RockTheDesert

MIA

I know, I know. I've been missing-in-action. And there's definitely been a lot going on. So much that I had to put blogging on hold in order to hold everything else together!

I'm in the process of creating three new blogs. Yes, three. Hey, why not, right?

The first blog will focus specifically on my cousin, Pati, who was diagnosed about 6 weeks ago with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. Pati, her two daughters, their dog, and Pati's mom (my aunt) will be moving in with us at the end of September. Yeah, that's like a week from today. I predict an emergency remodel in my immediate future.

The second blog will be a fun, recipe blog called "Rock The Dessert" which was inspired by Eric, aka, The Eternal Optimist.

The third blog will be a ministry-focused blog. Worship leading, women's ministry, missions, etc. 

My plan is to blog daily at "Rock The Desert" and then blog regularly at my other three blogs. 

Stay tuned for a great variety of posts in the coming days. Thanks for your patience while I've been re-prioritizing my life and channeling all my creative energy toward Pati. Life is good. Life is busy. I'm back to rocking the desert over in my little corner of Phoenix!

Watercooler Wednesday - Blog Nosh

Today's post is part of Watercooler Wednesday over at Randy Elrod's Ethos blog. Be sure to read Randy's current WCW post called "Dreams Do Come True" and leave a comment!

I've been doing a lot of blog research over the past week or so. I have stumbled across a cool online magazine called "Blog Nosh Magazine" and I'm loving the content so far. I feel like it has the potential to be yet another powerful piece in the whole social network puzzle that I'm trying to put together. Here's an example of a helpful, well-written article I just read at Blog Nosh - "5 Misconceptions About Social Media".

Do you have a favorite online magazine or social networking site or social media resource that you'd care to share with all of us around the watercooler?

20 Questions With Photo Answers

I found the following "meme" on a blog called La Petite Belle - it's a featured Typepad blog. The rules are simple: answer each of the 20 questions - plug your answers into Google Image Search - then upload the photos to blog in place of written answers...the photos themselves are the answers!

1. Your Age On Your Next Birthday

2. A Place You'd Like To Travel

3. Your Favorite Place

4. Your Favorite Object

5. Your Favorite Food

6. Your Favorite Animal

7. Your Favorite Color

8. The Town Where You Were Born

9. The Town Where You Live

10. Name Of A Past Pet

11. Name Of A Past Love

12. Best Friend's Name

13. Your Screen Name

14. Your First Name

15. Your Middle Name

16. Your Last Name

17. Bad Habit You Have

18. Your First Job

19. Name Of Grandmother/s

20. College Grad/Major

My Friend Kelly

Today is Positive Post Tuesday - a blog carnival hosted by Brody Harper. I'm participating for the first time today...check out Brody's post HERE. Oh, and be a comment-writer today - we'd both appreciate it!!

I don't mean to brag, but I've got a lot of very cool friends - I'm blessed with a lot of great friends is more accurate. They all fulfill a different role in my life. And we are all interlinked in some mysterious way with God at the center. I'd like the whole world to meet my friend Kelly. Kelly is a positive person at the very core of her being. A stadium couldn't contain her "full-of-life" personality. I love Kelly because she tells it like it is but in a positive way. I love Kelly because she is an encourager. I love Kelly because life has thrown her some pretty wicked curve balls and she has emerged from the fog closer to God every time. I love Kelly because she makes me laugh. I love Kelly because she is married to Sam and he makes me laugh. I love Kelly because she loves my daughter like a daughter. I love Kelly because she is beautiful and sparkly and humble. I love Kelly because she walks with God and won't compromise her faith. I love Kelly because she used to be in Up With People! I love Kelly because, well, she lets me be myself and then doesn't let me get away with self-pity, bad thinking, or pride...she's not afraid to kick me in the pants when I need it the most, but always in a loving, build-you-up sort of way. We were in a wedding together recently - isn't she lovely (and sparkly)?


 

I'm Back

Stay tuned later today for a post.
Finally.
First, I'm going to work out...something new I've added to my week.
Then I'm going to sit at the computer and try to summarize my unintentional fast of silence.

