We All Tell The Story

/ Alex Doriot / 1 Comment

Last night I watched a wonderfully fun and intimate new documentary called “Springsteen and I”. The film is comprised entirely of video footage and testimonials submitted by Bruce Springsteen’s biggest fans.

These aren’t scripted, ‘reality-show’ type testimonials. These are raw, honest, personal tellings of each person’s Springsteen story. Some are shot on cell-phone cameras (some even flipped on the wrong side of the iPhone). All of them are unique in the way they relate to The Boss.

There’s the blue-collar couple who’ve never been at the right place or time to see Springsteen in person but hold their own concerts dancing in the dark in their kitchen. There’s the young female truck driver who wouldn’t seem to fit into Bruce’s demographic but connects to the working life he sings so soulfully of. There are children. There are seniors. Citizens all over the world who share how much one man’s music means to them.

None of the people in “Springsteen and I” are storytellers for living. They’re not actors or performers. Their stories aren’t rehearsed or well-polished. Perhaps this is why they resonate so well – they’re just real. Continue reading →

Han Solo, Ron Burgundy, and The Insufficient Resurrection

/ Alex Doriot / 3 Comments

Hollywood is obsessed with the resurrection right now. And I don’t mean a sequel to “The Passion Of The Christ”.

I’m talking about the resurrection of past successes. Take a look at just a few of the movies and tv shows getting ready to relaunch after years of dormancy:

Star Wars Episodes 7/8/9. Anchorman 2. A Dumb and Dumber Sequel. The Boy Meets World continuation Girl Meets World. The Veronica Mars movie. A new season of 24. Another new season of Arrested Development. Seriously – that’s just a sampling of the classics Hollywood is resurrecting.

You’d think I might be uncontrollably excited about a few of these. Anchorman is probably the funniest movie of the past decade. Dumb and Dumber is my favorite comedy of all time. But I’m pretty much dreading these sequels. Continue reading →

The Seal Of Approval

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like-button2A thumbs up. A like. A checkmark. A retweet. A gold star.

Seems like we’re constantly seeking a seal of approval. No matter if it’s a big budget movie, a work of art, a Youtube video, or just a simple Facebook post, our work is not validated unless it bears some mark of approval.

On the flipside, it can take years to recover from a bad review. Some poorly reviewed films go on to cult classic status. While others never do and dwindle in the $5 bargain bin at WalMart.

A bad review can go a long way in sinking movie. In recent years After Earth, John Carter, and Battleship have all been sunk by poor early buzz.

What would you do if God reviewed you? How would it influence your opinion of yourself, or your idea of purpose? Continue reading →

10 Things I Learned At Big Stuf 2013

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IMG_2360You’re never too old to learn something from youth camp.

Last week I took my students from The Hill Baptist Church of Augusta, GA to Big Stuf camp in Panama City Beach, FL. Together with about 1500 other students we laughed, sang, and learned together about God’s Reality.

This is the 25th year of Big Stuf. Each summer founder Lanny Donoho and a crew of speakers, musicians, magicians, acrobats, and comedians have come together to proclaim the crazy things God wants to do in the lives of students. Here’s a few things I took away from the main session speakers Jamey Dickens and Jon Acuff: Continue reading →

POP GOD POPcast: Episode 6 – Greg DeLoach

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Welcome to Episode 6 of the POP GOD POPcast – an exploration into the lives of people seeking God in the present tense.

This week’s guest is Greg DeLoach. Greg is the Pastor of First Baptist Church of Augusta, GA. Greg shares stories from his 8 years on the job at FBC Augusta as well as his journey into the ministry through dairy farms and balloon animals. We talk about the importance of interruptions as well as the equal importance of knowing when to say no. First Baptist Augusta is on the forefront of some big changes to their worship schedule and we chat about what it means for a traditional church to stay relevant. Plus Greg takes the Pop Quiz and much more! Enjoy this look behind the ministerial curtain and get to know one of Augusta’s leading pastors a little better.

I’m so excited to open up POP GOD and share more stories of people seeking God in the present tense. I’d love to hear your feedback. Leave me a comment and let me know how to improve things, what you’d like to hear discussed, and give me your ideas as to who you’d like to see on the POPcast.

Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, share it on Twitter and Facebook and anywhere else. I’d really appreciate it. Thanks. Enjoy.

Listen here:

[audio http://adoriot.podbean.com/mf/web/wq38xz/Popcast6.mp3]

The Blockbuster Of The Summer

/ Alex Doriot / 1 Comment

despicable-me-2-poster-01Seen any good movies this summer? What was your favorite: Iron Man 3? Despicable Me 2? Fast And The Furious 6? Something without a number in the title?

When advertising a new film, a marketing company’s job is to make you feel like you need to see a movie immediately. And now with Twitter if you don’t see a movie the moment its out you’re also subject to spoilers across social media.

