Worship Confessional 08.31.08

This was our last week of our series on the Fruit of the Spirit. We had a great time of worship. We just lifted up who God is. We focused a lot on the holiness of God. We did the song "Everything" by Tim Hughes. That song is simply amazing. It's very simple, yet very powerful. It's even a little high in range, but it's one of those songs where range doesn't matter to them. They just belt it out. I also pulled out an oldie from Vineyard's Hungry album, called "You are a Holy God". I really love that song. It makes me think of heaven and worship in eternity. I encouraged our people to join the angels in worship singing holy to our God.

Here's the set list:

"Holy Reign" - mine
"Everything" - Tim Hughes
"You are a Holy God" - Vineyard Hungry album
"Holy" - Brenton Brown


This is also a contribution to Sunday Setlist.

It's Raining

I've had a great day. This morning, I finished and recorded a new song (just a cheap demo), and I led worship at Easminster Presbyterian. It's still such an awesome experience to lead worship. I really do feel privileged to get these opportunities to serve the local church. After that, I got some Burger King, and went home. Tonight, I actually finished another song I'm excited about. It's called "Liberty". It's an upbeat song about freedom in Christ. I recorded that, and I'm satisfied with the demo. I love the whole writing and recording process. Nothing polishes your vocals better than recording. You hear all the ugliness that hides in sound systems. When you record, there's no where to hide. I'm done for today, and I think I'm going to go to bed. It's raining right now, and to me it's always peaceful to hear the rain and go to sleep.

I got Chris Tomlin's new CD in the mail today, so maybe I'll put that on and go to dreamland. I'm praying about tomorrow and readying my hear for worship. I'll be posting tomorrow afternoon about our worship service. See you then.

A Day Late

I meant to blog yesterday, but I went to bed when I got home. Here was my Friday:

I went to the beach (gotta love florida) yesterday after lunch. I rarely get to the beach, and I really love it. I read a lot, listened to Chair and Microphone on the ipod, and just took in the beach. I love the beach, because you can just enjoy the nature of God. I love getting out in the water and looking at the endless ocean. For me, it's one of my favorite places to worship and think about God and His creation.
...and I got burned. Hopefully not too bad. We'll see.

Friday night, my friend Matt and I went to see The Dark Knight again. I rarely go to the movies. I think as you get older, you start getting real picky about what movies you watch, and especially which ones are "theater worthy". I will say that the Dark Knight is very "theater worthy", and I actually saw it twice.

My wife and kids are in Orlando with her folks at a time share for the weekend. My house is quiet, but I do miss my family. That's what I did yesterday. Fun, fun, fun.

Stat of the Day

According to the Southern Baptist Convention:

88% of children raised in evangelical homes leave church by the time they are 18 years old, never to return again. -Worship Leader Magazine


What's causing this?

Progress

This is a beautiful sight. My Outlook inbox is some of my to-do list. The rest of the stuff is on my calendar. I haven't seen my inbox empty in a very long time. I can't believe it's empty. Oh, it won't be empty for long, but I shall bask in this moment, as short as it may be, and hope, just maybe I didn't accidently delete something that wasn't done yet.

Word Wednesday .::8

Word Wednesday is posted every Wednesday. Each week I post a scripture that I've read that week that has spoken to me in a fresh way. I believe that if we read God's Word every day, He will give us at least one scripture every week that will impact us. My hope is to see others comment and share a scripture that they have read.

Here's the scripture that stuck this week:

Isaiah 1:21 ESV
How the faithful city has become a whore, she who was full of justice! Righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers.

To be very blunt, I can be a whore.
I know that's rough to read, but it's harder to say.
When I turn my worship away from God, and my faith becomes impure, I am being unfaithful to the Lover of my soul. Sure, the first thing I thought when I read this was, that America has totally turned away from the faith it was founded on. That's easy to think. The hard part was seeing myself in this verse. Conviction is a very good and healthy thing. When I stop feeling bad or just feeling in general about my sins, I am growing further and further away from my God, the God of justice and righteousness. I want to be a faithful city on a hill that cannot be hidden and that shines with a pure light.


What's your Word?

Durbin in China

This morning, I got an email from a guy who lives in China, whose name is Paul Durbin. I'm pretty sure he's one of the only Durbins in China. Not a real common last name, unless your in Taylorville, IL. Click here to check out his blog.

