It's All About Me

The Last Song

Today in church history marks the death of Philip Bliss (December 29, 1876), a hymn writer and evangelist of the 19th century. He died at the age of 38 when his train derailed in Ashtabula, Ohio and plunged 60 feet into the icy waters below. He died alongside his wife and 92 other passengers.

He was famous for writing such hymns as "Wonderful Words of Life, "Let the Lower Lights Be Burning," "I Will Sing of My Redeemer" and "I Gave My Life for Thee." The lyrics to his brand-new hymn "I Will Sing of My Redeemer" were found among his belongings following the train catastrophe. They essentially became his last words and epitaph.

I will sing of my Redeemer,
And His wondrous love to me;
On the cruel cross He suffered,
From the curse to set me free.

Sing, oh, sing of my Redeemer,
With His blood He purchased me,
On the cross He sealed my pardon,
Paid the debt, and made me free.

I will tell the wondrous story,
How my lost estate to save,
In His boundless love and mercy,
He the ransom freely gave.

I will praise my dear Redeemer,
His triumphant pow'r I'll tell,
How the victory He giveth
Over sin, and death, and hell.

I will sing of my Redeemer,
And His heav'nly love to me;
He from death to life hath brought me,
Son of God with Him to be.

Bliss died with the praises of God on His lips. The Redeemer to which he had just finished writing and singing became his heavenly audience moments later.

And I can't think of a better way to meet my Savior than to have just composed my last song of praise to Him - singing of my Redeemer.

Flashback Friday: SpyTech

One of the fondest Christmas memories I have was receiving some dearly-coveted SpyTech gear. Do you remember SpyTech? It must have been Christmas 1988 and I got the long-range microphone and the periscope. You should have seen our expressions when my brothers and I learned that the art of parental-spying that we had come to know and love was now being encouraged and endorsed by our victim parents! It was truly an act of providence raining down!!

I'll Take It (God's Love)

Christmas Eve Recap

The Christmas Eve service at Southbrook was off the hook!! After it was all said and done, we led worship 8 times. The band did awesome. We gave it all we had every service. I've never been more proud to be a part of a team of worshipers like I was Monday night. With each service we pumped each other up like it was the last time we'd ever get to lead, keeping in mind that there most certainly lost people needing Christ in each service. As adrenaline-laced as the night was, there were some small things that we discovered helped us stay psyched throughout the night. For instance,
1. We gave each other the "wet salmon" frequently throughout the night (a quick slap back and forth just above the knees as a sort of "gotcha when you weren't looking" gesture).
2. After a quick wardrobe change halfway through, I ditched my sweaty undershirt in place of a fresh one.
3. Many of us kept the caffeine flowing intravenously.
4. Hot tea with honey for the vocalists - a heavenly concoction.
5. Unending inside jokes.
6. And endless amounts of food provided by our wonderful team of volunteers.

Check out Rob Singleton's blog for more on the Christmas Eve service, including pics and videos.

And a special thanks to the whole team of volunteers who kept everything rolling. You guys were amazing!!

Song Set:
1. O Come, O come Emmanuel
2. O Come Let Us Adore Him
3. Joy to the World (w/ Coldplay's "Talk" intro)
4. Hark, the Herald Angels Sing/Noel
5. O Holy Night

Playlist 12.23.07 and Christmas Eve!

Yesterday we had the privilege of leading worship again at our home church here in Charlotte - Southbrook Church. It's been about 3 months since we were able to do that, being on the road so much. It was awesome though. Pastor Rob gave a strong salvation message and the Lord broke through to many hearts. 76 people prayed to receive Jesus. Praise the Lord for that! Read my wife's blog for more details.

We played:
1. O Holy Night
2. Rejoice (Chris Tomlin)
3. Immanuel (Via, brand new one)
4. O Little Town of Bethlehem w/ the tag from Fix You (Coldplay).

If you're in the Charlotte area tonight and you're looking for a great Christmas Eve service, come on out to Southbrook for "Going Home for Christmas" - a dramatic production and time of worship. You can choose from any of 5 services!! (Yea, a death-wish, I know) 4:00, 5:30, 7:00, 8:30 and 10:00. Tasha and I, Sarah Scott, and Andy Cherry and the band will be leading the worship portion. Pray that we'll all have enough stamina to get through it, and most importantly, that God will be honored!

Sufjan Stevens - Put the Lights on the Tree

Here's a sweet little diddy to get us all in the Christmas spirit!

Flashback Friday: Agapeland

When I was about 5 years old, my favorite cassette tape was called "Bullfrogs and Butterflies" by the Agapeland Kids Series. I still remember the magic, beauty and wonder that exuded from the tape player when I popped it in. Hours of listening enjoyment for me. Hours of senseless torture for my parents. To fill you in, Agapeland was a series of music tapes and records that taught essential Bible truths and principles for kids. It was sort of a precursor to Veggie Tales, Hillsong Kids, and stuff like that. And I loved them. I still remember the tune and lyrics to the chorus of "Bullfrogs and Butterflies."

"Bullfrogs and butterflies. We both been born again!" (repeat)

That's good stuff right there.

I remember on vacation one year my parents convinced me that we were actually going to visit Agapeland, "the wonderland of love." I imagined it as a magical place where God and the angels lived, with roller coasters and cotton candy. The next day when we arrived at Dollywood, I didn't know the difference. My brother, Smooth, and I had a blast, except for the slight pain in the bottom of my foot. I tried to complain as little as possible, sucked it up, and walked an entire day around "Agapeland" with a throbbing foot. When the day was over, my mom decided she'd better have a look. She removed my shoe to discover a small toy football helmet about the size of a golf ball. And that was the day I decided that I hated plastic toy football helmets, but I still loved Agapeland.

Walk in the Name

I read Micah 4 this morning. Verse 5 jumped off the page:

"Though all the peoples each walk in the name of their gods, we will walk in the name of Yahweh our God forever and ever."

It reminded me of Joshua 24:15, where Joshua drew a line in the sand saying,

"Choose for yourselves today the one you will worship: the gods your fathers worshiped ... or the gods of the Amorites ... But as for me and my family, we will worship the LORD."

I wondered what it meant to actually "walk in the name of the Yahweh." Calvin said that it's meant to show the stark contrast between Yahweh and every other god.

"How did they derive their majesty and their power, except from the false imagination of men? ... The power and authority of God is not founded on any vain device of men, for he of himself exists, and will exist, though he were denied by the whole world" (Calvin's Commentaries, Micah, 273).

A false god has no majesty or power except that which is given it by the imagination of the dreamer. But since it is merely an object of the imagination, the power is void. To walk in the name of Yahweh is to walk under the reign of the One God who holds the planets in orbit, yet holds the hearts of men, desiring a genuine relationship with each and every person - a task impossible for a god who does not exist.

