The Moss Pit

My Latest Concert Review

Sunday night I finally got back to a live show, and got to cover it for IL Entertainer. It made the front page!  You can read the review here.

It actually turned out to be a better show than I even anticipated. I got my friend Jim to go with me, and we had a great time. It helped the weather was PERFECT, so it was a beautiful night for an outdoor show. This was actually my first time to this venue, and it might be my new favorite outdoor venue in Chicago. It's tucked right between Soldier Field and Lake Michigan, so you have the lake behind you and a beautiful view of the Chicago skyline in front of you. Plus it's smaller, so there are no bad seats.

Anyway, if you like reggae-infused and rap-infused rock, check out 311's latest disc--it's really good!

Well I'm off to find the next show to request that I can go review.....

Name Your Topic

Ok, so enough about me on this blog--let's talk about you, and more specifically, what you want to hear from me about. :)

Seriously, what topic would you love for me to blog on? Or what burning question can I try to answer for you?  It can be about anything (well, almost anything).

Post a comment and let me know....

And no, this isn't some sort of cheap, lame way to come up with blogging material. I got plenty of blog entries going on in my head, just haven't head time to blog them yet. (Ok, maybe it's a little cheap and kinda lame, but play along anyway).

There's No Business Like......The Music Business?

What a crazy world this music business is. As a music lover/reviewer, i've always spent (too much) time and money buying new music. This used to consist of taking risks on buying CD's at the record store, which had some big disadvantages:
1) I couldn't listen to the CD before-hand, so how would I know if it's worth getting? Sometimes the Christian book store or used-CD store would have "listening stations", but that's about it.
2) The prices sucked. The only way to get a new CD for $9.99 was to go to Best Buy the week it was released (only time it's that cheap) and hope they had some left.

But then came the invention of iTunes--truly a gift from God. Now I could listen to ANY music I wanted, and then buy what i liked for $9.99, all from the comfort of my own home. And of course it never feels like you're actually spending money when you're on iTunes--all of which contributes to the danger of it. But it's been beautiful nonetheless. :)  Of course iTunes had some disadvantages too:
1) If I wanted to listen to it in my car, I needed to burn it to a CD
2) No more CD covers, liner notes, etc. (not a big deal, but still)

So now iTunes got the bright idea (since you never feel like you're spending money on there), to charge MORE for their new albums, like $12.99. What!?!  I can't go back to paying those prices, and I don't even get a hard-copy of everything for that price. So now I feel like I have to go back to buying new stuff during release-week at Best Buy. I guess I could at least listen to it first on iTunes.

So what's the solution?

Living in the Tension

I loved our message at church this last weekend. The Big Idea was technically "Joy in Opposition," but we ended up talking about the idea of what we called "living in the tension." The simplest way I can think of to describe it is through a book title, a title I'm not a huge fan of, but it does make sense: "Too Christian, Too Pagan." We talked about how for many Christ-followers, it's too easy to either be "too Christian", where you live in this "Christian bubble" and never interact with the real world. Or they end up being "too worldly" (nicer word than "pagan" :) ), where you can't really tell any difference about their life. Either of these causes you to never receive "opposition" for your faith, because either you never interact with anyone who would oppose you, or nobody notices anything in you to oppose.

Anyway, we challenged people to figure out how to "live in the tension" of having a foot in both worlds. I like how Jesus put it best: "be IN the world but not OF the world."  That's what I strive hard to do--never become removed from "the real world," but hopefully live in such a way that people take notice.

I got an opportunity to do this on Monday night--a couple in my small group, who are both teachers, invited me to their end-of-the-year-teacher-bash. (Who knew when we were kids, that our teachers like to party up after the school year is over? :) )  I felt honored that they invited me, as their only "non-teacher friend" who was there. This means they wouldn't be embarrassed of how I would act around their friends, and were totally comfortable with me being there.  And honestly, I had a great time, and wish I had more opportunities like that.

How are you "living in the tension"?

I'll close with a quote we started the message with--this isn't word-for-word, just my paraphrase:
"If you NEVER receive opposition for your faith, then you are a COWARD.  If you receive nothing but opposition for your faith, you are simply OBNOXIOUS."

Chew on that for awhile.....

