This past weekend I was honored with the task of guest leading worship for a brand new church plant’s third public worship service. Venia Church is a new church in Murrieta, CA that has been meeting in a pizza parlor. Pastor Tim Thompson used a trash can for a pulpit to deliver the sermon in a room full of local sport team banners and shirts that celebrate the community gathering that takes place in such a locale. If Jesus can be birthed in a barn, I think birthing a church in a pizza place simply rocks!

Right off the bat, this group of people sang. These committed worshippers did not need coaxing to sing. There is nothing fancy here, just people there to worship, so all I had to do was kick off the music. Everyone serving to set up and make the room ready were eager. Sometimes, as a worship leader you have to gently prod or woo to get folks to even pay attention. But, this was not the case. I will not easily forget this sweet time of singing and the memorable message the pastor delivered. If you were there, “Tic Tacs” and the movie “Dumb and Dumber” will actually have a redeemed spiritual connection. If not, excuse the insider lingo.

I had a small team with me: myself on guitars and keys with friends on cajon box and bass guitar. My daughter sang backing vocals and some lead while laying down acoustic guitar. Putting this together was like guerrilla warfare, as is anything to do with church planting. Just for reference, my wife and I have been part of two church start ups over the years. It was fun to see my wife smile in the second row of pizza tables knowing she had that context in her heart and mind. I must mention that the audio guy Taylor was amazing handling what was thrown at him. Worship leaders cannot do their thing effectively without guys like Taylor.

Here are the tunes we sang together:

• Awesome Is The Lord Most High – Chris Tomlin
• Taste And See – Brian and Jenn Johnson
• God Is Able – Hillsong
• Forever Reign – One Sonic Society
• How He Loves – John Mark McMillan
• Beautiful Things – Gungor

Come worship with us next week (May 6). We are actually going to be in a High School auditorium at Vista Murrieta HS. Check here on Venia Church Facebook for details!

How was your worship weekend?

[Set lists from all over the world here! http://www.theworshipcommunity.com/sunday-setlists-197/]

I am excited about teaching a 4-week community class at Rancho Community Church in Temecula, CA. It starts this Wednesday and runs from 6:30 to 8:00 PM (April 11, 18, 25 and May 2). The class is FREE. REGISTER

How to navigate the maze of social networking, video gaming, and online entertainment.

Bring your iPad, Laptop or Smart Phone to interact with the class live!

Consider the following situations:

A local school has police investigating a fake Facebook account where a teen threatens to hurt himself.  A college student jumps off a bridge, then his roommate faces jail time for webcasting his illicit encounter. An employer looks at a social networking site, then chooses to not hire a candidate based on pictures posted.

Social networking, video gaming, and our real lives all intersect with the smart phone in our pocket, our living room cable boxes, and our laptops.  Families need to be equipped to protect themselves and their children from the real threats of the “online” world in which we now live.

Key topics covered:

• Intro: A primer to online life in 2012.
• Online manners: what are they and how to have them!
• How to…
  • Protect your family from online threats.
  • Write an online “code of ethics” and live by them.
  • Use basic online tools to streamline your online time.
  • Leverage online activity for good — making a difference.
  • Keep Video Gaming, Cable, and Satellite TV in balance.
  • Help your family to make better choices online.
• What should I really be afraid about? (This might surprise you!).

If you cannot make it live to our House Concert/Africa Mission event Sunday night May 22 at 6:30pm PST  in Murrieta (http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=171995142856547) you can watch this embedded video here and see us LIVE online. You will be able to login Facebook or Twitter and chat live and interact with us. To go directly to the link, go to http://www.livestream.com/rkweblog/.

I just experienced my first job fair today at the Murrieta Community Center. The above blurred, black and white picture captured the mood I think with the crowd there today. Everything from the power company, casino, to retail and medial were represented. Being more of a creative professional, most of these were not my field of interest, however I did connect with at least two prospects for free lance work.

Our Murrieta Mayor Pro Tem Randon Lane gave a brief introduction and mentioned the terrible statistic of the 15.3% rate of joblessness in the Inland Empire region. As most of you know, this does not count underemployed and unreported figures. So, things are pretty bad in our area.

I had the privilege of briefly speaking with the Mayor where he told me that Murrieta is trying to do more things like this where employers are brought to the people. I applaud that action. Last year he said that over 900 people were lined up outside the building. Clearly, this session had less people but still a good crowd of interested parties and is filling a need.

