I think part of the fun of being one of the cre8vs for Lifepoint is the incredible amount of truly random stuff I get to sift through when trying to find or pass along a nugget for my team.
CLICK ME
Okay it's goofy I admit, but it's still good advice.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Now that the cat's out of the bag.....
Special thanks to this year's prank team, Cassandra, Dave, Lee, Debbie, Tony, Chris, Avery, Will, Clark,
and to those who offered support and/or encouragement but couldn't join us for the actual event, Willie, Sheldon, Brandie, Brian, Anne, Tom, David, and everyone else who had a hand in this little event to show our Staff that we're with them, Heart and Soul!
Video to follow when I get some time to edit it.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
We love our Staff!
Lifepoint Staff Prank 2009 INtro Video from Matthew Furukawa on Vimeo.
Direct Link
So last night a group of our Volunteer Force got together to celebrate our amazing staff....
And despite someone *COUGH COUGH decding to make a bigger mess out of it than I had planned I hope the staff enjoys it when they return to the office.... at which point they'll probably ask me for my key and resignation... oh well.
We love you guys! Heart and Soul!
A bit later AFTER they've all seen it I'll put up some of the making of the prank.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Slight Edge Nugget #1
I'm catching up on some of my reading, and one of the books I'm in at the moment is The Slight Edge, phenomenal book that I highly recommend, wanted to share something I just read out of it.
And I'm paraphrasing a bit, but the point remains:
So there it is, one little nugget out of... well I have no idea how many more, I'm only 5 chapters in and lost count of the amount of places I've highlights, or that have made me set the book down for a bit to think about what I just read.
The Slight Edge is written by Jeff Olsen and published by SUCCESS BOOKS.
And I'm paraphrasing a bit, but the point remains:
Making the right decisions, doing the right actions is easy to do. It's also easy not to do; It's the waking up at 5:30 to exercise, or hit snooze and go back to sleep (Guilty), it's the pack a healthy lunch, or hit a fast food joint at noon (Erp, guilty again), it's taking 15 minutes to sit down with a good book (besides THE Good Book), or switching on the news for a quick update.We can make the slight edge work for us or IT WILL work against us.
Little things! No big deal right? you won't see a difference for doing, or not doing anything I just mentioned....
Today.
Probably not tomorrow either, let's not kid ourselves the obese kid who's parent are suing McDonalds for him being overweight didn't eat a single Big Mac and gain 200 pounds, it was little decisions daily about food intake and exercise that compounded over time to bring us to the end result that we now look at today. Just like that, those decisions we make daily compound over time to deliver the life that WE have created for ourselves.
So there it is, one little nugget out of... well I have no idea how many more, I'm only 5 chapters in and lost count of the amount of places I've highlights, or that have made me set the book down for a bit to think about what I just read.
The Slight Edge is written by Jeff Olsen and published by SUCCESS BOOKS.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Lifepoint Gives Back!
Josh has got the video on his blog (Yay videographer team!) and I also took some stills in the morning before we rolled out.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Cathedrals....
Before I begin, I wanted to say Congrat to Pastor Daniel and Tammie for the arrival of their daughter Faith. (Just in case you're not on twitter and somehow missed the news).
Having said that, let me begin...
This post is based off one of the talks at the Leadership convention I was at over the weekend, but this is something that stuck with me and reminded me so much about Lifepoint that I had to post it.
Most people I know who tour Europe always mention two things to me. 1) The castles and 2) The cathedrals... which if you read the topic of this post is what I'm going to be talking about.
These monolithic? neolithic? Ginormous structures were massive houses of worship, built in a time where drafting software didn't exist and heavy equipment was defined as a hammer that weighed more than 10 pounds....
Notre Dame I don't think anyone would argue with me if I were to say it's a architectural and artistic marvel... They began construction in 1163, the cathedral was completed in 1345 so that's a 182 year period, during which time life expectancy was 30 years at best, or over 7 generations of time, the people who began work on the cathedral did so knowing they would never see the completion, but that they were building something that would outlast them.
And yes there were several cathedrals that went up under in under 50 years, but even so that's beyond life expectancy for any one generation.
And the craftsmanship. There were artist who worked on the structures doing carvings and other touches, in places where people would never see the work their response when asked? God would see it. And they did this work and in some places it's there for all to see, and in others only God would be able to see their work. They dedicated their lives to build these structures and NO ONE knows their names, they were there to do something great.
People dedicated their lives to the work because they had a vision of greatness, and in their case it was building a location that honored God to worship him.
As I sit here and type this I don't know where you, the reader is in your life. I don't know if you're a member of an awesome church that's mission is to reach people far from God, or if you don't even know what this whole Christian thing is about and you look at people like me as if we're mad, my hope today is that you would understand this, when people grab hold of a dream, a vision that's bigger than they are, and when they're willing to sacrifice to see the vision through, then they can accomplish great things.
