RUNwithGOD

Keys Please

[Dana, possessed by "The Gatekeeper," answers the door]
Dana Barrett: Are you the Keymaster?
Dr. Peter Venkman: Not that I know of.
[She slams the door in his face. Venkman knocks again]
Dana Barrett: Are you the Keymaster?
Dr. Peter Venkman: Yes. Actually I'm a friend of his, he asked me to meet him here.
(Ghostbusters, 1984)

I am very excited to say that I now have the keys to the future C28 West Palm Beach! Woohoo! The keys were turned over today after I met briefly with the construction superintendent and the head of construction for the Mall at Wellington Green. Construction Deconstruction starts Wednesday, and everything is on schedule! The floor will be easy to remove, and the slatwall shouldn't be that difficult.

There are times in my life when I've felt like God was with me. Then there are times like C28 when He has to be there, because there's really no other way to explain how great things have gone. I'm not one to sell the proof of God since there's no such thing as luck, but this story is as great a testimony as I have heard in a long time. More updates coming.

Hell for sale. Apply within.

Article borrowed from Reuters Online.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - No one was buying hell on Friday -- or at least its red-hot Web address.

HELL.com was among hundreds of Internet domain names up for auction in Hollywood, Florida, by domain asset management provider Moniker.com, a unit of marketing services firm Seevast Corp.

The owner put a minimum price of $1 million on the underworld's domain, confident of high interest after the salacious address, Sex.com, sold for about $12 million earlier this year. But there were no takers with bids failing to reach the reserve price.

"The world is still alive and well. Nobody is going to hell right now," Seevast Chief Executive Lance Podell told Reuters, adding that the domain would now be part of a silent auction.

Moniker was selling HELL.com on behalf of a group called BAT Flli LLC, whose founder Kenneth Aronson registered the name in 1995.

It's not the first time that Aronson has tried to sell HELL.com. He put the address on the auction block in April 2000, at a starting bid of $8 million.

In an interview with Reuters in 2000, Aronson said members of The Final.org, an enigmatic collective of digital artists and creative visionaries, were using HELL.com as a private destination for their work.

According to the site, HELL.com is a "private parallel web" not accessible with a Web browser.

The auction Friday included a list of domain names such as cameras.com, which pulled in $1.5 million. Sexeducation.com that sold for $120,000 and babies.net which went for $26,000.

Flowers.mobi, an address with the new extension for mobile devices, went for $200,000, while fun.mobi pulled in $100,000.

A boom in Internet advertising driven by companies such as Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. have sent prices for sought-after domain names soaring.

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

C28 WPB Schedule v4

Please find attached the fourth edition of the C28 Schedule. Pray hard!

November Media Schedule

Please find the November Media Schedule attached. If you can't make it at your scheduled time, please let me know as quickly as possible.

If you are planning on being out of town for Thanksgiving, please let us know ASAP so we can plan accordingly.

Finally, we need to talk about Christmas. Things to be aware of. Christmas Eve falls on a Sunday this week, and we will be doing another unique schedule.

* Saturday, December 23rd: 6:30pm (usual time)
* Sunday, December 24th: 9am, 10:30am, 5PM, 7PM

Yes we will be doing 4 services on Sunday, December 24th. Realize that we will need full crews for all of the services, so if you would like to volunteer for the additional services let me know.

And don't forget about the leadership meeting Friday, November 10th. We will be discussing the future direction of the studio (separately from the choir).

HP Ipaq 6925

If you're looking for an early Christmas gift to help me control the chaos that is my life....meet the HP IPAQ 6925. Knowing me, I'll buy it before it gets a chance to get into my stocking.

10.28-29.06 SetList

One of the things I love about Christ Fellowship Media is that we are not afraid to mix it up. For the past couple weeks we have pushed the limits on our creative side, adding videos and synchronizing the three screens. In an effort to give our creative/graphic/video side a break (and because we love to mix things up) we decided to push more on the camera side.

We have a relatively new camera crew, especially on Saturday night where the "seasoned veteran" has only been doing it for 6 months or so. Our camera movements are similar to what people do with home camcorders (push, pull, pan) and we put the pressure on the director/tech director to make the cameras look "artistic". Occasionally we do "Imag to Follow" which means that the Side screens (I call the "wings") follow the output of the tech director's video switcher. We then use our character generator software to put the song lyrics on top of the cameras... comes out very nice.

