Saturday, April 19, 2008

Newsboys | Go

On Wednesday, the "fam" and I went to see the Newsboys in concert (in Missoula). There were actually four bands playing: Article One, New World Son, Rush of Fools, and the Newsboys.

First of all, I've never heard of them, but Article One (a band from London, Ontario) was fantastic. They were only the opening band, but they were full of energy, had a great rock sound, and a violin player that rocked. Seriously!

Second of all, the Newsboys on this "Go" tour was the absolute best concert I've ever seen. Seriously! Lights, media, music, all hits, great sound, deep conversation. Wow! This was both of the boys' first concert, too.

Hangin' With Martin

This last week, I got to hang out with good friend Martin Allen from Worship Foundations International. He was leading worship and a workshop for Shepherd's Conference for Rocky Mountain Bible Mission in Missoula and asked me to come and provide some backup keyboard (but I know he just wanted us to hang out).

It's been a couple years, so it was good to see Martin again and catch up on each other's lives. Thanks, man!

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

UPDATE: "Given" on K-LOVE

Here's a quick update on the K-LOVE Radio News coverage I mentioned here. First, you can listen to the online version of the interview with the mp3 player below. You can access the web stream in the News & Weather section of their website. I didn't catch it the shorter version played on air. Did anyone else?

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Update: "Given" on CBS

Here's a quick update on the CBS News "Given" coverage. You can access the story and their video stream on the CBS News website as long as it's available.. I also posted the video here.

Saturday, April 05, 2008

"Given" Goes National

It's happening again with the Given project! I did a radio interview with K-LOVE radio (90.1FM in Helena) on Wednesday. It was just a short interview of how we hope to impact our community by giving back to our community.

K-LOVE radio is a national network of stations also affiliated with AIR1 radio (90.1FM in SoCal). The interview will be posted in the News & Weather section of their website and played on all K-LOVE and AIR1 stations across the nation next Wednesday, April 9. Be sure to tune in if you can.

Friday, April 04, 2008

"Given" on CBS

Apparently, we've struck a chord with our community.

We were contacted by KXLH Channel 25, our local CBS affiliate, about the Given project. KXLH is an extention of CBS Channel 3 in Great Falls. Either way, the news program will be filming parts of our service on Sunday as well as conducting an interview with a few individuals later.

I'm pretty jazzed up because I think one our biggest desires as believers and as a church is to make an impact for Jesus within the community where we live.

Not to us, O LORD, not to us
but to your name be the glory,
because of your love and faithfulness.
-Psalm 115:1

Thursday, April 03, 2008

Given

I haven't really had the opportunity to share with you about Easter and one of the cool things God is doing at Hannaford.

On Easter, we celebrated that Christ gave His life for us. Not only was He crucified on a cross for our sins, but He spent His life encouraging people to love God and to love others by giving of ourselves as He demonstrated through His life, death, and resurrection.

Furthermore, I believe that when we give ourselves away, we are fulfilling our role as followers of Christ. God wants people to love, share, be considerate of others, and provide a blessing to the world they live in.

So on March 23, 2008, Hannaford gave away nearly $600 to those who attended our Easter Sunday worship services – a one-dollar bill for each person. The challenge? Pass on the blessings that Christ has given us, by using the dollar to bless another.

The instructions were simple: "This one-dollar bill is given as a symbol of all that Christ has given to you. This dollar is not to be spent on yourself, but to bless someone else in a real and tangible way. The possibilities and creativity are endless."

Finally, we encouraged people to share their stories. I think it is important that we celebrate when Christ works through us. It encourages other believers and demonstrates to others that we truly are followers of Jesus.

We've set up a website around the "Given" project. You are invited to explore the stories of how God used dollar-bills (and ultimately people) to bless the lives of others. Also, if you want to participate, and/or have a story of your own, we invite you to submit it onlline.

This has been an awesome experience and we are looking forward to what God will do through us. People have only just begun to share their stories.

Click here for the Given website.
Click here for the Press page with photos.
Click here for other posts on the Given project.