The one with the men's camping trip...

This last weekend, the guys of New Song and some friends went camping at the Sunset Camp Grounds at Union Valley Reservoir. About 40 guys gathered together this year for the annual event.














The weekend started for me on Friday afternoon/evening as we headed up Highway 50 to Icehouse. I rode up with Ben Brown and Kevin Cohen. The highlight of Friday night for me was playing hearts with Chris and Joshua Dunlap, Jonathan Small, and Doug Radford. We laughed and enjoyed the perfect weather. Clark Shu brought smores ingredients and we had fun cooking them around the fire. There is nothing as good as real smores cooked over a camp fire. The other highlight of Friday night was getting locked in the bathroom. The door handle was broken to the wooden building and like many others I shut the door and regretted it. I had my cell phone on me and was able to call for help. Another guy wasn't so lucky and had to spend about 45 minutes trapped in there until someone else came along.

Saturday morning a group of guys went hiking in search of an old WW2 bomber that had crashed in the hills. I stayed at the campsite and was able to spend some quality time sitting by the lake reading the Bible and writing in my journal. One of my favorite things is being able to sit by water to read the Bible and pray. I understand why Psalm 23 says, "He leads me beside still waters..."
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Saturday afternoon we set up a shooting range and had a great time knocking clay pigeons out of the sky. I was able to shoot several times and we all had fun knocking down targets and blowing up water bottles.

I headed back down the hill on Saturday night to prep for Sunday morning. I heard from several guys that Kingsley Chigbu did a great job presenting the devotional thought and that everyone had a great discussion around the camp fire. Most of the guys got up early enough to make it back in time for our 10:30 AM service. The weekend was a lot of fun and definitely a highlight for me!














Thank you to Dennis Wycoff and Matt Lavezzo who did a great job of organizing the trip and the food!

Also, mark your calendar's now, next year's men's camping trip is September 24-26, 2010.

"The one with the church trailer..."

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I'm posting the details of our trailer adventure so that everyone gets the complete story.

Sunday 9/20/09

6:00 AM The trailer is stolen! We know it was this morning because the sprinklers in the landscaping sprayed water onto the parking lot and there was a large dry spot where the trailer usually sits. Our second smaller trailer was left untouched.

7:00 AM Our trailer/set-up team shows up and discovers the trailer is gone. Matt calls me and apologizes for waking me up. (I was actually up for a while since I have three little kids who are like roosters in the morning when the sun rises - but I digress).

7:01 AM I call everyone who has keys to our truck and trailer to see if anyone else moved it. Nope! Just woke up a whole bunch of people who like to sleep in on Sunday AM.

7:10 AM I call the Folsom Police Department to report it stolen. The dispatcher is so angry that someone would steal from a church that she dispatches a police car to our offices immediately. Last week, the Sacramento Bee listed Folsom as the safest city in California as we have the lowest crime rate per ca pita. So, I am guessing not much else was happening on a Sunday morning in Folsom.

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7:30 AM Officer Knudsen from the Folsom Police Department takes our report and agrees to look for the trailer behind buildings, gas stations, etc. between our office and the freeway. Officer Knudsen was a huge help! Thank you Folsom Police Department!

8:10 AM A man named Kevin calls our emergency cell phone and asks me why someone just unloaded our A-frame parking signs in a dumpster in Sacramento. Kevin thought it was strange to see someone with a trailer dumping things like children's toys and church signs at 8:00 AM on a Sunday morning. Kevin reacted quickly, looked our church up on the Internet and took pictures of the people dumping our equipment. He got a good picture of the man and also of his truck, which happens to be a work truck with the name of our thiefs employer listed in big letters on a logo on the side. (Kevin is now my new best friend and an honorary member of our church).

8:11 AM I pass Kevin's information on to the Folsom Police Department and they drive to Sacramento to get more information and collect the photos.

9:00 AM & 10:30 AM We had a great church service in spite of the technical difficulties. The band brought equipment from home and everyone pitched in with children's toys and snacks.

While we didn't have our normal equipment, everything went great. It was the first time in a long time that I spoke without a microphone, so that was different. Thank you to everyone who pitched in and made Sunday a great success!

10:15 AM Officer Knudsen recovers some of our signs and children's toys that were dumped at Kevin's house in Sacramento. He explains that Kevin took a clear photo of the thief, his work truck, and the name of the company that he works for. Since it is Sunday, the business is closed and so they have not been able to reach anyone there yet.

