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Exciting Announcement!

Exciting Announcement! from scotthodge on Vimeo.

The Orchard's Art Initiative!

“Art...can be a doxology in itself.” Francis Schaeffer

This coming weekend is the grand opening of The Orchard’s Community Art Initiative! 

Here’s the deal...  From now through January 2010, we are featuring over 60 paintings, original prints, and mixed media works by five local international and nationally acclaimed artists.  (Their work is already on display throughout The Orchard’s campus and let me tell you....it looks AMAZING! Will post photos after this weekend...)

This is a dream come true for us on so many levels.

For one, we believe that we must be people who recognize, create, and release beauty in our city and world.  And since we value the artful expression of people from all different backgrounds and who are at all different places in their spiritual journey, we believe that partnering with local artists is essential in seeing this happen.

We’re also joining together with these artists to create tangible expressions of love through existing partnerships both locally in Aurora and globally in Uganda, El Salvador, and Thailand. 

(And here’s the really cool part...  Not only are these works available for purchase, but all of the artists have agreed to donate a percentage of their proceeds back into one of our Glocal Partnerships.  How amazing is that?!)

Best of all, this is just the beginning.  We want to keep finding new and creative ways to be a supportive and empowering voice to our local artists as they continue to bring beauty to our world through their unique expressions of truth.

Can’t wait to see where this journey leads us in the weeks and months ahead!

Here are the details for this weekend:

Opening Reception & Food Drive
Sunday, November 15th, 2009 from 12:30pm - 2:00pm
The Orchard Community | 101 S. Barnes Rd., Aurora, IL 60506 | 630.897.8888

We're also encouraging everyone to bring non-perishable food items to benefit the Aurora Area Interfaith Food Pantry.

Here’s a link to a few of the artists:

Dorothea Bilder
Tim Burns
Maureen Gasek
Cheryl Holz

P.S. Attention Artists! Continuing Art Exhibitions are scheduled for 2010 and 2011. We are currently looking for artists to submit their work starting fall 2010 and continuing through 2011.  For more information on future exhibits or for information on how artists can submit work, please contact: Maureen Gasek, Maureen@epsilondesign.net or 630-898-3859.

Sand Animation by Kseniya Simonova

This is just simply beautiful.  It's a sand animation by Kseniya Simonova from the Ukraine.  This is a clip of her portraying life during USSR's Great Patriotic War against the Third Reich in World War II. Worth watching the entire thing.

love.serve.give.

We've got some great opportunities to love.serve.give between now and Christmas at The Orchard.  Check them out:

More details here.

This is the kind of church...

"This is the kind of church and kingdom I want to be a part of - a band of people who are messy, have addictions and shortcomings, make mistakes, get rejected, and are screwed up, but are so fully aware of the Master's grace and love for them in spite of who they are or will be someday; people who embrace discomfort knowing there is so much to be gained for all of us and for all of our churches."

Dave Gibbons, The Monkey and the Fish

The Orchard's New Logo

Six years ago, our 85 year-old church community changed it's name from "Aurora First Assembly of God Church" to "Orchard Valley Community Church."  As you can imagine, it was a tremendous move for us.  At the time we also created a logo and website that has served us well over these past few years. Here's the logo we've had up until today:

About 18 months ago, we started feeling it was time for another change.  Way overdue actually!  What was needed was a complete rebrand.  So with the amazing and generous (pro-bono) help of our good friends, Keith and Dawn Baldwin (fellow Orchard tribe, creative geniuses, and Aspire One pioneers), we began the process of designing a new logo and website that we are excited to share with you today!

Our goal was to create a logo that would reflect the artistic, missional, and organic culture of what The Orchard has become over these past few years.  While we certainly wanted something that looked "excellent" and "professional", we also didn't want to lean too far into a "corporate" or "trendy" look.  It was also important to us that the logo would look original and unique.  And I'm super proud and excited to say that I think we've accomplished it!  Here it is: We've also launched a new website that went LIVE today.  We've also changed our domain to: theorchardcommunity.com.  (Note: Our previous domain "orchardvalleyonline.com" will point to the new site today or tomorrow.  Emails are still "@orchardvalleyonline.com" for now.)

