Long before the Shrek movies and American Idol grabbed it and made it mainstream, I remember being in my college dorm room as a Freshmen, laying on my twin bed with the lights turned off, listening to Jeff Buckley's amazing rendition of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" turned as loud as my Costco stereo system could possibly handle! Buckley, who drowned in Memphis, Tennessee, 15 years ago this month, had one of the most incredible and passionate voices I have ever heard.
Last Thursday, Marie and I, had the honor of being part of Birth Choice Health Clinic's 31st anniversary celebration at the Crystal Cathedral. Leading in worship was Evan Wickham. I have one of Evan's CD's from 2009, but I had never heard Evan perform live before. It was incredible! Evan backed up by a great band and aided by the acoustics of the Cathedral, sounded "Buckley-esque" if I am allowed to say such a thing. The thing that made it for me,even more powerful than a Buckley performance, was the fact that Evan's lyrics were all about Jesus and his worship of Him as our Savior and Deliverer. ( By the way...Come here Matt Davis at Calvary lead us in Evan's song, "Our Deliverer" this Sunday!).
Evan's younger brother, Phil is also an incredible and well-known musician, who blows me away with his lyrics and passionate voice in leading people to worship Jesus Christ. You have to spend a couple of minutes and watch Phil singing a song from his 2009 album Heaven and Earth called, "Heaven Song" at his home Church in San Diego in 2011. This song and Phil's vocals are the closest thing to Jeff Buckley I have ever heard. So amazing!
Also - Speaking of Phil Wickham, I just saw today on twitter, that he is releasing a FREE live album recorded at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa beginning today, May 15th. Go here to his website to get it..
Speaking To a Roomful of Powerful People
Metaxas also recently took over the radio ministry of his friend Chuck Colson, who passed away last weekend. Metaxas writes about Colson's passing here.
I also like Metaxas' interview with Tim Keller
and you can more about Eric on his website, www.ericmetaxas.com
But what really impressed me about Metaxas was the way he spoke to a roomful of the most powerful people in the world at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington DC a few months ago.
Here is a great photo from Eric's website of the Vice President of the United States taking a photo of Eric and President Obama with Eric's iPhone!
Now It's My Turn To Get Baptized
I am sure police officer's children play "cops and robbers" and Doctor's kids play "hospital" and maybe school teachers sons and daughters play "school", but what do Pastor's kids play in the backyard? Baptism's of course, hahaha. Here are my 2 oldest, pretending to baptize each other the other day...
Caine's Arcade
There is a wonderful grassroots story that has emerged out of Boyle Heights (East Los Angeles) over the past year. It is about a 9 year old boy and his arcade. I dare you to watch this short film and not cry!
To find out directions to the arcade or for more info: Caine's Arcade
To give to Caine's college scholarship fund: Caine's College Scholarship Fund
Want to support and get involved in similar inspiring stories of inner city kids living right here in Orange County? Check out 2 organizations in Santa Ana that I have come to love and support:
KidWorks
Santa Ana Boxing Club
To find out directions to the arcade or for more info: Caine's Arcade
To give to Caine's college scholarship fund: Caine's College Scholarship Fund
Want to support and get involved in similar inspiring stories of inner city kids living right here in Orange County? Check out 2 organizations in Santa Ana that I have come to love and support:
KidWorks
Santa Ana Boxing Club
Attention All Hipster Pastor's
I came across a great website for Church creative types today while looking over Ryan Roehl's shoulder at his laptop today in a meeting at Church...It called Church Stage Design Ideas..
Also: My friend and co-worker, Victor Estrada showed up to lunch today with a thing called a "bookbook." It is basically a wallet and an iPhone holder/protector in one!
It is amazing! It is now on my wish list for Father's Day.
Also: My friend and co-worker, Victor Estrada showed up to lunch today with a thing called a "bookbook." It is basically a wallet and an iPhone holder/protector in one!
