What the heck happened to Derrick's blog?

You might have noticed that I haven't posted much on here lately. Well, at least the nine of you who still check in every day...

I started this blog about two years ago and, honestly, I got tired of it.

Right around the time I stopped blogging, I started on twitter. Basically, my blog posts were just translated into 140 character messages. I've recently started using Facebook as well. I was way late on boarding that ship but I made it, non the less. But I've got more to say and I've got some new ideas (new for me, at least) on how to communicate it. I'm just about ready to relaunch, with a fresh focus, a new look, and different forms of content.

Keep checking in at derricklogan.com. My plan is to continue using this domain; I'll keep you posted if that changes.

Thanks for sticking with me,
- DLo

10 Things

...I thought would've happened before the Arizona Cardinals played in the Super Bowl:

1. California would've fallen of into the Pacific Ocean.
2. I would've gone on American Gladiators and dominate at such a level that they would invite me to be a permanent gladiator under guise of the name Peaches; specializing in Rocketball, Joust, and just straight staring people down. My finishing move in every event would be known as "The Pit."
3. Mars would've been counted in the U.S. census.
4. Matt Leinart would've retired, become a broadcaster, and at the ripe age of 69 been a contestant on "The Bachelor - Seniors Edition" as they celebrate 50 years of pointless television.
5. There would've no longer been the need for glasses, contacts, hearing aids, or catheters due to scientific advances.
6. A Hawaiian would've successfully create an animal from Spam.
7. Osama bin Laden would've been captured.
8. Nintendo would've come out with new Wii controllers in the form of rubber fingers. The game "Minority Report" would've become a best seller.
9. Apple would've introduced the MacBook Molecule, 32ghz processor, 8 terabytes of ram, and invisible to the naked eye.
10. The Suns would've have won an NBA championship.

A big congratulations to the Arizona Cardinals and their fans. I never thought I'd live to write this post.

Why PVC for Me .:. Pt.1&2

This month marks my second year at Palm Valley Church. I love it here. This place is special. Every time I turn my head or pan my eyes, I see something else that makes me thank God that He's placed me here. This series of posts will be a recollection of the past two years, blended with my favorite things that this church represents, and sprinkled with lots of love and hope for reaching the tens of thousands of people who live in my community and don't know who Jesus Christ is.

We have a growing understanding of the potential of music.

Since I first started (and even before I came) we've used all kinds of music in our services in hopes of relating to the people of our community. Anything from the latest Tomlin and Crowder to the Beatles and Rascal Flatts to St. Francis of Assisi, literally. We understand that God created music, not KLOVE. The spectrum of music here is bright, dark, vast, and narrow; depending on where you're sitting... or if you're walking out. One of my favorite memories of my first two years came a little over a year ago. The message that weekend centered around communicating with God through prayer. Just before the message, we ripped into Bon Jovi's Livin' on a Prayer. Within the first 48 seconds a family stood up from their seat and walked out the door.

"We aren't the church for everyone."

It was obvious they were Christians, the bible fanny packs gave them away (no knock on the Bible zipper pouch, if you have one :) ). This was a family that was visiting us for the first time and... bless their hearts... they had no idea what they were in for. I obviously don't know this family, but for me they represent the boat-loads of Christians who have walked through the doors of PVC only to march out moments later. For various reasons. We didn't play music they liked. They weren't "fed" during the message. The person sitting next to them had a neck tattoo. They got uncomfortable hearing truth. Whatever. See... the thing is... we're passionate about reaching lost people with knowledge of Jesus. No, seriously... we're PASSIONATE about it. I think it was Rick Warren who said "everyone wants to reach lost people until you start reaching lost people." I'd take it a step further: Christians stop reaching lost people when the necessary means of reaching people interfere with the unnecessary needs of the already Believer. The bottom line is we don't spend a lot of time trying to please Christians; our efforts are focused on discipling people (leading people to take that next step in their walk towards Christ).

It starts at the top. Our pastor is known for saying "we're not the church for everyone." This has been he most liberating statement of my first two years here. That statement if freedom for me. I'm free to plan and create without the need of contouring what I do to appease or pacify. I'm free to try new things and push the envelope. I'm free to pour into people and challenge them to lead. I'm free to loving send people away when they don't connect with the vision of our church. I'm free knowing that I'm trusted; my lead pastor and the staff have my back. Most importantly, I'm free to be me.

Prayer Needed

Please keep Kim, Jude, and I in your prayers.

Kim came home after substitute teaching a week and half ago and brought with her a crazy cold. Now we all have it; Jude's even running a fever. I fought through it all this week but it's starting to hit me pretty tough. Kim's still battling it after a week.

Yes, sickness is just a part of life... but it's coming at a pretty bad time for us. We leave Monday for a week long vacation to see family in Tennessee. We've already been a little uneasy about the trip because it'll be Jude's first time flying and only our second time taking him anywhere for an overnight stay. We don't want to spread this sickness; we'll be around a ton of travelers on Monday and I'm not thrilled about bring this into my grandparents home either.

We've got a ton of stuff to do before we even get to Monday. I've got five services at church this weekend, Kim has photo shoots, cleaning, and packing to finish. It's just coming at a bad time!

Please pray that God heals us immediately. Thank you!

9.20-21

Worship Set
Salvation's Chorus (listen) (buy) (Fields)
Marvelous Light (Hall, Stanfill version)
Happy Day (Hughes)
Create in Me a Clean Heart/My Chains Are Gone (Keith Green/Tomlin)

Caught Up

I've backed posted the set lists I failed to post from late July to the present. You can check 'em here...

7.26-27
8.2-3
8.9-10
8.16-17
8.23-24
8.30-31
9.6-7
9.13-14

Creative Chaos // 1

Every Thursday, Ragamuffin Soul hosts a "blog carnival" where bloggers can share creative things they're doing at their church to reach people for Christ. I'm jumpin into the chaos...

This coming weekend at Palm Valley Church will be the third week of a five week teaching series called Ultimate Fighter. It's been a killer series thus far. Not because of cool videos, music, graphics, or staging (that you'll get a glimpse at in a moment) but because men in our community are waking up to who Christ is, what He has to offer them, and what He's calling them to. Killer stuff.

First off, if you're not familiar with Palm Valley, we're portable. When meet at a high school in a southwest suburb of Phoenix. We run five identical services each weekend, utilizing the school's auditorium as our worship center.

For this series, we transformed our stage to resemble a UFC "octagon". The large set created a space dilemma for our band so we found space on stage we hadn't used before. Although I was involved with conceptualizing the set design, Sean Smith (our Pastor of Creative Arts) is to credit for pulling it off. There's nothing this guy can't make happen on a stage.

Enjoy the pics!