You can visit the new site by clicking here.

Here's a screenshot:

 

There are so many people to thank and I'll do that in a separate post.  I'm also hoping to get Dawn, Keith, and a couple people from our team to share more of what went into the creation of the logo and site as well.  Stay tuned for that.

Thanks for letting us share an exciting next step for us at The Orchard!

I'm calling it SHOCKTOBER.

Ok, so there are around 2.4 billion things that I'm excited about right now.  And I seriously feel like I need to pinch myself just to make sure this is all real.  Here's a taste.

STORY - It happens next week!  Can't wait.  Around 1,700 pastors, communicators, church leaders, writers, speakers, etc will converge for two days to learn and be inspired by an amazing line up of storytellers -   people like Dave Gibbons, Ed Young, Donald Miller, Nancy Beach, Mike Foster, Stacy Spencer, Chris Seay, and others.  The first day happens on Wednesday, October 28th at the beautiful Paramount Theater in downtown Aurora.  The next day will be workshops (sold out!) happening at The Orchard.  Honored to host and be a part of STORY!

CULTIVATE - Seriously, Chicagoland is the place to be in October.  Cultivate is a highly interactive, conversational, collaborative un-conference that's all about church communication.  It's happening the day before STORY.  And the lineup of facilitators is just sick.  Wow.

DAVE GIBBONS - We are honored to have Dave speak at The Orchard's gatherings the weekend following STORY.  Not only is Dave a good friend, but he's someone God has used to impact my life in some pretty significant ways.  I'm thrilled that our church community gets to hear and learn from him!

THE NEW & IMPROVED....ORCHARD - The Orchard has had an extreme makeover!  Through the amazing "pro bono" generosity of fellow Orchard tribal members, Dawn & Keith Baldwin (Aspire One), we have a new logo and amazzzing new website that will go live later THIS WEEK.  I'll talk more about this in a later post...  STAY TUNED!

LOVE.SERVE.GIVE. - It's The Orchard's GLOCAL outreach opportunities this winter.  More about this later as well... But just know that we are going to have some amazing opportunities to bring beauty and hope to people locally in our city and globally in places like Uganda, Thailand, and El Salvador.  

ORCHARD ART INITIATIVE - Too much to type, but The Orchard is turning into an art gallery starting this month.  Our campus will be filled with art from local artists.  Huge dream come true, but only the beginning...

Ok, there's more, but I my fingers hurt and I need to study.  OUT.

Not Like Me

Not Like Me.  A new series beginning on 10/24-25 at The Orchard.

The Nines

In case you missed it, here is the talk I gave for The Nines. 

You can also view the rest of the speakers here.

Hope.

 

This past Monday marked five years since my dad passed away.  It was a good day actually.  Spent it with my mom, sister, and our families. It's always good to be together on "the day." 

What a five years it's been.  On one hand, there's been a lot of mixed emotions as I've tried to journey past the loss of my father.  Grief is a crazy thing.  Just when you think you've conquered it, you realize you've been duped. 

At the same time, however, my life has also been full of overwhelming joy as I've watched God pour his blessing upon my family and church community.  And so of course, I'm extremely thankful.

But the thing that I'm becoming more and more thankful for as times goes by, is this thing called hope.  For the first time in my life, I think I'm finally starting to "get it".  In fact, I'm not even sure I was able to truly grasp the depth or idea of hope until I found myself in desperate need of it.  And now, I find myself becoming more and more dependent upon it as each day passes. 

From my journal (8/09):

Hope tells me that...

The future will be better than today.
What's broken will one day be fixed.
What hurts will one day be healed.
What is wrong will one day be made right.
What has been missed, will one day be compensated for.

I'm choosing to embrace this with both hands.  

Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Romans 15:13

Sometimes....Beauty Finds Us

Beauty.  Sometimes it's obvious, isn't it?

   
   

Other times...it's not.

This photo was taken a few months ago while on a visit to Uganda.  It's the home of a man named Moses.  He's the father of a young boy sponsored through Compassion.

