Gabe Taviano » Friends

You have a Secret Name

Gabe Taviano — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:59:18 +0000

It’s been a pleasure to work closely with my friend Kary Oberbrunner on the new website (YourSecretName.com) we are launching on March 15th. Your Secret Name is the title of his newest book, which comes out in September but is available for pre-order on Amazon.com today. A few of Kary’s friends have donated over $6,000 worth of prizes that will be given away throughout the day during the March 15th Online Launch Party, including an Apple iPad! Not sure why you wouldn’t want to RSVP for free!?!

Check out the awesome video below, created by Josh Franer, featuring the song “Stay” by Robbie Seay Band and available on iTunes. You’ll see a few individuals labeled with Given Names the world has handed to them. Kary’s book and a test that will be available on the website will help each of us look into scripture and recognize our Given Names, and discover who God has created us to be. See you online on March 15th! There will be giveaways and online events happening throughout the entire day. This book is already touching lives, and it hasn’t even been released yet. Great job Kary!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Church staff putt-putt

Gabe Taviano — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 01:12:35 +0000

Thought it might be fun for my online friends to see the great group of folks that we have on our church staff (Vista Community Church), through these two online videos from our staff putt-putt party today. I’m on staff 10 hours / week at the moment, and am enjoying hanging out with them more and more each week. It starts off with Pastor Mike getting us up to speed on the turn between holes 9 and 10, and ends with a nice shot by Jen Morgan (our missionary who is leaving this week)!

Click here to view the embedded video.

PRAYING for the protection against our adversary for the staff. PRAISING God for the abilities and hearts of each member of the team.

Long live The Pioneer Woman

Gabe Taviano — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 18:02:26 +0000

My woman served me a tasty lunch today, thanks to this recipe from ThePioneerWoman.com. If you think you have lots going on, I’d suggest jumping over to The Pioneer Woman’s site and being overwhelmed. I thought I was bursting at the seconds! If there is one thing that I take away from other bloggers like her, it’s the obvious fact that they are not conceited. Think about it……why would some prideful person go through hoops just to share a recipe their husband (her “Marlboro Man”) likes? It’s not so that you can think she’s the bomb, but you have the opportunity to take something with you!!!

And it doesn’t stop with the recipes. Her blog(s) also include Confessions, Home and Garden, Photography, and Homeschooling. It’s no shocker that she was listed as one of the 25 Best Blogs of 2009 by Time Magazine. I’m going to subscribe to her Photography posts today for sure! If you’re a blogger or are holding onto something that someone might benefit from, let’s all learn a lesson from her on being transparent. We haven’t been given everything we have just to cling to it. Thanks to her transparency, and my wife’s cooking talent, we have energy to get through the rest of the day! Long live The Pioneer Woman!

PRAYING that we all learn to give something new as we grow. PRAISING God for using the humility and transparency of others to challenge us.

Getting to know you

Gabe Taviano — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 02:41:06 +0000

I haven’t done this before, and I’m really looking forward to it! You care enough about me (or just what I say) to stop by or subscribe. I’d like to ask each of you to answer five questions, and get to know you by reading your response via your comments. So here we go!

Do you blog , and if so – where?
If you could switch professions, what would you pursue?
What would you consider your greatest talent / gift?
Which musician / band would you want to see in concert if you could get tickets?
Who, besides family, has impacted your life most / is your hero?

Thanks in advance! Pass this onto a friend / someone that might enjoy it! PRAYING for my daughters – that God would give them understanding while with friends at school. PRAISING God for giving us the parents He did – that prayed for us.

Help a sister out!

Gabe Taviano — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 03:51:41 +0000

We had the privilege of hanging out with Jack and Kaye MacKay while passing through Texas on the 52 Zoos in 52 Weeks tour. God’s amazed us with who (and how) He has let us meet while on the tour. Before we stopped by we knew of the amazing custom engraved tiles that Kaye has been creating for close to five years. They’re a hot topic in the blog world, and have even recently been added to the catalogs of LifeWay bookstores. We had the privilege of touring her shop and seeing where she puts all of her talents to use. What’s most impressive to me is that she customizes many of them as personal gifts, and her personality is unique for that kind of a working relationship. She’s extremely approachable and offers a great product, so it’s no wonder she’s staying so busy!

