrow some time. If it is... photos WILL definitely be posted. Wooohooo! I can't wait!

Idol Chat (Season 7): Part One

I am a little behind with this post... but after watching tonight's show (Week 2 - San Diego)... I think the first two audition locations (Last week) were the strangest so far. So here is a little tribute to a few of the (Obviously friendless) folks who are not going to Hollywood.




















BTW: So far... I am going out on a limb here...

...the dude from Australia (Michael) who auditioned tonight could go all the way.

Creative Quote

"Creative work is mostly showing up every day and enduring a million tiny failures as you feel your way to something a bit new."
- Brian Oberkirch

The NewPointe Team

I walked around with my camera this morning and just took a few pictures of NewPointe's greatest asset...

... our volunteers.

BTW: It was -12 degrees (wind chill) this AM! Click on any of these photos to see a larger image.









These photos only represent a small part of the incredible team that help to make the whole Newpointe experience an awesome experience every Sunday morning.










On most Sunday mornings... these folks are here... ready to serve... starting as early as 6:30 AM.










Check out the smiles! This is one of the reasons I love serving at NewPointe! There is definitely a spirit of "contagious enthusiasm" around this place.










We absolutely could not do what we do... without our dedicated volunteers.










THANK YOU... to every volunteer who gives of their time and talents each and every week to help "...lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ" at NewPointe!










Keep up the great work, guys! You're the best!!!!

Determination

This is an awesome commercial for PBS. I just believe it also illustrates the true heart of a creative person. If there is something that God has put in your spirit to do or create... then absolutely nothing should stop you from pursuing that dream. I just love this video! It is very well done... very creative... and very inspirational. Enjoy!

One Of My Worst Nightmares...

The hard drive in my laptop crashed this past weekend. When it started acting strange... I began to back up files as fast as I could. Well... it wasn't fast enough... and it crashed while I was moving files over to my USB storage. Dave tried his best to recover files... but some of them were just too far gone. Including...

...my iTUNES library!!! Auuuugh!!!!

So... my advice to everyone:

I don't care how much trouble it seems to be...BACK UP YOUR FILES!!!!

Me and Toby

My pal, John Bunn, just posted a photo of himself posing with TobyMac from "a few" years ago. Well... you probably didn't know this... but I too have spent a little time with the "Tobster".

Check out this photo. Actually... that whole "Diverse City" concept...

yep... you got it...



...mine.






OK... OK... so I'm kidding already.

Movie Night With My Girls

Last night... I sat down with my girls to watch a movie. April was busy working on her Creative Memories stuff (She didn't really care to see the flick that we had chosen anyways)... and Brandon was busy too... so it was just dad and the girls tonight.

The movie we chose...


Pirates of The Caribbean: At World's End













So... we're a little behind on movies that we have seen. I really liked "At World's End". I have enjoyed all of the "Pirates" franchise. Great action... humor... great special effects... fight scenes... all the things that I love in a good movie (And all the things that helped April to choose "Creative Memories" over "movie night" tonight). Well... I love Johnny Depp's character, Jack Sparrow. I love his sense of humor. He is so quirky.

My favorite line of the movie:

Gibbs: (talking to crew) "Look alive! And keep a weathered eye! Naught it's called Shipwreck Island... where lies Shipwreck Cove... in the town of Shipwreck."

Jack Sparrow: "You know... for all that pirates are clever called... we are an unimaginative lot when it comes to naming things."

Gibbs: "Like?"

Jack Sparrow: "I once sailed with a geezer who lost both of his legs and part of his eye."

Gibbs: "What did you call him?"

Jack Sparrow: (pause) "Larry."

OK... so I like stupid humor. April didn't think that it was funny either. Anyways... Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End gets a thumbs up from dad and the girls. Lot's of fun!

Risk

You just never know what you might be able to "pull off"... until you actually try something.

