Return Hits Tonight

Tonight's the big night for Southbrook Church's first CD release. If you're in the Charlotte area tonight or tomorrow, come on out to Southbrook for the CD release party (tonight 6:30pm, tomorrow, 8:30am, 10:00 and 11:30). It's gonna be a phenomenal night of praise and worship.
Click here for directions.

Windy Gap

The week with Gaston Christian School turned out awesome. We just returned this afternoon from a few days' getaway at Young Life's Windy Gap Camp just north of Asheville, NC. Had an awesome time. The first night Tasha and I found a rubber python under our pillows. No one would fess up. I thought it was a pretty sweet prank. Tasha didn't much care for it.

The Lord did some really cool things in the lives of the students. Over 200 high school students were there ready for God to speak. Austin Rammell, pastor of Hardin Baptist Church, one of the fastest growing churches in Gaston County, was the speaker for the week. It was awesome to renew the friendship Austin and I had back in Virginia when we were students at Liberty University.

Last night was definitely a major highlight. After a powerful message by Austin dealing with pride and humility, many of the students stayed around for at least another hour dealing with sin in their lives on their knees in prayer as we led in an unsolicited and unplanned time of extended worship. The Lord was gracious and worked mightily in many of the students.

Thanks to all of the staff, parents and students at GCC for an awesome week. And thanks Wes for having us back.

Currently Listening To: Chronicles of Narnia on CD. We listened to Books 1-3 on the way up to and back from Windy Gap. Holy Sweet Goodness, Jack Lewis was a genius!

Toys Lie Still and What about Election?

Magic Motion Mondays takes a back seat when we don't have the kiddos. Tasha and I head out tomorrow for Weaverville, NC at the Young Life camp out there. We'll be ministering to a group of high school students from Gaston Christian School - should be an awesome week. Pray for us if you get the chance. All that to say that the kids are in Virginia with my parents this week terrorizing the Via house. Thanks for taking care of them, Mom. I suppose Tasha and I could video us sitting around staring at their toys lying deathly still, but how truly sad that would be indeed!

On another note. I'm currently reading the journals of Jim Elliot (Dad, I stole it off your shelf while you were out preaching last night).

I love his comments on 2 Timothy 2.

"And those who are arguing about foreknowledge, election, and such - read those verses 14-26 and then look how the apostle is willing to leave it a paradox (vv. 25, 26). 'God gives repentance' and 'they recover themselves.' Yes, yes, I'm naive and glad to be so in such a case" (January 19, 1948).

I stand naive with Jim. I'd rather be out telling people about Christ than joining in endless theological debate at Showmars. Or worse, wondering who the elect are and whether it would be a waste of my time to tell, seeing as Mr. so-and-so couldn't possibly be one of them anyway - another form of debate - a debate of the mind that I always lose when the debate begins. Forget the debate. Be naive.

Linking

I'm new to this whole technorati thing, so apparently, if you have me as a link on your blog, make sure you link it as joshvia.com, NOT joshvia.blogspot.com.
Somehow they can't work together, and having the .blogspot.com on the end makes it not show up as a claimed blog. I'm not sure why. It seems to be interfering with my old MySpace blog posts?! Maybe someone out there can give me the skinny. Hugs and Kisses.

A Tragedy, A Legacy, and a Ragamuffin's Commitment

Today, September 19, is the 10-year anniversary of the tragic death of Rich Mullins. It probably seems random that I know that, but Rich’s music had such an enormous impact on my life as a young Christian musician, it’s hard for me to forget details like that. Rich helped to shape the landscape of the early Contemporary Christian Music industry in a profound way. He defied and challenged traditional taboos, often playing concerts barefooted wearing simply a t-shirt and torn jeans. His lyrics were passionate, frank and honest, openly describing personal and spiritual struggles in his search to know God more intimately.

What I love most about Rich’s legacy was the fact that, in the midst of all of his success and accomplishments, he never ceased to keep Jesus Christ, the Gospel and the Bible his central focus. He once commented,

Sometimes it concerns me, the number of people who can quote my songs, or they can quote the songs of several people, but they can’t quote the Scriptures – as if anything a musician might have to say would be worth listening to . . . If you want entertainment, I suggest Christian entertainment, because I think it’s good. But if you want spiritual nourishment, I suggest you go to church or read your Bible (Creation Festival Radio Special, Mt. Union, PA, June 27, 1996).

Rich never wavered in preaching the fundamentals of the Christian faith through his music. Scripture was the most important thing to Rich. In one of his most famous and powerful songs, “Creed,” Rich took the Apostles’ Creed, the most fundamentally orthodox statement of the Christian faith, and put it to music. In this song he drew a line in the sand.

I believe in God the Father,
Almighty Maker of Heaven and Maker of Earth,
And in Jesus Christ His only begotten Son, our Lord
He was conceived of the Holy Spirit,
Born of the Virgin Mary, Suffered under Pontius Pilate,
He was crucified and dead and buried.

And I believe what I believe is what makes me what I am,
I did not make it, no it is making me,
It is the very truth of God and not the invention of any man.

