A Long, Fruitful Week

Week Recap:

Sunday, 5-3 thru Wednesday, 5-6 - I joined my Dad for a 4-night revival meeting in Chatham, VA at Marion Baptist Church.  I love whenever I get to partner with my Dad.  He's my hero--always has been, always will be.  He has faithfully preached the infallible truths of God's Word with passion and unwavering conviction since before I was ever a glimmer in his eye! (I can't believe I said that) Anyway, the week started off a bit slow, but concluded with an emotionally-charged, Spirit-led encounter on Wednesday night.  A teenage girl, whom the entire church had been praying for many years to come to faith in Christ finally did just that--she accepted Christ as her Lord and Savior, and the place came unglued.  It was an incredible moment--one that I won't soon forget.

Friday, 5-8 - We took the band to Yadkinville, NC to Courtney Baptist Church to conclude their week-long revival services.  The Nate's (Nate Proczak and Nate Bryan) and Scott Spruill came along and did an amazing job as usual.  The Lord saved three young teenage boys that night. It was an awesome moment as we played "Amazing Grace/My Chains are Gone" and the chains that had once bound these young men were released. 

Sunday, 5-10 - We were back at Southbrook Church here in Charlotte for Mother's Day.  Michelle Singleton brought an encouraging word to mothers--a great way to finish up the week.  The four of us (no, ... five of us) came home and all took a 3-and-a-half hour nap.  Heavenly!  Praise the Lord for all that He did this week.

The Business

Setlists:
Weddington Community Church (AM)
1. Let God Arise (Chris Tomlin)
2. Point of Difference (Hillsong United)
3. Come Thou Fount/Come Thou King (Gateway Worship)
4. Sweetly Broken (Jeremy Riddle)
5. Fire Fall Down (Hillsong United)

Ridge Church (PM)
1. Solution (HIllsong United)
2. True Love (Phil Wickham)
3. How He Loves (John Mark McMillan)
4. Lift High (Eddie Kirkland)
5. Mighty to Save (Hillsong)
6. Happy Day (Tim Hughes)

It was a great night back at the Ridge. It was their first baptism service, and it was amazing. The baptisms and testimonies were woven through the worship throughout the night, and it made for an awesome time of celebration - celebrating the changed lives of new believers in Jesus, and celebrating the great God who is still in the business of changing lives.

Letter from Arizona

If you've ever wondered what our ministry is all about, and what type of people it is who support it, here it is in a nutshell. This is a letter I received recently from a couple in Tucson, AZ who support our ministry. These are the kinds of people who make this happen. Normal individuals who love Jesus and love His Church.

"Dear Via Family,
It is such a privilege to serve our Lord Jesus Christ in such a way of supporting your ministry not only monetarily but prayerfully. We realize what we send is not a large amount, but it is heartfelt . . . I know our Lord Jesus can multiply this to encompass each--if He can expand the Hebrew language to where each individual person heard the gospel message in his or her own language, He can do all kinds of miraculous things in your ministry and in your lives . . .

Our church has a prayer request for you. We are in our Jubilee year--49 years of this church being in existence, which is a definite praise; but the prayer request is: In all of these almost 50 years we have had the same pastor who will be retiring this year. July 6th is his last day to preach. We are getting together a pastor search committee. Just pray please, that we will rely wholly on God for direction. This is a new venture for our church. We know God is in control; my prayer is there will be none who do not relinquish their control over to God. Pray we will be a humble people before Him. I want nothing. I want God's control of my life.

Father, I praise You for all the blessings You have given to Your children. Thank You . . ."

Wow. That one statement has stuck with me since I first read this letter: "My prayer is there will be none who do not relinquish control over to God." If we could have more people like this in our churches--people who will go to any cost to get out of the way of what God is doing--people with absolutely no control issues--people who have no desire for recognition--people who view themselves as deserving nothing--people who simply have a heart for God and want to follow His every step--then I think the Church of Christ will begin to be who God created her to be. Then barriers will fall. And the Gospel will penetrate hard hearts.

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!

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.

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!

Madness in Marietta

It's difficult to put into words what we saw God do this week. We led worship for the RFBC Student Camp at Camp Awanita in Marietta, SC. I've never seen the Holy Spirit move and work in a group of high school students like I witnessed this week. Church kids were getting saved. Kids with no church background were getting saved. Kids were getting right with each other. Kids were getting a passion for their lost friends back home. The Lord was moving so mightily that on the final night of camp, the worship had to be extended for several hours as kids were getting saved and weeping over lost friends.

