Food & Fun – Santorini Greek Kitchen

Nobody would ever mistake me for an adventurous eater. Although I do love to eat and really value a meal that is an experience, I tend to stay in the middle of the road. As I have begun a new job in a new part of the city, I am discovering all kinds of new places to eat. It has been a lot of fun and I am really enjoying it.

Recently I met my friends Scott Hoke & Joey Santos for lunch at an amazing restaurant in Fountain Square (a neighborhood on the Southside of downtown Indy) called Santorini Greek Kitchen. It was fabulous. I mean fabulous.

Located at 1417 E. Prospect St in Indianapolis (46203 – 317.917.1117) Santorini’s is old world Greek food. It is located in a very quaint part of the city that almost feels like you are on the coast in a much larger city. If you are looking for a truly authentic Greek meal in a great setting, I highly recommend this place.

The service was outstanding and the food….well, the food is something I cannot wait to eat again! The only bummer for me is that they are closed on Sunday. So, I have yet to take Kim there. But, we are working on that for sure!

We started with an appetizer of Saganaki, which is Greek cheese that has been fried. It comes to the table where it is set on fire to the cheers of “Opa” from around the room! You take a chunk of cheese and eat it on fresh pita bread that comes with it. It was great! It was also just enough for the three of us. Nobody got stuffed or too full on the appetizer so we were ready for the next course.

Gyro Platter

Joey and I went with the Gyro Platter, a combination of lamb and beef, slowly roasted, thinly sliced and served on a fresh pita with Tzaziki sauce (this sauce, I learned, is a blending of cucumber and yogurt). The Gyro Platter also came with a Greek Salad, Green Beans, Rice Pilaf and Greek Potatoes. For $10 this is a huge lunch and much more than I was able to finish. But, it was wonderful.

Fish Kabob Platter

Our friend Scott chose the Fish Kabobs, which were a daily special. These came with shrimp, salmon and grouper each cooked perfectly and seasoned with Mediterranean spices along with peppers, tomatoes, onions and mushrooms. I cannot stand the smell or taste of salmon or I would have tried this for sure. I can tell you that Scott ate every single bite!

We finished with 3 servings of Baklava…walnuts and honey between layers of phyllo with chocolate and caramel sauce. This was the perfect cap to an amazing meal. 

If you are ever in the mood for something different and enjoy an adventure I would highly recommend Santorini Greek Kitchen. You will not be disappointed. They say that reservations are accepted and suggested since there is only seating for around 50. We were there for a late lunch and didn’t have any trouble.

This was an awesome experience for me and I can tell you for sure that I will be going back again and again.

Preparation

I find myself thinking a lot about the subject of preparation these days. As worship leaders, is there anything that is more important for us? Each week I am going to lift up an MPCC Worship Ministry Value and for this week it is Preparation. Psalm 33:1-3 says, “Sing joyfully to the Lord, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise him. Praise the Lord with the harp; make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre. Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy.” Did you catch that? It doesn’t simply say play….it says play skillfully. The Bible is full of examples of preparation. Paul, Esther, King David….these are just a few Biblical examples of individuals that had to prepare for their ministry….to fulfill their calling.

Our calling is to lead this great congregation in worship. To do that well, we must prepare spiritually and we must prepare musically. How does someone rise to the top of their potential? Preparation. If you were to take a poll of the players in the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, how much time do you think they would say the spend preparing for a concert? Why shouldn’t we follow their example, at the very least, considering our audience is the Creator of the world and the Giver of our musical gifts?

Leading worship is a huge thing! Each week we come before the God of the universe and strive to lead His people before Him in worship. We cannot take that lightly. Being prepared by knowing our parts and spending time practicing will make a huge impact on our services and on lives. It will allow us to offer the very best gift we can offer unto the Lord. Each person knowing their role and offering their best….that’s what we are after. 

Before every service I lead, I listen to the music I am to lead and play through it at least 30 times. That has become my process. I find that the more prepared I am, the more effective I am in leading people in worship.

Tell me about your preparation? I would love to hear back from you and to know about your process for preparation. We can all learn something from each other for sure. Take some time to write back below…..

Worship Matters – 1.21.09

So here I sit, in my office, almost 2 weeks into my new job at MPCC and I am probably looking to the future with an anticipation and optimism that I have not felt for many years. I feel a great deal of excitement about the future and really believe that God is preparing us for a tremendous season of ministry. 

This past weekend was my first experience to lead this church in worship. In one of the services I began by asking the congregation, “Are you ready to worship?” I was shocked as I heard people shouting all over the worship center. It was awesome. 

Chris will finish a 3-week series on The Heart Of Mt. Pleasant this week by talking about PURPOSE…our purpose as a church in serving Christ by serving others. It has been an awesome series.

Last week, we introduced the worship song “What Can I Do” by Paul Baloche. My heart has been captured by these lyrics recently from the chorus:

What can I do but thank You; what can I do but give my life to You; Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
What can I do but praise You, everyday make everything I do a Hallelujah, a Hallelujah,
Hallelujah 

What an amazing thought….what can I do but make everyday of my life a Hallelujah unto the Lord. That is something that can permeate all that we are as we go about our day. What a prayer.

Enjoy this video of Paul Baloche leading, “What Can I Do.”

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZG8EC3SWQU]

MPCC – New Worship Matters – 1.10-11.09

This past weekend we began our ministry at Mt. Pleasant Christian Church (From here on, I will always refer to the church as MPCC). It was an awesome weekend. We count it a real honor that God has called us to serve this great church and we are excited to see what HE has in store for us.

Over the course of interviewing with the church we had the chance to attend a couple of Saturday night services.  They were great; but this past weekend was our first chance to see the whole church in action and to experience all 3 weekend services. From start to finish it was an amazing experience. 

