A Journey of Joy

The blogging world has almost become a distant memory for me. The last week or so has been pretty nuts. But now I'm sitting in the lobby of Sleep Inn with my beautiful wife as we wait for our kids to fall asleep, and I have a few extra moments to catch this bloggy thing up-to-speed.





This past weekend we were blessed to be back at Journey Church in Raleigh, NC where my brother, Smooth, serves as the youth pastor. Journey is a three-year-old church plant that is blowing the doors off in the Triangle. We've been blessed to partner with them a few times now. My sister-in-law, Kelly, captured a few good shots--especially the one of Zeke and his cousin Kayil worshiping together when the day was all said and done.


The rest of this week we are in Henderson, NC leading worship for Blessed Hope Baptist Church. My good friend, John Owens, is preaching all week and invited us up to be a part of their week-long youth revival that will finish up on Wednesday night. So far, the first 2 nights have been great. Many teenagers have been at the altar every night confessing sin and renewing their walks with Christ. It's been a blessing. It's also been especially cool to spend some time with many of the students from my former youth ministry here in Henderson who have been coming each night in support of us and of the event. It's always a blessing to see people that you invested much of your life in continuing to follow Christ and walk with Jesus. I guess that's maybe a little bit of what the apostle John meant in 3 John 4. It truly is a joy to see what Christ has done and is continuing to do in these students.

Pray for the students this week that we are ministering to--that the Word of God will be implanted deep in their hearts and that they will be fully surrendered followers of Christ.

The Will of God

CharlotteONE was awesome on Tuesday night. We always love having the opportunity to lead in worship there. And to lead with Andy Cherry and Sara Scott was an additional yummy treat. And to lead on my birthday only further added to the night's deliciousness. The four of us did a little acoustic set and Dave Hickman delivered God's Word regarding the subject of the will of God--a tough challenge, to be sure, but he handled it with ease.

We played:
1. This is our God (Tomlin)
2. He is Exalted (Shane and Shane version)
3. You Never Let Go (Matt Redman)
4. Grace Greater Our Sin (J & T version)
5. Sovereign Hands (Hillsong United)

Easter '09 Recap

Easter Sunday at Southbrook Church was amazing, exhausting, humbling, exciting ... you get the picture. Over 100 people raised their hands indicating that they were commiting their lives to Jesus Christ. Tasha and I are blessed to partner with such great churches and shepherds who are committed to declaring the truth of the Gospel without apology. Thanks, Rob, for doing just that.

I am also a very proud son right now. My hero and father, , is in the nation of Cuba this week declaring the truth of the Gospel with this hurting nation. He's encouraging the underground churches, training pastors and leaders, sharing the Gospel with whomever or whatever will listen, and giving it his best attempt at speaking Spanish.
(although by the end of his greeting, he's spilled out every Spanish word he knows, while the person to whom he's speaking is thinking, "Wow, he speaks Spanish" and thus begins to rattle off Spanish sentences at 100 mph while my dad has to stop him and say, "No, no, no hablo espanol. Lo siento." Well, good try anyway, Dad.) Pray for my Dad and his team with Macedonian Call Ministries that the Lord will be glorified and honored through their visit.




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Easter Setlist
1. Opener: Bittersweet Symphony w/ Amazing Grace (our attempt at Hillsong's conference opener a few years ago)
2. Jesus Messiah (Tomlin)
3. Jesus Paid It All (Stanfill version)
4. True Love (Phil Wickham)
5. Stronger (Hillsong)

Holy Week, Year #2

I've got to hand it to my wife on this one--she's done a pretty incredible job helping our kids to understand what Easter is all about. Last year we began a family tradition during this week prior to Easter Sunday, where we participate in a daily activity that helps to highlight the truth of Christ's resurrection. Tasha is giving a play-by-play on her blog, so go check it out. I won't ruin it for you. But I just wanted to say that I've got the best wife in the world and I can't imagine doing life and ministry without her. When it comes to the discipleship of these little souls that the Lord has entrusted to us, she's the best!

I love you, babe. Thanks for helping to point our kids to Jesus.

(Yesterday we passed out easter eggs to all our neighbors, along with an invite to the Easter services at our home church, Southbrook, and a "Josh and Tasha" CD to help get the Gospel to them. Who can resist a visit from these little guys, right?! All defenses come crashing down when you're sharing Christ with someone and you have your kids with you. Try it sometime. And if you don't have kids yet ... find some.)

Better Than an iPod

What's better than jogging with your iPod? Jogging with your 2 1/2 year old son who sings worship songs to you the entire time.

4.5.09 Northview

Yesterday we left the house early and traveled two hours to spend Palm Sunday at Northview Church, just outside of Asheville, NC.  It was a great day and I was thankful to have some fellowship with Pastor Russ Johnson and his family after the service and hear his heart to reach the city of Asheville--a city that is very much a unique monster all its own--a city that loves trees and pets more than God--but a city that God loves and Christ gave His life for.  

A friend asked us how the children's ministry was, and Tasha and I both responded almost in unison, "It must have been awesome because Zeke didn't cry, and he always cries for the first two minutes."  Props to Northview's children's ministry!

Our friend, Stephen Janes came and joined us for a three-piece acoustic set.  Stephen plays a killer djembe and his love for Jesus is contagious. We played:

1. Everlasting God (Brenton Brown)

2. Marvelous Light (Charlie Hall)

3. Come Thou Fount (trad.)

4. The Wonder of This Sight (Vias)

5. Give Us Clean Hands (Charlie Hall)

3.29.09

Sunday was exhausting, but rewarding. We led at Ridge Church in Matthews both morning and evening. Sunday morning we led with Brandon Berg, Skylar McNabb, Brett Banks and Trenton Starnes--all great guys who really love Jesus.

We played:
1. Send Your Healing (J & T)
2. At the Cross (Pocket Full of Rocks)
3. The Stand* (Hillsong)
4. Came to My Rescue (Hillsong)

*Prior to leading The Stand, I shared briefly from Joshua 24:14-15, where Joshua comes to the end of his life and draws a line in the sand for his family declaring, "as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord." And it's interesting that he made this declaration at the end of his life since he was on his way out. Yet, he still understood that in the remaining hours of his life he still had a responsibility to lead his family--to lead them to follow the Lord unwaveringly--no matter what the rest of the people decided to do. In the midst of foreign gods, and things that beckoned for the attention and affection of the people, Joshua said they were going to follow Yahweh all of their days. I challenged the people to do the same. To stand for and with their families for the cause of Christ--no matter what the rest of the world does--no matter what their friends do--no matter how difficult it may get at times--no matter what they may get labeled as. It doesn't matter. We've got to stand for truth--God's truth. In the midst of a world that has raised the middle finger to God, we've got to stand for Him.

On Sunday night we had a full night of worship. It was a great night. Andy Cherry, Sara Scott and myself shared in the leadership. Tasha, Scott Spruill, Tim Morrison, and Brett Banks also shared in the evening. A ton of friends came out to support the night and an offering was taken to go toward various mission endeavors, both at home and abroad.

Our never-ending setlist included:
1. Salvation Rising (J & T)
2. Center of It All (Tim Hughes)
3. Indescribable (Laura Story)
4. Mighty to Save (Hillsong)
5. Faithful (Steve Fee and Kristian Stanfill)
6. Holy (Andy Cherry)
7. Carried to the Table (Leeland)
8. Your Love is Strong (Jon Foreman)
9. Amazing Grace/Chains are Gone (Tomlin)
10. I Stand Amazed/How Marvelous