Psalms

Worship Can Happen Before the Service Starts

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At the end of May, we had a united youth worship service that I am still recovering from.  The collaboration from area churches and the unity in the Body of Christ that night was amazing.  The students were such loud, passionate worshipers that night.

We started the service in a unique way that night.  I’ve used this at a camp years before, so I’m sure this idea was stolen from someone, so if you can use it, steal it from me.  The idea all centers around the verses from Psalm 100:4:

Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!

I love that verse for what it doesn’t say.  It doesn’t say enter into his gates, then start with the thanksgiving.  He doesn’t say get settled in a comfy seat in his courts and start the praise.  The process of entering is is worship.  While we are entering into the presence of God, we should be worshiping already!

That verse spurned this idea.

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Revival Through the Valley

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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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Revive Our Integrity

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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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Thirsting for God

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1 As a deer longs for streams of water, so I long for You, God. 2 I thirst for God, the living God. When can I come and appear before God? 3 My tears have been my food day and night, while all day long people say to me, “Where is your God?” 4 I remember this as I pour

Revival

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This summer, we are praying for a revival!

During the summer, we will be having Sunday evening services from 5:30-7.  We will be teaching through the Psalms in a series called, “Revival.” All ages will be studying the Psalms in order to revive our hearts towards God. The schedule will only have two breaks during the summer (June 19th for Father’s Day and June 26th for the Homeland Choir Concert at North Side).

Here’s the summary of the time together that will begin on May 22nd:

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The 2nd Greatest Story You Will Ever Tell Your Children

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One of your children’s most beloved books in your home might soon be your high school yearbook.  Your children know you as a responsible (or somewhat responsible) adult fully equipped with bills, a job, and a minivan, yet before they ever knew you, a lot of your life had already been lived.  Seeing your extracurricular activities, fashion statements, and funny hairdos in your yearbook open up an entire new world to them concerning your life.

For many of you reading this article, you also became a Christian before your children were around.  Even if you became a Christian later in life, your personal testimony is not information that they inherently receive.  The greatest story you will ever tell your children will be God’s story of how he brought redemption to mankind.  The 2nd greatest story will be how your story intersected with God’s story – the story of your salvation.

As your children grow, they will have different levels of doubt concerning the Christian faith.  You might even experience a child arguing with you concerning your personal beliefs.

While they may resort to arguments, they can’t argue with results.  One of the greatest ways to teach your children concerning salvation and walking with Christ is by sharing your personal testimony with them.

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Be Fruitful and Multiply (And Boy, Did We Ever!)

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I want to show you two pictures.  The first was taken in the Summer of 2007 when four couples went on a beach trip together.  At that time, there was one baby in the group.

The next picture was taken in December 2010.  Same four couples, nine more children than the photo taken 3 and a half years earlier.

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John Piper’s #1 Leadership Tip

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The only problem with Passion 2011 was that there was way too much to process and apply.  I’m still going through lessons and trying to implement them into my life.

One of they keynote speakers at Passion was John Piper who recently took a 7-month sabbatical and came back into the public scene the week of Passion.   His message, “Getting to the Bottom of Your Joy” was huge.  Massive implications, but that wasn’t the best part of his involvment.

The next morning, he spoke to the leaders’ group.  He had planned one talk, but then decided at 6:30 that morning to change directions.

That morning, he shared with us his #1 leadership principle he has learned.

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Tolerating Mediocre Talent in Church

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We’ve all been there.  Sunday morning, the soloist gets up to perform the special music.  It’s not that it’s not your style, it’s the fact that it hurts.  This person simply cannot sing.  For whatever reason, they got the chance to sing a solo, and you are wishing they were singing so low you couldn’t hear them (sorry, I couldn’t

What If My Worship Team Won’t Practice?

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I get the privilege to talk with worship pastors concerning their worship teams a bunch lately.  It is a huge blessing.  One of the common questions I hear is: “what if my worship team won’t practice?” This is a temptation for any musician or any vocalist in the system for a while.  We tend to get used to the opportunity

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