When I was 14 I stood in the city of Trivandrum (a port city of southern India) peering at an enormous temple built around a large twisted oak tree. The tree was worshiped as one Hindu god among millions. Later during that same trip, I heard fireworks that lasted for several hours. I finally asked my interpreter what was going on and he explained that the fireworks were devices meant to awaken the sleeping gods so that they could then be worshiped.

Most American Christians scoff at the god-imaginations of other cultures. But we have our own devices to awaken our sleeping gods - they're called remote controls. They awaken our 60" flat screen in HD so that worship can follow - they're called credit cards and bank accounts that awaken the sleeping god of American consumerism and materialism - a god that promises to fulfill, but never cashes in on the promise - a god that has many different names, but carries the same illusion.

If we are honest, are hearts are often torn and divided in our allegiance to the Living God. If this is where you find yourself, read this verse to see how the Psalmist prayed against this tendency. Then let this Puritan prayer be the prayer of your heart today:

Lord, "I confess and bewail my deficiencies and backslidings:
I mourn my numberless failures,
my incorrigibility under rebukes,
my want of profiting under ordinances of mercy,
my neglect of opportunities for usefulness.
It is not with me as in months past;
O recall me to thyself, and enable me to feel my first love."

P.S. As soon as I get the chance I'm reading this book by Antonio Monda. I heard about it on NPR. Yea, I know ... I'm getting old!

That's My King

If this doesn't fire you up, check your pulse!

Running Out

This verse spoke to me today:

"...for the Devil has come down to you with great fury,
because he knows he has a short time" (Revelation 12:12).

In its context, the verse is dealing with end times. But I think it's just as appropriate and applicable right now.

Yesterday was a rough day of ministry. I think we all have those from time to time. Details are not important. It just happens. And I'm not one to see the devil hiding behind every rock, but I do think that he came down in great fury yesterday, because he knows his time is short. It probably wasn't him, since he's not omnipresent, but at least one of his demons. Trying to discourage me. Trying to derail me. Trying to stifle the work of God in our family and ministry, especially when God wants to show up and do something big. So, praise God, I woke up to read this verse (non-coincidentally) which gives me the triumphant confidence to say, "God is still on His throne, He will always receive the praise and glory He's due, and the devil's time is running out!" So, to my friends in ministry, to my friends making a difference in the American workforce, and to my friends in about 9 different countries around the world, remember this:

Stand strong against the devil's fury, because his time is running out.

Recaps 12-16-07

Chrio Church AM

1. Hark the Herald Angels Sing
2. Joy to the World
3. Angels We Have Heard on High
4. The Wonder of This Sight (Via)
5. Emmanuel (Via)
6. O Come, O Come Emmanuel
7. Wonderful Maker
8. O Holy Night

Ridge Church PM

1. Joy to the World (Family Wise)
2. Gloria (Family Wise)
3. What Child is This?
4. Hosanna (HU)
5. I Believe (Natalie Grant)

Eternal Interest

"Turn my heart from vanity,
from dissatisfactions,
from uncertainties of the present state,
to an eternal interest in Christ."

-a Puritan prayer

Piper on the Prosperity Gospel

Worship with Oprah

Apparently the set of Oprah is a great place to tune in to the heart of God. Check out the lady about 6 sec. in. She's really gettin' her praise on!! Hallelujah! Praise you, Opr... I mean, Jesus!

Ghost Riding and Risk

CNN is playing in the background as I write this. They’re doing a report on ghost riding – when the driver of a moving vehicle purposefully leaves the wheel unmanned while riding on the hood, on the top, or wherever else he can find for some joyful moments. I’m watching as they report about kids who have died and others who have been mangled from experimenting with ghost riding. There’s one guy they’re interviewing who is bragging about how he never does it without being sure he’s in a safe and controlled environment. Brilliant.

Here’s a tip. It’s free. NEVER DO THIS! Find your kicks and thrills somewhere else. You have way too much life to live. And I can think of about ten other ways I would rather die than by being run over by my own moving car. I can’t even imagine trying to explain that to God in heaven.

Risks. People take them all the time. They find thrills in many different ways. My brother always wanted to sky dive. I never wanted to. He hasn’t done it yet, but I’m sure he will one day. My two other brothers did bungee jump over the crashing, raging Nile River. I saw the video and wasn’t impressed. I’m not afraid of heights, but I can think of other things to do for thrills, like reading books.

I think the apostle Paul was a lot like my brothers. He took risks. He was an extreme guy. Risk was something that he understood to be a logical part of the Christian faith. Listen to his description of some of the hardships he faced:

^“Five times I received from the Jews 40 lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. I have spent a night and a day in the depths of the sea. On frequent journeys, I faced dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own people, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the open country, dangers on the sea, and dangers among false brothers; labor and hardship, many sleepless nights, hunger and thirst, often without food, cold, and lacking clothing” (2 Cor 11:24-27).

Paul suffered. Paul took risks. And he didn’t think it was abnormal. Does that sound contradictory to the way we normally experience Christianity? See, I believe there exists a tendency, at least among Christians in America, to equate faith in Jesus with safety. Most of us in America could never imagine the horrors the Apostle Paul experienced staring death’s door in the face countless times over. We cry and pout when the express lane is backed up into the aisle. We panic and get angry when God doesn’t open up a parking space toward the front. We curse and blame God when He calls a loved one home to heaven, when we should be rejoicing for their homecoming.

Agreed, there is an element of pain and suffering that we, as Christians in America, will likely never face in comparison with believers in closed countries such as China, North Korea, and Sudan. But safety, as we normally think of it, is a complete contradistinction to our faith.

Now, don't press the example of ghost riding too hard. It's not meant to be an analogy. Merely an example. As followers of Christ, I don't think we're called to be reckless. But somewhere along the way we've developed this mentality that Christians should forever live “safe and secure from all alarms.”[i] At the very best, I think this is bad theology. Paul never taught this. Nor did he live this. And here’s where the hypocrisy comes in. In every other area of life, a certain amount of risk is expected and assumed. Here’s what John Piper says about this inconsistency:

Risk is woven into the fabric of our finite lives. We cannot avoid risk even if we want to. Ignorance and uncertainty about tomorrow is our native air. All of our plans for tomorrow’s activities can be shattered by a thousand unknowns whether we stay at home under the covers or ride the freeways . . . The tragic hypocrisy is that the enchantment of security lets us take risks every day for ourselves but paralyzes us from taking risks for others on the Calvary road of love.[ii]

We’ll pull out of our driveway and accept a certain amount of risk as we travel to our destination. We’ll accept a new job opportunity with the understanding that it may or may not lead anywhere. We’ll enroll in college and gladly accept the uncertainties that come with it. But we’ll never share our faith with a lost friend, because of the risk of rejection. We’ll never lay our Bible on our desk for fear of the risk of being intolerant. This is inconsistent. Concerning our faith in Christ, we’ve deceived ourselves into thinking that risk and uncertainty do not coexist with salvation and victorious Christian living.

We accept risk in normal life. We reject risk in Christianity. We’re simply inconsistent.

