Hillsong '08 (Part 2)

Darlene, Joel, JD and Ben.

JD - full-on as always...

Marty Sampson - one of my favorite Worship Leaders. Writes amazing songs too.

Michael Gungor bringing the rock! He writes, sings and plays incredibly. It was a treat to see these guys in this environment.

cool as always...

Reuben Morgan - the best Christian songwriter in recent history!

Ali's hands!

Brian and Bobby Houston. My highest honor and respect to these guys. What a legacy they have already - and there's more to come!

Hillsong 08 (Part 1)

Here are some images from the Opening Night of Hillsong Conference 08. It was amazing!
2 giant cubes about 12 feet square descended from above the stage...
The opening sequence was "ONE". One creation, one people, one love... One God.Video was used to great effect and then the band started to play... the singers were in silhouette, and then we realized that the figure on the left playing harmonica was none other than Israel Houghton. Very cool!
I love nothing more than seeing people fully engaged in worship, and there is nothing better than seeing 20,000 of them at once. It is awesome!

San Clemente Pier

I took this at sunset in the middle of Summer. It was warm and a little hazy. I kind of like the effect of taking virtually all of the red out of the picture.

Ironically, today was crystal clear and very crisp. There is snow on the Saddleback ranges - lots of it! Gotta love California!

Sydney, July 2008

After the Hillsong Conference in July, Ali and I had all of Saturday to explore Sydney city. It was a perfect day and we walked all around the city and The Rocks area. It was awesome.

Early the next morning we picked up Daniel who had flown in from Melbourne (where he stayed while Ali and I were at Hillsong). We had a couple of hours to spare before we needed to check in for our flight to LA, so we took a quick trip up to Bondi for breakfast and to see this famous sight. The weather had changed overnight, but it was still gorgeous.

Great Music!

It's been a while since I mentioned music that has been grabbing my attention... so here goes:

Firstly, I have to say Hillsong's latest album This Is Our God is fantastic - perhaps one of their strongest ever, and I think they are always pretty strong. There is a whole bunch of killer songs in this collection. We have been doing "Stronger", (a Ben Fielding & Reuben Morgan tune)  at church for a while and it is really going off. Other standouts for me are Brooke Fraser's two songs, "Desert Song" and "You'll Come", Reuben Morgan's "This Is Our God" and Ben Fielding's "He Is Lord". "With Everything" (Joel Houston) is a powerful closer which really does finish with the team leaving everything on the field. The DVD is beautiful to watch too. This really is a must have for any Worship Leader.

Chris Tomlin also just released his new project "Hello Love" which I am pretty impressed by too. I have usually needed a few listens to appreciate his music, but this time around I liked it first time up. Ed Cash's production helps of course - the man knows how to give a song that extra something, and he's done it many times on this record. The first song out is "Sing, Sing, Sing" which is totally infectious. We just added this for our congregation today and it went really well. I think the strength of the songs is their simplicity and congregational friendliness (if you do the songs in a key normal boys can sing in!). Some anthems here for sure in "Jesus, Messiah", "Praise the Father, Praise The Son", "God Almighty". I can easily see this becoming Chris's most successful album to date.

Here's one I discovered only a few months ago: Robbie Seay Band - Give Yourself Away. Produced by Tedd T. (Mutemath, Toby mac, Newsboys, David Crowder Band), musically it is punchy and interesting. Robbie has a great voice and writes great songs.

Of course this one goes without saying: Coldplay! "Viva La Vida" is classic the first time you listen to it. I love it! To me they're breaking new ground but still being everything that we love about Coldplay at the same time. I'd be surprised if you haven't got this yet, but if not, get your hands on it. These guys are having a huge impact on the direction of modern popular music (just check under influences on virtually every band's MySpace page!).

Here's another one I love: Sigur Ros - Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust. This is raw, passionate, joyous, celebratory, vast, moving, magnificent! Plenty of ethereal soundscapes building into whirling, driving, percussive carnivals. My favorite track is the 9 /2 minute Festival - it will lift you!

Real Faith Series at Coast Hills Church

We're in the middle of a 5 week series at Coast Hills - Real Faith. Digging In (getting in to God's Word), Hanging Out (Prayer), Helping Out (Service), Reaching Out (with an emphasis on Forgiving / Empathy), and Speaking Out (sharing the story).

This was last weekend with Gina leading worship (I was playing electric and Bobby on acoustic).

We're kind of proud of the set because Daniel (our son) did all the graffiti and tagging! He did a great job. It makes it a bit more "authentic street" - although it's a lot more LA South Central than Orange County!

(Photographs courtesy of Gary Sutherland our lighting tech.)

Lilydale Lake

Remote controlled yacht

On Golden Pond...

