Lights Out // We're Leavin' on a Jet Plane

Erica and I are leaving for Vancouver/Camas, Wa today to visit my family. Hopefully we can land...it's very snowful up there. I don't know when I'll blog next, but it may not be until we get back on January 2nd. We fly back into Cali on the 1st and drive to Santa Rosa for one night. Time for our final Christmas celebration of 2008. Gotta go, my nephews are waiting for us to open their gifts.

Del.icio.us tags: vancouver, camas, washington, family, christmas

Are you an Angel?

Erica took part in a very different kind of Christmas experiment this year. Her part was to come up with an artistic way of expressing the character of the Angel in the nativity story. Angel means "messenger" and thus is a bringer of good news. She asked different kids from the children's ministry to take part. On one side of the cardboard is written who told that person about Jesus and on the other side, who they can in turn tell. It was a powerful moment in the production. The song used is Majesty by Casey Darnell. It's not great video quality, but you get the idea. One of the little boy's signs said that the could tell the kid on the playground who is not nice to him about Jesus. It was pretty cool.

Embedded Video

Technorati tags: erica, foster, angel, nativity, story, casey, darnell, majesty, video, youtube, cardboard, testimony, Christmas, experiment

The Adventures of Grandma Potter

This is my grandma (and nephews). She is the sweetest lady you'll ever meet.


Here's an exerpt from her Christmas letter that I received in the mail yesterday.

An unusual thing happened to me this year.  I ordered some items from a specialty catalog and didn't receive them, so I called the company. They assured me they were sent on June 15th. I asked what address, and it was NOT my address, so they sent another shipment to me. Meanwhile, I decided to go see WHO got my package, since it was fairly close by. I met another family of Potters who had indeed received my order and sent it back. She invited me in and we talked quite a while. Some similarities were apparent - she married a service man during WWII; she moved to California from New Mexico, etc. She doesn't drive, so is stuck at home and said she had been praying for a friend for 2 years! So I've tried to be that friend, taking her with me to shop for groceries and to one of my Bible classes. She loves to wander through the stores, so I have to plan to have time to spend with her. She never even gets out to grocery shop. Her birthday is March 10th, so she is 1 year and 1 day older than I am. She and her son went back to Albuquerque to the big balloon festival. I would like to see that. She brought me pictures.

Here's my question to you. When was the last time you let God lead you into a friendship that could have an eternal impact? When was the last time you did something out of the ordinary for someone else? There are millions of people looking for a friend to drive them to the store or take them to Bible study. Who are your neighborhood Potters?

Technorati tags: grandma, potter, God, leads, eternal, impact, Christmas, story, adventure, Bible

Christmas Card on Crack!

I've seen these videos around and I finally got around to creating one after I saw one of my brother's family on his facebook account. Enjoy. And that's an old picture of Coop as a pup.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Psssst...the funniest part of this is that I can actually dance like that. Don't tell anyone though.

It's my brother's fault!

Last night I was iChattin' it up with my brother and sister, they're in Washington. They told me about a site with gadgets and toys deluxe. It's called ThinkGeek.com. Here's the problem, I want everything on the site. This is like Toys R Us for adults, wow. Go ahead, browse it...I dare you. This video is just one of the many wonderful products these guys have to offer. How bored to you have to be to come up with this stuff?

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Technorati tags: thinkgeek.com, personal, soundtrack, t-shirt, ichat, family, stuff, toys

A Bicycle with an Identity Crisis

Shall I be extremely small or shall I be huge? I'm not sure. I'll be both.

Here's a picture of the guy, just in case you missed it all in the video.

Stuff like this always happens when we're with the @haugens. (@haugenpaul and @haugenjenn)

Technorati tags: riverpark, fresno, clovis, oversized, bicycle, rider, youtube, video, funny, odd, twitter

You've Got Video Mail

I went to check my tokbox.com account and this was waiting for me. If you've got a tokbox account, you probably had the same thing waiting for you. Sometimes people are just bored. Haha. Thanks Los. The funny thing is that you play it directly from tokbox it has a frosty the snowman template...but it's funnier this way.

www.tokbox.com

Worship Music 2008

These have been in heavy rotation in my iPhone, worship planning and/or iTunes over the past year...

