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Hey all!
Here are the rest of the pictures from Colorado!
Fernando Orega in concert!
I can't believe Fernando Ortega used to be a part of Keynote ministries. WOW. I still can't get over that. I'm not sure when he was on staff with Crusade but older staff have told me that he's given concerts numerous times before in the past so this concert was no new thing. He is definitely an example to aspire to considering he came out of Crusade as is now a professional musician on a recording label as a major Christian artist.I didn't get to catch a lot of it but I still really enjoyed what I got to hear.
The Rock and the Rabbi:
The Rock and the Rabbi is a Christian musical all about the relationship between Peter, the Rock, and Jesus, the Rabbi. It was an EXCELLENT, EXCELLENT show. VERY VERY well done and very professional. Apparently they perform in front of audiences whom are mostly non-Christian and don't get exposed to the gospel in such a creative way as this. They tour in certain parts of the country and tour as often as they can.
The score is purely original and it incorporates a lot of interesting percussion instruments and musical arrangements for songs that were very creative. As a fellow drummer, of course, I was enchnanted by their percussion rig and took plenty of pictures of their percussionist performing. Very cool stuff!
Joel Rosenberg!
This is a picture of Joel Rosenberg! Famous author who wrote The Last Jihad and other great books that include a synposis of the gospel in each one. His hope in writing these books was that he could his creative writing skills as a platform from which to share the gospel with his non-believing audience.
Basically, as he explained, in each of his books he would write about some relevant world event and then use that as a way to launch into the gospel about two-thirds into the book. He wanted to write in such a way that would captivate his audience and draw them in to read more and then be able to share the gospel. VERY cool and exciting that he was there among us staff. It's a really inspiring story and I must read his books when I get the chance. If any of you have read it before, please let me know how they are!
Speed dating
Yes, that's right. SPEED DATING. Dr. Henry Cloud, famous Christian author who wrote major counseling books like Boundaries and Changes that Heal came to CSU to give all the single Crusade staff a seminar on dating and relationships.
At first I was thinking, "What is this?! Speed dating??? This is wack!" But after I heard what he had to say and understood his viewpoint better I actually ended up agreeing with him.
For those who have never heard of the phenomenon called speed dating, it's basically sitting down with a person for three minutes, asking a series of questions to see whether or not you might be potentially interested in this person for future interest. But since you are actually sitting down with a total stranger for three minutes with totally exclusive time with them, it is considered a date. And because it is such a short one, it's called a speed date, hence the term speed dating. Very interesting, right?
He explained to the staff a scenario about a woman whose view on dating was extremely conservative and almost anti-faith when you broke down her view on relationships. She basically believed that God would simply bring the person into her life that she's supposed to marry. She would just pray, keep on doing what she's doing, and trust God to bring him in when the time is right. Granted that's not an entirely narrow view, it doesn't really require much faith or self-initiative on her part to be in the right place at the right time to meet that right peson.
Through a series of questions he discovered that this woman was desperate for fellowship and hadn't had a date for two years. She doesn't have nearly any interaction with men and isn't meeting anyone new. Dr. Cloud's question to her was, "how are you supposed to meet him if you don't put yourself in a place of visibility?"
Long story short, he became her dating coach to help her move forward from where she was because with the mentality she was holding onto, she wasn't going anywhere and hadn't in the past two years. He told her to go meet five new men each week and have enough conversation with them in order to find out some things about them like where they were from, what were their jobs, and what their faith looked like.
At first that sounds really dangerous but Dr. Cloud's whole intention was not for her to "hook up" with five guys in a week. No. His point was for her to get talking with men and along the way discover what she did and didn't like in the man she was looking to marry. So she wasn't asked to go on dates but merely talk so that she was moving forward from her spot in this area of her life and growing in her faith. All in all, within six months, I believe it was, she was happily married. If only it was that easy!
Anyways, so Dr. Cloud's entire point of having a speed dating session with the Crusade staff was to promote interaction between all the single staff. Most of us would never had had conversations with each other if we had not had the speed dating session. Some took it more serious than others but all in all, I really thought it was a beautiful thing because we were just getting to know each other as the body of Christ and promoting safe, healthy interactions with the opposite sex to help those who have been stuck to move on. And that was great.
Did I participate? Nope. Unfortunately. Now that I look back on it, I regret it. Drat. I should've at least tried a few times but I was a bit timid and plus I really had to have a serious conversation with a friend that night whom I wasn't really on good terms with. So I wasn't exactly in the mood or mindset to be kind and courteous and engaging with people at the time. But there is always another time!
What's funny is that after the speed dating session a lot of the guys at the conference had a renewed sense of boldness, I guess you could call it, and started asking out girls left and right! It was quite amusing to hear that one of my female friends from new staff training got asked out a few times by different guys. Gee, I wonder who that could be ;)
This is one of my favorite pictures from CSU. After our last session there, we had an all-staff party outside of the main stadium and I caught the sunset sky in B&W with my camera before it went away. BEAUTIFUL!
