Friday and Saturday marks the second-annual 58 Conference here at CRC in Morgantown.  We’ll see hundreds of middle and high schoolers from around the state, and we are webcasting the five main sessions live online.  For all the techies out there, I’m doing a live “behind the scenes” webcast during the main sessions.  You can watch the live video player further down this page, and also chat in real time with the tech crew.  I’ll be on a headset and will be communicating some technical details of the event.  (If you want the un-anchored feed of the sessions, you can check out the “official” webcast by following this link) These are scheduled times, but check in anytime this weekend, and we just might be around.  Here’s the schedule:

Friday | November 20
5:00pm – 6:30pm Watch live rehearsal for 58 Conference
7:00pm – 7:15pm Live online Q&A with tech team before first session
7:30pm – 8:00pm MAIN SESSION #1
9:00pm-9:30pm MAIN SESSION #2
9:30pm-9:45pm Live online Q&A with tech team

Saturday | November 21
9:00am – 10:00am MAIN SESSION #3
12:30pm – 1:00pm Live online Q&A with tech team
1:00pm – 2:00pm MAIN SESSION #4

Live streaming video by Ustream

At Chestnut Ridge, we spend a lot of time praying for, talking about, and working towards developing environments that are culturally relevant, and are welcoming to non-believers.  We believe that church is intended for EVERYONE, not just for “church people.”  It’s important to understand that, if we are truly honest with ourselves as believers, we share a lot of the same needs and desires as those who don’t know Christ.  What we as a church want to do in the context of the weekend service is to clearly present those honest needs (that we all share) through music, video, drama, and a live host, and then, through the speaker’s message, express how we believe that Christ is the answer to that need.  It can done in a way that is authentic, relevant, and powerful.

This past weekend was exciting and somewhat unique at Chestnut Ridge.  We launched a new series called “The Pursuit of Happiness”, and the main idea for the service was that God wants us to give thanks in all things (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18) even when we feel it is impractical or impossible to do so.

Throughout the planning process for that service we had discussed some possible songs that we could do that help to illustrate the “need” of the topic.  One of those songs was “Start of Something” by a Morgantown-native songwriter, Scott Simons.

It is not uncommon for us to use “secular” (I don’t like that label, more on that another time) songs in our services that really help to solidify and setup the topic in ways that can connect to everyone in attendance.  Typically we would just use our own musicians and vocalists to do the songs in the service.  However, we have had a relationship with Scott for a while (he has played at our downtown coffee shop SOZO a few times, and is friends with a couple of staff members), and his schedule allowed him to be in Morgantown this particular weekend.  So we invited him to do the song for us in the services, and he agreed.

So why would we ask Scott to take part in our services?  Scott is not a “Christian” musical artist (ah, labels again) – but he is a musical artist.  The songs he writes and sings have heartfelt messages of basic human longings and needs that we all share, regardless of where we are in our relationship with Christ.  While what fulfills those needs may not be defined within his lyrics, we feel that the answer to many of them is a relationship with Jesus Christ.  By using artists and songs that are culturally relevant and familiar, we are able to setup the need in a way that many non-believers can already relate to, and then present the Gospel answer that we believe can fill that need.  That’s a win.

On another level, by having him participate we are continuing to build relationships – ours with Scott directly, and then with those around him.  He is an influencer, and has relationships with a lot of people who follow what he’s doing.  By caring about Scott as an individual as well as a musician, and placing value in his contribution, we are able to build bridges to those within his circle of influence.  Our goal for his participation in our services was not at all about promoting Scott Simons the artist, or selling his CDs, but instead about continually exploring fresh ways to approach being relational with those we are called to reach with the Gospel message.  That’s a win.

Following each of the services we did create a space in our office wing for him to sell his CDs, as an expression that we care about him, and we genuinely appreciate his willingness to give his time to participate with us.

As a church, and hopefully as individuals, we want to always be about reaching people in ways that are fresh, authentic, and relevant to them wherever they are in their lives.  We want to do whatever it takes to knock down the barriers that have been put up about church, about religion, about God.  And we want to keep our options open for ways to do that.

(To be clear, the exact issue at the heart of this post is trivial.  It is the absolute debauchery of customer service that is the issue here.)

First, some background.  We have had Time Warner Cable bundled service (TV/telephone/internet) for a couple of years, and have been happy.  In an effort to save money (while getting more HD channels), I called DirecTV on Monday, and ordered satellite television service to be installed on Monday.  I then called Time Warner to have my cable television disconnected Monday, but leave the phone and internet.  A net savings of about $60 per month.  All of this was to take place on Monday, November 9th.

On Thursday (November 5), I arrive home from Morgantown to find that ALL THREE services from Time Warner Cable are not working.  I place a call to technical support at around 3:45 p.m., and they are adamant that my services being shut off has nothing to do with the downgrade order, which is still scheduled for Monday.  (Hmmmm…)  The best they can do is have a technician out sometime the next day (Friday) to try to get it restored.  Okay, no internet, phone or TV for Thursday night.  An inconvenience at worst.