Our congresswoman, Mary Bono Mack, had some of her representatives there as well to hear the stories of what life is like for folks. I met with them as well. The congresswoman could not make it for travel or weather reasons, but I would loved to have seen her in person.

Here is a question: How has the jobless rate affected your life? Are you a statistic, or is there a story in there for us to hear about?

Recap: It was a wonderful time of worship at The Lamb’s Fellowship in Murrieta, CA. What a great group of people and I thoroughly enjoyed leading with their worship team. Ryan Sharp delivered a sermon challenging us to live out the truth. It was a sweet hearing and seeing this wonderful church in town worship out loud in their four services!

Set List: I got to repeat some songs I did the past couple weeks of guest leading. Yes, you get to do that when you lead in different settings. Here is the set of songs.

• Your Grace Is Enough – Matt Maher
• Majestic – Lincoln Brewster
• Our God Saves – Paul Baloche
• Jesus Paid It All – Passion
• Not To Us – Chris Tomlin

How was your worship weekend? Please share.

For set lists from all over the US and abroad from this past weekend, go to TheWorshipCommunity.Com.

On Being Human In Concert

CD Release Party with bands Cassettes and Pilgrim
April 10 • 5:30 PM

My church, Sunridge Community Church, will be hosting this event. On Being Human are musicians who as Christians tell their story in a way that relates to people from all backgrounds. They formed in 2004 in Murrieta, CA, originally under the name Ocean Daybreak.  Their new CD on Luma Records “To Light the Coals of Hearts” will be released at this special event and include two opening bands, Cassettes and Pilgrim. Their “adventure rock” sound incorporates visual story telling.

There will be giveaways, a BBQ grill with the band and a chance to hear On Being Human perform their entire album.

For more info go to our Facebook Page.

Merry Christmas (or Bah Humbug if you feel grumpy)… I thought I would leak out the naughty list for those who attend Christmas Eve services this year. (Tongue in cheek guys).

• Suzie I-get-up-and-have-to-go-pee-three-times-during-the-service is getting 1 lbs. of coal
• Jimmy my-kid’s-screaming-is-not-heard-by-anyone-around-me is getting 1.7 lbs. of coal
• Bob I-can-save-seats-I-really-don’t-need-for-people-who-will-come-very-late gets 2.4 lbs. of coal
• Julie I-will-sing-as-loudly-out-of-tune-as-possible-to-get-noticed is getting 1 oz. of coal
• Julie’s Mom who smiles with pride and encourages the obnoxious singing gets .5 oz. of coal
• The kid who is thinking about burning the lady’s hair in the row in front of him with his candle–SANTA CAN SEE YOU KID!

Merry Christmas and hope to see you at our Christmas Eve worship tonight if you are in the Temecula-Murrieta Valley: Sunridge site OR Facebook Event link with info here!

If you are in the Temecula – Murrieta Valley area for Christmas, please consider attending our Christmas Eve services at Sunridge Church! All I can say is that our audio guy even wrote a blog post about it due to the production details being so huge.

Go to www.sunridge.tv to test out the beta version of Sunridge Community Church. Its not complete yet, but we are working hard to get it hard-launched as soon as possible.

Give us your feedback here. We are learning a lot and hope to connect to many more in our community.

If you have not already heard, a new era has begun at Sunridge Community Church. If you live in the Temecula-Murrieta Valley and do not have a church to attend, please come this month and experience the change. The following is an invitation from our Interim Pastor, Britt Sipe:

The only constant in life is change. Literally, it doesn’t matter what environment you look at: family, work, personal, even church — all are dynamically in flux. Some changes are expected, many are not. Change can be external or internal. Some changes are welcome, some not so much. So, how can we face the challenge change brings in a way that gives us the best opportunity to move forward and embrace the next new thing? How can we manage the changes life brings in a way that brings stability? And, what does the unchanging Word of Life have to say on this subject?

For the next four weeks we’ll be examining the inevitability of change, the wonder of change, and I expect that most of us will develop a deeper relationship with the change-maker. The recent changes Sunridge is experiencing will prove to be a learning environment for transforming the discomfort of change into pure exhilaration!

Join us beginning this Sunday, November 29th, for Change Happens!

Check out our video on how much people can change.  See if you can guess which member of our pastoral staff is the subject of change.

Britt Sipe
Interim Pastor