I've seen God do some pretty insane things over the years, especially on overseas mission trips, but this week I saw something I've never seen before. As we were kicking off the last worship set, one girl on the front row couldn't take it anymore. Totally unprovoked and unsolicited, she literally ran out of the room. I thought maybe she was about to pee in her pants or something. I wasn't sure. It wasn't until later that I found out what had happened. Weeping under conviction, she found Jay Richards, her youth pastor and prayed to receive Christ.

One of the coolest things during the week was to see how God used particular worship songs to connect with students in unique ways. I had this conversation with a friend the other day about worship songs that God seems to use more mightily than others. We both wondered whether a song can be "anointed." I'm not sure, but I do know that there are, no doubt, songs that the Holy Spirit greatly uses to grip people's hearts. Two generations ago, God used "Just As I Am" in Billy Graham crusades all across the world to penetrate the gospel into hearts and elicit a call to repentance. There's no doubt that that song had a huge part to play in Graham's ministry.

Now, I wonder if "Sweetly Broken" could possibly be one of those songs that God is using today in a unique way. I don't mean to sound mystical, but there's definitely something about this song written by Jeremy Riddle, a worship leader from California, that God is using and blessing. As we sang it this week at camp, the Holy Spirit seemed to make the words come alive in our hearts. We were broken over our sin. We were weeping over the thought of Christ crucified in our place. We were all amazed and stunned in His presence.

You can check out Sweetly Broken in the post below.

Thanks so much to all of you who prayed for the Lord to unleash His presence at Camp Awanita this week. He certainly did.

Thanks to Jay Richards and all you guys at RFBC for letting us join you this week. We love you guys.

I Can't Believe I Get to Do This

This week we’re leading worship each night at Iron Bridge Baptist Church in Chester, VA. Each night the students pack out the worship center to compete against each other earning points by bringing friends, quoting Scripture and bringing coins and can goods for missions. Did I mention that they come as if they’re jacked up on a case of Red Bull?!

After the service last night Steve Maltempi, the youth pastor, asked me how I thought the youth were responding to the worship. He said, “They have my backs to me, so I can’t tell how they’re singing.” I was like, “Dude, they’re singing their guts out!” Having done so many of these events where the kids glare at you like you’re from Mars, this is like being transferred to the third heaven.

This morning I was just thanking the Lord for being able to do what I love and have my family with me. I can’t believe I get to do this! Thank you Jesus!

Thanks to all you guys who are praying for this event.

Romania Report

We made it back. We saw the Lord do some pretty incredible things in Romania the past 2 weeks. I can see that Tasha was busy posting everyday keeping you guys updated! Just kidding! (I love you, baby.) She was unbelievably busy with our 2 terrorist children, so I don’t blame her in the least.

The Lord was gracious to allow us to see roughly 600 people come to faith in Jesus Christ. Praise the Lord! We worked with a local church in the city of Satu Mare who will be very busy following up with these individuals. We used many different methods of ministry and evangelism – sports events with Crossfire Ministries, street evangelism, school ministry, medical clinics, kids’ clubs, and evening church services.

On the flight home, I was praying and asking the Lord to help me make a list of some of the highlights of the trip that I experienced as well as some of the things He taught me that I want engraved forever in my heart. Here’s a synopsis, though certainly not exhaustive.

Teaching Points:

1. It’s pretty easy to be religious, harder to be a true follower of Christ – Catholicism and the Eastern Orthodox Church are engrained in the Romanian culture. Elaborate church structures with beautiful Gothic architecture pepper the Romanian horizon – beautiful yet heart breaking - heart breaking because both churches teach that salvation is found in the church. Salvation is achieved through the keeping of the sacraments – repentance is unnecessary, even antithetical to their cause. Equally connected to this point is . . .


2. It’s hard to break past the surface of religiosity – for most people, the religious motions associated with Catholicism and the Eastern Orthodox church are all they know. Interestingly enough, this sounds a lot like our own country. Bottom line: It’s hard for religious people to see their need for repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. These barriers are tough, but not impossible. I was reminded of the amazing work that the Holy Spirit does to soften hearts. In many cases, we just planted seed and prayed that the Lord would soften their hearts. It’s a tough barrier, and one that Jesus dealt with throughout his entire earthly ministry. But if the devil has been dragging religious people to Hell for centuries, why would he need a new tactic?

