WOW! Check out this clip from a show in England called "My Secret Heart," put together by Streetwise Opera, an organization that works with homeless people and teaches them to sing opera. They've combined the results of their efforts with technology and music and have created an amazing work of art! If you want the whole story, click here
My Secret Heart - Excerpts from Memo Akten on Vimeo.
Recently I witnessed a great moment in the life of a dear friend and in the life of our young community - the baptism of my friend Manny Cabeza!
Manny is part of our band at The Pursuit, and he is also a leader-in-training for our Community Groups. He is a man who thirsts for Jesus and follows Him wholeheartedly. He meets with Bob Smith regularly for discipleship and mentoring. He has spent countless hours serving Jesus, and he hurts for the lost, he is a wonderful leader to his family, and a great guy all around. I am proud to call him my brother and my dear friend, and I am incredibly happy for the decision he took to get baptized. Take a look at this meaningful moment.
Manny's Baptism from Alex Diaz on Vimeo.
It's awesome to see people step up their commitment to Jesus and to His Church and become leaders who take action. That is the case with my friend Mike Ruiz. As media leader, he shows up early on Sunday mornings, takes care of everything media --from setting up the projector to running ProPresenter and Keynote during the services. He also trains people to do these same tasks and coaches them beautifully. And, the best part is that he is a man who lives missionally. He lives and breathes Jesus, and people in his circles are aware of Mike's faith and love him for that, even when they don't agree with anything having to do with God. Mike is a leader who loves Jesus, loves people, and his service to the Church is a byproduct of his commitment to be a great host and a great missionary.
This is a small but amazing example of his work. It is the new introduction to our celebration services. Check it out.
The Pursuit Intro Video from Alex Diaz on Vimeo.
This last week we played "I Don't Wanna Be" by Gavin DeGraw, and I think the band did awesome! God has put together a great team of hard working guys and gals, and I am proud of them and humbled that I get to play with them.
We played this song to go along with the big idea of the day about serving God with our unique gifts and talents. We also showed verses in English and Spanish that talk about that uniqueness that is imprinted in each one of us by the Creator.
Take a peek...
I Dont Wanna Be @ The Pursuit from Alex Diaz on Vimeo.
Last Saturday I had the honor of being sworn in as a citizen of the United States! It was one of the best moments of my life, and one of the biggest blessings I have received!
Ever since then, I have received many words of congratulations, and also many questions about why I did it. Some people wonder why I would become a citizen during one of the worst financial crisis in the history of the country. Usually, this is my answer: "a bad day at the beach is better than a good day anywhere else." In other words, as bad as things are in the US, it is still far better than most countries in the world. I come from South America, and have seen financial crisis and poverty before. Thankfully, I never lacked anything while I grew up, but I witnessed others who lived in extreme poverty. On the other hand, in the US I have been able to pursue my dreams, get married, go to school, move around a lot, and pursue my vocation (which is difficult to live on where I come from) while living a decent and peaceful life. The people of this country have treated me as one of their own, and the opportunities before me have abounded.
So, I became an American because I love this country and the opportunities it has given me. I love its people and its geography. I love its cities and its communities. And, I love the friends and relatives God has given me here.
I still love my home country, Venezuela, and love the country of my parents, Colombia (neither feeling will ever go away!). But now, the United States is my country too, and I think it's AWESOME!
A special thanks goes to my wife and my parents-in-law for helping me make this possible. You guys have always been very generous with me. Thank you!
The last few days have been a whirlwind...
- We went to Indianapolis last weekend to visit with Central Christian Church and with the missions board of Post Road Christian Church. We came back encouraged and felt incredibly loved by family and friends. We got the chance to speak at Central and it was a blast! Thanks to all of you for your friendship and hospitality! [During the sermon I mentioned I'd post the story of when I moved to SoFlo a year a go. If you want to find out what happened, click here.]
- I was glad that things worked at The Pursuit without us. It made me feel not needed and that's awesome! So much of ministry has to do with training other people and working ourselves out of our jobs, and it looks like slowly but surely I am finally heading that way.
- On Monday I took my citizenship test/interview and passed all the questions! It took most of the day, but it was worth it. My ceremony is on Saturday. This is the culmination of five years of work and paperwork. Sweet!
I haven't posted in a while... here's why:
- The Pursuit has a new venue and tons of people worked hard to get it ready. Today was our first service and it was awesome! God was definitely present and people were challenged to worship Jesus with their lives and not just once a week. Tons of great potential for this place. See more about it here, here and more pics here.
- I've been working on a video project for supporters of The Pursuit and for whatever reason it's taken me longer than expected to finish it. I hate bumping into things I cannot do well or quick enough!
- I finally joined Twitter, which allows you to post small updates of what you're up to. It's kept me from blogging cause it's faster and, I admit it, it is fun. You can check it on the right hand column of this blog or by clicking here.
- I've been catching up with new and old friends. The other day we went out with Carlos Hempel, one of my best friends from my childhood. It was awesome to reconnect with him after so many years.
- Plus, my regular activities, like traveling on my private jet, doing consulting work for presidents and heads of state, and selling oranges on the highway.
As most of you know, I am originally from Venezuela (although some people confuse that with Minnesota, believe it or not!). I have only been in the US for four years, and since then I've been working towards attaining my citizenship, which calls for a lot of paperwork to be done and an interview about US history, government and English language. Because my interview is at the end of this month I have been studying for it, and one of the most complicated things to learn about is the whole presidential election process. Well, I found this little video (made by the Common Craft Show) that helped me understand it. Check it.
Today was the last part of our "Retro" series, which I really enjoyed. It was funny and light but also challenging and deep. Plus, we were able to use some cool elements to get the Big Idea across. For example, today the title was: "the 80's - suit yourself," and the Big Idea was: The world says “get all you can get for you” but Jesus says “live generously for Me.” So, we played a song that shows how the 80's would tells us to accumulate stuff - ZZ Top's Sharped Dressed Man. [At first I had posted the song's video from YouTube, but it turns out Janie recorded a short video of our not-so-serious rehearsal this morning, and Matt posted it on his blog. So... here's a snippet of our own version! If you want to check out ZZ Top's video, click here].
Sharp Dressed Man @ The Pursuit from Matt Mehaffey on Vimeo.
Right now at The Pursuit we are going through a series called "Retro" which explores the cultural impact of some of the mindsets from the 60's, 70's and 80's and how Jesus responds to each one.
One of the best thing about this series is that we've gotten the chance to play some cool music. Check out a couple of songs we've covered.