All that to say our camera crew really stepped up and nailed this service. Except for me. I ran Camera 1 for the 9am service (the camera that stays "hot" for the entire message). Let's just say that I am not conditioned to be on camera for that long.... Rick's birthday is this week and I'm thinking about getting him running shoes for his birthday since he does so much running on stage!

John 7: Reproduce
Rick and Eric tag-teamed on this service. For months now Christ Fellowship has explored moving into the multi-campus model. This worship service focused on this theme... we are called to reproduce ourselves. Rick wanted a "rain" theme, thus the songs "He Reigns" (okay, a word play...), "Come Thou Fount" and of course "Rain Down". Our video loops were all water oriented, waterfalls, rivers, streams, water...

(Ironically it was a very rainy weekend in Miami as we had a cold front come through....nothing like God-like timing!)

Lost in College

Ran across this on the Passion Blog: You will want to read the article. Here's a snippet:

In case you didn't know, census results put the number of college and university students in the US near 16.6 million. That includes full-time, part-time, undergrad and graduate students. But the more stunning number comes from the Freshman Norms, the CRIP survey given each year to tens of thousands of incoming freshman at the nation's two and four year schools. Among other things it asks, "Do you consider yourself to be a born again Christian?"

Sure, it's a loaded question, especially in areas removed from the south. But, Jesus did, in fact, use the words Himself in describing what happens when we are reconnected to God. Staggeringly, every year close to 78% say "No."

Each year 8 of every 10 students in the US say, "NO, I am NOT a born again Christian!"

College kids are hard to reach, but when you reach them they are incredibly loyal and driven. It's also the age the church is least interested in reaching. College kids don't tithe, so it doesn't make financial sense to reach out to them. In addition, college kids are transitional. They are in and out in four years. It doesn't make sense to reach out to them. It's a good thing, however, that God's mercy doesn't always make sense.

The real question, however, should be "Is the church the best way to reach college kids?" What role should parachurch organizations play? Campus Crusade, Baptist Student Ministries, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Chi Alpha... there are plenty of options out there. Are they better able to produce disciples? Unfortunately, I only have questions, not answers. I do know that it will take an unconventional method to make a dent in the 78%.

C28 Prayer Update: Day (too tired to count)

(to catch up people new to the list, I am starting a new Christian biz by buying a franchise: check out http://C28.com to see what it's about)...

This week it set in... I have 2 retail businesses during the busiest time of the year. I have not been this tired for a long time. God will be glorified through it, I know it. And I know He's behind this, because it really has gone smoothly to date. I am solely following Him by faith, praying that He will continue to open doors as He has all along! Thanks for your prayers!

Before I get to praises and prayers:
We are having a Grand Opening Celebration Friday, November 17th @ 7:30pm AND YOU ALL ARE INVITED! You will receive formal invitations, but please come. I don't care if you're in Miami, Orlando, North Florida.... if you've been praying for us during this process I want you to come celebrate with me. Book the date and plan on coming! The Friday night Celebration will be a invitation-only, and we look forward to you being there. I know that many of you have sent this list on to your associates, and they are invited as well. If they've been praying (or will pray) I want them there. Please let me know and I will make sure they get an invitation. Due to the mall being open, we have to require all attendees have a separate invitation.

I've started my BLOG back up: if you want to keep up with the chaos of Jeff Reed, please check out my site at http://www.RunWithGod.com

Praises:
1) We will get the keys Tuesday! Construction starts Tuesday!
2) My manager, Ryan Eloe, arrived safely from Texas
3) Taubman Mall continues to be very cooperative with us, and has repeatedly allowed us to do whatever we want with the space (despite what their current policies are).
4) Last week I mentioned the mall was being difficult on some details. Without going into detail, everything was resolved in the blink of an eye (in ways that God could only do).

Prayer Requests:
1) My wife's health has been up and down. Please continue to pray for her health.
2) My assistant manager, Emily Day, will be driving down in the coming week from Kansas. Please pray for her safety on the road.
3) The fate of C28 Opening Date is now in the hands of God and Construction workers. That is a very difficult place to be.
4) My fear continues to be small details that were missed.
5) Employees! Employees! Employees!
6) Relationship with Churches! Relationship with Pastors!
7) TIME. It's amazing. Most people get stressed enough with one job. Two is crazy. I just got my new biz cards and I now have 3 jobs. Pray for patience, time, and strength.

Thank you all for continuing to pray with us. I hope to see you all in West Palm on the 17th.

In view of God's Mercy

Jeff Reed

Kyoshi

I found Miami's best kept Sushi Secret: Kyoshi's up north of Kendall somewhere around US1 and Sunset. They have an "all you can eat" Sushi Buffet that was the best sushi I've had in Miami to date. They also had a cooked buffet, but really what's the point. It's all about Sushi.

