Superstar Moments
I’m watching the Western Conf. Finals tonight and I observe Kobe Bryant coming off the floor upset at his teammate for making a mistake. He makes some kind of pointing jesture as if to say, “you need to cut back, so I can get you the ball!” Very frustrated, he goes to the bench during the time out as the camera follows him. One of his teammates (don’t know who, probably a scrub, that’s benchwarmer for those of you out of the lingo:-) holds out his arm for a high-five and in the midst of Kobe’s rage he hits the guy’s hand like nothing is bothering him. Let me be clear, I am not a Kobe fan or a Laker fan, but I know a superstar when I see them. True superstars recognize the people that help them get to the top, their teammates.
You may think “it’s just a high-five”. You may be right, but I experienced some high pressure situations in sports when I was younger and I probably wouldn’t even have seen that hand or the person for that matter. I’ve changed a lot since then, but I hope I don’t ever forget the people that are a part of the team, sacrificing family time, school work time, money and other crucial elements that make the flywheel turn.
Be a superstar!
-AOD
Life: A Vapor
Kate and I went to Pennsylvania this past weekend to visit some family. She grew up there and I spent most of my childhood there, including high school. We hadn’t been back there in a year mostly because of our youngest (6.5 months) and the 9 hour drive :-/
We saw the small town that hadn’t changed much. The people who also hadn’t changed much. And as I talked with some of my family, my aunt especially, I realized more and more that life is a vapor. And I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how fast my kids are growing and how long I’ve been at my job (4.5 years). This year is Kate’s 10 year reunion, we’ve been married for almost 6 years, bought a house 5 years ago and on and on it goes. So I felt a bit nostalgic when we were in PA.
BUT, I am so happy with the change going on in our lives right now and what God is doing. I love that He keeps us guessing. And while it is good to remember, I thank Him for change. The people that surrounded me growing up, including family, helped make me who I am and I’m grateful. I rest in fact, however, that I will get to spend eternity with them and rejoice together with them once the race is over. Right now, God is calling us to reach more people to spend eternity with Him. This life on earth is meant for us to enjoy and worship God, but He also has command us to go and add people to the kingdom in Jesus’ name.
After overcoming sentimentalism, my call in life is to preach Christ and Him crucified. What’s yours?
-AOD
Summer in OV
This summer is going to be an amazing time of experimentation, faith testing and unassuredness. I have been put in charge of a team to lead a much anticipated new “contemporary” worship service on Sunday AM. So me and most of our youth band as well as some other young adults will be putting songs together for this new service on July 5th. Also, I will be leading a team to do beach ministry in Ocean View during the 11am hour. Starting July 5th, we will be trying out a brief worship experience and speaking with a core leadership group of about 11 people and some others that I know will be attending for support.
We will also be doing a shut down of our services on June 14th and serving in the community. We are calling this “Bridge Out: Restore OV” based on Isaiah 58:12 which calls God the “repairer of the breach”. Then July 4th we are doing a community block party with live music, games, etc. So a busy summer is coming. (I didn’t even mention summer camp for the students)
The idea is to get as many preaching and serving points in the community as possible this summer.
Pray for us as we take on these new areas of ministry. We are super excited to use these different expressions of church!
Here’s the graphic for our June 14th project…
-AOD
The Narrow Way
A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to lead our Sunday AM service with our Youth. We creatively called it “Youth Sunday” 
I had so much encouragement from different people (young and old) I wanted to share it with you. The worship service was totally lead by students (except for me on guitar and the drummer) and then I preached a sermon titled “Expect the Unexpected”. It came from a lot of reading and research I have done with a group of other youth pastors on various books and of course God’s take on what He “expects” of us. I will admit, as my friend @booboocraig so eloquently pointed out to me, it is a little slow moving at first. But hey, it had been almost two years since the last time I spoke on Sunday AM Well, here goes…
Announcements:
Worship:
Speaking:
-AOD
