25 Things I Hate About Facebook

I'm sure you have seen this video circulating the web since it has over a million views on YouTube.com but for those of you that actually have actual responsibilities in your life to tend to and don't have time to browse YouTube during insomniac spells I thought I would share it with those of YOU. For the most part I would have to agree with Mr. Julian Smith and his Facebook video phenomenon. If you like this then you should check out some of his other Viral Video creations here at www.juliansmith.tv. I have not viewed all of the material on this site due to the mass quantities of galleries and so I would advise you to proceed with caution. ENJOY!

Note: if you are viewing this through Facebook's Notes and you can't see the video CLICK HERE.

My Buddy Jerad in High Flight Society

I just wanted to share High Flight Society's new music video. I am so proud of my buddy Jerad who recently joined HFS a little while back. He's playing rhythm guitar and singing back up vocals. In this video, he is to the right of the lead singer and is playing a black guitar and wearing a black hat. If you don't know who High Flight Society is you should check them out by clicking their name in this blog and hopefully you will like them and get their CD. You can find them on iTunes, YouTube, Vimeo, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, or PureVolume. Help my buddy and his band out and support them by buying some merchandise.

Selling my G5...

Well, I am looking to sell my PowerMac G5. It has been a great computer to me and has been such a great help in all my video editing projects and graphics design work. It is an outstanding computer but I am ready to let go of it and down size a bit. So if any of you are out there looking for a good machine....CHECK IT OUT! If you are interested...leave me a comment or send me a message via Facebook.

System Specs:
Apple PowerMac G5
OSX 10.4.11
Dual Core 2.0 GHz Processor
512 MB DDR Ram (8 slots available and only 2 being used)
150GB HD
Wireless Airport
CD/DVD burner
Wireless Bluetooth Keyboard
17" Apple Cinema Display

SOFTWARE Also Included:
Adobe Creative Suite
Microsoft Office
DVD Studio Pro
Final Cut Pro HD Studio
Fast DVD Copy
iLife '08
Stuffit Expander Deluxe
and much more...

Click on any of the images below to get a closer view

FoleyPro 2.04 - Audio Bed Producer

Recently our staff at CCO attended the Drive Conference at North Point Church in Alpharetta, GA and one of the sessions that I gleaned so much from was North Point's student ministry Q & A and Showcase "Inside Out." Inside Out is the high school ministry at NPC and to just sit and watch how others do youth ministry and then to get the opportunity to sit and ask the leaders questions was so helpful and informative.


One of the resources that I took away from that session was the audio software program FoleyPro Version 2.04 for Macintosh OSX and Microsoft Windows. FoleyPro is a software designed to help make your productions and events run smoother by giving you more control over your music beds, bumpers, soundFX and Performance Tracks. I'm sure you have been frustrated with 'CD, MD, & iPod player' lag? I'm sure your services/shows have not been as tight as you would like? I'm sure your volunteers sometimes miss a queue? FoleyPro is your answer. Designed to play your music or effects instantly, FoleyPro will help you to produce a tighter service flow.

FoleyPro is designed to be easy to learn and use. It's so easy that anyone, starting from DAY 1 can use it like they've used it for years. Setup is easy, just create a library for the show or event, load it with your music and you are ready to go. FoleyPro will play all common music and sound formats: AIF, MP3, WAV, AIFC, M4A, M4P and more. It also has features like auto fade, auto mix, and a countdown display that gives your tech crew a heads up for when your audio bank is coming to an end.

System Requirements:
FoleyPro is designed to operate on either the Macintosh or Windows XP/Vista system.
Macintosh: Mac OSX, verstion 10.4.x+, 1024x768 Screen resolutions or greater, Quicktime Version 7+
Windows: Windows XP/Vista, 1024x768 screen resolutions or greater, Quicktime Version 7+ for Windows, Supported Sound Card or built -in sound hardware.

You can purchase the software HERE at nuePoint's site. Hitting this link is your best chance at finding this program. Before tracking down the creator of the software by phone I tried to do a Google search to find it and I was unsuccessful. Luckily, the Inside Out Tech Crew gave me the creators number. After speaking with him he was very helpful with explaining at that it can do and walking me through the purchase process. But once you find FoleyPro's site you will see the process is very simple. The program is a little pricey but it will relieve a load of tech frustrations during your service programs.

