What we've been up to

I haven't posted in awhile, mostly due to a combination of business and laziness.

Here's some of the busyness: keeping up worthless life skills, like getting a skateboard over a ladder.

This was the last nice day of November...

Anthem song writing retreat...
There are some more good worship songs slow cookin' in the studio...
Unsupervised kids.
I put off getting my axle fixed- it broke as I rolled in to the shop. The van asked me to move and I said, "Sorry, my car won't move." They had an open spot, pushed me in and 45 minutes later I was back on the road. Thinking of all the places this could've happened reminds me that God answers the Lord's prayer, "Give us this day our daily bread..."
The last Salt Company of the semester. A view of the bar from the stage.
Thiessen's gives out free popcorn. They regret it every time they see me rolling in with the five kids. I was there buying bullets, license, etc for hunting. I got skunked, and I'm wondering if hunting just isn't my thing. It's going to take the encouragement of all my redneck friends to keep my head in the game. Stan, you out there?
Makai said there were some big birds in the tree in our backyard. We said, "That's nice Makai" but didn't believe him. He was right- 2 bald Eagles! More of God's goodness to us.
Christmas at Papa Jack and Grandma Linda's. Who knows what the kids will find in the basement?

Thanks to our supporters!

"Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

It happened- it is happening!

A church has been planted and is growing in Iowa City. Thanks to all of you who have contributed so generously to this work.

The Veritas / Salt Year-End Recap :: Dec 2010 from Veritas Church on Vimeo.

Santa Claus is coming to town

Here are some thoughts from Bruce on Santa...

And some even better thoughts from Driscoll...

http://blog.marshillchurch.org/2010/12/13/what-we-tell-our-kids-about-santa-pastor-mark-for-the-washington-post/

Veritas God Story- The Hills

This is one of the many reasons we declare "great is thy faithfulness" as we look back on this year of church planting craziness.

The Hill Family - How God has been with us from Veritas Church on Vimeo.

Worship

Heaven meets earth...

Bible Translations

As a new church, we are thinking through which Bible translation to use in our preaching. Some of what has brought on this discussion is that Cornerstone is also wrestling with this. One of the great minds on the Cornerstone elder team (sorry, Jeff, in this case I'm referring to Alex...) wrote some great thoughts on the topic. You can read his series of blog posts: click here

OR, you can just read a summary of all the posts put together...

Bible translations part 1

My last blog talked about getting a couple of new Bibles for Christmas even though I already have a bunch. The three reasons were that sometimes they wear out, sometimes a particular translation helps with a particular function, and sometimes it is just a matter of convenience. So in the next few blogs I am going to do a tour of the Bibles we have around since people are often interested in what the differences are.

Let me start with the big picture. I think of a translation as being like a map of the world in the sense that the world is in three dimensions but maps are in two dimensions. That is why all maps are a distortion of reality. Some make Greenland look as a large as South America, others make the countries at the equator look bigger than they actually are. Now we can either get frustrated by the fact that our maps are not perfect or we can be happy that we have lots of maps available that are perfectly adequate for what we need to do. The distortion on your map is not the reason you missed a turn or got lost the last time you went driving.

Bible translations, at the most basic, have to choose between trying to translate the original Hebrew or Greek word with a single English word each time so as to be as literal as possible or trying to capture the thought the author was trying to express and expressing it as clearly as possible in contemporary English. Both involve some distortion of the original. But the bottom line is that all of the translations I will talk about are, on the whole, good translations. As long as you are able to understand the language a major translation is using, it will be adequate for clearly communicating the main themes of the Bible. What they all have in common is far more important than the differences among them. Sometimes with “translation wars” we emphasize what makes our translation better to the point where minor differences are overshadowing the common truth that they all proclaim. When we get to heaven and are rewarded by our Father, I don’t think “nice translation choice” will be in the top 10 for any of us. Far more important is really believing the gospel and orienting our lives in gratitude to obey what we understand. Our mistakes in applying the Bible often have far more to do with the way we read it than with the translation.

So with all that as a disclaimer, there really are differences. Airline pilots use different maps than the ones in your car atlas because for the task at hand they need to minimize a particular type of distortion. In the next post I will start breaking down our inventory and the functions the different translations have.

