Derrick Henslee

You Like The Peas? My Kiddo Does!

noreply@blogger.com (Derrick Henslee) — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 03:21:00 +0000

Here's little Levi jammin to some 'Imma Be' by the Black Eyed Peas. It came on the radio and I cranked up to see if he would respond. My other son Ezra didn't seem to care too much.

Little Kiddo Prayers

noreply@blogger.com (Derrick Henslee) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 12:54:00 +0000

Most nights we'll do a round of prayers with Ezra and Levi. Here's Ezra's prayers last night...

How Do You Baptize?

noreply@blogger.com (Derrick Henslee) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 02:28:00 +0000

Here at LifeChurch.tv, we've used several different methods to baptize people over the years. I thought I'd put our current process here for those of you that may have a little interest. This is completely informatory.....here goes:

At each LifeChurch.tv location, you'll find that space is very intentional and somewhat limited. At the Tulsa campus, we've got less than 25,000 square feet to house over 3,100 people from time to time. We do not have a permanent baptistery as this would only eat up valuable space when not in use. We have been using soft-sided pools for as long as I can remember. When we were portable, we used the pools, and now in a permanent location we still use them.

We typically set the pools up in a corner of our lobby so that the flow of traffic isn't too interrupted. We use one of the largest soft-sided pools available, so that we can get as many people in it at one time. This helps with getting a large number of people in and out efficiently. We'll set it up on a tarp, and lay down rubber-backed carpet runners for the exit/entry points to the pool. We even gaff-tape down long runs of the rugs to the bathrooms so that people don't slip on the wet concrete.

We'll fill the pool about half full the few days before the weekend to check for leaks and to allow room for warm water to be added later. We use an on-demand heater to fill up the rest of the pool with hot water. In the past, when we were portable, we used a rigged jacuzzi tub heater to warm the water. In the summer, we've put the pool outside to take advantage of the heat.

Finally, we put a few pastors in the pool to baptize several people at once. Sometimes a father will want to baptize their kids and we are excited to be a part of that experience! The nice thing about baptizing multiple people is watching siblings, best friends, or whole families being baptized all at once.

After the weekend is over, there are two ways to empty the pool. The best way is to just step on the side and let the pool empty in a matter of seconds....the indoors option is to use a small sump pump and get it out slowly but surely.

There ya go... pretty much all I know about how we set up the baptism process here at Life. Here's a couple links to help with what we use...thanks for sticking around after this enormously long post!

12' Soft Sided Pool

18' Pool

Sump Pump

Time Off

noreply@blogger.com (Derrick Henslee) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 04:07:00 +0000

Had a great week at home this week. I only put in two full days at the church this week and took vacation at home the rest of the time. 3 days in a row off! Went in on Saturday for a couple hours to make sure the new video suite hadn't had a meltdown, but other than that...pretty refreshing time.

This was a good opportunity for me to really spend time at home seeing what my wife has to go through on a daily basis. Sure, I was able to help her, but I gained a new perspective on how hard it is to accomplish anything when you've got a 2 yr old and a 5 month old at home!

The thing that really smacked me in the face was today, getting ready for church. It occurred to me that all our families voluntarily wake up early, get the kids ready and head in to church, (hopefully on time) without killing anyone in the process. I had an "ah-ha" moment today. I love how much my wife loves our family enough to get the kids ready for church by herself every weekend...come in and serve 1 service and attend another one. Huge....that's freakin huge!

Okay...more soon.

Derrick

Life Happened...

noreply@blogger.com (Derrick Henslee) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 05:04:00 +0000

So, I guess I took what Carlos Whittaker called a "Blogatical." With two little ones in diapers and all the new developments I've been undertaking...the blog took the back burner, big time! I'll begin informing everyone on the developments at the Tulsa campus of LifeChurch.tv soon. For a real-time look into what is going on, follow me on Twitter here (LINK)

See you soon...

Derrick

You Sicko!

noreply@blogger.com (Derrick Henslee) — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 05:06:00 +0000

For three weeks I've had a cornucopia of nasty viruses. First, the Flu..then...well...diarrhea...sorry. Then, Uvulitis for several days. Lost my voice...then I picked up a cold. Sinus issues. Okay, normally I don't get sick...but it's all happening at once.

So, Rachel got a Neti Pot to treat her sinus issues. I decided to try it. Here's the video...sorry for the faint of heart.

The Story of Levi

noreply@blogger.com (Derrick Henslee) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 22:32:00 +0000

November 10, 2008

7:30pm - Rachel runs to Subway while I'm giving Ezra a bath and getting him ready for bed.

8:00pm - Rachel's contractions are about 15 mins apart, we start watching Heroes.

8:30pm - Rachel's contractions go to 5 mins apart for about an hour...PAIN ONSET!!!

9:30pm - Car is loaded and house is ready but Rach is in too much pain to move...

9:40pm - Helping Rachel to car...car is running in the street, Rachel screaming, I'm waiting on friend to arrive to stay with sleeping toddler in the house....TENSE!!!!

9:45pm - Friend arrives, and we flee towards the hospital...running red lights, passing cars while honking and flying down the road!