In what ways have you segregated risk from Christianity in your mind and actions?

---

[i] From the hymn “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms” by Elisha A. Hoffman.

[ii] John Piper, Don’t Waste Your Life (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2003), p. 81.

Magic Motion Monday: Water Shortage? No Problem

I never should have said that I would have a new crazy video for you all each and every Monday. But, at least, I can keep you surprised when they do pop up from time to time. Here's the latest installment. The water shortage in the southeast US is no problem for our family. We have learned to bathe in other ways!!

To the tune of "Love Letters in the Sand" by Sixpence

Recaps 12-9-07

Here's the rundown from the weekend:

SouthPointe Fellowship AM

1. Angels We Have Heard on High (trad.)
2. Joy to the World (trad.)
3. Be Thou My Vision (trad.)
4. The Wonder of This Sight (Via)
5. Wonderful Maker (Tomlin)

-SouthPointe has been a really cool church to minister in as they continue to search for a full-time youth and worship guy. They've been really great to our family. Yesterday was it for us for a while. We may be back in January a couple Sundays. We'll see. It was great to have my friend Nathaniel Bryan (part of Return Worship) beatin' on a 4-piece!

Ridge Church PM

1. Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree (Mercy Me)
2. Salvation is Here (HU)
3. Gloria (Family Wise)
4. Grace Will Be My Song (Fee)

-Another good night at Ridge. Had an awesome band to play with, as usual. Rusty Burchard and the whole production team continues to take it up another notch every week. Keeps me on my toes!!

Guest Blogger: Jacob Via: Review of The Golden Compass

As the holiday season comes into full swing, statistics are showing that The Golden Compass is sure to be the biggest film of the season, if not the year. It's sad really when I realize how easily this movie has slipped through the cracks within the believing community. Why on earth did we rant and rave over the Da Vinci Code but allow The Golden Compass to sneak into the main stream media without a single fight?

The Golden Compass, as many of you know, is a movie about an evil dictator trying to rule the world, and a little girl destined to stop him. Let's let these quotes from Phillip Pullman, the author of this trilogy, to speak for himself.

"If there is a God and he is as the Christians describe him, then he deserves to be put to death and rebelled against," Pullman told the Telegraph newspaper in 2002. "As you look back over the history of the Christian church, it's a record of terrible infamy and cruelty and persecution and tyranny. How they have the bloody nerve to go on 'Thought for the Day' and tell us all to be good when, given the slightest chance, they'd be hanging the rest of us and flogging the homosexuals and persecuting the witches."

Pullman calls C.S. Lewis' Narnia Books "propaganda in the service of a life-hating ideology."

As a matter of fact, Phillip Pullman, when asked why he wrote "His Dark Materials" (the trilogy of which The Golden Compass is the first), he answers "I'm trying to undermine the very basis of Christian belief.”

Some have said that the attacks against Christianity in the books are so subtle that you can’t even tell. Well let’s see if that is true:

- In the second book in the trilogy, "The Subtle Knife," one of the main characters, Will, is told he possesses "the one weapon in all the universes" -- a magical knife -- that can "defeat the tyrant." That tyrant, he is told, is "The Authority. God."

-- In "The Amber Spyglass," the third and final book of the series, Will is told -- by two fallen, homosexual angels, no less -- that "The Authority" has many names, "God, the Creator, the Lord, Yahweh, El, Adonai, the King, the Father, the Almighty." These were names God "gave himself" even though "he was never the creator." Instead, Will is told, the Authority simply was the first angel formed out of "Dust" and thereafter God proceeded to tell "those who came after him that he had created them."

-- In another scene in The Amber Spyglass, one of the homosexual angels tells Will that churches "tell their believers that they'll live in Heaven, but that's a lie." Instead, believers go to a "prison camp."

-- In one of the final chapters of The Amber Spyglass, an ex-nun named Mary tells Will and Lyra, "The Christian religion is a very powerful and convincing mistake, that's all." Mary also tells them that after she learned there was no God, she soon discovered that "physics was more interesting anyway."

One of Pullman's apparent themes is that science and reason trump faith. He says that “it's impossible to have a life of joy, of pleasure, and be a member of the church."

Obviously Pullman’s intentions are to be as direct and adament against Christianity as he can be. It was his sole purpose for writing the books.

So what do we do then believers? I hardly believe that a boycott is of any use, as history shows us. But do we just sit back and let this heresy entertain us? Of course not!

This should be a challenge to us. This is a “Golden” Opportunity (pun intended) for us as believers to spark discussions with non-believers. Use this as an open door for the Gospel.

Don’t be ignorant of the issues. If you want to see the movie, go see it. If you want to read the books, read them. But don’t just sit back and let everything that you live for be attacked and ridiculed. Does God need our help? NO! But our lives are designed to bring him most glory. So give glory to the Lord by taking advantage of this opportunity to share the Gospel and defend your faith.

I’m reading The Golden Compass now. I went and saw the Da Vinci Code. I want to be informed so I can carry a conversation and know that facts.

Do you remember when the Da Vinci Code came out? There were books, magazine, pamphlets, TV shows, radio shows, all debunking Dan Brown and The Code. Did it help? I don’t know. But why have we not seen the same thing with The Golden Compass. Because it’s a children’s fairy tale? That should be even more reason to be cautious.

That’s all I have to say. Please take advantage of this opportunity. Don’t just stand on the sidelines. That’s not where you belong.

I Wanna Be Like You

How can I not help but blog about this!? And how can you not help but think what a little hardcore heartthrob this guy is!! I was gone when Tasha took this, but apparently Zeke was walking around all day patting his head, wearing my beanie and saying, "Da-da, da-da!" Reminds me of that old Harry Chapin song, Cats in the Cradle. No pressure, though! No pressure!

Playlist 12-2-07

Here's the rundown from yesterday. It was an awesome Lord's Day as we kicked off the Christmas series for 2 different churches.

South Pointe Fellowship - AM
1. Hark the Herald Angels Sing/Let Us Sing (arr. Via)
2. Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing (trad.)
3. O Come Let Us Adore Him (trad.)
4. He Is Exalted (Shane and Shane arr.)
5. Wonderful Maker (Tomlin)

Ridge Church - PM
1. O Holy Night (Third Day arr.)
2. Gloria (Familywise Music Resources)
3. O Come Let Us Adore Him (Matt Redman arr.)
4. How Great is Our God (Tomlin)
5. Angels We Have Heard on High/Gloria (Mercy Me arr.)

Pine Ridge and NBC

I can't get over how incredible this is! My friend, Tadd Grandstaff (from Liberty U days), was interviewed earlier this week by none other than Tom Brokaw and the NBC nightly news. Tadd just recently planted a church in Burlington, NC (Pine Ridge Church) and they are blowing the doors off. NBC chose to highlight Pine Ridge as a means of reporting on the trend of young evangelical church plants sprouting up all over the US. Pretty incredible! Be sure to tune in tomorrow night (Friday, Nov. 30th) to NBC nightly news to catch it (But, according to Tadd, this could change at the last minute). You can read more about the interview and get current updates on Tadd's blog.