Quote of the Day

It came from my 4 year old son, Joshua. As we were walking in Walmart, we passed by a couple of ladies who weren't watching and we had to kind of side step them to avoid a collision. After we passed them, my son looked up at me and said,
"Daddy, I didn't say 'Get out of my way, jerk.'"

Do I commend him for self-restraint? Do I ask him where he heard that? I opted for positive reinforcement, by saying, "Yeah, that's not nice to say."

Worship Confessional 08.24.08

Today's worship was special. We had a rough week here in "321". Tropical Storm Fay was a mad lady that decided to hover over our area for a couple of days and ended up flooding a lot our city. We had people coming to church today carrying in the burden of flooded homes and evacuations. It was a touch situation to approach. God put the words in my mouth. I didn't plan on saying it, but it was appropriate. I just said, "Well, we've had a crazy week, but we're here right now. Let's just leave the week behind us for a little while enjoy God's presence together." I felt a united "Amen". Not audibly, I just felt it from the people. We had a great set. A highlight was "Your Name". That's got to be one of the greatest worship songs I've heard in a very long time. It's so powerful. I quoted Acts 4:11-12 over the people. It was somewhat of an evangelistic moment in the middle of our worship set. I just really felt led to go there.

Here was the set list:

"Creation Praise"-mine
"Your Name"-Paul Baloche
"All Who are Thirsty"-Brenton Brown
"My Peace"-mine

This is also a contribution to Sunday Setlists.

Dry Your Eyes

My son and I have recently discovered the fun of playing NERF football in the house.(I should have a funny video up soon) Today, I pegged him in the chin, and he laughed. Then, Jennifer said something like, "Ahhh...Gary, that was too hard" and of course, he starts crying as if he got hit with a bowling ball. So I said, "Josh, boys don't cry playing sports" to which he responded "I do".

He's definitely going to be like his Daddy. Never to be confined in a box, no matter who says it.

Splish Splash

Jade havin' fun, gettin' clean.

Flooding = Rednecks

Surfers love to challenge the ocean. Rednecks love to challenge a flooded street. Flooding can really bring out the crazy rednecks...even in Melbourne, FL.

Yearbook Yourself

I found this on Pete Wilson's blog. The site is www.yearbookyourself.com.
Apparently, this is what I would look like in 1976:


Also a contribution to Creative Chaos.

FAY

So, we've been stuck in our house since Monday night. We're near the end of Tropical Storm Fay. It's been raining for a while and Brevard County is flooding. It seems to be calming down a bit. Pray for the people who are experiencing crazy flooding in their homes and businesses.

Here's our church at about 10am this morning.
It's actually gotten worse:

Here's our neighborhood:

And here's a little video:

Josh is a Fish

We have great friends down here in Florida. They have watched Josh so many times for us when we needed a sitter. Josh loves to go there and swim, and the last time he was there he swam without his swimming vest, without any lessons. He loves the water. Here's a video.

Word Wednesday .::7

Word Wednesday is posted every Wednesday. Each week I post a scripture that I've read that week that has spoken to me in a fresh way. I believe that if we read God's Word every day, He will give us at least one scripture every week that will impact us. My hope is to see others comment and share a scripture that they have read.

Here's the scripture that stuck this week:

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 ESV

9 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil.

10 For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!

We all fall down and with God's power we can get up. Sometimes, God uses people to help us up. God never meant for us to be alone, even from the beginning of man. I'm pretty independent, but I can't live Christianity out alone. I need others to sharpen me and I need real friends to be truthful with me and love me at the same time. Even songwriting is becoming more effective as people are writing together more and more and creating greater works. I appreciate my small group that I'm in every week, and friends that inspire me to be better. Great scripture and reminder.

What's your Word?

