Unplugged
I play at Flamingo Road Church almost every weekend, usually my Sunday starts at 7AM with a rehearsal at the Hallandale Beach Campus, we have breakfast together at 8:30 AM in the green room, the first English service starts at 9:30 AM and the second one at 11:15 AM, we play 4 songs every service and I lead the band. Then we have a Spanish service at 12:45 PM, we started this service 8 weeks ago and its going really good; Pastor Alejandro Diaz is doing a great job leading and teaching the same series in Spanish; anyway, we play another set of songs and its cool because it is FRC style but also with a Spanish Flavor, sometimes even a old school Marcos Witt song which everybody loves; Then, right after the worship I get on the road and continue “Touring” to another city, my next service starts at 2:15 PM in the Cooper City Campus, so I’m driving like The Fast and the Furious… Just Kidding!!! I’ve never had a ticket and I don’t even have a Radar on my car… Just for the record. Anyway, my Sunday worship experience usually ends at 3:30 PM. If not… I’m playing at The Pulse at 5 PM. So It’s a lot of fun, I love it, “I’m plugged in”, but the truth is I need to get “Unplugged” at least once in a while, so this weekend I was off, I didn’t play at any of the services, not even one, so I went to Key Largo with Miguel, Gerson, Carlos and his family. We had a great time at the Key Largo Club, we played tennis, we went to the pool, we played soccer, etc. I really needed this break, seriously, good times!, I have to confess that I took my acoustic guitar though, I couldn’t resist, I had a sunset worship moment, I also watched the 5 PM service online at frclive.tv and I gave my offerings through PayPal
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I’m here at the Hilton Hotel near to Downtown Disney in Orlando,FL with part of the FRC Magnification Team Getting ready for tomorrow’s event, The Leadership Summit of Willow Creek Association. Ricky, Heredes, Fuller, Allen, Peter, Voughn, Heather, Lilibeth and I, along with around 80,000 leaders from everywere.
but WHY are we attending to this event?
These are some of the reasons:
-To be challenged and sharpened by some of the world’s most influential leadership minds with all-new sessions and exclusive interviews.
-To join a diverse, expanding culture of progressive, impact-minded, growth-focused church leaders.
-To learn from expert communicators as they address the specific issues and challenges of leadership you face.
-To gather for worship and instruction—across denominational and demographic lines—with others from your region.
-To gain world-class experience at an affordable price, making it easier for large teams to experience the Summit together.
-Many leaders fall into a trap of waiting for a better environment, better tools, or a better team…it’s time to stop waiting.
-Be moved. Be changed. Be a leader.
It’s going to be really insteresting, so I’ll keep you guys updated!.
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On the Hot Seat!
This morning I had the opportunity to be on the HOT SEAT.
We had our first Weekend Celebration/Prayer Meeting at 10AM in the Room 126. so after hearing all the cool things God is doing in the Church like Summer Camp, Hallandale Outreach Events, etc. Raul invited me to the Hot Seat!. This is something we’ve been doing lately at the Staff Meetings beacuse there are a lot of new Staff members and the truth is we work together but we don’t really know each other, so whoever is on the seat has to answer all the questions they ask, all kinda questions!. It’s really fun. Allen Distefano has been on the hot seat aswell, Troy Gramling, Charlotte, and today I was the Lucky one.
It was a cool experience, to be honest I was kinda nervious but after the first couple of questions I felt more confident.
I don’t remember all of them but these are some of the questions:
When did you start playing instruments?
-When I was 8 Years Old.
Which Instrument?
-Keyboards.
How many Instruments can you play?
I play Drums, Bass, Guitar and Keys.
Which instrument you don’t play?
-You don’t wanna hear me playing Violin!
When are you getting married?
-I would say 2 years from now.
When did you came?
-Was working at a Church in El Salvador when they opened a new campus in Boston,MA so they sent me to lead the worship. I worked there for 2 years and then I moved to FL around a year and a half ago, so I came to this country 3 years and a half ago.
What’s your favorite restaurant?
-Sweet Tomatoes!
What kind of musical influences do you have?
-I would say Victor Wooten, Chick Corea, Mutemath.
Who’s been a person of influence in your life since you came to this church?
-Well, obviously Troy, but then I’ve had the chance to work close with a lot of peaple here, like Ricky, Allen, Igor, and now with Sammy, Alejandro, Voughn, José, all of them have influence my life.
How do you like it working at FRC?
-It has been a learning and growing up experience, the way we work here is different to what I was used to, and so, I’ve been learning a lot, I like it!.
When I look at you on stage you seem to be the guy who’s just having fun but the truth is you are the one acctually leading, is it something natural on you or do you have to make effort to do it?
-I learned that in Ministry is not about me beeing on the spot light, but its about me helping others to grow and to reach their potential, I love working with people, I love helping them, training them.
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Lastimosamente creo que todos los que asistimos a una iglesia hemos pasado por esa cituación. Muchas veces nos hemos salido antes de la “oración final”, o en el peor de los casos nos hemos dormido!
Encontré esta lista y me pareció muy Interesante,
Cuando la leí me hizo pensar en lo que estamos haciendo en la iglesia.
Tenemos que ser MUY creativos para poder mantener un ambiente agradable y atractivo en el cual la gente pueda recibir de Dios a travez de CADA elemento del servicio.