Mt Evelyn, Victoria, Australia

These shots were taken while we were staying in Mt Evelyn with Ali's parents for a few days.White CockatooNanna's garden

Perth From Kings Park at Dusk

Perth Zoo

After living in Perth for 7 1/2 years I had never been to the zoo there. So when we were in Perth in early July, Ali and I went on a gorgeous Winter's day and spent 2 or 3 hours there. It's a great place to be with a camera. I had fun!

I especially love big cats!

The Tigers were incredible...

Haha! This little guy has had enough of you staring at him!

(Actually he has a damaged finger and can't bend it.)
And now for the Aussies...

Last Fling @ Riverview

On our recent trip to Australia we spent almost two weeks in Perth with two main things on our agenda. One, Catch up with all our Riverview friends and say a proper goodbye, and two, have an appointment at the US Consulate to apply for new Visas. All went smoothly with the visas and as a result we are back in the US ready to start at Coast Hills. Woohoo!

We got to lead worship at the Sunday morning and night services and finish our time with Riverview on a high note. It was a privilege to be on the Riverview stage leading the church one more time and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Sunday morning with the choir. They were rockin' and it was good to lead with their energy behind me.

I didn't take any gear with me on this trip, so had to borrow everything. (Huge thanks to Kajen and Annette.) This was the first time I've played through a "normal" rig for about 7 years and it was a bit weird at first. I had it sounding pretty good by Sunday night though and it was a lot of fun.

(For those of you who care, I was using an American Deluxe Strat, a Fender '65 Deluxe Reverb 22 watt amp, a Line 6 Distortion Modeller, Line 6 Delay Modeller, Boss Digital delay Pedal and an overdrive pedal that I can't remember the name of - it was light blue.)

The presence of God was so powerful that the girls had trouble keeping their feet on the ground...

It was passionate ... and loud! (Sorry Ruthie :-)

In each service there were baptisms during the worship at the end - very cool!

Father's Day at Coast Hills

Here are some shots from the services on Father's Day (15th June). There was also the special Summer offering that day. This was just before we left for Australia - we just arrived back yesterday.

Singing "Daughters" by John Mayer. I LOVE doing that song.
Lots of space and feel, and a great message.

Going out on an up note - Hosanna by Paul Baloche and Brenton Brown.
Some great colors and moods, and a very high drum riser!

(Thanks to Gary Sutherland for the photo's)

Next Steps

Rehearsal at Coast Hills Community Church on May 25th.

This was the fifth time I've played at Coast Hills. I've led there three times and played guitar two other weekends including the fantastic Good Friday Production.

I contacted Coast Hills on Paul Colman's recommendation right around Christmas time last year when I was looking for extra opportunities to get out there and minister, and so the relationship began. They had been looking for a Worship Leader for quite some time and even though they made this clear to me, at the time I was not looking for another job - I already had one at Riverview OC.

Well, just before Easter we discovered that we would no longer have a position at Riverview. We really feel that we should be staying in the US and so I put my hand up for the job at Coast Hills. The application and interview process has been very, very long and we've had to be extremely patient. It's been a testing time for us as we've been without work (income) and living in uncertainty for a long time.

... So anyway, this morning I signed an offer from Coast Hills to be their Worship Pastor! Very exciting! This is contingent on getting our Visas approved in the next 60 days, so we'll be off to Perth to deal with that as soon as Daniel finishes the school year on June 18th.

We're really looking forward to being a part of the team at Coast Hills Community Church. We've already met so many wonderful people who are quickly becoming friends. God is good!

End Of An Era

May 11th was officially our last Sunday with Riverview Church. After nine years (7 1/2 in Perth, and 1 1/2 in Orange County) our journey and adventure with Riverview is over. Wow, we have certainly made some memories in that time and made some wonderful friendships that we expect to last on into the future. Our time with Riverview has been some of the most significant in our lives and we will carry the memories and experience as treasure in our hearts for the rest of our life journey. It worked out that my parents were able to be with us at this significant time. We had planned for them to come over and visit us before we knew we would be finishing up so it was really nice to have them around for a couple of weeks.Prayers for us as we prepare for a "hope and a future" (Jer 29:11) outside the walls of Riverview.

Thank you to all those who have supported us and loved us and believed in us and served with us for the last nine years. Keep Shining and continue to inspire others to worship God. God is Great!

Newsboys at Spirit West Coast, Del Mar

Thanks to Paul Colman we were very blessed to be able to go to Spirit West Coast in Del Mar for the Friday night of the 3 day Festival. We got to catch up for half an hour or so before the show which was great as it was twelve months since Daniel and I went and saw the Newsboys and Delirious at the last Spirit West Coast. This time we got to see Leeland and of course Newsboys.

Paul was in fine form...

The show was rockin' as usual. An hour and fifteen minutes that passes so quickly - even if you are standing in the rain (and covered in sticky breakfast cereal!) Great light show, great energy and a lot of good songs keep you engaged from start to finish. Great work guys!Such a Rock Star!

Peter zaps Paul!

Out on the extension stage in the rain.Peter praying in the rain after he had spoken.
(Just to prove that I was there too!)