Willow Creek Arts Conference

Our team just got back from the Arts Conference @ Willow Creek Community Church. Eight of us were able to go & it was a great time of learning from other people as well as looking at what areas we need to grow in as well. The following are some things that jumped out:

1. "To bring your best, you must bring your worst!" -Dan Allender
2. "If there is no weigh in...there is no buy-in!" -Patrick Lencioni
3. "Conflict is the oxygen of drama!" -Ralph Winter
4. I got to sit in a songwriting class with Sarah Kelly & we talked through different songwriting techniques as well as some great tips on writing songs in a group setting. She had one great quote that said, "If you want to see fish jump into water, if you want to see God...jump into worship."
5. I also got to sit in a class led by the programming director of Northpoint Community Church (Andy Stanley's church), she talked through their programming process, which really clarified some things for me in our own programming process. Yeah God!

I also learned some things about my teammates :)

1. Phil Lineback is a great person to play pig & president with. I also learned other various things about our fearless Creative Arts leader :)
2. Terri Jordan is a lion through & through
3. David Barnes is hilarious to watch interact with Phil
4. Matt Bourff is still repaying his son because he saw Superman Returns early
5. Brian Ungerer really likes watching fish tanks :)
6. Robby Hampton should never sleep directly in front of the air conditioning fan.
7. Rebecca Hampton is a Tina Turner fan

Strange Web Stuff

I was searching online earlier & was noticing how many incredibly stupid & strange things there are on the web. I came upon one in particular & couldn't help but think, "These people have absolutely nothing to do with there time!" So, click here & see a group of people that spend their time making hats out of various meat products :)

Entertainment Sickness!

Sunday afternoon, I was on my way to my mother-in-law's house for a Memorial Day get together & ran into a traffic jam. As we approached we can to realize that there was a major accident right in front of our friendly Wal-Mart. I didn't think much of it because there are regularly accidents through there. However, as we approached, I realized that this one wasn't quite like the normal fenderbender. They were detouring traffic through the Wal-Mart parking lot to keep the traffic flowing, but what I saw next was what turned my stomach.

As we were going around, I got a glimpse of the accident & it was obvious that it was a bad one & someone was likely hurt. This is where it gets sick. We were trying to go around it, but there were crowds of people rushing towards it. There were crowds of people standing feet from the car...peering in to get a glimpse of...well, a bloodied person...possibly dead. Flocks of people walking towards a horrific scene as though they had tickets to a show. I had a number of thoughts at this sight.

What is TV doing to us?
It is a normal sight anymore on TV for us to see a graphic scene of an accident or a crime scene...blood & all, but it was obvious that those people didn't discriminate that from reality. There were police officers holding up white sheets trying to keep the crowd from seeing all the details, but like blood-thirsty entertainment vultures...they just kept swarming. We are a sick people!

Is this person real?
On TV there are disclaimers saying something like, "No one was harmed during the filming of the movie!" Well, at this scene...someone was seriously hurt! That was someone's mother, father, sister or brother! Think of the disrespect...if that was my family member...let's just say it wouldn't have been a pretty sight.

Well, as you can see...I had some strong feelings about it, but I bring it up as a self-evaluation for us. Are you so desensitized by media that when something horrible happens you are more interested in seeing it, or is your first thought...how can I help? Our instincts tell us alot about ourselves. Does your drive for entertainment outweigh your respect for life & humanity? If we aren't evaluating these things then our CSI molded minds will make every setting like this into an entertainment source & not what it really is...a tragedy in need of helping hands, not spectators. What are your thoughts?

Naughty, naughty, naughty...

Okay, I'll be the first to admit it...I've been a bad blogger boy! I was a major slacker this last week with posting. I'm sorry...you can feel free to send me hate mail! I will do better my friends :)