If you're a lifepointer and someone pointed you to this blog post I want to tell you a few things, that before the doors open on Sunday morning and people come pouring in, there's a team who shows up before the sun (though NOT before the Son) arrives and they go about the business of unloading tons of gear off of 3 trailers to build an environment that helps people to focus in on the Word of God that pastor is going to bring.
That during the service there's a small army of people working making sure that there's as little to distract someone as possible, they might be holding a baby, it might be pushing a sound knob, it might be teaching a 5 year-old.
That after the service and you've gone home, or more likely out to lunch (be honest!) that there's another group who'll spend over an hour restoring the school back to how it was before we began (And in some cases even better), including reloading those same three trailers.
That during the week the staff and at least a platoon's worth of volunteers are working behind the scenes to prepare for the next week,
That pastor is on his knees in desperate prayer to God his heart breaking for the lost that we KNOW is going to be walking into church, possible for the first time, possibly for the only time, and that we have one chance to reach them. That's a burden of a senior pastor and one that I'll never be able to fully comprehend. (Sorry off on a tangent).
For the most part, if you just come and go and show up to lifepoint you'll be blessed, you'll hear the Word of God preached straight from the Bible, you'll hear worship music that amplifies and glorifies our amazing God.
And you'll be just like a tourist walking through a cathedral amazed at the beauty of it all, and never know any of the stories behind the stories.
But if you get your hands on the net, if you decide to get out of the seat and join us in the field, you'll find your life on an amazing ride with other people, who like those who came before are willing to pour out their lives for a cause a purpose that's bigger then we are. You'll be putting your lives into creating something that's much more amazing than a giant building, it's seeing life change and we get to see results in our lifetime.
And should we go on for another seven generations, another 182 years, I doubt seriously that people will know our name.
But if they know the name of Jesus, if they enter a relationship with their Creator, and Savior, than like the amazing artisan ship of centuries past, our lives would have been poured out into something that truly does last.
God Bless
Matt Furukawa June 8, 2009
Having said that, let me begin...
This post is based off one of the talks at the Leadership convention I was at over the weekend, but this is something that stuck with me and reminded me so much about Lifepoint that I had to post it.
Most people I know who tour Europe always mention two things to me. 1) The castles and 2) The cathedrals... which if you read the topic of this post is what I'm going to be talking about.
These monolithic? neolithic? Ginormous structures were massive houses of worship, built in a time where drafting software didn't exist and heavy equipment was defined as a hammer that weighed more than 10 pounds....
Notre Dame I don't think anyone would argue with me if I were to say it's a architectural and artistic marvel... They began construction in 1163, the cathedral was completed in 1345 so that's a 182 year period, during which time life expectancy was 30 years at best, or over 7 generations of time, the people who began work on the cathedral did so knowing they would never see the completion, but that they were building something that would outlast them.
And yes there were several cathedrals that went up under in under 50 years, but even so that's beyond life expectancy for any one generation.
And the craftsmanship. There were artist who worked on the structures doing carvings and other touches, in places where people would never see the work their response when asked? God would see it. And they did this work and in some places it's there for all to see, and in others only God would be able to see their work. They dedicated their lives to build these structures and NO ONE knows their names, they were there to do something great.
People dedicated their lives to the work because they had a vision of greatness, and in their case it was building a location that honored God to worship him.
As I sit here and type this I don't know where you, the reader is in your life. I don't know if you're a member of an awesome church that's mission is to reach people far from God, or if you don't even know what this whole Christian thing is about and you look at people like me as if we're mad, my hope today is that you would understand this, when people grab hold of a dream, a vision that's bigger than they are, and when they're willing to sacrifice to see the vision through, then they can accomplish great things.
If you're a lifepointer and someone pointed you to this blog post I want to tell you a few things, that before the doors open on Sunday morning and people come pouring in, there's a team who shows up before the sun (though NOT before the Son) arrives and they go about the business of unloading tons of gear off of 3 trailers to build an environment that helps people to focus in on the Word of God that pastor is going to bring.
That during the service there's a small army of people working making sure that there's as little to distract someone as possible, they might be holding a baby, it might be pushing a sound knob, it might be teaching a 5 year-old.
That after the service and you've gone home, or more likely out to lunch (be honest!) that there's another group who'll spend over an hour restoring the school back to how it was before we began (And in some cases even better), including reloading those same three trailers.
That during the week the staff and at least a platoon's worth of volunteers are working behind the scenes to prepare for the next week,
That pastor is on his knees in desperate prayer to God his heart breaking for the lost that we KNOW is going to be walking into church, possible for the first time, possibly for the only time, and that we have one chance to reach them. That's a burden of a senior pastor and one that I'll never be able to fully comprehend. (Sorry off on a tangent).
For the most part, if you just come and go and show up to lifepoint you'll be blessed, you'll hear the Word of God preached straight from the Bible, you'll hear worship music that amplifies and glorifies our amazing God.
And you'll be just like a tourist walking through a cathedral amazed at the beauty of it all, and never know any of the stories behind the stories.
