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...