Some Kind Of Milestone

I checked Andrik's Piraka Video on YouTube today and saw that it has been viewed over 10,000 times! I know that in this internet-connected world it's not such a big deal, but it's got to be some kind of milestone.

If one of the many songs I had written in High School had been heard over 10,000 times, I would have been pretty impressed. Maybe I should make a video of one of my songs!

Self-Inflicted Light Saber Wound

Kellin hit his eye with a Star Wars light saber today. It hit his eyelid. I know it hurt, but I think it's going to be just fine. I took pictures so that Kellin could see it. The swelling has gone down now and it's just kind of bruised.



Here's a close-up.

Let The Walls Fall Down

Here's the video I promised.

Courage To Be Nobody On MP3

I talked a little about my message on July 29 (check out my earlier post here). I now have an mp3 recording of the message available. You can listen to it here or press the "down arrow" on the player to download it (10mb - 45min - mp3).

Tearing Down The Wall

I alluded to this before, but this week we tore down the wall between our existing auditorium and our new Worship Center Expansion. I just wanted to share some of the excitement here...


PHOTO 1: Here's a photo of our auditorium a few years ago. It just gives a good idea of what the room and stage were like before we started the tear down.


PHOTO 2: On Monday during the day, we disassembled the stage. This included removing all the audio cabling from under the stage. Here you can see what was left. Later that evening, we cut through all the edges of the wall and then slowly lowered it with fork lifts.


PHOTO 3: This next photo shows the wall after it was down. See how much bigger the room is?


PHOTO 4: We also tore out all the carpet and other stuff. We dismantled the sound/video booth (all the equipment & cables) and set it all up in the fellowship room. No easy task - look at all those cables!


PHOTO 5: For the next four or five weeks we'll be meeting in our fellowship room for worship services. It's been a lot of work getting the room ready - late nights all week. Do you know how hard it is to find a 75-foot VGA cable in Helena ??!!

We've got a great video of the whole event - we're showing it Sunday. After that I'll post it online (see it here). Please also pray for us (and me, it's getting a bit overwhelming with all my responsibilities and it's taking a toll on Andrea & the kids).

Fire In Helena!

In case you haven't heard, most of the Northwestern U.S. is on fire. We have several fires here in Montana, one of which is the Meriwether fire (after the area named after Meriwether Lewis of Lewis & Clark fame).

The Meriwether fire is just on the outskirts of Helena - we can see it from our kitchen window. It looks just like the AP photo here. Apparently, this fire is now the nation's number one fire priority. It's been burning since mid-July and they don't have any way of stopping it until snowfall (in about 2 months). Eeeek!

Andrea and I have been cautiously watching the progress of the Meriwether fire, praying it doesn't come over the hill into North Helena.

Check out the local article here.