So why am I asking you to help her out? She’s going to continue to blog over here, but her and Jack approached me about giving her Engraved Euniques website an upgrade. While we’re designing the new site (will be live very soon), she’s offering a giveaway to those that make suggestions or comments to this post on the current design and how it can be improved. I really feel like letting you see the new design, but I’ll be sure to post about it when it goes live. In the meantime, her site is still functional and I definitely urge you to comment or even purchase a gift from Kaye today!

PRAYING that God will get much use out of the new Engraved Euniques website. PRAISING God for connecting us with the MacKays. They are a God-send!

East coast tour

Gabe Taviano — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 01:10:41 +0000

We’re back, but not for long. Thanks to a crazy east coast trip, this 52 Zoos in 52 Weeks tour is close to completion! I’ll have pics soon, but I’m currently moving my Aperture library over to a larger hard drive just to hold them all! I think we had maybe 25,000+ pics in the library since 2002, but these zoo trips are adding to the total quickly. We usually average maybe 200 pics per zoo.

I’ll keep it short. A future post is coming on how and why families should start connecting, getting out of the house, or at least spend more time together. God’s been amazing at showing us ways to do that. It’s amazing to connect with families that are willing to open their homes and begin new friendships. If you’re ever near Ohio, we want to be that family. We’ve all met new friends we’re looking forward to seeing again.

Thanks to their help, we were able to go to zoos in Buffalo, Bronx and Central Park in New York – Philadelphia, PA – Washington D.C. – Baltimore, MD. If that weren’t enough, our girls were up to the task of also stopping to see Niagara Falls while in Buffalo, the Statue of Liberty in New York, the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall in Philadelphia, and a long walk around Washington D.C. to see the White House and Lincoln and Washington Monuments. We also took some time to stop by the Great Falls just outside of town in Virginia.

We saw God’s hand through it all, and look forward to sharing even more details in Marla’s new book. Thanks to our girls, our new friends, those that support us (ad space is still available here), and the God that created all we’ve seen and provided a way to see it!

God lives in a bar too

Gabe Taviano — Mon, 18 May 2009 14:32:29 +0000

On Saturday night I spent 4+ hours in a bar with God. My buddy Duey and I were at a concert in a church last week, and saw The Jared Mahone Band play before Sanctus Real. We had never heard of them before, and were pretty blown away by the quality of the local, up-and-coming band. So much so that we followed them, and God, into a bar Saturday night for another show. If you haven’t seen these guys live yet, be sure to check out their site and make it out to a show. I guarantee you’ll be impressed. Someone needs to sign these guys up and get this goodness on the road.

Back to the title of today’s blog. God living and breathing in a bar is probably a statement some would shoot down without even checking it out first. A few years back I had my first opportunity to hang out in a bar and witnessed God living there through another band as well. They weren’t quite as good as this band, but they brought God with them too. I’m not saying that God needs to be escorted around like a dog on a leash……it’s true, He is omnipresent. So what is it about this that just doesn’t make sense to people, if that’s the truth?

I’m a firm believer in both Mark 16:15 and Matthew 28:19. Some people decide to put walls up around these, suggesting that they might be true but shouldn’t be taken literally. That’s where we come in, and that is where you see the Holy Spirit move. When people like Jared take their talents outside of the four walls of a comfortable church facility. God’s just hanging out in the bar, waiting for Jared to arrive. When Jared arrived Saturday night, carrying his amp and guitar, God opened the door for Him. He arranged the concert itself and is never late. It was a blast glorifying God until 2:30 am, getting a few hours of sleep, then heading back out the door to meet God again at church later in the morning. I was a bit tired, but I found out that God must not get much sleep either.

