I don’t post a ton of family stuff here but that doesn’t mean that life at the Vacher home isn’t incredible, exciting, exhilirating and all of those other “-ing” words that describe what goes on in this place! Sonya & I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary this spring and today we celebrated our third daugther’s 1st birthday. For the next two months we have a 3-, 2-, and 1-year old making up the rest of this great family.

We really do take our role as parents seriously and consider it a real honour to parent these three little girls. I’m constantly amazed at how similar & different they each are from one another – so incredible to think that God has designed each one of them in just the right way and now Sonya & I get to see these little lives unfold before us.

Avery, Isabelle & Emmy

Our good friend Gillian took this photo earlier in the spring and she was able to capture beautifully the personality of each of our kids in this one moment. They are my princesses and I treasure each one of them.

If you follow me on twitter then you’ve seen me post about this podcast I’ve been listening to the past couple days but I want to make sure that you get a chance to hear this. Rob Bell is at Mars Hill Church in Grand Rapids, MI and this week he was speaking to his church about why the church sings when we gather together.

One of the comments I made today is that I wish I had heard this message 15 years ago! If you are involved or interested in worship ministry, you MUST listen to this recording. Download the audio, give yourself an hour to listen and pay attention to what he’s saying. Grab your Bible and follow along through the passages that he explores.

But..

This is NOT just for the artsy musicians who like to be a part of the worship team. This is really addressed to the whole church and if the whole idea of the church singing together has always seemed a little… weird… to you, then you MUST listen to this recording. Download the audio, give yourself an hour to listen and pay attention to what he’s saying. Grab your Bible and follow along through the passages that he explores.

Seriously. This is great stuff and Rob makes some amazing points. You can get the audio by click this iTunes link.

If you live in church-world you’re probably familiar with North Point and all the incredible things that they’ve done over the years. No sense in recapping what they’re about but – like ‘em or not! – they’ve made some bold moves over the course of their history and have been committed to doing whatever they can to make sure lots of people are hearing the gospel.

One new thing that they are just launching is an online campus at www.NorthPointOnline.tv. North Point is not the first church to do this (LifeChurch, NewSpring and others have done this) but you know that  if they are going to do it, they are going to do it right.

Check out this preview video -

Tonight was the soft launch of the online campus in preparation for the live service experience on August 16th and I was able to catch part of what was happening. Andy Stanley & Jeff Henderson talked about the what and why of the online campus and then they spent the last part of the session praying for opportunities and for the people who would be impacted.

All in all, these guys have done a great job so far. John Saddington & Carlos Whittaker have been talking this up like crazy and they did not disappoint. They and their teams have pulled off a great-looking environment and even though not everything worked perfectly tonight, they’ve got time to get it up and running for the August 16th launch dates.

Here are some initial impressions from the session tonight -

• The cohesiveness of the environment branding is impressive – but what else would you expect from North Point? The logo, look & feel of the site, promo videos, etc all have a very modern edge to them and they have definitely spent some time thinking about the vibe they want to portray
• Integrating chat, Facebook & Twitter all on the same page is impressive technically but I wonder if it’s too much all at once?
• The pulled back, out of focus camera shot while Jeff and Andy were praying was beautiful – a really nice way to take the attention off of those two guys and encourage the viewer to be focused on prayer
• I’m intrigued by the “live-to-online” concept that these guys are going with. As far as I know (other than a live stream to the web concept) this is the first true online campus that will be doing the full service live as it happens at the originating church. I’m sure there’s the potential for lots to go wrong with that :)
• I appreciated Andy’s comments around North Point’s view of why they should be doing the online campus and of technology in general. While I might not agree 100% with the HOW of what they’re doing, to know that they’ve spent significant time thinking about the WHY is encouraging.
• So why don’t I agree with the how? That’s a long discussion. Here’s an easy touchpoint – At one point Andy said that North Point hopes that the online campus should be a temporary substitute for a local church congregation until someone gets plugged in and comfortable. I’m not sure that North Point really believes that – I think they would be quite happy with people all over the world making the online campus their ‘home church’. If North Point DOES think it’s important and valuable for online campus viewers/participants to be engaged in a local church congregation, I’m guessing that we will see the movement from the NP experience to the local church not only talked about but also encouraged and facilitated.

All in all, these guys have done it again. They began with a dream, got the right people to take the first steps, put a plan in motion and then got to work. I don’t think anyone would disagree that the potential for a tool like this to facilitate the spread of the gospel is immense! I’m excited to see how this plays out and how North Point will encourage the right use of the right kind of technology in other local churches all around the world.