9:50pm - Arrive at hospital, frantically try to convince ER staff that baby is IMMINENT!!

9:53pm - Rachel is lifted out of car, Levi's head is almost out!

9:55pm - Arrive in hospital room, nurses everywhere, no Dr. in sight! PUSH RACH PUSH!!!

10:01pm - Levi Olen Henslee arrives!

16 minutes after we left our house Levi was born! Rach's water broke in the car and she was in INTENSE PAIN! I was freaking out! Had we not lived so close to the hospital, yours truly would have delivered his second child in the car on the side of the road! God is Good!

Thank you friends and family who have given encouragment and love. We're excited about this little guy....he was ready to come OUT!!!

Photo Gallery of Day 1

Henslee Halloween '08

noreply@blogger.com (Derrick Henslee) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 05:30:00 +0000

Here are a few shots of Ezra on Halloween this year. In case you can't tell, he's a monkey.

I Love What I Do...Do You?

noreply@blogger.com (Derrick Henslee) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 05:08:00 +0000

Today the band met for our LifeGroup time in the Green Room. One of the things that we discussed was the fact that we get to be an active part of what God does each and every week at the Tulsa campus of LifeChurch.tv. This week, 54 people indicated that they were accepting Jesus into their hearts, forever to be changed!

I love being a part of life change. I love it when it's the first eternal step, and when it's just one more step in the salvation process (sanctification.)

So, to have my full-time job be at a place where I love what I do and people get radically changed forever is pretty freakin awesome!

What about you? How is God using you in your job/ministry?

Office Ruckus Video Pt. 2

noreply@blogger.com (Derrick Henslee) — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 06:18:00 +0000

Enjoy...

I did not vote "Present" this weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Derrick Henslee) — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 23:43:00 +0000

For 6 1/2 years I've been leading worship at LifeChurch.tv in Tulsa. I normally don't get sick but maybe once or twice a year. I've always been able to avoid missing the weekend but this weekend was an exception. Out of almost 350 weekends leading worship at Life....the sick bug got me.

Fortunately for me, I've got a couple of guys that are rip, roarin, and ready to go. Chris Kizzia stepped up on Saturday night with two hours notice AFTER running the Tulsa Run (15k) in under 90minutes!!! Instead of saying no, and leavin a brother high and dry, he sacrificed and even learned Bennie and the Jets (our walk in song this week.)

That made me think...had I not had guys trained and ready at a moments notice, there would have been a small catastrophe on our campus. Not to say that it can't run without me (cause it did.)

So, who do you have trained and ready to go in your ministry in case the fever bug bites?

Band LifeGroup

noreply@blogger.com (Derrick Henslee) — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 18:23:00 +0000

Every week during the message at the 10am experience, the band and I get together in the green room. We sit down and have a small group together. This is a great way for me as a Pastor to help get a pulse on what is going on with my band at home, spiritually, personally, etc...

We took a small break during the summer but have since started meeting and this time is very crucial (can't believe I took a break) for me to connect with the peeps in the band. Today we talked about obedience. In My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers, we looked at October 10th's reading.

The cool thing is that it talks about knowing God and being Holy through simple obedience, rather than knowledge or intellect. That is huge! I grew up trying to know God by amassing knowledge about Him, and then not really doing anything with it. It's one thing to be able to exegete a passage of scripture, it's completely different to actually obey what I know God's word says.

So, check out the reading (here) and let me know what you think.

Derrick

MORNING OU GAME!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Derrick Henslee) — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 16:46:00 +0000

Normally I'm off to the Tulsa campus of LifeChurch.tv around noonish. This week I was pretty productive and got completely ready before the weekend so I could come in later and enjoy some of the OU vs. Texas game. Most of the time the games are in the afternoon or evening and I miss them completely. Boo.

Excited to see my Sooners open up a can on Texas!

Two contributing reasons for my productivity:

1. Justin Cowell, our Switch worship leader, has become autonomous with ProTools and didn't need my help at all this week! Score!

2. Aaron Swensen, our Lifegroups / Missions pastor (who sits right in front of me in the office) was at the Catalyst 08 conference.....just leaving it at that. (wink, wink Aaron.)

#Catalyst08 Conference

noreply@blogger.com (Derrick Henslee) — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 16:29:00 +0000

So there is a lot of church leaders from all over the country attending the annual Catalyst conference this year. For those of us who are not among the fortunate to go and hear from amazing leaders, hear awesome worship, and mingle with other believers doing ministry together...you can partake of Anne Jackson's Backstage blog. It's called Catalyst Backstage. (LINK)

Anne is streaming some live content and interviews and you can follow when the new content is up from her twitterfeed.

Check it out!

Cooking With Balls

noreply@blogger.com (Derrick Henslee) — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 03:36:00 +0000

Yep, I came across this cookbook...and I must say I would never purchase it...because I would have to actually purchase the main ingredient.....testicles. I can think of a couple people that I've worked with that would find humor in this book.

I personally am a little grossed out by it...

So, have you ever had em?

