So, it’s been a rather eventful Friday.  The day started off awesome.  A good buddy of mine took me out on Mosquito Lagoon for a little fish’n.  It was a beautiful day to be out on the water and I had never fished Mosquito Lagoon before.  It was really sweet over there, we saw a couple of manatees and several dolphins.  We caught some trout, a sheeps head and one too many blow fish.  It was a blast.  On the other side of today, we had to take Caleb down to the urgent care center with his first sports-related injury.  As much as he loves sports and as hard as he plays, I just have the feeling this is just the beginning of our trips to doctors and urgent care centers with him.  The good part though is that the injury is not serious, he just pulled something in his knee.  So, he’ll have to wobble along on crutches for a couple of days.  I feel sooo bad for him as he walks along on these mini-size crutches.  Of course, the worst part for Caleb is that he has to miss his first soccer game of the season tomorrow.  Total bummer. 

Sunday was off the chain!!!  That was one seriously kick’n Easter service. I know I’ve said it before, but this is the way I’ve always dreamed church could be.  With the upbeat music, meaningful media, and a message that made me “pause” and rethink priorities, it was a great way to celebrate the day our Lord rose from the dead.  What was cool too was my mom had come into town and it was her first time at C3 since we moved to the theaters. 

I think it’s kind of funny, but when I had first mentioned to my mom about moving into the theaters she was like; why in the world would you do that.  I think for a lot of folks who were raised up in traditional church or maybe from a little bit older generation, it can be very difficult to understand why a church would move into a theater.  But, never the less she came to try it out this weekend.  When she got there Sandi showed her around and then came and found me.  The first thing I asked was, “so, what ya think.”  Her response was classic; “it’s overwhelming; I can’t believe what you’ve done with a theater.”  I thought that was awesome. 

At lunch we talked some more about the services and she was just so impressed with the services and how everything flowed so smoothly.  The best part though, while she’s still a little hesitant on the whole portable church idea, she saw how the passion and vision that God gave Pastor Byron for C3 is working here in our community and it’s working at Regal Cinemas. 

I hope everyone had an awesome Easter and let me say a huge thank you to everyone who volunteered on Sunday.  You guys did a great job and made Easter at C3 extra special.  See ya at Moss Park next Sunday.

Not to mimic Darrell’s blogs from a couple of weeks ago but; I hate being sick!  I’ve had this weird kind of cold this week.  It started on Monday with an extremely sore throat – couldn’t even swallow kind of thing.  Then when I woke up on Tuesday, the sore throat was gone, but I had some serious sinus pressure and my ears were totally stuffed.  Then today I wake up and all the pressure is gone but my nose is running and my head is spinning.  Oh, I hate this.  What’s even worse is I can’t stand sitting still.  So these kind of colds tend to last awhile because I just won’t stop doing stuff.  Maybe I’ll take some Nyquil during the day and see if I can get some rest then.   

Dude, I was just thinking about my last blog and I have to tell you another awesome part of Sundays, and that’s The Crew.  My Sundays start of at around 5:20am when I show up to pick up the trailers from the storage units.  What’s so cool to me is that there is a rotation of guys who show up that early with me and these guys always show up full of energy and ready to go.  To me it’s an awesome picture of what Christ had in mind when He said to put the needs of other above your own.  These guys are up early without complaining and then use their own trucks to tow 10K pound trailers so that church can happen every Sunday.  You guys rock!!! 

Then, we usually get to the theaters around 6am where we meet up with the members our set-up team.  These folks work their tails off to get each theater ready for the day and with Sundays like this past one, they sweet a little too.   But, ya know these folks jack me up for the day.  Just to see their hearts to serve and their smiling faces so early in the morning, it energizes me.  And it never ceases to amaze me how much these guys can efficiently put together in a short amount of time.  You guys are an awesome team, thanks for getting C3 together every morning.

As things start to wrap up on Sundays, that’s when the tear down team jumps into action.  These guys are nothing but pure speed.  They get everything broken down, cleaned up and packed back into the trailers in record times.  This Sunday we almost shaved another 5 minutes off our tear down time.  Just too sweet for words.   To everyone one on The Crew, thanks for everything you do!!!

I so love Sundays at C3!!!  It is so sweet to be a part of a church that believes you should have a blast as you worship God.  God’s not some boring, stiff, quite God, He’s passionate, creative and fun (just look at creation).  And I think He wants us to experience that same passion, creativity and excitement every Sunday.  Even this Sunday I had another parent come up to me and say that their kids were so excited to come to church (imagine that).   

This Sunday was extra sweet in a couple ways.  First, Pastor Byron helped us to see that God wants us to live a life that is full and free.  However, we so often miss that life because we carry around the guilt of our past mistakes.  So what do we do?  We need to be able to forgive ourselves just as God has already forgiven us.  It was an awesome message.  If you missed this Sunday, you can checkout the message online at www.c3orlando.com.

Also this Sunday we made a few changes to C3 Kids.  Our floor space was getting a little cramped for our Power House and Play House ministries, so we moved them into some larger theaters.  Those larger theaters really helped to jack-up the environments.  It gave us a ton more space for the kids to dance, sing and do some cool activities.  Not only that but it also gives our leaders more space to be creative as they help kids have fun as they learn about God.

Then Sundays wrap up with Crave.  I get so pumped at Crave.  We have the most awesome students around.  What I love most about these guys is that they are real, they don’t try to be someone their not and they just try their absolute best to live for God.  Keep up the good work guys – God has some amazing things ahead for you.

I love writing blogs like this, it just gets me even more pumped-up for next Sunday.  Which by the way is Easter, so don’t forget to invite some friends and I’ll see ya at C3. 

Happy Birthday D-Lo

Hey Crave parents and students, are you losing (or deleting) your Crave monthly email before you have all the info committed to memory?   Then check-it-out, we now have 2 places to go so you can permanently view the monthly email.  One spot is here on my blog page.  Just check out the Crave Spam page over there à on the tool bar.  You can also check out the student ministry page on the C3 website.  Both spots will be updated for you monthly with all the latest and greatest in Crave happenings

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Dude, if you’ve never checked-out Crave before and you are in middle or high school, - well ya just gotta come see it for yourself.  Crave is an awesome experience where students can have a blast as they connect with each other and with God.  In fact, this Sunday we’re having a Crave event from 6 to 8pm at Verna Gange’s home and we’d be jacked if you can come and check it out. There is a ton more great info on the Crave Spam button à and if you need any more info or directions just email me at crave@c3orlando.com.

Hey cool, I’m a WordPresser.  So I decided to start to make the transition from Blogspot to WordPress.  Looks pretty cool so far.

Sorry for the barebones page so far, it’s going to take me a little bit to figure out WordPress.  If you would like to check out some past blogs you can check out the old blog at www.travisconrad.blogspot.com.