First Impressions

So if you read one of my last tweets you heard about my interaction with some kids at Zeke's school. I went to pick up Zeke at the playground and a kid pointed at me and said to his friend..."look, it's a hobo!"
I thought it was amazing and laughed harder than I have in a long time but it got me thinking about a few things. What parents talk to their 2nd graders about "hobos?" It's not like I was carrying a stick over my shoulder with a bandanna tied around it with my 3 earthly possessions inside of it. Hobo...hilarious...who uses that word.
Then I started thinking about first impressions and what the world sees when they see homeless people. If a kid on a playground can look at me with my amazing facial hair and think I'm homeless I can only imagine the looks and stares a person on the street gets every day. Not things you think about all the time but it definitely got me thinking.
There's a person made in the image of God with a story and a family behind every sign and probably deserves more than a finger point and a snap judgment....
Or it could just be your short bald pastor with tattoos with a beard that a squirrel could live in!
You never know.

Leadership

After starting the day off with framing at the new space, I headed over to Risen King for a training on leadership. Dave Kraft is the man...check out his book.
It's an interesting season of my life but I find myself consumed with issues of leadership.

Here's a list of what I know in no particular order:
I have a lot to learn.
I really need to grow as a leader.
I have an amazing wife that supports and encourages me.
I desperately need God.
I have a great team around me.
I wish it was clearer.
I get overwhelmed with the great responsibility that I've been given at times.
I need to read more.
I really value the input of those that have been further down the road then I am.

In the midst of all my insecurities there are moments of great spirit-filled confidence when I know I am operating out of my God given passion and competency. I'm trusting as I grow in my leadership that these moments will become more frequent. For those of you that are on this journey with me I thank you for putting up with the craziness and messyness of figuring all of this out. It's a wild ride and I plan on enjoying every minute!

Sacred moments

As a pastor you're brought into the best and worst of peoples journeys at key points in their story.

Marriage crisis
God moments
Death
Birth
Sin
Baptism
Testimony
Spirit filling
Tears
Healing
Sickness
Decisions
Dreams
Vision
Discouragement
Breakthrough

It's new every day. But I consider all of them to be sacred moments. Opportunities to bring God into everyday situations. I love what I do.

Too pretentious?

So I'm getting the first looks at the new danlance.com and it's gonna be sweet.
Here's my question. Does having myname.com make you want to punch me in the face?
I used to do the revrock thing but someone stole that url.
I want a place that is a hub for all the stuff I'm working on but I kinda feel like a ding dong having a website that is my name.
Do I need to get over it or should I come up with something clever?
Beardedbaldwonderland.com :)

Legacy

Saturday seemed really significant to me.
I sat in the Simpson gym...packed with people...some new faces...a ton a familiar faces from the past.
All of us there to honor the legacy of a life well lived.
Mike Gower would of loved the crowd he pulled together for his memorial.
Looking at the impact his life has had on the kingdom in the faces of the ones he poured his life into.
My mentor in college...Jim Bailey was there with his wife Amy from Kansas City.
Jim saw something in me when no one else did.
He took a chance on me and I can say with confidence that I am the man I am today because Jim poured his life into me.
Mike and Jim stand as two people in my life that I will never forget.
I don't remember all the conversations or the advice but I remember the men and that they let me into pieces of their lives that shaped me forever. They knew Jesus in a way that was contagious and put me on a pursuit to know him in the same way.
Saturday was a significant moment in time for me.
It was a reminder to what's important. God and people.
I want to be remembered in a gym someday with people that I poured my life into.
Thanks Mike.
Thanks Jim.

Last notch

Today feels like one of those defining days in my journey of getting healthy.
Put on the Levi's this morning and cinched up the belt to the last notch.
That's right folks. The next step for me is a new belt...feels good.
I also realized that I have a whole new wardrobe...
Well...two years old but haven't been worn since...hello again medium shirts!
This cleanse I'm on is crazy...only raw fruits and veggies.
But the day you reach the last notch is a good day!

The band

Headed to band practice tonight.
I'm really getting excited for where this is headed.
2011 will bring live shows and an album...promise!
I love playing live music. It's something in my bones that has to come out!
It's been hard not having an outlet for that in the last few years.
I want to write the greatest music that I've ever put in front of people this year.
It always starts in a weird little room with a bad p.a. that smells a little like feet.
Off to practice!!!

Content. Let me have it.

I'm putting the details together for my website.
Here's my thoughts...
Twitter feed
Super clean
3 buttons...band. blog. book.
A few epic shots of my beard.
The end.
Thoughts?

What kind of content are you looking for?
What did you like or hate about revrock?
Kids, adoption, music, God, politics, snippets of the book?
I'd like this website to rule.
I'd like to get back to comments and really try to foster a community up in here! (hee-yah)
Ok...one shot of the beard....

It's 2011...Could the blog make a comeback...we'll see

It's been over a year since my last post. Facebook kind of killed my blog and now I'm thinking about killing Facebook! I like Twitter for quick stuff and I love hearing from other leaders around the world, but I think I can do without Facebook. There's this pressure to get back to everyone and I don't do well with pressure. Plus I miss my blog. I really like Donald Miller's website. I'd like to set up something clean like that. I want a central place to talk about my family. I love having archives that chronicle our story. Plus I like an outlet to talk about ministry and the random stuff that rolls through my brain all day. On top of all that I want to have a central place that I can talk about the book I want to write, and a place to share the music that I'm writing. Sound good?
Anyone want to set up a website for me for cheap?
I'll give you add space and mad props and smiley faces every time I text you :)
No promises...but let's see what happens.
Anyone still out there?