Well... we had one of those moments yesterday afternoon in our Weekend Design Team meeting. Dwight had shared with our creative team that he would like to use a story from last month's People magazine in the middle of his message this weekend. It is an amazing story about a man from California who makes $200,000 a year... but only lives on $38,000. He gives the rest away to charities! Again... it is just an amazing story. You can read it here (scroll down to the post called "Missional Living. Earn 200k. Live on 38k."). Dwight wanted us to brainstorm some ideas of how we might be able to tell the story with creative support. Immediately... we all started saying "It would be great if he could tell the story himself." Great idea... 6 days out... huh? It would have been easy to just say "Let's put a few photos up on the screens and just let Dwight tell the story". As a matter of fact... we had already started sort of planning that way.

Lee Ann on the phone with Tom
Well... Lee Ann Miller is on our creative team... and she just happens to have the greatest "git-er-dun" attitude that I have ever seen. I just love her spunk & spirit! She grabbed her cell phone and just started dialing a number. John Bunn stopped her and said "What are you going to ask him, if you do get him on the phone?" Well... she didn't know... she had not gotten that far yet. She was just determined to talk to this man. I love that!!! WOW! With a little faith... a "Nothing's gonna stop us now" attitude... and God opening doors... we really can do anything big for Christ. Well... we decided that the what we could feasibly pull off for this weekend was a LIVE phone interview of some sort. That was good enough for Lee Ann. She was back on her phone... dialing away. Next thing we knew... she was actually on the phone with Tom Hsieh... the guy from the story in People Magazine! Is that cool... or what? We were all just blown away! She was blown away.

Tim Hsieh and family
Eventually... we all talked to him on a conference call to explore the possibilities of this LIVE phone interview idea. What a humble and very "real" man Tom is. I was just blown away by his stories... his faith... his heart... and his incredible love for people and for Jesus Christ.

Well... Tom is praying about sharing his story with NewPointe this weekend. Trust me... if he agrees to do this... it will have an amazing impact on our people. Please keep Tom and his family in your prayers this week.

Thanks, Lee Ann for demonstrating the benefits of risk taking in the process of creativity. You're amazing!

What's On My iPOD

I am really into OneRepublic - "Dreaming Out Loud": right now. I saw them perform "Apologize" LIVE on the Jimmy Kimmel Show the other night. It was amazing! I have a lot of respect for a band that goes out there and performs their stuff LIVE without all of the digital pitch correction crap. (OK... here I go... I am getting on my soap box again.) I have always said.... that if you can't pull it off LIVE... you don't have any business recording. I am so sick of the junk that is getting airplay... and winning awards... that is recorded by (so-called) "singers" who sound like robots by the time the engineer finishes making them sound "cool". I guess it's cool??? WHATEVER. Anyways... enough of that... One Republic is one amazing band and "Dreaming out Loud" is one of the best albums out! Be sure to check out the songs "Stop and Stare" and "All Fall Down"... GREAT STUFF!

OK... on to the rest of my list...

The Almost - "Southern Weather": is one amazing recording. Mostly because the band's drummer, bassist, guitarists and lead vocalist...

are all the same dude!

His name is Aaron Gillespie... and he is also the frontman for the group Underoath. This is an unbelievably talented kid. Check out Southern Weather!

Oh yeah... and he wrote all of the songs too.

Connersvine - self-titled debut album: This is a great sounding project. nothing ground-breaking (stylistically)... but a great sound and great tunes. Sort of reminds me of Casting Crowns meets Geoff Moore. We used a song off of this album ("Live For You") a few weeks ago at NewPointe to close a service with an invitation. POWERFUL! Check 'em out - Connersvine!

Interesting Fact: One of the guys in the group (Hunter Smith) is the punter for the reigning SuperBowl champs... the Indianapolis Colts. Pretty cool... eh?

David Crowder* Band - "Remedy": I would have picked this one for just the songs "Remedy" and "Everything Glorious"... but there are some other great tunes on the as well. The song, "We Won't Be Silent" features rock legend, Ted Nugent! I guess Ted moved to Texas and started attending David's church. Go figure! There you have it... go check it out... "Remedy".





