Before I get into the Homestead wrapup, I wanted to say thanks to everyone who gave me the good 'ol fashion BOO-YEAH today. I'm flattered that so many of you actually read this stuff, and that my words can cause such a reaction from bright, intelligent adults. Hey, I got a great idea. Let's start a new fad at CF Homestead. Next week everybody give me $5.
The CF Homestead show felt solid this week. It was produced as best possible. Unfortunately, there were some kinks that were out of our control. (We had to enact the "Duct Tape Philosophy" several times). We had hard drives crash on both campuses, our HD feed for video teaching got corrupted, and another hard drive literally decided to jump off a counter and go crashing to it's death on tile floor. Needless to say, I wasn't standing around looking pretty that much this week. (Hector, one of my MANY bosses, was out of town for most of the week, so I did double duty @ CF Palmetto Bay on Saturday night. That always equates to a CRAZY WEEKEND!)
At Homestead, we've conquered the technology much faster than I would have anticipated. I feel like the volunteers understand what they're doing, which makes me want to do more! It's my tendancy to build that makes me want to push the lever up another level.
Rick preached this week. Having wrapped up the WAR series, Rick wanted to do one sermon that focused on the act of Baptism, and how our obedience literally brings out the "applause of God". It was a great message, using several media illustrations. First we showed last year's Beach Baptism Video, which you can see here. Initially the worship band played "From the Inside Out" for this video, but this week we played the vid under "Nothing But The Blood" (which helped promote the Easter Season).
Rick wanted another element as part of the sermon. Check out the video below... commonly referred to as Cannonball Baptism.
BTW, if you watched this video in the sermon, you really should watch the full clip (above). The funniest part of the video is not the action, but the REaction from the Pastor. That just made me want to smile.
It's exciting to see the ministry of the church expand. We had two people accept Christ today, and there were several other rededications/renewals. The CF Homestead youth group baptized 5 people in Eric's pool earlier this week. Since the campus is smaller than Palmetto Bay, you get to see people's faces. You hear the reactions. You get to experience them. They are no longer faces on the other side of a TV screen, they are legitimate people seeking to be connected to God... Being in Homestead reminds me of what ministry is all about. And I'm loving every second of it.
In closing, Rick's Quote of the Day: "At the end of my days, I'd rather burn out than rust out!" AMEN, er, BOO-YEAH!

I can just hear Rick singing the Neil Young tune from Rust Never Sleeps...
"It's better to burn out than it is to rust... My my, hey hey."
My knee still hurts. I should have taken my own advice about the combat gear.
Why am I no longer an RSS Friend?
Posted by: Chuck | 2007.04.03 at 07:47 AM