High Calling Blogs

I joined High Calling Blogs about 1 month ago. HighCallingBlogs.com is "a network of personal websites focused specifically on the intersection of faith and work." I'm very excited about being a part of this network. I hope to interact with a lot of like-minded bloggers and increase the number of RockTheDesert readers at the same time! In my initial signing up, I somehow missed step #1 - this step involves placing a High Calling Banner on my blog. So, today, after talking to a fellow blogger about HCB, I realized that I had never followed through on this. I immediately added a HCB banner in the sidebar. Check it out. Click on it if you want to. You'll be directed to High Calling Blogs. Feel free to browse around and sign up if you feel compelled to. A related site you might want to check out is http://TheHighCalling.org. This is a great website devoted to spiritual formation, encouragement,  and helping Christians connect with God. They have nearly 3000 different resources—including audio messages, interviews, bible reflections, personal reflections, daily reflections, and more.

Uganda Stories

As the stories are pouring out of Randy Elrod's real-time experience in Uganda, I'm trying to do my part in spreading the word about Compassion International and the incredible work God is accomplishing thru their ministry in Uganda and really around the world. Click HERE to be re-directed to Randy's latest entry.

Prayerfully consider sponsoring a child thru Compassion. There's not a better way to spend $32/month. Even if you think you can't possibly afford it, think about this - $1 per day is not so difficult an amount for God to provide through you. If you feel the tug on your heart telling you to go for it, just do it - and ask God to provide that extra $1 per day in whatever way would bring most glory to Him!!

While you're thinking of it, be sure to check out the other bloggers perspective on this Compassion trip to Uganda. Click HERE for a list of blogs.

Remember to PRAY, READ, and SPREAD!

Compassion + Bloggers = Hope

Randy Elrod, the person who inspired me to start a blog, has joined with 16 bloggers from across the country to take an epic, missionary journey to Uganda to see and experience and report firsthand about the need for child sponsorship in Uganda. I'm going to feature daily posts on this topic until they return from Uganda. It is their hope and dream and that they will see over 500 children sponsored as a result of their blogging and the outpouring of compassion from the readers of their blogs. Please consider sponsoring a child for only $32 / month. Here's Randy's entire post from February 10. You can follow the rest of his journey at http://randyelrod.typepad.com. Remember - PRAY, READ, SPREAD!!!

To Uganda With Compassion ...

I am heading to Uganda with 16 other bloggers in hopes of documenting and spreading the life-saving work of Compassion International there.  Compassion International is the first organization of its kind to spread its message through the blogosphere in this way and, as a result, hopefully, release hundreds of children from poverty.

We could use your help making this first-of-its-kind trip a success:

PRAY: Please pray for our technology, creativity, health, families we leave behind, for our thousands of readers and the thousands of children in the third world in need of our help.

READ: Please visit our blogs February 10-18 and leave comments on our posts, let us know you're with us. Go HERE for a complete list of participating blogs.

SPREAD: If you have a blog yourself, please link to our posts from Uganda, embed the videos we churn out, post a list of the bloggers and invite folks to read along with you.  If you don't, e-mail posts that grab you, spread the word about this trip through your network of like-minded friends.  Lastly, we've got text links and instructions for widgets you can embed on any website.  Here are links to those:

Link Text: http://www.compassion.com/sponsor_a_child/default.htm?referer=80309

To add a widget using a Typepad "Links" Typelist: Use the picture above.

Use this URL to link the picture:

http://www.compassion.com/sponsor_a_child/default.htm?referer=80309

The choose "Configure" and select "Notes As Text" then select "Save".

For more information about Compassion International visit their WEBSITE.

Thank you for helping us release children from poverty in Uganda.

I am heading to Uganda with 16 other bloggers in hopes of documenting and spreading the life-saving work of Compassion International there.  Compassion International is the first organization of its kind to spread its message through the blogosphere in this way and, as a result, hopefully, release hundreds of children from poverty.

We could use your help making this first-of-its-kind trip a success:

PRAY: Please pray for our technology, creativity, health, families we leave behind, for our thousands of readers and the thousands of children in the third world in need of our help.

READ: Please visit our blogs February 10-18 and leave comments on our posts, let us know you're with us. Go HERE for a complete list of participating blogs.