3. People just want to know that you care about them as individuals and that they are not just a notch on your religious belt – this should be a no-brainer, but we must always see people through the lens of the cross – that they are individuals made in the image of God for whom Christ died and loves. These are real people with names, families, dreams, ideas and, lest we forget, sin that separates and condemns. These are people in need of hope – in need of a Savior. And they need to know you genuinely care about them.

4. The Holy Spirit gifts his children all uniquely and differently not only to function uniquely in the body of Christ, but also to reach the unique and the different in this lost world.

5. I was reminded of the simple power and effectiveness of a gospel tract – our team canvassed the whole city of Satu Mare with tracts (on car windshields, in phone booths and into the hands of pedestrians). One event that I’ll never forget happened on our last day of ministry as dad and I were walking back to our hotel passing out the last few tracts that we had left. We handed one to a young man a block away from our hotel and told him “God bless you” and moved on. But he wouldn’t let us. He turned around, approached us and began talking to us in broken English. He told us his name was Thomas and that he was surprised to see some Americans in his city. We told him that we were there for the one purpose of sharing the love of Christ and the forgiveness of sins through his blood. After about a half hour conversation, the Lord opened Thomas’ heart to the message of the Gospel and he opened his heart to Jesus Christ right there on the street. It all started with a tract.

The folks at The American Tract Society said this: “A tract can travel farther, last longer, say it more effectively and cost less than any other form of evangelism.”

6. Finally, the doors that may seem closed by human standards can easily be opened by the Lord - On our second day of ministry, Dad and I decided that we could be most effective if we could get into one of the public schools to do some ministry, which we have done in many other countries. We asked the pastor of the church we were working with what he thought about the idea and he said that he didn't think it could be done. The headmaster would never allow it. But, we thought, “What do we have to lose?” So, we talked to our interpreter, Leo, and asked him to take us to his high school from which he graduated 3 years ago. He took us. And we were warmly welcomed by the headmaster and faculty. We told them what our intentions were, that we wanted to share some greetings from America and that I wanted to sing and play some American songs. Instantly, the Lord opened the door. The headmaster loved the idea. So, off we went, singing about Christ and preaching the gospel in the classrooms of one of the most prestigious high schools in Romania. Amazing!

But that’s not all. The headmaster invited us back the next day for an award ceremony. We arrived early and they gave me the opportunity to sing a few songs during the ceremony. So, I sang and lifted up the Lord and gave testimony to his goodness and mercy and forgiveness. It was a closed door, but not for God.

Thanks to all of you who prayed for us. And thanks especially for your prayers for the lost who were brought into the Kingdom of God. Pray that they will bear fruit that remains.

North Vernon

Be in prayer for the kids of North Vernon, Indiana. Tasha and I are hitting the road about 15 minutes from now. We're leading worship for a Disciple Now youth event. Pray that kids will hear and respond to the life-changing message of the cross. Pray that the Holy Spirit will move freely and have His way. Thanks so much.

50 Souls and a Test Drive

Tonight I witnessed a miracle of God. Over 50 souls committed their lives to Jesus Christ at Southbrook Church in Weddington, NC. God's hand is all over Clayton King, the evangelist in for this weekend of special services. The Lord is using his ministry in a mighty way all over the country as he sows the seeds of the gospel and reaps a tremendous harvest.

Tasha and I have known Clayton for many years, though we're only acquaintances. But we did get to talk just briefly before the service. We told him about our new ministry and this new direction and the new CD. I told him it was called "The End to Which I Strive" and with all the noise in the hallway he thought I said, "The End to a Test Drive." He looked puzzled and gave the courteous smile and nodd thing that you do when you don't know what to say, and you don't want to laugh in the person's face. It was pretty funny. I repeated the title to him, and then we had a hearty laugh. He said it would have made a good emo title. I agreed.

Speaking of a test drive, Clayton was really clear to communicate that the Christian life is not something you simply try out for a while to see if you like it. It's not something you take for a spin. It requires taking up your cross, taking up the electric chair - sharing in the sufferings of Christ. Not a seeker-friendly sermon, by any stretch, and yet God moved. Ironic, I guess. Not surprising though. God honors His Word and people want to hear the truth.

Tomorrow's gonna be awesome still with three more services to go and tons more lost people coming with their friends.