Category — News

Have begun our pre-pre launch here.

As with almost all things in life, our best laid plans here have come about but in a different way than anticipated.
Indeed God has answered our prayers – these were the prayers we felt strongly invited to pray for several years in preparation to the launch of the Coastland.

Want to watch a short MTV video my daughter Laura stars in? 
Maybe “stars” is overstating it, but she is in the video throughout anyway. 
Laura is a graduate of the DAAP school of design – majored in fashion design.  She is now working as a designer in the Big Apple and living in Brooklyn. 
Last week she was with friends when an MTV video was being shot.  They asked if she and company wanted to be in it – of course they said yes. 
She is the girl with the light brown hair, smiling with the orangeish-red Adidas sweater.  It’s the third video down – “Parking Lot Nights.”  Keep in mind, they are making fun of the Nintendo culture most Gen Y kids grew up in…  Would be helpful if you voted for the video a few times after you watch it…

http://www.mtvu.com/music/freshmen/

Was on TBN last week on Tuesday PM on a nationwide broadcast that ran from 10:00 PM till midnight, EST and all other simultaneous times across the country.  Topic:  Near Death Experiences.  Was one of the better interviews I’ve done.
 
I rec’d a report the viewing numbers were unusually high for that night’s show so that is good news.
 
Confession time:  I have made a few jokes over the years about Christian TV in general, but in the days leading up to this event, God dealt with my heart in a significant way.  Was reminded specifically of a friend who was a bigwig in the Krishna movement some time ago – ended up becoming a close friend of Janie’s and mine.  He was literally at the top of the organization when it was at it’s peak before Parupada died.  He was secretly watching TBN – especially a fire and brimstone preacher – forgot his name.  God was speaking to our friend big time.  He left the organization, got a job in PR (not difficult to do that – he had several Master’s degrees from Columbia – super bright guy – who now goes by his real name – Ed).  One day as he was driving down the I-10 in L.A. listening to Dylan’s Precious Angel (from the Slow Train album) he said God simply filled his car with his presence.  He couldn’t stop weeping over his awareness of both his sinfulness and the fact that Jesus’ blood had covered that.  He cried out for mercy.  His weeping was so profuse he pulled over on the freeway.  A California Highway Patrolman stopped to see if he was okay.  He got it together eventually and drove on – a new person in Jesus.  But the TV element played a big role in his Jesus story.  No one would have argued him an inch forward.  Many had tried.  But an old dude using King James English broke through by God’s Spirit.  It’s always the same in the end.  Only God can lead a person to himself.  But he certainly uses people who are available.

I just laid out carefully for the CoastlandTampa planting team the necessary equipment each will need to have in hand to get started when we hit the ground.  Some are in Tampa already.  Others will be arriving shortly.  All will be on site by the middle of September.

In case you are interested, here is the list of what we all need: 

a. Mac laptop. I get a lot of questions on which one is the best to get.  This is a personal question based on your work habits, where you see yourself headed in ministry in the next couple of years (Windows machines last two years at the most realistically – Macs will last at least 3 years if not longer – then they hold their value amazingly – kind of like Volvos – in fact the two markets tend to blur together… make that used Volvos!) 

NOTE: Prices of all Macs dropped in the past two weeks by close to 10% and they released a significantly faster processor.
-    would not recommend less than 1 gig of RAM
-    would not recommend less than 100 gigs of HDD

If you see yourself writing a lot, consider moving up to a 17” – though it is pricier, think of this similar to a car purchase; the difference is not significant for the power windows, 5 CD player, iPod hook up, leather seats – when you consider the daily huge increase in pleasure over vinyl seats you would have had – and you are paying like $87 more per month or something like that if it were a car payment; sometimes our fear of “not enough” overtakes our better judgment and we don’t get what we really need… that’s how I tend to evaluate things – and amazingly God always shows up with what is needed!  Bottom line – get what is needed! 

b. Digital recorder that syncs with a Mac laptop.  Recommend the Olympus brand.  If you haven’t already gotten one, check out Recorders.com for a decent selection and good prices. 

c. “Point and shoot” style digital camera – in light of the Mac syncing factor and cost issues, I recommend you confine your search to Nikon (I research this all the time – just make sure you are getting an American made Nikon, not “grey market” one that is greatly reduced in price – they carry no warrenty).  The cameras you are looking for run about $220 to $250 and take “SD” memory cards.  Recommend you get a couple of these cards – you will be glad you had one reserve card.  We will be taking LOTS of shots – of your family, spouse, things happening, etc.  We will be really glad we took the time to bookmark all of this in a few years – believe me.  Our website will have lots and lots of pictures – smiling faces of people loving people.  To find great deals on SD cards at a great price check BensBargains.net for just a day or two and you will find some great prices.  Keep in mind – many of these types of cameras don’t take cards that are super inexpensive or that don’t specifically say they are made for high speed digital cameras.  Also, don’t get cards that store more than 2 gigs worth of information – some cameras don’t take cards larger than that, FYI. 

d. Smartphone style phone that will sync with your Mac

e. Journaling software.  We are all going to be blogging at least twice a week of our learnings / journey from before the time we start our services.  The software I recommend, MacJournal, allows one to go right from journal to our blog.  This also allows for one to have several journals – very handy.  It is perhaps the most amazing and helpful piece of software I use. 

f. Headset that will allow you to hold Skype conversations.  I recommend you invest in a slightly more expensive version that is noise canceling than a $10 one that may work or may not depending on the relative humidity.

Life has been a bit hectic around the Sjogren homestead this week. We are preparing to move. Part of the preparation is getting our home ready to sell and that involves lots of little repairs, painting and other odds and ends. On Monday I made three trips to the hardware store! That is two more trips than my annual quota. Lots of anticipation is building, though, for our move to Tampa! Janie is still mending, I am writing every day, and we are getting ready to move. Lots of fun!

We are about to sell our house in West Chester on the north side of Cincinnati. It is often said, “Amazing how much stuff a family collects in the course of a few years stay at a house.” When we moved into this place we thought, “This place is so big we’ll never fill it!”
Now all of our children have moved out minus Jack, but they have left their stuff behind.

A word to those who are nearby - we will likely load our moving truck on about July 10th. If you want some amazing FREE stuff stop by that day… bring a big vehicle. Talk to me - not Janie. She usually sells stuff. I usually give it away for free!

I have been in the Los Angeles area for several days as a part of the previewing of a Universal film entitled Evan Almighty that will be hitting screens on June 22nd. I was a part of about 60 leaders from the Christian “media” who have been asked to give Universal their two bits about the film for one thing (I give it 3.5 stars out of five by the way - family friendly - PG rating - funny, engaging, no language difficulties for parents to worry about with their children - I predict this film will be a sensational box office hit provided there is not another film released that same weekend).

Why was I specifically invited? Two strong themes that run through the film, without giving it away, are ideas I write about constantly.
1. How to change the world…
2. The power of simply serving the next person God puts in front of you.

In short, the film was so strong, this audience stood to their feet and give it a nearly full minute ovation. The last time I saw that happen was when I saw Forrest Gump. The two films had that same magical sense to them. Yes, we can all make a difference.

Janie has been home from the hospital for over a week now and is healing nicely, thank you very much. We want to thank the many who have expressed concern and who have prayed. Keep praying! It can’t hurt!

Some of you may have come here to find out how Janie is doing? There were some complications from her recent surgery and she has been in the hospital for a number of days, although we are expecting she can go home tomorrow.

The doctors have given us good prognoses, now it is just a matter of continued healing. Thank you for your ongoing and continued prayers.