So You Think Can Blog

Apparently I don't think I can blog, since I've slacked off and not posted anything lately. Sorry about that! It has been on my "to-do list", so does that count for something?  I didn't think so.  I won't offer lame excused about being busy (aren't we all), but I will try to update you on at least a few of the things I've been up to lately. (in case you cared, which maybe you do since you're reading this blog :) )

*I was at 2 different all-day retreats (more like meetings than retreats really), first one with our "leadership team" at church, and the second with all of our staff. Both were pretty fun, hearing about all the new things we're going to try to tackle as a church. There was vision coming out of my ears!  It's not gonna be boring around here, that's for sure.

*I started watching "So You Think You Can Dance", mostly because my wife loves it, and because Idol is over. I really only enjoy the hip-hop stuff for now, but I'm tryin to learn to appreciate the rest. Maybe Adam will make an appearance? 

*I had a great weekend with the in-laws visiting.

*Last weekend I somehow survived a small group camping trip, teaching the message at 3 services, emceeing a concert, and being at 3 other events, all with a cold and losing my voice the entire time. Let's hope this weekend is a little calmer.

*I still haven't seen Terminator yet, and I'm regretting it. And then Transformers is next. Too hard to keep up!  I did see Star Trek and loved it, and I saw Night at the Museum 2 and didn't love it as much as my kids did.

*I've had 3 campuses on the brain, as I try to help send off my 2 apprentice campus pastors to start new ones, while also continuing to grow my own. Fun!

Ok, that's enough, you're sick of reading about me now. But I will be back blogging so stay tuned! 

The Under-dog Wins

Another season of American Idol came to an end last night, which means this sadly is my last blog entry about Idol until next January.  Or maybe not, if I think of something else important to say about it. :)

So "dark-horse/under-dog" Kris Allen emerged as the winner. I don't know if I was surprised, since I didn't know what to expect anyway, and I figured he'd get most of Danny's votes. I was a bit disappointed, as I really wanted Adam to win. My wife was of course elated, but to her credit, she kept her celebration dance to a minimum out of respect for me. :)

I'm not TOO disappointed though, since at least I like Kris (unlike how I felt about the 2nd place guy last year), and I do think he'll be a good musician. I think Adam would have been more memorable and made a bigger splash, but I do realize he also has the potential to go "the other way" with his career too, so it'll be interesting to see where both of these guys are at a year from now.  It could even be one of those where it works better for Adam to get 2nd place, so he can get more freedom to do what he wants, have a non-lame first single, etc.

Here are my thoughts on the finale show, which was very entertaining overall:
*Why must we continue to have the most cheesy, generic, fake-inspiring ballads possible as the final song every single year?  Does that formula really work?  Will Idol ever change? Perhaps not. Again it was an advantage for one, as Kris's voice fit it better than Adam's (reminds me of Jordin Sparks vs. Blake Lewis a few years ago)
*They got some big name celebrities, pretty impressive. I can always do without Rod Stewart, but I enjoyed Black Eyed Peas and Cyndi Lauper, and Lionel Richie is just funny because he hasn't aged.
*Putting Kris with Keith Urban was interesting, since it explores the "country" possibility he has. I really wish Adam wasn't with Kiss--they could've done much better.
*I knew they'd find some cheap way to bring out bikini girl, psycho-laughter drama queen, and "comedian" Norman Gentle--oddly, those moments were actually fairly satisfying.

Well, as I've said the last few weeks, my final conclusion on this season is this:  Overall, I feel like it's my favorite season in terms of contestants. Very few that I disliked, and the final 4 were my favorite ever. Yet oddly i don't feel like there were as many memorable performances this year, and I can't figure out why. I just know that last year I bought almost 10 different performances off iTunes, and this year only 1 (Adam doing "Mad World"). So I guess better contestants, but not as good of song choices?  Regardless, a very well-done season overall!

Good luck to Kris and Adam. And Danny. And Allison. But probably not bikini-girl.

(And now onto "So You Think You Can Dance", but don't tell anyone, my wife makes me watch it...)

In the News!

So I recently made the newspaper--and I didn't even know it! (Thanks for some Facebook friends for finding it and telling me)  And fortunately it was for something good. :)

Now I realize I'm still not at the level of appearing on MTV or Fox Sports Radio like my brothers, but hey, the local papers are a start, right?

Anyway, it was an article about a "biker blessing" I did recently at my church. It was my first one ever, and it was a great experience! (read my previous post about it)

So the article ended up in both The Naperville Sun and The Beacon News (Aurora's local paper). There were 2 inaccuracies in the article (that's the media for ya :) )...

1) We are "Community Christian Church", not "Christian Community CHurch" (they could've just called us CCC and then been right :) )

2) The main point wasn't to do it JUST for church-goers, for Christian-bikers. Half of the group was some bikers we know that don't go to church anywhere. And to me, that's the real exciting part.

