The Floodgate Christmas Store

You’re invited to head over to our Christmas Store, and check out all of our Christmas media. We sure you’ll find exactly what you’re looking for.

Preview our TWO NEW 2009 mini-movies: The Christmas Question and A (Different) Christmas Prayer.

Preview our best-selling mini-movie from 2008.

Add our new Christmas Motions Pack, complete with 5 new Christmas motions for only $15.

Check out some beautiful Christmas Sermon Graphics Packages at Sermolicious.

And if you’re already planning ahead for 2010, we’ve got some great stuff for New Years.

A (Different) Christmas Prayer

Have you ever wondered if Christmas will ever change? The pace? The obsession with material stuff? The stress to get it all done, and in time for the family get-together? What if God is asking something different of us this year? What if God is asking us to love the people we come in contact with, and let everything else flow from there? Floodgate is proud to release “A (Different) Christmas Prayer.” Our hope is that you can show this in your church, and that they’re challenged and strengthened with its message of unconditional love.

Thanksgiving Media Resources

If you’re looking to do something special in your Thanksgiving worship services, we’ve got some great media options for you.  And this year, we’ve lowered the prices of EVERY PAST YEAR’S Thanksgiving media.  Go here, and start planning your church’s unique Thanksgiving worship experience.

New for Thanksgiving 09

Every year, most churches use Thanksgiving as a time to remind people to be grateful, thankful, and joyful. The challenge that most people have isn’t with the desire to be grateful – everyone wants to feel more grateful. The challenge is to actually BECOME filled with a thankful heart.

With that background, we’ve created the second in our series of very current Thanksgiving videos. Each year, we list specific events unique to that year, then ask, “How can we become filled with grateful hearts in the wake of those events?”

Check out Thanksgiving 09, our latest effort to resource your church by asking the right questions, then letting you answer them for your congregation.

U2 360 Pasadena Concert

I remember it like it was yesterday. “What music do you like?”, asked Mike Hahn, as he brushed his too long, skater hair from his face. in my mind, he was one of the coolest kids on the block, because he could do HoHos, and Judo Airs off the neighborhood launch ramp. I wanted to say something impressive, but I also didn’t really know what that was. At the time, my musical world consisted mostly of Petra, Steve Taylor, and Leon Patillo. But I had heard this really cool band recently, that I couldn’t stop listening too. It was like nothing else I had ever heard. They made me, at the ripe old age of 10, want to move to Ireland. “U2,” I replied, to which I received the cool kid stamp of approval. And thus began my life long musical love affair.

Many years later, they are still my favorite band. What I am constantly amazed at, is how good their earliest albums still sound. I listen to Boy and October, and can’t believe that they were able to produce such timeless music, at 18-19 years old. The production, from one perspective may sound dated, but from another, can sound like a lot of current music that eschews high-end studio polish, in favor of very raw, yet atmospheric qualities. They have grown, musically and lyrically, but what they did right from the start was to be as honest as possible about who they are, and what they can do. Later in their career, they have done that more tongue-in-cheek, at times, but they have always been true to themselves.

The Pasadena stop of the U2 360 tour, afforded me my third chance to see them live, and it was every bit as incredible as I had hoped it would be. It was a night I will never forget, as my 6-year old son Luke accompanied me, my beautiful wife Candice, and one of my best-friends (Floodgate’s own Jason Rowe), on a beautiful October night at the Rose Bowl. Jason observed that He had never seen so many people in a good mood, all in the same place. Indeed, everyone was in a good mood, and we we’re all treated to an historic concert event, streamed live to the world, via YouTube.

Another of U2’s consistently amazing feats, is their ability to take some of the most over the top, extravagant stage sets, and make it feel completely intimate. I think, its their passion, and energy that reaches out and grabs you, and really connects on a very human level. You can tell that they believe in the music they are performing. Its a great balance between having a blast, and putting everything they have out there. Its true that Adam and Larry are more reserved, but that serves as a sort of charming reality of this band’s personality. And keeping four different personalities committed to a singular vision, is no small miracle. To be a part of something so large, and not let it affect their friendships is truly inspiring.

Their latest album, No Line on the Horizon, is to me I think, their greatest album since Achtung Baby. And in fact it reminds me of that album in many ways. Not so much sonically, although there are similarities, but in approach, depth, and presence. I have gone back to the seminal Achtung Baby album several times after listening to the new one, and am reminded of what great material is there.

I’m not saying anything new to say what a great time and spirit of worship there was at a U2 concert. Maybe that goes without saying at this point. I think what I took away uniquely at this concert was how much we are all the same. Our tastes, views, and preferences that we think make us so different, all stem from very human and elemental places, that actually connect us together. Our yearnings, our joy, pain, anger, elation, whether we realize it or not, are a part of the way that God made us to function, and tie us to Him, and each other. Its at moments like these, where no one stops to think about worship through the traditional lenses, and contexts that so often filter and restrain us from authentic spiritual experiences. Sacred and secular, us and them dichotomies, lose all meaning, and it comes down to, human/spiritual beings, responding to a very human/spiritual experience. And we all lift our voices in unison, singing “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch, like me. I once was lost, but now I’m found. Was blind, but now I see.”