Albums:

• Fee, We Shine
  
• Casey Darnell, Words in Motion
• Kristian Stanfill, Hello EP
• Eddie Kirkland, Orthodoxy
• Desperation Band, Everyone Overcome
• Remedy Drive, Daylight is Coming
• One Republic, Dreaming Out Loud
• Worth Dying For, Ammunition

Songs (not on the above albums):

• Brandon Heath, Give Me Your Eyes
• Chris Quilala, Your Love Never Fails
• Chris Tomlin, God of this City
• Coldplay, Viva La Vida
• Family Force 5, Love Addict
• The Fray, How to Save a Life
• Grey Holiday, Glorious
• Hillsong, Hosanna
• Robbie Seay Band, Song of Hope (Heaven Come Down)
• Tim Hughes, God of Justice

Unknown Talent (I may or may not actually have their songs, but like them):

• Paul Haugen, Come Home
• Luke Mundy & Paul Haugen, Savior of All
• You?

Who am I missing here?

Technorati tags: worship, music, set, list, songs, artists, albums, singles, itunes, ipod, 2008

Smallest Breakdancer in the World

Well that's true it his finger-shoe size anyway.

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Technorati tags: breakdancing, finger, addidas, music, youtube, video, fun

Weekend Recap // Lmtd. Edition

We went to Santa Rosa, Ca this past weekend for several reasons:

• Vist New Vintage Church again
  
• Speak with the Pastor, Andy VomSteeg
  
• Meet some North Point Strategic Partner guys, Tom and Russ
  
• Visit some old college/Won by One friends
• Get out of Fresno for a weekend
  
• Look at housing possibilities
  

I know what you're thinking, "Why would you consider moving from your home, Clovis/Fresno, Ca to Santa Rosa, Ca and work at NVC?" Well, maybe not everyone of your are thinking that...but certainly a handful. Here's a few answers to that simple question:

NVC is a place with Momentum:

• Starting Jan. 11, 2009, NVC's Sunday morning services will be combined into one service and be moved into the Wells Fargo Center for the Arts
• NVC is aligning with the North Point Community Church ministry model
• Hillside Church of Marin's senior Pastor is retiring in the Spring and is thinking about merging his church with NVC to become a multi-site, video-venue campus
• Over the past year, a ton of people have been baptized at NVC, well over 100 (I can't remember the specific amount)
  

NVC would provide elevated Leadership Training and Development:

• I would work under a pastor that God has used to take a dying church, shut it down and reboot it to see 1000-1200 people a weekend
• I would also work with John Alan Turner of River Park Community Church, a North Point Strategic Partner, when we was in town
• I need to develop as a leader because I believe God has huge things in store for my family

NVC needs help:

• NVC has had the same staff for a long time, but the church has grown exponentially
• Sonoma County is something like 98% un-churched!
• Andy is the ONLY full-time staff member
• They are about to move from an established building to a mobile-church
• The woman running Children's Ministry is Andy's mom, she needs to strategically retire because that is a tiring job (it just so happens that I'm married to a CM genius)

There are three drawbacks to moving:

• We'll be far away from both of our families
• We'll be far away from our best friends (Paul and Jenn)
• We'll be in the poorhouse, for awhile
  

What do you think about all of this?

Technorati tags: new, vintage, church, santa, rosa, sonoma, county, northern, california, NorCal, northbay, wells, fargo, center, hillside, church, marin, north, point, community, strategic, partners, river, park, andy, vomsteeg, john, alan, turner

An Update // Our Life Journey

As most of you know I no longer work for New Harvest Church. The process has been stressful, painful, good and terrible...all at the same time. I've had tremendous support from co-workers, former bosses, my lovely wife, family, friends, students, volunteers, twitter-friends, blog-friends, facebook-friends, and lots more. Tomorrow, Erica and I will be driving up to Santa Rosa, Ca to investigate a new possibility up there. Please pray for us. You'll be seeing lots of exciting things in the next few years...keep reading and let me know who you are, if you haven't already chimed in on a post.

Technorati tags: life, update, god, faith, hope, love, santa, rosa, support

The High Drama of Decision Making // Bill Hybels

I attended this year's Willow Creek Leadership Summit. If you're a regular reader, you may remember. I am revisiting what Bill Hybels said about decision making, becuase I've got a lot of decisions to make right now. I just came across a short summary from this blog. Here's the key points:

Traditionally Christian leaders ask:
1.    Does the Bible say anything about this?
2.    What do my leaders or advisors say?
3.    Pain, Gain, and Experience. Chronicle your decision making process so you can come back and learn from it.
4.    Is the Spirit prompting me?

Some helpful hints:

• Sometimes you should make a trial decision and then walk around with it and see if brings life and peace.
  