But if you get your hands on the net, if you decide to get out of the seat and join us in the field, you'll find your life on an amazing ride with other people, who like those who came before are willing to pour out their lives for a cause a purpose that's bigger then we are. You'll be putting your lives into creating something that's much more amazing than a giant building, it's seeing life change and we get to see results in our lifetime.
And should we go on for another seven generations, another 182 years, I doubt seriously that people will know our name.
But if they know the name of Jesus, if they enter a relationship with their Creator, and Savior, than like the amazing artisan ship of centuries past, our lives would have been poured out into something that truly does last.
God Bless
Matt Furukawa June 8, 2009
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Does your pastor know that you've got his back?
This was actually something that came about during Unleash 09 (Newspring's Conference) and it's been sitting in the unfinished pile of my blog (along with about 10 other articles) for the last several months .
Now I occasionally have trouble remembering what I had for dinner yesterday... but I can still remember this part of Perry Noble's talk like it was... errr... yesterday? Anyway, the part was, "Your senior pastor carries a weight on him that you will never understand or comprehend and needs to know that you've got his back."
I hope, what ever church you go to, what ever organization you belong too, what ever sport you play, your leader knows that you've got his back. Because if he(or she) does, then they doesn't have to worry about things like petty bickering or whats going on behind them, and can concentrate on the task that God has put before him.
More on this later...
Now I occasionally have trouble remembering what I had for dinner yesterday... but I can still remember this part of Perry Noble's talk like it was... errr... yesterday? Anyway, the part was, "Your senior pastor carries a weight on him that you will never understand or comprehend and needs to know that you've got his back."
I hope, what ever church you go to, what ever organization you belong too, what ever sport you play, your leader knows that you've got his back. Because if he(or she) does, then they doesn't have to worry about things like petty bickering or whats going on behind them, and can concentrate on the task that God has put before him.
More on this later...
Monday, May 4, 2009
Lessons learned from the tech sector....
I make no qualms, or apologies about it, I want a netbook. I know I've already got a good labtop, and a powerful desktop in the works... (planned anyway), but I've come to really like these little mini-geek toys. And honestly? I wouldn't mind a macbook pro either...
And there's something to be said about that.
The tech-sector is offering specifically different products to different people based on want people have wanted, when the netbooks first came out they were only available with Linux, something that I've got nothing against, they were very limited in capacity, but all they really were intended for was a mobile wifi internet platform, and they served their purpose, as time has past people have wanted more options and the market has responded, now most netbooks that you can find, (or at least the ones I've seen) are preloaded with Windows xp, because it's more market friendly. (Fellow geeks out there STOP! I know, and I'm right there with you, but the fact remains that the everyday normal person who DOESN'T do coding from their station, and could careless about your 37 node beowulf cluster actually likes their windows operating system). And yes if you look linux is still an option, but you know what else I've noticed they're still selling laptops.
Sorry getting WAY off topic here, my apologies.
My point is that you're looking for portability you can buy a low end netbook (for under 200 if woot has a deal and they haven't sold out... again), you can spend a bit more and get a high end netbook, or a bit more still and get a notebook, or a lot more and get a mac. (And lets not forget about the netphones now available, the iPhone being the market leader hands down, but there our android phones and the new palm {pre I think} that's out/about to come out).
Setting aside brand rivalries for a moment, (and that means pc vs mac, give it a break for a few minutes) each machine serves a different market, and sells itself to a different demographic, yet the end purpose is still the same. They guys who use macs talk down about windows notebooks, windows users can't figure out why someone would pay three times the price for something with software that takes up a single shelf at best buy... and poor Linux is left for those who truly understand.... (Sorry getting off topic again).
The Church (capital c) is supposed to be like that too. Some people like a church (lower case c) that has loud rocking music that seeks to amplify and raise up the name of Christ, some people like a church (again lower case c) that has an organ and piano and a full gospel choir with anthems of praise, some people have a church (do I really need to repeat myself at this point) that can't sing at all, they meet in secret because of persecution and sing silently and lift or wjavascript:void(0)orship to God just the same.
1 Corinthians 12:12 - The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.
Perhaps instead of complaining that the music is too loud, or too boring, perhaps we should celebrate that others are worshiping our Creator and Savior...
and who knows I might end up with a net book or a mac yet!
And there's something to be said about that.
The tech-sector is offering specifically different products to different people based on want people have wanted, when the netbooks first came out they were only available with Linux, something that I've got nothing against, they were very limited in capacity, but all they really were intended for was a mobile wifi internet platform, and they served their purpose, as time has past people have wanted more options and the market has responded, now most netbooks that you can find, (or at least the ones I've seen) are preloaded with Windows xp, because it's more market friendly. (Fellow geeks out there STOP! I know, and I'm right there with you, but the fact remains that the everyday normal person who DOESN'T do coding from their station, and could careless about your 37 node beowulf cluster actually likes their windows operating system). And yes if you look linux is still an option, but you know what else I've noticed they're still selling laptops.
Sorry getting WAY off topic here, my apologies.
