NewPointe Softball: Game Two

WOW! What difference a week makes! It is amazing to me how you can have a big WIN one week... and then... get absolutely "shelled" the next. Ouch!!! I am pretty sure that the guys we played tonight were all former Major League Baseball players (at least they hit like they were). They had about 7 or 8 guys who could hit the fence in left field on a line drive!!! Man, were they ever crushing the ball. Our guys played a great game... it was just that these guys were in a league of their own.



Here is a photo of the celebration that followed Joel's big homerun. He CRUSHED the ball to center field.

I ended up going 2 for 3 (a single and a double) in tonight's game. I would have been 3 for 3... but I got a little greedy and tried to turn a single into a double when the ball that I hit into the outfield was thrown to home (the runner scored). The runner on second (who had already left for third) turned back to second and I didn't look up to see him coming back until it was too late. I got thrown out on my way back to first. Oh well... I learned my lesson.

The final score was: (this is difficult to say) NewPointe (7) - Grace Lutheran (31).

We still had a great time. We are just out there to have some fun, represent NewPointe with great attitudes and sportsmanship... and win a few ballgames along the way. There is always... next week.

Dover park - 6:30 - field #9. Can't wait! I love this game!

This Weekend @ NewPointe: Set List

It's gonna be another awesome weekend! These are all great tunes! Check 'em out:

"Your Love Keeps Lifting Me Higher" - Audio Adrenaline

"Awesome Is The Lord Most High" - Chris Tomlin

"Glorious One" - Steve Fee

"From The Inside Out" - Hillsong United

"Love Is The Reversal" - Starfield

Hope to see you there!

Power Outage = NewPointe Staff Crisis

We suited up and headed to the gym today for our weekly Thursday lunchtime basketball games. We had just chosen teams... and were ready to start our first game when... THE LIGHTS WENT OUT!!!! There we all stood... ready to play... in a dark gym. The first thing we did was to try and figure out how wide-spread the outage was. Some parts of the building still had power... but the auditorium/gym and most of the rest of the facility was in total darkness (except for the windows and skylights). You've gotta understand... we were DESPERATE to play ball!!! We HAD to figure out a way to make it happen! Well... it was a beautiful day out... so we tried to wheel one of the portable basketball goals out to the parking lot. Sounded like a good idea... right? Unfortunately... the goal was wider than the double doors to the gym. We could not get the goal out of the gym!!! Auuughhh!!! What to do???

We... must... play... basketball!!!

So... we decided to wheel the goal across the gym and take it into the rotunda (OK... so we were desperate)... but all of the doors to the gym were THE SAME WIDTH!!!! Noooooo!!!! What are we going to do now???

About that time... one of the guys discovered an outlet on the stage that was still "hot".

YES!!!!

So in true MacGyver fashion... we found a couple of really long extension cords... a set of halogen work lights... and 3 theatrical par can lights with edison plugs... a roll of duct tape... and we were back in business!

We set the lights up across one end of the main stage and aimed them at a hoop on the opposite side of the gym.

It was the equivalent of parking a car at one end of a basketball court and using the headlights to play at night. It worked pretty well... until the electricity in the remainder of the building went out. We finished our game (in the dark)... and then went back to work.

Well... sort of.

There was only one problem: We needed electricity to get any work done. There were no lights... no internet... no e-mail... all of our computers were down... our phones were out... we didn't even have running water (we are on a well system). So you get the picture.... the rest of the day was pretty much... "toast".

Eventually... I just packed up my MacBook and headed home... to finish working.

All in all... it was a pretty interesting day at NewPointe.

Liquid Gold!

My buddy, Randy is visiting from Columbus this weekend. He said that he was reading my BLOG this past week... and decided to bring us a little gift. He said it was something that we love... but can not get in Dover/NewPhilly. Check it out!

Wooohooo!

Only THE best sweet tea in the galaxy!

This Weekend @ NewPointe: Set List

As we continue the "What Lies Beneath Series" this weekend at NewPointe... you can expect to hear:

"Pride & Joy" - Stevie Ray Vaughn

"Salvation is Here" - Hillsong United

"You Never Let Go" - Matt Redman

"Turn Around" Jonny Lang

"I Need You To Love Me" - BarlowGirl

It's going to be a powerful morning... including 9 baptisms and an unbelievable message!

