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Worship Confessional – 09.20.09 – “SIN”

September 20, 2009 in Church Planting, Faith, Family, Jenni, Marriage, Ministry, Personal Entries, Worship, Worship Confessional with 37 Comments

Today was a BIG day for us.

We had been asking for prayer because we, Brian and I, were sharing our story.

The Sunday Setlist today was:

Not To Us – Chris Tomlin
O Praise Him – David Crowder
O Worship The King – Chris Tomlin Version
Mighty To Save – Reuben Morgan (Response)

As you can see, we only had three songs (the 4th was in video form at the very end of the service)… because the sermon and our story took the majority of the service. I usually write about our sets and how the musical/technical portion of our services went in these Worship Confessionals, but today, it’s just MY CONFESSIONAL.

I want to encourage you guys to listen to the complete podcast of the sermon HERE on the Church at Bethany website , but we thought we would post JUST our portion here. It’s about 20 minutes, so get a drink and get comfortable:

Click here to listen to Our Story.

Though the majority of our support encouraged us and helped propel us forward to share our story, a couple of people tried to talk us out of it. We know that they were mostly worried for us and were trying to protect us, but in hindsight, we can see that it was Satan using them to try to keep us from sharing what he would have rather kept trapped in the dark. We say “in hindsight” because today was INCREDIBLY powerful. In fact, barely any of it was about us.

Yes, we shared OUR story of sin, forgiveness, hope and redemption… but what it really did, was allow people to realize the freedom they had in releasing their demons.

We discovered OUR story was not only OUR story, but so many others. We had a few couples tell us we basically just told THEIR story. I never thought God would use OUR story to help release others into the light… into HIS Truth.

Brian and I are SO glad we obeyed. We put our fear to the side, ignoring Satan’s whispers to hide. This morning was about SO much more than us.

God is in the business of restoration and healing.

Please continue to pray for our healing… and all those who stepped out of the darkness today. This is our “Once upon a time…”

Humbly in the Process of Restoration,

Jenni

P.S. Yes… I still have my job as the Worship Pastor at Church at Bethany. They have graciously been walking Brian and me through our healing process.

9/11 – I Will Never Forget

September 10, 2009 in Jenni, Personal Entries with 2 Comments

I got up at 6:50am, after I had snoozed my alarm… TWICE… and went about my normal morning routine: showered, dressed, grabbed a quick breakfast and hopped in the car to head downtown for work.

“Ugh… I hope I’m not late again!”

Turned the key to the ignition… car roared to life… and morning talk radio blasted my ears.

“Man… I must have been listening to my music WAY too loud last night.”

As I turned the volume down, I thought to myself, “Wait… I wasn’t listening to talk radio last night!”

I tuned in:

“A 747 has flown into the World Trade Center in New York City!”

This can’t be happening. This has to be a joke!

I drove all the way downtown to the radio station (KUPL fm - where I worked at the time) trying not to panic. Everyone else looked completely calm in their vehicles. “Am I the only one hearing this? Why is everyone else totally unfazed?”

Upon arrival, I saw all the staff members gathered in the conference room where the television was. This really happened. This isn’t a joke. This is FOR REAL?

That’s where we sat… numb… for the next few hours.

I will NEVER forget where I was the morning of 9/11. I will never forget what was lost.

Where were YOU?

ABC’S Embellished

April 9, 2009 in Jenni, Personal Entries, Weblogs with 5 Comments

I got this off of Tam. Thought to myself: ”Why not!”

—-

A – Age: 30

B – Baseball Game or Ballet: Ballet

C – Chore you hate: Tubs – It’s awkward.

D – Dream Vacation: Hawaii – Maui or Oahu

E – Easter candy: Cadbury Creme Egg

F – Favorite Flowers: Gerber Daisies

G – Games: anything I can win at… cuz that’s ALL that matters

H – Height: 5′ 2… on a good day

I – Instrument you play: piano, guitar, bass & vocal chords… OH, and the nose whistle!