Even looking back now, as I type this, it's hard to put into words what we saw and experienced that day as we walked through this urban neighborhood of Kampala.  Poverty, disease, suffering, unclean water....you name it.  I've spent time in other poverty stricken areas around the world, but on this day in particular, I realized that I had forgotten just how bad it really is. 

Which is why I think my mind struggled to make sense of what happened next.

As we were standing in the middle of this "mess" saying our goodbyes, my focus was immediately interrupted by the sound of a little girl giggling, laughing, and trying really hard to get our attention.  And as I turned around to see who the culprit was, I was completely taken back by the presence of this beautiful little girl.

 

It's hard to explain what I felt at that moment, but it was as though my mind immediately went TILT.  Not just because she looked like she had just walked out of a suburban mall somewhere in middle America. No, it was everything!  Her smile.  Her laughter.  Her silliness.  Her life!

It was almost like looking at a puzzle piece that had been placed on the wrong puzzle.  This piece didn't fit!

It was beauty...in the midst of utter brokenness. 

For the rest of the trip, I referred to this little girl as "Julia" in my conversations with people.  I called her that because she reminded me so much of my five year old daughter by the same name.  The way she made me smile and laugh was just like my little "Juju" makes me smile and laugh at home. 

I was reminded of something in regards to beauty that day. Something that I think is important as we become people who not only recognize obvious beauty, but who also learn to seek out beauty in this broken world.

Sometimes we find beauty.  And other times.....beauty finds us.  But either way, our eyes have to be open. 

Open our eyes Lord.  May we be more aware of Your beauty - even in the midst of brokenness.  Amen.

They'll Know Us By Our.......Christian T-Shirts!

 

Our team performed the song "T-Shirts" by Derek Webb this past weekend at The Orchard.  We even had a mini-choir with t-shirts that said the word "LOVE" across the center of them.  And man, they rocked it!  Pretty powerful song with just enough tension to make the right people squirm. :) 

Here are the lyrics:

they'll know us by the t-shirts that we wear
they'll know us by the way we point and stare
at anyone whose sin looks worse than ours
who cannot hide the scars of this curse that we all bare

they’ll know us by our picket lines and signs
they’ll know us by the pride we hide behind
like anyone on earth is living right
and isn’t that why Jesus died
not to make us think we’re right

chorus
when love, love, love
is what we should be known for
love, love, love
it’s the how and it’s the why
we live and breathe and we die

they’ll know us by reasons we divide
and how we can’t seem to unify
because we’ve gotta sing songs a certain style
or we’ll walk right down that aisle
and just leave ‘em all behind

they’ll know us by the billboards that we make
just turning God’s words to cheap clichés
says “what part of murder don’t you understand?”
but we hate our fellow man
and point a finger at his grave

chorus
they'll know us by the t-shirts that we wear
they'll know us by the way we point and stare
telling ‘em their sins are worse than ours
thinking we can hide our scars
beneath these t-shirts that we wear

"Yesterday" Soundtrack

We created a soundtrack for our "Yesterday" series at The Orchard. It's the music we play before/after/during our weekend gatherings.  It's quite an eclectic mix.  Some good stuff.

Here's an iTunes link where you can browse the list, listen to samples, or purchase any of the music.

Includes: John Mark McMillan, Derek Webb, Wilco, Editors, Kim Walker-Smith, Damien Rice, Shane & Shane, MuteMath, David Vandervelde, and others.

Redeemer's Renew Video

Beautiful city...  Beautiful Music...  Beautiful Call.

REN3W Vision Campaign from Redeemer Video on Vimeo.

Aurora Through My iPhone

Walked around Aurora for a bit this weekend.  Took a few shots w/ my iPhone.  

(Click photos for larger size)

I Gotta Feeling Live in Chicago!

This....is very cool.  Love it!

Thanks Brad Lomenick for sharing the link.

A little Ben from Ben

Stole this off of Ben Arment's blog.  Too good not to share...

Ben writes:

I've been following TK McKamy's blog for a long time. He doesn't post much, but I'm entertained by everything he jots. And he is a mad-talented filmmaker.