Janie! I am going to miss this girl. Janie, for those who haven't read past blog entries, is from Brazil and came over here to train with us for music ministry. This was the last time we got to see her before she went back! so sad! We wish you well Janie!
One of my favorite pasttimes while at CSU was going to one of the local pubs that had a sweet shuffleboard table! Don't worry, no unwholesome activity happened while there. :) We occasionally went there to unwind and hang out and, of course, play shuffleboard. Fun times!
So, as I said, the staff had a party the last night after our last main session. It was really humid but then started to rain a bit which was quite refreshing! This is a picture of Jamie Resh, Kelly Rudisill and one of their staff friends in the rain.
Since it was the last night there, a bunch of us from my new staff training class all hung out and talked until about 12 in the morning since for almost all of us this would be the last time we'd see them for another two years! It's quite sad but that's just the dynamic of being on staff with Crusade. You learn to kinda ebb and flow with the friendships you make because you know you really can't keep in good contact with them unless you're really intentional about phone calls, e-mails, etc. Otherwise you really won't just naturally bump into these people and talk with them!
Mike Powers and Kelly Burch. Kelly is actually from the Indiana area! We got to hang out on the Sunday following after staff conference. She took me to check out her church, Traders Point, which is close to where I live, since I'm still in the process of becoming part of a church.
Jamie Resh is on staff with Student Venture and is a RIOT. She's a super cool sister and I'm sure Piper Down looks forward to making working her in the future for an outreach! Here she is with a few Keynote folks: Andrea Sather, Corbitt, myself, and Laura "D".
This was the last time myself, Corbitt and other folks got to see Mary Elizabeth before she left for her missions assignment! We definitely are praying for her and wish her all the best as she's out there. I know she's going to do great works for God. Keep strong M E!
Of course, M E with the fellas. Here, we are, her three best guy friends from new staff training. She's such a fun sister. We love you lots!
And that's it! Again, as I wrote in my last entry, God spoke to me in very powerful and important ways at CSU concerning my vision for a lifetime of ministry and where He's leading me. That made my time there an invaluable experience that I don't think I'll ever forget. I'm looking forward to many more CSU's in the future.
Here are the rest of the pictures from Colorado!
Fernando Orega in concert!
I can't believe Fernando Ortega used to be a part of Keynote ministries. WOW. I still can't get over that. I'm not sure when he was on staff with Crusade but older staff have told me that he's given concerts numerous times before in the past so this concert was no new thing. He is definitely an example to aspire to considering he came out of Crusade as is now a professional musician on a recording label as a major Christian artist.I didn't get to catch a lot of it but I still really enjoyed what I got to hear.
The Rock and the Rabbi:
The Rock and the Rabbi is a Christian musical all about the relationship between Peter, the Rock, and Jesus, the Rabbi. It was an EXCELLENT, EXCELLENT show. VERY VERY well done and very professional. Apparently they perform in front of audiences whom are mostly non-Christian and don't get exposed to the gospel in such a creative way as this. They tour in certain parts of the country and tour as often as they can.
The score is purely original and it incorporates a lot of interesting percussion instruments and musical arrangements for songs that were very creative. As a fellow drummer, of course, I was enchnanted by their percussion rig and took plenty of pictures of their percussionist performing. Very cool stuff!
Joel Rosenberg!
This is a picture of Joel Rosenberg! Famous author who wrote The Last Jihad and other great books that include a synposis of the gospel in each one. His hope in writing these books was that he could his creative writing skills as a platform from which to share the gospel with his non-believing audience.
Basically, as he explained, in each of his books he would write about some relevant world event and then use that as a way to launch into the gospel about two-thirds into the book. He wanted to write in such a way that would captivate his audience and draw them in to read more and then be able to share the gospel. VERY cool and exciting that he was there among us staff. It's a really inspiring story and I must read his books when I get the chance. If any of you have read it before, please let me know how they are!
Speed dating
Yes, that's right. SPEED DATING. Dr. Henry Cloud, famous Christian author who wrote major counseling books like Boundaries and Changes that Heal came to CSU to give all the single Crusade staff a seminar on dating and relationships.
At first I was thinking, "What is this?! Speed dating??? This is wack!" But after I heard what he had to say and understood his viewpoint better I actually ended up agreeing with him.
For those who have never heard of the phenomenon called speed dating, it's basically sitting down with a person for three minutes, asking a series of questions to see whether or not you might be potentially interested in this person for future interest. But since you are actually sitting down with a total stranger for three minutes with totally exclusive time with them, it is considered a date. And because it is such a short one, it's called a speed date, hence the term speed dating. Very interesting, right?