Hopefully this little tutorial video can give you an idea of what FoleyPro can do for you.

Judah Says "Dadda?"

Judah has been talking a lot of gibberish lately but I think he is trying to say "Dadda." It has been very hard to catch this on video because every time you lift a camera up to press record Judah just freezes and seems to be entranced by the camera lens. But, nonetheless, here are a couple sneak attack video shots that managed to capture. I apologize in advance for the shortness of video and the shoddy camera work; I had to be quick and sneaky as the butler from "Mr. Deeds." You be the judge or you can just flatter me by leaving a comment to give me your opinion.

   

Got My Mac On...

Lately, I have been getting much scrutiny from the people in my life because of my recent new purchase. Through much drama with a ridiculously crappy Blackberry Storm (DON'T EVER BUY ONE), that lost calls because it's software wasn't quick enough to even allow me to answer a call, and it's incapability to sync with my MacBook Pro (which I was promised that it would be able to do), I decided to make the hard vote to cancel contract with Verizon (who I had been with for 4+ years). Yes, being the Apple fan that I am, I made the switch to AT&T to possess the AMAZING new iPhone 3Gs. Granted, the wireless service is not quite up to par with Verizon's "Can hear me now" promise but it is still pretty good and the iPhone completely makes up for any other short comings. This phone is amazing and despite the numerous comments I get from all the youth in our student ministries and the silly jokes I get thrown at me by our staff I must boldly say that I got my mac on with iPhone 3Gs. Confused? Watch this and you will completely understand.

Twitter Will Kill You!

I came across this little gem of a video on a blog site I subscribe to and I thought that I would share it with you. I haven't jumped on this whole Twitter Rage Bandwagon that everyone else has "yet." I just haven't seen the point in it all. I have a Facebook account and I have a MySpace account and I have this blog also and on most of these sites I have the option of updating my status as well as many other social networking options. I just don't see the point in adding one more status update site to my internet bookmarks. I mean, seriously, who is that interested in my life? Relishing in the possibility that people actually read this blog and my facebook and MySpace accounts is a stretch already...Well, maybe you have an argument of your own about Twitter. I would love to hear what you have to say on the topic. So leave me a comment and voice your opinion. Until, then...ENJOY this Twitter parody that the Crowder Band threw together...It is sure to make you LAUGH!

Blog Break Over...

I haven't been blogging much lately and I am sorry for those that actually read this thing from time to time but the blog break is over. I'm back and I will be trying to post quite a few blogs over the next week or so to make up for my blogging absence. I have lots to share; ministry resources, media resources, tips and tricks in various areas of work, and updates on life in the world of the Johnson clan. So please keep checking back, subscribe to the sites RSS feed, or check me out on my other various social media outlets.

The Beginning of the End?

I'm sure you have seen this video circulating all throughout the media but the media is almost convinced that this was the beginning of the end of Michael Jackson. Below you can see the newly released "behind the scenes" clip, as well as the commercial in it's entirety. They say that this incident sparked the beginning of a long life plastic surgery and pain pill addictions. It is a theory but I am not so convinced. I really just wish people would leave Michael and his family alone and let them grieve in peace. I've always been a fan of MJ and I hate to see this continual probing and prying of his personal life.

The World Is a Stage

I came across the video the other day when my co-worker e-mailed me a link and then I heard the audio of this song played during one of the "So You Think You Can Dance" contestants routine and so I thought that I would share it with all of you. ENJOY!

Judah Trying to Crawl

This was a video I shot with my iPhone while spending the 4th of July weekend at my parent's house. Judah is about 6 months old here. Julie thought I was mean when I kept taking his toys away but I would just call it motivation to crawl.

His Yoke Is Perfect

These past couple weeks of Identity Youth have just been AMAZING. I know I haven't blogged in quite a while because of the crazy pace of my life lately but I just wanted to get on blogger and give God some glory for what he has been doing in and through the Identity Student Ministries. Last week we had a whole night of worship with the ID Band. We changed it up a bit and kind of did an acoustic set. I say kind of because we did some acoustic guitar stuff with a box drum and we did some electric stuff too. The presence of God was so strong!

