This Sunday at theVine we started a new series called Apple of My I. It’s a series on parenting and leading the younger generation, and going with the back-to-school / apple-for-the-teacher theme, we thought it might be cool to build a teacher’s desk. A really big teacher’s desk. It’s 10 feet wide and taller than I am. Originally we planned to hang it from the trussing, but we were afraid it’d pull the trussing over — it ended up weighing several hundred pounds. This was by far the most intricate carpentry we’ve attempted…Guy Kawasaki says, “Don’t worry, be crappy,” as in….don’t be afraid to take risks. This little project had two possible outcomes: rockstar, or face plant. You can make the call about how it panned out.

For this week’s Creative Chaos I wanted to walk you through how we go from design to implementation. It all started with this drawing:

Next, I fed some of our production team one night and we chatted about how to make things happen. As you can see, we’re just regular gangstas. Ha ha. No but seriously, we all have day jobs….two teachers, a computer nerd, and a business guru….we just like to spend our free time making environments that complement sermon series and create an atmosphere for worship. *excitement!*
Warning: If you’re remotely nauseated, don’t watch this. It was filmed by an 8-year-old.


a. the angles didn’t work. too much weight. very sad.
b. i told you i speak cake. :) “it’s out of cake, because i didn’t know how else to do it.”
c. yes, that’s Hannah Montana trussing. you’re jealous.
d. please notice my totally awesome Revolution Mission Camp shirt…thanks @sebren!!!
after our conversation, the guys wanted to draw the plans to-scale. with sidewalk chalk.

Then Kris sent me this:

We ordered special 10-foot MDF boards, and the next thing that happened was really awesome…Kris & James have a friend named Duke who’s a professional carpenter, and he graciously allowed them to use his cabinet shop to construct the frame of the desk. He also helped! (Thank you Duke!) I’m really pleased with the results. :D