Jason Bedell Online

Well, I'm beat and going to get some rest, but all in all... the Chesapeake Campus practice service went off well. We have some bugs to fix, but I'll give an update on all this a little later. Much love people.

One of the things that is tough to work with in multi-site is how to balance staff. Who brings the messages? Do we use video preaching? Who goes to what campus? Who leads the music at each site? Well, we've sat as a staff and thrown around all kinds of ideas... from hiring new staff to dividing up responsibilities. Instead we tried a slightly different approach. Check it out:

If you don't watch the office... you should totally start.

Message Graphic and Intro Video for our series titled, "SIGNS." Check it out:

All Photos taken by Jason Keltner 2007

I had the opportunity to work with Ed Stetzer while he was in town speaking at First Baptist. They needed a video for New Churches.com for their "Getting Started" Section. Check it out:

New Churches.com "Getting Started"

These radio ads are going to be played on 5 different radio stations across the Hampton Roads area (Max FM, The Point, 96x, ESPN Radio, The Energy). Check 'em out.

Here is my story...

I was born in September of 1979 and the world has never been the same since. Growing up I learned to skateboard, loved the beach and had a passion for anything creative and adventurous.

My parents raised me in the church along with my younger brother and sister. Going to church was boring and wasn't something I was really excited about. I basically went to make my parents happy.

Around my senior year of high school I went to a hardcore show at the Indoor Va Beach Skatepark (now closed). There were a bunch of bands there and one in particular caught my attention. Zao played an amazing set and I talked with one of the band members afterwards for a bit. The guy had quite a few tattoos and piercings and he looked a little intimidating at first glance. Once we started talking I realized there was something really different about this guy. He told me the band they played in was a Christian band and they were having a blast doing it.

The fact that he was a Christian blew my mind, but not enough to make me change my lifestyle at the time.

In 1997, I graduated from Kellam High School and planned on pursuing a career in graphic design, but that was my plan... someone else had a bigger plan in mind.

I went away to Camp Rudolph in Yale, VA and met a kid named Nate. He wanted to become a Christian so bad, but every time he asked his mom she told him, "No. Those people are a cult and there is no way I will let you be a part of that!"
Nate was so defeated that week and left feeling like life was so unfair.

That afternoon when we left I got a call from my friend Nathan Lewis. He said, "Hey Jason, Nate is going to be baptized at 64th Street. You coming?" I was so excited for him and told Nathan I would be there as soon as I could.

Nate knew his mom would be unhappy and upset with him, but I will never forget what he said to all of us, "I need to follow God first, then I will do as my mother says. I know God will help me with my mom when I tell her." That day we watched as Nate was baptized and I knew my course in life had to change too.

I wanted to be a part of sharing God with other people so they could have the same relationship with God that Nate felt. So I dropped my plans of graphic design to be a pastor.

Along the way I met some great people at Roanoke Bible College, played in a band with some of the greatest guys to ever follow God, worked with Real Life Church for 7+ years back in my home town of Va Beach and met my beautiful wife Carrie (seriously she's amazing).

We were married in 2004 and it has been a whirlwind ever since. We tried and tried to have a baby and got pregnant and miscarried our first child in 2007. God built us up with the help of some amazing friends and family; and in 2008 we welcomed our daughter Chloe Elise Bedell into the world. She is great and we are blessed to have such an amazing baby.

Besides being a husband and father, I absolutely love my job. I work as the Lead Pastor at Forefront Church, while living in good ol' Virginia Beach, VA. I also work with a side project I started called, "Man Down Media" which specializes in graphics, design, media & video.

My passion is reaching lost people and using my talents to make the world a better place. If you are wondering about this God that has placed us on this roller coaster of life... give me a shout, I'd love to talk with you about it!

J-del **over and out**

To read a full length series on details through the journey in "These Ol' Vans," CLICK HERE

I was looking around on youtube and being a fan of MadTV and Mac products, I couldn't resist, check it out:

So I was going through my guitar cases the other day, just clearing out old song sheets and cleaning everything out I don't need anymore and out falls a newspaper article I hadn't read in a few years. I went to High School with Luke Wright. Luke was an amazing kid who showed me what life was really all about. He was really into hardcore music and loved God like no one I have ever seen before.

We did a spoof of MTV's MADE during our series, "Lion Chasers." Check it out:

At Forefront we try to be as creative as possible and part of that is getting graphics that pop and get people talking about the topic for that week. The graphic ends up on our main page, this week page, weekly update, during service on the screen, message cd's podcast, and more. Maybe these will inspire you. Our new series is titled: "The Flavor of Love" and it's all about being 'salt' and 'light.'

At Forefront we just did a Ministry Expo where we had volunteer sign-ups for the different serving opportunities available. The theme was "So You Say You Want A Revolution" and we decked it all out 60's style. Our booth was done up in woodstock and had Jimi Hendrix & The Who representin'. Here is the banner we used for our booth and a commercial we did:

One of the things we have been working on at Forefront is Viral Marketing. As the internet becomes a larger platform for getting information out quickly; advertising is beginning to take advantage of the video, blog and myspace style communities. Forefront has started with simple ads being placed all over blogs, message boards, myspace, facebook, etc. Below is a peak at what it looks like:



To Put This Ad On Your Page, Copy This Code Into Your Profile:
<a href="http://www.forefront.org/campus_003.html"><img src="http://lh5.google.com/jasoneilbedell/RuhJUAoYIwI/AAAAAAAAADU/xCS5NWEtrvY/s400/white_horse_ad_001.jpg" /></a>

So Forefront is launching it's church in a bar campus in Pembroke Mall. Here are the campus launch cards for people invite friends and unchurched people. Check 'em out: