My legs will never be the same. Its a long way up from the stage to the catwalks. I have no idea how many trips up and down the stairs we made, but 6,000 balloons in black bags were back stage and all of them had to be taken up to the catwalks for release during the halftime show. There were seven of us on the catwalk crew. We dropped 1,000 balloons each service. The Crossroads band was featured and they were great. The balloon drop was during the last song, "Tonight's gonna be a good night". I think The Black-eyed Peas sing this one for real, I'm not sure though. I listen to NPR, not the popular music stations.
Once the band started this song we got ready. All of the bags had already been placed and the large trash bags were untied, each containing ~50 balloons. When the lights went out and there were only black lights we started emptying the bags. The balloons glowed in the black lights and the audience went crazy. They were screaming and cheering! It was so cool. The last service, every bag that remained was staged out in the catwalks. What goes up, must come down and we were not carrying any of the balloons down. I just kept emptying and emptying the bags of balloons. I would love to know the decibel level in that place when the halftime show concluded. It was so loud in there with all of the applause and cheering. The auditorium holds 3500 people so you can imagine in a packed house how loud it got.
Besides the stair climbing workout over the weekend, we were also on the clean up the stage crew. Paper confetti and popped balloons can really make a mess. I loved it when kids took the balloons out with them, that meant there were less balloons to pick up off the floor. Actually the balloons weren't so hard to clean up, but the paper confetti, what a mess. It was really cool when it shot out of the confetti cannons at the announcement of the team line up. Our senior pastor, Brian Tome represented Pittsburgh and he loved it because he is originally from Pittsburgh and is a big fan. Our teaching pastor, Chuck Mingo represented Green Bay. Of course midway through his first quarter of preaching he pulled of his Green Bay shirt and instead had on a Michael Vick, Philadelphia jersey. He is from Philly. His line - Once an Eagle fan always an Eagle fan. He received a penalty for illegal man on the field since Vick doesn't pay for either team in the super bowl. Needless to say it was an interesting day.
It is called the Super Bowl of Preaching because both pastors are competing with each other to win the championship. I didn't stay for the end of the 6th game, however up until then it was Mingo 3 wins and Tomes 2 wins, so either Mingo won it outright or they ended in a tie. I'll have to find out tomorrow night when I am back up at Crossroads.
I think the funniest part of the game this year was the new rule where they would have to use a random phrase from the audience and incorporate it in their message for the 9 minute quarter they were preaching. Every service there were four new random phrases ranging from simple things like Ozark Mountains to its better when done on shag carpet to Live from New York, it's Saturday night. They were so funny bringing these phrases into the message.
The actual message for the weekend was great as well. It was all about Peter and redemption through Christ. It talked about Peter boldly proclaiming to Jesus that he would never forsake him. Then when Peter denied knowing Jesus three times, just as Jesus told Peter he would. It then went on to Jesus pursuing Peter and redeeming him as the rock that the church would be built upon. They tied in a lot about Michael Vick and how he has managed to turn his life around and redeeming himself. He had to admit that he had done wrong. He even had to pay a penalty for his wrongs. And he asked humbly to be reinstated into the NFL. And he had a fantastic season this year. We are the church and we are all about redemption. Vick is an example of modern day redemption. The messages were great!
I love Super Bowl weekend. It is one of the few times each year that Aaron will come to church. He brought Celeste and Austin and they loved it! I think Celeste would probably come to Crossroads fairly regularly if Aaron would. I keep hoping the Kentucky campus of Crossroads comes to fruition. It is on the list of places Crossroads is looking at to build another campus. I know that if they do start a Crossroads Northern Kentucky, Dennis and I will be part of the team of volunteers that help get it up and running. Aaron said if Crossroads wasn't so far away he would probably go because he does like the church. I'm gonna hold him to that. As much as I love, love, love Crossroads Oakley, I would transfer to Crossroads Northern Kentucky in a heartbeat if it meant Aaron would start coming to church.
I'm watching for a good picture to be posted of the balloons. I have seen a few of them but they were with camera phones and pretty blurry. I didn't take my camera because I was looking down at the service from the eagle eye view. And I was pretty busy during the balloon drop so I couldn't have taken a picture anyway.
I almost forgot the Super Bowl commercials. The funniest one was the Ford, F-150 Hyde Park Edition. It was poking fun at the rich people who live in the Hyde Park community here in Cincinnati. The other one was poking fun at all the car insurance commercials and saving money when you switch to Geico or Nationwide or Progressive or State Farm. There were others I am sure but I can't remember them all. It was a great commercial. When we left I noticed a car in the parking lot with the Geico logo on it. I wonder how funny they thought the commercial was.
We also had the color commentary staring Brad Johansen, Wayne "Box" Miller, and Solomon Wilcox, local celebrities and sports news casters in the Cincinnati area who attend Crossroads. They were so funny commenting on the messages or the flags that were thrown by the official and just about the weekend over all. It was fun, Fun, FUN! If you are in Cincinnati next Super Bowl weekend, this is a show you will not want to miss. It is one of our highest attended weekends each year!
1 comment:
Sounds like a great weekend at Crossroads. So glad that Aaron and his family could make it.
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