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Render. It’s one of my favorite words in the English Bible.
I have to admit, it’s partly because it just sounds so awesome. I can just hear that boxing ring announcer now:
“Lllllets get ready to RrrreeenNNNderrrr.”
You can do a lot with that.
More important, of course, is what the word means. [click to continue…]
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If you’re in church leadership, you know the challenge of weekly developing an experience that’s creative, energetic, uplifting, anointed (gotta be anointed), and most important of all – as cool as the church down the street.
It’s a daunting task.
Fortunately, the folks at Northpoint in Atlanta have produced a resource that will change your life and revolutionize your church.
Or at least give you a laugh, as they spoof themselves.
Check out the video below, follow the easy-to-understand template, and you’ll be renting your city auditorium in no-time, just to keep up with the masses who are flooding in.
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This has been a season for sinking souls.
In California, two very dear friends are facing their second-greatest fear as their son is deployed with the Marines to Afghanistan. They know the promises of God. They know full-well that every other military parent or spouse has walked this same path. But that doesn’t change the fact that the emotions are more than they bargained for. Tossed about and beat up, their souls are sinking.
Here in Lubbock, a bright young professional had launched a successful and lucrative career when his work was upended by petty, jealous people. He lost his job and another significant source of income. And though he was innocent of the lies told against him, and though he has bounced back in a different setting, he still retreats to an emotional cave of isolation, as if he were totally guilty. Broken, bewildered, and just going through the motions, his soul is sinking.
In my home state, a once-confident, faith-filled woman lives in the wake of one of the most grotesque griefs of all – the death of a dream. Sure she had heard from the Lord about her future, and bold in her expectations of how He would order her steps, nothing has turned out as expected. First the heartbreak. Then the waiting. Then more disappointment. Now rudderless and aimless, she feels powerless to choose any direction… her soul is sinking.
However committed or expectant you or I are, none of us is immune to the sinking of the soul. [click to continue…]
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Yesterday I was talking to an old friend on the phone, and heard myself say something before I realized what I was saying. (Does that ever happen to you, or am I just weird?)
Before I tell you what I said, I guess I need to fill in some white space first.
A few days ago I had an experience that left me disappointed and hurt. The details aren’t important; what is important is what happened in my heart as a result of it. I will tell you that it was a church wound (one of the most difficult of all), and that I had similar initial feelings to other kinds of pain in my life. I wanted to go into a cave and hide. I was fearful of being hurt again. I wanted to be angry and pout.
But almost immediately, I noticed another kind of result in my spirit. I was sobered. Humbled. Unusually aware of the holiness, wisdom, and love of God. Emotionally and mentally aware that God is no man, that I can fool, manipulate, or even impress Him. Even more aware that neither I nor any man can despise the profound work of grace He has made in my life.
And regardless of how any of us behave, He still owns His church. I can sit on my high horse or hide in my cave all I want, but at the end of the day, He is still God, and still expects me to reflect His character and power. And He will even use busybodies, gossips, accusers and politickers in Church World to make His case.
Ouch.
I don’t know that I have ever been in a painful situation in which I was more aware of the awareness of God. And if I may say so, even in the pain, I felt safe and loved.
Here is what I said to my friend, after I filled in some details: [click to continue…]
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Okay, so there’s this song… but more about that in a minute.
If you haven’t discovered Animoto yet, you need to check it out. This online service can take your pictures and/or video clips and produce killer videos. You can do a 30-second piece for free, or for a modest annual membership fee, get unlimited full-song-length videos. The program generates it for you. You can upload your own music or choose from their impressive library. You can then share your masterpiece with friends and family, or, if you want to improve on it, click on the re-do button and let Animoto give it another whirl.
So with the birth of our grandson and our granddaughter coming to visit for Spring Break this week, cameras have been clicking left and right. So I started tinkering around with Animoto to see what it could do.
It was then I discovered the song. [click to continue…]
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I am the Lord, and there is no other;
apart from me there is no God.
I will strengthen you,
though you have not acknowledged Me,
I will sing of Your strength,
in the morning I will sing of Your love;
for You are my fortress,
my refuge in times of trouble.
Call upon Me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you will honor Me.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
My goodness and love will follow you all the days of your life,
and you will dwell in My house forever.
I will lie down and sleep in peace,
for You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.
Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.
Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance,
the ends of the earth your possession. [click to continue…]
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For Scotty Thomas, Christmas was cruel. What other word can you use to describe living in a house where Dad enforced a hard-nosed rule: Christmas presents were for Christmas day?
“But can’t I open just ONE?” Scotty would ask.
“No,” his dad would say, smiling.
“I think I know what this one is,” Scotty would say, shaking a wrapped present under the tree.
“Think all you want,” Dad would reply. “You may be right. You may be wrong.” Inevitably for Scotty, it was a little of both.
Like any good 8-year-old, Scotty also had razor-sharp radar for any kid who seemed to get a better deal. Jeremy Walker got to open the give from his sister a day early. Jeff Dunaway opened family gifts the weekend before Christmas day. But Scotty’s appeals landed on stone.
As Scotty grew older and wiser (age 10 now), he became more sophisticated in his approach. If he couldn’t win by appeal, he would conquer by steal. Scotty set out on a mission to find hidden “treasures.”
Snooping through his dad’s workshop and in the attic, Scotty hit the mother lode a full 10 days before Christmas. A new bicycle, video games, a skateboard, some table games, a basketball, a couple of posters for his room, a wristwatch… this was going to be an amazing Christmas.
It turned into the worst 10 days of Scotty’s young life. [click to continue…]
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Jason Strong hates Christmas.
Well, at least this part of it.
And on this quiet Monday afternoon, he lies face-up on the stage floor, staring at the blackened ceiling of the church building he calls home, wishing it would all just go away.
Jason’s a twentysomething worship leader at a contemporary church. On his more philosophical, argumentative days he can tell you all the reasons why worship music should reflect today’s culture, not try to recreate the culture of Lawrence Welk. “Dude, nobody drives to work listening to pipe organs on the radio,” he loves to say. And they certainly don’t at Ovation Church, either.
But Christmas is a problem. “Angels We Have Heard on High” and “Joy to the World” tend to make lead guitarists feel a bit out of place. And at Ovation, even the youngest of adults starts pining away for the Christmas traditions of their childhood.
Ugh.
In the spirit of the season, Jason and the band try to cooperate. But honestly, he feels like a fool – leading a band of square pegs into jolly-round holes. What the heck is “Excesis Deo” anyway? And don’t even get him started on “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear.”
But there’s a back story to Jason’s simmering frustration. [click to continue…]
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“The time is coming and is already here when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for anyone who will worship him that way” (John 4:23)
For centuries Christians have broken fellowship and broken God’s heart in the name of worship. We have argued over form, anguished over the opinions of others, and attacked those who looked or acted differently. Meanwhile in Heaven, the search goes on…
When you can sit at the feet of Jesus and rivet your attention to him, even when life is incredibly distracting around you… [click to continue…]
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Let my lips pour out praise,
Let my tongue sing of your promise,
Let my soul live that I may praise you.
(From Psalm 119:171-172, 175)
(Note to self)…
When you’re stymied by writer’s block,
slowed by illness,
sleepy emotionally, or
stressed by unfinished business,
go back to the basics.
God is – I’m His.
He has designed and purchased,
created and redeemed
the right to a life
– my life –
poured out,
singing,
lavishly living in praise.
Creativity flows from where worship goes.
And nobody animates tired souls like the Living God.
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