we’re on TV…

The 2006 onething conference is in full effect! About 15,000 people have crammed into the Municipal Auditorium in downtown Kansas City the past 2 days for worship, prayer, and teachings. Only 2 more days to go!!!

The crazier thing is that the conference is being BROADCAST LIVE to 214 countries and millions of viewers from 8-10pm EST via GOD TV (channel 365 on Direct TV sattelite network). You can also watch it online by LIVE WEB-STREAMING VIDEO. The web-stream is available via GOD TV’s website for FREE!

I kind of fooled you, me and Amanda are not really on live TV (although I did have to run on stage a couple times last night to swap out guitars for bands and set up the podium after worship). But, the worship team I play for will do a set Sunday morning at 10am EST…but it will be re-broadcast during the new year at some point.

Anyway, I thought you’d be interested to take a peek into our world, see a little bit of what we’re up to and how we are touching the lives of thousands!. Check out the webstream tomorrow or Sunday night!

MORE ON GOD TV TO COME SOON!

‘onething’ conference 2006…

This New Year’s we will be spending with 15,000+ young adults worshiping the Lord at IHOP’s annual “onething” gathering in downtown Kansas City!

What is the onething conference? Not just another new year’s party, but 15,000+ young adults will be gathering December 28-31st at the Arena in downtown Kansas City to consecrate themselves unto the Lord and cry out to God for revival in the earth.

Shane & Shane, Jason Upton, Vicky Beeching, and Misty Edwards will be leading worship. Mike Bickle, Allen Hood, Dwayne Roberts, and Mike Pilivachi are the keynote speakers this year!

I will be playing electric guitar at one of the main sessions with Luke Wood and the rest of the team. 6 months ago I never would have though I’d be involved with helping lead 15,000+ young adults into the presence of the Lord. During the rest of the conference I’ll be shooting photos and working with Shawn and the stage crew team.

Look for photos of the conference after the new year!

baptism…

Last month Amanda and I decided to renew our vows of Baptism. What an experience! We both felt led to renew and re-affirm the sacrament of baptism now that we are adults and have a conscious understanding of the depth and meaning of baptism. It’s kind of hard to understand all that when you are an infant.

We had a great experience through the whole process and Allen Hood’s teachings on baptism and the sacraments were amazing.

Baptism is about an outward sign of an inward union with Christ in His death and life. It is also about the renunciation of the old life, spiritual membership into the body of Christ, new birth, forgiveness of sin, and the receiving of the Holy Spirit.

In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. (Col. 2:11-12)

Its amazing that baptism gives us access to die with Christ and be resurrected as He was resurrected

Check the photo…Allen Hood and Amanda are about to baptize me at FSM! the picture was taken of a TV monitor so the quality is a little rough. The baptism service was one of the most joyful worship services we’ve been a part of!

have you heard of (RED) ?

Randy Bohlender has an interesting take on the (RED)?
Randy says:

A lot of hip brands are buying in. GAP. Motorola. Amex. Apple kicks in $10 every time you buy a $250 iPod Nano. Interesting. (RED) manages to congeal our innate desire to be philanthropic with our overarching characterteristic of being self serving. It’s a great idea for the Africans – and I’m glad they’re getting the mdication – but I wonder what it’s doing to our mentality.

Is it really a good thing when a 20 year old thinks justice is best fulfilled by skipping through the mall, chatting on her RAZR, en route to the GAP where she’ll smack her AmEx against the upper credit limit?

Is this justice? Or just another way for us to buy stuff and still feel good?

This is such an intense post by Randy Bohlender that I have to link to it.

Randy is on IHOP staff and gives leadership to the Omega Course ministry amongst other things.

Check it!

did you know…

…that you can watch IHOP services and the 24/7 prayer room on the internet for FREE!

Here’s the schedule (all times are EST)
Friday 8-11pm
Saturday 8-11pm
Sunday 11am-1pm & 7-10pm
The 24/7 live prayer room webstream is made available for FREE during the first Monday-Wednesday of every month.

Check it all out here…IHOP-KC LIVE WEBSTREAM

Luke Wood’s team and the EP…

So the Lord opened a door for me in August to join up with Luke Wood’s worship team on electric guitar. Arriving at IHOP in June, I wasn’t even sure if I was going to audition to become eligible to play guitar or drums. I never would have thougt that that I’d land on such a solid team with Luke and the rest of the band. The guys (and gals) are great! We rock out at the Saturday 10pm devo and the Tuesday 8pm Israel intercession set amongst others. The Lord is good!

Last month Forerunner Music (IHOP’s music label) had Luke record three tracks for a split EP with Justin Rizzo. The ’split’ album (3 of Luke’s songs and 3 of Justin’s songs) is a great concept but the stylistic differences are pretty drastic. Anyway, the hope is that Luke’s team will be able to record a full-length in the spring/summer of 2007 if the EP sells well!

SO BUY A COPY NOW!

singing for an audience of One…

For most of my ministry career I have sung in some capacity and have struggled internally with insecurity and fear. Afraid I was not good enough or that I was a distraction, I was never able to fully worship the Lord and allow myself to let go. I haven’t sung much since we got here, but I felt the Lord urge me to try-out to be vocalist for the worship teams. I did it and I got approved!