SPREAD: If you have a blog yourself, please link to our posts from Uganda, embed the videos we churn out, post a list of the bloggers and invite folks to read along with you.  If you don't, e-mail posts that grab you, spread the word about this trip through your network of like-minded friends.  Lastly, we've got text links and instructions for widgets you can embed on any website.  Here are links to those:

Link Text: http://www.compassion.com/sponsor_a_child/default.htm?referer=80309

To add a widget using a Typepad "Links" Typelist: Use the picture above.

Use this URL to link the picture:

http://www.compassion.com/sponsor_a_child/default.htm?referer=80309

The choose "Configure" and select "Notes As Text" then select "Save".

For more information about Compassion International visit their WEBSITE.

Thank you for helping us release children from poverty in Uganda.

Last full day of Recreate

Wow. What a day. There was a shift today to a more personal aspect of being on the front lines of worship leading, planning, etc. Lots of cool elements today - CCLI shared about their new and improved services. You can actually upload video performances (original songs) to a designated section of their website. That's a very cool feature I'll be checking out soon. Mark Roach led us in worship. We sing a lot of his songs at Fellowship North. They really resonate with our team and our people.

Mike Lewis, the Jesus Painter, led us in an incredible time of worship - visually thru painting giant canvases focused on Christ. It was a magical unfolding of splashes and splatters and random lines and then you'd see it - the face of Christ as clear as anything right there on the canvas. Amazing. We shared communion during his painting time. Very moving and beautiful.

We heard from Mark Stuart from Audio A. He shared about personal stuff and about his involvement with Hands And Feet which is a very cool project in Haiti. Audio A and their fans have created a village - they house 30 orphans right now, but their plan is to house 80 kids. Their vision is to grow them up and nurture them and educate them and love them and then they will have raised up a new generation who can make an impact in their native country. They've built bunkhouses that can accommodate groups coming in on mission/work trips. It sounds amazing. I liked Mark so much. Click HERE to read more about Hands And Feet. There's a lot of cool details I'm leaving out because I'm dead tired and trying to get to bed. But I might, no, definitely WILL have more to say about this in the near future. Because missions and music are the two things I'm passionate about - and when you combine the two together, watch out - it's gonna be strong!

Ken Davis spoke to us - he got really vulnerable when sharing his story. More about this later - I related so much to his 3 points - I got out my laptop and typed fast & furiously during his talk.

Then we got to visit Kalein. Oh my. Breathtakingly beautiful. So many details about this coming later. Let's just say, adventure, vision, blessing.

Capped the day off with a great night of dinner and worship sponsored by Word. I can't WAIT to listen to a couple of the CDs they gave us - let's just say - the girls rocked the house! Such authority and passion in their words and the delivery rocked my world - I'm still thinking about it!

Much more later on all these topics. Off to bed!

Recreate goes on a field trip

We spent a few hours this afternoon at an auto museum. Surprisingly, I wasn't surprised that we were at this museum. Randy gave a huge hint on his blog recently about how cool this place is. When we pulled up in the buses, I had a strange sense of anticipation/completion. I mean, when I read about things/experiences on blogs, it's more of a vicarious thing. Great blog writers leave me feeling like I was really there and saw and felt the same thing. So, today was a great experience for me. This huge warehouse, formerly a bread factory/bakery, houses tons of vintage autos. Some were beautiful, some whimsical, some fanciful, some practical, at least one amphibious vehicle, one powered by coal, one powered by pedaling, tiny cars, three-wheeled cars, a tiny car towing a tiny boat, etc. So many details that would normally be overlooked, yet when you truly study the cars from a design perspective, there's a lot to discover. I loved the car that had a perfect little spot on the trunk to strap on a square, wicker picnic basket. Randy arranged for a professor from O'More College of Design to be our narrator/guide. His name was John. He was very soft-spoken, but shared many nuggets of truth and inspiration. He read a condensed article from the Washington Post called "Pearls Before Breakfast." I challenge you all to click HERE and read the entire article (it's pretty long), along with the video clips. It is telling and inspiring and thought-provoking. Then I challenge you (and me) to take action. I'm not talking about starting a fiery revolution. I'm talking about listening, feeling, tasting, touching, seeing, living life differently - living with more feeling, more empathy, more patience, more kindness, more passion, more eloquence, more thoughtfulness, more adventure, more anticipation, more curiosity, more creativity, more beauty, more of all that is missing from our lives that we alone have the power to introduce and integrate into our lives.