Stupid

I just added a good stupid joke to the books last night:

"You might be stupid if you leave your water hose running all night and the back door to your SUV wide open for public consumption, BOTH ON THE SAME NIGHT."

The Thundering Scot

Today in church history marks the death of John Knox (11-24-1572). Knox was instrumental in the Protestant Reformation, particularly among Scottish churches. He was deemed "The Thundering Scot" as he boldly preached the truth of the Gospel in the face of corrupt officials in the Catholic church as well as in public office. If he were alive today, he would most certainly show up on CNN being guilty of intolerance and bigotry. But Knox teaches us what it means to stand for truth when it falls contrary to popular opinion.

Upon his death, Richart Bannatyne, Knox's secretary, honored Knox with these words: Knox was "the mirror of godliness, and patrone and example of all true ministers, in puritie of lyfe, soundness in doctrine, and boldness in reproving of wickitness" (www.opc.org).

That For Which I'm Thankful - Part 3 (A Small Brick Building)

This is the final installment of my series of posts on things I'm thankful for. Never done a series until now. Think I kinda like it. Here's what I'm thankful for on this Thanksgiving Day 2007: I'm thankful for a tiny little building on the campus of North Greenville College in the boondocks of Tigerville, SC. This little building is called Hayes Ministry Center. It was in this building that I met the woman who was to become my wife, Tasha Joy Litke. It was during our time playing in the BSU (Baptist Student Union) praise band at North Greenville that we met, dated, fell in love and well, the rest is history. It was in Hayes Ministry Center, the location for our weekly worship gatherings, that I first laid eyes on Tasha, the hot violinist that added an unbelievably sweet vibe - the only musician who really knew what she was doing out of the whole band of ragamuffin, second-rate, musician wannabe's. She was more than the icing on the cake. She WAS the cake.

It was in Hayes Ministry Center that Tasha and I began hanging out after each worship service getting to know one another. But it didn't happen right away. Little did I know that, under normal conditions, she could pack up her violin and be out of there in about 30 seconds, but for whatever reason she began taking longer and longer to pack up her stuff. Oblivious as I was, it took me several weeks to catch on to the fact that her lingering was intentional and strategic. Finally, one night I caught on. We talked. She gave me a ride back to my dorm room. We were married 2 years later. Now, 7 years and 2 beautiful kids later, we are even more in love with each other and with our awesome God who brilliantly orchestrated every event and brought our lives together.

I'm incredibly thankful for my wife, Tasha Joy. I'm thankful that she balances me out. I'm thankful for her stunning insight into child-rearing, her thoughtful and provocative counsel into my life, and her desperate and passionate quest to know her Savior more and more intimately. I'm thankful to know her as my best friend, as my partner in life and in ministry, and my perfect companion for a lifelong marriage commitment.

I'm thankful for a little brick building on the campus of NGC where it all began.

That For Which I'm Thankful - Part 2 (Fruit)

Today I'm thankful for grapes and bananas. Grapes and bananas are wonderful fruits, but they, in and of themselves do not create the feelings of thankfulness and gratefulness that well up in my soul. It's not because they are luscious and succulent. It's not because they are naturally sweet and good for you at the same time. It's for other reasons.

Grapes and bananas remind me of my kids. My kids love fruit, especially grapes and bananas. This morning, Zeke ate about 500 grapes and his diaper will show it in a few hours. His hair shows it now - a beautiful canvas of cheese mixed with fruit layered in his thick blond mop. Later, the canvas will end up in his diaper with a slightly darker shade. I'm not exactly thankful for dirty diapers, but I guess that's better than them never pooping at all and getting some kind of GI tract infection. That would not be good, but then again if it did happen, I'm thankful to live in a country where they could receive adequate health care attention for such disorders. But I digress.

Fruit reminds me of my children, which conjures up thoughts of thankfulness and gratitude to God for having such incredible kids - kids that keep me on my toes every second of the day because I never know what kind of new word or new game they will come up with. Right now Zeke is pushing around a baby stroller made for Rainy's dolls. I'll have to fix that later, but for now I'm just thankful. I'm grateful for parents that raised my wife and me both in the fear and admonition of the Lord, and that we get to do the same through their influence and example. Not that we've got it all figured out, by any means. But each day is a new journey of learning and growing, mistake-making and mistake-fixing. Back and forth.

I'm thankful for fruit because it reminds me of my kids. I'm thankful for my kids because they remind me of my Heavenly Father - a Father who knows every hair on my head - a Father who knows how many hairs on my kids' heads are currently caked and coated with processed cheese and grapes. I'm thankful to be a dad.

That For Which I'm Thankful - Part 1

This morning I woke up to a world of incredible possibilities. I woke up to a morning with the sun piercing through the blinds and I was reminded of the mercies of the Lord that are renewed every day. I was reminded that I live in a country where I can worship freely.

I was reminded that Christ wants all of me, and in so giving everything to Him, the possibilities are endless as to what He can do with a life fully committed to Him. I'm thankful for that. I'm thankful for His amazing gift of salvation - salvation that is completely undeserved or unmerited. I'm thankful that I don't have to earn it. I don't have to earn His attention either. I don't have to say, "Hey God, look down here and see what I'm trying to do for Your kingdom." Because He sees it anyway. And He could actually care less what I'm trying to do for Him. He wants me to stop trying and let Him do it. I'm thankful for that.

I'm thankful that in His kingdom, it's not a competition. It's not God's Idol. If I miss a proverbial note or lyric, He doesn't blast me out. He knows I'm a screw up in and of myself. So, I'm thankful that He uses screw ups. He uses ragamuffins. He uses the least of these. His kingdom is made up of a band of misfits. That's what I'm thankful for. There's enough competition in this world and in my life. I'm thankful that God's kingdom is not one of them.

Playlists 11.18.07

Wow! 2 blog posts in a row! That's never happened before.
Yesterday was a great Lord's Day. In the morning, we led worship for South Pointe Fellowship in Pageland, SC. South Pointe is a brand new church plant, led by Pastor Kevin Qualls, that launched on Easter Sunday of this year with 30 people. Now, the Lord is faithfully adding to their numbers with 170 in worship yesterday. Pretty awesome.

As South Pointe searches for a full-time worship leader, Tasha and I have offered our assistance for a few Sundays as they continue their search. Yesterday was our first Sunday to lead for them and what a great experience it was.

The worship set:
1. All Hail the Pow'r of Jesus' Name/Raise Up the Crown (trad. chorus Chris Tomlin)
2. Indescribable (Laura Story)
3. Jesus, Lover of My Soul/It's All About You, Jesus (Paul Oakley)
4. The Wonder of This Sight (Via)

Last night we were back at Ridge Church for one of the best nights of worship so far at Ridge. The Lord's Spirit was evident as we exalted His name.