BTW: Get there early to hear Jody on the SRV tune... it's going to be pre-service!

Also... don't miss the season finale of KidStuf tomorrow! It's gonna be "off-the-hook"! Congrats to the KS Team! It was a fantastic season!

NewPointe Softball: Game One

We finally got to play our first softball game of the '08 season. After two straight Friday night "rain-outs"... at last... there was an actual game! It was a cold evening out there... and the wind was blowing in from left field... so you really had to keep the ball low. Our guys did a great job of hitting line drives and getting on base.

So the final was NewPointe (16) - First Nazarene (4).

I actually went 3 for 3 (All three were doubles) tonight. I usually just hit singles... so I am not expecting THAT to be a trend at all... but it did feel pretty good for the first time out this season. I think we have a solid team this year.



We play again next Friday night at 6:30 at Dover park... field #9. So... if you are looking for something to do... come on out and support your NewPointe softball team!

Best Sweet Tea Around?

April and I were just talking about sweet tea at lunch today... and since it has been a topic around the office as well... I just thought that I would go ahead and blog about it.

I had a meeting the other day at Wall House cafe (In Sugarcreek). If you haven't been yet... go tomorrow for lunch. Seriously! Great food... great atmosphere... great people... they've got whole package.

Well... they had just introduced their new sweet tea... and I mentioned to the owner that I happened to be a "sweet tea connoisseur" and that opened up a whole big conversation about "really great sweet tea". They let me taste their new sweet tea... and then they asked me what I thought of it. I told them that it was a really good "northern sweet tea" (Evidently that was not the answer that they were looking for). You see... they were going for a true SOUTHERN sweet tea taste. Well... I am a southern boy... and trust me... I know my sweet tea. This was no southern sweet tea. I told them that if they wanted to know what real southern sweet tea tasted like... they could either go next door... to McDonald's... OR... for the very best sweet tea in the world they had to go to Chick-fil-A (Once again... not the answer that they were looking for). Apparently... they had already done the comparison with McDonald's tea... and thought that theirs was comparable.

NOPE... not even close.

They asked me what their tea needed.
I told them that it needed to be sweeter.
They said that "not everyone likes their tea that sweet".
I told them that if they were going for southern sweet tea... it was a miss. If they were making a "satisfy everybody" sweet tea (on the other hand)... they didn't need to change a thing. It was a great sweet tea... just the way it was.

Well... I had to get back to the office. So that was the end of our conversation.

Later that same day... Kevin West came back to the church from a lunch meeting at Wall House. He said that they were still talking about our morning sweet tea conversation. In the meantime... someone from Wall House had made a trip all the way to Canton (40 minutes away) just to buy a Chick-fil-A sweet tea (Is that wild or what???). So while Kevin was there for lunch... they told him about the bald NewPointe staff guy who was in earlier critiquing their sweet tea. This time... they had Kevin "taste test" their new sweet tea... against Chick-fil-A's tea.

Kevin picked the Chick-fil-A tea without hesitation. There was no comparison. He agreed that theirs needed to be... sweeter.

Well... I was back at Wall house yesterday morning with John Bunn for our weekly creative brainstorm meeting... and while I was there...I bought a large glass of their sweet tea. It was much sweeter than before. It was actually one of the best glasses of sweet tea that I have had. It still wasn't the best I've ever had... but it did make my top 5 list.

OK... so here are my top 5 picks:

#5 - Fazoli's (If you can still find the sweet tea. Not every store has it anymore. Great tea though!)
#4 - Wall House (Now serving a mighty fine glass of sweet tea)
#3 - My Wife's Sweet Tea (The girl can "bring it"... when it comes to real southern tea)
#2 - McDonalds (Believe it or not... they've got it goin' on! A big 'ol cup for a buck too!)
#1 - Chick-fil-A (will forever remain... the best sweet tea on the planet!)

Honorable mentions: Famous Dave's and Ci Ci's Pizza.

So there you go... since I know that you were wondering.

Later!

THE WINNER!

WOW... can you believe it!?!?

My faith in America's ability to recognize talent has been restored.

Way to go David Cook!!