My point is that you're looking for portability you can buy a low end netbook (for under 200 if woot has a deal and they haven't sold out... again), you can spend a bit more and get a high end netbook, or a bit more still and get a notebook, or a lot more and get a mac. (And lets not forget about the netphones now available, the iPhone being the market leader hands down, but there our android phones and the new palm {pre I think} that's out/about to come out).
Setting aside brand rivalries for a moment, (and that means pc vs mac, give it a break for a few minutes) each machine serves a different market, and sells itself to a different demographic, yet the end purpose is still the same. They guys who use macs talk down about windows notebooks, windows users can't figure out why someone would pay three times the price for something with software that takes up a single shelf at best buy... and poor Linux is left for those who truly understand.... (Sorry getting off topic again).
The Church (capital c) is supposed to be like that too. Some people like a church (lower case c) that has loud rocking music that seeks to amplify and raise up the name of Christ, some people like a church (again lower case c) that has an organ and piano and a full gospel choir with anthems of praise, some people have a church (do I really need to repeat myself at this point) that can't sing at all, they meet in secret because of persecution and sing silently and lift or wjavascript:void(0)orship to God just the same.
1 Corinthians 12:12 - The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.
Perhaps instead of complaining that the music is too loud, or too boring, perhaps we should celebrate that others are worshiping our Creator and Savior...
and who knows I might end up with a net book or a mac yet!
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
move aside apple...
glass trackpad? pshaw, try THIS it's like they took a DS and then built a full labtop around it.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
So I guess I am a right-wing extremist...
because apparently:
(Quoted without permission from http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=46640)
But wait doesn't that make the entire Catholic Church Right-Wing extremists as well? The Baptists too,
Wow with such amazing examples of Leadership in Washington it's no wonder our Country is doing so great economically...
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has turned her attention away from acts of Islamic jihad on American soil (which she now refers to as "man-caused disasters"). Instead, her department is sounding the alarm over an unquantified "resurgence" in "right-wing extremism activity."
On Apr. 7, DHS sent a nine-page warning memo to law enforcement offices across the country entitled "Right-wing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment."
The report includes a sweeping definition of the threat:
"Right-wing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups, movements and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups), and those that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely. It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration."
(Quoted without permission from http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=46640)
But wait doesn't that make the entire Catholic Church Right-Wing extremists as well? The Baptists too,
Wow with such amazing examples of Leadership in Washington it's no wonder our Country is doing so great economically...
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Shock and Awe....
The end result of today was simply shock and awe. Shock that God would let ME be a part of what happened earlier, and awe over what He has done.
Gearing up for our Easter services as we conclude our "Old Time Religion" series (You do NOT want to miss Easter services at Lifepoint!) we, instead of our normal 2 services we did a HUGE combined one service today (at 10:22:30 (yes, thirty seconds, we split the start time directly in half). Today was our largest non-special event series... actually (someone please correct me if I'm wrong) today was our largest service ever! And the big surprise that we've been keeping under wraps, we did a baptism today.
Well actually we did 107 (One hundred seven) Baptisms today, I'm sitting here in front of my computer, still trying to wrap my mind around what happened a few hours ago....
Sorry at this point it sounds like I'm rambling, but I'm working on two hours of sleep in the last 48, and I'm still on an adrenaline rush from the baptism.
To make it more eventful a bunch of people from my team went up, I don't know if you ever have felt like your heart could explode from joy but I think mine just about did. Sorry, it was six hours ago and I'm still getting a little emotional here.
(We did a spontaneous baptism today, here's my post from the last one we did, to bring you up to speed)
Everything that went into this, every hour spent in planning, or in procuring the necessary items, every hour rehearsing the music, the time spent in meditation and prayer that God would just let the Holy spirit fall on the building even as service began, everything would be worth it, to know that even only one person would spend eternity worshiping our Creator, instead of separation from Him. We saw far more than one person cross that great divide today... excuse me for a minute I need a tissue, my eye's are sweating a bit.
Let me move on to the rest of the service, Pastor preached an awesome message and the worship set was just ON (2 songs, short set, and still amazing) I also wanted to give a Huge shout-out to my rocking bass playing Ricky Duncan who nailed a bass solo with his in-ears malfunctioning so that he had to play it without hearing a single thing he played! Awesome job man (You know I love you, but it's disgusting that you haven't been playing a year and did that... just sick :) ).
If today wasn't a God inspired day, I don't know what is, and if this is just a glimpse of what God is going to do in this community for Easter Sunday... some one please bring me a paper bag because my mind is already blown...
God thank you! I'm so humbled by what just happened today, and just so... so... thankful that you've let me take part in it, my prayer is You would be glorified and that my life would honor You, and Your sacrifice, even to the cross...
Gearing up for our Easter services as we conclude our "Old Time Religion" series (You do NOT want to miss Easter services at Lifepoint!) we, instead of our normal 2 services we did a HUGE combined one service today (at 10:22:30 (yes, thirty seconds, we split the start time directly in half). Today was our largest non-special event series... actually (someone please correct me if I'm wrong) today was our largest service ever! And the big surprise that we've been keeping under wraps, we did a baptism today.