How to Burnout

Just before my youngest daughter went to sleep, she walked down to the couch where I was planted. The remote had become affixed to my hand. She made what would become a life-changing observation. With the innocence and simplicity of a 7 year-old, she said, “Dad… it seems like you’re always tired or mad.”

Up to that point, I had been a full-time, licensed, marry-and-bury, lead-worship-and-preach, pastor for seventeen very full-time years. But secretly, I wanted out. So I did what any people-fearing pastor would do. I didn’t tell anyone.

Until the Rams played the Steelers on Monday Night Football, in November 2004.

The Rams were losing that night, which put me in an awful mood. My mood carried into a garage cleanliness discussion with my wife – a discussion that eventually elevated to knock-down, drag-out proportions. My three daughters hid in their rooms while Dad spewed verbal wildfire all over the house.

I had become the man I promised never to become.

Burnout was never something I saw coming; but when it hit me, I was absolutely leveled. And the part of burnout I missed was this: The root cause of burnout had nothing to do with being tired, overworked, or underpaid (although I clearly possessed all three). For me, burnout happened when I became increasingly unable to inject my unique blend of passion and personality into an environment that could help meet a legitimate need in the world. That’s a clinical way of saying that I was a square peg in a round hole. My dreams were a million miles away from the dreams the position of “pastor” could provide.

My friend Jim tells me that burnout is “an exhaustion of the will”. I think he’s right. And when I look back on the whole experience, I see that a church staff environment can become a breeding ground for burnout. Here’s how it got a hold of me.

I lost grace. I had slowly become someone who was more interested in maintaining the standard than in helping those who couldn’t meet it. Everything and everyone began to frustrate me. Key leaders. Musicians. Graphic Designers. Web guys. Drummers who thought “softer” meant “slower”. Everyone.

I dreamed of other occupations. I’d wonder what it would be like to be a school teacher, a filmmaker, a circuit speaker, a barista, or best of all – an entrepreneur who owned his own business.

I dreaded the end of vacations. Two days before my vacations ended, I began to get in bad moods, and would have given anything to just drive to Montana, find a cabin, and live in seclusion for the rest of my days (I think that’s also called “depression”).

I didn’t believe anything noteworthy was being accomplished. I felt like I was putting in my time just to maintain the program, not to change the world.

I experienced increased migraines. We all have one prominent physical ailment that exerts itself when our emotions are undernourished. For me, it’s always been migraines.

Nothing was going to change at the church. More importantly, nothing was going to change in my heart. So the morning after the Ram’s loss, I met with the Senior Pastor of my church and resigned.

My first two months out of pastoral ministry were like an HD video with a heavy Gaussian Blur. My only desire was to make breakfast every morning, then take the girls to school. There was literally nothing beyond that. Somewhere during that time, God led me to purchase “The Journey of Desire” by John Eldredge. For the first time in my life, I could actually discern my own God-given desires OUTSIDE of the assumptions of pastoral work in a local church. Through an emotional 15-month process, I discovered me.

I discovered that I love being a dad, and that I had a lot of making up to do. I discovered that I am a risk-taker, and an entrepreneur. I discovered that I love to preach, but with media, not spoken words. I discovered that I needed to live into, and out of, a Kingdom-grace in all of my relationships with people. I discovered that I needed to stop following the principles of Jesus, and start following His person. And finally, I discovered that I was a terrible employee, and that I needed to be the leader, but one who leads from the middle of a group of close friends.

Talk to anyone who’s found the exact point where their God-given passions intersect with the world’s greatest need, and you won’t find burnout at those crossroads. Talk to any leader who’s living the exact dream God’s given them, while making a difference in the world, and burnout simply isn’t present. That’s because they’re pouring their lives into people and systems (and here’s the key), because it’s exactly what THEY WANT TO be doing. Label it “calling”, “passion”, or “desire”. Call it whatever you want, but these people would be doing this exact job for no money at all.

Burnout is a very real thing. I’m not questioning its existence. I’m questioning its cause. And I really don’t think the root cause is being overworked and underpaid. I think the primary cause is our inability to marry our deepest God-given passions and desires to a structure or organization where we honestly believe that God can change the world.

Through us.

(This article will appear in the November/December issue of Collide Magazine. And the only reason we can post it here is because Scott is a super-nice guy).

Veteran’s Day Media

Veteran’s Day is potentially the most validating day available for a brave group of people – people who fill the seats of our sanctuaries.  At Floodgate, we’ve got several media components designed to help you give honor to whom honor is due…

Mini-Movie:  A Veteran’s Voice

Mini-Movie: The Greatest Gift

Sermon Graphics Package:  True Freedom

Check out all of our Patriotic media here.

Veteran’s Day is such a great opportunity to help our younger generation see and appreciate the heroes in their midst.  We pray your church uses it with the full evangelistic potential it possesses.