The Myriad

Another new project that you need to check out is The Myriad's "With Arrows, With Poise". These guys have been around for two or three years... but I had not heard any of their music until now. I love the whole "vibe" of their new album. Their front man is a pretty amazing vocalist. The Myriad reminds me of a fusion of Coldplay, MuteMath and Maroon 5. You've gotta check 'em out.

Great Stuf!

American Idol Update: And Then There Were 2

Well... tonight's the night.

Which David will win it all?

Last night was pretty interesting. If anything... it confirmed my suspicions of the judges. Either they have "folded" to the voters to make sure that they are RIGHT tonight... or someone has paid them off.

No really... I just don't understand why they all stopped calling David A. out on his pitch and his over all "boring-ness". How can they (all of a sudden) not see that stuff? Simon: All 3 rounds going to Archuletta??? A "Knock-out"??? I don't think so.

They both did a nice job last night... but here's the big question...

...which David would you go to see in concert? Which David would you download a whole album of his music on iTUNES? I can tell you right now... I will not be running out to buy an David Archuletta CD... but I will probably pick up David Cook's project because there is a better chance that there will be more than one good cut on there. And here's why... David Cook can sing anything... any style... with emotion and soul... and he has at least "some" personality when he sings. David Archuletta... might as well go ahead and sing the phone book (Randy Jackson's favorite compliment)... because that is about as interesting as his project will get.

My vote... (even though I know that David A. will win tonight night)

DAVID COOK!!!!!!

What's On My iPOD?

I have been listening to some great new stuff lately. Several artist have released new projects... and I am really into them right now. Here is a list... and you can check them out for yourself on iTUNES.

Ronnie Freeman: This is Ronnie's second project and it is "off 'da hook"! The lyrics have been rocking my world lately. WOW! You have got to hear this guy sing. Great vocalist... great songs... now that's a killer combination. Check out his new album called "God Speaking".


Josh Wilson: I have already told you about Josh. Remember... he will be at NewPointe on Sunday, July the 20th and I can't wait! Be sure to check his new project called "Trying To Fit The Ocean in a Cup".





Inhabited: OK... so this one got past me. It was released in February and I totally missed it. I am a big fan of the band, Inhabited... loved their first album... and have been looking forward to their new stuff. Well... I was not disappointed. It sounds great! In some ways... I actually like "Love" better than their first album, "The Revolution".



Sara Delight is one of my all time favorite female vocalists! If you have never heard Inhabited... then check 'em out!

Bryan Adams: This guy has been recording albums for almost 30 years now... and he sounds just as great today! Nothing really new from Bryan... just the same great music that you would expect from a legendary rocker. Check out his new album "11" on iTUNES.









Meredith Andrews: Meredith is a new artist/songwriter for WORD Records... and a full-time worship leader at Harvest Bible Church in Chicago. Her debut album, "The Invitation" is pretty good stuf. She is a strong vocalist. I love her voice... but the album itself doesn't really"stand out" that much. It is still worth checking out though. It is difficult to find strong female vocalists in Christian music right now... but Meredith's got it goin' on.





Other Stuf that I am listening to right now:

Robbie Seay Band - "Give yourself Away" (Awesome album!)
Marie Digby - "Unfold" (I love her voice!)
Starfield - "I Will Go" (Another great band!)
Chris Sligh - "Running Back To You" (The jury is still out on this one. I have not listened all the way through it yet. It hasn't knocked me out so far... but I'll let you know.)
Jonny Lang - "Turn Around" (John Bunn turned me on to this dude. Good stuff... very unique blues vocals and guitar work. We are going to be doing a couple of his tunes during the "What Lies Beneath" series.)
Coldplay - "Viva La Vida" -single (The album will be out soon! I can't wait! Coldplay is one of my favorite bands.)
Joel Auge - "So Deep In Love" - single (I really like his voice a lot. I am looking forward to hearing the rest of the album... soon to be released.)
Jordin Sparks - "self-titled" (Man... can that girl ever sing?!? Of course the "No Air" duet with Chris Brown is amazing! She is the real deal.)
Switchfoot - "This Is Home" (from the new Narnia movie. It is an unbelievable tune! Check it out! Switchfoot is an amazing band and I loved hearing David Cook sing their song, "Dare You To Move" the other night on American idol! )



That's it for now... more to come!

LINE 6 POD X3 LIVE: Not a believer yet?

OK... I know that I've already blogged about this... and once should be enough... right?