Setlist at Ridge:
1. I Am Free (Ross Parsley and Desperation)
2. Marvelous Light (Charlie Hall)
3. Rescue is Coming (David Crowder)
4. Indescribable
5. Majesty (Delirious)

Back from Korea

Many of you are wondering if I ever successfully made it back from Korea. Rest at ease. I'm back. Jet lag has never really been an issue for me until now. I guess I'm getting old. I've been dizzy all week, falling asleep at the dinner table, hallucinating while rolling on the floor with my kids. Pretty amazing. But the best part of all about Jet lag is the 3 am wake-up calls from your internal alarm clock. So, during those brief moments between sleep and slumber and dusk and dawn, I roll out of bed, make my way to the kitchen to devour an entire box of Nilla Wafers and down a jug of orange juice. Sure beats Kim Chee and jellyfish salad! Thanks for stocking up, Tasha!

You can read on my last post about how the mission trip ended up. But here's a quick summary: We experienced a real moving of God in the churches where we served. The relational nature of Koreans stretched me out of my comfort zone as we made countless home visits to people who were desperate to receive the love of Christ. One of the things that really overwhelmed and amazed me was the ripe condition of the Korean people, as a whole, to the Gospel message. In a country whose technological advancements make the U.S. look like the stone-age, the hearts of the people are not altogether hard and indifferent toward the message of Jesus like Americans. Koreans are searching for the truth. And they're willing to hear you out as you explain the simple message of the cross. It's a harvest field that is ripe. Praise God for that. Maybe one day, America will once again experience this type of openness to the Gospel.

Don't Waste Your Life

This is the final post from Korea. Tomorrow morning our flight leaves at 9:30. What an incredible time we've had. This afternoon I had the privilege of leading the college worship service at Su-Do Church. They are familiar with many of the modern worship songs coming out of America, UK, and Australia right now, so I did many of them. It was awesome to hear them lifting their voices to our Savior in Korean as I sang in English. After the worship I gave them a challenge from this verse. I challenged them not to waste their life - not to look back on their life in 40 or 50 years and realize that they missed having an intimate relationship with their Creator. I challenged them to make Jesus the center and the focus of their life, from this day forward. It was a really awesome way to finish out our week of ministry here.

Thank you Jesus for the souls saved out of darkness and out of the hands of the enemy into the marvelous light of our awesome Savior - into Your hands that are mighty to save!

Thank you all for praying. Here's the report we got tonight at our celebration dinner: With all of about 12 teams combined, roughly 1500 Koreans placed their faith in Jesus Christ over the course of this week. Praise the Lord! (Chan yang hey-o!) Thank you for interceding on behalf of these new brothers and sisters whom we will one day worship with for all eternity at the throne of our great God.

SuDo Singing

SuDo Singing

I tried to post this earlier but the video didn't work. Sorry if you got confused. But above is a typical morning celebration at Su-Do Baptist Church just before going out to make some home visits. The pastor is the one with the mic. A wonderful man. The love of Christ just sort of oozes out of him. And people run behind him with serving spoons to scoop up the leftovers. I've learned how to say, "I love you" in Korean and I keep telling him that for kicks and giggles every time I see him and he laughs. I even told him that from the stage tonight in Korean. Everyone erupted in laughter. He loved it. I could tell.

And I can also tell that he enjoys leading worship during this celebration time. He's funny because even during the evening worship he insists on leading additional worship songs after the worship leader is already done. Just in case you missed it the first time, I suppose. Icing on the cake, if you will. Pastor Rob, I think it would be a sweet touch if you could maybe start leading in some worship at Southbrook after Dan and Return do their thing!!

Doing Whatever It Takes

The past 2 days have been absolutely slammed with activity. We've hardly had time to collect our thoughts much less write a blog. But it's been a good kind of busy. We are now at Su-Do Baptist Church in Seoul. When we arrived on Thursday afternoon, about 50 of their members were waiting at the church to greet us with the warmest welcome I've ever had anywhere. The people here are amazing. They have such a drive and passion to see their lost friends come to know Christ. Yesterday, we spent all day visiting the homes of friends and relatives who need Jesus - specific people in whose lives they have been planting seeds and investing time. In my group, we made about 8 visits during the course of the day and out of these 8 I think we had 5 people put their faith in Christ. Praise God! (What I haven't figured out yet is why each home has a really nice sofa, but everyone insists on sitting on the floor anyway.)

The interpreting has been much better since we arrived back here in Seoul, so we have much more freedom in sharing with people; whereas before we had to basically read word for word the English-Korean tract we were using. Thankfully, we have good interpreters here at Su-Do.

The food continues to be a minor issue. I'm sure I'm losing weight. It's hard to put on pounds with jellyfish salad! I did try the octopus spaghetti though just to say I did. It was like chewing on a rubber fishing lure dipped in tobasco sauce. It was one and done for me.

The girl in the middle that I'm standing with, Mrs. Kim, accepted Christ in a home visit I made on Thursday afternoon. When I walked into the home, there were about 9 ladies there who had all gathered to hear from this American. What I didn't realize was, they were all followers of Christ except this one girl. They had all come to support her. They had been investing their time and love in her life and she was very ready to accept Jesus. They did whatever it took. As a friend of mine says back home, "They tore the roof off to get their friend to Jesus" (Mark 2:1-11).

God, give us this sense of urgency back in America to do whatever it takes to get our friends to Jesus.

Ministry in the Classroom

We began our day today by doing some ministry in an English classroom at Hannam University - a campus that practically shares a backyard with Daejeon Central Baptist Church. One of our interpreters is an English professor there and he was able to get us an audience with one of the classes for a 50-minute block. Dad shared his testimony and it was one of the best I've ever heard him share, especially in a small classroom setting like that. I could tell the students were engaged and hanging on every word. Then I shared a bit of my testimony and played a couple of songs for them. It was really funny because as soon as I mentioned I was married, a gasp rose up among the students as if to say, "You're way too young to be married." Then I gave them the kicker. I told them I had two children and their jaws about hit the floor. It's not untypical to find 25 and 26-year old college students in Korea, so they were basically bumm-fuzzled (I've been waiting to use that) when I broke the news.

Tomorrow we head back to Seoul to finish out the week at another church. I'm not sure how e-mail will be, so this may be it for a while. We'll see.

Please continue to pray for the church here in Daejeon as they continue to reach their community. Please especially pray for their outreach to the younger generations. In many ways, outreach to college students and the younger culture here in Korea carries the same types of challenges as in the US. The culture here is changing so rapidly that the church is struggling to be seen as relevant by unbelievers. Philip told me that he was especially concerned about this. Thank you for praying.

Costly Worship

We just finished up Day 4 of our week and a half of ministry here in Korea. During the day we've been visiting people in their homes and businesses - friends of church members. These people are serious about doing whatever it takes to get their friends to Jesus. Their faith is amazing. In the past 2 days we've seen many come to Christ on their living room couch including several Buddhists. I've been focusing on the university and high school students near and around the local schools and the Lord has really blessed. We've seen many students open their hearts to Jesus.

