Dust it off!

March 30th I began this Bible study by Beth Moore. It is 90 days with David, having a heart like His. It was supposed to be a 90 day Bible study and here I am on July 31st and just finished day 31. WOW! A little behind. Somehow I misplaced it and didn't even think about it until I found it a couple days ago. Maybe it's time you find that book, bible study, or Bible dust it off and get back into it as well. I promise you wont regret it. When we stop growing we stop leading.

Life after LegoLand Series

Since LegoLand finished we have been doing a series called Life after LegoLand. I am very excited about it because it is all about the foundations of the Christian faith. We are using a devotion book (see below) by LifeWay as our guide which we have encouraged everyone to buy for $7. The 4 week series covers Salvation, Baptism, Lord's Supper, and the role of the Church. I highly recommend this book. I'll post more on it another time but it's great.

My thoughts summed up in a song.

This past month has been such a great month it has left me literally speechless when trying to talk about it. This video is basically the sum of everything I'd like to say. The David Crowder Band is one of my favorite worship bands and as always he leads you to the feet of Jesus. If you are unfamiliar with the David Crowder Band check them out and buy all their cd's.

LEGOLAND Recap Part II

Back from a mini vacation and feeling refreshed and revived, ready to rock n roll. You can check out the LEGOLAND pictures just above this post. It's so hard to put into words what took place last week. It was an event that felt more like a mission trip. The way the body of Christ worked seemed like it was straight from Acts 2. People were worshipping, serving, giving (of their time, energy, and money), sharing, caring, teaching, encouraging, and then we got to see God move into the hearts of 70 kids for the first time in their lives. That Rox!!! Here are some LegoLand fun and random facts for you:

• We used about 1,000,000 legos.
• We had an 8,000 sheet paper fight.
• We smashed over 20 pies in peoples faces.
• We watched 8 leaders eat peanut butter off of plexi glass.
• We had inflatable water slide that was bigger than our 28 foot building.
• We served over 660 kids.
• We saw close to 230 volunteers serve throughout the week. Thank you so much volunteers for all your hard work and servanthood, you all ROCK!
• We witnessed 70 first time decisions.
• We think over 600 learned the verse of the week which is John 15:13 "The greatest love a person can show is to lay down his life for his friends."
• We passed out thousands of "Keep On Brickin" encouragement stickers. When a child did something good/positive a leader would give them a "Keep On Brickin" sticker and send a note home to the parents telling them what their child had done.
• We met 100's of new kids.
• We saw over 30 new families come to our church during last Saturday night's service alone.

Now in ministry a lot of people get weird when talking about numbers (big or small) and I sort of get that but as long as each number has a face and soul I will always be about numbers because Jesus is about numbers. That's why in Luke 15 He went after the 1 lost sheep. Here are a couple true stories about some #'s. We'll call this one #248: his mom just left him 2 weeks ago for good and a friend invited him to LegoLand and one thing led to another and this 5th grader gave his life to Jesus. Story # 412 During the school year kid A makes fun of kid B for reading the bible and believing in God. Long story short kid A came to LegoLand and gave his life to Jesus and now of course believes in God. There are so many stories of God just showing up and doing miracles in the lives of these kids. I am in AWE of all God has done, is doing, and will continue to do in this community. If you have a story from last week please share by commenting on this post or emailing me @ dustin@fellowshiporlando.com We'd really like to hear what God did for your child, you as a parent, or you as a volunteer. Thank you Lord for a week we can only describe as "God showed up".

Life after LegoLand

LegoLand is officially over and we had a great weekend with all three services. Next week we start a new series called, "Life after LegoLand". For the next 3 days I'll be spending time with my family. Later on in the week after all the LegoLand dust settles I will have lots of pics, videos, and stories of all God has done at LegoLand. Parents thank you for trusting us with your child. Volunteers, simply you rocked it this week, well done! Also if you have a story of something cool that took place last week just comment back from this post. Thanks

LEGOLAND: Final Day

It's crazy how fast the week went by. Today was the last day of LEGOLAND and it was another great day. It's too late for me to give a full report of all that went down today so here is a small glimpse I'll call "part 1". I'll complete "part 2" tomorrow.