But I was just on the website of one of my favorite guitarists (Lincoln Brewster)... and just happened to come across this cool video. On the video... Lincoln tells a little about the gear that he uses on stage.



Everybody raves about Lincoln Brewster's tone. Well... some of that is the great sounding guitars that he uses... but check out where he gets his actual sounds (Listen to what he says at around 00:03:41 on the video).



Is that cool... or what!?! Great stuff!

POD X3 LIVE

In an attempt to achieve some resemblance of consistency in our band mixes each week at NewPointe... we have just purchased the new LINE 6 POD X3 LIVE for our main stage guitarists. I have heard incredible reviews on this board... and I have to say... it was pretty impressive right out of the box. At our band rehearsal last night... we unpacked it... connected it to the system (without a DI - It has stereo XLR outputs)... plugged in a guitar... and WOW! Even the factory presets were fat! Most of them had big, rich tones... with lots of punch (thanks to some great sounding preamps). With over 100 amp models and 90 on-board effects... it's pretty amazing what this thing will do! It looks cool too. The wah/expression pedal looks like it was designed by NASCAR. Now I am not a big fan of most pedal boards... but (so far) I am totally impressed with the X3 LIVE. I can't wait to hear this thing LIVE on Sunday! It is going to ROCK!

American Idol Update: And Then There Were 2

OK... Syesha is gone (yeah!) and it's down to the two Daves. Who will win... the "rocker"... or the "crooner"?


I personally think that it will be David Archuletta ("the crooner"). He just has an unbelievable fan base. It will end up being a popularity contest.

Oh well... once again... the second place winner will get the big record deal... and the newest American Idol will cut a custom project and sell out shows at...

Branson, Missouri.

This Weekend @ NewPointe: Set List

This weekend at NewPointe we are continuing our series called "What Lies Beneath"... and it is going to be an amazing service. Here is a list of the songs that you can expect to hear:

"What I Was Made For" - Big Daddy Weave

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

"Finding Who We Are" - Kutless

"I Am Free" - Desperation Band

Coming To NewPointe in July!

A while back... I had posted a video of a new artist by the name of Josh Wilson (He was playing Amazing Grace with loops and effects off of his pedal board... very cool). Well... his new album (Trying To Fit The Ocean In A Cup) was just released this past week... and it sounds awesome! You can see Josh at the ALIVE Festival in June.

But here's the exciting news: Josh will be joining us here at NewPointe on July the 20th to lead worship in our weekend services and for a concert later that evening. More details to come... but trust me... you will not want to miss this incredible day.

Again... more details to come!

Creative Kids

I was just reading John Bunn's post about Naomi's end of the year school project. She created a bio-bottle model of our nation's 6th president, John Quincy Adams. You have to check it out... it is very impressive. How proud John must be of his daughter...

Well... I went outside last Friday afternoon and found my daughter's creativity sitting on the driveway behind my car. With the help of a neighbor child (who supplied all of the building supplies... I need to make perfectly clear) my daughter had built a HOTEL for her Webkinz. It had multiple rooms... each providing a Webkinz with it's own bed. It had a retractable egg carton roof and stylish fluorescent pink accents. Now... normally I would have been so proud of my daughter's ingenuity and innovation. But if you look at the photo closely... you'll see that it was built entirely out of... BEER BOXES!!! Yup... that's right... sitting right there in the middle of my drive was the Michelob Motel...

the Bud Light Best Western...

the Heineken Hotel...

the...

Well you get the point. Hey... when you have an idea... you've got to go with it... right? When you don't have a budget... you've just got to be resourceful and grab what you've got laying around the house to make it happen... right? Well... that's what they did. I've got to hand it to them... that was some real "out of the box" thinking. Lucky for us... it wasn't an end of the year school project. You've just gotta love our CREATIVE KIDS.

American Idol Update: And Then There Were 3

So Jason is packing his bags today. (Who didn't see that one coming?)




Now... do we say goodbye to Syesha this next week... and begin "The Duel of the Daves"?

Who knows?

It sure looks like David Archuletta has the LIVE audience eating out of his hand right now. I wonder if that is the way the voting looks as well. Again... I don't get it... but it looks like things are going his way. Who do YOU think will win it all?

We'll see...

