we took boo clubbing. just kidding. actually we visited our friend jeff's church called morethan12 in east van. their tagline is "church for people not into church", and it certainly is not your traditional service! there was great music, with a dj and also a rapper leading worship with the band. way to do something different jeff, reaching people who otherwise might never step into a traditional church service.

we were row 8 for the chris tomlin "hello love" tour in kent, wa this past sunday, featuring kristy nockels on bgv and isaiah houghton and new breed for the opening act. an incredible time of worship as usual with chris tomlin.

some of my first D40 shots, too, hee hee! i must have taken a million, but only a few turned out. how do you use this thing?!

this week was the question, "is God fair?" we discussed very generally the approaches of exclusivism, inclusivism and pluralism, and then considered briefly some scenarios like the kid in africa who's never heard the Gospel and the mentally handicapped teen who might not ever have it explained to him/her in a way they can understand with words, etc. how will God judge these people? is it based on what they know about what they've experienced in life, or is it based on whether or not they get a clear presentation of the Gospel?

and while i have my own thoughts about it, the point made at the end of the sermon was what hit home the most, even as our family is dealing with some rather serious and challenging health issues this week...

God is not fair. God is gracious.

if God were fair, we would all deserve worse. and the definition of 'fair' varies greatly between each of us. some of us may think it's not fair that we don't have air conditioning in our bedroom. others may think it's not fair that not everyone has running water. so we were encouraged to leave the judging of eternal destiny to God (He's a big boy), and focus more on recognizing His grace in our lives.

and to me, this is huge stuff. cuz if God is who He says He is, then whether or not He's fair in my mind really makes no difference, and how i choose to respond to His message of salvation will.

we've been singing "made to worship" at church from the new chris tomlin cd called "see the morning," which you may be interested to know will be released on sept.26. the tour rolls through seattle on nov.11.

speaking of worship, try this online quiz from Sacred Pathways to see if you're considered a naturalist, traditionalist, enthusiast, etc. when it comes to drawing near to God.

leave your results as a comment. my highest scores were enthusiast, sensate and intellectual.

paul baloche leading worship on the first day. he wrote songs like open the eyes, god of wonders, above all, etc.

one of the drum workshops i attended was the electronic drums session with carl albrecht (ron kenoly, don moen, darrell evans, etc. etc.). i don't miss my old electric drums at all, but some of these newer models are pretty nice, i have to say.

the 400+ drummers at the conference were treated to some world-class talent, like a session with vinnie colaiuta, who shared his testimony about becoming a Christian in 1998. later on the first night we were treated to a concert with phil keaggy, abe laboriel and some of the other amazing talent that was there.

i had never seen phil keaggy play live before, and it was crazy... that dude can play, and left the audience speechless! very inspiring to know that there are Christians out there in the professional music scene who do their thing well.

almost all of our LHF worship team made it down for the conference, and it was just really good to be able to experience all that we did together. mike was a little sleepy though. let's play and be our best for His glory!

the highlight of the weekend had to be the chris tomlin concert on saturday night, with 5,000 in attendance! along with matt redman and speaker louie giglio, they lead us through an indescribable time of worship! this is what church should be like all the time, i kept thinking!

louie giglio gave an amazing message on "astronomical grace/indescribable" that is available online. scroll down to his name to watch... highly recommended!

matt redman leading us in singing, "blessed be the name."

this was my second time to see a chris tomlin concert, and i have to say, i can never see properly at his concerts, mostly because every song just leads you to tears...

our week at morrison has come to an end. today we all leave for our next destinations. it's been an incredible week of worship and seeing God move among us. thank you staff and students of MCA, for welcoming us back and letting us be a part of your community this week.

i have played much drums this week, and it's been tons of fun. but i shall not miss those stage lights that heat up my head!

and i still haven't figured out how to open this one door near jojo's office...

today we had a bit of free time in the afternoon, so we asked the students where to go for some drinks. they wrote the name of some place on a piece of paper and we went looking for it.

we kinda got lost since we really didn't know where we were going so we asked this lady by the side of the road where this cafe was.

we finally came across some signs that had the same lettering as the one we were given, and soon found this little place tucked away from the road where we enjoyed some refreshing bubble teas in carafes!

just chilling before rehearsal time.

and this is the school's kit which i've been playing all week.

wednesday was a great day... we started out with a sweet worship time with the middle school group and then so much fun with the elementary/kindergarten kids as joe taught them about how we can pray not only against bad things, but also ask God for good things...

in the afternoon we had a chance to give a workshop with the school's worship team. we did some Q&A about playing/being part of a worship team, and team dynamics, and then broke off into smaller groups to focus on individual instruments and vocals. we ended off playing some songs together and at the end had a real "moment" as the whole team surrounded us on the stage and we all worshipped together.

oh yeah, and we also went to 7-11 to get a drink.

joey and i shared in today's high school chapel times about hearing God and worship causing you to change. in elementary school chapel later on some boy whispered to angie "jesus hates you" when she told everyone to tell their neighbour 'jesus loves you!". i think we're making progress in reaching the kids, but some work to do yet...

ros and i prepping powerpoint lyrics for the next set. oh wait, no, actually we were playing street fighter there.