Bible Translations, NIV and RSV
The translation I have used most is the NIV. I grew up with it, so it is familiar and it is the most commonly used one in evangelical circles so when I teach or preach it is the least distracting for the most people. People who use other translations even though the preaching is from the NIV are generally people who like comparing translations anyway. I am not sure if it is the “best” translation. Sometimes things become the standard because they are in the right place at the right time. In the 1970s there was a strong demand for a more readable translation then the King James which was written in the early 17th century and was not based on the earliest original manuscripts. Then once people get attached to something it is hard to change. Most of the scripture I have memorized is in the NIV and that is one of the main reasons for being reluctant to change. The NIV is somewhere in the middle of the translation continuum between being ultra-literal and being a mere paraphrase. It flows well for reading aloud and silently and generally does a very good job of capturing the author’s point.

The only stretch where I was not primarily an NIV person was in college and grad school. I wanted a more literal translation but thought the New American Standard Bible (NASB) was too stilted for every day use. I also wanted a study bible. So I ended up using the Revised Standard Version which was the most common alternative to the King James before the NIV came out. At the time I also remember wondering whether the NIV was “biased” in that evangelicals translated it in such a way to cover up “problem” passages. When I moved to Iowa I switched back to the NIV. It is easier to read and memorize and easier to teach from. I also decided my fears were overblown. I almost never use my duct tape repaired RSV study bible anymore but keep it around for sentimental reasons and because when I went to Zambia I was trying to take easy to read translations.

More literal Bible translations

The biggest weaknesses of the NIV come from the fact that it is not as literal. Sometimes I think that it interprets things wrongly. I don’t, for example, like “sin nature” as a translation of a Greek word that means “flesh” in Romans 6-8. I understand why they did it. They didn’t want people to think God hates bodies or that we should hate our bodies. But in the process they make it hard to see how much “body talk” is going on in those chapters. Paul talks about bodies, flesh, and “members” (body parts) constantly. I discussed this in a talk I did for Salt Company in November. Sometimes there is a repeated word or phrase that an author uses and if the word is translated several different ways you won’t notice it as much. The word “walk” in Ephesians is a key word that the NIV translates “live a life.” Thus “walk in love” becomes “live a life of love” and so on. “Live a life” is a more natural way of saying it in contemporary English, but sometimes that phrasing seems forced and so the NIV picks another one. All of this is why when I am teaching a passage I try to look at one or more literal translations.

For a long time my main Bible for this purpose was the New American Standard Bible, which is as literal as they come. I still think it is a very good one for that purpose. When Anastasia does “Precept” studies, she uses our NASB. But there are a few other options now that I like as well. The two new Bibles I got for Christmas were the English Standard Version (ESV) Study Bible and a $5 Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB). I got the ESV because 1) My current study bible is falling apart 2) A number of people at my church are using it now and so I wanted to be more familiar with it and 3) there is some logic to having a more literal translation when I am in “study” mode. I am going to be teaching a course this semester on the Old Testament and am planning to go through the ESV Study Bible to check it out as I do so. I had a paperback copy of the HCSB but I gave it away in Zambia. I like it because it feels like someone took the NIV as a baseline and then make it a little more literal. “Flesh” is “flesh” and “walk” is “walk.” It also has extensive notes on alternate translations of verses. Thi s is the translation I used for teaching Romans 7 last semester because it was literal enough to get the points across but still as readable as possible. I picked the ESV over it for the study bible not so much because the translation is better but more because it looked like the notes, maps, etc. for the ESV were better.

Less literal Bible translations

You reap what you sow. Even in Iowa, no one actually talks about reaping and sowing. They talk about planting and harvesting. It is sometimes hard for those of us who have been hearing the Bible for a long time to notice ways in which the language is very different from how we talk now. The less literal translations give themselves even more freedom to understand what the author was trying to say and say it the way we would now. Compare the beginning of Hebrews 8:1 “The point of what we are saying is this” (NIV) with “Here is the main point” (NLT). Honestly, I think the NLT is better here even though the NIV is closer to the original Greek. Free translations are best when you are simply listening to the Bible rather than doing close study of a particular passage. Every night before bed, I read to Anastasia from the Bible and the NLT has become our preferred translation for that. Sometimes the NLT will even throw in a little detail that is not in the text because it is something that would have been obvious to the original audience. Several of these examples were given to me by my father in law who also likes this translation. There are some other good ones as well. I gave away my Contemporary English Version (CEV) which is similar and has worked on getting the cadence and word order right for oral reading. Right now the difference between them isn’t enough for me to justify going out and buying another one. I think I also gave away my copies of The Message. It is one of the most interesting but has the disadvantage that it was all done by one person and is very free . Think of it as Eugene Peterson’s commentary on the Bible with no explanation for why he understands the passages the way he does. That said, it is very good. If there are parts of the Bible that are hard for you to understand and so you never read them, it might be worth trying again with one of these translations. I still have both the CEV and The Message for the New Testament as part of a parallel Bible I will talk about later.

