Today in Via History

Today is my Dad's birthday. He and my Mom and my sister, Joy, came in for the weekend and we celebrated he and Joy's birthdays together. Good times.

My Dad is my hero. He lives what he preaches in the pulpit. He's real. He's sincere. He's contagiously in love with Jesus. Everyone he meets sees that there's something different about him. As a college student, he was radically saved by Jesus and has not stopped sharing with people the incredible gospel of Christ that saved him, changed him and made him a totally new person.

I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be a follower of Christ today if it were not for the influence of my Dad. I saw that his relationship with Jesus was real and thriving, and I wanted the same in my life. I remember countless mornings when I would creep downstairs earlier than anyone else in the house and find him on his knees in prayer praising his Savior with old-school Hosanna worship cassette tapes playing in the background. Seeing him in those holy moments before God made such a huge impact on me. Thanks, Dad, for being the realest Christian I've ever met!

Magic Motion Monday: The Coat Technique

Rainy figures out a way to put her coat on by herself ... albeit, it takes some patience on the part of Mom & Dad to wait it out!

9.28.08

Had a great day today back at Weddington Community Church.
We played:
1. Everything Glorious (Crowder)
2. Jesus Messiah (Tomlin)
3. God is Great (Hillsong) - we performed this one with the children's choir, and it was awesome.
4. Amazing Grace/Chains Gone (Tomlin, Todd Fields version)
5. Happy Day (Tim Hughes)

I'm pumped about this week. Right now my parents and my sister Joy are all in town for us to celebrate Joy's and my Dad's birthdays together. We'll gobble down some cake and spend some quality time together. Also, I just got a call from Jake Hunter at the studio and he is finishing the mastering as I write this. So, I should be able to send it off early in the week. Almost at the same time, I got an e-mail from my brother Baikes with the almost finished artwork. It looks amazing! Then we get to finish the week out leading a Disciple Now Weekend retreat in Raleigh. I'm stoked!

Dedication of The Healing

Last night we dedicated our new CD The Healing to the Lord with our church family at Southbrook Church. Pastor Geoffrey, my friend and accountability partner, allowed me the privilege to share briefly the concept behind the CD and what I expect and hope God to do with it and through it as a tool to bring people into the kingdom of God as well as to act as a clarion call to beckon wayward followers back to Christ. It was a cool time of prayer as we asked God to have His way with it as He sees fit.

Save the Date: Tuesday, October 28th is the official release date for the CD. We'll have a release party at CharlotteONE in uptown Charlotte that night at First United Methodist Church. My friend Dave Hickman has graciously allowed us to use the platform of C1 that night to perform some of the songs off of the CD and to lift high the name of Jesus with these new worship songs that He's given us. If you're in the Charlotte area that night, please come and worship with us as we seek to make the name of Jesus famous in this city, the only name that can bring spiritual healing to our nation.

Keep checking back here in the next few weeks for several free downloads of some of the new songs from The Healing.

Last night at Southbrook we played:
1. Let God Arise (Tomlin)
2. Just Fall (J & T)
3. Be Thou My Vision (J & T)

Busy Weekend/Called to Travel

What a great weekend! Thursday and Friday morning we led worship for a small mission conference of about 30 missionaries from all around the world who are currently on furlough. We gathered at Parkwood Baptist Church in Gastonia. It was awesome to hear their stories and to share in some prayer time and fellowship together. Our friends Scott and Stefanie Spruill came with us to help lead. Scott is the worship pastor at Crosspoint Church, and is becoming a great friend and mentor. We always have a blast with them.


Sunday we led worship for the first time at Forest Pointe Church in Belmont, NC. Pastor Ray Hardee and I met just about three weeks ago for lunch, and I immediately knew that there was something special about him and that God had indeed allowed our paths to cross for a reason. Forest Point is a fairly new church in the Belmont/Mt. Holly area of NC and they currently meet at the YMCA in Belmont where they go through the rigorous routine of setting up and tearing down every week. They transform the gym of the YMCA into a worship center in about 1 hour on Saturday night with the help of several dozen volunteers. They've got a great thing going on. People are being saved, baptized and discipled. Tasha and I had a great time with them yesterday. They made us feel right at home, they took great care of our kids with a first-class children's ministry and they graciously entrusted me with their people, allowing me the freedom to lead as God so directed me. Thanks so much, Forest Pointe.

