Happy New Year!

I began writing this blog post and realized that it was going to be a mile long if I talked about everything we did in 2009 and everything we hope to do in 2010. So here’s the short, short version.

Ed Stetzer – never boring! (watch “Thanks Ed” here)
Bruce Chesser – New senior pastor
Videos - Dr. Thom Rainer (President of LifeWay Christian Resources), Dr. Morris Chapman (President of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee), Phillip Nation, Dr. RT Kendall (renown author), Cumberland Crisis Pregnancy Center and many more.

Events - Rick Burgess from the Rick & Bubba Show, the African Children’s Choir, Denver & the Mile High Orchestra, and hundreds others.

Added 2 new team members to the First Media staff, trained several volunteers for key leadership positions in our control room, welcomed many new media volunteers, and introduced “The First 90” (a 90-second update on the ministries of First Baptist) which shows during each Sunday morning worship service.

2010 promises to be just as exciting.

We’ll start working on videos for Sanctity of Human Life Sunday, preparing to host Selah in concert and preparing for our annual Wild Game Dinner as soon as we get back in the office on Monday.

Training for our volunteers will be essential this year and we’ll continue to move volunteers into key leadership roles. We’re also working on programming content for a digital signage system that will run on more than 50 LCD TVs throughout our campus.

I can’t wait to see what else God has in store for 2010!

A little Christmas gathering

You know that feeling you get after a big Christmas party at your house? You spent several days cleaning and decorating your house, making sure everything was perfect. You cooked for hours and used ingredients that you’ve never used before. You invited 30 of your closest friends and spent 3 hours entertaining them and making them feel at home. And when the last guest leaves, you sit down on the sofa, exhausted yet fulfilled in what you accomplished, and you let out a big “ahhhhh”.

You know, putting on a Christmas production at a Southern Baptist mega-church is just like hosting a Christmas party at your house…with a few minor exceptions.

We spent several weeks preparing and decorating our “house”, including installing picture frames around two 17x14 foot video screens. We produced videos and put together instrumental, vocal and click tracks (which no one even realized were playing). We ran cables through ceilings, floors and walls. We added a camera for just one shot of our drums. We also temporarily installed a 3rd 15,000 lumen projector. Over 4,200 of our closest friends popped in (without RSVPing) and we entertained them for 3 1/2 hours with a 125-voice choir, a 35-piece orchestra and 18 media volunteers behind the scenes pulling the strings to make it all work.

And now that the party’s over…”ahhhhh!”

Merry Christmas!