The Billionty-Oneth Geek: Older Than 8 Since 1991

So Spain won the 2010 edition of the World Cup yesterday. It was pretty crazy in downtown Toronto, with tons and tons of (supposedly) Spanish people celebrating their country's victory. It was an interesting night at church too. You see, the building we're at is located on College St. between Spadina and Bathurst... right between where all the celebrations were going on. So we had hooting, hollering, vuvuzelas and car honks going non-stop during the church service. It was quite a spectacle. I asked my friend Bryn why was it that this street block had all the activity (it is not a blatantly heavy Spanish area). He told me that there's a big Spanish restaurant in the area which I guess drew the crowd. Pretty amazing though. Me and my friend Jon were greeters at the door, and as soon as the game ended, almost on cue, hordes and hordes of people came from all directions onto the street block. Pretty amazing. We were aptly prepared though. Just before the game ended, we wr...

This past weekend, a bunch of us at FT went camping on the grounds of Grafton, Ontario. It was a great weekend for camping as the weather was perfect; sunshine all around. It was hot but thankfully, never unbearably hot. It was a good time of relaxing, connecting and reflecting. We played a lot of this party game called Werewolves (also known as Mafia), which I think is my new favourite party game, or at least up there. If you've never played it, then I suggest you gather a group of friends and try it. It is a game of trust, deceit and manipulation... but all in good fun! Anyhow, I had a great time. Check out the slideshow at the bottom. Later geeks!

This past Tuesday, our small group organized our third Coffeehouse, this time with the theme of "Summer". It's kind of funny. At the end of the previous two events, I thought to myself, "there's no way we're going to top tonight". Yet, somehow we do everytime and this time was no different. We had two meetings in the previous months just to outline things we wanted to do and improve. I feel as though we improved on each of those fronts. With each event, everything is pretty much free but we asked for donations to support various groups. This event was sponsoring the Ontario Pioneer Camp, a non-profit organization/camp for kids and teenagers. For myself, it was sort of different this time around as I didn't really get a chance to kick back and relax during the evening. I was moving back and forth just checking on my fellow teammates to make sure they were okay and if there was anything needed. I was giving general help whenever needed (ie. the pow...

Oh man, what a day. Yesterday was a long day of travelling from one end of the city to the other... up and down, left and right all over the subway grid. I woke up at 9 in the morning (ohhhhhh...) and finally arrived back home 10:30 at night. While I was travelling around on the subways and streetcars, it gave me time to meditate as well as reflect on several things. Early wake ups aren't exactly my best friend, but fortunately I had to do it several times earlier this week, so it made this morning much easier (not necessarily better though). A friend of mine invited me to her church and I promised her that I'd check it out sometime. I have a few friends that had visited this particular church in the past, so I was interested in seeing this place for myself. It's this quaint little church located in downtown Toronto, at the junction where if you step on one side, you could end up in the ghetto, but if you were to take two steps in the other direction, you'd end up in t...

Last night, FreeChurch hosted a coffeehouse to the community of downtown Toronto. It was an awesome night showcasing some the young and talented musicians of the community. Drew melting hearts on the guitar. My Living Room was in charge of preparing the whole night and it was just amazing to see it basically empty at first, but have it fully decorated and filled with people 2 hours later. We did it all from setting up the sound equipment (phew!), to throwing fabrics around, placing candles around the room and even preparing all the food and drinks. Once the music started, it felt nice taking a step back, surveying the hall, watching people have a good time. Brad's band creating an atmosphere with a post-rock style. There were some good and varying sets of music; starting with more acoustic-y and melodic tunes in the beginning, to some pastor raps, ending with two full band sets. I think there was a little something for everyone. By the way, I learned quite a few things tonight. ...

On Tuesday night, FreeChurch Toronto had a Love Feast to celebrate love as God had intended. Basically it was a big feast to the church members as well as the community at large. The place was packed to the brim with nary an empty seat in sight. Our new Living Room (small group) was officially inducted this past weekend after completing the 8-week long membership series. As the new members, our group was charged with the task of being the hands on help for the day. Our crew of folks did everything from helping with the cooking, decorating the place, serving dishes and then cleaning the whole place up. I think most of us ended up doing a little bit of everything. It was actual an excellent opportunity to further bond with each other as well as with the existing church members. What was awesome was the number of people that just walked off the streets, came in and had a meal with us. We were blessed to have them eat with us. I did feel bad about one thing though. There was this group o...

Today was the first in the Reconstruction of Christmas series at FreeChurch Toronto . David McGhee, a former pastor at FreeChurch (Freedomize), kicked things off with a message on Gathering. The artsy peeps did a tremendous job of decorating the place for the occasion. Below are a few pics.

Last week at the Freedomize/FreeChurch Toronto Membership-Series/Small-Group-Formation Night (yes, in short), we had an interesting discussion on the creed that the church follows. We went through the creed line by line as the pastors elaborated on their meanings and answered questions. During one portion of the creed, the associate pastor Kevin, brought up an interesting point in that we as Christians shouldn't view Heaven as the endpoint or goal in our lives; that it shouldn't be our ultimate hope. Rather our hopes should lie in the fact that one day Jesus will return, redeem the earth, bringing down Heaven to earth as He had promised ( Acts 3:17-23 ). The key word that sticks out for me in that piece of scripture is 'promised'. It's a word that has so much weight in it. This isn't a promise made by man or by anyone who could be deceitful or sinful in nature. It is a promise from God. And because it's a promise from God, to us as followers in Christ, it...