LifeHouse - "Who We Are": Yet another great album. I saw them perform the song, "First Time" on Dick Clark's Rockin' NewYears Eve Party. It was amazing! These guys are the "real deal". They love Jesus... and they are positioning themselves to influence the world with their message of hope. Check out "Who We Are".

OK... so it's all guys this time around. Some female vocalists worth mentioning: Sarah Bareilles (modern day Karen Carpenter? - similar pipes), Colbie Caillat (Fun to listen to... but great album???), Alicia Keys ("No One"... great beat... sung with passion... great singer? I don't know about that????)

Come on... and where are the ladies in Christian music these days? Of all times for Plumb to record a lullaby album... and we have to wait until April to get FireFlight's new album!!! Auuugh!!! Are there any other ladies worth mentioning out there right now?

Your thoughts?

The Newest Addition To Our Family

Her name is Miley (Yes... she is named after Hannah Montana's alter-ego)... and she is a beautiful 5 month old black Lab. Miley is the sweetest, best puppy anywhere. I love my new dog. There is only one small problem...

she cannot be contained...

at least UNTIL NOW!


You see... we decided that we didn't want to put her in one of those big metal crates... so we created a "space" for her in the basement to sleep and to stay while we are away from the house.

So... I went to Wal-Mart and bought a child-proof safety gate. I made sure that I got one that was tall enough to contain her. After all... she is just a puppy... right?








Well... this is what the gate looked like after the first night. She had started to chew her way through several of the slats. We knew that it was just a matter of time before she ate her way completely through the gate.

Sure enough... the very next day she had created a hole big enough to get her body through... and we found her asleep on the couch when we returned home.

So... PLAN B: I went to Home Depot to look for something a little more secure. Something that she could not chew through... right?

So... we bought a 4 foot tall steel gate and I mounted it across the opening to "Mileyworld".

That worked really great... until she learned that she could "shimmy" her way up one side of the gate by leveraging her front paws on the latch and on the top of the 2X4 frame. She would then throw herself over the gate to escape! Can you believe that??? Auuughh! What now?

PLAN C: I added more 2X4s. One to extend the frame higher than she could reach... and the other to cover the latch. There was no way that she was going to escape now... right?

WRONG!

I went up the stairs (where she couldn't see me) and just watched her. I wasn't ready for what happened next. She picked up one of her toys in her mouth... took about 3 steps back... got a running start... and JUMPED THE GATE in a single bound!!! I couldn't believe my eyes!!!!
What do I do now????

PLAN D: We affectionately refer to this hybrid solution as...

ALCATRAZ

Miley ain't goin' anywhere now!















Did I mention that I LOVE my dog?

Go Buckeyes!

Chris Lee

A great friend of mine (from Nashville) is about to release his first studio recording. He was just in the mastering studio this past week... and he tells me that the CD should be available before the month is out. If you attend NewPointe, you might remember Chris from singing with me a few years ago while visiting here in Ohio. If you are from Christian Fellowship (where we used to serve) in Virginia you would have known him as a regular vocalist on our worship team there. Either way.... you really need to check out his MySpace and hear his new music... OR... you can click on a "sample mix" of four of Chris' songs in my "green music player" (to the right) to get a good idea what it will sound like. Chris has been sending "rough mixes" to me along the way... and it sounds incredible. I can't wait to hear the final product. Chris has been touring with Michael English for the past 3 years. He has an amazing voice... and an awesome Spirit. Over the years... I've watched him grow as a vocalist and as a person and I can't begin tell you how proud I am of him. I will definitely let you all know when his project is released. You will definitely want to run out and grab a copy!

Seth Godin quote

"History is littered with inventors who had “great” ideas but kept them quiet and then poorly executed them. And history is lit up with do-ers who took ideas that were floating around in the ether and actually made something happen. In fact, just about every successful venture is based on an unoriginal idea, beautifully executed.

So, if you’ve got ideas, let them go. They’re probably holding you back from the hard work of actually executing."

- Seth Godin