Somewhat of a living legend

Okay, so if you are not impressed by the massively huge waves Laird gets towed into at Jaws, the nearly impossible to believe wave he got at Teahupo'o (http://www.kewego.co.uk/video/iLyROoaftL5Q.html) or his all around waterman skills and lifestyle, I'd like you to think about his endorsement of a very good and very affordable lines of clothes at Steve and Barry's.

I'd never even heard of the store until last Saturday morning. I was reading the business section of our paper and came across a great article in the Union Tribune (I'll post it at the end of this post.) I encourage you to read it. Way to go Laird for shunning the corporate monster of the surf world. I bought a shirt that is quality and looks great. The surf trunks from his line of clothing are easily as good as the ridiculously priced $50.00 ones at most surf shops.

Laird was very personable at the store signing. He was kind to each of my kids, patiently asking how to spell each of their names and after a handshake and learning that I had five kids, told me I was "the pro" when it came to parenting. Nice to meet a living legend who seems to be quite down to earth.

Maverick surfing icon Laird Hamilton shuns apparel big shots, teams up his clothing line with low-cost retailer Steve & Barry's
By Jennifer Davies
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
May 17, 2008
When renowned extreme surfer Laird Hamilton decided to do his own clothing line, he didn't sign up with an action sports apparel powerhouse such as Quiksilver, Volcom or Hurley. Instead Hamilton has decided to pair up with Steve & Barry's, a retailer that has made a name for itself by providing incredibly low-cost shoes and apparel. For a limited time, everything in the store costs less than $9, from jeans to T-shirts to sneakers to dresses as well as Hamilton's new Wonderwall collection of surf-inspired shorts and shirts.
It might seem an unlikely collaboration. The action sports industry usually focuses on what is “core” or has street credibility, and Steve & Barry's is hardly akin to a local surf shop. The chain started out selling college branded T-shirts at cut-rate prices in 1985 and now has 266 stores in 38 states, including two in San Diego County.
But Hamilton said the partnership meshes perfectly with his maverick philosophy – he never participated in surfing competitions because he thought it was impossible to judge the art of surfing – and his background. Hamilton, an icon in the surf business, is known for his death-defying rides of 70-foot waves, as well as for his high-profile marriage to Gabrielle Reece, a former pro volleyball player and model.
Coming from humble beginnings in Hawaii where his parents could only buy a couple of pairs of pants and shirts each school year, Hamilton said Steve & Barry's low-cost ethos also appealed to him. He sees the chain as a leader in teaching consumers about what clothes should cost, decrying $125 sneakers or $50 board shorts.
“A lot of things are just so falsely inflated,” Hamilton said. “They (retailers) are charging three, four, five times what it actually costs to make and who eats that? The customer.” For Steve & Barry's part, the company knew it wanted to be a part of the lucrative surf/skate market, which rakes in more than $11 billion a year in the United States alone according to BoardTrac, a market research firm.
Howard Schacter, Steve & Barry's chief partnership officer, said that when it was thinking of a face for a new action sports brand, Hamilton was the obvious choice because of his reputation and name recognition.
Key to the company's strategy is to work with celebrities such as Sarah Jessica Parker, Venus Williams and basketball star Stephon Marbury to appeal to important market segments as well as attract attention. As part of its cost-saving strategy, the company doesn't advertise and relies on free publicity.
“I'm not sure we'd be getting on Access Hollywood if Laird wasn't involved,” Schacter said of some of the publicity the line has garnered.
To promote the new line, Hamilton will be signing autographs at the Steve & Barry's in Horton Plaza starting at noon today.
Marie Case, managing director of BoardTrac, said Hamilton makes sense because he is so well-known in surfing circles and beyond.
“It's a good strategy by the company to bring in someone like him who has such broad appeal,” she said.
Still, it is unclear how Hamilton's reputation will translate into sales. Surfers and skaters who put a lot of stock in staying authentic might not be drawn to Steve & Barry's, which carries a smorgasbord of fashion niches from urban-inspired wear from Marbury's Starbury line to the more mature female fashions of Parker's Bitten brand.
Schacter said Steve & Barry's wants to appeal to everyone in the family, much like a department store. He said the Wonderwall line is not necessarily directed at only action sports enthusiasts, pointing to the strength of Hollister, a surf-inspired retailer based in Ohio that is scoffed at by many in the action sports business.
“It's more aspirational than anything else,” he said of Wonderwall's appeal.
Hamilton said the whole core issue is nonsense.
“The whole thing about being core or not being core is all about insecurity,” he said.
What will matter to customers of Wonderwall, the line he helped design, is the clothes themselves.
“The bottom line is you are talking about a good quality product, and that crosses all boundaries,” he said. At the Horton Plaza store on Thursday, most of those checking out the Wonderwall line hadn't heard of Hamilton before and said the price is what attracted them to the garments.
Perusing the Wonderwall line, Wayne Schwartz, 60, said he's a regular at Steve & Barry's.
“I take pride in telling all my friends who buy the expensive stuff how little I pay,” he said.
Schacter said the company is all about squeezing out any extra cost in the business, from having the clothes made in Chinese factories at off-peak times to having bare-bone offices to flying coach and staying at inexpensive hotels. All of those measures make it possible for Steve & Barry's to make a razor-thin profit.
Schacter said the company has been able to expand rapidly during an economic downturn because more people are looking for bargains.
“Affordable is cool right now,” he said.

