Zeke's Setlist - 3.24.09

Zeke has always enjoyed music. That's the understatement of the year. In all 2 1/2 years of his little existence, not a day goes by that he doesn't enjoy, if not belt at the top of his lungs while holding his best air guitar pose, some type of music. But lately, he's been insanely in love with music--especially worship music. So much so that he comes up with an entire worship setlist during meals or during routine daily activities, completely unprovoked and unsolicited. So, today I'm going to begin a new series of posts simply entitled "Zeke's Setlist." In fact, if you follow Tasha and I around much in our travels, you may start to notice a haunting similarity between Zeke's setlists and my own. And more than likely it'll be me borrowing from him, not the other way around. So, here's Zeke's first setlist from a few days ago. Every one of these he sung at the lunch table.

1. You Never Let Go (Matt Redman)
2. All We Need (Charlie Hall)
3. Blessed Be Your Name (Redman)
4. Breakthrough/I Need Nothing (Andy Cherry)
5. Mighty to Save (Hillsong)
6. You are My Joy (David Crowder)

Beyond All Measure

My awesome friend, Wes McMurray just wrote a book called Beyond All Measure. And without even having read it, I can tell you that you're going to want to add this one to your library. I'm stoked to read it. Wes is an extremely gifted communicator and teacher of God's Word, and without question has written a masterpiece of a book for the Christian life.

Wes and I have been friends since our days at Southeastern Seminary where we met in a small ethics class where he and I, both clad with tight band t's, chucks, and Dickie's book satchels, stood out like sore thumbs among a room full of Baptist Polo pretty-boys. Thus began our back-row friendship that has now blossomed into a full-on ministry partnership. Just two months ago, we teamed up to lead a winter retreat at The Master's Inn in Altavista, VA, where Wes single-handedly stunned a room full of high school and middle school students with his uncanny ability to capture and hold their attention with random humor, incredible biblical insight and exposition, and, lest we forget, his insanely-impressive stupid human tricks.

Wes will be having a book signing on April 18 at the Joyful Noise on Franklin Blvd. in Gastonia, NC. You won't be sorry for carving out time that day to attend, buy a copy of his book to help support their amazing family of four, and get your copy signed. I love supporting local artists and authors, especially ones who have devoted their lives to Jesus Christ and to proclaiming the Gospel. Wes is that guy.

7 Years Ago

Today, March 23, 2009 is the 7th anniversary of the day when Tasha and I stood before our friends and family in a beautiful stone chapel, on a gorgeous Carolina blue day, in historic downtown Charleston, SC with my dad officiating and we pledged our love and our vows to each other. Now seven years later, we've been through seminary, seen the birth of two beautiful children and one on the way, been the youth pastor and worship leader at two very different but great churches, and then launched full-time into worship and evangelism ministry that the Lord is graciously blessing.

Tasha is the love of my life and my true partner and companion in life and in ministry. These days it seems that there are fewer and fewer husband and wife teams in the ministry. And I'm grateful that we truly are a team. We go everywhere together, do everything together and get to witness mighty movements of God together all over the world. I'm thankful for that.

I'm thankful for you, Tasha Joy. I'm thankful to be your husband and your partner in crime. As Paul affectionately called the Philippian believers, so I call you ... "my joy and crown." I love you with every beat of my heart ... unimaginably more now than 7 years ago when I stood weak-kneed and teary-eyed watching you make your grand entrance! And I still see your grand entrance replayed every day of my life in the cozy little place we call home. I love you. Happy Anniversary.

The Ethics of Spilled Milk

He Went Out To The Mountain

This morning I read Luke 6 and was challenged by these words:

During those days He went out to the mountain to pray and spent all night in prayer to God. When daylight came, He summoned His disciples, and He chose 12 of them; He also named them apostles: (Luke 6:12-13).

As I read that, I was struck by the fact that Jesus prayed all night long on the mountain before He chose the 12.

All night.

The Son of God--God incarnate--prayed all night before this big decision.

And then I thought about what most Christians do before big decisions. We might pray for a few minutes. But mostly we'd rather "use the brain God gave us." Or we'd rather "seek wise counsel." Granted, those are good things to do--things I do, and things I encourage others to do. But I wonder how often they are used as a means of justification for our laziness in the discipline of prayer. How often are they just a cop-out for our failure to pray without ceasing? I wonder how often we'd rather try every other means accessible to us for our decisions before spending the time in prayer that Jesus did.

Needless to say, I was convicted.

Needless to say, with the Lord's help, I'll be heading to the mountain more often.

And yes, I'll still be seeking wise counsel, but not without seeking the wisest counsel first.

