mike jones

Used one of the photos my wife took of me and my kids to create a new banner for the blog.

Let me know what you think.

Becoming… everyone is becoming something, who are you becoming?

This has been a great series so far and we’ve been able to expand creatively with some decor and elements that we haven’t done in some time.

Here are a few of my favorite set pics from the last couple of weeks along with a link to the rest on Picasa (photos by Dan Andersen).

Thoughts?

This last weekend, was a tough one for me and some of the staff. Many of you have visited here and know that I lost one of my best friends. While we grieved and celebrated his life, we also continued to do what my friend Todd did… lead other’s in a growing relationship with Jesus.

I am very proud of my arts team! While they grieved along with me, they continued to move forward, not only in honor of Todd, but in praise to God. Thank you again to all of you for your prayers, care and support – it has brought strength to all those involved.

So this last weekend was the second week in our series BECOMING. We explored silence and talked about meditating on scripture. You can download Scott’s message here.

From a creative standpoint, we used the song In Your Presence, by Jeremy Camp, but rearranged it with some different layers including strings, cello, congas, acoustic guitar and a bluesy-electric lead. We had each layer come in individually then half way through, the musicians began to stop playing (one by one) and walk off the stage. There was some tenseness in the room, which was great! We transitioned from there into a short piece on silence where we led our crowd through a time of silent meditation using only our screens.

The cool part about having the musicians leave one by one is that it gave us a way to lead into the silence in a dramatic way. We ended with Jess on the cello which was amazing! Something in the back of my mind which was later also pointed out by another artist, is that it also showed how important each piece, each musician, is to the group. We did not have anyone on the drums. When each person stopped playing and walked off the stage, that missing piece was felt in a big way. God is awesome in how he uses creative elements to reach people on many different levels.

Here’s our music setlist from the weekend (with links for you to purchase them from iTunes):

Belief – John Mayer (instrumental)
Salvation is Here – Hillsong United
Everlasting God – Lincoln Brewster
Center – Charlie Hall
In Your Presence – Jeremy Camp (same song prior to message and after)

Peace.

There are a lot of things happening right now and I’m trying not to have every blog post or twitter be about my friend Todd. That’s hard to do, as he had a big impact on me and many, many others.

I’m looking for stories… stories about Todd. Moments of influence, of encouragement. Times of strength and inspiration. I would love to be able to pass these stories on to Paula and her boys.

My wife shared a couple on her blog.

If you have others or links to other blogs that share things about Todd, would you please post those?

Thanks everyone.

Family, friends and co-workers of Todd Mitchell…

Here is a link to the Orchard’s blog page with information regarding visitation and memorial/celebration for Todd.

http://orchardblog.wordpress.com/2008/08/21/service-times-for-todd-mitchell/

If you have any questions, please contact our office at 630.897.8888.

Thanks everyone.