2:15 PM Officer Knudsen comes by my house so that I can sign some paperwork and he shows Susan and I the photos. First thing Monday morning Officer Knudsen promises to visit the business and find out the name of our thief.

Monday 9/21/09

9:00 AM Officer Knudsen visits the business listed on the side of the truck and it's a dead end. It's a nationwide company that employs a lot of independent contractors. The sign on the truck was a magnet and they don't have anyone currently employed that looks like the guy in the picture. They are helpful and give more information to Officer Knudsen, but the trail goes cold.

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11:00 AM Officer Knudsen shows the picture of the truck to the fleet manager of the Folsom police department vehicles to better identify the make and model. They go to the Folsom auto mall and confirm the year and type of truck.

Tuesday 9/22/09

9:00 AM The fleet manager from the Folsom Police Department (same guy from above) drives to work from Fair Oaks. On his way to Folsom he just happens to drive by the white truck from Kevin's photos. It's the same make and model with the company logo magnet still on the side. He follows the truck and gets the license plate number. Wow!

12:30 PM Officer Knudsen contacts me to let me know that they have the address of the owner of the truck and that they have confirmed that there is a white trailer in the driveway. It's in Fair Oaks. The owner of the truck has warrants out for his arrest and since he is not home they send out an undercover team to surround the house.

2:00 PM Steve and I are invited to drive by the house with Officer Knudsen in a silver van and identify if it is our trailer. We slowly sneak by it a couple of times and yep it's our trailer!

Wednesday 9/23/09

9:00 AM Officer Knudsen calls me to let me know that they moved in this morning as someone attempted to move the trailer. I think that they were hoping to catch someone "in the act" so they waited until our thieves were on site.

10:00 AM Officer Knudsen lets me know that most of the contents appear to be inside the trailer. There are four of our five wooden carts there and our stage video monitor. It looks like our ushering cart is missing with communion supplies, table clothes, Bibles, etc.

2:30 PM Our trailer is at the Folsom Police Station being processed as evidence. We expect to have it and the contents back right away.

Thank you to everyone at the Folsom Police Department, especially Officer Knudsen. We were able to recover the trailer because of his hard work and the quick thinking of Kevin and the fleet manager who saw the truck and trailer. Our next step as a church family is to pray for and forgive those who stole our stuff. Let's pray that they experience God's grace through this incident.

Facebook

This week I finally broke down and signed up for Facebook. My close friend Mel McGowan told me that it was the only way we could consistently keep in touch. Mel travels a lot and he's been urging me to join facebook for about six months now. Here's what I've learned in the my 24 hours on Facebook:

1. It's scary how they are able to connect you with people you haven't seen in years. When I signed up they suggested potential friends and it automatically listed acquaintances, friends, people from churches I have worked at, and people I went to High School with. This was even before I entered my personal information. How do they know to suggest parents from my son's soccer team? Maybe I am paranoid, but that was amazing.

2. It's a great way to connect with people and encourage them. In the past 24 hours I've already heard several prayer requests and details about friends here at New Song that I otherwise would not have known about. What a cool way to hear about people that I care about.

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3. Some of my "friends" are competing for the most "facebook friends" on their list. I have a couple of people on my list who have well over a thousand "friends" of their own. One even has over 2,000 facebook friends. How do you have that many close friends?

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4. Last night, I prayed about who God might want me to connect with and encourage. God put the name of someone I have been trying to reach for awhile and sure enough, they are on Facebook. I wrote a note and I am praying that God uses the connection to encourage them in their walk with Christ.

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5. The ads are weird! We are advertising for New Song on Facebook and I had heard about the ads being strange, but wow! Right now on my facebook page are ads titled, "Want Six Pack Abs?" and "Animate Yourself." I bet if I got a cartoon animation of myself, they could draw six pack abs on me and make it like a two for one deal.

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6. Facebook is addicting. I had fun looking for friends last night and several sent me warning messages like, "Beware, you have to be able to walk away from facebook," and "Watch out it's addicting." Is there a group called Facebook Anonymous? Maybe I could start one, write a self help book, and make a lot of money.

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7. Some people are very transparent and post every little detail of their day. (I think they call that TMI)? Do we need to know every (and I mean every) detail of someones life? I think they have Twitter for that, but since I am new maybe I am just getting warmed up and I'll be posting more details by next weekend.

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8. Susan has more friends than me, but who is counting? :)