This is me "surprising" Pastor Chad by coming out of the big barrel throwing paper balls at him.

The Chick Fil A Cow joined us today during the morning session. He greeted kids at the door then danced with us. They hooked every kid up with a free kids meal, gotta love that.

We've had a lot of people ask about the songs we've picked out for LEGOLAND. Here is who they are:
Brother, Sister, Friend: This is an unrecorded song; meaning you can't buy it.
Happy Day: Steve Fee
Follow You: Hillsong Kids
Take it All: Hillsong Kids
There is no one like You: David Crowder Band
Again I'll go into more detail tomorrow but today we saw 70 kids give their lives to Christ for the first time. Wow, that is awesome. Praise God!!!
More to come tomorrow, goodnight/good morning.

LEGOLAND Live Online Tonight

LEGOLAND will be online Live! tonight @ 6 pm. Here is the schedule:
1) Opening Rally: From 6:00-6:45. This is crazy squad war games, funny videos, worship songs, and lots of high energy stuff centered around a brief message.
2) Stations: From 6:45 - 8:15 kids rotate from 4 different stations. They go from REC to Snack time to the Imagination Station (building Lego's) to a small group lesson time.
3) Closing Rally: 8:15-9:00. This very similar to the opening rally but with a slight more focus to rally the kids around a longer and heavier message.
You can watch both rallies but not the stations. The feed is live and is not recorded.
The link to watch live is http://live.fellowshiporlando.com/
Thanks and be praying as we present the gospel. This morning we had 51 kids give their lives to Christ. That's awesome!

LEGOLAND: Day 4

Today was a great day. As you can see from the picture below the Squad Wars game involved me getting pied a total of 14 times between both sessions. Of course the kids loved it and hey I'm a fan of pie (any way I can get it). The pie was made out of whip cream and it smelled so bad I had to go home and shower during the program. Kids seem to really be taking in the messages. I've had lots of conversations with kids regarding the talks. But the kid in the video takes the cake. On the way out tonight he shared with me the verse of the week so asked if he cared if I video taped him. The kid (Brandon) blew me away. The BIG IDEA of the day was "friends sacrifice for each other." I shared the purpose of why in baseball teams "sacrifice bunt". They do it to give up their at bat in hopes of allowing one of their teamates to get a score on the play. I shared that that is what Christ wants us to do. He wants us step into the batters box and take one for the team in hopes of blessing others.

4 Year Olds and the Bible? from Dustin Aagaard on Vimeo.

LEGOLAND Live

Tonight @ 6 pm you will be able to watch live what takes place at LEGOLAND. The night is broken up into three sections:

1) Opening Rally: From 6:00-6:45. This is crazy squad war games, funny videos, worship songs, and lots of high energy stuff centered around a brief message.

2) Stations: From 6:45 - 8:15 kids rotate from 4 different stations. They go from REC to Snack time to the Imagination Station (building Lego's) to a small group lesson time.

3) Closing Rally: 8:15-9:00. This very similar to the opening rally but with a slight more focus to rally the kids around a longer and heavier message.

You can watch both rallies but not the stations. The feed is live and is not recorded.

The link to watch live is http://live.fellowshiporlando.com/

We'll probably be able to have a live feed tomorrow @ 9 am and tomorrow @ 6 pm. Thanks

Dustin

LEGOLAND: Day 3

Day 3 of LEGOLAND was a great one. The BIG IDEA of the Day was "friends serve each other". I shared a story how I met my best friend when he brought me an apple pie shortly after moving to the neighborhood. That servant hood led to a 2o year long friendship. We learned that Jesus gave us an example how we are here not to be served but to serve others. We looked at John 13 where Jesus gave an example on how we are to serve. He brought the disciples together and washed their feet. Not caring how nasty or hard it was He did it. Once He was finished washing their feet He tells us all to follow His example of servant hood.



Here is the 30 foot water slide. It was huge. The kids loved it. However it did storm in the evening and we were unable to use it during the evening session. We will NOT be able to have a make up water day, sorry.


