loveisgreaterthan[dot]com

i figured, since tomorrow i start a ten day blog-fast in support of what the bloggers heading to africa are doing, the post right below the one (which will be up tomorrow) talking about their trip with links to their blogs should be one with some information about me, so first time visitors don’t think i suck quite as much. also, at the end of this post is a VERY important announcement. if you read nothing else in this post, please read that!

the really important stuff
my name is joshua white. i am twenty-six years old i and don’t like to capitalize things, or type numbers (12345, that even just hurt a little). i am married to a girl named ryanne, who is the the best girl i know, which probably played a pretty big role in why i married her. i have two cats and a dog, and recently bought a house. i have two cool parents, even though they’re hillary clinton fans, i still love them. i also have a sister is who one of the strongest people i know. i believe very strongly in the saving grace of jesus christ, and try to live out my life in a way that best mirrors his love and mission.

the somewhat important stuff
i have worked at cedarcreek church for the last four and a half years. it’s a non-denominational church of about seven thousand located in northwest ohio. we meet at three campuses; whitehouse, perrysburg, and toledo. i am in charge of our live video team on the weekends, which basically means i am responsible for fielding teams of camera people, computer people, and switcher people to run the equipment at each one of our three campuses. it is my job to recruit, train, and encourage volunteers in this team. i am also our webmaster. i work with a dotnetnuke programmer in dallas and our graphic design team at cedarcreek to create the internet presence of cedarcreek. also, about three months ago i accepted the position to lead our video team at cedarcreek. it’s a team of three video producers who create all the videos for the weekend service as well as outside distribution of materials (ie commercials, promotional videos). i don’t make as many videos as i used to, but my hand is now in just about every video that comes out of this church. additionally, i assist our pastor of the arts in weekend direction, meaning i’m kind of his administrative assistant in programming meetings. it is my job to get out the information of the upcoming weekend service, as well as distributing any media needed to the proper people.

my part time job is as a freelance photographer and videographer. i don’t have as many clients as i would like, but i really have just gotten started and am looking forward to a good year.

a typical week for me
mondays consist of meetings at cedarcreek. all-staff meeting in the morning. programming meeting (where we decide on what the upcoming weekend service will look like) is at two pm, and then i meet with my video producers at three-thirty pm. any other meetings that have to take place during a week i generally try to schedule on monday around the aforementioned meetings, to hopefully get them all out of the way in one day.

tuesdays i have been taking off lately. you must understand that taking a day off looks very different for me than it does most people. my days off consist of generally spending at least two to three hours doing work email, website work, admin-junk. and when i’m not doing things for cedarcreek on my days off, i am generally doing freelance work.

wednesdays i meet with a group of guys at nine am at a coffee shop. we spend time talking about each others lives, holding each other accountable, and getting into scripture. the rest of the day, i generally take off as well.

thursdays i either start whatever video(s) i happen to be working on for that weekend, or start tackling my to-do list.

fridays i finish the video(s), and continue on the to-do list.

saturdays i meet up with another group of guys (this time from my live video team) at eight am at a coffee shop. we spend time talking about each others lives, holding each other accountable, and getting into scripture. depending on how the week up until this point went, i either head into the office now, or go home for a couple hours before heading into the office around one pm. i spend the next few hours preparing for the weekend service from a production standpoint. loading videos into our playback software, loading slides, and loading our character generator files. i’ll also use this time to familiarize myself with the order of service, and iron out any issues with the sound and light directors. then, it’s service time. i generally am in more of a supervisory role now on the weekend, which means i don’t necessarily run any piece of equipment. rather i am there to direct, train, and supervise.

sundays are more services. at the church by eight am, leaving by two pm. sunday afternoon/evening i try not to do any form of work whatsoever (short of house work of course) to unwind from the week.

all of this is of course dependent on when or if any video shoots have been scheduled during the week, and if i need to be there.

everything else
i am a progressive, evangelical christian democrat. oh yeah, you read that right. i am a very passionate person, and it has gotten me in trouble several times with authority, especially when i strongly disagree with someone or something. to be fair, it’s also one of my biggest strengths. i try very hard to be a socially aware person, not closing my eyes and sticking my head in the sand to some of the biggest issues we as a humanity face. i love discussing politics and social awareness with anyone who will listen, and i even love the debates that generally come from such discussion.

i love to read, but not more than i love to write. i love to watch television or movies, but not as much as i love to create a great video. i love to listen to music, but not as much as i love to take pictures — which is currently what i am most passionate about, photography that is.

the announcement
a non-profit organization raising awareness for depression that i am a big fan of contacted me this week. turns out, the name of this website is one of their most used slogans, and they would really like to have this domain name. after a little inner turmoil, i have decided that i would be honored to hand over this domain to them.  this ten day blog fast will give me time to get a new domain and things set up. stay tuned for the new link, and i do hope that you all will make the trip by updating your rss feeds and bookmarks. i know it sucks, but it’s for a good cause!

any ideas for a new domain name?