Garage sales

There's somethin' about garage sales that always brings you back to reality.
You're giving away a driveway full of crap for quarters...and these are items that had great value to you at one point in time.
Today we made $75 and baked in the sun for hours as we watched our treasures slowly make their way into the back of pickups and minivans.
We should all have garage sales to remind ourselves that it's all just stuff...and at some point a weird guy with a fanny pack is gonna bargain you down to $1.50 for an item that you paid $100 for five years ago!
Here's to moths and rust.

Who's ready?

I'm starting a band that sounds like the Left and Leaving album by The Weakerthans. If you've never heard it you need not apply :)
I keep listening to this album and it bums me out that I'm not playing music. 2010 is the year Dan starts rockin and rollin again! Stamp it! Tell your friends! Prepare yourselves.

Golf

Went out this morning with Pete for the first time in months.
I grew up golfing...love it.
Something me, my pops, and my brother could always do together.
When I go to Riverside it is always on.
I think it's funny because I have the best gear in the biz because I always get my dads hand-me-downs which are amazing.
But I never play...bummer.
Gold Hills is a cool place.

Mo

Love it.

18 peeps in my living room

I love the first night of a Life Group.
Who's gonna show up?
How many awkward moments?
Is anyone gonna show up?

18 amazing people came through the door tonight...I'm stoked.
This next season of my life will include getting to know these peeps more.
We have singles, students, engaged, married, married with kids, and a retired couple.
Community. I can't wait to see what happens.

We just wrapped up a series on discipleship at the Stirring.
I asked our group how many of them are in discipleship relationships right now and almost all of them said they were. Amazing.
WE LOVE. WE MAKE DISCIPLES.

It doesn't get better than this!

I'll let you in...

If you're not ready to have your life changed then quickly close this tab. Here's your assignment for tomorrow. Go to Los Gordos on the corner of Tehama and Pine. Order two pastor tacos "el jefe" style.
Much thanks to Jeff Humbert for going to Los Gordos so much and ordering your tacos in such a way that the entire restaurant now excepts "el jefe" style as an actual way to order your tacos. Was that a run on sentence?
They melt chesse between the two corn tortillas before they pound on the pork, onions, and cilantro. $5 that will change your life. You can thank me later. I realize this picture is probably from a weird picnic and there is an anglo handling the plate so you can bank on it not being authentic...but it's the best google could come up with. The chips with pico top it all off. Jeremy and I were there today. It's a once a week staple. Meat, grain, dairy, fruit, vegetables and Los Gordos!

Wireless

Anyone else have their router set up in the bedroom on one side of the house because it's the only room that has a phone jack in it and have their computer on the other side of the house and use the internet with wireless and it goes from 0 bars to full bars every 5 minutes?
Was that a run on sentence?
Steamed right now!

It's official...

...Mo is walkin'! He walks down the entire hall now without falling. Crazy. Now if we could just get Sof talkin'! This year is gonna be intense. Zeke in first grade. Sofia turning three, getting potty trained and talking. And Mo is officially mobile. It's exciting times to be a dad. All the kids were wrestling in the play room tonight and I was lovin' it. Of course that was minutes after Mo had grabbed Sofia's potty that she had just peed in and poured it on himself.
It's my life!

Blog face lift

Anyone out there want to hook a brotha up with a sweet new look for my blog? I could use a sweet new banner.
Ian...I love the banner you made for me but it's been a couple years and I've gotta get the revrock out of the banner since I'm danlance.com now.
Don't have a lot of money, but I have a surplus of respect, hugs, and admiration for anyone that would work with me :)
Let me know.

It's been quite a summer

Today is Labor Day...my last post was Fathers Day...oopps
Sometimes you need two and a half month breaks from things in your life...like exercise!
Here's my summer in bullet points
- In-laws visit Redding...got a ridiculous amount of projects done
- Lake Siskiyou with the Gafners...amazing
- Mom came to town...Alyssa and I got away to Sac to celebrate being married for 10 incredible years.
- Camping in San Simeon with great friends that are now spread up and down the coast
- Went to Indiana for a week to hang at a lake house for a huge family reunion. All of Alyssa's side lives out there.
- Came home...Zeke started first grade
- Staff retreat on a house boat
- Mo's almost walkin'...Sof is almost making sense when she talks
- It's a good time to be alive
- See...now you're all caught up.

In the midst of all this my job has changed significantly. I now oversee our staff at the Stirring and define most of the systems that we operate under as a church...I love it.
I still speak about once a month and lead worship here and there but I also hire and fire and figure out how we will retire. I've also been known to change a mean tire :)
In the midst of the job switch the Stirring was presented with a building that we are praying about purchasing. Because I've owned more homes than anyone on staff I'm the "experienced one" when it comes to these matters so I'm leading the way in figuring all that stuff out...it's been an adventure.
I love my church...I love our team...I love what God is doing in Redding and around the world.

It's been a great summer...I'm back.