You Like The Peas? My Kiddo Does!

Here's little Levi jammin to some 'Imma Be' by the Black Eyed Peas. It came on the radio and I cranked up to see if he would respond. My other son Ezra didn't seem to care too much.

Little Kiddo Prayers

Most nights we'll do a round of prayers with Ezra and Levi. Here's Ezra's prayers last night...

How Do You Baptize?

Here at LifeChurch.tv, we've used several different methods to baptize people over the years. I thought I'd put our current process here for those of you that may have a little interest. This is completely informatory.....here goes:

At each LifeChurch.tv location, you'll find that space is very intentional and somewhat limited. At the Tulsa campus, we've got less than 25,000 square feet to house over 3,100 people from time to time. We do not have a permanent baptistery as this would only eat up valuable space when not in use. We have been using soft-sided pools for as long as I can remember. When we were portable, we used the pools, and now in a permanent location we still use them.

We typically set the pools up in a corner of our lobby so that the flow of traffic isn't too interrupted. We use one of the largest soft-sided pools available, so that we can get as many people in it at one time. This helps with getting a large number of people in and out efficiently. We'll set it up on a tarp, and lay down rubber-backed carpet runners for the exit/entry points to the pool. We even gaff-tape down long runs of the rugs to the bathrooms so that people don't slip on the wet concrete.

We'll fill the pool about half full the few days before the weekend to check for leaks and to allow room for warm water to be added later. We use an on-demand heater to fill up the rest of the pool with hot water. In the past, when we were portable, we used a rigged jacuzzi tub heater to warm the water. In the summer, we've put the pool outside to take advantage of the heat.

Finally, we put a few pastors in the pool to baptize several people at once. Sometimes a father will want to baptize their kids and we are excited to be a part of that experience! The nice thing about baptizing multiple people is watching siblings, best friends, or whole families being baptized all at once.

After the weekend is over, there are two ways to empty the pool. The best way is to just step on the side and let the pool empty in a matter of seconds....the indoors option is to use a small sump pump and get it out slowly but surely.

There ya go... pretty much all I know about how we set up the baptism process here at Life. Here's a couple links to help with what we use...thanks for sticking around after this enormously long post!

12' Soft Sided Pool

18' Pool

Sump Pump

Time Off

Had a great week at home this week. I only put in two full days at the church this week and took vacation at home the rest of the time. 3 days in a row off! Went in on Saturday for a couple hours to make sure the new video suite hadn't had a meltdown, but other than that...pretty refreshing time.

This was a good opportunity for me to really spend time at home seeing what my wife has to go through on a daily basis. Sure, I was able to help her, but I gained a new perspective on how hard it is to accomplish anything when you've got a 2 yr old and a 5 month old at home!

The thing that really smacked me in the face was today, getting ready for church. It occurred to me that all our families voluntarily wake up early, get the kids ready and head in to church, (hopefully on time) without killing anyone in the process. I had an "ah-ha" moment today. I love how much my wife loves our family enough to get the kids ready for church by herself every weekend...come in and serve 1 service and attend another one. Huge....that's freakin huge!

Okay...more soon.

Derrick

Life Happened...

So, I guess I took what Carlos Whittaker called a "Blogatical." With two little ones in diapers and all the new developments I've been undertaking...the blog took the back burner, big time! I'll begin informing everyone on the developments at the Tulsa campus of LifeChurch.tv soon. For a real-time look into what is going on, follow me on Twitter here (LINK)

See you soon...

Derrick

You Sicko!

For three weeks I've had a cornucopia of nasty viruses. First, the Flu..then...well...diarrhea...sorry. Then, Uvulitis for several days. Lost my voice...then I picked up a cold. Sinus issues. Okay, normally I don't get sick...but it's all happening at once.

So, Rachel got a Neti Pot to treat her sinus issues. I decided to try it. Here's the video...sorry for the faint of heart.

The Story of Levi

November 10, 2008

7:30pm - Rachel runs to Subway while I'm giving Ezra a bath and getting him ready for bed.

8:00pm - Rachel's contractions are about 15 mins apart, we start watching Heroes.

8:30pm - Rachel's contractions go to 5 mins apart for about an hour...PAIN ONSET!!!

9:30pm - Car is loaded and house is ready but Rach is in too much pain to move...

9:40pm - Helping Rachel to car...car is running in the street, Rachel screaming, I'm waiting on friend to arrive to stay with sleeping toddler in the house....TENSE!!!!

9:45pm - Friend arrives, and we flee towards the hospital...running red lights, passing cars while honking and flying down the road!

9:50pm - Arrive at hospital, frantically try to convince ER staff that baby is IMMINENT!!

9:53pm - Rachel is lifted out of car, Levi's head is almost out!

9:55pm - Arrive in hospital room, nurses everywhere, no Dr. in sight! PUSH RACH PUSH!!!

10:01pm - Levi Olen Henslee arrives!

16 minutes after we left our house Levi was born! Rach's water broke in the car and she was in INTENSE PAIN! I was freaking out! Had we not lived so close to the hospital, yours truly would have delivered his second child in the car on the side of the road! God is Good!

Thank you friends and family who have given encouragment and love. We're excited about this little guy....he was ready to come OUT!!!

Photo Gallery of Day 1

Henslee Halloween '08

Here are a few shots of Ezra on Halloween this year. In case you can't tell, he's a monkey.

I Love What I Do...Do You?

Today the band met for our LifeGroup time in the Green Room. One of the things that we discussed was the fact that we get to be an active part of what God does each and every week at the Tulsa campus of LifeChurch.tv. This week, 54 people indicated that they were accepting Jesus into their hearts, forever to be changed!

I love being a part of life change. I love it when it's the first eternal step, and when it's just one more step in the salvation process (sanctification.)

So, to have my full-time job be at a place where I love what I do and people get radically changed forever is pretty freakin awesome!

What about you? How is God using you in your job/ministry?

Office Ruckus Video Pt. 2

Enjoy...