I'm At Cre:ate Blogging Live

Sitting in a breakout session led by Dr. Thom Parham. Sitting with Mario Minardi, Dan Perkins, Mark Warnock. Earlier this morning, Randy Elrod drew a lucky name from a bag full of names - Rick Muchow won a 1-week Caribbean cruise for 2. Unbelievable. Then Michael Olson led us in worship. Wow! I've never heard him (I don't think) or even really of him. Then Marty McGehee (4Him) sang 4 new original songs from his newest solo project. Cool grooves, little bit of rap, definitely a more rock and roll sound than 4Him ever had. Yesterday, Matthew West led worship in the afternoon then we went to an awesome dinner sponsored by Integrity Music. We traveled by motorcoach to The Factory. There's this very cool & vibey church called The Journey at Ecclesia. Awesome venue. Paul Baloche, Jared Anderson, Kelly Jo, and ? led worship after dinner. During the worship time, we started hearing sirens. I thought there must be a massive car accident being responded to. Then the lights started flickering. Then we were interrupted and told that there was a tornado heading our way and we needed to be ready to bolt to the hallway if necessary. That's the closest I've ever been to a tornado, unless you count the Twister attraction at Universal Studios.

High Calling Blogs

RockTheDesert has joined a group called HighCallingBlogs.com where other followers of Jesus and blogger types have been aggregated. This means that when I (and others in the HCB group) post blog articles, they are then made available at HCB for a larger audience to peruse and read. HCB is in beta mode right now and is actually looking for new members. Check it out!

Team Berryman Update

I've just published a Team Berryman Update. If you're on our mailing list, you should have received it tonight. There are 9 photos. I'll be highlighting 1 per day for the next 9 days. Click on Team Berryman Update in the sidebar to view all our newsletters. They're informative. Some are longer than others. This last one is only 1 page long. Enjoy!!

Click HERE to view latest newsletter.

A New Blog

One of my favorite bands EVER has a brand new blog. Click the pic to check it out!

cre:ate

cre:ate - Annual Thinktank For Arts & Worship Leaders From Around The World

I attended this conference in 2007 for the first time. Of course, I already love Franklin, TN. So, the fact that I was at an incredible gathering of worship leaders from around the world - IN FRANKLIN - just made it absolutely perfect. It was at cre:ate that I was finally truly inspired to blog.

For more information go HERE.

Why Blog?

I started blogging in Feb 2007 after attending a fantastic worship leaders conference in Franklin, TN. Randy Elrod, conference creator, is a champion blogger - some at the conference consider him to be their "blogfather." All that to say, Randy Elrod rocks, is visionary and inspirational and I check his blog DAILY for a variety of cool posts. Found an awesome article on his blog recently. Maybe it will inspire more people to start blogging!! You can find the entire article at http://randyelrod.typepad.com. Check out the archives April 22-April 28. I've also pasted the entire article below.

Top 10 Reasons To Blog In 2007

10. Because It Is Fun

You have the opportunity to write to your Passion.

 

9. It Opens New Markets

The blogosphere is a powerful global marketing tool.

 

8. It Builds Your Network

 

7. It Is Very Inexpensive

Nothing compares to the affordability and simplicity of plain old blogging. For pennies, blogs can help you promote your company locally and  globally.

 

6. Blogging Makes You Famous

Ahh, I do love groupies. Who doesn’t!

5. Because You Are In Control

Unlike a traditional website…you are able to make changes 24/7.

4. Because It Is Easy

With simple training, anyone can blog.

3. It Helps You Communicate With Your Customers

Blogs support current and prospective customers. Blogs help you understand and interact with your present market.

 

2. Because Google Loves Blogs

Free traffic from search engines is always a powerful marketing tools.

 

1. Because You Want To Make Money!!!!
You build trust when you blog, and trust is what sells products or services online.

Start blogging NOW!!!!