Saturday I sang for the first time in the prayer room on Luke Wood’s team (the team Steve’s on). It was a Worship with the Word prayer meeting which means the worship team sings and prays through a specific passage of scripture, in this case Psalm 84. Besides the newness factor and the intimidation factor, I was struck with the reality that I need to get the Word in me. It’s hard to sing and go deep in a piece of scripture if you are limited in knowledge and revelation. But the Lord is gracious and He gave me words. On Monday, I was able to sing again for a Devotional Set, similar to other one with slight differences. Although I am just a replacement, I have loved working with this team. My heart was so blessed and such a peace was over me that night, especially at the end.

For the first time in awhile I was able to sing in front of people without fear of man and anxiety. It is a testimony to the faithfulness of God to allow me to sing in His prescence and really feel like it was an audience of One. Thank You Jesus!

~~Amanda~~

Pei Wei’s…

If you haven’t heard, Pei Wei’s is the new Chipotle! Well, not exactly…you won’t find burritos or Tabasco sauce. But you will find PF Chang’s (asian bistro) recipes at an affordable price and packaged for the always on-the-go young adult generation. Apparently Mr. PF Chang was losing the young-adult market to competitor Noodles & Co. So, they decided to create their version of a trendy low-cost Asian restaurant while maintaining the PF Chang’s menu. Thank you Mr. Chang!

Seriously…Pei Wei’s is PF Chang’s recipes, huge portions, brown rice, sweet atmosphere, and counter service (so no tip required). I recommend the Kung Pao beef!

the 24/7 prayer reality…

Q: What is 24/7 prayer?
A: a prayer meeting that continues non-stop, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Q: How long has it been going?
A: IHOP-KC’s 24/7 prayer room has been going for 7+ years, since Sept 19th, 1999.

Q: C’mon…is it really 24/7?
A: no joke, it is really going 24/7

Q: How does it work?
A: Spiritually – with much grace and anointing given by the Lord. Practically – we use the Harp and Bowl model (which is based on Chapter 5 of the Book of Revelation) to fully integrate contemplative and verbal prayer with musical worship.

Q: So what is the “Harp & Bowl” model of worship?
A: Glad you asked. Well, it is the clearest picture of what prayer and worship looks like in heaven this very moment! Revelation 5 shows us that in the midst of the throne room of Heaven there exists a dual reality – prayer and worship. Check the text…

Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp (the harp represents musical worship), and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying:
You are worthy to take the scroll…
…Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice:
Worthy is the Lamb who was slain…
…Then the four living creatures said, “Amen!” And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped Him who lives forever and ever.
(Revelation 5:8-14)

So, we do our best to mirror that model of worship by fully integrating the “prayers of the saints” with musical worship. We sing corporate worship songs, we sing Bible verses verbatim, and we sing spontaneous love songs and prayers to God…and in the midst of it all we pray on the microphone.

Q: That sounds confusing. How does it really work?
A: We break down each 24 hour day into 12 distinct “prayer meetings,” each lasting 2 hours. Every two hours a new worship team seamlessly transitions person-by-person on and off the platform and leads the room for the full 2 hours. The worship and prayer literally does not stop with the exception of brief pauses to end and begin worship songs.
About 150 people make up the manpower that it takes to have full-worship bands praying and singing 24/7. A full-time worship team is responsible for leading six of the 2 hour prayer meetings a week. That’s how it’s done.

check this for more info!

family photos…

I just blazed out a few family photo projects for some good friends at IHOP-KC.
Check em!

the Weeks’
the Baker’s

…more to come soon!

If you want some photos done, call me! 301.792.6673 or drop me an email

Chick-fil-a Top 100

Q: What do you do when it is -4degrees outside and a new Chick-fil-a opens in your neighborhood?
A: Get a good tent, 4 sleeping bags, and all the winter jackets you own, rally some good friends, and make sure you are among the first 100 customers in line camping out for the grand opening and the grand prize…FREE Chick-fil-a for a YEAR!

Unbelievable? We like to call it creative support raising! In return for a total of 52 free combo meals…that’s one a week for 52 weeks, equaling 1 full year of free chick-fil-a…we had to be amongst the first 100 customers at the grand opening. The most loyal arrived around 9am the day before. Amanda was 10th in line and I was 11th in line. We got there at about 1:30pm the day before and camped out until 6am the next morning without leaving the premises. Sweet!

now we have a picture of us…

Our 1st!!!!

WOW, this is our first blog post ever!
Along with our first blog post, we’ve experienced several firsts since we moved to Kansas City!

Our 1st cross country drive! 22hrs!
Our 1st visits back home to Maryland!
Our 1st Thanksgiving without our families
Our 1st real Kansas City BBQ
Our 1st KC Royals baseball game
Our 1st trip to a Super Wal-mart and Super Target
Our 1st tornado shelter
Our 1st duplex experience
Our 1st life without an Ikea within 10 miles of our house