J – Job title: Worship Pastor & CEO of my home

K – Kindergarten Memory: eating paste… and not really speaking English then

L – Luxury you live without: a pool boy… cuz we don’t have a pool

M – Mexican food choice: Mmmm… it’s ALL good

N – Nickname: JClay, Jen, Hey Asian…

O – Overnight hospital stay: twice – just when I birthed my babies

P – Pet Peeve: there are too many to count.

Q – Quotes you like: “What’s the Soup Du Jour?” “The Soup of the Day” “Mmmm, that sounds good… I’ll have that!” – Dumb & Dumber

R – Rainforest or Redwoods: Redwoods

S – Siblings: 2 sisters. Renee who is 28 & Helen who is 24. I’m the oldest… does it all make sense now?

T – Television favorites: The Office, Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice & 24.

U – Ultimate dessert: Fresh baked cookies & Ice Cream

V – Vegetable you dislike: Bitter melon. You’ve probably never heard of it unless you’re Asian… but it’s EXACTLY how it sounds. NASTY!!!

W – Ways you run late: Didn’t used to run late till Chance came along.

X – X-rays you’ve had: Knees & Teeth

Y – Yummy food you make: Roasted Chicken & Orzo Stuffed Peppers

Z – Zoo animal that’s your favorite: monkeys! (totally with you on this Bub & Tam)

—-

Do this if you’d like… I’d love to see your answers!

Barefoot Photography

April 6, 2009 in Jenni, Photography with 7 Comments

My friend, Kimberly, recently helped me out with a mini-session.

I don’t have a lot of GOOD photos of myself (mostly because Chance takes all my portraits for me and most of them are of me driving… hmmm) and I needed some for when I launch the new look of my blog. Kimberly went above and BEYOND my expectations.

Here’s just ONE photo I stole from her blog site:

You’ll have to wait for when my blog is re-vamped to see more… but for now, here’s a sneak peak of a few!

CLICK HERE!

If you’re in the Portland area, I would highly suggest you check her out for newborn, baby, family, engagement photos. She also does some KICK BOOTY “trash the dress” sessions for post weddings. If you don’t know what that is, you’ll have to ask Kimberly.

She’s FANTASTIC!!! Thank you, Kimberly!

Song About ME

March 11, 2009 in Friends, Jenni, Music, twitter with 12 Comments

My friend, David, and his wife, Diane, over in Australia, compiled my most interesting tweets and wrote a song for me… well… ABOUT me.

You can hear it HERE.

Here are the lyrics:

I gave up on the idea of sleeping
Cos everyone is snoring and I’ve been weeping
The ear plugs I like they’re no longer making
I’m telling my friends to go to work naked

Oh what is wrong with me?
Don’t answer that cos it’s obviously just me

(Jenni, Jenni) I tell my friends they suck
(Jenni, Jenni) And they should just shut up
(Jenni, Jenni) While I joke about your mom
(Jenni, Jenni) It’s just me here spreading the love

So don’t make me laugh when I am driving
Cos my eyes shut and we’ll soon be dying
At least that will stop the hyenas fighting
And adenoid removal is so inviting

I think today is just for me
But don’t tell Chance ‘cause he’s pumpin’ a grumpy at me

They made me an album cover and everything!!!

This makes my day SO much better It makes me wanna dance.

Enjoy!!! and don’t forget to tell them how AWESOME they are.

25 Random Things About Me

February 6, 2009 in Floating Thoughts, Jenni, Misc, Personal Entries, Web/Tech, Weblogs with 35 Comments

Ok… ok… I caved.

I wasn’t going to do it, but then Cynthia Ware tweeted the other day that people had started writing hers FOR her and it kinda freaked me out. Then, today, I saw THIS video post by Annie Parsons and thought, “BRILLIANT!!! That’s the format I’m going with!”

The video is almost 7.5 minutes long so grab a snack or drink and let me amuse you for a bit. Here goes:

25 Random Things About Me from Jenni Clayville on Vimeo.

I am NOT tagging anyone… but please amuse me…