October 5 - God of This City

Clearwater FL. Tampa Bay.

Hundreds of thousands of people moving in millions of directions at once.

Everyone moving at the speed of life not stopping to breath, to think. All just keeping pace.

What does God want to do in that person's life? The person in the next office? The mom you sit next to at the ball field? How about the family down the street?

What does God want to accomplish in your child's class in school? In the company you work for? In your neighborhood association?

What does God want to accomplish in Clearwater and Tampa Bay?

And how does He want to use us to accomplish it?

Letters to the Next President Series

It's an election year. Conversation about politics, policy and political parties seems to be everywhere between almost everyone. But, what if you had the opportunity to talk with the next President of the United States? What would you say?

In, Letters to the Next President, we're going to take that opportunity. You'll have a chance to write your thoughts to our next president on our web site.  In our weekend services, we'll be addressing conversations such as, Stand up for what is right, Keep your promises, Lead us into a better future and Our Commitment to You.  As we'll see, it's not just about the tough issues of the economy or the war or health care, but also about other tough issues like leadership and character. And none of these issues are just about presidents, they're about all of us. 

September Series: Defying Gravity

Remember when you were young and you just believed?  We believed in lots of things:  magic, fairytales, even supernatural powers like the ability to fly.  

There is something about youth that allows us to believe in magic and the supernatural.  As we get older that ability to believe often gets taught out, reasoned out, controlled out and matured right out of us. But it is possible to capture that ability to believe again - to truly believe the One Who is not only Supernatural, but Who loves us with a crazy, almost unbelievable love.  

So, for those of us who so desperately long to spread our wings and soar like eagles, run and not grow tired and walk and not lag behind maybe there is a way to get past the teaching, reasoning, controlling and maturing that took our belief away.  

Maybe, we really can defy gravity.

September 7:  Bring it on!

September 14:  Pull

September 21:  Launch

September 28:  Fly

On September 28 during our services we will be hosting a mini-concert by recording artist, Johnny Diaz.

August 31 - Connect

We long to experience God. We long to hear from Him, worship Him, know more of Him... to Connect.

What does it look like in real time to connect to the God of the universe?

August 24 - Thirsty

Being thirsty can mean so much more than just feeling a need or desire to drink.

There are people in our world every day who are thirsty for water as well as thirsty for an education, thirsty for an opportunity to work, thirsty for the dignity found in providing for their own family. Things that seem to be givens in our lives.

Every year we partner with a church and school in St. Louis Du Nord, Haiti to do what we can to help people who find themselves thirsty. While we can't solve all of the global issues of thirst, we can make a difference for people in this community. For more information on our efforts to provide scholarships for students in St. Louis Du Nord and other ways we're trying to make a difference visit our web site:

http://www.cypressmeadows.org/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=43&Itemid=151

August 17 - I Just Showed Up...: Leaving a Legacy

Acts 9 is the story of Dorcas who had half the town weeping at her death because of how she lived and loved.

How can we create relationships like that?!

Let's learn how to love boldly...forgive graciously....give generously.

August 10 - I Just Showed Up for My Own Life: Making It Count!

Luke 12:13-34

If you were to live your life in such as way as to "lay up treasures in heaven" what goes in your life? what
stays?

How can you live a life that makes an eternal difference?

August 3 - I Just Showed Up for My Own Life: Showing Up

James 4:13-17

What is God calling you to today? Have you done it? Started it? If not, why?

Live for today...go for it... lead a no regret life.

Just show up!

And the Angels Sang!!!!

We've had a breakthrough on the August series!!!!

I will post the individual weeks so that we can all begin submitting ideas, but first I wanted to congratulate Chris, Jan, Douglas and myself on swimming through the peanut butter and coming out on the other side, series in hand!!!

I didn't cry tears of joy... but I did throw a small private party in the auditorium while you all were away. :) Sorry you missed it. I'll have it cleaned up by Sunday.