Anyway, it was cool to have the whole thing get noticed, especially un-expectantly!

The Idol Finale, Finally

So this is the week we find out our next American Idol. And I'm not too embarrassed to admit that I was wrong last week--Kris stayed, and Danny Gokey had to go, go, go home. Poor Danny, we'll miss ya.

And I'll admit, this is the toughest finale to call ever! OK, toughest to call since last year's I guess, which also could really have gone either way (and I honestly was pleasantly shocked by when it went Cook's way). In some sense, this finale reminds me of that--the rocker vs. the quiet conservative kid. Only Cook wasn't as "out there" as Adam, and Kris isn't nearly as annoying as Archuleta.

So, it's my final chance to share my thoughts before the big show. So here we go:

Why Adam will win:
Adam has built a huge fan base, has been solid every week, and has been as unpredictable with arrangements as Cook, which won him that title. Kris is just too shy still, lacks the drive, and hasn't had as many memorable performances.

Why Kris will win:
I think the biggest reason is--he will get all of Danny's votes, because the people who voted for Danny (let's assume many "Christians"), are FAR more likely to pick Kris than Adam. And I just don't know if Adam can appeal to who votes on the final week--all those southerners, all the "older ladies," etc. I don't know if rockers turn out to vote. Then again, that's what I said last year and look what happened...

Who should win:
Honestly, I'll be happy if either does. The entire Top 3, probably top 4, will all make good albums that actually have a chance to be successful (we'll see how "Idolized" the music ends up though). But I do hope Adam will win, and despite my bias, I think he deserves to win. I realize he can be over-indulgent at times (to use a Simon word), and that the scream-thing can get old, but he's proven his versatility, he's proven his incredible vocal range, and he is far more of the complete package. He could hit the concert tour, record studio, and interview-circuit tomorrow, with very little adjustment or learning curve.

But don't listen to me, I obviously can't predict this stuff very well!  So what do YOU think?

...And Then There Were Three

Ok, i'll admit again--this is the best final 3 I can ever remember, and the hardest to predict the winner!

This week was 2 songs each, judge's choice and personal choice. Here are my thoughts on each of the final 3 guys:

Danny: Poor Danny, got stuck with Paula picking his song. Good idea to go with Terence Trent D'Arby, but doing that lesser known song with little melody instead of a popular hit, hurt him. And his dancing is still just plain awkward. He did nail his ballad (Joe Cocker), but it didn't prove that he can be a contemporary artist.

Kris: He's probably still the underdog of the 3, but he helped himself by doing 2 current hits as his 2 choices. Simon's right that Randy/Kara picked the wrong song for him, and that they should have put more time into helping him arrange it. (How can Randy claim "I didn't know that was allowed"--you've been doing this show for 8 seasons and 300 episodes!  Figure it out)  I really liked his re-interpretation of "Heartless" (Kanye), might be my favorite one of his of the year. Could it be enough to save him?

Adam: Simon surprised me by picking U2 for him instead of Queen, but he did decent. It's one time when I wish he wouldn't have changed the melody though, since Bono's original melody is just fine as-is. But it's just because Adam's always trying to knock every single performance out of the park, which is something more people should actually try to do. His Aerosmith choice was smart too. He did his usual amazing job, though the judges need to stop assuming he's won, because that won't help him or the voting.

So by this point in the season, these guys have each shown what they can do:
Danny can nail ballads, but still can't hit the upbeat songs, and still seems more Bolton-ish than contemporary.  But he's just so darn likeable, far more than the other 3.
Kris is likeable, but still lacks the real drive/motivation to get him anywhere (a little bit of Jason Castro disease). He proved he can be contemporary, but he's just not always memorable enough.
Adam will make you either love him or hate him. He's over-glamorous, self-indulgent, over-dramatic. But the guy can out-sing anyone, and has the stage presence, the look, the "everything" to rocket to stardom faster and not have an adjustment period like other Idol winners.

Ok, ok, I'll go ahead and try to predict--I'll say Adam is in the finals for sure. So either Kris or Danny is going home. I think Kris had a better week, but Danny might have a stronger fan base overall. I'll say Kris is out.

We'll find out soon enough!

The New Adventure at CCC Montgomery

We had an amazing weekend at CCC Montgomery, one of our most exciting ever!  Here are the highlights:

*We got to baptize an entire family (both parents and their 2 student-aged kids) on Sunday.

