Our creative team just rolled out a slick new interface that takes listening to fresh life radio on your computer to the next level. The player now tells you the name of the artist, song, and album (with artwork) that you are listening to currently. It also tells you the name of the last song that was played and the song that is on deck.

This is a feature that I think people will really enjoy, because we aren’t exactly a chart-driven radio station. (understatement of the year) We shuffle a blend of: killer teachings, modern worship, groundbreaking indie, and alternative rock. We play music we like and we hope you like it too. We also know that, in our quest to discover and play new artists, listeners will be regularly be asking, “who is this?” as they listen and we are stoked to finally be able to give an answer. And an elegant one at that–kudos to the code monkeys for building this classy little player!

If you haven’t listened yet, check it out. It’s great stuff. I’ll be honest, if fresh life radio didn’t exist I wouldn’t listen to radio at all. I’d just as soon rock Pandora or my own iTunes library. No offense, but on most Christian stations it’s the same 8 artists over and over again…ad nauseum. On fresh life radio, in addition to bands I already know and love, I am regularly being exposed to new artists and having to ask our music director and station manager, “I LOVE this song, who is this?” Fortunately, with our new player, they won’t have to be constantly fielding those texts from me! Plus, radio stations have a personality that playlists, even music genome generated ones, do not.

We also have a streaming app available in the Android market (link) And a stream at freshliferadio.com that will run in the background on your iPhone, iPod Touch or an iPad.

Try it, you’ll like it. (yo gabba gabba reference)

I’m heading home from an overnight trip to Seattle and my head is spinning from an awesome 24 hours of stimulation and information…and now I am singing the beatle’s song that I used to title this blog…but I digress.

Pastor Coy and I shot out here after Skull Church to attend a one day leadership conference put on by Catalyst featuring Andy Stanley and Craig Groeschel. From 9am to 5pm we were (literally) bombarded by an exorbitant amount of practical advice on leading with vision and energetically executing your God-given mission. Andy pastors North Point in Atlanta, Georgia and Craig pastors Lifechurch.tv (the church that produced the killer Youversion Bible app for mobile devices.) Their sessions were salient, sage, and strategically aimed at cranking up momentum in ministry. Phenomenal.

Straight after the conference we headed downtown and met Pastor Mark Driscoll and his executive Pastor Jamie Munson for dinner. They were gracious to spend almost three hours with us as we picked their brains on ministry, church, leadership, and what they have learned in the almost 14 years that Mars Hill Church has been turning Seattle and beyond upside down for Jesus. They opened up the floodgates and, in what I have realized is quintessential Mark Driscoll style, were like machine-guns of advice/encouragement/challenge/inspiration/sarcasm. It was kind of like drinking from a fire hose but it was awesome. There is much I can learn from Mark and I was honored to spend time with him.

Over the course of the day we took in a lot on subjects ranging from: effectively using video teaching, conserving energy in the midst of a full preaching schedule, building systems and structure to keep up with the growth with out smothering the creative chaos that God used to bring the freshness and growth in the first place, etc; One topic of particular interest to me was the ins and outs of having multiple sites. All three men we were listening to do this VERY well. If you take North Point Church, Mars Hill Church, and Lifechurch.tv together there are over 25 campuses! We meet at two locations currently but are praying about more in the future.

Coy and I spent some time, later that evening, ambling around downtown Seattle ruminating on the different things that we had heard, like glutted cows. I’m sure for several days to come we will continue to be processing and sifting through the wealth of knowledge that has been imparted to us.

I try and learn what I can from a broad spectrum of leaders, not just any one source exclusively. (Except Jesus!) An important part of that is having the wisdom to chew the meat and spit out the bones. I think you should have a full “bull-pen” of influencers and coaches, who are each strong in different ways, without ever trying to be a carbon copy of any one person exclusively and you will be much better for it. This means being quick to learn from anyone but slow to implement with thought and prayer. And this coaching doesn’t have to be face-to-face or even at a conference. I learn from pastors, leaders, authors, and people that I have never met on a weekly basis through podcasts, books and websites. I definitely have found that leadership is something that is caught better than it is taught.

This morning (since it was my first time in Seattle) we made the obligatory tourist trip to the Pike Place Market and had a coffee from the very first Starbucks. The Mermaid Mecca. It was surprisingly humble and yet they have a map on the wall showing all the Starbucks in the world, all birthed from that nondescript location. I6,082 was their number of locations at the time the map was printed. Staggering. As I drank my Americano and thought of the evangelistic manner in which Starbucks spread their wings from their “Jerusalem,” (Seattle) to their state, the country and literally to the ends of the earth I was inspired to continue to make Jesus famous, with every breath, ’til He returns.

Ou team just released the newly designed skull church site and it is slick! It now includes a page where you can watch performances from many of the artists that have visited and it is much easier to navigate through the different series. Check it out!

This past weekend I was in Orange County hosting the Friday and Saturday nights of the Harvest Crusade at Angels Stadium, but through the wonders of technology I was also in Montana teaching at our 4 weekend services.

Though we have heard from many wonderful guest speakers, and it is wonderful to hear from fresh voices and outside perspectives, there is something to be said for maintaining the energy and momentum by not putting a series on hold. In order to do that (until science nails the whole cloning thing) for the past few years we have been using video teachings that I record prior to leaving town.

The hardest part about this, surprisingly, isn’t teaching to an empty room, it’s having to prepare three messages in a week instead of two, with the additional pressure of preparing for the trip. For some reason preaching with no audience isn’t really that different from a normal Sunday, I just think and pray for those who will be listening just like I am also thinking of the web/radio audience that I can’t see every other week.

A definite benefit is that the media team has time to post-produce the video, dialing it in. I especially love the unique Nehemiah themed lower thirds that the team generated for this particular message.

Here is the most recent “virtual levi” (as my staff affectionately refers to this teaching style) rock this city teaching from this past weekend. In it, Sanballat and co. try to assassinate Nehemiah as the wall nears completion.

We were honored to be chosen as the “church spotlight” in the most recent issue of Collide magazine. I was stoked to see our team receive some props from this killer mag that I consider to be an authority on the use of multimedia within the church.

Art, technology and media are a vital part of how we feel God has called us to minister and I am so grateful for the talented and creative individuals that make up fresh life creative. They are some of the most inspired and aggressive humanoids I have ever met and I love how they use their skills to make Jesus famous.

To read the article click here.

(Having never heard of Kalispell before I came here the first time myself, I got a kick out of the opening paragraph)