I just listened to the new Slipknot song Psychosocial.
Amazing.
I’ve already heard the title track from the new album All Hope Is Gone (which you can hear on their MySpace page) and was blown away by the sheer brutality of that song, but wow, Psycho Social is just straight up groovy, yet just as brutal.
Can’t wait for August. Not only does the new album drop on 8/26, but Slipknot will be in Atlanta 8/12.
J
Found this quote a few minutes ago and loved it, so I figured I’d post it here to share with everyone.
In life we have two plans we can follow…the culture’s plan OR God’s plan. Culture’s plan says to find your groove, settle & establish, earn & save, consolidate & maintain speed, & die…or you can choose to run towards God’s plan…which is, “follow me with abandon at every age with an eager expectation that I will use your life for my purposes in the world.
Risk always. Never completely settle, Always look toward Heaven for answers.
Be mine. Be different. DIE GLORIOUSLY!”
- Louie Giglio
So I just got back from day two of AtlantaFest at Stone Mountain. Wow. First, I have to say thanks to Telitha; not only did she get me free passes to the concert, but the passes she got for me allowed me access to pretty much anywhere I wanted. The only restrictions were that I couldn’t go on the stage itself or in the office without being accompanied by someone with an all access pass.
So day one was pretty cool. We ate dinner in the artist/staff cafe and then wandered around the grounds a bit. Took the cable car ride up to the top of Stone Mountain which was cool and then got back to the concert grounds in time to catch tobyMac’s performance, which was amazing. Especially considering that he is 43. He had more energy than most of the audience. Of course, Ignition and Boomin‘ were awesome live, but for a guy that grew up on dc Talk, getting to hear In the Light and Jesus Freak live was priceless.
Day two we showed up in time for dinner again, but this is where things got interesting. Telitha, Dan and I are eating dinner when a guy asks if he can sit with us. I look over to say yes and it’s Mike from Tenth Avenue North along with his wife. So they joined us and we chatted for awhile. Got to talk about the church plant with him a bit and I gave him an impact card. Not that I expect him to visit, since they live in Nashville, but who knows; networking? Anyways, we’re just talking and then Mark from Sanctus Real comes over and sits down with us. By now I was totally stoked. And both guys were so down to earth. I know that sounds cliched, but there was no attitude or ego from either. Just really genuine, honest, open nice people.
So dinner is over, we say our goodbyes and go our separate ways. Dan and I decide to go back to the car and get the video camera, cause wouldn’t it be cool if we could get someone to do a little Four Points promo on camera? We get back to the cafe area and guess who just happens to be hanging around outside the Chick-Fil-A bus?
Jeremy Camp.
Yes, the Jeremy Camp.
And guess what?
We got the video.
I’ll post it soon enough. I’m gonna edit it a bit so we can display it at church. Then I’ll put it online. But that was just flippin’ awesome.
So after that, we wandered around a bit more. Dan decided he wanted to ride the cable car again, so I went and listened to Barlow Girl for a few minutes before heading to the second stage to check out Day of Fire. Awesome band live. What was really cool was that their front of house mixer was on the floor level, so I was able to go and sit with the engineer and just watch him do his thing. Really cool for a geek like me.
After Day of Fire, it was time to head back to the main stage for Jeremy Camp. What can I say, it was an awesome set. Little bit of new stuff, several classics and even a worship set thrown in. Great show. I was a little skeptical, but I really enjoyed myself the past two days. Really wish I could be there tomorrow (okay, tonight) for Big Daddy Weave, but I’ve got my own band to take care of and I wouldn’t trade them for any band at AtlantaFest.
J
I hadn’t heard much from Rob Bell and the folks at Nooma in awhile, so I checked their site to see if there were any new releases. Turns out they’ve got a new one that was released last week. As always, the message is right on target. How many of us are so caught up in the busy-ness of life that we spread ourselves so thin that, instead of being excellent in a few areas, we become mediocre in many. There are so many opportunities to do good, but if I do all of them, could I actually be doing more harm than good?
