Where am I?

I see tattoos.

I see dredlocks.

I see white people.

Black people.

Asian people.

Football players.

Ladies in blue shirts sweeping

Friends.

Backpacks.

DIVERSITY.

Where am I?

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I Have Been Humbled

Today God brought me down a notch.

I have been so selfish.

I have sought my own gain and what makes me look good.

I have been drunk with myself.

So today I decided to respond to this revalation by encouraging others.

This is one of the notes I passed out at our rehearsal tonight.

Each member has encouraged me in some way so I decided to share that with them.

I met with them individually to build them up and then challenged them by telling them they how I wanted to see them grow over the next 2-3 months.

I pray that they feel valued and know that there is no way I could do my job without them.

I pray that I could lead them better.

I pray that God would use us directly to see lives changed.

I pray that I am reduced to nothing and all that is left is You.

“Incline my heart to Your testimonies, and not to selfish gain! Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in Your ways.” -Psalm 119:36-37

Thank You, Jesus.

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HEALER

If you are involved in any kind of ministry, especially worship music ministry, you have probably been impacted to some degree or at least heard the song “Healer” by Mike Gugliemucci. The song was featured on Hillsong’s latest album “This Is Our God” and has created tremendous hope and drawn many people to truly believe that nothing is impossible for our God, and that He is reliable and He is enough.

Today an article was published in Australia stating that Mike Gugliemucci faked the terminal illness he claimed he wrote the song about.

I personally have not led this song. Yet. I don’t think that the fact that he faked the illness will keep me from leading the song. The song is powerful. The song is true. This incident proves that no one is too high to fall and that God can use and song in spite of the messenger being jacked up.

I am praying for Mike’s family. I am praying for the people that have been affected by the song. I am praying for hearts that will want to hold this against him.

Our God is a God of second chances, and we should respond with love. Jesus has already forgiven him.

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08-14-08 (A Recap)

Yesterday was a DAY, man. I’ll give you a quick rundown of it some other days recently and catch you up on some things since I haven’t updated in a week. Here we go:

-I have had two weeks off from leading worship. I am about to die. It was really awesome to stand in the back and watch our students respond to God while Dave Hunt lead this week though. And as much as I don’t want it, I do occasionally need a break from the stage.

-I broke my foot horseplaying at Buffalo Wild Wing with Jared. I smacked him. He jumped on me. I wasn’t ready. I broke my foot. It’s almost better though. PTL (Praise the Lord).

-I went to Knoxville from Tuesday to Saturday night to visit family and friends (and go to the orthopedic doctor ha). I got to spend a lot of time with my little brother and my parents which was awesome. I miss eating good home cooked meals and the hospitality of family. I also spent a lot of time with Cameron, Jordan A, and Geremy (hard G). It had been a while since I had spent some time with those dudes so we just got acted silly all week. It was amazing.

-Sunday morning we started a new series called “Dare U To Move.” Everything about Sunday was perfect. There were right at 2800 people here. Pat was on fire! Band sounded great. The buzz and energy in both services was ridiculous. I missed this place.

-Fast forward to Wednesday. Chris, David, and Melanie gave me my first EVAL as an intern at FBCSmynra. I didn’t have time to be nervous because as we were deciding where we were going to go eat lunch Chris goes, “O yeah, we ‘re going to do your evaluation after lunch.” I responding accordingly, “Uh. Wow. Okay.” I would like to inform you that this meeting was the best meeting I have ever been in. I left feeling stretched, challenged, and encouraged. For any FBC’ers reading this I’m not going anywhere anytime soon.

-That brings me to today. Today was kind of just a normal ole day. I did find out that the minimum GPA requirement for the HOPE Scholarship dropped from 3.0 after 36 hours to 2.75 after Junior year. PTL!

Now I’m watching Micah and the band rehearse for Sunday. They are playing a song Micah and I wrote with Chad Cates called “The Greatness of Your Name” and very selfishly I wish that I was playing with them on the first week the church will hear it. Oh well.

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