• Leaders can’t be decision adverse.
  
• They also have to be able to take responsibility for it. If a decision turns out well thank God. If it doesn’t don’t blame others, take responsibility.
• Leaders can distill and test their learning’s into short mantras or axioms that can be easily distilled throughout the organization.
• Do you reflect often enough that you are operating out of the leadership axioms you have created from your learning?
  

Here are some of Hybels Axioms:

• Vision leaks
• Get the right people around the table
• Facts are your friend – Reveal study
• When something feels funky – engage
• Leaders call fouls (on others or ourselves).
  

Technorati tags: willow, creek, leadership, summit, the, high, drama, of, decision, making, bill, hybels

Psalm 138 Tidbits

When I called, you answered me; you made me bold and stouthearted. - Psalm 138:3

The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your love, O Lord, endures forever- do not abandon the works of your hands. - Psalm 138:8

This Caught My Eye

A couple months back I went to the Fresno State University campus with some students that have been involved in Re:action, a college ministry I launched at New Harvest Church. While walking around campus this locker (by the theater department) caught my eye. What kind of person do you think created this art on their locker?

Technorati tags: photography, fresno, state, university, new, harvest, church, re:action, students, college, ministry, art

The Cousins // Ben's Wedding

A couple of weeks ago, I was in Ben and Sunny's wedding. Ben is my second cousin. His mom is my first cousin. My family tree gets really confusing. But pictured below are SOME of my second cousins. I don't even know everyone's names...sad, I know. There are way too many sides to this tree. See what Jeremy and Amber had to say about the wedding.

Technorati tags: ben, sunny, wedding, drury, cousins, foster, family, tree, jeremy, amber

Rising Star // Becca Bishop

You heard it here first. Becca Bishop going pro. That's my prediction. She is the daughter of my old choir teacher, Mrs. Heather Bishop. Check out her stuff for yourself on her music myspace.

Technorati tags: becca, bishop, rising, star, music, myspace, christian

Our God Will Fight For Us - Song

Last time I was in Mexico on a mission trip we studied the story of Nehemiah. Nehemiah encountered incredible obstacles in his journey and one verse always stuck out to me in his story. It's a point in the story when he must choose between his workers fighting against their enemies or continuing to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem. He says, "Our God will fight for us." (Nehemiah 4:20b)

This one line has been stuck with me for over a year now. Today I came home and put it in Garage Band and played around with it a little bit. What do you think?

Download Micah Foster - Fight For Us - chorus only rough cut

My Brother and Nephews // "Clone Wars"

This is a video my brother shot with my nephews. They're so funny.

Our Clone Wars from Jason Foster on Vimeo.

The Office // Church Spoof

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Pat Callahan for posting this video on your blog. This is amazing.

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Reactions?

Technorati tags: pat, callahan, the, office, church, edition, spoof, youtube, the, branch, blog

Saying Goodbye // New Harvest Church

The past 24 months have been pretty fantastic. I wish I didn't have to leave, but God's got a plan. I just don't know what it is yet. Please pray for the students, parents and volunteers at NHC that I have grown to love. And please pray for Erica and I as we sort through everything and figure out our next move(s). I've had a ton of affirmation from people over the past couple of of days. The worship set in student ministries was amazing yesterday and the service was spectacular. I pray it's even more spectacular this coming Sunday, without me. What happens when I leave will be the measure of my success. Have I replaced myself? Have I set up systems that can withstand transition? We'll see. Here's an email I got this afternoon from a student.

"Hi Micah. I didn't get to talk to you on Sunday but i really wanted to tell you what an impact i feel you've made on this youth group. You have changed us for the better. You've brought me and I'm sure many others into a more intimate walk with Christ. You've also bonded this youth group so close together so we can all go on our journey with God together. I know i would do anything for anyone in this youth group. I wanted to personally thank you for all you've done for us. We're going to miss you Micah.You've changed our lives. I can only hope that our future youth paster can be half the one you were. Thank you."

Yesterday was a tear-filled day. I'll write more later, but I just wanted to give you an update on what's going on. My blog has been relatively quiet the past couple of weeks. It's been a difficult exit-process for me, so I haven't said much on here and I didn't want to announce anything before we talked to the students.

Have questions? Want to know what happened? Email me.

Technorati tags: new, harvest, church, exit, moving, on, transition, difficult, encouragement, love, faith, hope, Jesus, affirmation, email, questions