We played:
1. Revolutionary Love (David Crowder)
2. Filled With Your Glory (Starfield)
3. Inside My Praises (Jason Waller/Jason Hoard/Chrystina Fincher)
4. All Because of Jesus (Steve Fee)

More than once I was asked if I was interviewing for the worship pastor position at Forest Pointe, (and more than once in any given week I am asked if I would consider a position at fill-in-the-blank church) and I was pleased to be able to say with confidence that at this point in our lives, God has called us to intinerant ministry. I am convinced of that, and I'm proud of that. The Lord has been so good to us during this phase of life. The kids travel well and they seem to love it. My wife loves it. She believes in it. And the Lord has given us a passion for His church, as a whole -- to see His body unified in America and all over the world. So, I'm encouraged when I visit churches like Forest Pointe, and Ridge, and Southbrook, and New Sandy Creek, and Weddington Community, and Journey, and ... the list goes on. I'm excited because I see God doing a mighty work all across this nation. As dark and as oppressive as it can be at times, there are remnants of His people and examples of His grace all around us.

1st Morning

Here's a sweet video that Ridge Church put together of their first morning worship service that we got to be a part of.

It and Godplex

Well, I need to recap here a bit.

Sunday at Southbrook Church. A great day. Attendance was up. Began the "It" series. The Lord was present and surely among us. Good stuff. I had Andy Cherry on lead, Nate Procak on bass, Ryan York on drums and of course my beautiful bride on violin!

We played:
1. Happy Day (Tim Hughes)
2. Immanuel (Josh and Tasha Via, to be released on "The Healing" next month)
3. From the Inside Out (Hillsongs)

Then last night we kicked off the Fall season at CharlotteONE with our good friend Dave Hickman and had the privilege to share the stage with Stuart Hall. He did a phenomenal job tackling a tough subject about the wrath of God - the first of a three-part series called "Godplex." Loved it! You gotta come check out part two next week.

The band was terrific. Nathanael Bryan on drums. Gil Gatch on lead guitar. Nate Procak on bass. Scott Spruill on keys. Tasha on violin. It was a great night.

We played:
1. O, for a Thousand Tongues to Sing (Crowder version)
2. O, Praise Him (Crowder)
3. Come Thou Fount
4. Be Thou My Vision (Josh and Tasha version - will also be on "The Healing")
5. From the Inside Out

Magic Motion Monday: "Preying" Mantis

7 Years and Still Blind

I still remember exactly where I was and what I was doing. I’m sure you do too. I was just walking into my 9:00 Exodus Book Study class at North Greenville College. Dr. Pete Wilbanks gave us the news about the attacks on the Twin Towers, we prayed, and then he dismissed class. My Dad was in Brazil on a mission trip. All international flights shut down to and from the US. He was stuck.

Confusion. Betrayal. Anger. Unbelief. Fear. Uncertainty. The whole gamut of emotions ran through every ounce of my being. The feeling of powerlessness was stifling. As the news unfolded throughout the day, the images we saw forever changed the landscape, make-up and temperament of America. Church doors flew open for around-the-clock prayer. The Sunday after 9.11, pews were packed with people who had not stepped foot in a church in years, perhaps ever. In the midst of the tragedy, there were glimmers of hope for a country that had in many ways turned her back on God. There was the prevailing feeling, at least among most Christian evangelicals, that these events would soon act as a catalyst to bring America back to Christ. But you know what happened.

As soon as some semblance of stability and structure was reintroduced, the American dream based on secular humanism and extreme individualism reared its ugly head once again. America no longer needed God. He was the crutch to get her through the initial pain and shock, but He was no longer needed. He was no longer necessary. America was dealing with her enemies. America was standing on her own two feet. America was her own counselor, her own defense, her own support system. God was obsolete.

This vicious cycle is repeated throughout history—both biblical and non-biblical history. A nation turns from God. Tragedy strikes. The nation seeks God again. God brings healing and restoration. The nation no longer needs God. Over and over. It’s a cycle that seems to always divorce itself from lessons learned, thus they are never really learned. Only flirted with. Only petted and stroked on the surface. But they never take root.