• *We did our first ever Biker Blessing, which included over 30 bikers attending our 11am service, and me in a leather fringe biker jacket. J
• *We had a “Stuco-powered service” with lots of our jr. high/high school students serving in all of the adult services.
• We got to hear the message on Suburban Legend “All Teens are Rebellious” from our Stuco Director Tim Raad.
• And I got to share our Big Announcement with our entire campus….

So what is the Big Announcement?  Thanks for asking!  In case you weren’t there, here it is. Just picture me saying all this out loud in an inspiring, passionate voice….:)

 

I shared how excited I am about the incredible impact of CCC Montgomery Campus. I am so thankful we stepped out in faith to be missional and launch this campus, because through this campus literally hundreds of adults, students, and kids have found their way back to God over the last seven years. And our legacy doesn’t stop there—we have reproduced other new locations in both Boston and Yorkville (both of which are going phenomenal and continue to have major impact).

 

And now we get the opportunity for our legacy to continue. In fact, I think we can double our impact from 500 to reaching 1000 people in the next year alone. And of course it’s not about some number, it’s about helping more and more of our co-workers, our neighbors, our friends, our family, find their way back to God.

And here is the 3-part strategy that I believe will get us there:

 

New North Aurora Campus Launch (Early October 2009)

We have been dreaming of increasing our impact in the city of Aurora for years, and now we are going to launch our very first campus there!  Our new campus in northern Aurora will be led by Steve & Thelma Kerby. Steve has been our Small Groups Director at Montgomery for almost 2 years now, and has been an Apprentice Campus Pastor with me for over a year.  We are currently looking for a space to rent in northern Aurora, and Steve is building the launch team. There is a LOT of opportunity to reach brand new people with The Jesus Mission as we move north in Aurora and beyond (Batavia, Geneva, St. Charles, etc.).  If you are interested in learning more about this campus, email stevekerby@communitychristian.org right now!

 

New East Aurora Campus Launch (Early January 2010)

As you may know, we have been planting seeds in East Aurora and working hard as a church (all of our campuses) to begin transforming that community.  And now God has finally provided what we need to take the next step—the launch of an official CCC campus in downtown East Aurora, to be led by Obe & Jacque Arellano!  Obe has just completed a year-long Leadership Residency at CCC Montgomery and is very connected in the community of East Aurora.  This campus will meet in the top floor of “The Lighthouse” right in the heart of downtown East Aurora.  We have already started building towards this campus, as we have launched weekly Kids City programs on Tuesday nights (which are currently reaching nearly 50 kids/week!). We also have our first Stuco event there this month, and then launch weekly Stuco programming in the fall, with bilingual adult services to follow in January.  If you are interested in learning more about this campus, email obearellano@communitychristian.org right now!

 

The Next Phase of CCC Montgomery

I love that a major part of our legacy at CCC Montgomery includes expanding our impact through reproducing new campuses. But that in no way means we are “done” with the impact of our campus. In fact, we are just getting started!  We have thousands more people in Oswego and Montgomery who desperately need to find their way back to God and we want to be unstoppable in reaching them.  We are already working on plans to make some major impact through serving in both of these communities starting this summer and fall. We are also working on plans to expand/improve our campus facility, which will be very exciting!  And we already have the largest and healthiest Stuco and Small Group ministry that we’ve ever had, so we will continue to build on that. So if you are interested in being a part of all that is going on at CCC Montgomery, reply to this email right now and let me know!

 

All Hands On Deck

So how in the world are we going to accomplish all this?  Well I know of at least 2 things that are vital to the success of all this. First, we’ll need to rely on God like never before, seeking Him in prayer and trusting Him to do big things. And I think He’s up for the challenge. J  I love trying things that rely on God to be possible—that’s the only way to go!

Second, this is an “all hands on deck” campus initiative—we will literally need every person at our campus to join the mission at one of these campuses.  So if you are currently a part of CCC, my challenge to you right now is this: please pray intently and ask God where and how He wants you to serve on this mission. Ask Him which of these 3 campuses He wants you to be a part of. We will need people to serve, give, and lead at all 3 of these locations.  Talk to people in your life and get their input, since making decisions in community is always a better option. Of course you can talk to me, Steve, and Obe about any of this—we got your back!  We are here to help you discern where God wants to use you, so you have our support the whole way through.

 

I can’t wait to see what God is going to do through CCC Montgomery over this next year.  It’s gonna be a crazy and fun adventure, and I hope you’ll be along for the ride!