Well actually we did 107 (One hundred seven) Baptisms today, I'm sitting here in front of my computer, still trying to wrap my mind around what happened a few hours ago....
Sorry at this point it sounds like I'm rambling, but I'm working on two hours of sleep in the last 48, and I'm still on an adrenaline rush from the baptism.
To make it more eventful a bunch of people from my team went up, I don't know if you ever have felt like your heart could explode from joy but I think mine just about did. Sorry, it was six hours ago and I'm still getting a little emotional here.
(We did a spontaneous baptism today, here's my post from the last one we did, to bring you up to speed)
Everything that went into this, every hour spent in planning, or in procuring the necessary items, every hour rehearsing the music, the time spent in meditation and prayer that God would just let the Holy spirit fall on the building even as service began, everything would be worth it, to know that even only one person would spend eternity worshiping our Creator, instead of separation from Him. We saw far more than one person cross that great divide today... excuse me for a minute I need a tissue, my eye's are sweating a bit.
Let me move on to the rest of the service, Pastor preached an awesome message and the worship set was just ON (2 songs, short set, and still amazing) I also wanted to give a Huge shout-out to my rocking bass playing Ricky Duncan who nailed a bass solo with his in-ears malfunctioning so that he had to play it without hearing a single thing he played! Awesome job man (You know I love you, but it's disgusting that you haven't been playing a year and did that... just sick :) ).
If today wasn't a God inspired day, I don't know what is, and if this is just a glimpse of what God is going to do in this community for Easter Sunday... some one please bring me a paper bag because my mind is already blown...
God thank you! I'm so humbled by what just happened today, and just so... so... thankful that you've let me take part in it, my prayer is You would be glorified and that my life would honor You, and Your sacrifice, even to the cross...
Friday, April 3, 2009
It's coming...
Really! I am working on a couple in depth posts, but for now and in other news...
Elevation Church is hiring...
Now I'm not saying that I would immediately jump up and leave Fredericksburg or anything like that, I'm just saying... it deserves some consideration.
Elevation Church is hiring...
Now I'm not saying that I would immediately jump up and leave Fredericksburg or anything like that, I'm just saying... it deserves some consideration.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Where's the?
Actual insightful posts coming soon, for now enjoy this
which I think isn't quite as cool as sheep, but not bad.
which I think isn't quite as cool as sheep, but not bad.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Socialism for Dummies a case study...
I had this conversation with a co-worker of mine who didn't understand the whole socialism/capitalism conflict, and was thus educated.
Here's the example that was used.
Illustration: You are a college student, you work hard, you spend your free time studying the big exam arrives, you spend the entire night before studying, you arrive at the class and take the test. Your roommate is in the same class as you, he arrives late everyday, parties every weekend, spends his nights bar-hopping, and the you find out the night before the final exam he was bowling.
Capitalism: Your efforts pay off and you receive an A for your work, likewise your roommates habits catch up with him and he fails the class.
Socialism: Everyone's grades are taken in and Averaged, you, your roommate, and everyone else in he class passes with a C.
There, that wasn't so hard to understand now was it?
Here's the example that was used.
Illustration: You are a college student, you work hard, you spend your free time studying the big exam arrives, you spend the entire night before studying, you arrive at the class and take the test. Your roommate is in the same class as you, he arrives late everyday, parties every weekend, spends his nights bar-hopping, and the you find out the night before the final exam he was bowling.
Capitalism: Your efforts pay off and you receive an A for your work, likewise your roommates habits catch up with him and he fails the class.
Socialism: Everyone's grades are taken in and Averaged, you, your roommate, and everyone else in he class passes with a C.
There, that wasn't so hard to understand now was it?
Friday, March 13, 2009
Monday, March 9, 2009
STOP!
Seriously before you click on the link below just stop, I want to address a couple things before you get to it.
1) The website (blog really) I'm linking too is about real people, and their real stories, as such I'd rate it pg13+ so it's not for little kids.
2) I originally got this link from Elevations creative blog, as a favorite link because it talks about real people going through real issues.
3) My posting of this was prompted by Pastor's message and illustration yesterday. The message was on the power of unity, but his illustration... There were pieces of paper with random names all over the auditorium in seats, each representing a person, a co-worker, a family member, a friend, which then got me really thinking.
The Post Secret Community and Post Secret Blog is a website where people can share their secrets to the world, without identifying themselves by sending a postcard to the webmaster... Some are funny, some profane, and still others are heart breaking.
So why share something like this? here's excerpt from the official Lifepoint Blog
Here's a place that lets you look inside peoples lives, and even if you've forgotten what it's like, this is a (occasionaly) harsh reminder.
1) The website (blog really) I'm linking too is about real people, and their real stories, as such I'd rate it pg13+ so it's not for little kids.
2) I originally got this link from Elevations creative blog, as a favorite link because it talks about real people going through real issues.