C28 WPB Schedule v3

If you're really keeping up, C28 West Palm will open officially Saturday, November 18th. Hope to see you there. Find attached construction schedule.

Concert

On Saturday, October 21st at our C28 Concert in Temecula, California (south of Los Angeles) with Thousand Foot Krutch, Seventh Day Slumber, Manic Drive, Eowyn, and Brothatone. At the concert:

* Over 1,100 accepted / rededicated their life to Christ in a secular mall!
* All 8,000 parking stalls were filled to capacity (How many come in a car?)
* No injuries or complaints by Temecula Police
* Balconies and wings were filled to capacity

C28 PrePhotos

I've posted some photos of what C28 West Palm looks like now... before we get in. It's currently called ZenGarden, a Oriental gift company... you can see in the photos.

We start Demolition on 10.31.06. WOOHOO!!!

Also, here's the calendar showing the next 4 weeks before we open. Pray hard!

Happy Creation Day

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth... Genesis 1:1
According to Bishop James Ussher (1581-1656), God created the universe on October 23, 4004 BC. That would make the universe 6009 years old in 2006 AD. James Ussher was an Irish Archbishop whose chronology of Biblical history was widely accepted throughout Christianity.

Sir James Lightfoot improves that calculation to 9 AM Oct 3, 4004 BC. While the Oct 3rd date is irrelevant to today, at least it's noice to know that God clocked in on time when he got started back in the day.

10.21-22.06 SetList

To set the stage, CF just came off a very strong 4 part series on "Pure Sex". Rick and Eric did an excellent job relaying a difficult (read: awkward) subject, and if you want to judge success of a message by media pieces sold, this message was very successful. Rick has another series coming up 10.28-29.06 called "Mission Control".

Psalm 145: No one cared for my soul
This week however, Rick wanted to drive home our need to reach the lost, and to do it he used the story of Kelly Moore (then Kelly Duncan) and her experience of being a stewardess on Florida Air Flight 90 that crash landed on the Potomac River. It was a powerful message ending with an experiential altar call. Great stuff.

On the worship side, this service is easily the most difficult (technically speaking) I have produced @ CF. We added a third screen in the center of our worship service, and I LOVE having another canvas to work with, however, it is a lot more work on the creative side. SetList attached here. Seven total songs, five videos during the worship set. Imag lyrics were combined overlays and stills. Rick's message had four videos (segments of a doocumentary providing background on the Flight 90 incident) and several candid interview sessions with Kelly Moore.

Rick's invitation was unique this service. The creative team positioned five or six crosses across the worship center and encouraged the audiences to prayerfully consider their people in their lives who don't know Christ. And if they were serious about reaching those people for Christ, the audience was to write their lost friends names on a sticky-note and place it on the cross. The response was phenominal; the photo to the right is the pile of stickies, and on my count there were 1783 names listed. I believe that's close to 1 name per adult for the weekend. Let's pray that this is the beginning of a movement in Miami.

I am always fascinated how our group of volunteers can arise to the situation and produce the worship service regardless of how complex the situation is. Married adults, singles, college, HS and even middle school kids working together without issue to create the worship environment. It's a pleasure to be here!

De-Icing Planes

Air Florida Flight 90 was an Air Florida flight of a Boeing 737-222 airliner that crashed into the 14th Street Bridge across the Potomac River near Washington, D.C. on January 13, 1982 immediately after takeoff in a severe snowstorm. The accident claimed the lives of 78 people, including four in cars on the 14th Street Bridge.

During the plane's taxiing, the cockpit voice recorder picked up this conversation between the pilot and co-pilot, in which they discussed the icing situation.

Co-pilot: "It's a losing battle, trying to de-ice these things. It gives you a false sense of security, that's all it does."
Pilot: "Well, it satisfies the Feds (the federal government)."

The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the cause of the accident was aircraft icing and the failure of the pilots to use all of their anti-icing equipment or abort the takeoff.

Jeff's Take: I don't think I'll ever use the phrase "Good enough for government work" again!

CF SetList

At Christ Fellowship Media we have an incredible studio setup and over fifty volunteers that help produce the services. With the My "SetList" I am planning on giving some insight to the technical aspect of the service. What worked, what didn't. How the service went. What technical issues popped up.

C28 Prayer Update: Day 100

(to catch up people new to the list, I am starting a new Christian biz by buying a franchise: check out C28.com to see what it's about)...