Friday morning (November 6), a technician from Time Warner Cable shows up across the street and climbs up the pole.  After a few minutes, our TV/phone/internet start working again, and the tech comes to the house to apologize for “disconnecting the wrong house” the day before.  Okay, fine.  Things happen.  We’re good to go until Monday, right?

Later on Friday afternoon, our television service is disconnected again.  This time I call Time Warner to find out why.  The associate checks the notes on our account, and finds that since the technician was already out there, they went ahead and finished the order to disconnect our television service.  FOUR DAYS EARLY.  Now, excuse me, but what is the point of scheduling a disconnect day?  Their solution?  Maybe they can get a technician out tomorrow to work on it, but maybe not.

Can we live without television for a couple of days?  Absolutely – we barely watch it anyway.  But to me, that isn’t the issue.  I want things to be done correctly – it’s a bad excuse to say “it’s just TV” or “it’s just a few days.”  If you are going to operate a business (or a life, for that matter) on the premise that the details don’t matter, you’re bound to a life of mediocrity.  And I don’t like that.

So we’ll wait and see the outcome – will the technician actually come to reconnect my service for two days before disconnecting again?  Will I see any credit on my bill?  Will Time Warner Cable get anything right?  Stay tuned….

If you know me at all, then you know that when it comes to eating, I don’t understand the concept of portion size.  I like to eat.  A lot.  And through high school and college, it didn’t seem to matter.  I couldn’t gain weight.  In fact, when I graduated high school 13 years ago, I was 6-foot tall and weighed a whopping 135 pounds.

Fast-forward to 2009, and add 75 pounds for a whopping 210.  Wedding band has been stretched to fit, new jeans were in order, and the scale was still climbing.  All because I overeat at mealtimes.  And, any other time that food is around.

For example, a Saturday ritual that has been in place at my house during football season is eating Woody’s hotdogs and watching college ball.  But instead of two hotdogs, I normally ate five or six.  And during the course of a normal week, it was not unusual for me to consume seven to ten fast food burgers.

Ten days ago, thanks to some inspiration from a friend of mine at church, I made a conscious decision to dramatically reduce my consumption of carbs (to zero), and to eat foods and supplements high in protein.  Now, I know what you’re thinking; when I start eating carbs again I’m just going to put it all back on.  I don’t think so, and here’s why.

I want to get to 185-pounds, and I want to get there fast.  I think through the discipline of this diet, when I begin a normal eating routine again I will be able to control my portion sizes much better.  At least, that’s the goal.

Another benefit of this strict diet is that it is definitely a test of self-control.  I have been forced to hold myself accountable to staying on this course to reach my goal of weight loss.  I have started exercising the last few days (for the first time in my life.)  And I feel like my self-control that I’m learning through this diet is spilling over to other areas of my life.  And that is a very good thing.

It makes me think of a talk that Trey gave at church a couple months ago during our “Summer Road Trip” series on spiritual disciplines.  He spoke on fasting specifically, but the bigger picture was that God gave each of us the ability to exercise self-control.  This has been a great experience for me.

Here’s the progress:

When I began on October 20th, I was at 210.  As of October 30, I’m down to 199, in route to 185.  And I feel better than I have in years.

I had an opportunity to participate in a live sound video conference the other night, hosted by the fulltime audio guy from North Point Community Church.  The content of the chat was very good, but I wanted to take a moment to rave on the technology used to host the chat.

He used a web app called Tokbox (www.tokbox.com).  It was pretty amazing, even with 15 video clients, and five audio only clients at one time.  The performance was outstanding (once we had everyone mute their mics, except who was speaking.)  If you’re looking for an affordable collaboration solution, you should definitely check out Tokbox.

Just like millions of others today, I was inconvenienced by the denial of service attack launched at Twitter servers.  As I attempted to learn more about the cause and remedy of the event, I landed on the official Twitter blog page.  And as I read down some older posts, I ran across one from July 28th, introducing the new front page of their website.  Check this out:

——-

New Front Page!
Today we’re trying a redesigned front page for folks who are new to Twitter.com. If you’re a regular around these parts, then you won’t notice the new look unless you sign out of your account. Helping people access Twitter in more relevant and useful ways upon first introduction lowers the barrier to accessing the value Twitter has to offer and presents the service more consistently with how it has evolved.

——-

I added the emphasis.  I was struck immediately by their vision for the design of the new page, and how that vision parallels nearly perfectly with many of the decisions that we make in trying to reach new people for Christ.  We always need to be thinking about how we can reach people in relevant, useful and meaningful ways.  Also, within the context of weekend church, doing whatever is needed to break down the barriers and presuppositions that people have about church.  All of these things are done with the goal of creating an environment where people can connect with God in new and powerful ways, and then growing in that relationship.

For many reason, far beyond the scope of this single blog posting at Twitter, I am finding them to be a forward-thinking, relevant and needed site and service.  And look at the results they’re getting!  They are meeting people where they’re at, and connecting with them in those ways, and millions have joined in.  Perhaps there is a lesson in there for the church, too.