It is amazing! It is now on my wish list for Father's Day.
Up From the Grave He Arose!
The tomb is empty.
The cross is vacant.
Death could not bury Him.
Sin could not defeat Him.
Our Savior, Jesus Christ is alive!!
Check out this You Tube video of 2 boys singing their hearts out to the wonderful truths
of the classic hymn, "Low in the Grave He Lay."
The cross is vacant.
Death could not bury Him.
Sin could not defeat Him.
Our Savior, Jesus Christ is alive!!
Check out this You Tube video of 2 boys singing their hearts out to the wonderful truths
of the classic hymn, "Low in the Grave He Lay."
Easter Egg Hunt at Cabrillo Park in Santa Ana
Our Church, Calvary Church in Santa Ana (Ca), is excited to host our 4th annual Easter Egg Hunt the day before Easter this year on Saturday, April 7th at 9am at Cabrillo Park in Santa Ana. This year we are distributing over 10,000 Easter Eggs to the kids in our neighborhood! If you live close by, we would love your help in volunteering to run the Egg hunt or bringing your kids to participate. If you want more info or want to volunteer, email me at mdoan@calvarylife.org
Today, I received this heads up email from our executive pastor about an Easter Egg hunt in Colorado Springs, Colorado that took a turn for the worst last Easter. Read about it in the USA TODAY here...
Both my brother and sister and their families live in Colorado Springs and have small children. Coincidence? I think not...
The Awkward Prayer
I love being a Dad. I really do. Today was one of those days that reminded me of how much I love being a Dad. Our oldest daughter is a 1st grader at the Christian school attached to our Church.
My office and her classroom are about 10 yards apart! Yet there are days that I get so focused on what I am doing in my little world, that I forget that we are on the same campus. Today I was walking from one meeting to the next across our campus when I saw her and her classmates out on the playground for what they call, "first recess." She saw me walking past the playground and ran up to me smiling saying, "Daddy, Daddy!" There is nothing better than being greeted on the playground with excitement by your 1st grade daughter. I gave her a big hug, knelt down next to her and asked her what she was playing.
Then in her sweet, high pitched 1st grade voice told me, "well, this girl is not playing with this girl, so I am talking to the girl whose feeling are hurt, trying to cheer her up. (yes - the drama begins in 1st grade)." I looked at her with compassion and said, "that is so nice of you. I am proud of you for having a heart for your friend whose feelings are hurt. Let's pray right now, for you friends, that they can get along the rest of the day." (In my mind, I was being a great, Godly father in this moment).
What came next, surprised me....My daughter got this panicked look on her face and said, "no, Daddy, no..don't pray here, don't pray..." I looked at her kind of hurt and said, "no, I think we should pray, let's pray right now (and then began to pray). I said amen, she looked at me with kind of a funny look on her face, gave me a big hug and then said, "love you" and ran off to play with her friends.
After school, I asked her about our little awkward prayer time and she said, "Daddy, it's just something kids understand about prayer." I looked at her confused and said, "what do you mean, what do kids understand, that I don't about praying on the playground? Did it embarrass you or make you feel like you were in trouble or something." She said, "no, nothing like that, it just is something kids understand." And at that, I smiled and said, "Okay, I will be more sensitive to that, next time I try to pray on the playground with you."
I love being a Dad because of conversations like this. It reminds me that when it comes to being a Dad and a spiritual leader of my family, I have so much to learn, so much room to grow. It also reminds me of the precious nature of building a spiritual relationship with my daughter. Sometimes, it will be difficult, sometimes it will be easy, but it will never be predictable! And I like that. It keeps me humble and dependent on God as a Dad. I will never stop praying for my daughter. I will never stop looking for opportunities to point her towards Jesus and the wonderful news of the Gospel. I will never stop pursuing her heart and displaying the Father's love to her. But I might stop praying with her out loud on the school playground, hahaha.