Place Your Stones Where Your Kids Can Get To Them

In continuing my journey through the Scriptures, this morning I read a passage in the book of Joshua that gripped me in a new way. In Joshua 4, the Israelites had just come under new leadership after Moses' death. The Lord had instructed Moses to make Joshua first in command of His people. In doing so, one of Joshua's first acts was to lead the people across the Jordan River into the Promised Land (incidentally, not unlike one of Moses' first tasks in leading the people across the Red Sea). So God completely cut off the downstream flow of the river, firming up the ground for their footing--just as solid as if it were concrete (Joshua 3:16-17).

Once they were through, Joshua instructed 12 men, one from each of the 12 tribes, to take stones (and we're not talking skipping stones--they were more likely boulders) from the middle of the river and place them in a pile at their former campsite. This act of piling up stones, seen commonly throughout the Old Testament, is often referred to as an "ebenezer" or "stone of remembrance"--a symbolic act for the purpose of helping the people remember the faithfulness of God at certain times and points in history. But what struck me today in a fresh way was one of the more specific and primary purposes of these memorial stones.

Joshua explained, "When your children ask their fathers in the future, 'What is the meaning of these stones?' you should tell your children, 'Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.'" (Joshua 4:21-22)

Here's what I noticed today: One of the primary purposes of the stones was to act as a teaching agent for their children. They were to be a teaching tool for parents to share with their children how God had been faithful to them at specific points in time. I think I've long understood the general idea of these memorial stones. After all, every time I get the opportunity to lead the hymn "Come Thou Fount" I usually take the chance to explain the context of the line in verse two that says, "Here I raise my ebenezer, hither by Thy help I've come." But for some reason I overlooked this very important purpose of the stones--that they were intended to be a tangible teaching symbol for their children--as a means of declaring the greatness and faithfulness of God to their sons and daughters--as a teaching agent for their kids.

So I began to ask myself: What teaching agents do I have at my disposal to begin teaching my kids about the faithfulness of God? How good of a job am I doing in sharing with my children how God has been faithful in the past so that they can be confident of His faithfulness in an uncertain future? And how do I take this idea of the memorial stone and apply it very practically in our family life?

Tasha and I are still trying to figure out what that means for our family. At the very least, I think it means having some very tangible expressions of those reminders placed throughout our house--whether its through journal entries that we share with them of times when we witnessed the faithfulness of God. Or whether its through a photo book that we periodically show them of times when God heard and answered our prayers. Or whether its through the simple act of sharing personal family stories of God's grace and favor.

We're still figuring out the best ways to share with our children, and I would encourage you to do the same. But regardless of how we do it, the most important thing is simply that we share.

Walk Through the Walls

I just downloaded Walk Through the Walls by Jonathan David Helser. It's disc 2 of a project that started out to be just one album, but as Helser himself describes, "we had only planned on tracking one album, but Jesus hijacked our plan with His dream. When we thought the songs were coming to an end, Jesus walked through the walls of the studio and we realized the songs were just beginning. The songs that we thought would only last a few minutes turned into fifteen minute experiences."

After receiving disc 1, The Reward, last year from Helser's producer, Elijah Mosely, I immediately knew there was something different about this guy--something real--something intangible that echoes the very heart of God on every track. There are some moments on both CDs where I've found myself having to hold back the tears because it's obvious that the presence of God was so thick in that studio, a thickness that somehow translates through iPod buds.

If you're looking for another Hillsong "Take it All" caffeinated worship experience, you might be disappointed. But if you're looking for passionate cries, beautifully crafted melodies, unique acoustic instrumentation, and just plain heart-felt worship, you won't be sorry.

BoGo

Lately Tasha has been trying to educate me in the world of frugality lingo.  If you start researching some of these frugality blogs, such as moneysavingmom.com, etc. etc. you'll soon discover this truth--they have their own dialect.  It mainly consists of turning nouns into action verbs as in this example: "Well, I'm going out CVSing.  Be back in a few.")  And then there's the ever-popular abbreviated words phenomenon, as is commonly used in texting.  One abbreviation that I'm finally becoming privy to is the word BOGO.  Often the context will not even let you in on what this word means.  I'm convinced it's part of a larger plan from the couponing frugality world to eventually take over the world--small strides in changing the world's language can go a long way.  

Anyway, this weekend Tasha and I are on a BOGO anniversary weekend.  Next weekend we celebrate 7 years of marriage. Woot!  But we're celebrating this weekend, because my sister Joy offered to come and watch the kids for free all weekend!  So, we prayed about it for 2 seconds and said "heck yea!"  So, since money doesn't grow on trees at our house, our anniversary weekend is all "Buy One Get One Free!" *(Hence BOGO).  We've got the Entertainment book with tons of options for eating out at half price.  We've got coupons galore from my religiously frugal wife.  And we've still got random gift cards from this or that.  So, that's our weekend.  It's been awesome so far!  We've had a few things planned, but overall we're just flying by the seat of our pants.  I love this woman.  7 years and still madly in love!  Praise God!  