Rich was committed to the basic truths of Christianity – the truth about Jesus Christ – that He came as the Messiah of the world to live, to die, to atone for sin and to rise again conquering death and offering new life. It never gets old to me – the fact that Christ came to this earth for helpless, sinful human beings. That’s the only message that will last through eternity. That’s the only message that ultimately matters. Thanks for your legacy, Rich.

Powered Big Wheels will soon be Obsolete!

Well, Magical Motion Monday has turned into Wednesday. I knew this would happen eventually. Oh well. Here it is. The much anticipated most recent episode of family fun improv!

music - Mat Kearney, "Crashing Down"

Sleeping and Drowning

Today is the birthday of Ivan Pavlov. Remember him from Psychology 101? His famous salivating dog experiment helped to solidify the theory of classical conditioning - that we are conditioned to certain responses as we experience them over and over again. For some extended period of time Pavlov submitted his dogs to a conditioning test. Before every meal, he would ring a loud bell. Then he would bring out the food, the dogs would see it, begin to salivate and Ivan would feed them. After awhile, the dogs would salivate simply from hearing the bell. They were conditioned to know that the food would always follow the bell.

As irony would have it, I rescued a drowning puppy this morning from my neighbor's swimming pool. I heard him splashing and carrying on next door so I peaked through the fence to see for myself what the raucous was. My neighbors were still sound asleep, not realizing the danger their pup was in. So I jumped the fence and came to the rescue.

True story. It wasn't like the movies though. There was no pomp and circumstance to follow. No slow motion. No thematic score from James Horner and the London Symphony Orchestra. Just the chirping of birds and the loud panting of the puppy. Kind of a letdown. But I saved him. I called my neighbors and woke them up and told them what happened and they were grateful. Relieved. Stunned. Overwhelmed. Motivated.

I think many times in our Christian walk we are as Keith Green said, "asleep in the light." We have the truth of the gospel, the greatest news the world needs to hear, and we casually and comfortably sleep while the rest of the world drowns in the sickness of their own sin. We, the children of God, the only ones who have the life-saving devices, stay asleep in our cozy beds oblivious to the death surrounding us. And sadly we've conditioned ourselves to this. The habit of sleeping in the light has become such a part of us that as soon as we hear the screams of a panicky drowning world, we fall asleep. As soon as the bell rings, we salivate.

Would to God that He would awaken us from this stupor and find us grateful. Relieved. Stunned. Overwhelmed. Motivated. Grateful for His grace to bear with us. Relieved to have open eyes. Stunned at the condition of the world and the condition we were in. Overwhelmed at the enormous task in front of us. But motivated to get started again.

Awaken us, O God, from our sleeping state that we might see through Your eyes the world drowning in front of our faces.

"Asleep in the Light"
Do you see, do you see
All the people sinking down?
Don't you care, don't you care
Are you gonna let them drown?
How can you be so numb
Not to care if they come
You close your eyes
And pretend the job's done
Oh bless me Lord, bless me Lord
You know it's all I ever hear
No one aches, no one hurts
No one even sheds one tear
But He cries, He weeps, He bleeds
And He cares for your needs
And you just lay back
And keep soaking it in,
Oh, can't you see it's such a sin?
Cause He brings people to your door,
And you turn them away
As you smile and say,
God bless you, be at peace
And all heaven just weeps
Cause Jesus came to your door
You've left Him out on the streets
Open up, open up
And give yourself away
You see the need, you hear the cries
So how can you delay?
God's calling and you're the one
But like Jonah you run
He's told you to speak
But you keep holding it in,
Oh can't you see it's such a sin?
The world is sleeping in the dark
That the church just can't fight
Cause it's asleep in the light
How can you be so dead
When you've been so well fed

Jesus rose from the grave
And you, you can't even get out of bed

Oh, Jesus rose from the dead
Come on, get out of your bed
How can you be so numb
Not to care if they come
You close your eyes
And pretend the job's done
You close your eyes
And pretend the job's done
Don't close your eyes
Don't pretend the job's done
Come away, come away, come away with Me, my love
Come away, from this mess, come away with Me, my love.

-Keith Green

What It Must Have Been Like for Nebuchadnezzar

Here's another biblical reenactment for your Magical Motion Monday. This one is from Daniel 5 - how Nebuchadnezzar went crazy and had a mind like a wild animal. My kids really seemed to have an easy time with this one! Enjoy!

Playlist 9.9.07

Ridge Church kickoff service was amazing last night.
The Levine Center was packed out. Really exciting stuff.

Our band played:
1. The Time is Now/All Because of Jesus (Steve Fee)
2. Let the Praises Ring (Lincoln Brewster)
3. Hosanna (Hillsong United)
4. At the Cross (Pocket Full of Rocks)

Magical Motion Mondays

I decided that Mondays would be a good day to post a weekly video clip. So be looking for more to come on Magical Motion Mondays!
This is a dramatic retelling of Joshua 6. Watch and be totally amazed!