3) My posting of this was prompted by Pastor's message and illustration yesterday. The message was on the power of unity, but his illustration... There were pieces of paper with random names all over the auditorium in seats, each representing a person, a co-worker, a family member, a friend, which then got me really thinking.
The Post Secret Community and Post Secret Blog is a website where people can share their secrets to the world, without identifying themselves by sending a postcard to the webmaster... Some are funny, some profane, and still others are heart breaking.
So why share something like this? here's excerpt from the official Lifepoint Blog
"The TRUTH is that God has strategically placed us in neighborhoods and jobs so that PEOPLE FAR FROM GOD WILL EXPERIENCE GOD’S DESIGN FOR LIFE. We quickly forget what it is like to live with regrets, unhappiness and feelings of rejection."
Here's a place that lets you look inside peoples lives, and even if you've forgotten what it's like, this is a (occasionaly) harsh reminder.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Now I'm by no means an expert in this....
Having grown up in a house where a period drama (more on this in a second) was as common as watching facts of life I was a bit surprised by a recent commercial on food network, it was a commercial for shoyuu or as it's more commonly known in the states, Soy sauce... Okay technically it was a commercial for Kikkoman a brand of Shoyu... errr soy sauce, but as far as I'm concerned if I ever refer to Shoy...soy sauce I'm talking about Kikkoman (In a similar fashion Hellman and mayonnaise the two are synonymous with each other as far as I'm concerned).
Sorry going off on a tangent there, the point of this blog post was in my (admittedly limited, but still more common to me than the average person watching the commercial) opinion was the words used.
Umami, it's Japanese for Delicious was the wording used.
Now when I was a kid I watched period dramas... (In this case, it was Samurai/Shogun era, the Japanese equivalent to watching a western TV series) as a young teen I was more immersed in Japanese culture than I should care to admit to... (point in fact to Lifepoint staff, JAPANESE NOT KOREAN!) (Point to Korean friends, not that there's anything wrong with Korea (err at least the southern half,) it's just not my heritage).
I have a couple friends in Japan, we've discussed food before.
my issue? never ONCE have I EVER seen, heard, or used the word Umami to describe something as being delicious (for that matter never before have I seen the word period).
No the terms I know Umai (pronounced oo (as in you) mai (as in my)) or in more informal (and more commonly in my experience) was Oishi! (pronounced Oy (as in Oy-vey) Shi (as in she)).
I listened to the commercial (it was long enough it was repeated Several times) to make sure I didn't mis-heard (I hadn't) after not finding it in the normal translating dictionary I use, I looked it up online and sure enough, it does mean what the commercial claims it does...
of course with a commercial like this:
I suppose I shouldn't be surprised...
Side note regarding just mentioned commercial you will hear them use Oishi in the background song about 21 seconds into it... Umami nowhere to be found.
Oh and speaking of commercials... I don't know about the video itself, but I know that the song was a diddy for the company, because I remember the show me, shoyou line... and I'm not going to link it here, it's too disturbing and that way you can't blame me for getting it in your head.
Sorry going off on a tangent there, the point of this blog post was in my (admittedly limited, but still more common to me than the average person watching the commercial) opinion was the words used.
Umami, it's Japanese for Delicious was the wording used.
Now when I was a kid I watched period dramas... (In this case, it was Samurai/Shogun era, the Japanese equivalent to watching a western TV series) as a young teen I was more immersed in Japanese culture than I should care to admit to... (point in fact to Lifepoint staff, JAPANESE NOT KOREAN!) (Point to Korean friends, not that there's anything wrong with Korea (err at least the southern half,) it's just not my heritage).
I have a couple friends in Japan, we've discussed food before.
my issue? never ONCE have I EVER seen, heard, or used the word Umami to describe something as being delicious (for that matter never before have I seen the word period).
No the terms I know Umai (pronounced oo (as in you) mai (as in my)) or in more informal (and more commonly in my experience) was Oishi! (pronounced Oy (as in Oy-vey) Shi (as in she)).
I listened to the commercial (it was long enough it was repeated Several times) to make sure I didn't mis-heard (I hadn't) after not finding it in the normal translating dictionary I use, I looked it up online and sure enough, it does mean what the commercial claims it does...
of course with a commercial like this:
I suppose I shouldn't be surprised...
Side note regarding just mentioned commercial you will hear them use Oishi in the background song about 21 seconds into it... Umami nowhere to be found.
Oh and speaking of commercials... I don't know about the video itself, but I know that the song was a diddy for the company, because I remember the show me, shoyou line... and I'm not going to link it here, it's too disturbing and that way you can't blame me for getting it in your head.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
o.O
i got the following video from Ryan Hollingsworth's post on the creative side of Pastor Furtick's blog (used by the Elevation creative Staff).
Now STOP! before clicking play or viewing this video I am obligated to warn you that this film has been rated PIADRRAYDDDTVSCIEMRL or Possible Insane Asian Doing Really Random And Yet Decidedly Disturbing Dances To Various Song Clips In Even More Random Locations... and for the wise-guys on my own creative team, no I am NOT related to this guy, who has way more guts than i do to post something like this on the net.