Each night we head back to Daejeon Church, our host church, for services. This is a clip from the worship tonight with my new friend Hyo Suk (Philip). He's the 27-year old kid I mentioned earlier who spent a year in Bangladesh as a missionary. Yesterday he related to me and dad some of his experiences.

While in Bangladesh, he served alongside a local pastor and director of the evangelistic outreach in their city. Sometime before Philip arrived, the pastor was told by muslim authorities that he must discontinue his evangelistic efforts. After refusing, Philip's pastor-friend was attacked by four muslim men. His jaw was then ripped open with a knife as punishment for preaching the Gospel. When he told us this, we asked Philip if he himself had ever been hurt or threatened while in Bangladesh. Here's what he said.

During his year there, a famous news journalist caught word of his ministry in the city in which he was working. After anonymously attending a service in the church where Philip was serving, the journalist went back to the papers and wrote an article completely defaming Philip's name and creating lies. He claimed that Philip was coercing young muslims into Christianity through gifts and bribes. The authorities soon arrived at Philip's home and told him to stop evangelizing immediately or it would mean disaster. Philip looked at them and said, "Or what? Are you gonna kill me? Go ahead and bring the knife then!!" Amazing! Philip told us he is ready to go back to Bangladesh long term.

Philip is teaching me what it means to really follow Christ when there's a cost involved. So when you see him worshiping the Lord in this video through the musical gift that God has given him, you know that it's from a heart of overwhelming gratitude toward Jesus Christ. It's real. It's sincere. It's costly worship. And that's what I'm still learning.

Banner Time! Duu Nunna Nuh

When we pulled up at Daejeon Central Baptist Church yesterday here in Daejeon, this banner awaited us. I'm not sure what they're trying to imply!

What the heck is Kim Chee?

Today was our first full day of ministry here in the city of Daejeon, Korea. It's a city of about 1.5 million people and has been recognized as a premier city in all of Asia for its scientific advancements. That means there's a ton of smart people here. It would probably be comparable to the Research Triangle in North Carolina.

We had 3 services today. 11:00 - Main Service - Dad preached - 2:00 - Children's service - Another american dude on our team preached - and 4:00 - Youth and college service - I sang and preached. It went really good. We had several people saved in the first service.

We played b-ball tonight with some of the youth and college kids from the church. It was awesome. They're all great kids who really love the Lord and have a hunger for Jesus. One of them, Philip, 27, just returned from a year-long mission trip in Bangladesh and he plans to return there in the future as a life-long missionary. It's awesome to see how God is raising up His people outside of the U.S. who are catching His vision to see all nations worship Him. It's pretty exciting.

Tomorrow I think we begin some home visits during the day and then have the revival meeting in the evening. I think that's pretty much the schedule until the end of the week.

Let me tell you a little about the food thus far. It's been interesting, to say the least. Lunch was held in the fellowship hall of the church and provided by the sweet ladies of Daejeon Central Baptist Church. [Disclaimer: This has nothing to do against them.] The menu consisted of rice, 5-year old pickled garlic stalks, processed seaweed, kim chee (this is basically boiled cabbage covered in Texas Pete), mystery meat sandwiches layered with apples, and rice cake!!! My mouth is watering as I write this!

Tonight, the staff of the church took us to a traditional Korean quisine - sitting indian style on the floor and the whole 9. The menu consisted of more kim chee (I'm realizing it's a staple), various and sundry vegetables that I never knew existed such as a boiled root of the ginseng family, onion/wasabi sauce for dipping EVERYTHING, more rice (rice is our friend right now), and beef and shrimp. The beef and shrimp would have been easier to handle had they not been all cooked together in the same boiling pot resting on the center of the table. Since the beef finished first, it was to be eaten along with the raw juices of the shrimp, which finished cooking later. There's something just wrong about eating beef that smells and tastes like the ocean. It's unbiblical I think. It's in Leviticus somewhere. Anyway, all of that to say that our food experiences have been interesting and would make for some rather good material for the food and travel channels.

Please continue to pray for receptive hearts to the Gospel message. We have had some issues and minor frustrations with the interpreting so far, so just pray that the Lord would get His Word through to the ears of the people, and that they would hear what He wants them to hear. Thanks a bunch.

View of Seoul and Steeple Climbing

Sleepless in Seoul

Dad and I finally made it to Seoul, Korea. The flight was a grueling 14 hours, but we made it. I watched more movies than I ever care to watch in any given stretch of time ever again. With the time difference the way it is, we basically missed Friday altogether. It's 7:00 am Friday morning Charlotte time and 8:00 PM Friday night our time and we're about to hit the sack. We're doing good though. We're at the Hilton for the first night and then tomorrow we'll have a breakfast orientation with the rest of the team, receive our assignments and head out from here.

I'm a bit dizzy from the trip and I'm getting frequent waves of nausea from lack of sleep. I can never sleep on airplanes, try as I may. Even with the whole air neck pillow thingy. I gave that up a long time ago. But after tonight, I should be good to go.

How to Pray: Pray for the churches and church leaders we'll be ministering alongside - that God will give them wisdom - that we will be as effective as possible. Pray that the Gospel will penetrate hearts. I found out that Franklin Graham just did a crusade here a couple of weeks ago, so we are praying that there will still be a sensitivity to the Gospel that has carried over from that.

Korea Tomorrow: Video Blogging While Wrestling With Young Children

Royalty Aside

I noticed today in a fresh way a unique parallel of the life of Moses with the life of Christ. I guess I’ve seen it before, but today I saw it in a fresh way. I’m reading through the book of Hebrews right now in my Bible study time – such an awesome book that connects the Old Testament with the newer one. These verses jumped out at me.

“By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter and chose to suffer with the people of God rather than to enjoy the short-lived pleasure of sin” (Hebrews 11:24-25).

What struck me in a new way was imagining the vast glamour and royalty of the great Egyptian empire that Moses could have been endowed with his entire life. The son of Pharaoh’s daughter. The prince. That’s a pretty important position. One of prestige and honor. A position that anyone in his right mind would take full advantage of. Instead Moses laid it aside in order to suffer the same fate as his Hebrew brothers and sisters – to be one of them.

Sound familiar? Philippians 2:6-7 says speaking of Jesus Christ, “who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be used for His own advantage. Instead He emptied Himself by assuming the form of a slave . . .” Christ laid aside the royalty that He was due and counted it as no advantage in order that He might suffer and die for humanity. He laid aside the royal robes of heaven to take up the dusty robes of a carpenter.

And what does this say about me and you? How often do we want our agenda? How many times do we use everything at our disposal to our advantage, no matter how innocent it may seem? How many times do we try to flaunt the robes of what credentials we might have, rather than laying them aside in humility as our Lord did? For me, it's far too often.