PRAYING for God’s blessing on the Jared Mahone Band. PRAISING God for the talent He has given them, and thrilled to see them always include Him in their shows.

Great fun with Rhett and Link

Gabe Taviano — Fri, 08 May 2009 13:49:33 +0000

Last night Rhett and Link (internetainers – see their site here and watch live on the web every Thursday at 9pm EST) were in Ohio for a live concert, so I drove two hours to enjoy the show! They drew a crowd of around 60 and really put on a good show. Thanks to Steve and Brian for hosting these guys and all of us! They won one of R&L’s contests and the prize was a free concert at your home base. R&L were pretty glad the winners didn’t live too far across the globe from North Carolina. You can see a few more photos I shot of the evening over here. If you want to check it out, you can listen to an interview I did with the guys back in April of 2008 on the God’s Mac Podcast here.

It really is pretty amazing that these guys were headed into a career in engineering, but are now full time with their talents on the web. Last night showed that they’re really connected with their fan base. And the fan base is pretty diverse in age, a result of their show, music videos and songs being clean and enjoyable. You’ll definitely want to check out all of their media that is available on their site, and watch for the new stuff that shows up frequently. You’re guaranteed to laugh, and I’m guessing you’ll even enjoy their Thursday live shows just as much. Thanks to R&L for making the flight up here, and for the enjoyable Thursday evening!

PRAYING that God provides great opportunities for R&L in the future. PRAISING God for allowing us all to use our unique talents!

Sunday Selebrity #3 – J.R. Mahon

Gabe Taviano — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 19:36:37 +0000

First off, you have my apology for missing last Sunday’s Selebrity post! No excuses. Now let’s get up to speed and talk about J.R. Mahon aka “Hollywood Pastor”.

J.R. is one of a kind. You won’t find another pastor like him. Definitely check out his new blog at HollywoodPastor.com! I had the privilege of interviewing J.R. a few years ago on the fourth episode of our podcast on GodsMac.com. You might be familiar with XXXChurch, which was a ministry that he had great impact with. He wrote the Porn Manual and got out of the pew and realized that those in the adult film industry need Jesus just as much as you and I do. He and the ministry, while accountable to others and being sent by God, have taken that need seriously. And they’ve actually done something about it (with the help of the Lord).

He is also the co-author of the book Starving Jesus. The book was part of a nation-wide tour that he was a part of. The message was focused on challenging churches to get out of the pews and take the command God has given us seriously. Too often we sit back, watch others serve us, and starve Jesus as a result. I’m very thankful for individuals like J.R., who hold their faith as priority number one and don’t just “do ministry”. Have fun getting to know him a bit, and pray for him as he and his family will soon move from here in Ohio to the west coast!

PRAYING for the Lord’s guidance and provision as J.R. and his family go through this transition. PRAISING God for using XXXChurch to reach the adult film industry through Craig, J.R. and others.

New site for Kary Oberbrunner

Gabe Taviano — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 23:57:31 +0000

The last 48 hours I’ve been a bit behind on my own blog while focusing on my friend Kary Oberbrunner’s new site. Kary is an author, pastor, and considers himself a “recovering pharisee”. It says a lot to me when someone acknowledges their past, but also that they strive for today. It’s always fun to hang out with Kary, and we both knew this day had been coming for a while now. His previous site was ready to be something of the past, and we could kill two birds by combining his site with his blog. So off I dove into the 5th blog design in 3 weeks!

If you haven’t had the chance to hear from Kary before, you’ll definitely want to check out the site and also grab one of his books while you’re there. His message is very clear and I’ve enjoyed hanging out with Kary enough to know that it’s not just words on a page with him. We spent some time together at Grace College, but I’m glad God allowed us to intersect here in Ohio years later.

A few individuals keep asking how much I charge for websites and blogs. If you’re interested, please contact me through my website or give me a call (number is listed there). Best of luck to Kary with the new site! I’ll be reading and waiting to see how God uses it.

PRAYING for a family member that recently lost their job. PRAISING God for the ability to help Kary better spread the message God’s given him.