People Let You Down

I just found out some horrible news today. The song, "Healer", that I have talked much about on here, is now shadowed by fraud. From what I've read on an article from Australia on the net today, Michael Guglielmucci, the man who wrote the song, has evidently lied about his cancer, which has fueled such meaning around the song. The video of him leading it at Hillsong, with an oxygen tank, has been pulled from YouTube. Last Sunday, I introduced this song to our congregation, and I also sent the video links to our church via email to inspire them and tell the story of this song.
Now, the first thing that I questioned, was the song itself. Is this song actually of God, when it was penned through fraud? Here's my conclusion, through thought and prayer: God definitely is our healer and our portion. Every word of this song is truth. It's truth from God's Word and Spirit. Was this man led by the Spirit while writing this song? I don't know. Maybe. Maybe not.
Matt Redman once said in an article that when God wants his people to hear a song and learn a song, He will bring it to them. No matter if a record label is involved or not, God will move that song to where it needs to go. This song is all over the world right now. It's helping people and pointing people to God.
It's so important that our motives are right. Why do we go to church? Why do we worship? Why do we sing songs of praise to God? Is it because it's popular or because of a person who wrote the song? People will let you down time and time again. I've seen too many people leave the church because of a person. I've seen too many people have faith in a pastor instead of God, and it always ends in disaster. As a Christian, I must point people to God, because I'm going to mess up some where along the lines, and I won't always be there for everyone. God is, God was, and God will always be. Ironically, last Sunday's sermon was on faithfulness. Thankfully, I didn't focus on the man who wrote this song. When we sang this song to God, it really didn't matter who wrote it. At that moment we were crying out to our Healer and our portion, and He is faithful right now even though is messenger wasn't. God will never let us down.

p.s. Sometimes you write songs that end up ministering to you more than anyone else. I pray and hope that Michael will find healing by God, ironically or sovereignly, using this song in his life.

2 things to learn from this...

#1 - Don't go windsurfing during a tropical storm.

#2 - If you must go windsurfing during a tropical storm, and you start to fly across the beach...let go before crossing the street.



It's easy for me to point this out, not being experienced in this. The news said he was in critical condition tonight. Scary stuff.

This happened in Ft. Lauderdale.

Bible in a Minute

Bible In A Minute - barats and bereta

Home Improvement

My dad was in town last week, and I helped him do some really cool stuff to my house. We re-mulched the beds and put rocks in one bed outside and put weed protection stuff down. Then he built a floor in my attic and we put all the boxes in my garage in the attic, so I now can park both cars in the garage. He also mounted a cool rack for my hose on the side of the house. To top it off, he mounted a rack of hooks in the garage, so I can now hang up most of the various things that just sit on the floor of the garage. He's one of those sick people who actually enjoys doing this stuff. My dad rocks! Here's some pics:

Feeshin'

Good friends of ours took us out fishing Sunday night. They had bought Josh a Spiderman fishing pole for his birthday. Being that I am horrible at all things outdoors, they showed us the ropes on everything. By about the third time, Josh could cast and reel by himself. I in turn learned how to take the fish off the hook, which was a pain. Josh caught about 10 fish. They were really biting more than usual they said. That's literally more than I've caught in my entire life. I'm "that guy" who doesn't catch anything when we go on a fishing outing with everybody, so he doesn't get it from me. My grandpa is an excellent fisherman, so that might explain it. He actually calls it "feeshin'", so he's pretty hard core. Here's a short video from the night. Allow the song to grab you.

Free Music

If you like acoustic, emo worship music that costs nothing, you'll like this. Phil Wickham, a worship artist, is offering an acoustic live album as a free download off his site. I listened to it today, and I'm loving it. Here's the link: www.philwickham.com

New Tunes

I just received a couple of new CD's in the mail today, which is a day before the release date. I am holding Charlie Hall's new album, "The Bright Sadness", and David Crowder's new live CD/DVD. I can't wait to hear Hall's new album. I'll probably do a review on it soon.

Worship

I'm passionate and called to lead worship in church. People singing to God is irreplaceable. It's a beautiful sound. Matt, a friend of mine sent me this video, and I thought it was thought provoking.

Worship Confessional 08.17.08

Healer, Healer, Healer. This song is it right now. It seems like there's one song every year that takes the cake, and I think Healer is this year's song. God is using this song all over the world, and today our church finally got introduced to it. It was powerful. This is a song that our church needs right now. I'm sure, like a lot of churches out there, people are hurting and broken. There are broken families, broken marriages, and people that are going through physical illness. God gave me a verse last night that I quoted this morning. It's Jeremiah 17:14 - "Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved, for you are my praise." We look for healing and rescue in the wrong places sometimes, but when we go to the Lord, we experience true healing.

The sermon was on faithfulness, so we focused on God's faithfulness in our worship set. Here's the set list:

"Unchanging" - Chris Tomlin
"Healer" - Hillsong
"Great is Thy Faithfulness" - HYMN
"Forever" - Chris Tomlin

This also a contribution Sunday Setlists.