There’s another mistake that happens, though. And it happens by those who call themselves followers of Christ. The mistake is this: While hastily pointing out the sins and errors of a nation, the church of Christ becomes blind to her own sin. This, perhaps more than any other reason, is why the Lord burned such a passion in my heart to write the songs that make up our new worship album, “The Healing.” At first glance, the record seems to be an indictment against the culture in which we live—the fact that we need the healing hand of God in our nation and in our land. But as you probe deeper, hopefully this message will come through even louder: We need revival, healing, and spiritual awakening in the church. We, the bride of Christ, need to return to our first love. A love that we’ve lost many times because we’ve been too preoccupied with pointing the finger at a lost world, instead of pointing them to the God who loves them. Here’s what the insert to our new CD says about the purpose of this album:

“In a culture that is becoming increasingly apathetic and antagonistic to the message of the Gospel, how quickly and easily it is to fall victim to the sin of point-the-fingerism. Sometimes a preoccupation with the darkness surrounding us blinds us to our own darkness. And though unquestionably the darkness that surrounds must be penetrated by the light of the Gospel, unless our own sin is first confronted we are rendered useless and pathetic in the advancement of God’s Kingdom here on earth. The ground is fallow in America. But so is it equally fallow in our churches. So is it equally fallow in our own hearts much of the time. Hosea desperately begged God’s people to “break up your untilled ground. It is time to seek the Lord until He comes and sends righteousness on you like rain.” (Hosea 10:12) If there was one plea for this album, that would be it—to break up your untilled ground. Allow the Holy Spirit of God access to the dark pits of heinous anarchy in your soul that stand in forward opposition to the coming King of Kings. And allow Him to clean you out. Allow Him to heal and soften the dry and hardened ground—that salvation may spring forth—that righteousness may rain down. And when that happens, we can stand as a unified, collective body of Christ holding high His royal banner proclaiming with urgency the soon return of our High King. Our prayer is that this album will be a catalyst to drive you to your knees in repentance, to help stand you up with arms held high in surrender, and to move you out to the frontlines of the battle.”

May we, as Christ’s bride, return to our first love so that we may have the legitimacy and the non-hypocritical voice to speak the truth of the gospel to a lost world. Amen.

A.M.

Sunday morning we were back at Ridge Church in Matthews for the kickoff of their Sunday morning worship services.  For the past year Ridge has been meeting on Sunday nights as they searched for a facility and venue accessible for mornings.  After a year of searching, the Lord opened the door for AM services.  The place was packed, the energy was insane, the Gospel was clearly and boldly proclaimed, and Jesus took center stage!  It was awesome to be a part of it.

Setlist:

1. Salvation is Here (Hillsong United)

2. Mighty to Save (Hillsong)

3. Lift High (Eddie Kirkland)

4. Amazing Grace/My Chains are Gone (Tomlin)

Date with Daddy

Connect Conference

Last night Tasha and I and our friends Andy Bradberry and Trenton Starnes had the great privilege to lead worship at Carmel Baptist in Matthews, NC for an event put on by our friends at Lifeway called the Connect Conference--part of Lifeway's collegiate focus. The atmosphere was amazing. The presence of the Lord was evident and definitive. The people were engaged with God. And Todd Phillips, from Mclean Bible Church, brought a convicting challenge about engaging our culture with the life-changing message of the Gospel while being careful not to divorce our message from the need for social justice--a great challenge. You can hear some of Todd's messages here.

We played:
1. Holy is the Lord (Tomlin)
2. Praise the Name of Jesus (Roy Hicks Jr.)
3. Mighty to Save (Hillsong)
4. Center (Charlie Hall, Matt Redman)
5. There is a Redeemer (Keith and Melody Green)

Flashback Friday: Face Extinguisher

When my brother Smooth and I were teenagers, we found plenty of things to get in trouble with, especially on days that we got to roam like two birds set free from captivity in the church where our dad was pastor. On one particularly adventurous and unchaperoned day, Smooth decided it would be fun to mess around with the fire extinguisher located in the church kitchen. Removing it from the wall, he began to investigate the tank. Assuming there was some sort of safety clip engaged on the tank to prevent pastor kids from haphazardly releasing its inner substance, Smooth aimed the nozzle in my direction and called out, "Hey Fro (my nickname)!" Me, being the trusting unsuspecting brother turned in the direction of Smooth just as he pulled the trigger on the loaded red tank of face-blasting toxin. Point blank! The blast covered my face--eyes and mouth open in that very instant. Thick, white foam filled my vision and my lungs. I coughed up white foamy mucus for at least a half-hour. And Tasha, I'm positive that's why I still cough up so much phlegm to this day. So, blame it on Smooth!

In Quotes

"If you seek rest (from spiritual battles) in this world, how will you attain to everlasting rest? Do not train yourself for much rest, but for much patience ...

I (God) will give an eternal reward for a short labor, and infinite glory for passing shame."

-Thomas a Kempis, The Imitation of Christ

An Evening at the Park