This Weekend @ NewPointe: Set list

We are kicking off a new series this weekend at NewPointe called "What Lies Beneath"... so here is a list of the songs that you can expect to hear:

"Sing Sing Sing" - Chris Tomlin

"Make A Joyful Noise" - David Crowder* Band

"Filled With Your Glory" - Starfield

"Underneath This Smile" - Hillary Duff (Yeah... Lizzie McGuire... but it's a great song)

"The Real Me" - Natalie Grant

You can also expect to experience a "FIRST EVER" at NewPointe this weekend! You'll just have to be there... and see it to believe it!

Wellness Update: The end of the challenge

Well... yesterday marked the end of the NewPointe staff 50lb team challenge... and I am excited to say that all 8 teams reached their goal. Pretty cool... huh? We will find out sometime this week what the total weight loss was for our staff... but it's probably somewhere around the total weight of 3 healthy staff members. That is pretty amazing! KUDOS to our staff for working so hard to drop those extra pounds!








My original personal goal was 25lbs... then when I passed the 20lb mark... I moved it up to 30lbs. Well... I ended up losing 26lbs. You know what... I am pretty pleased with that. I feel better than I have in a long time... I have more energy... and I lowered my blood pressure, cholesterol and sugar levels significantly. I guess all I really needed... was a challenge.

Friday night starts a new SOFTBALL SEASON... and I can't wait!

American Idol Update:

I hope I don't lose any friends over this observation...

but...

I just don't get the whole David Archuletta thing. The judges are gushing over him now... and I don't see it. Have they just decided to agree with the voters from here on out to avoid looking wrong at the end of the season? There is no way that he is as amazing as they are saying that he is. These guys are professionals. They should continue to judge based on real vocal ability... right? He is a talented young singer... but he is no American Idol. Americas Most Talented Kid? Maybe... but not America's next Idol. He has not brought anything new since the first show of the season. He will probably win it all with the popularity vote... but I'm sorry... I am so tired of David Archuletta.

David Cook was OK on his second song... the first one was weak. He's gonna have to do a lot better than that to win it.
Syesha is trying way too hard... and it's painful to listen to at times.
Jason was terrible tonight. I agree with Simon. Pack your bags, dude.

As far as I'm concerned... the best have already been voted off.

Sorry folks... the show is not going to get any better.

Wii had a great weekend @ NewPointe

We had a pretty incredible weekend here at NewPointe. I mean... what other church in America had a Wii Tennis game happening on stage during the morning service??? The message was called Wii Serve. Dwight focused on "getting in the game" and man oh man... did he ever "bring it". If people weren't challenged and inspired to serve after that message... then they just need to go check their pulse. It was an amazing message! It was an amazing morning! We opened with Loverboy's song "Working For The Weekend" and then we had a roving reporter (Lee Ann Miller) doing a LIVE remote from 5 of our environments throughout the remainder of the service. You really had to be there. It was just a very creative and visual experience. Oh yeah... (in the photo) that's me with my son, Brandon playing Wii behind John Bunn during the host segment of the service. Now THAT was fun!

American Idol Update: and then there were 4

So Brooke is gone. I really liked her a lot. She will still have a great career. I just think she was a little too "mature" for the Idol voters.


What are your thoughts? Was she supposed to be the next to go? Should it have been Syesha... or Jason instead? I mean... they have got to go before the Davids (if your voting on vocal ability)... right? Do you agree? Come on... leave a comment.

Until next week...

This Weekend @ NewPointe: Set list

This is going to be an incredible weekend at NewPointe with Married Life LIVE on Saturday night and some pretty amazing services on Sunday morning. I am going to list the music that we are doing for both events. Just so you can get an idea of what's going to be happening around here.

Sunday set list: We are not doing as much music because of all of the cool creative elements in the service. You just have to be there to see what I'm talking about.

"Working For The Weekend" - Loverboy

"Love The Lord" - Lincoln Brewster

"O Praise Him" - David Crowder* Band

Married Life LIVE (Fight Night) set list:

"Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting" - Elton John

"Good For Me" - Amy Grant

"You're My Better Half" - Keith Urban

Plus songs by - Survivor, Pat Benetar, REO Speedwagon, Creedence Clearwater Revival and The Police.


I'm telling you... it is going to be an amazing weekend at NewPointe!