I came across a great blog post from Perry Noble today on Dad's and Daughters that kind of connects to my interaction with my daughter today. Check it out here.
My office and her classroom are about 10 yards apart! Yet there are days that I get so focused on what I am doing in my little world, that I forget that we are on the same campus. Today I was walking from one meeting to the next across our campus when I saw her and her classmates out on the playground for what they call, "first recess." She saw me walking past the playground and ran up to me smiling saying, "Daddy, Daddy!" There is nothing better than being greeted on the playground with excitement by your 1st grade daughter. I gave her a big hug, knelt down next to her and asked her what she was playing.
Then in her sweet, high pitched 1st grade voice told me, "well, this girl is not playing with this girl, so I am talking to the girl whose feeling are hurt, trying to cheer her up. (yes - the drama begins in 1st grade)." I looked at her with compassion and said, "that is so nice of you. I am proud of you for having a heart for your friend whose feelings are hurt. Let's pray right now, for you friends, that they can get along the rest of the day." (In my mind, I was being a great, Godly father in this moment).
What came next, surprised me....My daughter got this panicked look on her face and said, "no, Daddy, no..don't pray here, don't pray..." I looked at her kind of hurt and said, "no, I think we should pray, let's pray right now (and then began to pray). I said amen, she looked at me with kind of a funny look on her face, gave me a big hug and then said, "love you" and ran off to play with her friends.
After school, I asked her about our little awkward prayer time and she said, "Daddy, it's just something kids understand about prayer." I looked at her confused and said, "what do you mean, what do kids understand, that I don't about praying on the playground? Did it embarrass you or make you feel like you were in trouble or something." She said, "no, nothing like that, it just is something kids understand." And at that, I smiled and said, "Okay, I will be more sensitive to that, next time I try to pray on the playground with you."
I love being a Dad because of conversations like this. It reminds me that when it comes to being a Dad and a spiritual leader of my family, I have so much to learn, so much room to grow. It also reminds me of the precious nature of building a spiritual relationship with my daughter. Sometimes, it will be difficult, sometimes it will be easy, but it will never be predictable! And I like that. It keeps me humble and dependent on God as a Dad. I will never stop praying for my daughter. I will never stop looking for opportunities to point her towards Jesus and the wonderful news of the Gospel. I will never stop pursuing her heart and displaying the Father's love to her. But I might stop praying with her out loud on the school playground, hahaha.
I came across a great blog post from Perry Noble today on Dad's and Daughters that kind of connects to my interaction with my daughter today. Check it out here.
Serving Santa Ana
Over the last couple of years, my heart has become really burdened for the city of Santa Ana and particularly the children of our city. Over 80% of the students in the Santa Ana school district are on the free/reduced lunch program, meaning their families are below the state poverty line. 50% of the 330,000 residents of Santa Ana are under the age of 18. What these 2 stats obviously indicate is this...
Our city is very young and our city is economically poor.
When a city is predominately young and economically poor 3 results naturally occur:
#1 - Schools become overcrowded, under resourced and low performing (*although our Santa Ana Schools have been making huge improvements over the past couple of years!)
#2 - Crime increases, particularly gang affliation (Over 5,000 Santa Ana kids under 18 are involved in gangs)
#3 - Families often struggle with overwhelming busyness, stress, depression and apathy
As I have lived in our city and served in our city, I have seen these struggles occur all over our city, block to block, neighborhood to neighborhood.
Yet the good news is this...I have also seen our mighty God at work in Santa Ana, doing beautiful things in the city.God is using school teachers, administrators, city leaders, entrepreneurs, parents, kids and Churches to love the city of Santa Ana and serve the people of the city.Over the past couple of years, I have had the honor to meet and become friends with so many of these amazing people. People like Anthony Serrano, who gives his life to coach kids at the Santa Ana Boxing Club and Kate Medina, who drives kids all over Santa Ana and beyond taking them camping, to Church, to Angel games whenever and wherever she can!.