Bus fun

Last Saturday I had the opportunity to help out
some friends with the new church plant in Allied Gardens. One of the fun things about having a bus like mine is that it can be an instant parade float. We've used it for years in the PB Christmas Parade and the OB Christmas Parade. Last Saturday we decorated the bus and drove it through the parade route while about 15 volunteers passed out flyers for the church. We also threw out 40 beach balls which was a hit for the kids along the parade route. Now we just need to pray for this new church plant starting in the Fall. In particular please pray for Joey White and John Worcester as the head up the launch effort.

The little ones

Micah has learned to pray by watching all of us. One of the best times of the day is our family prayer time after dinner. When it's his turn to pray, Micah loves to and we recognize his broken language and know he is praying for Mom, Zach and LilyAnna. Very cool and I know God hears his little prayers.

Good fun watching LilyAnna learn to walk. Once she lets go of the prop and tries it on her own, she will exhibit the classic "drunken Frankenstein" walk they all did in the early phases. I'll try to get that on video too.

Spidey tattoo

Most of you know I'm into Spiderman so I decided to go all out and get this tattoo. Pretty realistic looking huh?
Actually...I'm a huge Spiderman fan, but that is not my tattoo. However, that is a real tattoo on a guys chest and arms. Now that is dedication to the web slinger! You gotta give props to the tattoo artist, it really looks like the guys skin is tearing away to reveal a Spiderman costume beneath. I printed out a picture of this and will add it to my collection as one of the more interesting items.

Heat wave

This last weekend was like summer in April. I believe it was close to 90 here in Clairemont. It was actually too hot. Needless to say we did a lot of swimming. My boys spent over 6 hours in the pool on Saturday. That was groovy and all, until we came inside and saw the sunburns. Ooops, forgot the sunblock on April 12th! This video was shot a on April 14th. Micah does well with the arm-floaty-things. His older brothers "help" him in the pool. Good fun.

The War

Kel and I watched "In the Valley of Elah" last week. It was hard to watch, a sobering wake-up call to the cost of the troops after they get home from the war.

Or if you want a tally of what the war costs daily and what we could be spending that money on, take a look at this clip:
http://www.afsc.org/cost/default.htm

I am deeply troubled by the Iraq war and the innumerable side effects is has and will cause throughout the world. Every war sucks, but this one certainly hits home for our generation.

Any thoughts?

Restart

These last two weeks at Coastlands have been fun and exciting. We had a great Easter with some crazy-warm weather. The kiddos went nuts chasing down the Easter eggs and we all got to meet each other out on the playground. What a great way to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. It was fun to meet lots of new people as Easter was the official "grand opening" of our church in the new school. I look forward to meeting many other new people with the rest of the special events we have lined up for April.


This past Sunday was also a great day for us. Mikey (pictured) from Rock 105.3 came and did a great job sharing his life story. We need to continue to pray for him as he has such a great chance to share his faith with a largely secular audience.

