Well okay then. American Idol is wrapping up, and I'm going to stick with it to the end with some ramblings. Not sure if the format will allow me to even change my mind since there are so many reprises. But my daughter is planning on voting and isn't sure who to vote for, so I guess this night is important to someone. Here goes, and as always, I comment before I hear the judges:

Lee - "The Boxer" - Love the song, of course. A little mellow to start, but solid.

Crystal - "Me and Bobby McGee" - This accomplished what Lee was hoping for as an first song, better because it picked up at the end - ironic that both songs contained "la-da-da-da" lyrics.

Lee - "Everybody Hurts" - great pick for a song, but he may be in trouble - felt like this wasn't quite in the pocket - it was emotional and good in general, but wasn't quite there.

Crystal - "Black Velvet" - wow, this song isn't a parody of itself yet? Hard to take it seriously after hearing all the AI first rounders destroy it. That being said, she did great. I love her voice.

Lee - "Beautiful Day" - okay, so this will be his single, and I guess their getting away from the AI original song? Also, who picked it? Anyway, he did well - but it's odd - he gets to the emotional core, and then he just stops and stays at that place too long, so it ends up not quite elevating. He's a shoo in for second place, I'm sayin'.

Crystal - "Up to the Mountain" - Very good. She should win. So glad I heard that song instead of a generic song trying to generate the same emotion through cliche after cliche.

Looking forward to tomorrow night, hoping that the spectacle machine is in full effect! (also hoping that they don't go too goofy with the Simon sendoff) Enjoy!

It's the Top Three - and we're almost done. Who will rise to the top to lose to Crystal in the end?

CASEY: "It's All Right With Me" - This is in the right category for him, but lacks punch - he lacks the eye of the tiger.

CRYSTAL: "Come To My Window" - Feels rushed to me. Maybe I'm just too used to her taking songs and slowing them down all folk-like. Never opened her eyes. Pushing. Harmonica totally unnecessary, making her look like Joan Cusack from Sixteen Candles. Yeah I said it.

LEE: "Simple Man" - Like Casey, in the right category, but not particularly memorable. But given its competition, it's good enuff.

CASEY: "Daughters" - A great pick for Casey. He's selling it well, but I can't say that he's singing it well. A lock for third place. They're gonna praise it though to act like he just "brought it."

CRYSTAL: "Maybe I'm Amazed" - First of all - I love that she didn't change the gender of the lyric (even if it is a subtle commentary on Ellen picking it) - anyway, this was all kinds of awesome. finally.

LEE: "Hallelujah" - First of all - can't believe I'm hearing this song again. Don't get me wrong, I think he did a great job - especially after the choir entered, and he ascended like a dove to go and prepare a place for us.

If Casey doesn't go home, this show will be more of a sham than it's already in the midst of becoming. Seriously, acting like Lee is the first person to bring emotion to that already incredible song? How many times has it been performed here? Eight? Nine?

Oh well. Off to the 2nd to last episode of LOST. Where all the action is...

Hey friends. If you watched the Willow webcast today, I may have referenced some of the materials that you can download here for free. And if you'didn't watch and you want to, you can do so on "tape" here.

Below you can download documents about the big idea process, a campus constants doc (showing what things our church expects ALL of our campuses to have), the new campus start up guide, and the document we created to determine expectations for reproducing campuses (the permission-giving one).

We also have a zip file that shows one week's worth of big idea material for adults/students/kids you can get a sense of how that works.

Enjoy, hope it helps you be innovative, which is much better than being outtovative!

Hey there everybody in Court Jester-land. Just wanted to let you know that I'll be playing it "all serious" tomorrow morning, as the Willow Creek Association has asked me to be a guest on their "Becoming an Innovative Organization" webcast. It's live, and I'm being interviewed by Jim Mellado and Craig Terrill, who pretty much run the show over there (no matter what Hybels says)...

I'll be talking about a bunch of ways that our church has done its best to be a permission giving organization that allows for creativity and innovation. Hopefully it will help release some creative monkeys in other church environments - that'd be pretty cool, right?!

It all starts at 11:30am, CST. (Mom, I think that's 9:30am your time) Go to this webpage, and you can sign up to get an email reminder that includes a link to the webcast. And that webpage is also the same url where the webcast will be playing live. Sounds complicated, but it's probably not.

Okay everyone - it's the top four - and no one cares. But since I can't take back all these years and start a blog about each episode of LOST, I'm stuck where I am. American Idol y'all…

Here are my thoughts in a brief fashion as I can express them, because I'm still reeling from the Man in Black-centric episode of LOST. You know you're into the storyline of the show when you are dreaming about the episode. Wow. Where was I? Oh yes, American Idol - Jamie Foxx is the mentor, songs from the movies.

LEE: "Kiss from a Rose" - Great pick for him. He might just be ready for top two.

MICHAEL: "Will You Be There" - the judges might get sucked in, but I liked Lee better than this - but - I did like the range that this showed. Still a little stiff.

CRYSTAL and LEE: "Falling Slowly" - Please don't ruin this song for me. Kinda rocked it out a little too much for me, but I like both of them.

CASEY: "Mrs. Robinson" - I was surprised that I like this version of this song, because when he was playing it slowly, I wasn't thinking it would work. But it worked for me.

CRYSTAL: "I'm Alright" - more cowbell. Loved it, she's great.

CASEY and MICHAEL: "Have you every really loved a woman" - blech. I have never liked this song. This rendition does not change my opinion of it.

So it's either Casey or Michael going home. I'm saying Michael. That's just my gut.

This is a great article from one of the great storytellers of our time.

I like his last line: "Art matters, so keep creating, even as God is creating, for your pleasure and for His."

Okay y'all - there's been a bit of fluttering on the internets about the video I referenced in an earlier post, and how similar it is to another video. If you're interested in that conversation, check it out at Jesus Needs New PR. Seems like a good time to reveal last week's parody video we showed at Community: a parody of an Old Spice commercial. We worked really hard on this one - it was a total team effort from the entire crew here. And we got it in one take, on the 31st take. Bloopers to come. Enjoy! Here is the video:

And here is the commercial that it is parodying.

What do you think?

If you've ever wondered what I did for a living, it's something like this. Thanks to Sean Bublitz for pointing it out, and thanks to North Point for making it. Enjoy the comedy!

Well, it's been a couple of weeks. In my opinion, the show jumped the shark last week when the judges collectively decided to give kudos to almost every contestant regardless of their performance's quality. It was a bit sad, but then I got over it. I'm sure there were people who enjoyed the Fonz jumping the shark, and the couple of weeks that followed. They probably just didn't blog about it back in the 70s.

So the cool part is that Harry Connick Jr. is mentoring, arranging, and performing with the contestants. The bad news is that it's still the same contestants.

Aaron - "Fly me to the moon" - he's gotta go. Tough to teach charisma, Kara.

Casey - "Blue Skies" - Things I can't do for $100, Alex?

Crystal - "Summer Wind" - It was good. Still like her. Best so far, which isn't saying much unfortunately.

Michael - "The Way You Look Tonight" - Waiting for him to start singing "...What up with dat?"

Lee - "That's Life" - Fairly acceptable. I liked the honesty of it, and in some ways is my favorite of the night.

Well, it's been a strange season. I think Aaron's going home. But other than that... meh. What do you think?