Just woke up from a nap. I slept in intervals last night; 30 minutes of sleep, then awake for an hour or two. Needless to say, I was a bit tired when I got home. Just wanted to post a little blog today because it’s Father’s Day. Unlike most of the guys I hang around, my relationship with my dad isn’t all that great. We get along alright, but considering that we haven’t seen each other in almost twelve years, our relationship is not where it should be. So I’m listening to Brent’s message this morning and my first thought was, “Great. My father left when I was four, so I haven’t exactly seen a good example of being a good husband and father.” But as Brent continued in scripture, he pointed out that in Ephesians 5:25-31, Jesus is supposed to be our example.
I know. Duh moment.
And I’ve read enough books to know that as well. Sex God, The Radical Reformission, Vintage Jesus; they all make this point concerning being a good husband and father.
But the statistics are still there. Fifty percent of marriages fail, and those whose parents are divorced are fifty percent more likely to go through at least one divorce themselves.
I don’t like those statistics. Not for anyone, but especially not for me.
Which is why I love what Brent said about legacy. He talked about how his grandfather decided that even though no one in previous generations gave a crap about legacy, he was going to be the one who changed that, even if he didn’t reap the benefits in this life. And because of his grandfather’s decision; because his grandfather took the road less traveled decided to follow Jesus with everything he was, to be a Godly husband and father; because he thought of his family and future generations instead of himself, his son, grandson (Brent) and now his great-grandchildren have a legacy. When people meet Brent and find out he’s J.A.’s grandson and James David’s son, they are impressed. Even though they don’t know anything about Brent, he has he grandfather’s and father’s legacy and reputation. And what Brent said was that for those who have not had a good legacy passed down through the generations, it is up to us to change that. So while I may not have much of a legacy from my father or those before him, I’ll be damned if I don’t leave one for my children and grandchildren and so on. Wouldn’t it be great if 250 years from now, my great-great-great-great-great-great (you get the point) grandson introduces himself to people and they say, “You’re a Jones? You come from good stock.”
I guess you could this is my declaration.
J
Today has been a long day. But it was fun and has been very informative. Brent and I met up with Ameen, our rep from Portable Church and hung out most of the morning at Starbucks where Ameen went through a detailed printout of what it’s going to take to launch Four Points Church the way we want in September. Sounds great, right?
Then we get to page 27.
The last page.
Yeah, it’s a tad over budget.
Okay, it’s double what we had originally hoped.
The funny part was, it was all stuff we had requested; Ameen did not add anything. He didn’t upsell us or hide anything in the multitude of paper; it was everything we asked for. It’s just that when you actually put it all down on paper, it can add up fast. So pray for us to have wisdom in making decisions in what to keep, what to cut, assuming we cut anything. Obviously, if God isn’t in this, we could raise a million dollars and fail miserably. However, I know God is with us, so I know He is going to do something great. Just keep us all in your prayers because things are moving so quickly and it can get a bit stressful at times. It’s so amazing to see what God has done just in the last ten months, I can’t wait for September 14 to get here.
J
Met up with Brent, Dan and Jess this morning at Pickets Mill Elementary School for day one of our consultation with our rep. from Portable Church Industries. We did a walk through of the facilities and decided the pros and cons of the different areas accessible to us on Sundays. The main services are going to be meeting in the school’s gym and the kids church and classes are going to be in the cafeteria. The cafeteria has a built in stage which will be perfect for worship and then they can split off into groups and have age-appropriate Bible teaching, crafts, etc.
As for the gym, it is HUGE. Plenty of room to grow and we’ve got a lot of cool ideas for things like a cafe, lounge, etc. to all be in the gym.
Anyways, gonna hang out with the consultant tomorrow too, so we’ll see how things are progressing in 24 hours.
J
So I check my voicemail earlier and there’s a message from Dan.
Rumor has it that UFC 88 will be in Atlanta!!!!
If you aren’t a fan of UFC, then you probably won’t care; but for anyone who is a fan and lives in the ATL area, this is huge. Think of it this way: the Superbowl is in your city and you actually have a chance at getting tickets WITHOUT selling your firstborn for them. The UFC holds the majority of their events in Las Vegas and there is stiff competition for the handful that are held outside of Vegas simply because an arena knows they will have a guaranteed sellout. The only other arena I can think of that the UFC frequents in the United States would be the Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA.
On top of all that, the other part of the rumor is that Chuck Liddell will he headlining the card.
For me, it’s a done deal. The chance to see Chuck fight live is worth the price of admission alone.
As for location and date, most of what I’ve read is pointing to the Philips Arena on September 6.
J
