What does: Treasure, Captain Dan, and STIX have in common?

The answer is our new series called “Treasure Hunt.”

We started a four week series Sunday where we are diving into Matthew 6:23ff. The series is around Isaiah 45:3 and this Matthew passage.

Isaiah 45:3

I will give you the treasures of darkness,
riches stored in secret places,
so that you may know that I am the Lord,
the God of Israel, who summons you by name.

We went all out with a set design that some have said looks like Disneyland theme (so way to go team). We have wood barrels, wood crates, a treasure chest, a lobster trap, netting, a sail, and a crows nest. Instead of having Captain Jack, we have Captain Dan (Pastor Dan Southerland).

To kick the series off, we covered the STIX tune… guess which one… wait for it… wait for it… If you haven’t figured it out by now, I guess I’ll go ahead and ruin the game. We covered “Come Sail Away.” You should have heard the crowds reaction when Troy began to sing “I’m sailing away.” Some services knew the song by the piano intro, by which Lori rocked all 5 services!

This weekend I experienced what it was like to worship with our Speedway Campus. I had the opportunity to lead worship there and work with their band. They did great and their volunteer staff runs like a freshly oiled machine.

It was good to feel some buzz around the campuses this weekend. We have been in a funk lately regarding having that excitement. Whether its from the summer slump or whatever, it just has felt like we are in a funk as a church.

For those who are in leadership. When you are times of a slump or a funk, it is more important to keep the vision in front of your peeps. Keep focus and don’t stop praying. Reward your volunteers for their hard work in ministering to others, because they can feel the momentum shift more so than you can sometimes. When we encourage them during these seasons we add more fuel to them to continue the ministry. Remember that vision and passion are contagious. Sometimes, passion is more contagious!

Well, I have to get some work done, but wanted to get this out before I forgot about it. Here are some pics from the weekend.

Thanks to Robert Kinkade for making the mast (PVC and a peach bucket – way to use your R&I) and the captains wheel!

This is how the Speedway Campus receives the message. Dan is large and in charge.

Set Design:

• Wine Barrels from Bratcher Cooperage & Gifts in Liberty, MO (they loaned the barrels to us). Here’s a plug for them: if you like gifts from Silver Dollar City, you need to visit their store. Pretty nifty.
• Corn Crates from local Price Chopper (Grocery store). I collected them over a 2 week period. Got to know them pretty well. Now when I go in, I have to say that I’m just there to shop and I don’t need anymore corn crates. Price: FREE
• Treasure Chest, Fish net, lobster crate and stage right cannon are from the Theme Party Emporium in Kansas City, MO. Price: $200 for 4 weeks
• Mast is made from a PVC pipe and peach bucket and tied to the light truss to keep it standing. Robert made this and painted it to resemble wood. The fabric is just some painted white fabric.
• Stage Left Cannon was made by Robert as well. I don’t know how he did that one. If you want to know, email me and I’ll ask him.
• Captains Wheel was made by Robert as well.