Jesus and shoes ...

a few months ago, we hosted our music, art and film festival, Erase the Dark ... with the purpose of using our creativity to bless children and schools in our city ... we brought together some of our favorite local artists, songwriters and filmmakers to pull off this festival ... through this event, we raised almost $6000 for the children at Cypress Elementary ...

so we purchased almost 200 pairs of Converse shoes for the kids on that campus ... last Wednesday, our team took the shoes to Cypress and gave them to the kids ... what an amazing opportunity to show God's love to children and families in our city ... for all those who helped with Erase the Dark, thanks for your generosity and thanks for using your creativity to show the world Jesus ... for all those who sponsored this event, you are fabulous ...

over the next few weeks, we'll be putting together a sweet video of the festival and the shoes ... until then, check out the pictures on the Stirring Blog ...

Happy Birthday Asher ...

Happy Birthday Asher ...

2 years old and you're the man ... riding bikes and throwing balls ... handsome little guy, just like your dad ...

I pray for you every night, that you would grow up to be a man of God ... that you would love Jesus and follow Him with your whole heart ... I know you have a great call on your life and I will pray for you and encourage you until I see you walk in that great calling ... you're a marked little man and I can't wait to see the bold man of God you will one day become ...

and please stop beating up your sisters ... that's not cool!

Adiah's first song ...

tonight, my 4 year old daughter Adiah wrote her first song ... my kids are great song writers ... it must run in the family ...

most people don't know this, but almost everyone in my family has incredible musical talent ...

my grandma plays the accordian and keyboard ...
my other grandma plays the tuba and the piano ...
my grandfather plays the trumpet and sings ...
my father plays piano, guitar and writes songs ...
my mom plays the guitar and the piano (and coordinates weddings) ...
my uncle plays the banjo ...
my brother Benji plays guitar and enjoys country music ...
my wife sings and plays the recorder ...
my daughters are songwriters ...
oh yeah, my brother Jeremy wrote a couple of songs in a rock band (I think they won some MTV contest) ...
and I played the trombone in high school ...

anyways, here are the lyrics to Adiah's new song:

I love you Jesus
Please come with me to Disneyland
Please help my birthday to come really fast
I hope my birthday has cupcakes and cake
I hope Spring comes fast

Chorus:
I love you Jesus
I love you all the way to the moon and back

I love you Jesus
I love you everywhere
I love you to the sun
I love my baby sister Alicia
I hope she grows up fast

Life Group Stories...

Hey guys, God is doing some amazing things in our life groups ...

as we're traveling through the book of Acts this summer, we're already hearing so many stories of how God is changing lives ...

go check out what's happening in Sean and Rebecca's Wednesday evening life group ... praise God for baptism and swimming pools ... God is so good!

Let's keep sharing the stories of what God is doing ... this will help us be encouraged as a community!

Happy Anniversary ...

Happy 9 year Anniversary!

Erica, you're the most amazing woman on the planet ... I love you so much ... you are so giving and encouraging ... you're a great mom and I can't imagine life without you ... you have a strong faith and I'm blessed by your life with Jesus ... every year, I grow more in love with you ... 4 kids and 9 years later, we're still best friends and ready for teenagers ... next year, let's ditch the kids and go to Hawaii! (for a month)

they devoted themselves ...

they devoted themselves to the teachings, to the fellowship, to the breaking of the bread, and to prayer ...

to the teachings, a life of obedience ...
to the fellowship, being as committed to each other as we are to God ...
to the breaking of the bread, a life of worship ...
to prayer, simply talking to the God who moves the universe ...

they devoted themselves ... who devoted themselves? ... everyone ... the men and the women, the rich and the poor, the leaders and the new believers ... everyone devoted themselves to this Acts 2:42 life ... no one devoted them to this life ... they had to do it for themselves ... the leaders taught with boldness and passion, but the burden of discipleship fell upon the new believers ...

we can't force discipleship ... as leaders and pastors, we can teach and pray and provoke and inspire, but when the people of God devote themselves to a life of obedience, covenant, worship, and prayer, we will become the radical and world changing community God created us to be ...

let's be honest, it's much more convenient to just show up at church and sing songs on Sundays, and for some reason, we call that church ... but that's not church ... true Acts 2:42 church is much more life changing and radical and it costs us something ...

they devoted themselves ... are you devoted to an Acts 2:42 life?

there's no place I'd rather be ...

I just wrapped up the craziest and fullest few months of my life ...

I finished a challenging theology course in my Masters program, brought our 4th child Alicia Amy Edwardson onto the planet, tackled a thick series on 'Heaven' at the Stirring, and we just hosted our first 'When God Dreams' Conference ...

It's been such an amazing few months ... my daughters bring me so much joy ... my son can beat up your son ... I'm enjoying spending time with my brothers and their wives ... my parents are so encouraging and generous ...

I love our church ... our church is the bomb ... I'm not talking about Sundays, I'm talking about the people ... the people who serve and the people who love and the people who worship and the people who encourage me and hold up my arms every day ... the ones who carry ladders and speak words of life and put courage in me ... that's the church ... thank you for being WHO God has CREATED you to be ... I'm proud to raise my family in our church ...

I just spent the last hour hanging out with my wife on a couch ... there's no place I'd rather be ... I'm fried and ready for bed ...

the first Stirring conference ...

it all begins tomorrow night at 7 p.m. ...
20 churches ...
120 peeps ...
American Apparel t-shirts ...
clouds and ladders ...
worship and painting ...
new films ...
bohemian drum circle ...
lattes ...
creative church forum ...
dream sessions ...
and of course, Jesus Himself ...
seriously, how the heck did we get this crazy idea to do a conference?
don't miss it!

Unleashing the power of everyone ...

tonight we began our Acts series ... we're calling it unleashing the power of everyone ... in Acts, Jesus says, "you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you!" ... our prayer is that God would give us the courage and boldness to live filled with His Holy Spirit ...

our 'When God Dreams' Conference is this weekend ... I'm spending the next few days praying and preparing for the Conference ... at this point, we have more than 20 different churches from our city and beyond coming to be involved ... I'm so grateful for everyone helping create and dream and pull this thing off ... props to our amazing Stirring team ...

My wife and I saw Wolverine Friday night ... amazing! ... we're huge X-Men fans ... if you could be any mutant, what would you be? ...