100 Days. That's not a joke. I can't believe we're already here. I can't believe we're opening in less than a month! That's right, less than a month. We have had some phenomenal testimonies and stories coming out of this experience. And I can tell you that God is with us, because there's no way it should be this easy.

1) The landlord and legal team has bent over backwards to get us open before Thanksgiving, often breaking their own "set policies" without me even asking them to.

2) Churches have been very open to the C28 concept, and Ryan (my manager) has had a relatively easy time connecting with them.

3) Even with the chaos of the minutia details, God has still managed to show that He's in control by working the details out. More often then not, the details work themselves out without me even having to step in...which is a good thing, because I really don't know what I'm doing! HA!

Thank you for your prayers.

* My wife's health is struggling right now. Today was her last day at work, so we will soon begin the restoration of her health phase. Please continue to pray for her.
* Ryan (manager) has spent the last week in California, and is very homesick for Kim (his wife). He has had an awesome time of training and growth out there, and I know he will hit the ground running in West Palm.
* Emily, my assistant manager, was able to find a roommate w/o even being in the same state. Emily is in Kansas, and had offers from like 6 people to share an apartment. I know what you're thinking, a little creepy. But really, it's a God thing.
* The Leasing Agent was able to get the lawyer to rush the paperwork, and as of right now it will take an act of God for us not to open Friday, November 17th.

Things we have coming up to pray about:

* We're starting to squabble over some of the smaller details with the mall. Things were going way too easy, so they felt they had to complicate things. Pray for God's patience while we try to resolve. This isn't going to stop us from opening...
* Employees. We've been following the "Field of Dreams" theology: "If you build it, they will come". Now it's time to go get them. Pray that we can find hyper-evangelic students willing to stand up for their faith. And if you know anyone interested, have them e-mail me.
* Traveling Mercies: over the next 2 weeks Ryan/Kim and Emily will be moving their belongings from the Texas and Kansas respectively to Florida. Pray for diligence on the road.
* Everything I haven't thought of. Because of the quick timeline, and the fact that I own a Christian bookstore that has to prepare for Christmas too, I'm sure there's many things I just haven't gotten to yet. Pray that we can get those problems resolved too.

It has meant so much to get your e-mail responses back. I think some of these e-mails get passed on 2 or 3 times. Believe me, we need all the help we can get....prayer is not an easy thing to come by. Thank you for all that you do, and I'll drop a line again next week.

In view of God's Mercy,

Jeff Reed

Sushi Maki

large sushi mori (chef's selection of 9 pieces nigiri & spicy tuna roll a california roll)

this meal was "to go" and eaten in the CF Studio.

C28 Prayer Update: Day 94

(to catch up people new to the list, I am starting a new Christian biz by buying a franchise: check out C28.com to see what it's about)...

Alright, here's the newest update. Praise God for Lawyers. After much prayer, deliberation, pushing, and dealing with a guy who's nickname should be "bulldog" I'm happy to say that the leases have been approved and signed... just a couple days behind schedule. My lawyer, Larry, says that it was a record time to have a lease signed by this leasing company, and in fact we had one signed in 5 business days (instead of the proposed 35 business days).

The bad news, is that they were signed a couple days behind schedule (okay, my schedule). The problem is that a couple days could in fact cause us to open in December, not November 18. It's funny how 2 days could make the difference, but when you throw a holiday in there too, the time just backs up. As with everything it's in God's timing, so I'm not going to worry about it. We'll fight to rush things through, but it looks like there are other intangibles that are leading to a later launch.

Things to pray for:
1) We found an assistant manager, Emily Day, from Kansas. Yes, manager from Texas, assistant manager from Kansas. Right out of HS Emily spent several years as a missionary through NAMB working in Las Vegas, so she's used to unconventional ideas, and she's passionate about her faith. She's also spent several years as an assistant manager in apparel/clothing, so she knows the industry. Emily is a trooper, and we are anxiously awaiting her arrival. If you want to drop her a line and tell her hello (or warn her in advance) email her at emilyday@c28.com

2) My manager, Ryan Eloe, is training in California for the next 10 days. He will be working in the stores, learning the model, software, concepts, etc. Pray that he picks it up, and that he has the time to cram 2 weeks of training into 1 week.

3) Taubman (our leasing agency): at this point the biggest delay in us not opening is going to be Taubman (the leasing agency)'s inability to get through the bureaucratic red tape. It could take 1-2 days or 1-2 weeks. Can't get a straight answer. That God's gotten us this far is a huge encouragement to me, but we've got a couple hurdles left. At this point, though, I can safely say it's not an "if" anymore, it's a "when". And that is exciting to me.