LifeChurch.tv Worship Pastor Confessional #6

noreply@blogger.com (Derrick Henslee) — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 02:36:00 +0000

Here ya go. Lemme know what you think.

Marc Broussard at LifeChurch.tv Tulsa!

noreply@blogger.com (Derrick Henslee) — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 03:22:00 +0000

Ok, so it's not really Marc Broussard but I would possibly like to cover most of his stuff. If you've not heard of Marc, go ahead and set aside $50 and download his entire catalog. He's flipping amazing!

Someone captured this song that we did this week at church and so I'm re-posting it for you to see. FYI, we do a secular cover song at the beginning of each experience at the Tulsa campus. This is a very intentional move that has proved to be a very useful tool for people to invite others. It has also been a great tool to break down walls that an unchurched person may have about church not being relevant, or that we lack the capacity to recognize where they are.

The cool thing about this is that we get to acknowledge that the world asks great questions through the medium of music, and we're recognizing those questions and offering the greatest answer through Jesus.

Another effect these songs have is that we've re-trained our culture at the Tulsa campus. Several other campuses at LifeChurch.tv do a "walk-in" song like we do and we've noticed that in a very consumerist culture, people actually arrive early and each experience is almost 80% full (est) by the end of this first song. Other campuses that don't do these songs often notice a large portion of attenders stroll in all the way through worship.

Okay, so enough of my explanation...here's the video.

Fugee The Displaced Rottie

noreply@blogger.com (Derrick Henslee) — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 18:47:00 +0000

Hurricane Gustav has brought about memories of three years ago when Katrina devastated New Orleans. About that time the Humane Society of Tulsa brought up about 100 dogs and 50 cats for people to foster until they could be returned to their owners in New Orleans.

Rachel called me at church and begged that we go and get a dog. I was reluctant thinking that there would only be pitt bulls and emotionally scarred dogs. When we got there this was pretty much the case. I did however find one crate with a very excited Rottweiler. I had a Rottie when I was a kid and loved him! Contrary to their bad rap, they are wonderful kid-friendly dogs. In every dog book you'll find them described as a great family dog that has young kids. This was definitely true when I was a kid.

We brought Fugee home (Fugee is short for Refugee) and no one claimed him. He was found wandering the streets, emaciated and scared. When we got him he weighed around 70lbs and we could see his ribs. We loved him and fed him lots...now he weighs a healthy 100lbs and loves Ezra. Although he can get a bit rambunctious and knock our toddler over, he is a great jungle gym for him and a wonderful family pet!

Here's some pics of our Hurricane Katrina dog Fugee:

Injured Bad

noreply@blogger.com (Derrick Henslee) — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 18:34:00 +0000

Man, I've been out the past week with all sorts of medical issues. I had an upper endoscopy where they stretched my esophagus to help with acid reflux n'such. Aaand I learned that my gall bladder has to come out soon...boo!

The worst part of it all is that Ezra (18 months) had a surgery on Friday of this week. There were some problems with his nether region that we had to correct so that he would like us when he got older.

When we met him in the recovery room he was awake and screaming. He had pulled out his I.V. and was really ticked off. The worst part is that for two weeks he's gonna walk around like he just rode a horse for 7 hours straight.

Please pray for the little guy and a quick recovery! There is one video that sums up his experience....here it is...

He's Already Leaving Us

noreply@blogger.com (Derrick Henslee) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 03:08:00 +0000

Ezra is over a year and a half old now. So, were were able to enroll him in "Mother's Day Out." It's a program that Asbury United Methodist church offers that allows us to put him in "school" for 5 hours, 1 day a week. We're really thankful that Asbury offers this ministry!

I'll get to take him every week and drop him off before work. That will allow Rachel to get some time to herself and Ezra will get to play with other kids his age.

Here are some pics from his orientation today:

Lifechurch.tv Tulsa Worship Confessional #5

noreply@blogger.com (Derrick Henslee) — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 21:12:00 +0000

Here's the latest thoughts and concerns from yours truly. I'd love to get feedback about what you guys like to know about and what piques your interest!

Enjoy

Sing-A-Long

noreply@blogger.com (Derrick Henslee) — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 17:11:00 +0000

If you listen to my campus' free worship podcasts, you'll know that we often do songs by Phil Wickham. He just released a live album (Singalong) and he has made 15 tracks available for download FREE! Go check it out HERE!

You'll have to subscribe to his newsletter, but it's worth it!

I Took Matters Into My Own Hands

noreply@blogger.com (Derrick Henslee) — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 04:17:00 +0000

So, it's hot out. Long hair in 105 degree weather with crazy humidity really sucks. So, after seeing Terry Storch take a Wahl to his...I took my Wahl to mine...here are the pics.

The 4th Confessional

noreply@blogger.com (Derrick Henslee) — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 12:50:00 +0000

Enjoy!

THIRTY TWO

noreply@blogger.com (Derrick Henslee) — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 18:59:00 +0000

I turn 32 today. Man, at least Trent Austin is older than me. He is my counterpart at the Edmond, OK campus. I think he's like forty something. So, when he is no longer relevant...I know I've got about 10 years left before I call it quits! Ha!