BOOMBOX from Ely Kim on Vimeo.
Now STOP! before clicking play or viewing this video I am obligated to warn you that this film has been rated PIADRRAYDDDTVSCIEMRL or Possible Insane Asian Doing Really Random And Yet Decidedly Disturbing Dances To Various Song Clips In Even More Random Locations... and for the wise-guys on my own creative team, no I am NOT related to this guy, who has way more guts than i do to post something like this on the net.
BOOMBOX from Ely Kim on Vimeo.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Decompression....
How do you relax after stressing yourself out?
Case in point, I love what I do for and with Lifepoint Church, and seeing people come to relationship with Christ is the most meaningful and significant thing I can imagine, but it doesn't make the morning any less stressful.
So what do you do to decompress? I've asked this question to several people, one said they like to relax with beer (no, not someone at Lifepoint), other's said they like to go and play basketball for a few hours, some read, for one it's just a nice hot relaxing shower, I knew (well i guess i still know him, though I haven't seen or talked to him since High School) who'd paint (like throw the paint on the canvas), and I've got it on good authority that Chocolate is an excellent stress reliever...
For me it's always been writing and even more so music, but even the type of music will very by my mood, even in decompressing, sometimes I like to listen to something relaxing, other times I need something driving... tonight's been rather ecliptic, let me give you the last 10 artists I've cycled through in my playlist:
No Doubt
Maroon 5
Mark Schultz
Michelle Branch
Nana Mizuki
Mikuni Shimokawa
New LIfe Worship
New York Voices
New Radicals
Nightwish
So that's a rather large skip in genre (if you're wondering, I just grabbed the m and n folders and tossed them into winamp and hit shuffle)
So what do you do to decompress?
Case in point, I love what I do for and with Lifepoint Church, and seeing people come to relationship with Christ is the most meaningful and significant thing I can imagine, but it doesn't make the morning any less stressful.
So what do you do to decompress? I've asked this question to several people, one said they like to relax with beer (no, not someone at Lifepoint), other's said they like to go and play basketball for a few hours, some read, for one it's just a nice hot relaxing shower, I knew (well i guess i still know him, though I haven't seen or talked to him since High School) who'd paint (like throw the paint on the canvas), and I've got it on good authority that Chocolate is an excellent stress reliever...
For me it's always been writing and even more so music, but even the type of music will very by my mood, even in decompressing, sometimes I like to listen to something relaxing, other times I need something driving... tonight's been rather ecliptic, let me give you the last 10 artists I've cycled through in my playlist:
No Doubt
Maroon 5
Mark Schultz
Michelle Branch
Nana Mizuki
Mikuni Shimokawa
New LIfe Worship
New York Voices
New Radicals
Nightwish
So that's a rather large skip in genre (if you're wondering, I just grabbed the m and n folders and tossed them into winamp and hit shuffle)
So what do you do to decompress?
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Does this strike you as wrong?
I like so many of my contemporaries am a big fan of moleskine notebooks, they're awesome for a quick note jot, or sketch an idea out... so when I saw this on the blogroll this morning, my immediate response was... that's just wrong...
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
Blessing...
Something we did at Lifepoint Yesterday, the people who participated (as they do so) are posting their stories here, check it out.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Planning Center Tutorial 1 of ?
If you use Planning center here's a quick tutorial on how to block out days you won't be available.
How to Block out dates in Planning Center from Matthew Furukawa on Vimeo.
How to Block out dates in Planning Center from Matthew Furukawa on Vimeo.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Watch for...
These web-services are on my use/try to get others to use/next big thing
General Productivity
Google Reader: My choice for an RSS reader, it's simple, it's mobile, (Ie you log into your google account and can access it from anywhere), it handles the several hundred different blogs I'm subscribed too (no i don't read every article every day) very efficiently.
Twitter: Is there anyone out there who reads blogs who hasn't heard of twitter yet? A "microblogging" service, also great for updating status on facebook and others.
Yammer: Picture if you will, a microblogging service, (ala twitter) that's built for a private network, a place where team members in various areas can post questions and comments about current and upcoming events, to other team members. Well it's here and it's called yammer, private networks are setup by email addresses, ie yourname(at)yourcompanynamehere.com , it also works with sms (text) or web posting (just like twitter).
Tokbok: I first found out about tokbox from Los's (Ragamuffin Soul)'s blog It's a live video chat service which can have multiple people video conferencing at once, plus, you can record and send video emails.
Facebook: Facebook social networking? maybe, but one thing that it's done (and done well) is put me back in touch with people from my school days (cough cough) years ago.
Fun stuff
Audiorium: THIS is the freeware physics game to watch for in my opinion, beautifully scored and rendered, and interesting to play, i'm waiting for them to release a soundtrack, I think the audio draws me in more then the actual gameplay at times...