I also want to take this chance to welcome all the new families to our church. We are a family friendly church in that we really care about dads, moms and kids. We believe that our job as the church is to help equip the parents to be the primary spiritual influence in their kids lives. We welcome kids in our service and also understand if parents need to put their kids in one of the classrooms during church. Somehow we'd like to strike a balance between allowing families to worship together for the entire worship service, yet also be understanding and kind to those families who are still learning how to do that. Please be patient with us as we are learning how to do this in the new school. I'll post some thoughts here on this subject that you can also find in a nifty flyer on the back tables at church.

I'd love to hear your feedback, especially some of you newer people to our church as we all learn together through this process.

Children in Worship: A guide for the congregation: Join us in welcoming the children as they share in worship.

A message to our entire church…
Families are an important part of our church community. We love children at Coastlands Church and very much desire for them to be a part of our faith community. In fact, we believe that spiritual formation for all of us happens best in community. At our worship gatherings our intention is to create an atmosphere that is conducive for children’s spiritual formation. We invite any family to have their children join them for the entire worship service. Yes, it may get a little noisy at times or we may hear babies crying, but we have a hard time believing that Jesus was “annoyed” with the children when he said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” (Matt. 19:14)

Let’s not forget the commitment we made to our children at the time of their dedication. We promised to raise our children in the ways of the Lord with the help of our church family.

You can welcome children in our midst in the following way…
Ø Greet them along with the adults.
Ø Invite a child with whom you are acquainted with to sit with you during the worship service.
Ø Ensure that children who read have a bulletin of their own.
Ø Share a Bible with a child sitting next to you.
Ø Allow children to participate in the service, dancing and having fun during the singing.
Ø Be understanding if a parent needs to leave with a child.
Ø Be willing to offer help to a family if they need it.
Ø Have patience with the children and the adults bringing them, they are learning.
Ø Remember we are all children of God!

Children are special in God’s eyes! This is evident throughout scripture. In Mark 10:16 we read that Jesus took the children in his arms, put his hands of them and blessed them.

Parents…
We applaud you for taking this step. As a congregation we want to support and encourage you as you share in this time of worship with your child by your side. Here are a few suggestions as you begin this process…

Ø Children learn from example. It is vital that your children witness you participating in corporate worship.
Ø We encourage parents to keep children of all ages in the worship service for the opening set of songs and children’s sermon time.
Ø After the children’s sermon, the children can either go back and sit with their parents or follow the others to the classrooms.
Ø Prepare your child ahead of time. Let them know what to expect and what you expect from them.
Ø Arrive early. Remind them of what happens during the service, when to listen, when to speak, when to sit and when to stand.
Ø You may want to sit near the front where it’s easier to see and hear.
Ø We also have an area in the back with carpet if you’d like to sit with your little ones so they can crawl around some.
Ø Introduce your children to those sitting near you.
Ø If possible, seat children next to an adult who can help guide and assist them throughout the service.
Ø If you need to step out to calm an upset child, please feel free to do so through the back exits, but please return.

Worship in many ways is like a family meal. Individuals in a family sometimes can, and sometimes do, eat separately. However, there is a deeper enjoyment in a meal when we share in the meal together as a family.

Likewise, we worship independently at times and it is important to worship spontaneously at any place. But if we never worship as one body with all of the family together, we miss the depth of love between the members that grows in community worship.

There is evidence that people who do not worship with the entire body of Christ as children feel a lack of belonging to the faith community as they become adults. However, people who grow up feeling a part of the total family of God in worship continue to be actively involved in their spiritual lives throughout their adult years.

We welcome you to the Lord’s house. We are glad you joined us today and pray that your life will be touched by the Almighty God through this time of worship.

Coastlands Church also offers these programs for children during the worship service:
Nursery up to age 2 is offered in room 403.
Toddler/Preschool up through age 4 is also offered in room 403. The children have a time of play, music and a short lesson.
Elementary age from 5-10 is offered in room 404. In this setting the children have a lesson time, crafts, singing and prayer.

Upper Elementary age 10 and up are encouraged to either sit with their parents and learn to understand the entire worship service or they can go into the lower Elementary class and be a helper.

If your children do go into the classrooms, please pick them up as soon as you can after the worship service. That will allow our volunteer helpers in the children’s ministry to come out and socialize too!