The 7-Year Itch

Today, I have been married for 7 years.  I have heard that, around this time, people who have been married began to reevalute their choice.  The 7-year itch begins to surface.  Supposedly, statistics say this is one of the hardest times of marriage. If this is as hard as it gets, I love marriage. And …

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The Most Segregated Hour in America

“We must face the sad fact that at 11 o’clock on Sunday morning, when we stand to sing…we stand in the most segregated hour in America.”  -Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., spoken in 1963 Almost 50 years ago this line was delivered, and have we gotten any better?  Are more churches open to multiethnic congregations …

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Revival Through the Valley

What an incredible night of our 3rd Revival service for the summer.  We focused on Psalm 23 and God reviving our hope even when walking through the valley of the shadow of death.

The service was built around that passage and included Stacy Wideman’s story (pictured here with her daughter, Savannah, and son, Stephen).  After being born with Down’s Syndrome and a heart defect, Stephen fought gallantly during his time, but eventually, God brought about his healing in heaven and not on earth.

Stacy’s honest testimony was more than powerful.  Her desire to let God “heal the wound but leave the scar” was seen in her desire to share God’s faithfulness with others during this difficult time.  After her testimony, Stacy led us in singing “It is Well.”  I have never been a part of a time when that song was sung more passionately and honestly than it was tonight.  The commitment in the room to those words was breathtaking.

In addition to that song, we worshiped to:

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Major in the Minors: Amos

Great time today of focusing on our 3rd prophet Amos in our series “Major in the Minors.”  With a full day ahead for our church body, I can’t think of a better focus than what God pointed us to this morning.

Today, we worshiped to:

I decided a while back to do an acoustic service this Sunday (the picture above is of the boys playing the cajon which was played today, well, they didn’t play it during the service, just after ;)).  I honestly didn’t have a reason to, I just felt like doing it.  I didn’t know at the time that God was going to lead Jeff to preach out of Amos concerning worship that God hates.

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Trading the Ultimate for the Immediate

 

At Passion 2011, Andy Stanley gave a great message concerning temptation.  One of the lines he repeated over and over is that temptation is the act of “trading the ultimate for the immediate.”

The ultimate is faithfulness to your spouse, the immediate is the temporary meeting of a desire.

The ultimate is a godly legacy engraved in your children, the immediate might be another round of golf.

The ultimate is heaven’s rewards, the immediate is the passing riches of this world.

When we encounter temptation, one verse helps me more than any other verse in the Bible:

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I Love Jesus

The other week, I had one of those cherished moments as a father.  The pic above is a cropped pic of my son, Obadiah, in a restaurant bathroom.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, he will hate me one day, I understand, but I couldn’t pass it up.

As I waited for him to complete his business, he looked up at the two rails on the wall and shocked me with what he said:

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Revive Our Integrity

What a powerful week 2 of “Revival.”  Studying Psalm 15, we talked about what it means to have integrity.  We also had a Memorial Day special prayer time for one of our own currently serving in the military led by one of our own who is also in the military.  Powerful time.

Tonight, we worshiped to:

I was kind of blown away by what happened in worship tonight.

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Major in the Minors: Joel

We had another great morning at North Side as we continued in the “Major in the Minors” series.

We got the privilege to commission a bunch of graduates this morning.  That’s always exciting seeing how committed these students are to Jesus!

We focused on the prophet Joel today.  As Jeff discussed this message with the staff this week, it couldn’t come at a more appropriate time.  In light of all the natural disasters happening across America this week, many people are asking the question “how could God let this happen?”

As Jeff pointed out, when natural disasters happen, 3 main positions arise:

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Worship Academy This Summer

I first mentioned hosting a Worship Academy back at our Lift Worship Workshop, but today I am happy to give you the details of this summer leadership group.

During the summer, I am inviting any worship leader, musician, vocalist, etc. to be a part of a small group with the intention to develop one’s biblical, musical, and logistical understanding of leading worship.  We will cover theological concepts of worship, songwriting tips, arrangement procedures, band dynamics, vocal techniques, music theory, and so much more!

Here are the details:

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How to Make a Children’s Book on a Budget

My ideas usually start small and then grow into something bigger.

It’s a problem, really.  When I decided to make a book for my sons’ birthdays, I first thought that I would write something, and figure out how to import images for the illustrations.  As the idea grew, I wanted to teach them a spiritual lesson about life being all about God, then I decided to use them as the main characters.  As it developed, I eventually self-published a children’s book entitled, It’s All About God, with Obadiah and Eli as the main characters.

I’ve had some very kind comments from people who picked the book up online, and I have had some questions how I made it.  First off, I am not an artist and I’m not that talented.  I just learn to be clever (aka budget, ghetto, whatever adjective you might use here).  So, here is a step-by-step guide on how to make a children’s book on a budget.

1.  I take lots of pictures of the boys.  I then put them in iPhoto.  I changed some effects on some of the shots to give them a bigger color boost.

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