The City of Refuge Story

The CCO staff and I recently traveled up to Atlanta, GA for the Drive Conference (a church leadership conference) at NorthPoint Church but we decided to go a little earlier than planned to get this amazing story on video. This is the story of how Bruce Deel followed the call of God and started the ministry "City of Refuge," a non-profit, outreach facility/church specializing in rebuilding the city of Atlanta. They work with homeless mothers, single mothers, drug addicts, the abused and much more. Listen to this story and be astounded by God's provision and possibility.

The "NEXT" iPhone

It's been quite a while since my last post. I've kind of fallen of the blogger wheel but I couldn't help to post about the latest breaking news concerning the "NEXT" generation of the iPhone. Here is a re-post of another fellow blogger and lover of all things technology.

You are looking at Apple's "NEXT" iPhone. It was found lost in a bar in Redwood City, camouflaged to look like an iPhone 3GS. We got it. We disassembled it. It's the real thing, and here are some of the details. For more in depth investigation of the "NEXT" iPhone visit Gizmodo.com.

Click Images To Enlarge

While Apple may tinker with the final packaging and design of the final phone, it's clear that the features in this lost-and-found next-generation iPhone are drastically new and drastically different from what came before. Here's the detailed list of our findings:

What's new

• Front-facing video chat camera
• Improved regular back-camera (the lens is quite noticeably larger than the iPhone 3GS)
• Camera flash
• Micro-SIM instead of standard SIM (like the iPad)
• Improved display. It's unclear if it's the 960x640 display thrown around before—it certainly looks like it, with the "Connect to iTunes" screen displaying much higher resolution than on a 3GS.
• What looks to be a secondary mic for noise cancellation, at the top, next to the headphone jack
• Split buttons for volume
• Power, mute, and volume buttons are all metallic

What's changed

• The back is entirely flat, made of either glass (more likely) or ceramic or shiny plastic in order for the cell signal to poke through. Tapping on the back makes a more hollow and higher pitched sound compared to tapping on the glass on the front/screen, but that could just be the orientation of components inside making for a different sound

• An aluminum border going completely around the outside
• Slightly smaller screen than the 3GS (but seemingly higher resolution)

• Everything is more squared off
• 3 grams heavier

• 16% Larger battery
• Internals components are shrunken, miniaturized and reduced to make room for the larger battery

Click Images To Enlarge

As you can see, there are some considerable differences between this "NEW" iPhone and it's previous model; both physically and internally.

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.

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!

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...

David After The Dentist

I know that you probably have seen this video before but our piano player told me to check this clip and I just had to share. I look at my 4 week old son and some of the faces he makes and I just laugh like crazy but if he ever did anything like this I would be struggling to catch my breathe because I would on the floor rolling. Enjoy and tell me what you think...

IT'S B-DAY!

Well, I am just a few hours away from having my life change forever and holding my new baby boy in my arms. That's right Julie and I are both going at 3 o'clock in the morning on Thursday January 8th to be induced. Hopefully by this time tomorrow I will be able to post pictures of little Judah Avery Johnson and glow as I hold one of God's amazing creations in my own two hands. This year could not be starting any better than it is. I just got home from an AMAZING youth service where I got to minister to the teens in our church and the lives that were there were truly changed tonight. Kids filled the altars and I got to witness countless lives be touched by the power of the Holy Spirit. I know that I just posted a 2008 recap video below but I also put one together for our youth ministry to show what great things God did through us in 2008. Here is the video I showed tonight. I can't wait to see what He does through us in 2009. Until my next post....keep us in your prayers as we embark on a life-changing experience.

2008 RECAP!

I've been up late working on a video for this week's Sunday morning services. We are taking a look back at 2008 and seeing all the accomplishments we have made. We at Christ Church call these the "BIG WINS!" Anyways, here is the video I put together to show our church. Tell me what you think.