Misc. Bible translations and software

I haven’t discussed the King James in this series of blogs. I do use it sometimes, mainly for historical purposes. For my job I actually read a lot of 17th century English prose, which happens to be what the KJV is. So when I read works from that time that reference the Bible (and the generally did so a lot back then) the KJV is what they tend to quote. So oddly enough I use the KJV for work more often than for personal use. I can read that style of English fairly well, but it makes reading the Bible seem like work and the KJV is not based on the more recent manuscripts. Sometimes I use the Strong numbers that go with the KJV to look up a greek word using my Bible software.

The main Bible software program I have, Logos, I got probably 12 years ago for about $70 and it has been one of my best investments. I don’t know if Logos is the best value for the money or not, but it gives me the NIV, the old American Standard, and the KJV indexed to the greek and hebrew originals. I can search words and phrases and it has some other tools that I occasionally use. I sometimes use e-sword which has the ESV available for free and some other nice free downloads.

If I had known where things were going with Bible software, I would not have invested in some of the books I own. I have a NT word study, a couple of greek new testaments, a parallel greek-english NT, and a greek lexicon (dictionary). All of this I could have on a CD if I were willing to pay for it. Eventually I will probably break down and upgrade, by I keep assuming that some next generation software will come out so I am waiting.

I also have some parallel Bibles. One is a NT only that has 8 translations side by side (4 per page on facing pages). It has the New King James, the ESV, the HCSB, the NIV, the TNIV, the NLT, the New Century, and The Message. If I could replace the New Century with the NASB it would be perfect. There is also a parallel bible that is NASB, NIV, KJV, and NLT that I like. I don’t own it, but I have it checked out from Parks Library most of the time and it sits in my study room at the library. The big downside to it is how much it weighs, but I never have to carry it so that is not a problem. If you have an ISU card you can recall it if you would like to use it.

I think that is a good overview of the Bibles I use. Let me conclude this particular series by emphasizing something I said at the beginning, which is that what the translations have in common is far more important than the differences. With so many good translations around, the real question is how we respond to what we read.

Anthem in a Bar

Our first Anthem in Iowa City was...

The pictures will do better than words. It was a "tavern" transformed into a temple, and for those who were there, I think it will be one of those "I was there" moments.

It's hard to say how many people were there. I would guess between 300-500. Below you can see there is an upper level that was a few rows deep with people.

At the end, I pulled up Carson Gardner, who is a sophomore in high school from the Ames area, to lead "You deserve" and Justan Spaid to sing "We are not the same", which is a song he helped write. The atmosphere was electric.

This Anthem was a nice change of pace for the band because there was a lot less emphasis on the production side. Because there was a business above the bar, we did a "quiet" run through of the set sitting in a circle. As it turns out, we may do that more often because we weren't as worn out for the actual event.

The bar became "Beth El"... house of God.

Here's the set list. Notice all the question marks at the bottom. We weren't sure how long the set was going to be, but we knew we had to be done by 9:45. Iowa City used to allow anyone 19 and older into the bars, until this summer...

I wanted to thank all of you who came down from Ames. There were probably 100 of you that made the trek down to join us for worship. Thanks for your continued prayers and support. This is just the beginning.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Sabino, everybody wantin mo

Thanks to Jeff Thune's hidden talent, Sabino got quite the intro on the retreat...

Sabino on the Dance Floor from Veritas Church on Vimeo.

Another "First Ever"... TSC IC Retreat

About 80 of us went to a hotel in Davenport for our first TSC Iowa City retreat. A ton of prayer and expectation went into this (if you were one of those people- God bless you!)- and God acted powerfully on our behalf.

Paul Sabino, who I consider a life friend and dear brother, was our speaker. Paul is one of the most gifted Bible teachers you will ever meet. But more than that, he is a servant, who not only poured out his life from the stage, but spent hours meeting one on one with students. All of this amidst one of his busiest seasons of ministry... thanks for serving us, Paul!