Alright – Fred’s throwing a big birthday party so I thought I’d join in!

This past Sunday at OBC we were talking about the cost of following Jesus – the ‘not-so-fine print’ that He tells us about. We walked through Luke 9 and read the story of the three guys who each have different reasons for not following Jesus in that moment. At the end of the message we were reminded that following Jesus and calling others to follow Him could look like this -

• Proximity – not just living close to people but being close relationally with them as well
• Presence – being the hands & feet of Jesus in our neighbourhoods
• Proclamation – deeds lived out for the sake of the Kingdom and not just as random acts of kindness

We closed our service by asking people to reflect on those three – Proximity, Presence, Proclamation – and to allow God to speak to them. Perhaps there is one of those concepts that they really felt God was calling them to explore and to expand in their lives this week. Closing the service that way was a little bit of an audible since the message went long and we weren’t able to do our expected response songs. Not the end of the world – just different than what we were expecting.

We opened our service with a solid set of 3 songs -

• Your Grace Is Enough – Matt Maher – F
• Everlasting God – Brenton Brown – Bb
• This Is How We Know – Matt Redman – Bb

The first two songs are real winners for our congregation – they love to sing them and join in right away. We did something a little different with “Everlasting God” and opened with the pre-chorus (“Our God, You reign forever..”) four times. We started that section with the band and vocals nice and full and as we went through that pre-chorus four times we brought the band back to a really simple, straight, four-on-the-floor feel and brought the vocals right out front. It was a nice little moment – one of those things that takes the band some work to accomplish and probably nobody in the congregation noticed :) But that’s okay – it helped with the flow of the songs and getting people engaged in what was happening.

“This Is How We Know” is a new Matt Redman track – it’s available on iTunes so check it out. We played the song last Sunday during communion and this week had the congregation sing with us. They got the chorus no problem and we’ll do it again next week to give them a chance to get real familiar with it.

So that was our morning – pretty straightforward, nothing too complicated. Great to be together with our church family, hear from God’s word, lift Him up in worship – love it.

We’ve got one more week of this series left and then we begin a five-week series through the book of Psalms. Really looking forward to that and talking about coming up with some opportunities for people to respond that will help make the messages and the words of that book really stick. Stay tuned!

Here’s a quick video review of the Israel Houghton CD “Power of One” with some added features for the worship leader edition. Check out the videos below –

Okay – so this is stupid. The video works fine on my computer but YouTube has decided to detach the audio from the video. Hopefully you still get the gist.

Israel Houghton – Power of One – iTunes
Worship Leader Edition – WorshipMusic.com
Israel Houghton – iPhone/iPod App

Hey OBC family – if you are coming on Sunday morning we will be doing this new song together. I wanted to post it here so that you would have a chance to hear it and read the lyrics before we gather.

Matt Redman is one of the great songwriters and worship leaders of our generation. We already sing lots of his songs at OBC and I’m excited about learning this one together. I came across it last week and it has helped me think through this idea of the neighbourhood of Jesus being broad enough to include those who are very different from us.

This is how we know, this is how we know what love is
Just one look at Your cross
And this is where we see, this is where we see how love works
For You surrendered Your all

And this is how we know that You have loved us first
This is where we chose to love You in return

For You so loved the world that You gave Your only Son
Love amazing, so divine, we will love You in return
For this life that You give, for this death that You have died
Love amazing, so divine, we will love You in reply, Lord

Our love will be loud
Our love will be strong
Our love shall be hands and feet
That serve You in this world
So let us stay true
And let it endure
That You will be glorified
And worshiped and adored

We’ve started a new series at OBC called “Jesus Neighbourhood” where we are looking at Jesus’ interactions with different people through the book of Luke. Here’s the intro video –

We don’t normally do intro videos like this but we thought we’d do something different for the summer and were able to use an After Effects project from RevoStock.

Before I went on holidays I was hearing pieces of Kate McRae’s story and overwhelmed with what was happening. I don’t know the family personally but as the dad of three little girls, Kate’s story weighed heavy on my heart for days. If you haven’t heard about Kate McRae and the tough road ahead of her, you can get the whole story at www.prayforkate.com

I came home this week and heard that Audrey Assad (one of my favourite singers since hearing her at re:create this year) had written a song for Kate. I hadn’t had a chance to listen to it until today. Oh. My. Ohhh myyyy. Scroll down past the video to see the lyrics.

Pray for Kate. Pray for Kate’s family. Pray that Jesus would be lifted high.

Little Light
Audrey Assad

Look at all the angels watching you
They’re singing songs that we have never heard
Their voices ring like bells over the mountains
Oh, if only we could hear their words
God is near, little girl.

