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!)

John Mayer Magic

I'm a big John Mayer fan. I love his playing and songwriting and simple, direct from the gut musicality. That's not to say that he's simplistic - he's definitely not. It's just that he's managed to do what many of the greats do and that is to present something complex and make it sound simple, earthy and straight from the heart. There is incredible technical prowess attached of course, but that is never what you'll hear. You hear the emotion and the heart of it.
Anyway... came across this video of the birth of the song "In Repair". This is a peep into the process, an afternoon of eavesdropping on what happens when you put three highly talented and creative musicians in a studio with nothing but some great gear and the goal of writing a song. (It's about 18 mins long, but very, very cool!)

(click on the pic)

Chicago

Last week I had the pleasure of traveling to Chicago for a few days. As it turned out the weather was perfect (by Chicago standards) with clear skies and a reasonable temperature.

We flew in directly over the city and then did a big u-turn out over Lake Michigan. This was the view from my window seat. Not bad!

I went to Chicago to see my friends Jay and Helena McNeil, who are both worship leaders at Willow Creek Community Church. They have lived in Chicago for the last 4 years. (Previously they were at Careforce Church, on the outskirts of Melbourne in Australia).

I've known Jay for 21 years and have played alongside him in numerous different bands and settings over this time. (He was usually playing drums in those days.)

This time Jay was leading worship and I was playing guitar in the worship band for Willow's Wednesday evening "New Community" service. It was a great privilege to be on the Willow stage, and a lot of fun as they had assembled a killer band for the night.

Jay gave me a whirlwind tour of the Willow facilities and I was blown away at the scale and scope of it all. It's been very well thought out and executed, with every possible need covered. All the technical and creative aspects of the facility are world class. I felt very blessed to have been able to see the behind-the-scenes workings of one of the world's great churches.

The next day I was coming home but first we took a couple of hours to record some guitar on a project Jay was working on. That was fun (I love recording!).

So it was a great trip and it was especially cool to catch up with old friends and continue where we left off. Hopefully we'll get to do it again.

Someone's Been At My House!

It must be universal!

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

As they say, the one thing that never changes is change itself. And yes, change is upon us once again. We have been here in Irvine, California for 15 months now as part of Riverview OC and this part of our journey is almost over. In May we will be finishing up with Riverview. We are believing that God has something great for us to be a part of and are now looking to see what that might be.

We will be staying in the US and more specifically in Southern California, if possible. If you have any great ideas for us please don't hesitate to get in touch! I'd love to hear from you.

As I wrote in July 2006:
None of this changes what it’s all about!
I still believe I’m to lead others in their love for God.
I’ll continue to use my gifts to help others express their worship.
I still want to discover God and bring that discovery to others.
I don’t believe my calling is changing...

So I'll continue doing what I do with a new employer in a different environment. Please pray with us that we find that place soon.

Thank you all for your support over the years. Let’s continue to build the Kingdom of God and build people’s hearts, making His praise glorious! God is Great!

Keep shining!

Mark
This is our letter of recommendation from Riverview. I'll copy it below in case you can't read it without a magnifying glass!
__________________________________________________________________
April 7 2008

To whom it may concern,

Re: Letter of reference for Mark and Ali Cullen

Mark has been employed by Riverview Church since May 7 1999 as our Worship Pastor. Ali has assisted voluntarily in the worship and women’s ministries of Riverview Church since that time and commenced part time paid employment in January 2007 at our Orange County Campus.

Due to financial constraints at our Orange County campus, and additionally at our main campus in Burswood, West Australia, we unfortunately have had to release Mark & Ali Cullen from paid ministry employment as of May 15 2008. During their 8-week notice period, they will remain in their current roles and assist us greatly in transitioning the ministries they are involved in to others.

Additionally, we are doing all we can to help and assist Mark and Ali into their next paid ministry role. Our relationship is healthy and we fully expect that into the future our relationship will remain strong, open and supportive.

During their time with us Mark and Ali have served Riverview Church loyally and faithfully. They are a couple of great integrity with substantial ministry skills and experience. It is certainly with great regret that we have had to release them, however we believe that they will continue to serve God faithfully and another ministry will be the beneficiary of their sincere and dedicated service. We love, support and unreservedly endorse this couple to any ministry and church.

Please don’t hesitate to email or call our Executive Minister, Mark Webb, or myself if you have any questions or enquiries, as we would be delighted to assist you.

Yours faithfully,


Phil Baker
Senior Minister

Tommy Walker @ Saddleback Church

Last Sunday afternoon I went along to Saddleback Church to attend their 4:30pm service. I'd heard that they were having guest Worship Leader, Tommy Walker, and his band. I've heard Tommy's name mentioned a fair bit but (I'm ashamed to say) never really heard his music and I'd never seen him play.

Wow! What an amazing band. Every one of them brilliant and well known players and singers - they were cooking. And Tommy - truly one of the great worship leaders of our time. He was completely transparent and authentic, obviously personally in love with Jesus, and wanting nothing more than to help everyone in their expression of worship. And he certainly did that. His very laid back humble approach and encouraging words made everyone immediately warm to him and trust his leadership.