Twilight (not the movie)

In my iPod right now is Future of Forestry with their latest release Twilight. These guys are rockin' my face off right now and have a new release coming out soon. Definitely check these tunes out. These guys hail from San Diego (which makes them cool by default I guess), love Jesus and make incredible music--much of which could be used in a corporate worship setting fairly easily. From chill ambience one moment to screaming guitars the next, and with vocals that would make even the most psychotic ADHD hardcore kid stop and pay attention, this cinematic masterpiece of sound comes at ya with a freshness you'll notice from the first track. Put it in your head today. You won't be sorry.

We're Having A ...

C1 - 3.10.09

CharlotteONE last night was pretty amazing. It was a beautiful and warm evening in uptown Charlotte, so we kept the doors of First United Methodist Church open as 600 voices sang the praises of our awesome God and flooded Tryon Street with heavenly melodies.

Todd Philips, the pastor of Frontline, the young-adult ministry of Mclean Bible Church in D.C., came and brought a powerful message regarding the believer's responsibility to minister to "the least of these"--the down and out--the homeless--the orphan--the widow. (the third part of the 4-part series called "Love Mercy") What I love about Todd is not only the sincerity of his heart but the fact that he maintains a beautiful, yet rare balance between conservative, biblical theology on the one hand and practical social justice on the other. Usually one outweighs the other, but Todd has a great balance. He brought the heat last night, and he'll be back again next week to wrap up the series.

The Setlist:
1. Everlasting God (Lincoln Brewster version)
2. All We Need (Charlie Hall)
3. Mighty to Save (Hillsong)
4. When I Think About the Lord (Shane and Shane)
5. The Wonder of This Sight (J & T)
6. You are Here/The Same Power (Hillsong)
7. Glory to God (new Steve Fee song) &
8. Holy (Andrew Cherry)

One Reason

This picture illustrates just one of the many reasons why I love this woman!!

(Ingleside Baptist Church, High School Ministry, Macon, GA - 2.22.09)

Prelude to Sundays

I started something new last night.  One of my closest friends, Ben Brammer, a pastor in Oklahoma City, and I began a weekly phone prayer time together on Saturday nights before our busy Sundays.  One of Ben's mentors, Charles Lyons, the pastor of Armitage Church in inner-city Chicago who has practiced this for many years, encouraged him to do the same.  So, we began last night.  It's not a long drawn-out thing, but we just take a few minutes to talk and find out the direction we're headed for the next day, and then we take turns praying for each other.  I love it.  And I know I'm gonna look forward to it every week.  So, I'll offer the same challenge here on my blog.  Find a weekly prayer partner--especially those of you in some type of ministry position.  Take advantage of the awesome privilege we have to pray for each other.  You won't regret it.

Holy Spirit Power

I just finished a classic work by Charles Spurgeon--a series of sermons on the work, the ministry and the person of the Holy Spirit compiled together to make up Holy Spirit Power.  It's a great read.  I love reading Spurgeon's material.  His writing and preaching style of the mid-1800s was not as polished and charasmatic as many of his predecessors, but his content was next to none, rivaling even Puritan scholars.  Holy Spirit Power is full of little bite-size takeaways that I know I'll be using in future talks and teaching sessions.  Here are a few that resonated with me:

• "God does not give a fresh revelation, but He rivets the old one ... He brings a fresh lamp to manifest the treasures hidden in Scripture ... There is enough in the Bible for you to live on forever." (p. 21)
  
• "There is not a minister living who can win a man's heart by himself. He can win his ears and make them listen, and he can win his eyes and fix them upon him. He can win his attention, but the heart is very slippery." (p. 42)
• "The grassiest paths and the most bewitching are the farthest away from right. The most enticing are those which are garnished with improper truths." (p. 66)
• "I am persuaded that wherever there is a real work of grace in any soul, it begins with a pulling down. The Holy Ghost does not build on the old foundation." (p. 91)
• " 'The words (of Scripture) are not inspired,' some say. If we have no inspiration in the words, we have got an intangible inspiration that oozes away between our fingers and leaves nothing behind." (p. 152)
• "God's truth is safe, and we must be perfectly willing to be forgotten, derided, slandered, or anything else that men please. The cause is safe, and the King is on the throne. Hallelujah! Blessed be His name!" (p. 168)

That last bullet point is how Spurgeon concludes the book.  And that one statement, "we must be perfectly willing to be forgotten, derided and slandered," hit me like a ton of bricks.  He's exactly right.  But that's not a statement that tickles too many ears.  That's not a statement that we want to hear, especially in this present age--the age of pride and Twitter.  (And I'm preaching to myself here)  In an effort to feel like our lives matter to people, we put it all out there, whether it's through our Facebook status, our blog, or whatever new pride-inducing social networking tool that comes along.  And in a desperate attempt to keep our name alive, we participate in this never-ending game--a game we play to help people remember who we are--a game we play to make us feel important--a game we play that we might not be forgotten.  But Spurgeon says, "we must be willing to be forgotten" so that Christ can be remembered.  It's His cause that matters.  Not ours.  