4) Construction: We are now dealing with major planning on construction. We've always been planning, but now we focus more on the details. Russ is our contractor. Pray that he can find capable workers to sub-contract the job out to.

5) My health: I don't get sick often, but I got slammed with a stomach virus or something a couple days ago. I've lost 7 lbs in 2 days (which is great) but I now have a major aversion to food (which is not good). Pray that this won't slow me down, and that this is not an ulcer in the making (I'm not that stressed).

6) In retrospect I should have put this at #1. Most of you know my wife, Amy, and her struggles with fibromyalgia/connective tissue disorders. Unfortunately her health this year has gotten progressively worse. In a step of faith that God will provide, Amy has asked for personal leave from her school teaching job, and Friday, October 20th will be her last day as a teacher for the 2006-2007 school year. We will obviously miss her income, but we should be able to supplement it with some tutoring gigs, and extra help around the store. Realistically, I think it's doable. More than anything I want to make sure she's healthy, and with her continuing to work there is no chance for her to get healthy. Pray for her that she can cope with a new lifestyle. Pray that we can figure out how to live. Pray that she'll get better.

Thank you for your time. It's therapeutic for me to write it, and I'm sorry that you have to read it. I appreciate your thoughts and prayers, and if there's anything we can do for you, simply let me know.

Steadfast in Christ,

Jeff Reed

Technology=Discipleship

"The church ought to be using any and every means at its disposal to make disciples...."
-Craig Groeshel, Senior Pastor LifeChurch.TV, Chazown Book/Curriculum

Jeff's take
So often I hear from churches that technology has everything to do with the front door of the church, the Church service. But when it comes to technology (which is often seen as "cold, impersonal") it is not wanted in the intimate setting of discipleship. What would a model look like that used technology to disciple?

New Business Cards

Hot off the press, new business cards that I've developed that better shows my chaos. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

C28 Prayer: vol 5

(to catch up people new to the list, I am starting a new Christian biz by buying a franchise: check out C28.com to see what it's about)...

Okay, I know I just sent one of these out, but I've got three big things coming up:

1) PRAY FOR LAWYER RELATIONS. I'm stumbling through this lawyer deal, and my lawyer and I are really having a hard time connecting/communicating with each other. Pray that we can figure out how to communicate with each other, and get this lease signed. In typical legal fashion, things are starting to take a lot longer than they should. This is the last stumbling block I have before clear sailing, and this process could break everything if not handled properly.

2) CallFM - Some of you are familiar with Miami's Christian Rock/Rap/Hip Hop Radio Station CallFM (91.7FM) They are doing a limited 1-day fund drive on Friday to help raise some funds. They've had some major expenses come up, and since they are totally listener supported they need all the help they can get! I WILL BE ON THE RADIO FRIDAY FROM APPROXIMATELY 2-6PM CO-DJing the show, and I would love to have my friends and supporters call in and donate some money (guilt trip implied!) So listen on 91.7fm or online at http://www.callfm.com and call the station at 305-662-7736.

3) Amy's Health - As many of you know, my wife Amy (teachpalmetto@yahoo.com) suffers from a serious case of fibromyalgia (sp?), at least that's what it is diagnosed. It's probably worse. Regardless, her health now is probably the worst I have seen it in 5 years. Please pray for her that God can give her the strength to get through the day, and give her the wisdom in making some key decisions ahead.

You all have no idea how great it is to have friends praying for the ministry ahead. Thank you for playing a part!

Steadfast in Christ,

jreed

Bull in a China Shop

I met Josh from C28 today. Josh is in town for a couple days to scope out the Wellington Green location. Josh is the head IT guy for C28, so of course we hit it off right away. After about 20 minutes, Josh says to me, "you're not at all what I had expected..."

Now of course, I love it when people make broad statements without closure, so I asked him "Well, what were you expecting?" His backtracked a little bit: "actually, you were described to me by [some other people @ C28] as being a 'bull in a china shop'." I started laughing. "Just make sure you don't give me any bad news, and we'll be fine."

I struggle with the domineering mentality. I'm 6' flat. 275 lbs. Bald with a goatee. I've been mistaken for a terrorist, wrestler, and bouncer before. And I was raised by my parents, who if you've met them are literally Webster's definition of a bull in a china shop. Is there any possibilty for me not to be this way? Did I really have any hope?