He explained to the staff a scenario about a woman whose view on dating was extremely conservative and almost anti-faith when you broke down her view on relationships. She basically believed that God would simply bring the person into her life that she's supposed to marry. She would just pray, keep on doing what she's doing, and trust God to bring him in when the time is right. Granted that's not an entirely narrow view, it doesn't really require much faith or self-initiative on her part to be in the right place at the right time to meet that right peson.
Through a series of questions he discovered that this woman was desperate for fellowship and hadn't had a date for two years. She doesn't have nearly any interaction with men and isn't meeting anyone new. Dr. Cloud's question to her was, "how are you supposed to meet him if you don't put yourself in a place of visibility?"
Long story short, he became her dating coach to help her move forward from where she was because with the mentality she was holding onto, she wasn't going anywhere and hadn't in the past two years. He told her to go meet five new men each week and have enough conversation with them in order to find out some things about them like where they were from, what were their jobs, and what their faith looked like.
At first that sounds really dangerous but Dr. Cloud's whole intention was not for her to "hook up" with five guys in a week. No. His point was for her to get talking with men and along the way discover what she did and didn't like in the man she was looking to marry. So she wasn't asked to go on dates but merely talk so that she was moving forward from her spot in this area of her life and growing in her faith. All in all, within six months, I believe it was, she was happily married. If only it was that easy!
Anyways, so Dr. Cloud's entire point of having a speed dating session with the Crusade staff was to promote interaction between all the single staff. Most of us would never had had conversations with each other if we had not had the speed dating session. Some took it more serious than others but all in all, I really thought it was a beautiful thing because we were just getting to know each other as the body of Christ and promoting safe, healthy interactions with the opposite sex to help those who have been stuck to move on. And that was great.
Did I participate? Nope. Unfortunately. Now that I look back on it, I regret it. Drat. I should've at least tried a few times but I was a bit timid and plus I really had to have a serious conversation with a friend that night whom I wasn't really on good terms with. So I wasn't exactly in the mood or mindset to be kind and courteous and engaging with people at the time. But there is always another time!
What's funny is that after the speed dating session a lot of the guys at the conference had a renewed sense of boldness, I guess you could call it, and started asking out girls left and right! It was quite amusing to hear that one of my female friends from new staff training got asked out a few times by different guys. Gee, I wonder who that could be ;)
This is one of my favorite pictures from CSU. After our last session there, we had an all-staff party outside of the main stadium and I caught the sunset sky in B&W with my camera before it went away. BEAUTIFUL!
Janie! I am going to miss this girl. Janie, for those who haven't read past blog entries, is from Brazil and came over here to train with us for music ministry. This was the last time we got to see her before she went back! so sad! We wish you well Janie!
One of my favorite pasttimes while at CSU was going to one of the local pubs that had a sweet shuffleboard table! Don't worry, no unwholesome activity happened while there. :) We occasionally went there to unwind and hang out and, of course, play shuffleboard. Fun times!
So, as I said, the staff had a party the last night after our last main session. It was really humid but then started to rain a bit which was quite refreshing! This is a picture of Jamie Resh, Kelly Rudisill and one of their staff friends in the rain.
Since it was the last night there, a bunch of us from my new staff training class all hung out and talked until about 12 in the morning since for almost all of us this would be the last time we'd see them for another two years! It's quite sad but that's just the dynamic of being on staff with Crusade. You learn to kinda ebb and flow with the friendships you make because you know you really can't keep in good contact with them unless you're really intentional about phone calls, e-mails, etc. Otherwise you really won't just naturally bump into these people and talk with them!
Mike Powers and Kelly Burch. Kelly is actually from the Indiana area! We got to hang out on the Sunday following after staff conference. She took me to check out her church, Traders Point, which is close to where I live, since I'm still in the process of becoming part of a church.
Jamie Resh is on staff with Student Venture and is a RIOT. She's a super cool sister and I'm sure Piper Down looks forward to making working her in the future for an outreach! Here she is with a few Keynote folks: Andrea Sather, Corbitt, myself, and Laura "D".
This was the last time myself, Corbitt and other folks got to see Mary Elizabeth before she left for her missions assignment! We definitely are praying for her and wish her all the best as she's out there. I know she's going to do great works for God. Keep strong M E!
Of course, M E with the fellas. Here, we are, her three best guy friends from new staff training. She's such a fun sister. We love you lots!
And that's it! Again, as I wrote in my last entry, God spoke to me in very powerful and important ways at CSU concerning my vision for a lifetime of ministry and where He's leading me. That made my time there an invaluable experience that I don't think I'll ever forget. I'm looking forward to many more CSU's in the future.
This entry was posted by Christopher Wu, on
Wednesday, August 24, 2005.
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