Jesus, thank you for the self-humiliation you endured – for your selflessness in laying aside your royalty to suffer as a common criminal, without which, I would still be lost in my sin.

Update on My Dad

Most of you know by now that my dad suffered a mini-stroke on Tuesday night after preaching a meeting in Charleston, SC. Amazingly, the doctors don't expect any permanent brain damage. It was really scary there for about 4 or 5 hours in the emergency room, but he has fully recovered and all of the tests are coming back normal. Praise the Lord! Thank you all for praying for him and our family.

For those of you who don't know my dad, here's a post that my youngest brother, Jacob, wrote earlier today on our family blog. This should give you some idea of the kind of person Rick Via is and his legacy.

"If I were to attempt to describe all that our dad is, it would be something like this:

My dad is my hero.

He is a man of integrity, who hasn’t used a computer in years and covers the TV with a blanket in a hotel room. He continuously goes out of his way to make sure his heart is guarded. He is completely and utterly committed to practicing spiritual, moral, ethical, and sexual purity.

He is patient, kind, and slow to anger. He is a committed husband and dedicated father. He is faithful, trustworthy, and reliable.

He constantly worships his Creator and consistently intercedes for his family.

He is completely selfless and full of humility. He is not prideful in his ministry. He serves the Lord whole-heartedly without remorse. He cares not for the approval of man but for the adoration of God. He is not a celebrity in this culture but a hero in our home.

He is a disciple of Christ and the leader of his family. He is humble in character yet bold in sharing the Gospel.

He is authentic, true to his word, and faithful throughout. He would be the first to admit his mistakes, confess his sins, and make known his imperfections.

He fears the Lord. Serves God. Love his family. Cherishes his wife. Protects his kids. Defends his faith.

He relates to his kids. He communicates his concerns, his passions, and his love clearly and eagerly.

He is disciplined in all he does. He prays continuously. He studies the Word consistently. He takes care of his body enthusiastically.

He provides for his family devotedly. He leads his family spiritually. He protects his family resiliently. And he loves his family fervently.

He serves God faithfully. He worships God authentically. He trusts God expectantly. And he follows God intently.

He is my mentor, my pastor, my accountability partner, and my friend.

He is my hero and my dad.

“The godly man walks with integrity; blessed are his children who follow him.”
Proverbs 20:7

Dad, we love you so much and are so thankful for you. You gave us a good scare Tuesday night. But we know that God is in control. Thank you for teaching us that.

Mom, the crazy part is, in light of the above description of Dad, you are his better half. What an amazing wife and mother you are! Seeing you there in the hospital room with dad, the Lord confirmed again just how wonderful you are. I love you mom.

We have some amazing parents. Thank you Lord." - Jacob Via

Ingleside

We've just returned from a rapid-fire weekend of ministry mayhem. We loaded up the fam on Thursday afternoon and headed to Ingleside Baptist Church in Macon, GA for "Break-out Weekend." It was a cool time of hanging out with old friends, making new friends and leading worship for 100 middle school students each jacked up on early adolescent adrenaline, a natural and much more potent form of Red Bull.

My good friend, Fred Broome whom I met while in seminary, is the new middle school pastor at Ingleside, and doing a phenomenal job already. He and his wife Lindsay have 2 kids, Joshua and Anna, both around the ages of Areyna and Ezekiel. Needless to say, the kids had a blast together. And it was great to reconnect with the Broome family. I have a new level of respect for middle school pastors of large churches and I don't envy them in the least bit!!
It was a great trip and the Lord worked in a powerful way as a handful of students accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior.

After leading worship Sunday morning, we immediately hit the road and made it back to Charlotte just in time for rehearsal and run-through at Ridge Church Sunday afternoon. Good times. When we finally got home last night, we crashed. Today we got up late. We went to the park. We fed the ducks. We all took a nap. We all went to the grocery store. And we're about to crash again. I love our ministry!! I love our family. And I love that we get to do this together!!

Guest Blogger: Charles Spurgeon

I really needed this today. God never fails to bring an appropriate word right when we need it - sometimes we just don't listen for it. Maybe you need this today as well.

"The thought of David's heart at this time was a false thought, because he certainly had no ground for thinking that God's anointing him by Samuel was intended to be left as an empty unmeaning act. On no one occasion had the Lord deserted His servant; he had been placed in perilous positions very often, but not one instance had occurred in which divine interposition had not delivered him. The trials to which he had been exposed had been varied; they had not assumed one form only, but many--yet in every case He who sent the trial had also graciously ordained a way of escape. David could not put his finger upon any entry in his diary, and say of it, "Here is evidence that the Lord will forsake me," for the entire tenor of his past life proved the very reverse. He should have argued from what God had done for him, that God would be his defender still. But is it not just in the same way that we doubt God's help? Is it not mistrust without a cause? Have we ever had the shadow of a reason to doubt our Father's goodness? Have not His lovingkindnesses been marvellous? Has He once failed to justify our trust? Ah, no! our God has not left us at any time. We have had dark nights, but the star of love has shone forth amid the blackness; we have been in stern conflicts, but over our head He has held aloft the shield of our defence. We have gone through many trials, but never to our detriment, always to our advantage; and the conclusion from our past experience is, that He who has been with us in six troubles, will not forsake us in the seventh. What we have known of our faithful God, proves that He will keep us to the end. Let us not, then, reason contrary to evidence. How can we ever be so ungenerous as to doubt our God? Lord, throw down the Jezebel of our unbelief, and let the dogs devour it."

—Morning and Evening, October 17, Charles Spurgeon

Runny Noses

Though long overdue, Magical Motion Mondays is back. This is the one you've been waiting for, whether you knew it or snot.

To the music of "Runnin'" by John Cutler; performed by Pete Simpson

Truth Has Stumbled

I read Isaiah 59 this morning and the whole chapter just jumped right off the page, especially verse 14. It says, “…truth has stumbled in the public square…” I thought to myself, “Man, this verse has never been more true than it is today.” It speaks profoundly to our culture. All you have to do is walk out the door and you see it everywhere – a culture where truth is relative. A culture of no absolutes. A culture that invites us all to do whatever we want and feel no remorse.

It’s true in the political square. Lying and cheating are inconsequential because after all, “It’s just politics.”

It’s true in the pop-cultural square. Fourth marriage not working out for ya? No big deal. Try another. Or just steal someone else’s spouse.

It’s true among Christians as well. My pastor posted a blog yesterday with a very similar tone. In a recent survey, 85% of Americans claim to be Christians. If that’s true, then we have a serious problem of truth stumbling in the Christian square as well. Because it’s obvious when you turn on the news or venture out onto the typical college campus in America, those 85% are nowhere to be found.