Great job everyone!!!

God Of The City

I had an idea that sprang out of something I heard at the arts conference. We sang a new song from Chris Tomlin called "God of the City". Its a good song that I've listen to for a while, but was never "grabbed" by it. After we sang it, the speaker that was up that day (Francis Chan) told a story about where the song originated.

We sang it again after his talk and the song took on a whole new form for me. The song was written by a band named Blue Tree. Lead vox Aaron Boyd recalls:

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“There’s a couple from Carrickfergus, Ian and Leslie, and they moved out to Thailand to a place called Pattaya. We got asked to go and be part of an event called Pattaya Praise. Pattaya is a seaside town/resort place, and physically, it looks to be like the darkest place you’ll ever go to. And spiritually, it is THE darkest place we have ever been to. You just feel the evil. You just feel the enemy all over that place. It’s a very small place. . . But in that small area in Thailand, there are 30,000 prostitutes and that figure excludes kids and excludes anything that’s outside of the range of, say 18-30, and who are female. . .

Part of what we were asked to do was to go out and be part of an event which runs for four or five days. It had things like 24/7 worship and prayer and social action going on helping the people who clean the streets every morning. We played in a school and ministered in an orphanage and tried to get a heart for that city. As a band we were getting cold feet because we had four days in Bangkok to start, and in those four days it was great. We’d be quite hyperactive, and it was flat-out, four days; not an hour was lost to sleep in those four days. On the Sunday we managed to play in one church and it was brilliant, but we wanted more. And then when we got to Pattaya . . . we said, ‘If you can get us anywhere else to play, anywhere, we want to play. We just want to do what we do in the middle of somewhere and just go head-on into it.”

“There was a bar called The Climax Bar - on a street that’s about 10 metres wide, it’s a kilometre long and it’s filled with everything you can physically imagine. And I promise you, as a red-blooded male, to keep your head in the right place you’ve got to look down at the ground and walk down that street and pray because it is just so in your face. People hit you with menus about everything, flashing lights, just everything you can imagine goes on in that place. You see kids as young as eight, nine, 10, just selling themselves, you know?! You see 60-year-old guys walking down the street with two 13 or 14-year-old girls. Forget about the Christian thing, you just get raging! You properly get raging when you see that happening, you know?!”

. . . We got the chance to play in this bar, a two-hour worship set in this bar. I don’t think the people in the bar spoke a word of English but we basically got to go in. The deal was that we play and we bring a following of people with us; so we’re there, set up, really good gear! So we all set up and there was like 20 Christians all standing in front of us, and the deal was we play, they buy lots of drinks, alright? I don’t think the place has ever sold so much Coke in its whole life in one night!

And we got to play for two hours. And just the way the band set up, we like using loops, and at one point I just started singing out. I started singing “Greater Things”, something along those lines, almost prophesying over the city. And without going into the band dynamics, slowly this groove emerged from this thing. And long story short; we walked out of that Climax Bar with pretty much a nailed song, as strange as that sounds. Then we were on the way home.

We were all. . .it was that tumbleweed silence, you know? It was like, ‘What actually just happened in that time?!’ It was one of the most powerful worship experiences we’ve ever had. I actually remember looking out, and you’re looking down a wee alleyway, into the street, and it was just 50 or 60 probably British tourists and they’re just sitting there listening going, ‘What is this all about?’ Coming from The Climax Bar which is pretty much a strip club. Just, here we are singing about Jesus in the middle of this. . . It was one of the most random experiences but it was a God thing, God was there.”

