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LifeChurch.tv adds its 14th campus

Published February 8, 2009 Christianity , General , Technology 4 Comments

After months of planning, today, we had our first experience at our 14th LifeChurch.tv campus in Owasso, Oklahoma.  Owasso is a suburb just north of Tulsa.  This is a portable campus that meets in a elementary school on Sundays.  The Owasso campus becomes our 3rd campus in the metro Tulsa area.  It joins the existing Tulsa and South Tulsa (Bixby) campuses.

The Tech Team, along with many others, put a ton of hours in to get everything setup.  Their hard work has paid off.  We saw over 450 people at our sneak peek experience this weekend.  What’s really exciting is we saw 9 people come to Christ today.  Next Sunday is our official grand opening.  If you live in the Tulsa area and are looking for a church, feel free to check us out.

Here are some pictures of the Owasso campus launch.

In Nov. 08, the Tech Team does their first site survey of the school where the campus will meet.

In Nov. 08, the Tech Team does their first site survey of the school where the campus will meet.

The Tech Team installs trussing that will remain at the school.

In late Jan. 09, the Tech Team installs trussing that will remain at the school.

Our new road cases, complete with the LC logo.

Our new road cases, complete with the LC logo.

The volunteers assemble the trussing that gets setup every week.

The volunteers assemble the trussing that gets setup every week.

 

The trussing goes up.

The trussing goes up.

The completed stage.

The completed stage.

 

My favorite picture.

My favorite picture.

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LED Walls at the LifeChurch.tv Tulsa Campus

Published December 21, 2008 Christianity , General , Technology 1 Comment
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I paid a visit to the LifeChurch.tv campus is Tulsa today.  I’m so glad I did.  The campus team did an awesome job with the lights.  They used Martin LC 2140 LED panels provided by Integrity Lighting.  Here are the pics. Enjoy!

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Expanded Lobby and Auditorium Opens at the Edmond Campus

Published December 16, 2008 Christianity , General , Technology 3 Comments
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One of the largest LifeChurch.tv campuses just expanded their auditorium and lobby.  If you’ve visited the Edmond, Oklahoma campus you know that the old lobby was woefully inadequate.  It wasn’t really a lobby; more like a glorified hallway.  The Tech Team was responsible for installing sound speakers in the new auditorium sections, the lobby and outside of the building.  We also installed TVs and stage light fixtures  in the lobby.

Many people worked hard to make the new space look awesome.  Here are some of the pictures I took this past weekend.

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One Year in Oklahoma

Published December 15, 2008 Family , General 1 Comment
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Another anniversary that we just celebrated was the one year anniversary of our move from Illinois to Oklahoma.  It was this time last year that we packed up our belongings in a semi truck and moved to Oklahoma.  It’s been a challenging and rewarding year.

Some of the challenges that we have faced included ice storms, tornadoes, missing my family, and getting lost more often than I would like.

But for the most part the move has been good for us.  The people here in Oklahoma are very friendly.  The school system has been great for our kids.  Traffic is not bad here.  Because of a well laid out road system, I can get to anywhere I need to within 15 minutes.   Other than the occasional tornado, the weather is a lot nicer here than in Illinois.  The cost of living is lower here as well.

So even though, I miss my family, friends, and real deep dish pizza, the move has been a good one and I’m happy to be an Oklahoman.  But I don’t think I’ll ever understand my fellow Oklahomans’ obsession with college football.  

I’m Back

Published December 7, 2008 Family , General 1 Comment
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Hi everyone.  From a blogging perspective, I’ve taken the entire month of November.  That’s not good.  I didn’t mean to.  I’m realizing that I need to make the time to blog.  Like so many things in life, it’s not going to happen on its own.  Thanks for sticking with me during this break.

There are a couple of anniversaries that have occurred over the past few days.  Over the next few days, I’ll writing about each of them.

Today, I’m writing about my one year anniversary with no TV.  At the end of November 2007, my wife and I made the decision to no longer have cable TV.   We don’t have an antenna either.   We still own a TV, but we just watch DVDs when we want to watch something.  I’ve also started watching Battlestar Galactica on Hulu.com.  So more accurately, we don’t watch live TV anymore.  I’ve noticed that since we’re not watching live TV any longer, our overall TV watching has greatly decreased.  Instead of watching 2-3 hours of TV a night, it is now 1-2 hours of TV a week.  My wife and I have used this extra time to spend with the kids, read, exercise or  just talk with each other.  It’s been awesome. 