Both Anthony and Kate serve with the Orange County Youth Commission. The O.C.Y.C. is making a huge impact in kids lives through people like Anthony and Kate! Recently, we were asked at Calvary Church to help develop a promo video for the O.C.Y.C. and I tapped my friend (and former roommate!) Chad Ashton from our Church to put a piece together. I love what he came up with...watch below...
Our city is very young and our city is economically poor.
When a city is predominately young and economically poor 3 results naturally occur:
#1 - Schools become overcrowded, under resourced and low performing (*although our Santa Ana Schools have been making huge improvements over the past couple of years!)
#2 - Crime increases, particularly gang affliation (Over 5,000 Santa Ana kids under 18 are involved in gangs)
#3 - Families often struggle with overwhelming busyness, stress, depression and apathy
As I have lived in our city and served in our city, I have seen these struggles occur all over our city, block to block, neighborhood to neighborhood.
Yet the good news is this...I have also seen our mighty God at work in Santa Ana, doing beautiful things in the city.God is using school teachers, administrators, city leaders, entrepreneurs, parents, kids and Churches to love the city of Santa Ana and serve the people of the city.Over the past couple of years, I have had the honor to meet and become friends with so many of these amazing people. People like Anthony Serrano, who gives his life to coach kids at the Santa Ana Boxing Club and Kate Medina, who drives kids all over Santa Ana and beyond taking them camping, to Church, to Angel games whenever and wherever she can!.
Both Anthony and Kate serve with the Orange County Youth Commission. The O.C.Y.C. is making a huge impact in kids lives through people like Anthony and Kate! Recently, we were asked at Calvary Church to help develop a promo video for the O.C.Y.C. and I tapped my friend (and former roommate!) Chad Ashton from our Church to put a piece together. I love what he came up with...watch below...
A Fiery Prayer from a 3 Years Old
Our dear friends in life and ministry Matt and Marilee Davis, recorded this prayer from their 3 year old son last fall and after listening to it again the other night, I just had to share it with you...So Classic.
Jed's Prayer from Calvary Arts & Media on Vimeo.
Jed's Prayer from Calvary Arts & Media on Vimeo.
Gungor is Good
I realize I am a little late to the party, but wow, I have to recommend the band "Gungor" to you if you haven't already been listening to them for the past couple of years. Their lyrics, musical talent and full length albums are amazing! And they are coming to play a live show in Santa Ana next month!
Here a live recording of their song "Beautiful Things":
Here is a instrumental version of the "Doxology" from that same recording session:
Here a live recording of their song "Beautiful Things":
Here is a instrumental version of the "Doxology" from that same recording session:
Free Preaching Conference Coming March 15th
To My Fellow Pastors: My buddy (and boss!) at Calvary, Eric Wakeling, recently told me about a FREE preaching conference coming up presented by Preaching Rocket. Preaching Rocket is a new on-line community which is officially launches on March 1st. The idea is to give a forum on Preaching, for Pastors, where they can learn and grow from one another. I am really excited about the site and about the conference which is being help on March 15th from 10am to 1pm, Pacific Time and features, Andy Stanley, Louie Giglio, Perry Noble and others.
Here is the link to sign up for the Free Conference...
Also, speaking of Conferences, here are a couple of other upcoming ministry conferences I am planning or hoping to go to:
Orphan Summit - Christian Alliance for Orphans (May 3-4 at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Ca)
Preaching in the Wind - Biblical Preaching in a Skeptical Culture (April 27th at Biola University)
Here is the link to sign up for the Free Conference...
Also, speaking of Conferences, here are a couple of other upcoming ministry conferences I am planning or hoping to go to:
Orphan Summit - Christian Alliance for Orphans (May 3-4 at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Ca)
Preaching in the Wind - Biblical Preaching in a Skeptical Culture (April 27th at Biola University)
Worship thru Music Response to John 15
I have the honor of preaching at Calvary in a couple of weeks on John 15:1-11.