Tommy is a phenomenal musician too - an amazing songwriter and guitar player. I wouldn't say his music is incredibly modern but there was something in it that moved me deeply. I've often been excited by music but this was something more, something spiritual.

On Monday night I returned as Tommy was doing a solo workshop, speaking from his heart and doing a few of his songs. He has been the Worship Leader at Christian Assembly in LA for 18 years and has written over 100 songs that are currently being tracked by C.C.L.I. and are being sung in churches around the world. There is a wealth of experience there backed by humility and integrity and it was an absolute privilege to hear him, see him, and get to meet him afterwards. Gold!

Tommy's latest album is "I Have A Hope" which is sure to give the church worldwide a few more songs to sing!

9 Lives!

Well this post is a little overdue but I've had a lot on my mind recently. (Stay posted for more on that very soon.)

You may remember that we said goodbye to our cat Ella back in September (here's my original blog post). I wrote that post after we were quite certain that she was gone for good. A number of cats locally went missing around that time and there are Coyotes in the area (I actually saw one the other day when I was out running).

Well, a friend of ours recently gave us a local Real Estate advertising brochure that had a few public announcement type ads on the back of it. There was an ad for a brown cat that had been found. We thought, "there's no harm in checking it out", so Ali called the number. Five minutes later we had the news that Ella was living with a family only 3 or 4 blocks from our house, so we went around to pick her up.

The people were so nice. Ella had wandered into their backyard just after the fires in October (about a month after she went missing!). She was skinny and filthy and riddled with worms and the pads on her feet were all cut up. They took her in and took her to a vet and nursed her back to health and set about trying to find her owners. It was more than five months since she walked out our front door.

She had been well loved by another family and was returned to us beautiful and healthy. It was a strange feeling to have her "back from the dead".

I think she's really enjoying being home!

Life Songs!

Psalm 146:1-2

Hallelujah! O my soul, praise God!
All my life long I'll praise God,
singing songs to my God as long as I live.

Amen to that! That's what it really means to live a colorful life.

Business Card

Hi everyone! I'd love to hear your feedback on this business card design before I go and get some printed. What do you think? Any suggestions?

(front)

(back)

Black & White Experiments

I thought I'd try out a few of the images I've taken over the past year in black and white...

Wells Fargo Bank, San Francisco

Porsche - Valley Of Fire, near Las Vegas

By The Book

This is very clever and very funny!

OC Wildfires, October 2007

The October 2007 California wildfires were a series of fires that began burning across Southern California on October 20. At least 1,500 homes were destroyed and over 500,000 acres (2,000 km²) of land burned from Santa Barbara County to the U.S.–Mexico border. Nine people died as a direct result of the fire; 85 others were injured, including at least 61 fire fighters. (read more...)

October 21st 2007, 6:18pm, from the corner of our street. This is only 20 minutes after the fire started and it would have been only 1-2 miles from our home. Scary moment!

Bernie, Daniel and I jumped in with Bryce in his car to have a quick look at what was going on. We didn't get very far as the streets were being shut off and traffic directed away from the area, but you can get some idea of the situation from these snaps.

This is the moon before it got completely obliterated by smoke. The next few days we were shrouded in smoke - as was most of Southern California. I couldn't go out running for 2 weeks.

We ended up unharmed. We are blessed to be able to say that. Many, many peoples lives were affected and many will be rebuilding for a long time to come.

Las Vegas

After Christmas and before New Year we drove up to Las Vegas to stay 2 nights. It's about 5 hours drive through mainly desert. We walked up and down "The Strip" and also drove around the countryside a little. There is a lot to see. Lot's of impressive buildings and architecture and lots of rugged terrain.

There are certainly a lot of sparkling and bright lights in Vegas. A lot of glitz and glam, but we didn't see a lot of happiness. It's like Disneyland for grown-ups who don't know God and don't want to. You can be "entertained" 24 hours a day. It's a place to cater to all your fleshly and self-serving desires. No wonder it's called Sin City.

The artificial Volcano eruption outside the Mirage hotel and Casino was quite impressive. Inside the Venetian Hotel and Casino there is a complete canal where you can take gondola rides! Very impressive. The sky here is artificial.

When you first enter the Venetian the whole ceiling is covered in frescoes like this. It's beautiful and awe-inspiring.

These petal baths were on both sides of the entrance to a restaurant. A very creative and effective way to set up an intimate and inviting atmosphere.

Just outside Las Vegas to the West near Red Rock Canyon. Grandeur and Majesty of an altogether higher kind than seen in the city.This is a shot looking across toward the Valley Of Fire just outside of Las Vegas to the East. This was nearing sunset and the colors of the rocks and mountains is amazing.

Rodeo Drive at Christmas Time

On Sunday 23rd December we went to Oasis church in Los Angeles to their special Christmas service. It was great. Very creative and done well. Afterwards, we thought we'd take a quick stroll up Rodeo Drive in nearby Beverley Hills.

Ali reveling.

North Rodeo Drive

Amazing Christmas decorations...

Ali in Wonderland - on Via Rodeo

Happy New Year!

I hope you're still dancing!