Vacation Pictures
On our vacation this year we covered 6 states and over a dozen cities starting at the conference I went to in California and visiting family and friends in the midwest. Travelling by plane, car, van, bus but not train or bikes (as of yet) we have been all over and still continue on our 18 day vacation. Here are just a handful of pictures from our California visit and from visiting family in Michigan. (more will be added as the week goes on and we head back home to AZ.)

California shots Click Here
Michigan shots Click Here

Worship Arts Conference- Saddleback Church
Hello everyone!. Im writing to you live from the 2006 Worship Arts Conference here at Saddleback in Lake Forest, CA. Its been a great first day and another another awesome year at the conference is just beginning. I spent the day at the conference and the family spent the day playing in the ocean at Laguna beach. We caught the sunset there tonight and took a stroll down the main stretch after dinner. What a beautiful place! Today as always Rick Warrens kicks off the week with a key message on the topic. Balance. His message although simple had a few great points that I wanted to write on here as I will be logging each days events on this blog. Check back each day for more info on the Coneference and the worship!

DAY ONE
Heres the break down from our main message of the day by Rick. We spend too much time worrying and not enough worshipping. Worry is when we depend on ourself. Worship is when we give it to God.
The key steps were:
Ask God For Help / Believe He can handle the Situation / Confess your Inadequacy / Depend on God to Help & save you / Express thanks in advance / Find the blessing in the bad
The scripture used was II Chronicles 20:1-27 where Jehoshaphat was to go to battle against several different armies who had joined together. He asked the Lord for help and turned over his crisis totally to God. He confessed he could not handle the situation and thanked him in advance having faith God was going to deal with the problem. Its pretty rare that I find a message that really hits home and this home hit right on theh spot. Worship could come before everything we try to do to make something better. It is the antedote for worry. "Go to the Lord for help and worship him continually." Psalm 105:4
The worship today was mainly by Rick Muchow and the Worship Team here and as always they did a marvelous job. Best of all was to see Rick Muchows son following in his dads footsteps and leading worship this afternoon. The worship team at Saddleback always does an amazing job and presents a great model for worship leading. Another great day is just around the corner!

Day 2
Wow ok its not really day two but time flew by and before you knew it the week was over. Our second day was Marcos Witt, a Grammy award winner and worship leader from Lakeland in Texas. I have read this guys book before but what an amazing speaker! Todays focus was on developing the worship leaders balance between ministry and life as we know it. Scripture from Rev 4:7 with a great comparison with the worship leaders in heaven found in Revelation and how we can use some of their characteristics in our worship ministries. Worship was by Babbie Mason and in the afternoon again I spent the day with the family soaking up the sun at Laguna Beach. (You gotta see this place!!)

Day 3
Tim Hughes led worship in the morning genral session and John Ortberg spoke. This was one of my favorite session of the week as he encouraged everyone to define their mision in life as well as discover their " Shadow Mission". (being our ulterior motive behind our ministry or why we do what we do. The family spend the day at the beach and then over to the Dana Point Sealife center. We wrapped up the night with a Mercy Me Concert. Corey and Ethan got to meet the band afterwords and visit Saddleback Church for the first time.

Day 4
Chris Tomlin lead worship and Louie Giglio spoke. Friday we headed out to the midwest and flew on Continental through Houston. To say the least it was a miserable trip.
The conference this year had great sessions however it was pretty low key in the evening with the concerts compared to years before. I got alot out of the morning general sesions and a couple worship settings but what I enjoyed most other than those things was relaxing in the afternoon at the beach. (I guess that could be I havent had a break in over a year now and needed it bad. ) You can find out more about the Saddleback conference or hear sessions by clicking HERE Of course there was alot more that happened this week but theres too much to write about. Sometime soon Ill have some pics from our visit in southern CAL online.

New Video Blogs and Myspace
Just when I thought I was blogging enough already I had to go and add three more blogs and sites to my list of things to do. Check them out.
www.youtube.com/user/earnstvideosonline
www.youtube.com/user/kevlar71
www.myspace.com/kevinearnst
The first one has alot of cool videos of Corey and Ethan and all they have going on. The second one is full of worship leading I've done here. The last one is my myspace. Check it out and let me know what you think!!!

Shawn McDonald-Ripen CD
I love the new CD Ripen by Shawn McDonald. I have never bought any of his music before but this one is really awesome. With a mixture of folk and pop and alot of creativity the whole thing is great music for inspiration and easy listening. Although I have plenty of favorites like "Reason" (played on the radio often) and "Perfectly Done" my altime favorite right now is "Free". Great lyrics, great tune and it will stick in your head all day. Let alone it has a message anyone can relate to.. Check it out.....

Free
I feel like the weight of the world is, Crashing down on me & some how I just don’t believe, This how it is suppose to be All this expectation on, the way I’m suppose to live Becomes my minds distraction, with nothing left to give You said your burden is light & Your load is no more You said your ways are right & in you I will soar
I want to be free, Free to dance & free to sing
Free to live & learn & free oh, free to be me
I feel like my Heart is being Beat, down into the ground, In you I’m longing for some peace, to be found I know the heaviness that’s, making me cold Is stealing my youthful soul & making me old You said your burden is light & Your load is no more You said your ways are right & in you I will soar I want to be free, Free to dance & free to sing
Free to live & learn & free oh, free to be me

The Arizona Snowball Adventure
Yes there is snow in Arizona. It's hard to believe and I'm still very suprised. At least there is in the high elevation areas. Saturday I got to go skiing at the Sanfransisco Peaks in Flagstaff (pictured on the left) about 90 minutes north of here. The tallest part of the mountain (known as the Arizona Snowball Ski Area) is over 12,000
feet tall which explains why there its presently snow up there even though its 70 and beautiful here in Prescott. The ski slopes peak at about 10,300 feet and are pretty amazing. Amazing is the word that comes to mind when you are on the lift on the way up for 10 minutes. When skiing down other things come to mind such as: "What was I thinking? Does this hill have a bottom? Do I have life insurance? and... how do I stop?" The top of the mountain had a spectacular view and it was a fairly clear day so altogether it was quite an awesome experience. Just another amazing opportunity in the state of Arizona and a chance to check out God's great creation.

You Are The One
I just recently ran across the new CD by Lincoln Brewster and have already played it about 100 times through. There are some great songs on there like "Love the Lord Your God" and "Amazed" but my all time favorite right now is "You Are The One". We often get wrapped up in our own lives and schedules and think what's in it for me and look to serve ourselves. Once we break from that mold and focus on others and especially the awesomeness of God it helps put everything back into perspective and bring some relief to the stressful lifestyle. Thats what everyone needs. Focusing on God rather than ourselves. Its not about me and all about YOU. YOU are the one. Check out these lyrics.....

Verse:You're the One Who made the heavensYou're the One Who shaped the earthYou're the One Who formed my heart long before my birth.I believe You'll always lead me . All my days have been ordained,All Your thoughts toward me are holy,full of love and graceChorus:You are the One, You are holy,You are the One, You are worthyYou are the One, You are the One, everlasting(1st ending)Lord, You are the One,Jesus, You're the One(2nd ending)You are the One I will worship,You are the One I will serve all my daysYou are the One, You are the One, everlastingLord, You are the One,Jesus, You're the One......

quite humbling......

Mini Sammy Hagar?

No its just Ethan in a crazy wig but he did get to sing his first song on stage last week at the Kinder Kritters Patriotic program(his kindergarten class) . The music was hard to hear but he did his best and got to sing everyones favorite classic patriotic song, "God Bless the USA".

Click here to check it out . (Top video on the right side)