This past week's service was just as anointed. I spoke to the youth at Identity on the subject of "Who Are You?" It was based off the scripture Matthew 11:30 For my yoke fits perfectly, and the burden I give you is light (NLT). We talked about how God's plan (yoke) for our life fits perfectly and we need to take ownership of the call that God has on our life. He's called each and everyone of us to something and no one can fulfill that call except us (the one He called). His yoke fits US perfectly.

One of Identity's youth, Garrett, has just started heading in the direction God is calling him and is beginning to realize that his life must first be yoked to God before he can ever step into the calling God has for him. Here is his testimony that was shown last night at Identity.

Lang on Leno

I guess I am in the video mood because here comes another one. Jonny Lang was on Jay Leno and rocked the house. If you haven't heard of Jonny Lang then do yourself a favor and get his CD. He is an amazing blues musician that got saved and now rocks some blues style music for Jesus. God is so good! You can read more about Lang's story by clicking HERE and downloading the article Radiant Magazine did on Lang and his music during his amazing conversion to Christianity. Another amazing song that depicts his recent decision to follow Christ is "Only A Man" and it can also be heard by clicking HERE.

God Bless You...

I came across this little gem of a video when I visited my family this past weekend in Tampa. My brother Jason showed me this off of the break.com website. Maybe this will cause you to cover your mouth next time.

Create Your Own Countdowns

If you are in youth ministry then you probably use countdowns to start your services. After buying multiple countdowns from various media websites and youth leadership conferences I came across a handy little tool that allows me to create my own custom countdowns. It has been very useful. You are able to set whatever time limit you desire, add your own background images or movies, and make changes to your fonts. I even created a 30 day countdown for a series my Pastor is teaching that runs throughout the service while he preaches. The countdown program that I found is produced by a company called TRIMONIX. You can see a lot of their work on the website Stufficanuse.com. TRIMONIX is relatively inexpensive for what you get. By the time you purchase a few countdowns from the usual church media sites you could end up paying for this program. The only draw back to TRIMONIX is that it only works on a MAC computer and it doesn't export audio. So if your video background already has music on it, when you export your final countdown product, it will not have any audio. You will have to use another program like Final Cut Pro or iMovie to add your audio. Here is an example of a countdown that I created with TRIMONIX in conjunction with FINAL CUT PRO and LIVETYPE as well as a video background that I downloaded from VIMEO.com.



If you have a PC then there is still hope. Since the rest of the staff at our church have PCs they found an alternative program called COUNTDOWN CREATOR. I know it's not an original name but this program is just as impressive and it does allow you to add your own audio as well as images, videos, fonts, and etc. Here is a video that gives you a brief demo of what it can do.

Jesus is my friend

I couldn't help the title of this blog...this past weekend we went to see our friend Lester's show "The Last Adam" with our friends Erin, Mike, and Holly. It was a really great show and it was such great weather, considering that it was an outside theater. This was also the second week of Christ Church of Orlando's three service times. God is so good! It all started on Easter and a high attendance is always expected on a holiday like Easter. Our staff were all curious to see what a typical Sunday's service attendance would be like. We were all very excited to see the church full this morning in all three services. Later on Sunday night we had our church business meeting and our church got to reflect back on the year and see the accomplishments of our church and to catch our Pastor's vision for our church in the days ahead. Even looking back on some of this past year's video footage, while editing a promo video for our church wide outreach campaign "WE CARE", it made me realize how amazing our church is. You can view the video I made HERE or by scrolling through the Vimeo video widget at the top right hand corner of this page. After getting home, Julie and I both were beaming with pride and we had our own little reflection time by ourselves. We both just went on and on about how blessed we are to be apart of what is going on here in Orlando. We truly know that JESUS is our friend! And as a tribute to this post here is an oldie but a goodie "Jesus Is My Friend."

and then there were 3...

Yet, another crazy 3 day weekend for the Johnson clan....