Paul spoke on the life of Joseph, and he challenged us to consider our brokenness and trials as a stewardship from God. Deep wounds mean deep healing. It was a weekend of confession, healing, and salvation.

A couple Chinese students gave their lives to Jesus, and there were a few others who are really considering taking the step of repentance and faith.

I asked Sharon if she was a follower of Jesus, "Yes, for one hour." She said, "I've tried all these years to trust myself. But I fail so often. I can't forgive. I fall short. How can I trust myself anymore?"
There are so many stories that wouldn't be appropriate to share here, but where God broke in to some very dark, demonic places to bring the light of Christ and his good news of salvation. Paul felt redirected from what he had originally planned to bring these messages from the life of Joseph, which were talks he had never given. It was obvious that God was in this. We can't be messengers of healing unless we are healed. It would be hard for a doctor with gangrene infested hands to do surgery on someone else.

The retreat ended with "How he loves", a song that summarizes our retreat...

"He is jealous for me. Love's like a hurricane, I am a tree, bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy. When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory and I realize just how beautiful you are and how great your affections are for me... "

I just ran into Frank here at the library, who was on the retreat. He said, "I can't stop thinking about how much God loves me."

I think we will point back to this retreat as a defining moment for our ministry. Thanks again to all of you who have been praying.

Jeff and I bolted back Sunday morning for our Veritas connection group kickoff. We were displaced from our usual meeting place, so we used it as an opportunity to get people connected in these smaller communities in people's homes. We had amazing brunch grub (this sweet pecan casserole was ridiculously good) and there were about 80 people in the groups.

This casserole is making me hungry. Especially since my stomach is telling me it's 12:30 not 11:30 (I still love "fall back" time). Off to Short's for the best burger in town...

The Library

Here's something I love about being in a university town: the library.

It's a humbling place. Five stories of this...

Google doesn't even know what this book is MADHYANDINASAKH... Vannah, I'd like to get a vowel please.
The Talmud of Babylonia... that's a lot of OT commentary. I wonder how many people have read every word of this.
I found it ironic that Calvin's commentary had the "BS" call number.

It's interesting how all of this knowledge affects people, either making them proud or humble. I suppose the knowledge isn't what "makes" us proud or humble, but rather exposes the condition of our souls.

Although Solomon is right, "Of making many books, there is no end, and much study wearies the body..." (Eccles. 12:11), the library is a place I need to frequent more often.

If you're a Republican, you can't help but be proud

No way. This made my day. Thanks Paul Sabino (via Joel Vint) for the vine.

This is reminiscent of Matt Foley.

My life

I'm just checking in with some pictures from the last couple weeks. These are some snapshots into my world...

Anthem was a couple weeks ago in Ames. It rocked. The new CD has some killer songs on it, and it really inspired young people to give Christ all their worship. This picture was from the acoustic set in the middle of Anthem. Mark your calendars for November 17th... the first ever Anthem in Iowa City!

For the first time in 11 years of marriage, Leatha and I have a consistent date night (Thanks to Carrie and Mikaela). This was taken in the Ped Mall in Iowa City- we enjoyed the piano skills of fro-man.
Makai got the Sharpie permanent marker and decided to turn himself into Spider-Man.
The whole crew together...
Cameron, our little artist.
Beck
Reminder from Ava, "No Texting"
Mint in the tape deck, nobs pulled off... who knows what kid did it? Probably Makai, but maybe Jett.
I took our staff to Davenport for a morning of time alone with God. I decided to spend some time walking through the Casino, letting my heart get broken. The crowd was mostly over 60- people who cash their social security checks then waste away in front of the slot machines.
I took the boys hunting for rocks. Ghetto.
Jeff and I had a meeting in Ames about starting a church planting network here in the Midwest. One of the guys attending let us jump in his plane since Iowa City was on his way. It offered some amazing aerial views- the fall colors were beautiful from the sky!
Jeff started a group called the "Gentleman's Academy." The thinking behind it is that most young men are boys with arm pit hair, and there are so many things they need to be taught... how to be gentlemen. So this week, we taught them how to change oil, all while sporting our navy blazers.
We went out with the Thune's the other night and ended up meeting a homeless guy, Willie, who took us to his house- under the bridge.
One interesting thing is that homeless people still tend to be very proud- in this case, Willie didn't want to stay in the homeless shelter because they made him "check in and tell them what he did during the day."
Well, there you have it- a few snapshots into my life for the last couple weeks.