In the summer season success is not measured in how much money the movie makes during the 8 or so weeks it sits in theaters. It’s all about the opening weekend. Continue reading →

POP GOD POPcast: Ep. 5 – Dr. Jake Malone

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slide.001Welcome to Episode 5 of the POP GOD POPcast – an exploration into the lives of people seeking God in the present tense.

This week’s guest is Dr. Jake Malone. Jake has served for over 30 years in a all sorts of roles at First Baptist Church of Augusta, GA. Jake recently took a leave from his position at First Baptist to do battle against cancer. But cancer hasn’t slowed Jake down. Instead it has invigorated him with purpose as he has produced a new video series called Journey To Paradise as a teaching tool for those facing the challenge of death. Journey To Paradise is a travelogue for those traveling down a path we try to avoid talking about and I think it’s going to have a profound impact on many lives. Check out the podcast as we break down what Jake’s travels have been over his lifetime including 3 plus decades in full time ministry. It’s a personal and challenging conversation in an area I’ve never really explored before, and I think you’re gonna enjoy it.

I’m so excited to open up POP GOD and share more stories of people seeking God in the present tense. I’d love to hear your feedback. Leave me a comment and let me know how to improve things, what you’d like to hear discussed, and give me your ideas as to who you’d like to see on the POPcast.

Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, share it on Twitter and Facebook and anywhere else. I’d really appreciate it. Thanks. Enjoy.

Listen here:

Visit the Journey To Paradise Vimeo page and see a trailer for the project:

Expand Your Setlist

/ Alex Doriot / 2 Comments

For the bulk of the past 16 months, Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band have been on the road supporting their latest album “Wrecking Ball”.

Bruce Springsteen has never been the type of artist to stick to one setlist throughout a tour. Every night is a different experience.

But you wouldn’t fault him and the band for taking things easy in their 16th month on the road. Most in the band are in their 50s and 60s. A year and half on the road takes a toll on even a young man. Plus they’re hitting up fans in Europe who might not know the difference if the band played the same setlist the night before in a different country.

That’s just not what Bruce Springsteen does. In fact the setlists and videos from this leg of the tour show Bruce and the Band are digging deeper into their catalog than ever, adding in songs to these shows like “Lucky Town” that haven’t been played in years.

(Click here if you can’t see the video above.)

Why bother changing up the setlist? Why bust these songs out of storage? Bruce could get by like so many other nostalgia acts and play the same 25 songs each night. He doesn’t have to make each performance into a 3 hour plus epic pulling requests from his expansive catalog at random from fan signs in the crowd. What does he have to prove?

Nothing, of course. But who wants to be stuck singing the same song every night for a year and a half? You’ll drive yourself crazy. To keep living and not just existing, you have to expand the setlist time and time again.

It’s Friday. Time to expand your setlist. Try something totally different today. Go to that restaurant you’ve been wanting to try. Skip work after lunch. Go to a trampoline park and jump around. Play a song you’d rarely hear and make this day a memorable one.

Happy Friday.

It’s Going To Rain

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photoIt’s going to rain.

If you live in the southeast, especially Augusta, you know this by now. The sun may be shining down right now. It may seem like the perfect day for driving around with the windows down blaring the song of the summer and sipping a Caramel Crunch Frappuccino. But at some point today it is going to pour.

Every day for the past 3 weeks we’ve seen the rain come. Flash floods are happening. It’s raining cats and dogs.

It’s going to get worse though. In fact, all of the cats and dogs are going to be washed away in the water. That’s how bad it’s going to get. You don’t see it yet on the forecast, but the hardest rain is yet to fall.

You may think I’m crazy for forecasting this weather. I’m no meteorologist, that’s true. Neither was Noah. He was just a guy who heard the voice of God.

God told Noah to be prepared, for a storm was coming. A storm like the world had never seen before. God told Noah to build an ark to protect his family and the creatures roaming the earth.

People thought Noah was crazy, building an behemoth ship in broad daylight. But he had faith in God’s voice. He knew that the sun never shines forever.

Noah obeyed God’s instructions. He was prepared when the storm hit. He protected his family because of his faith. Together, along with the world’s first zoo and aquarium, Noah and his family rode out the storm because they listened to God’s voice.

God still speaks to us, if we will listen. He wants us to be prepared for the storms. Not with raincoats and umbrellas – with prayer and community.

When we pray, study His word, and fellowship with the church, we are preparing for the storms in life. We are building the arks that will carry us through the hard rains.

Even when life is full of sunshine, we must still guard ourselves in God. We must still prepare the ark. The rain will fall. Don’t let it catch you off guard.

Wear God’s word as your raincoat. Wear it even when there isn’t a cloud in the sky. It won’t stop the storm from happening. But when the world tries to drench you with rain, it will keep you from getting wet.

 How can you stay prepared for the storms of life?