Jordan Rippy

As many of you know, I recently mentioned that I will be going to the Dave Matthews Band concert in Tampa in July.  I was depressed when I found out that John Mayer wouldn’t be coming south for his summer tour…until now. He announced today that he will be coming to Tampa in the second leg of his summer tour.  Oh, and an added bonus. One Republic will be opening for him. Will I be there? Yes.

I want to write a book. I have a lot of really random life goals. Some I’ve already completed, some I haven’t even touched on. Lately I’ve had a major writing itch. I really want to write a book, but I have no actual book ideas which puts a wrench in the process. Just thought I’d throw that out there.

What life goal have you been reaching for lately?

1. I don’t sleep with a pillow. I’ve unsuccessfully tried to do so on several occasions, it just never works. I’ll probably have back problems in my old age.
2. Kristin and I got married on a Sunday. The place we wanted wasn’t available on Saturday so it was either Sunday or two months later. We went with Sunday.
3. I love pads of paper. I have always been a big fan of office supplies, but when it comes to pads of paper I can’t be stopped.
4. I love pizza. No seriously, I could eat it every single day and not think twice about it. Especially Il Panificio here in Sarasota.
5. I prefer baked B-B-Q Lays chips. Anyone that know me knows that it’s not because I’m health conscious. For some reason I just appreciate the extra-crunchy nature of this delightful treat.
6. I eat everything plain. No really. Everything. Hamburgers, Hot dogs, subs…Plain. Plain. Plain. Lately I have ventured into the world of pickles and ketchup on hamburgers, but that’s about the extent of my condiment dealings.
7. I love movies. Kristin and I go to and or rent movies multiple times a week. I love movies. I always have. I particularly enjoy going to the movies. Sometimes I’ll go see a movie that I know nothing about just because I’m in a “movie mood”.
8. I love reading. I’m a huge reader. I try to read at least two books a month. I also try to vary what I read (fiction, non, biography, Christian, non, etc.).
9. I am a night owl. I never go to bed early. I usually hit the hay by 1 or 2am at the absolute earliest. I love the night time.
10. I’m a talk radio fan. Big time. Any kind of talk radio and I’m in. Especially political. Also financial. Gotta’ love that Dave Ramsey.

Dr. Beach released his yearly top ten beaches in America list on Friday. Check out who occupies the #3 slot this year. That’s right…That’s Sarasota’s own Siesta Beach. This beach is 10 minutes from our house. In fact, Kristin and I go there every Sunday. Which one of these beaches do you go to ever week?

1. Caladesi Island State Park - Clearwater/Dunedin, Florida
2. Hanalei Beach - Kauai, Hawaii
3. Siesta Beach - Sarasota, Florida
4. Coopers Beach - Southampton, New York
5. Coronado Beach - San Diego, California
6. Main Beach - East Hampton, New York
7. Hamoa Beach - Maui, Hawaii
8. Cape Hatteras - Outer Banks of North Carolina
9. Cape Florida State Park - Key Biscayne, Florida
10. Beachwalker Park - Kiawah Island, South Carolina

Props to TruGreen (whoever that is). This door hanger brought me great joy today. It’s possibly the longest door hanger in history.

I just finished Emerging Worship by Dan Kimball. Really enjoyed it. I was required to read it a couple of years ago for school, but I didn’t finish it. Anyway, this post is not about the emerging church, it’s about a great book on worship. I really like Kimball’s focus on holistic ministry and multi-sensory worship. I love books that challenge me to think more creatively about worship and leadership. Kimball also has a lot of great things to say about intergenerational relationships and consumer Christianity.

• “Church is the people of God on a mission. (1 Corinthians 12:27; Acts 1:8)”
• “It is dangerous to elevate the [worship] gatherings over true spiritual formation.”
• “We only dishonor the people in a local church and risk creating backlash when we blindly use someone else’s model’.”
• “Biblically, it is important to cultivate intergenerational relationships among believers (Psalm 145:4).”
• “Never mistake motion for action.” - Ernest Hemingway
• “A core value of Vintage Faith church is that we can’t explain what happens with the church by the methodology we use. It can be explained only by the Holy Spirit’s involvement.”
• “Being organic is not being unorganized and chaotic. Anything organic and living is the opposite of random.”
• “Emerging worship expresses love and adoration for God through creativity mixed with theology and artistic expression.”
• “The desire is to avoid developing a dependency upon a person in the worship gathering (or a dependency on a certain personality or style of teaching).”
• “We need time to allow the Spirit to convict or encourage our hearts after the message-rather than rush out the door. We need times where we can intercede for others or get on our knees to confess our sins.”
• “May we never allow the creative design of worship gatherings to push Jesus to the sidelines.”
• “We have lost intergenerational relationships in church by keeping everyone in segmented into programmatic departments.”
• “A sign of unity in a church isn’t if they know the senior pastor, but if they have the same DNA. It isn’t about a person; it is about Jesus Christ.”
• “We have a holy responsibility to decide how money is spent as an act of worship.”

Today was Kristin’s first day of work at Starbucks. Apparently it was just a one hour introduction/staff meeting. She’ll be working a couple days a week at the Starbucks on University and Tuttle. You should go see her!

Someone recently blessed us with a dishwasher.  Check out the old and the new.  The old is better looking, but thew new is a bit more of a time saver.

The Old:

The New:

This is the last post about our night of praise, I promise. I wanted to take several posts to show you all of the different elements we incorporated into the night. We incorporated various expressions of worship for three main reasons:

1. The church should be more creative and less limited in worship.
2. Involving everyone makes the night less of a worship concert and more of a community night of worship.
3. Using art, photography, and writing stations allows the church to capture what God is doing within the community of faith.

In addition to the artists, photographers, and musicians who participated in the night of praise, we also invited the congregation to write what they felt God speaking to them throughout the night. We had a large table set up with a long piece of craft paper and tons of markers. People were able to write as the Lord spoke to them. It was interesting to see a lot of common themes in what was written.