More Cowbell Dj: Remember the Saturday night live sketch? Well so do the guys at cowbell dj, put a song up mess with a couple of sliders, and doink, your very own need more cowbell.
Generatus: Officially billed as "Social Network Status Generator" with the Tag, (Ideal for the imaginatively challenged), You've got to love something that automatically comes up with "Matt does for rock and roll what "The Sound of Music" did for hills"
Image Mosaic Generator: You've seen those pictures of something made up of thousand of tiny little images right? same concept upload a picture and it does the rest, it does choose it's own images to create yours from so that can end up being rather random but it's still a neat effect.
General Productivity
Google Reader: My choice for an RSS reader, it's simple, it's mobile, (Ie you log into your google account and can access it from anywhere), it handles the several hundred different blogs I'm subscribed too (no i don't read every article every day) very efficiently.
Twitter: Is there anyone out there who reads blogs who hasn't heard of twitter yet? A "microblogging" service, also great for updating status on facebook and others.
Yammer: Picture if you will, a microblogging service, (ala twitter) that's built for a private network, a place where team members in various areas can post questions and comments about current and upcoming events, to other team members. Well it's here and it's called yammer, private networks are setup by email addresses, ie yourname(at)yourcompanynamehere.com , it also works with sms (text) or web posting (just like twitter).
Tokbok: I first found out about tokbox from Los's (Ragamuffin Soul)'s blog It's a live video chat service which can have multiple people video conferencing at once, plus, you can record and send video emails.
Facebook: Facebook social networking? maybe, but one thing that it's done (and done well) is put me back in touch with people from my school days (cough cough) years ago.
Fun stuff
Audiorium: THIS is the freeware physics game to watch for in my opinion, beautifully scored and rendered, and interesting to play, i'm waiting for them to release a soundtrack, I think the audio draws me in more then the actual gameplay at times...
More Cowbell Dj: Remember the Saturday night live sketch? Well so do the guys at cowbell dj, put a song up mess with a couple of sliders, and doink, your very own need more cowbell.
Generatus: Officially billed as "Social Network Status Generator" with the Tag, (Ideal for the imaginatively challenged), You've got to love something that automatically comes up with "Matt does for rock and roll what "The Sound of Music" did for hills"
Image Mosaic Generator: You've seen those pictures of something made up of thousand of tiny little images right? same concept upload a picture and it does the rest, it does choose it's own images to create yours from so that can end up being rather random but it's still a neat effect.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Random posts with commentary...
Well when I first saw this, i hadn't realized that it was ONN and not CNN, which led to some confusion and later laughs. Though one line they have in there is true, "I'll buy almost anything if it's shiny and made by apple" as i'm surrounded by mac users at LC (And no, I'm not a mac hater)...
Forget Napster, of Kazaa, or whatever it is that they're going after these days, the mpaa and riaa need to go after China, and they're not the only ones! Copyrights (and human rights if you really want to get right down to it) violations are rampant in the worlds most populous nation.
Pastor Furtick from Elevation Church nails something that I'm still working on in this post.
Pete Wilson from Crosspoint posted a link to THIS post, which i found to be very insightful.
And speaking of insightful Perry Noble from Newspring has a three part post on what the Church can learn from the Auto industry Here, here and here.
Ben Arment hits a point on getin creative here.
Craig Groeschel of lifechurch has an amazing (if short) post here, reminding us hat it takes all kinds for the body... but my favorite line from his post is
Forget Napster, of Kazaa, or whatever it is that they're going after these days, the mpaa and riaa need to go after China, and they're not the only ones! Copyrights (and human rights if you really want to get right down to it) violations are rampant in the worlds most populous nation.
Pastor Furtick from Elevation Church nails something that I'm still working on in this post.
Pete Wilson from Crosspoint posted a link to THIS post, which i found to be very insightful.
And speaking of insightful Perry Noble from Newspring has a three part post on what the Church can learn from the Auto industry Here, here and here.
Ben Arment hits a point on getin creative here.
Craig Groeschel of lifechurch has an amazing (if short) post here, reminding us hat it takes all kinds for the body... but my favorite line from his post is
He can use Baptist Christians, Methodist Christians, Episcopal Christians, and Spirit-filled tongue talking Holy Ghost rollin’ ChristiansI'm actually working on a separate post in which I'll reference Craig's post, but for now,
Saturday, January 10, 2009
VB
No, not Vacation Bible, not Visual Basic either.... but Volunteer Banquet, last night was Lifepoint's first annual Volunteer Banquet it was an amazing time, the staff went all out in showing their appreciation for the volunteer and volunteer staff of the church. Guest speaker Jonathon Falwell gave a great talk, Birch and Z our guest musicians from Christ Fellowship in Miami were awesome, and the food!
If you volunteer at Lifepoint I hope you felt as appreciated as I did, and if you're a staffer, thanks for an amazing night!
... and I'm off tomorrow I have no idea what I'm going to do with myself! And speaking of tomorrow, you do NOT want to miss tomorrow morning's worship set, and that's all I'm going to say on the matter.
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