MrAndrewBradley

I had a fantastic opportunity to act as a " Break Out " team lead at Bayside and Christian Musician Summit's " Thriving Musician Summit " Friday and Saturday that was presented by World Vision . It was amazing to see all of the Bayside volunteers and staff work together to pull off a great conference, not to mention getting all of the class rooms, worship center, lobby and courtyard changed from a conference setup with rented chairs and tables, massive exhibits and A/V equipment to a fully functioning church in 30 minutes. The Musician summit had some amazing speakers and artists at it, everyone from my friends, to Mia Fieldes and Ben Fielding from Hillsong United and Hillsong in Australia to Phil Wickham (who I got to drive back to his hotel ) to Paul Baloche to Jeff Scott and Norm Stockton to Tom Brooks (who I also drove) and Brandon Yip . Then there was Lincoln Brewster 's " CD Pre-Release Concert " for " Today is the Day ...

Ray Johnston , one of Bayside 's pastors spoke at the Shore tonight to what was probably a record crowd of 500+. Just a year ago when I started going to ministry was large with 150-200, now it is one of the fastest growing college and 20 something ministries in California . But in all reality, the numbers themselves mean nothing, it is about the lives that are and have been changed because of the ministry of Bayside, the Shore and countless other churches and ministries throughout the world. Tonight Ray spoke about " Miracles in Someone Else's Life ," explaining how God uses weak and imperfect people, like us, to do his work.

So normally I don't really care about research studies about cities, but I thought this one was interesting. The Milken Institute / Greenstreet Real Estate Partners Best Performing Cities Index ranks U.S. metropolitan areas by how well they are creating and sustaining jobs and economic growth. The components include job, wage and salary and technology growth. In 2007 Sacramento ranked number 25, but with recent economic downturns and home foreclosures throughout the Sacramento region its 2008 ranking plummeted to number 58 . Bakersfield was the top California city at number 12 , although I'm not planning on moving there anytime soon. To see where your city ranked, check out the report .

I had the opportunity to actually go in the lobby of the California Museum (I drive past it every day on my way to work) today. I normally just see the backs of the decorated Mickey statues, but this time I saw what they really looked like. It looks like it would be a great museum to actually pay and go into, so maybe one of these days I will go in. I think the only problem with living in a city is that you never do the "tourist" things, even if they are good. I also got to see California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Body By Jake ' "Jake Steinfeld" at a press conference where Arnold gave Jake a limited edition " Terminator " watch, so that was fun too.

Bayside's Olympic style ministry faire took place this weekend, it was great to see everyone in their Olympic clothing. From boxing to badminton to track and field , all train hard and continue to go for the gold in their daily and weekly ministries. Upcoming Bayside events that you don't want to miss ... Thursday, September 18 ... Ray Johnston (Bayside's Senior Pastor) will be speaking. Friday and Saturday (September 19 and 20) is the Thriving Musicians Summit , I will be there as a volunteer. If you're not a musician, but want to see an amazing concert , you can do that too ... Friday, Lincoln Brewster and Phil Wickham will be joined by Mia Fields and Ben Fielding from Hillsong United for an awesome Pre-CD Release Concert of Lincoln's new CD " Today is the Day ." If you're busy Friday night, then come to Bayside Saturday or Sunday and join Lincoln Brewster for weekend services (Saturday at 4:30 and 6:15 pm, Sunday at 8:15, 9:45 and 11:30...

So I was just going to quickly shampoo the carpet in my bedroom because there was a small stain on it .... 4 hours later, the whole house was done, oops. It was worth it though. Also, I had forgotten to post a project that my dad and I worked on a few weeks ago ... another new fence. It looks great and gives us a few more feet of clearance to park our trailer.

Seven years ago today, our country and the world stood still. People were in shock, air travel was halted, people watched wall to wall television coverage, people prayed, people gave. Today we took the time to remember. Memorials were dedicated , people stood silent, people reflected. After hearing Mindi Russell speak tonight at Bayside's The Shore , I was reminded that our country can come together in times a tragedy, I was shown how "God can take a tragedy, that He did not create, and do amazing, powerful things."