I finally called him this past week to conspire on some things. Love the guy.

Anyway, he just created this stunning video for Ben Richter. One take... beautiful cinematography. All natural light.

Agreed.  Now enjoy.

Ben Rector - Free from TK McKamy on Vimeo.

The Nines - SCHEDULE

Just noticed that Leadership Network released a preliminary schedule for tomorrow's Nine's Conference. 

Love that I get to share the first 9AM slot with four friends - Troy Gramling, Mark Beeson, Anne Jackson, and Dave Ferguson! 

So far, there are over 9,000 people registered.  If you haven't registered, you still can here.

It's going to be quite a day.  Over 70 speakers scheduled.  Can you say FIREHOSE!?!?

Here's the schedule (all times CST):

9AM — Troy Gramling, Mark Beeson, Anne Jackson, Dave Ferguson, Scott Hodge

10AM — Perry Noble, Stacy Spencer

11AM — Dino Rizzo, Nancy Beach, Steven Furtick, Reggie McNeal

12PM — Craig Groeschel, Leonard Sweet, Greg Surratt, Jon Tyson

1PM — Margaret Feinberg, Larry Osborne, Matt Carter, Pete Wilson

2PM — Neil Cole, Reggie Joiner, JD Greear

3PM — Mark Batterson, Dan Kimball, Mark DeYmaz

4PM — Jud Wilhite, Brian McLaren, Bob Roberts, Rick McKinley, John Ortberg

5PM — Alan Hirsch, John Bishop, Toby Slough, Ed Stetzer

6PM — Mark Driscoll, Darrin Patrick, Brad Powell

7PM — Darrin Whitehead, Brian Bloye

8PM — Eric Bryant, Nancy Ortberg, Rick Warren

09.09.09

September 9th, 2009 at 9AM (CST)

Almost 9,000 Registered. 

Are you?

Top 100! Thank you!

Hey everybody!  Thank you for helping make scotthodge.org one of the top 100 church blogs over at churchrelevance.com. I'm actually blown away that I'm even on the list this year.  My blogging has fizzled quite a bit over this past year.  Actually encourages and excites me for my relaunch in the next couple of months!

Check out the entire list and update your RSS readers to include some of these pretty phenomenal voices to your reading lineup. 

And btw... Kent, you really should have included yourself in that list!

Baptisms. Again!

Here's a video of our spontaneous baptism from a couple weeks ago.  Still so excited by what happened...  55 more people baptized!  140 total in two weeks. 

Love watching God move at The Orchard!

Spontaneous Baptisms 2009 @ The Orchard from The Orchard on Vimeo.

Teresa's Bookmark

This is beautiful. 

Let nothing disturb you,
Let nothing alarm you.
While all things are passing;
God is unchanging.
Be patient and you will gain everything.
With God in your heart nothing is lacking.
God alone suffices.

Words found inserted into the prayer book that Teresa of Avila was reading at the time of her death.  It's known as "Teresa's Bookmark".

Yesterday

Imagine this...

Hebrews 12....a huge stadium....the ancient Grecian games....grandstands filled with some of the all-time greatest heroes of faith who are yelling and screaming at the top of their lungs CHEERING US ON as we run a race known as our spiritual journey. 

That's what our series "Yesterday" is all about. 

It's about looking up into those grandstands and imagining what those cheers might sound like through the lips of some of the greatest spiritual influencers throughout church history - people like George Fox, Martin Luther, John Wesley, Thomas a Kempis, John Calvin, George Herbert, and several other great men and women.

Every one of these people recognized that our life with God is, in fact, a spiritual journey.  And they all had unique and extremely valuable ideas and insights into that journey.  Insights that are Biblical, practical, and extremely challenging to all of us who are on that journey today.

I can hardly wait.....because I honestly believe that this is going to be one of the most creative, artistic, and life-giving series we've ever done here at The Orchard. 

Would you join me in praying for that?

Yesterday begins this weekend. 

Amazing Idea for Next Year's BBQ & BAPTISM!

Driving Discussion About Story

Driving. Story Chicago from scotthodge on Vimeo.

StoryChicago.com