The game today was involved hot dogs. We chose some students to come on stage. Each team had two players. One player wore a necklace with a cup on it. While the other teammate took hot dogs and tossed them at their partner who tried to catch the hot dogs with their cups.


Teams Orange Crush and Green Machine during the worship time.


A view of the praise team leading worship.

The Green Machine during the worship songs.

The Red Rumble during the worship songs.

Allison leading us in worship. Allison leads the praise team and is doing a fabulous job. Allison, you rock!

Some kids enjoying life at the Snack Shack station.

LEGOLAND: Day 2

Day 2 of LEGOLAND is in the books. We had a great day. The volunteer teams are doing an amazing job, well done gang! The kids have been great, coming in each day with lots energy. Today's BIG IDEA of the day was "friends say kind things to each other". We had a student squeeze out toothpaste and then try and put it back in the tube. We talked how you can't do that just like you can't take back the words you let come out of your mouth. In REC we played human jenga. We are looking forward to another great day tomorrow, it's WATER DAY! Be sure not to bring a towel.

Here are some kids racing their Lego's race cars.


Here is a picture of our REC leader and some kids.

Some Blue Crew kids having fun.

What the facility looks like empty.

Parker showing some Red Rumble pride.

LEGOLAND: Day 1 PM Session

Well Day one is in the books. Tonight was another great session. The pm crowd and leaders were great. Today's BIG IDEA of the Day was "to treat others the way you want to be treated". We introduced the "Keep On Brickin" idea. The thought is every time you see someone building someone else up you tell them to keep on brickin and that person gets a note and a sticker. Let's all Keep On Brickin. Can't wait to see you all tomorrow. Blessings! Dustin


This is a picture of the two youngest people in the praise band. The one on the left is my daughter Callie Joy. They are doing great.


Here is Pastor Chad leading the crew.


Here are some kids and leaders hanging out racing their built Lego cars.

Some kids taking aim at the leaders during REC.

The leaders taking cover during REC.

LEGOLAND: Day 1 AM Session

What a great day to kick of an exciting week. The kids came in with lots of energy and we are so thrilled to have the opportunity to serve each family in this unique way. Everyday we'll try to post some pictures, videos, and stories of what takes place each day. Today the Green Machine won the Spirit Stick. More to come, see you all tomorrow.



This is Amy. She is the Squad Leader for the Orange Crush. She is competing in the Squad War Games by trying to eat peanut butter off plexi glass. Pretty funny!


This is a picture of us during a worship session.

Here are some pictures from last night during our night of worship:

The Volunteer Group photo: 225 people

Our worship leaders: Tom Wycuff & Andrew Meonning

This is myself, the Children's Pastor, Dustin Aagaard during a time of prayer.

LEGOLAND Worship Night

Wow! Tonight we had a night of worship for all the LEGOLAND volunteers (200 people showed up) and it was amazing. Tom Wycuff and Andrew Meonning led us musically and spiritually. Tom is a very gifted worship leader and we were blessed to have Him tonight as He led us to the throne of Christ. Pastor Chad & Pastor Rodney both shared a couple minutes of encouragement. Today was an awesome day. Great services, finished all the details for LEGOLAND, the Jacksonville (aka Jax) Crew arrived and are all squared away. If you don't know the Jax Crew is a group of 7 high school students and their youth pastor who came to Fellowship for the week for their mission trip. So glad they are here, they are a great group. I wish I had pics of the worship night but I will get them soon. Looking forward to meeting lots of kids tomorrow. Keep the prayers coming, Dustin

LEGOLAND

Today was a lighter day in the preparation for LegoLand. Tammy & Frank finished building the ramps for the Imagination Station. The pic is Frank doing his thing. We finished all the last minute details regarding the facility, we had to clean shop since we had service tonight. We gave the kids at church tonight a sneak preview of what we'll be doing in the Imagination Station. I'm excited and can't wait, 2 more days.