DAY 1
We started with Friday night as we drove to Tampa to drop Judah off at Gammy and Papa's house so that they could watch him (which they never argue about doing) while we went to a concert. My lifelong friend Jerad Griffin was playing a show at his sister's church, Element Church. I was so excited to see him play a show since he just joined the band High Flight Society. If you haven't heard of them you should definitely check out by going to their MySpace page and buying their CD. Jerad never ceases to amaze me in his talents. He is currently singing backup vocals and playing guitar. It was so good to see Jerad, his wife, and some of the old Riverhills youth group crew from back in the day. After leaving the show it just seemed too late to drive home and so we had an impromptu sleepover at my parents house.

DAY 2
The next day was no less occupied. We started off by driving back to the O-Town to get ready for a wedding that I was scheduled to sing in. The wedding and reception lasted about 6 hours. Our pour little guy, Judah. He must be so tired of going and going and going. We are hoping to slow it down over the next 2 weekends. We'll see how that goes...lol

DAY3
Day three started at 5:30am as we got up early for the start of our new service times at Christ Church of Orlando. We have been toying with the idea of going to 3 services for about a year now and today was the day it all began. It took us a while to pick our actual times but through many discussions, surveys and phone calls to other churches that have 3 services we finally decided on 8:00, 9:45, & 11:30am. It was a scary step of faith but we knew that if we were going to grow any more then we had to do it and so we just trusted in God that He would fill the church and BOY DID HE EVER!!! Today, we packed the place out. 1st service was a full service, 2nd service was so full we had to pull out chairs in the isle, and 3rd service was packed too. If our numbers are right...we think we had 770 people in today's church services. I am so excited with what God is doing in and through Christ Church of Orlando.

Not only did our church have an amazing day but this was also Judah's first Easter celebration with our family. Julie and Gammy (Grandma Johnson) also had a little fun putting together Easter baskets for the little guy and Mimi (Grandma Watson) bought his Easter Outfit. Overall, our Easter weekend was jam packed full of GREATNESS. And if the numbers at church weren't enough to get excited about, many testimonies of God's goodness were shared today in service through Cardboard Testimonies, Song, and Dance and many lives were won to Christ and rededicated. I rustled up some video footage a lady in our church shot (Cynthia) to show some of what took place today at CCO.

Identity Youth Retreat Recap

In the previous post a quickly recapped our youth retreat's success and briefly talked about some of the activities. Well, here a video that one of my youth shot and I edited. Take a look and tell me what you think...

Spring Break Madness

Spring Break has come and gone and it has taken all of my energy with it. I am so beat. Jules and I have been going nonstop since last week. First, we had another amazing opportunity to take our youth band to another youth rally here in Orlando called "Spring Break Free." They made us so proud. They have been allowing God to use them in so many ways and as they make themselves available their talents get better and better. Just this week we got another call to lead worship again at a "To Write Love On Her Arms" venue. God is so good! Without Him, none of this would be possible. For more photos of the ID Band's last worship experience click HERE.

Well, all of that was on Thursday and on Friday our youth group took their 2nd annual youth retreat in Lake Wales, FL at Lake Aurora Christian Camp. Let me just say..."IT WAS AMAZING!" Last year was our first time taking a retreat with our kids and needless to say...the entire youth group wasn't completely sold on the idea and therefore we only had 21 attend. Well, when they came back from the trip last year the impact was definitely evident and our youth were the best advertisement for this year's trip. This year we took 43. We more than doubled our attendees. We take a lot of trips with our youth throughout the year but this is the cheapest and by far the most impacting, in my eyes. This years trip was no different. We tell our kids the whole purpose of the trip up front. It's all about unity and relationship. It's our chance to bring those in from the outer edges and make them feel apart of the group. It's our chance to encourage each other while being encouraged by God in our times of prayer and worship. It's a time for good healthy competition to illustrate that we are all in this together and we need each other to win this race. And it's a time for us to unplug from the world and our electronics (we collect all cell phones a soon as we get there) and just get back to the basics; God and His body of believers.

This year we pulled some new activities out and had a blast with them. They include Cheese IT, Extreme Dodge Ball, Canoe Races, Obstacle Courses, Barrel Brawl, Slip-n-Slide Kickball, Flour Power Capture the Flag, Ropes Courses, Worship, and Baptisms. As you can see with some of the photos below our youth enjoyed every minute of it and seeing them have fun with no complaining, and no cliques or insider clubs was just AMAZING. You can check out more of the photos from our retreat HERE.

















