RussHutto.com

Hey, hey!

Wow, I just looked at my last post date and noticed it was Dec. 18. It’s been a busy holiday season!

I spoke this past Sunday at House of Joy. It was fun. We do 2 services so I gave the talk twice. Second one was definitely better. The talk I gave was titled, “Wired for Worship” – pretty self explanatory. Basically a talk about how:

• God created us with the desire to worship,
• We are always worshiping something,
• Worship is part of life,
• Worshiping God is more than singing,
• and some basic worship actions that REFLECT the worship from our heart.

It went over well.

We’ll be kicking off ’08 with a message series titled: Good to Great. It’ll cover 3 main areas:

• Good to Great Faith
• Good to Great Friends
• Good to Great Family

Each area is part of our “vision” imagery here at House of Joy. We’re set up similar to the Northpoint idea of foyer (faith), living room (friends), kitchen (family)…and all ministries of our church fall into one of those categories.

For example: our Sunday morning gathering is designed to build faith. It’s geared toward the outsider (while providing spiritual growth and servant opportunities for those who are Believers). It is a “foyer” environment.

Anyways, I’m excited about the series graphics I came up with. Took a while to move through the concepts and to truly capture something that says “Good to Great” – a tough assigment. I did get some great input from the folks over on the Church Marketing Lab on Flickr.com.

I hope this year is a great year for all!
God Bless,
Russ

So, last night my wife and I threw a “Media/Music” Open House type party. We invited all of our worship band/singers, lighting crew, a/v team, and a few of the MCs from our children’s ministry (my wife administrates and works with the MCs).

Anyhoo, it was a drop-by sort of Christmas Party from 6-8. We had a pretty big group come through, although I don’t have an official count.

I thought I’d share some of the appetizers and snacks I had out, just in case you decide to do something similar or have to go to a party and need something last minute, etc. etc.

I did throw down in the kitchen but the great thing about ALL of the appetizers I prepared is that they are quick and easy.

Here’s a rundown of the table:

1) Swiss Cheese Spread Topped with Almonds
2) Baked Cinnamon Popcorn
3) Cheesy Sausage Balls
4) Raspberry Mozzarella Cheese Spread
5) Apple Butter Swedish Meatballs
6) Cranberry Apple Cider

There were a few more items, but either my wife prepared them, or they were bought beforehand (dove chocolates, old-fashioned cokes).

All in all it turned out spectacular, and the spreads were the hit of the party, along with mucho kudos for the cider!

I’ll post the cider recipe and don’t hesitate to contact me if you’d like any of the others.

Cranberry Apple Cider (in slow cooker)

2 Qts. Apple Cider (not apple juice)
6 Cups Cranberry Juice (not cocktail)
1/4 Cup Brown Sugar
4 cinnamon Sticks
1 1/2 Teaspoons Whole Cloves

This recipe is pretty simple:

1. Pour cider, cranberry juice into large pot or slow cooker.
2. Mix in brown sugar (subtract or add according to your sweetness preference).
3. Add cinnamon sticks and cloves.
4. Let mull on low heat. I started ours at about noon and served the first cup at about 6:15 so the fragrant aroma of spiced cider filled the whole house. Very nice.

Serves about 20 (unless you use smaller cups)

You might also want to use a cheesecloth “spice bag” (think big tea bag) if you want to keep your spices out of your cups. Or use a slotted spoon to remove the cinnamon and cloves before you serve. Whatever floats your cider.

I recommend using the slow cooker because it’s easy to manage and you don’t have to have your stove on all day. Plus you can pick it up and move it where you need it. About an hour before guests arrived, we moved it into the living room, where we served from, and the aroma was very appropriate for our Christmas party.

What are YOU cooking/serving this Christmas?

The wordsmiths over at Merriam-Websiter have named “w00t” the word of the year. For those of you who don’t know it’s an exclamation used in gaming mostly to denote happiness or celebration…at least that’s how I use it…

Did I mention I’m a gamer?

w00t!!! gamerz are teh roxzors!!!

That’s my level 50 empathy defender named Blue Jaye.

No seriously, it really is. I play an mmo called City of Heroes. It’s comic book, super-hero fun. I get to pretend I can fly and have super powers. It’s kind of silly, but it’s how I unwind. My wife doesn’t understand, but in a similar way I don’t understand her love for chick flicks…but she still loves em!

Anyhoo.

Question: What do YOU do to unwind?

Ok, so I thought I’d share a slightly humorous story that was conveyed to me yesterday.

One of our worship team members was on the way home from a very popular fast food restaurant. On the way home she needed to stop by the CPA’s office quickly to drop off some papers, so when she pulled in there, she noticed what appeared to be a homeless woman rummaging through a dumpster behind the office. That area downtown is where homeless people congregate frequently. She might have been looking for food, she might have been looking for treasure, who knows.

Anyways, feeling the prompting of the Spirit to stop and share God’s love with this woman, my friend decided to go for it. She hadn’t yet touched the combo meal she had purchased just minutes before, and felt that she could offer it to the woman if she wanted it.

My friend went over to her and asked her if she was hungry and if she needed something to eat. The woman responded that she was very hungry and thanked my friend for asking.

My friend was stoked at the response, feeling as though she had truly followed the leading of the Lord in this particular situation, so she offered her the untouched fast food meal.

To which the woman promptly replied, “Oh I can’t eat that, I’m a vegetarian.”

So today is my “need for feed” day here and I thought I’d point you to some of the goodies in my feed reader.

1) A little blog/link pimpage from the Original Mud Puppy (right back at ya).
2) Some original worship from Klampert at CECWorship.
3) Funny post on Recruiting vocalists from worshiptrench over on The Worship Community Forums.

That’s about it for today! Happy feed-ing.