Esa nuestra responsabilidad. Aqui estan 10 Maneras de hacer los servicios mas aburridos. Los resultados son 100% garantizados!
1.
No te preocupes de cuando termina el servicio.
Estoy seguro que nadie tiene planes para después del servicio.
2.
Usa escrituras directas, sin ejemplos practicos!
Jesús no enseñó esa manera,
pero tu eres un comunicador mejor que Jesús, no es así?
3.
No uses videos, ideas de la Televisión o de Películas.
Eso es solamente una fase.
La gente realmente no necesita estímulo visual.
Prefieren oír “cabezas hablando”
4.
Utiliza el mismo orden del servicio cada semana
Sin hacer cambios o excepciones – nunca.
5.
Has más anuncios al final.
A la gente le encanta oir mas información.
6.
Anima a tus niños de edad de escuela primaria
que se sienten durante tus servicios.
Ellos aman los sermones de 45 minutos,
Es bueno para ellos. “Construye el carácter”.
7.
Habla más sobre el pasado y menos sobre el futuro.
8.
Toca la misma canción de Chris Tomlin cada semana
Y repetir el coro de la canción una más vez.
9.
Asegurate de utilizar muchas palabras grandes
que nadie usa en vida normal diaria,
Eso te hará ver mas inteligente.
10.
Olvidate de los asuntos y de las cosas relevantes de la vida,
La gente solo esta interesada en lo qué tu piensas, nada mas.
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Back to the Gym
it was 5:30 AM when the alarm clock started yelling at me!
I was like “what? I don’t wanna get up now…” I tried to hit the Snooze button and get some more time to sleep but the alarm wasn’t really close enough ( I did that on purpose ) anyway…I had my snickers ready, IPOD, I had some Vanilla Shake, brushed my teeth, took my keys, cellphone and started driving to the LA Fitness. I knew I had to go because I told Troy “See you tomorrow morning” and I knew he was gonna be waiting for me.
He has been encouraging all the FRC Staff to workout at 6 AM in the morning, its really cool to see them outside the offices hanging out.
the truth is I love working out, and its because I I feel healthier, I look better, I sleep well, I work better… it’s just the right thing.
I promised to myself to keep working out at least 4 days a week. Today is an awesome day, new challenges, new opportunities, new experiences with God.
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Good Bye iMac
I was checking my email as usual, and I received a e-mail, I was like “What?” I didn’t know if it was Good News or Bad News, I was out of town, visiting some friends at Tampa for a couple of days and honestly I wasn’t expecting that email that day!. The truth is somebody from Delaware was looking for a nice used computer for a decent price and saw my iMac G4 20 inch Display 1.25Ghz, felt in love with it “at the first sight” an clicked the famous “BUY IT NOW” button!. But Let me tell you, this computer means a lot to me!!!, it’s not just a computer, it’s a Mac, but it’s not just a Mac, it was my first Mac and in my opinion it’s the most beautiful computer on earth! no depth; I like it better than the iMac G5, seriously. Anyway I sold it because now I’m using a lot of Music and Graphic applications like PhotoShop CS3, Illustrator CS3, Logic Express, etc. and I needed a faster processor. I’ll miss it though, big time, the screen its amazing, its just perfect!.
Right now its on the way to Delaware. This morning at Fedex I said Good Bye iMac
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Guitarra
Despues de algun tiempo de tocar instrumentos musicales he aprendido a disfrutar cada uno de ellos, es increible el poder conectarse con las cuerdas de tal forma que puedas comunicar o expresar sentimientos a los que te escuchan, aun sin decir nada, solo atraves de la guitarra. En los dos ultimos años me he sentido bastante inclinado a tocar la guitarra acustica mas que a los demas instrumentos y la verdad se ha convertido en mi favorito, creo que se debe a la tendencia en la musica moderna a llevar la base ritmica con guitarras, tambien al hecho que la guitarra me permite tener una mejor comunicación con la audiencia que el piano, por lo menos esa es mi percepción personal. Definitivamente es mejor solo tocar o solo cantar porque al hacer las dos cosas al mismo tiempo puede limitarte haciendo el solo o para dar la señal a la banda y hablar con la gente, etc. Son cosas que hay que poner en la balanza, Hay que ceder en una de las dos.
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Boston Marathon
I was invited to play at this church in Framingham, MA so I spent the weekend at Boston, There was a big event going on the city, the famous BOSTON MARATHON, they do that every year, it’s a big party, live music, free food, everybody on the streets, the weather was perfect, not too cold, not to hot, around the 70’s, and it was sunny, I’m here right infront of the Prudencial Center at Downtown Boston just chillin’, man, the music was awesome, what can I say, and of course, GO RED SOXS!
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at the pool
The Swim pool at Billagio its pretty cool. As you can see Alexandra en her favorite uncle had a great time. I love the summer, I love the water, I love Alexandra. She is so cute.
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One Man Band
Alright guys, this is the real ONE MAN BAND, he is awesome, check it out: He is playing the Bass Drum, Hi Hat, trumpet, even the acordion!, how about that? It sounded like 5 musicians playing at the same time but i was just him! that’s it. I hate this guy! he is so talented, he’s sick!.
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