But now that the weekend has come and gone we have to head back to reality and part of that reality is that Judah starts his first week of daycare. It goes without saying that Julie was not that happiest camper...lol...She had already been gone for 2 days away from Judah while my parents babysat during our youth retreat and the last thing she wanted to do was leave him with a complete stranger at daycare. He did great his first day and Momma Jules is learning to cut the umbilical chord...lol...Until next time, HOLLA!

Going and Going and Going...

Wow! I feel like we have been going nonstop. Every weekend we have either been going to Tampa for different reasons (family, etc.), doing church events, or planning youth events and we have barely slowed down to take a breath. Some people have asked how Judah has coped with all of it but I keep telling them, "If all He knows is a busy lifestyle then he won't know any different." Judah has been great. When we get in the car and go...He just rolls with the punches. We are so blessed to have such a good baby boy. Here is our last daddy/son outing to IKEA that we took today. I can't help to take some photos on our trips. Here are some extra photos that we took on our last trip to Tampa. This is in an open field next to an RV dealership off of I-4. They modeled this marketing scheme after the "Cadillac Ranch" in Amarillo, Texas. Here are the photos...

Fun With Fonts!

I use Photoshop quite a bit and I love it when I find great resources for fonts. If you do any kind of graphic design then you know that fonts are a large part of the design process. I found a new font resource this week and I thought I might share it with the readers. It's a site called VTKS.com. He is a free lance designer and he has quite a few FREE font downloads on his site. He is also listed on other font sites such as FONTSPACE.com. Here are some other sites I frequent when looking for the latest and greatest fonts; DAFONT.com & SIMPLYTHEBESTFONTS.com. Happy Downloading. Once you start...It will be hard to stop....

Just a couple of "Design Hints:"

1. Don't get too carried away when using fonts in your work. Limit your designs to 2 fonts each. In rare situations you can use more but if too many different fonts are used then your design work will loose it's impact and will also make your work too busy and difficult to read.

2. Don't load all your fonts at once. If you store all of your fonts all at once you can cause your computer to run slower than usual. Like I said, you can get carried away downloading fonts and if you go too crazy your computer has to load and search through all of those fonts when using your programs, such as Microsoft Office, Adobe Creative Suite, Final Cut Pro Studio, and etc.

Here Are Some Font Design Possibilities:

Back to Blogging

Well it has been a long time since my last post and much has happened; good and bad. To catch you up to speed, here is what has been going on in my life. Lots of my family made their way to Orlando to participate in the dedication of our amazing Judah Avery Johnson. It was a bittersweet moment for my whole family. We were so proud of our baby boy and we were so ecstatic that our family made the trip to join us in his dedication. But after the Sunday service we all went out to eat at Mimi's Cafe and as we were leaving, my Nana Bussell (grandmother) suffered a really severe stroke. In a previous post I wrote about the moments Judah met all of his great grandparents. Well, my Nana Bussell was not in that post because he had not yet met his Great-Nana Bussell. Judah's dedication was only the second time she got to see him. She met him just a couple days before that at our friends wedding shower. My Nana Bussell has been such an inspiration to me in all that she has done. She has been such a shining example of what a marriage relationship looks like and what it should be. She and my grand-daddy were married for so many years until he past and they both raised some of the most amazing girls that I know; including my Momma. We are just asking that everyone continues to keep her in your prayers as she goes down a long road of recovery. We know that God is more than able to heal her body and restore her health.

Well, our son's dedication hasn't been the only celebration we have enjoyed over the past couple of weeks. I also had the amazing privilege of marrying a childhood friend (Robert Noland) in Sarasota, FL this past weekend. It was the second wedding I have ever performed; the first being my other childhood friend, Eric Long. Funny enough, they have both been outside weddings. The first, being on the beach and the second, being under a massive oak tree on a golf course. It was such a beautiful wedding and it was so good to see so many friends and family that I haven't seen in years. Not that they wanted to see me....Judah took the spotlight in all of the conversations. Now that you have been caught up to speed and my life has slowed down a bit maybe I can get back to posting some more blogs. Until then, please help me pray for my Nana, Shirley Bussell's recovery.