This beautiful and challenging passage ranks high on my favorite chapters of the Bible list (along with Psalm 103, Psalm 139, Isaiah 53, John 10, Romans 8, 1 Corinthians 15, all of Colossians and 1 Peter 5!).
In John 15, Jesus is transitioning from the upper room and the last supper with the disciples, to the garden of Gethsemane where he will spend the evening in prayer before being arrested, tried and crucified on a tree. Jesus calls his disciples (and us) in John 15, to a life of friendship and abiding in Him as the true vine and source of life. I love, love, love this passage!
In my prep for the upcoming message, I came across a song that I believe really captures the heart of Jesus' words in John 15. It is called "Full Attention" by Jeremy Riddle. Check it out here and here
and read the lyrics to the song below and if you go to Calvary, look for Victor and the crew to mix this song into our worship set over the next couple of weeks.
"Full Attention" by Jeremy Riddle
May Your voice be louder
May Your voice be clearer
Than all the others
May Your face be dearer
May Your words be sweeter
Than all the others in my life
Please keep my eyes fixed on You
Please wound my heart so deep in You
Keep me abiding, keep me abiding
Keep me abiding that I may bear fruit
May Your your presence be truer
May Your presence be nearer
Than all the others
And may Your light shine brighter
And may Your love move deeper
Than all the other my God
Than all the others in my life
Please keep my eyes fixed on You
Please wound my heart so deep in You
Keep me abiding, keep me abiding
Keep me abiding that I may bear fruit
Please keep my eyes fixed on You
Please wound my heart so deep in You
Keep me asking, keep me near
Keep me abding that I may be a fruit
Keep me close to You
Oh, right next to Your heart
Close to You
This beautiful and challenging passage ranks high on my favorite chapters of the Bible list (along with Psalm 103, Psalm 139, Isaiah 53, John 10, Romans 8, 1 Corinthians 15, all of Colossians and 1 Peter 5!).
In John 15, Jesus is transitioning from the upper room and the last supper with the disciples, to the garden of Gethsemane where he will spend the evening in prayer before being arrested, tried and crucified on a tree. Jesus calls his disciples (and us) in John 15, to a life of friendship and abiding in Him as the true vine and source of life. I love, love, love this passage!
In my prep for the upcoming message, I came across a song that I believe really captures the heart of Jesus' words in John 15. It is called "Full Attention" by Jeremy Riddle. Check it out here and here
and read the lyrics to the song below and if you go to Calvary, look for Victor and the crew to mix this song into our worship set over the next couple of weeks.
"Full Attention" by Jeremy Riddle
May Your voice be louder
May Your voice be clearer
Than all the others
May Your face be dearer
May Your words be sweeter
Than all the others in my life
Please keep my eyes fixed on You
Please wound my heart so deep in You
Keep me abiding, keep me abiding
Keep me abiding that I may bear fruit
May Your your presence be truer
May Your presence be nearer
Than all the others
And may Your light shine brighter
And may Your love move deeper
Than all the other my God
Than all the others in my life
Please keep my eyes fixed on You
Please wound my heart so deep in You
Keep me abiding, keep me abiding
Keep me abiding that I may bear fruit
Please keep my eyes fixed on You
Please wound my heart so deep in You
Keep me asking, keep me near
Keep me abding that I may be a fruit
Keep me close to You
Oh, right next to Your heart
Close to You
Preaching this week? Read the Passage 50 Times
“...Before I prepare to preach a series of sermons on a book of the
Bible, I first read it out loud 50 times before preaching it."
-John Mitchell ( Founder of Multnomah Bible College in Portland, Oregon)
Quote taken from a great article by Ken Berding on the excellent blog, "The Good Book Blog"
-John Mitchell ( Founder of Multnomah Bible College in Portland, Oregon)
Quote taken from a great article by Ken Berding on the excellent blog, "The Good Book Blog"
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