MPCC is blessed with a tremendous Staff and a dynamic Senior Pastor named Chris Philbeck. This past weekend Chris began a 3 week series called “The Heart of MPCC.” The 3-fold emphasis is: People, Passion & Purpose. Last week he focused on people and how we are to love those around us and reach out to them in building The Kingdom. After the message, Chris led the church in the worship song, “Amazing Grace…My Chains Are Gone.” It was an incredible moment of worship in all of the services but it was especially powerful in the 10:45 Sunday morning service. It was literally standing room only for this service and to hear the congregation lift their voices in worship with an almost reckless abandon is something that I will never, ever forget. 

As you will hear me mention often, we are living these days in great anticipation of what the Lord is going to do in and through this place!

Kim and I are very excited that next weekend, on January 23-24 we will be joining with Pastor Chris in leading a Worship Arts Conference for the Music & Worship Department of MPCC. It is going to be a great opportunity for Chris to share his vision for worship at MPCC and for Kim and me to share our worship philosophy as well as our dreams and goals for the future. This conference gives us time to grow spiritually as well as develop stronger relationships with each other. The weekend will close with an extended worship time in all three services. Part of the weekend will be spent rehearsing and applying all we have learned during the conference. I really hope to see you there. Even if you only think you are interested in getting involved, this would be a great weekend for you to come!

Feel free to contact us if you have any questions. Please RSVP as soon as possible by sending an email to kklaasen@mpcc.info.

We are looking forward to a great weekend and more stories of how God is moving in the lives of His people!

Change – An Exciting New Chapter

 

Me with my beautiful wife Kim

We are currently on vacation in Florida. It has been awesome! When we come here, I try to really give myself a good break….not a lot of cell phone activity, not a lot of email, etc. I really try to unplug and this gives me lots of time to think and pray.

Kim and I want to thank the good people of First Naz in Indy for the wonderful send-off they gave us last month. We cannot thank you enough for all of the cards, notes, gifts, prayers & encouragement that you have sent. We love you all and are so grateful for your friendship & support!

This weekend we will begin a new chapter. Starting Saturday we will begin our new ministry at Mt. Pleasant Christian Church in Greenwood, IN. We are excited and really are looking forward to getting started. It will be great to have a chance to get there and start meeting the people. It will be an awesome opportunity to build The Kingdom and we are ready to get to work.

MPCC has 3 weekend services: Saturdays at 6 PM and Sundays at 9 & 10:45 AM. I will not be leading worship this first weekend. I will be playing piano in the band and we will do some special music, which should serve as a nice introduction between us and the congregation. Our Senior Pastor, Chris Philbeck will begin a sermon series entitled: People, Passion & Purpose. Chris is an outstanding communicator and I look forward to working with him. I know that the Lord will use him to stretch us.

Change can be many things: exciting, intimidating, stressful, liberating, exhilarating, painful, scary and joyful, just to name a few. We probably feel all of these and more as we face this new chapter. The thing that we feel most of all though, is peaceful. God has given us His peace and we stand in that peace as we face the future.

We look forward to making new friends and getting started. If you happen to be reading this blog and live in Indianapolis and do not have a church home, I hope that you will consider coming down to Greenwood and checking out MPCC. It is a great place!

We are grateful to all of our friends and family for their prayerful support as we begin this new chapter!

Vacation Meals – The Bubble Room

Kim and I are enjoying some days of vacation before I start at Mt. Pleasant this coming Saturday. We are in Florida staying on Fort Myers Beach. It has become one of our favorite places to go where we can simply fall apart. It has been tremendous so far. The weather has been perfect – low 80’s and absolutely no clouds – so we have been enjoying time on the beach.

Here we are at The Bubble Room - sunburn and all!

Tonight we had dinner at, hands down, one of our favorite restaurants of all time. We had the pleasure of eating at The Bubble Room on Captiva Island. If you are ever in the area, I highly suggest that you make the time to check this place out. You will get a chance to take a short drive through Sanibel Island and you will see some amazing homes along the way.

A meal at The Bubble Room is an experience. It starts with amazing Bubble Bread that is very hard to describe. It’s covered in various kinds of cheese and served hot out of the oven. I could eat an entire meal of this bread.

The menu includes various kinds of meals that are all named after famous people, songs & lines from movies. Kim’s favorite is always “The Eddie Fisherman” which is a “fresh fillet of local Grouper lightly topped with a tasty Ritz cracker and chopped pecan concoction, tightly sealed in a brown paper bag and baked. The grouper bakes and steams simultaneously, a moist nutty flavored fish.”(straight from The BR menu) It is a very unique meal that she really loves. I am not a huge seafood lover but I even like this fish.

My choice during every single visit is “Dem Bones – Dem Bones…a succulent and juicy, large 16 oz. aged T-Bone Steak, dipped in garlic juice and served still sizzling in fragrant garlic on a cast iron skillet. A garlic lovers delight!” (Again, straight from the BR menu) This is a meal that will probably send you running for the mouthwash or at least a hearty stick of gum because of all the garlic; but, be sure that it is something you will never forget. The presentation is awesome and will turn the head of every person in the restaurant.

No meal at The Bubble Room is complete without dessert.

KT trying to decide on dessert

Even if you can’t eat it while you are there, they will wrap it up and send it home with you. They specialize in some of the best cakes you will ever eat! Kim’s favorite is the Red Velvet Cake (which they were out of tonight – a major bummer!). I bounce around a little bit but have never been disappointed in my choice. In the pic on the right, you see the dessert tray. Those are the actual portion sizes! They really are something to behold!

If you are ever in southwest Florida, we would highly recommend a trip to The Bubble Room. It will be an experience that you will not soon forget and you will enjoy some great food in a very cool setting.

Enjoy!