---

Here are the lyrics:

Verse 1

You're the God of this city, You're the King of these people
You're the Lord of this nation, You are
You're the light in this darkness, You're the hope to the hopeless
You're the peace to the restless, You are

Pre-Chorus
There is no one like our God
There is no one like You God

Chorus 1

Greater things have yet to come
And greater things have still to be done, in this city
Greater things have yet to come
And greater things have still to be done here

Verse 2

You're the Lord of creation, the Creator of all things
You're the King above all kings, You are
You're the strength in the weakness, You're the love to the broken
You're the joy in the sadness, You are

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My idea:
I'd love to get video footage of our city (Clearwater & Tampa) and use that as the background and maybe in the setup for the song. It'd be a great response to a teaching on evangelism or God's power. I think we could probably even take it a step further, but not exactly sure how.

What to do with August?!

It seems that we're going back and forth on what to do with the series for August. Here is the latest of what we have discussed. Let's please continue and wrap up the discussion. We need to have at the very least a commitment to a concept by the end of this week as the set team is meeting Sunday to begin the brainstorming process for the set.

We're looking at going with a series based on the "30 Days to Live" idea from LifeChurch.tv and the "Live Like You Were Dying"Campaign.

Here are some suggestions to get the conversation started:

series title suggestions:

Really Live
Life
Making the most of it
Carpe Diem


Let's do a four week series that would include the following topics:


1. Living in the moment
Other possible titles: Seize the moment; now; embrace today
Scripture references: Prov. 27:1; Matt 6: 25-26

2. Living for forever
Other possible titles: eternity; eternal perspectives;
Scripture references: 1 Cor 9:24-26; 1 Thes 4:16-18

3. Living a legacy
Other possible titles: Building the next generation; leave a legacy;
Scripture references: Psalm 78:5-7; Psalm 127:3; Eph 6:4

4. Living at peace
Other possible titles: keep short accounts; live with a clean slate; forgive; fighting for peace
Scripture references: Matt. 6:14; Rom 12:17-19

Please post comments here with your suggestions and keep the conversation going until we've arrived at our series.

Thanks!
Deana

2008 Series ideas

I'd like us also to have a place, here on Muse, where we can throw out series ideas, set ideas, interactive element ideas, all that are not necessarily tied to a current planned series.

So, I'll get us started with this post regarding series ideas.

It's not uncommon for me to be out and about my daily routine and to come across a word or phrase that captures a cool series thought. If that happens to you too, please post them here. Here are some I've been collecting:


Welcome to Grey

I Am

Charged

Watercooler Wisdom

It's Who I Want to Be



I don't have topics or themes for all of these and would love to hear what you think they might say well. Take a minute and have some fun with them and/or add titles of your own. Let's get the conversation started.

July 27 - The Jonah Within: Angry Enough to Die

We need to get angry at the right things.

Jonah got angry that the vine God had given him for shade had withered, but God pointed out to him that he should have been angry about 120,000 people who did know Him in Nineveh.

July 20 - The Jonah Within: Casting again

We all run, we all have to live with the consequences, but we all get second chances.

July 13 - The Jonah Within: That Sinking Feeling

Like it or not, life is filled with decisions and our decisions all have consequences.

July 6 - The Jonah Within: The one that got away

This week we'll be talking about how we all run from God, seekers, believers, all of us at one time or another have run, do run and/or will run from God.

General Ideas

Got an idea that doesn't exactly fit anywhere yet? Post it here to keep it on the table.

Cypress Arts Idea Bank

Posts will include topics and plans for particular services or series that are planned for upcoming weekends at Cypress. Please take a look at them and share your ideas for creative elements in the comments. Feel free to comment on comments, this is how our discussion will continue and we can stretch each other. My hope is that you, as an artist, will be challenged to create original art to address the topics at hand.

You will find lots of reference links in the column to the side to help with "food for thought." If you find a resource that we don't have listed, please post it as a comment and we'll add it to the group.

We welcome your ideas and thoughts. This is a forum where there is no right or wrong. Consider it e-brainstorming. We won't be able to use all the ideas generated, but often an idea is a great starting place for the "next good idea."

We hope to be able to work together with you and have fresh new ideas to use in our services. Have fun with this!