LEGOLAND

Today was a crazy but productive day for LEGOLAND. The cement roller showed up as did BOB's Barricades. We used both of them for set up design, which looks great. TJ picked up the costumes for the Free Amigos! James Hurst, Tammy, and Riley built 2 out of the 4 ramps. Nic finished the roll in for the week which is shown above. Lots of work done, still a lot left. Wondering how I am going to get all done in 48 hours, with 3 services to pull off in those 48 hours. Sounds like God is going to have to show up. He is weak where I am strong, praise Him for that. Today at two o clock my laptop battery died, then at 5 o clock my cell phone died. I see a pattern and I'm taking notice.

LEGOLAND ROLLIN nicriosREMIX from Dustin Aagaard on Vimeo.

LEGOLAND

Today was officially the last workday before Adventure Week, Friday's are our off days. Although I'll be working most of tomorrow everyone else seems to have finished their task which is a great because we had lots to do. Today their were teams of volunteers that came in waves all day long. Because of them we were able to cruise through lots of details. Thanks again volunteer crew. Today we laid out all the REC games as well as prepared for some of our crazy Squad War games. Tammy went shopping for all kinds of supplies and we started building the LegoLand ramps for the Imagination Station. We cleaned out the AZ Theater too. Met with Nick T, who will be leading us in Worship. Lots of other details finished today. I head up to the church in the morning to get a steam roller that we'll use for displaying the "building" theme. I pray that every detail we have been doing helps kids come to know Christ as I have. Continue to pray for us, that God would be in the middle of everything I am doing all day long.

LEGOLAND

Today was another big day. Chad and his team finished the stage props, which look great. The top pic is me next to one of the 6 lego guys. We also had several volunteer teams come in and knock out name tags, photo frames, and some more lego sorting. Tonight the praise team had another rehearsal and it's great seeing 20 or so kids and students worshipping. Michelle and Rona also finished the Parent Guides and they too look great. We also brought in my buddy Danny Bero from Deltona to do some window painting on the front windows. As he was painting a family began to watch curiously. So I spoke with them and invited them to join us next week. The too were excited and signed up, Praise God! Things are moving along great and I am getting more excited everyday.

Moving Forward

Here is my update on LEGOLAND from yesterday. Chad & his crew finished painting the props and will be delivered today. We got all the Lego's back from being cleaned. Sarah Stephens and her family cleaned a half a million Legos to ensure that the Legos are safe. That is hardcore. Later in the night Riley (my 5 year old son) and I sorted through all those Lego's, I think we had too much fun. We also were able to create more room for our am session so if you know someone trying to get in better hurry those spots won't stay open long. Keep on Brickin, Pastor Dustin

LegoLand Fever

Wow we are less than one week away from Adventure Week 2009. I soooo have LegoLand Fever, I'm pumped. If you don't care about LegoLand and are reading this I probably wouldn't come back to this site for 2 weeks because it is just going to be LegoLand all day every day for the next 2 weeks. For all the LegoLand peeps from here on out I will be posting something about LegoLand everyday this week and next week. Today's LegoLand message is what are we going to do with 217 volunteers. That's right as of right now we have 217 volunteers, that is crazy. Way to go team. I'm so encouraged by the excitement and energy everyone has to serve. Today a team of 5 (PJ, Brent, David, Jack, and Chad) primed the Lego props, they look sweet (unpainted one in picture above). Thanks volunteers for doing what you do. I love building His Kingdom with each of you.

Update

Yeah, it's been a while. Here's a glimpse of what's been happening:

• Been super busy gearing up for LegoLand which our version of VBS www.foadventureweek.com 8 more days.
• When not working on LegoLand been hanging out with the fam due to me being gone so much in the month of June.
• Riley just lost his first tooth.
• TJ & I just started reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan together. I've read it but she hasn't and I'm looking forward to going over it together.
• Had a great 2 days with the family yesterday and today. Kind of felt like vacation. Working for a church and not having real weekends we weren't used to a full 48 hours off. We cancelled are Saturday Night service due to the 4th of July.
• Got to hang out with my close friend Justin Forbes aka Spanky and his family, it was great.
• Pray for TJ & I as we lead are family day in and day out. Pray that God continues to unify TJ and I, our family, and give us a passion for Him and His Word like never before.