Worship.

A moment of worship
Tears in my eyes
Cannot give full voice
Merely a whisper of hallelujah
And amidst the din
Of singing and smiles
I Am heard.

Star Wars.

I helped destroy the Death Star in my sleep last night. It's good to be a hero. Even if only in my dreams.

Und das Wort wurde Mensch und wohnte unter uns...

If I had to pick one book of the Bible to read for the rest of my life, it would be a toss-up between John and Isaiah. I lean toward John, though. If I had to pick one chapter of the Bible in the same JJ Abrams scenario above, it would be John 1. If I had to pick one verse, John 1:14.

Where would you land for your one book, one chapter, and one verse?

Anyway, I've gravitated back to John this week. I've been in John 1:1 for the past three days. Jesus' identity as The Word, logos, is sooooo rich. In the original cultures logos was communication of the gods (little 'g') to the people. Logos was the creative power of the gods to speak things into existence. (I wonder where they got that story? Hmm...) It was also the communication of people with the gods, or prayer. Mythology has Hermes carrying the logos back and forth. So it was not just the Word so much as it is the ongoing intersection of God and man. The opening wide of communication. The Word becoming flesh and living right under our feet. I am still stunned by the fact God would do this. Stunned.

Another episode from the freezers.

Part Deux.

It's a week later, and I'm finally finding the space to update you all on the second day at Saddleback. I was able to get some pics inside the kid's facility and some other fun stuff on the grounds. I apologize in advance for the excessive use of the elipse...

The entrance of their kids wing includes some kid-scale Biblical buildings for the kids to navigate on their way in. They want little ones to experience a welcome on their level before they go into the big environment.





The three levels of the building go from undersea on the first level...



To a beach setting on the second...





And a city on the third...





The current Middle-School space is in a tent. (As I shared last time, they are building new space for both High School and Middle School Ministries.)



High School Ministry has a cabana-type building the city wants them to get rid of...



As well as some pretty cool community spaces...



I think I'm finished with the indoor shots. Here's the view from the church campus.



My bomb-ditty-bom-de-dang-de-diggity rental ride.



And, finally, the joy to which I returned from Southern California.

The OC.

Flew into the OC for a meeting with a few other church leaders. Some are mega-church representatives. Others are multi-site giga-church reps. I'm continuing to learn something I've been learning from other gatherings of small-groups ministry staff: No one has this figured out.

A few of you requested some pics, so here you go... I really hope to have time to get some indoor environmental shots today, but for now, the facade of Saddleback.

The worship center. (If you look closely, you'll find they still meet in Building B. Southland is so progressive.) The entire worship center roof is made up of solar panels. They generate 50% of their own power. For the environmentally conscious, they also have a water cooling facility where they cool water and make their own ice overnight every night when energy costs are lowest. This provides their ice and cold water, as well as making their A/C more efficient. Oh - lots of the toilets are "green". They use no water, but have a replaceable filter-container that gathers all the 'business'. (Changing these filters would not be a job I'd want. But if Chris Hahn called me to do it, I would.) Oh - and, yes Natalie, they recycle...



This is one of the five shots it took to capture their kid's wing.



If you read Jim and Casper's book, the chained-down stone on the empty tomb is in the upper-right quarter of this shot - right the the end of the path.



I didn't take photos in the monthly mid-week worship service last night. The room felt a lot like Southland's worship center - moveable chairs on the floor, risers in the back. It can seat about the same number as SCC. A guy named Buddy shared a message focused on Galatians 2:20. Bringing in tons of scripture, he used the night to refocus on some basics. Communion, giving, and baptism. They were still doing baptisms in their outdoor baptistry as I left.

Oh - one more shot. We donned hard-hats and toured their new student facility yesterday. You'll find good ol' Gordon Walls in the center of this shot wearing his yellow hard-hat. This room is a pretty cool environment. They wanted a basketball court that would also be appealing visually to middle-school students. So, not just a gym - it's a half-court facility designed to look like a city street setting. The brick-layers union was about to bring action against Saddleback for the brick walls you see here. They were not involved in this piece of the construction. The church was quickly cleared when they showed that this visual effect is actually plaster with a brick pattern pressed into it, painted to look just like the real thing...