Your eyes are brilliant,deep sky blue.
Your quiet wisdom is an evening song.
The angels must be breathless at your beauty
Like the world catches its breath before the dawn.
God is near, little one.

And Jesus bends to hear you breathe;
His tender hands are holding you tonight.
His heart is ravished when you look at Him,
and oh, the endless mercy in His eyes;
God is here, little light.

I’m wrapping up a couple great weeks of holidays – hence the quiet time around the blog lately. We had some great family time the first week up at my parents’ cottage. The weather didn’t really cooperate but we made the best of it. The second week was awesome – Sonya & I got away to New York City on our own for four days. Incredible city and a great time away. Here’s the quick recap of our trip –

Sonya & I were able to get away this week on our own for the first time since before we had kids. We’ve done nights away here and there but this was really the first time that we’ve gone away for a chunk of days and not had to worry about kid things. Thanks to Sonya’s sister and our nephew we spent four days in NYC and had a blast.

Here’s the day-by-day hilights –

Monday

• We flew out of Toronto early, landed at La Guardia, got our bearings and hit our first of several bus/subway trips to get to Yankee Stadium
• Found a pretty sketchy spot to store our bags while we were at the game – we casually slipped anything worth anything out of our bags and in to Sonya’s purse :)
• Yankee Stadium & the game were incredible. Sonya is a trooper for playing along!
• We could not have possibly had better seats for the game. Unbelievable.
• Made our way from the Bronx down to the Upper West Side and got to our hotel. You have to see the photo of our amazing view – I’ll post it soon.
• Dinner at a very cool dim sum place and then back to the hotel

Tuesday

• Up early to get down for our ferry to the Statue of Liberty – thankfully we got an early ticket because by the time we came off the island the line was ridiculously long.
• Statue of Liberty was very cool – the story of the statue and of liberty is told throughout the landmark itself
• Walked through downtown, grabbed something quick to eat before walking by Ground Zero – no real memorial setup yet but lots of construction going on for the new buildings
• Very moving displays setup at St. Paul’s Chapel telling the story of the 9/11 rescue workers and of the volunteers who helped them in the months following
• Lots of artifacts still in the chapel from that time – letters from kids, patches from fire departments, lots of flags
• Visiting St. Paul’s was pretty emotional and brought back lots of memories
• Another subway trip up to Times Square – just in time to be in the middle of it all during Michael Jackson’s memorial service. Not sure how many photos I got but it was AMAZING to be there for that moment.
• Tuesday night down to Little Italy for dinner at the legendary La Mela – wow!

Wednesday

• It was kind of hard to contain my excitement but we got up early to head to the Regis & Kelly studio – only about 10 blocks south of our hotel
• Surprised at how small the studio is – only seats about 150 and the room is actually really small
• Hayden Panettierre was the big guest – if you think she only looks good on TV, you’re wrong.
• Seeing the production side of the show was pretty cool – very slick operation. Regis & Kelly seem to genuinely enjoy their jobs and their fans – very gracious and good at what they do.
• Regis & Kelly should do a separate contest for Canadians. Not fair.
• We also got to be there for the taping of Regis’ birthday show on August 25th – lucky us!
• Some more time on the west side before heading to Studio 54 to catch Nathan Lane and others in Waiting For Godot. Thanks for the tickets, mum! Incredible play with some very moving moments.
• At some point on Wednesday we ended up in the Apple Store on 5th Avenue – loved it.
• Legit NY pizza on the 16th floor terrace of our hotel is a pretty awesome way to spend an evening.
• Nightcap at a VERY cool underground place called Gus & Gabriel’s. If you are in NY and can get there – go!! It is on 79th between Broadway & Amsterdam. If the waiter recommends the Belhaven Twisted Thistle, take his advice!

Thursday

• For the first time in as long as I can remember I woke up this morning on my own – no alarms or children. Beautiful.
• We spent most of Thursday in Central Park – carriage ride, nice walks, incredible musicians, beautiful fountains. Very cool place.
• Made our way to the Imagine Mosaic and heard the whole story from Gary, the mayor of Strawberry Fields
• American Natural History Museum is an amazing place – Sonya just kept talking about the scene from Friends where Ross & whatshername share some intimate moments in one of the displays. She was disappointed when we couldn’t find it.
• One last stop at the Broadway & 75th Starbucks and then another subway ride back out to La Guardia. Nice to get home and nice to have had a great trip. We’ll definitely go back.

Friday

• I’m not sure how much walking we did over the four days but it was a lot. And today my feet are freaking sore. Really sore!