Some idiot in the projects

How have I not seen this until just now?! (Thanks Spaid and Lance). The epitome of viral...

Leatha Orphanage

Click here for some pictures from the Leatha Orphanage. Props to the TSC students back in Ames (esp Katie Kascel) for how aggressively they've pursued this ministry to orphans!

Anthem follow up thoughts

This isn't the usatoday Anthem reflection, filled with color photos and cool stories. It's more of the "deep thoughts" version...

If you had a room full of 1,200 students, listening with open hearts and attentive ears, what would you tell them?

"Faith is risk. And this is the kind of life God intends for you. It's the kind of life He applauds." That's basically what I said, and the one challenge I wanted young people to leave Anthem with.

It's easy to sing songs for 2 hours about having faith, trusting God, and giving Him our lives as an offering of worship. But as I thought about Hebrews 11, and what the "ancients were commended for", I felt led to take it there. I think it's safe to say that God is honored by men and women who step out, who die to dreams of success and live for dreams of sacrifice and risk. That's the gist of Hebrews 11.

I got this email from a friend following Anthem. I think there are some great things to think about...

Hey Mark,

I was at connection group tonight...and we were talking about your definition of Faith as Risk. I can see where you are coming from; a demonstration of faith is when we put ourselves out into a situation that if God doesn't show up, we will suffer loss. That's the basic definition of risk, an action that could result in loss. But as we were talking about it, we came to realize that faith doesn't seem to be risk, but that faith is actually the antithesis of risk. Faith is the confidence that God will act on our behalf. Risk seems to be the acknowledgment that he may not. It appears that the more faith that we have in God the less risky things seem. Your move to Iowa City may have seemed risky but you trusted, had confidence, had faith, that God was going to come through. Therefore, there seems to be very little risk involved because you knew that God was with you. Perhaps it's just an issue of semantics. I don't think you said anything wrong at Anthem. You explained what you meant and it was very challenging and encouraging. But I'm curious, do you see the tension? What are your thoughts?

First of all, I love emails like this. It's not polemic or antagonistic, but genuinely thoughtful and gracious in tone. And I appreciate the discernment- that my words at Anthem were not mindlessly accepted.

Here's what I think: The paradox of faith is that faith is risk and yet not risk at all.

Reading the rest of Hebrews 11 there is the juxtaposition of 11:32-35a and 35b-38. The first group is full of victories and great exploits, while the second stories about brutal deaths and martyrdom. All pretty much in the same sentence.

The point of Hebrews 11 is this: faith means that you lay it all on the line, trusting that eternity is going to be way better than this refugee camp called life on earth. People filled with the kind of faith that gets commended live accordingly, unaffected by the consequences of their faith in action, whether good or bad. The only way to enter heaven safely is to die with eyes on the unseen.

So faith is risk because there are 2 kinds of stories that may be told about your life, "conquered kingdoms" OR "sawed in two." The risk is that following Jesus by faith may get you killed. It may not result in a mega-church or revival or Christian celebrity status. But it may mean all those things (I personally hope not the third. I don't think I have anything to worry about).

Most Americans have an aversion to suffering. Our gods are comfort and success, and we will do anything and everything to preserve those. Faith is stepping into the Unknown. Of course we take the step knowing he'll catch us. So in that sense faith is the antithesis of risk. In that way I suppose the greatest risk is to play it safe and do nothing at all. Hebrews 11 very well could've said, "Playing it safe is being unsure of things hoped for and uncertain of things not seen. This is what the enemies of God were punished for." But again, the faith-risk is that it's the Unknown for a reason- we don't know how he will catch us.

Finally, in light of our brothers and sisters around the world who have given up far more than us to spread the good news about Jesus, our move to Iowa City was a very small sacrifice. We moved from one form of comfort to another. But in our baby step of faith, we have seen God gladly come to our rescue. He has made our path easy, because he knows we are weak.

I think most Christians are bored. A life without risk usually leads to boredom.

So if you're bored with your faith, ask yourself the question, "What risks have I taken recently?" "What did I do last week that if God didn't show up, my plans were doomed to fail?" I have to ask myself these questions all the time. I don't want to be old and talking about how I once took a risk in my 30's.