So while I’ve never watched a episode of American Idol, Lost, 24, or Grey’s Anatomy, I don’t feel I’ve missed out.  On the contrary, I’ve gained so much more.

How about you?  How much TV do you watch?  Have you tried cutting back?

Another Picture from the October Event

Published October 13, 2008 General 1 Comment
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Here’s another interesting picture from my church’s all staff meeting, the October Event.  I don’t get to write a note like this everyday.

After the Insane Week

Published October 12, 2008 Christianity , General , Technology 1 Comment
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Thank you so much for your prayers and kind words.  I survived the insane week.  Actually, it was a great event for me.  The tech team did really well.  I am so thankful to be working on a team with some very gifted and dedicated people.  There were some challenges in supporting this event.  One of the challenges was having to setup and teardown the tech gear in four different locations around town.  The other challenge was getting a three screen rear projection system to work on a stage that was never designed for that.

As you can see from the pictures below, it didn’t just work, it was awesome.  In case you are wondering, we rented a Catalyst Media Server to display the images and manage the projectors.  Click here for more info on it.

Enjoy the pictures.

Setting up. Complete with popcorn and Dr. Pepper

Setting up. Complete with popcorn and Dr. Pepper

My favorite picture.

My favorite picture.

The Insane Week Begins

Published September 28, 2008 General , Technology Leave a Comment
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This week is going to be an insane week for me and my team. This week is the October Event. On an annual basis, the church brings in the entire staff and their spouses from all over the county for meetings, worship, and even a picnic. In addition to hearing from our senior pastor, we will also be hearing from Bill Hybels, senior pastor at Willow and Steven Furtick, senior pastor at Elevation Church. My team gets to make sure that all the audio, video, and lighting technology works for this event.

We begin the setup today as soon as the weekend experiences end and we won’t stop until Friday afternoon. I know that I’ll be working at least 75 hours this week. I’m sure some of my team members will be putting in more.

I’d appreciate your prayers for me and my team. You can pray that God would give us the energy, stamina, and patience we will need. You can also pray that we wouldn’t have any problems with the technology. We’re using some video projection technology that is new to us. Please pray that it would enhance and not distract.

I’ll keep you posted on how things go.

Weight Loss Contest Results Are In

Published August 29, 2008 General , Weight Loss 4 Comments
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In June, I entered the Church Tech Biggest Loser contest. Thirty-seven people from the Church IT and Technology world entered this contest organized by Jason Powell, Director of IT at Granger Community Church.

The contest ended yesterday and the results are posted here. I came in second place. I think I was in first place for a week or two. But for the most of the contest, I was firmly in second place.

While I would have liked to win the contest, I’m not disappointed with my finish. In fact, I’m pretty happy with it. In the past three months, I lost 25 lbs. This is the thinnest I’ve been in my adult life. I’m also pretty happy for the group. As a group, we lost 444 lbs. That’s awesome.

If you’re interested in competing in the next contest, please check Jason’s blog in October. He’s planning to organize another round at that time.

My Big News

Published August 15, 2008 General , Weight Loss 14 Comments
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Yesterday, I got on the scale and it read:

That’s right. It read 164 lbs. What’s the significance of this? It means for the first time in my adult life I am not overweight. My weight has now moved into the healthy, normal range.

I can’t believe it. After 18 months of exercising, eating right, falling off the wagon, getting back up, and still more exercising, I’ve lost 59 pounds! Praise God. It’s only by His strength that I was able to reach this goal.

How did I determine I’m at a normal weight? I measure my body mass index (BMI). If your BMI is 25 or higher, you’re overweight. Yesterday, it read:

Yep, 24.7. It was very gratifying to finally see the word, “Normal” flash across my heart rate monitor instead of “Overweight.”

How did I lose all this weight? You can read about that here. Right now, I am so excited. Here are some updated stats:

Weight went from 223 lbs. to 164 lbs.
BMI went from 34 to 24.7
Fat percentage went from 33% to 20%
Waist size went from 38 inches to 33 inches

In addition to being thankful to God, I am also very thankful to my wife. She has been very supportive and encouraging. I also want to thank all of you for your prayers and encouragement.

What’s the next step? I’m not done. There are a few more pounds I’d like to lose. It’s not essential to lose 3 more pounds, but it would be nice. I know I need to continue to work towards some fitness goal. If I don’t, the weight is just going to come back. I’ll be praying about what my new goal should be and will post it here in a few days.

Thanks for stopping by and allowing me to share my big news with you. Did I mention how excited I am?

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