Last night Tasha and I heard the perfect commentary on this. Flipping through the television channels we came across a behind the scenes look at Fox’s top-rated “Prison Break.” We used to be big fans until this season. Now, the creators have stretched the plot so thin that it’s just dumb. But anyway, Wentworth Miller who plays Michael Scofield, one of the main actors, was being interviewed and was asked the question, “What do you like most about acting?” In a nutshell his response was something to the effect that since he grew up in a home that was pretty “straight-laced” he enjoyed the opportunity that acting brings along to “act inappropriately.” In other words, he thought it was cool that he could do whatever he wanted in front of a camera, in a manner of speaking, and not be held accountable for it. Bingo. There’s no question in my mind that that’s the cultural condition that we find ourselves in today. It’s the “in front of a camera” mentality that I can do whatever I want and feel no remorse or sense of accountability for my actions. And that goes for the Christian community as well, all 85% (yea right)!

No wonder most of us, as Geoffrey talked about last night at Southbrook, hate to pray. Because we don’t feel God’s presence. Verse 2 of Isaiah 59 says something about this too. “But your iniquities have built barriers between you and your God, and your sins have made Him hide His face from you so that He does not listen.” I actually think God cringes when we teach our children that God always hears our prayers. Because that's really not what the Bible teaches. Not when we’ve built up barriers of sin. Not when we’ve constructed our giant wall ‘o crap between us and the Living God of the universe. And I’m as guilty as anybody.

The cultural milieu in which we find ourselves (as truth stumbles all over the place) has yet to see a generation of God-fearing individuals rise up and take their place – rise up to steady wobbling truth in the marketplace – rise up with true grit and purposeful solidarity declaring that Jesus is the only Way, the only Truth and the only Life.

God, give us a generation like that.

“Heavenly glory has found it’s place on earth and in our hearts
To conceive this holy passion
That we could start to love the world as You do.

Spirit move and let us journey with You
To return this generation to God it’s Maker and King
River flow to replenish dusty ground
To return this generation to God it’s Maker and King . . .” - lyrics from “Return” by Andy Cherry

Return Worship CD Release

The Southbrook Church Return Worship CD release was over the top! It was amazing! The CD turned out better than any of us could have imagined. You can order it online here. The community of all involved in the project is second to none. Tasha and I feel so blessed to be just a small part of it. Our pastor, Rob Singleton, has some great pics from the weekend on his blog.

The weekend worship set consisted of all original worship songs from the Return CD - songs that are becoming anthems at Southbrook Church.

PlayList 9.30.07
1. New in Him (Andy Cherry, performed by Gal Friday)
2. How Great Thou Art (Gal Friday)
3. King on His Way (Josh Via)
4. Sanctify (Josh Via, Dan Rutty, Andy Cherry)
5. Pour (Dan Rutty)
6. True Vine (Andy Cherry)
7. Your Love Does No Wrong (Andy Cherry)
8. Return (Andy Cherry)

Guest Blogger: Smooth: A Theology of Discipline

[My younger brother, Smooth, recently found himself in some difficult and overwhelming circumstances where he was forced to work out his own “theology of discipline.” Below are some of his conclusions that I thought everyone out there in the blogosphere might benefit from, especially you parents. He gave me his permission.]

"Let me first preface all of this by saying that we (my wife Kelly and I) are not perfect. We do make mistakes, but I can honestly say that neither of us have ever practiced corporeal punishment while angry. If ever I am angry or overly frustrated with Cana (our 2-year old daughter) for something she has done, we use time out. In fact, time out is the primary form of punishment and discipline that we use. We do believe, however, that there are some situations that call for corporeal punishment. We are also not necessarily criticizing other views. But this is the one we have chosen as we have sought God on it.

"We have chosen this view not just because it works but also because we believe it is biblical. So our beliefs about child rearing are very much rooted in our theology – our beliefs about God, who He is, and what He requires. In the Old Testament, the concept of discipline is closely tied with correction and instruction. It is not just for mere punishment, but when you discipline someone the idea is to correct wrongdoing and instruct them in the way that is right. In the New Testament, the literal meaning of correction is to set upright. The idea is that correcting someone is actually the setting upright of something that has fallen. Furthermore, the word is used in the sense of making someone conform to a standard. You see, as human beings we bear the image of God (imago dei - Gen 1:26). Among other things, I believe this means that God has created human beings to reflect his image and his workings in everyday things. In other words, many of the things God requires us to do as his people act as analogies of a grander scheme. For instance, the New Testament tells us that the marriage relationship is a reflection of Christ’s relationship to the Church.

"Okay, so what does any of this have to do with corporeal punishment? God has held humankind to a standard. That standard is perfection. God is perfect and expects people to be perfect (Matt. 5:48). Obviously, no one can reach this standard, which is why Scripture says that 'all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glorious standard' (Rom. 3:23). That’s why Jesus came. He lived perfectly according to that standard and then died a death He didn’t deserve. Since He had no sin to pay for, He was paying the penalty for our sin (2 Cor. 5:21). Now those who accept the gift that Christ gave us become children of God and heirs of his inheritance: eternal life (Rom. 8:17,Gal. 3:26). As God’s children we now strive to live according to God’s standards not to gain favor with Him, but because we love Him. Likewise, God seeks to help us live according to those standards because it is what is just and it is what is best. He does so by correcting us, instructing us, disciplining us. You see, it’s not about punishment, or inflicting pain. It is about setting upright someone who has fallen, and helping us conform to his standard.

"Therefore, our purpose as parents when we discipline our children is not simply about punishment. In discipline, our job as parents is to properly reflect the image of a loving God who lovingly corrects his children. This idea is supported by Scripture. Deuteronomy 8:5 states that 'as a man disciplines his son, so God disciplines you.' So we have set up standards that we believe are biblical standards, and whenever our children fall short of these standards our job is to lovingly discipline them, correct them, and instruct them in the way that is right. That is why whenever we discipline Cana with corporeal punishment or timeout or whatever, we always have a discussion with her about why she is being disciplined and what she should do to avoid being punished in the future. We are not just punishing her; we are correcting her and instructing her. We are not disciplining her because we are the boss and she is not, but because this is the standard set up by God, and we properly reflect the divine work of God when we do. God disciplines us because he loves us (Prov. 3:12, Rev. 3:19), and we discipline our children because we love them.

"That being said, our next step was to look to Scripture in order to see how that discipline ought to be carried out. In the much quoted passage Proverbs 13:24, Scripture tells us that 'he who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him.' The word rod here is the rod of remedial punishment. It does not mean that one must punish his children with an actual rod, but does mean firm corporeal punishment. In fact, the parent who refrains from this type of discipline actually hates his child because verses 14-18 have already revealed that the end of this path is death, social ruin, public exposure, calamity, and shameful poverty. Therefore, if a parent turns his back on his child by not firmly disciplining him, he must really hate him because he is potentially sending his child down this path. Hebrews 12:7 tells us to 'endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you like sons.' So it would seem that hardship is God’s form of physical discipline. Prov. 22:15 reveals that 'folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him.' You might think that we are being irresponsible by practicing corporeal punishment, but according to Scripture we are irresponsible if we do not."