Risk does not always mean moving to a new city or doing something stupid (i.e. standing up in the school cafeteria or work place and telling everyone they're hell bound). But it usually involves doing something that gives you that feeling in your stomach, "Oh crap, if God doesn't show up I'm in a bad way".

So this was the challenge at Anthem, and it has been fun having these followup discussions and conversations.

As soon as I get some pics I'll do the USAtoday post for those of you who just like pictures and aren't reading this right now.

Anthem is tomorrow!

It was about 4 years and 2 weeks ago that we had our very first Anthem, under a tent in the parking lot at Cornerstone Church. It has morphed into something pretty amazing, and God has used it as an event to stir up the hearts of young people to be undivided in their devotion to Christ.

Tomorrow over 1,000 students will gather for a night of worship and prayer. If you are within driving distance of Ames, Iowa... you should be there!

Here's a sneak preview from Monday's rehearsal...

Is Ryan Seiler going to be there?

Of course.

What about Jesse Antelman?

Yep.

But you'll also see some new faces... Brenton on drums (jumping in for Clint on part of the set)

Wally on bass... (here giving his best bass player pose). Bass players are always a little... unique. No offense Bryan, but you kind of fit the stereotype... Zombie movies and listening to music where 32nd notes at 132 are cool. We'll miss you at this Anthem, Bryan.

If you don't like it loud, bring ear plugs. Phil will have the auditorium rockin'. Our water bottles were vibrating off the stage. I wonder if Isaiah got ear damage from his glimpse of glory with the voices of the seraphs, whose voices were so loud, the doorposts and thresholds shook (Is. 6:4). And the place was filled with smoke. We'll have a little of that, too.

But more than the band, music, hazers, yada yada- hundreds of people have been fasting, praying, and anticipating the presence of God among us in a powerful way. We gather to pray, seek and worship our great God.

See you tomorrow. 8:00 at Cornerstone (Click here for directions)

News from Iowa City

Last night Salt Company got bumped from one bar (Blue Moose) to another (Third Base/Fieldhouse). We went in on Tuesday to set up, and it was dark. Literally and Figuratively. This picture was taken with all the lights on. One of the highlights was standing in a circle on this checkered floor, begging God to bring the light of the gospel into this place. We felt like God led us to Matthew 5:13-16, and that He was in this. We ended our prayer time singing "Holy, holy, holy". I got chills when singing the line, "though the darkness hide thee, though the eye of sinful man thy glory may not see..." How many times has this hymn been sung in a sketchy bar? At least once, now.

Over 150 people packed in, and Jeff did a masterful job with 46 verses in Mark 5. There was a great vibe to the night. You can see Jeff is on a make shift stage, looking down into the checkered dance floor area, with people packed in way to the back.

After Salt last week Spaid and Laugerman decided to stand outside the bar and lead some worship.

After a late night of Salt, I joined some of our freshmen who are meeting EVERY weekday morning for prayer and fellowship at... brace yourself... 5:30 AM. Put this on the list of things to love about college ministry. They will change the world because they don't know any better. Ahhh I love the passion.
Makai got a bunny.
Here's a video we showed last night at Salt. Incredible testimony and great job by Lance, who filmed the whole thing on his iphone 4. Not bad at all. Cale, I love what God has done and continues to do in your life- this was just 6 months ago that you gave your life to Jesus then followed him to Iowa City. Stay on the Psalm 1 path, my friend.

This is my God story - Cale from Veritas Church on Vimeo.

The next few pics chronicle my morning last week (or a couple weeks ago?... it's all a blur) setting up for a typical Sunday morning at Veritas.

5:15 am- Leave my house in the cold rain.

5:33 Arrive 3 minutes late and help load the trailer. The faithful set up crew beat me there, so they had most of it loaded already.

6:00 Carry EVERYTHING (Stages, Sound, Lights, Instruments, Children's Ministry totes...) into the hotel

Empty room. We can do this!

Everyone has a specific job. Like ants, they all go to work.

1:00 pm: Fast forward to the end of the day. It's sunny and the nameless servants (they wouldn't have it any other way) are on the home stretch. All that's left is to head to the office storage unit and unload everything.

I'm humbled to work with such amazing volunteers and humble servants of Christ.