What are you doing that furthers His cause?

Guest Blogger: Andrew Litke

(This is a post by my brother-in-law, Andrew Litke, a student at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Florida.  He's much smarter than I am, and when he posted this on our family blog last week, I knew I wanted to share it here.  Be blessed.  There' s a lot to chew on.) 

A LENTEN PRAYER

On this first day of Lent I thought I would share the prayer that the Orthodox Church prays every weekday (Saturday and Sunday are different) during this season of repentance that leads to Easter. It is by the 4th c. Church Father, St. Ephrem the Syrian:

O Lord and Master of my life!
Take from me the spirit of sloth,
faint-heartedness, lust of power, and idle talk.
But give rather the spirit of chastity,
humility, patience, and love to Thy servent.
Yea, O Lord and King!
Grant me to see my own errors
and not to judge my brother;
For Thou art blessed unto ages of ages. Amen.

Some comments by Alexander Schmemann (Thanks Vias for the X-mas present):
Sloth: A strange laziness and passivity of our entire being which always pushes us "down" rather than "up." It is in fact a deeply rooted cynicism which to every spiritual challenge responds "what for?" and makes our life one tremendous spiritual waste.

Faint-heartedness: being in the state of despondency, the greatest danger of the soul. Despondency is the impossibility for man to see anything good or positive; it is the reduction of everything to negativism and pessimism. It is the suicide of the soul because when man is possessed by it he is absolutely unable to see the light.

Lust of Power: By vitiating the entire attitude toward life and making it meaningless and empty, sloth and despondency forces us to seek compensation in a radically wrong attitude toward other persons. It becomes pure self-satisfaction. It is indeed sloth and despondency directed this time at others; it completes spiritual suicide with spiritual murder.

Idle Talk: The word saves and the word kills; the word inspires and the word poisons. The word is the means of Truth and it is the means of demonic Lie. When deviated from its divine origin and purpose, the word becomes idle. It "enforces" sloth, despondency, and lust of power, and transforms life into hell. It becomes the very power of sin.

Chastity: It is the positive counterpart to sloth. Sloth is, first of all, dissipation, the brokenness of our vision and energy, the inability to see the whole. Its opposite then is precisely wholeness. If we usually mean by chastity the virtue opposed to sexual depravity, it is because the broken character of our existence is nowhere better manifested than in sexual lust – the alienation of the body from the life and control of the spirit. Christ restores wholeness.

Humility: This is the first fruit of wholeness. Humility alone is capable of truth, of seeing and accepting things as they are and therefore of seeing God's majesty and goodness and love in everything. This is why we are told that God gives grace to the humble and resists the proud.

Patience: The "natural" or "fallen" man is impatient. Having but a broken, incomplete, and distorted knowledge of everything, he measures all things by his tastes and his ideas. Being indifferent to everyone except himself, he wants life to be successful right here and now. Patience, however, is truly a divine virtue. God is patient not because He is "indulgent," but because He sees the depth of all that exists, because the inner reality of things, which in our blindness we do not see, is open to Him. The closer we come to God, the more patient we grow and the more we reflect that infinite respect for all beings which is the proper quality of God.

Love: Given by God alone, it is the goal of all spiritual preparation and practice.
To see my own errors and not to judge my brother: Ultimately there is one danger: PRIDE: But when we "see our own errors" and "do not judge our brothers," when, in other terms, chastity, humility, patience, and love are but one in us, then and only then the ultimate enemy – pride – will be destroyed in us.

The body is glorious, the body is holy, so holy that God Himself "became flesh." Salvation and repentance then are not contempt for the body or neglect of it, but restoration of the body to its real function as the expression and the life of spirit, as the temple of the priceless human soul.

3.1.09

Yesterday we led worship at Carmel Baptist Church in Matthews, NC. Lem Leroy, the worship pastor, is becoming a really good friend and was gracious enough to bring us in to help lead the service. Carmel is a great community of believers and is always extremely gracious to us every time we've led there. And in spite of the horrendous weather conditions here in Charlotte, I felt like it was a great crowd of people and an authentic attitude of worship in both services.

We played:
1. Your Grace is Enough (Tomlin)
2. The Stand (Hillsong United)
3. Jesus Messiah (Tomlin)
4. My Jesus, I Love Thee (J & T arrangement)