Expectant

I am really expecting God to move in our service tomorrow morning. We're going to be focusing on His faithfulness. I'm excited about the sermon. Whenever God's faithfulness is addressed, I'm always reminded of my lack of faithfulness, and how much He deserves my faithfulness. We're introducing a song tomorrow that is sweeping the world right now. It's called "Healer", and it was just released by Hillsong. I've watched it climb to #3 on the Itunes song chart the last couple of days, and it really excites me to know that after tomorrow, our church will know this amazing, anointed song. God gave me a scripture today, and I am praying that scripture into my heart and will probably share it with our church. If you read this tonight, just pray for me and our church as we approach God's presence tomorrow listening to Him, and bringing Him praise.

Civility

"courteous conduct"

So, this is one of the only times I will talk about politics, because it's not my bag. I am definitely not loyal to or defined by any political party. My first allegiance is to a King and His kingdom. I am an American, and I love my country and freedom, and I would serve my country if I were called to do so. That's my balance on it all. I don't have it all figured out by any means, so I don't broadcast my opinions, because of my ignorance.

I really appreciated the forum that Saddleback Church and Rick Warren provided tonight. Unlike other Pastors and Christian leaders, Pastor Warren embraced both candidates with civility, and not attacking them. I personally think the attacks on Obama that I'm hearing from certain Christian leaders could possibly change if they met face to face. There is a Christian leader right now who has a video that is asking everyone to "pray for rain" on the Democratic National Convention during Obama's speech. In contrast, tonight, we were able to hear from the two candidates fairly, in a Christ-honoring environment. I've been in Saddleback Church a few times, and I plan on going back, because of the spirit of that church. The Holy Spirit is truly moving in that place, and you can tell by the spirit of the people that are being led by a truly Spirit-led pastor. Tonight, it was no surprise to witness that spirit of the people in their response to the two candidates. There was no mud-slinging or high-school name-calling. It was mature and civil, and I'm praising God that our country finally got to see that kind of spirit in the church. There are sooo many negative feelings toward the church right now, and it was great that the media finally had no option, but to show the true Christian spirit that should shine in churches.

I agreed with things from both sides, and disagreed with things from both sides. CNN and Fox News seem to agree on one thing: this was a great forum to hear from the candidates. May God use this for "the furtherance of the Gospel", as Paul said in Philippians, and may we, as Christians, be civil in our political views, instead of attacking. It's always amazing to me how much more I can get accomplished when I am calm and kind with my words. It's really just the basics of Christianity. The Proverbs say, "A soft word turns away wrath." I have tested this in obedience, and it never, ever has failed. It worked tonight, even in politics.


p.s. If you saw the singers and musicians performing at the beginning, a friend of mine, Emily Gomez was up there rockin' it.



What did you think of the event?

Third Day is back in my car

I am loving the new Third Day CD. I've kind of fallen out of their stuff the last 5-6 years or so, but this is a very well done project. It's very reminiscent of their first album, which is my favorite. If you like Third Day, you won't be disappointed. On a bonus note, if you like Gavin Degraw, I think you'll really dig this album. Check it out.

The Stand

Well, this morning when my wife went to go get Jade out of her crib, she found her standing up in her crib. The day before we were just noticing how it appeared she was trying to stand herself up. When she starts walking, she'll be nosing into everything. She has really grown up a lot in the last couple of months. Here's a video for your viewing pleasure:

Timeless Motion Slide

We're in the planning season of our next night of worship. It's called "Timeless". Below is the "motion announcement slide". That's right, I didn't just settle for still pic on the screen. It's in motion, and we are pumped about this upcoming night. We have a guest speaker coming in, and not to mention a time of praising our God together using songs that are just "timeless". Those certain songs that just won't go away. Hope to see you there.

This is also a contribution to creative chaos at ragamuffinsoul.

Word Wednesday .::6

Word Wednesday is posted every Wednesday. Each week I post a scripture that I've read that week that has spoken to me in a fresh way. I believe that if we read God's Word every day, He will give us at least one scripture every week that will impact us. My hope is to see others comment and share a scripture that they have read.

Here's the scripture that stuck this week:

Proverbs 20:24 ESV

"A man's steps are from the Lord;
how then can man understand his way?"

This verse reminded me about God's sovereign plan for my life. I can be somewhat of a control freak, so I like to know what's coming around the corner if possible. God has really taken me on a journey working in and out of the church, and He's constantly surprising me. One thing I've learned is that if I all the things that God planned for me, I probably would chicken out altogether. Ignorance is bliss, and ignorance can be a blessing. We've just got to trust God and follow Him intensely and He will take us to where we're meant to be. Even if we don't understand every step of the journey.

What's your Word?

Happy Birthday

This post is here to say happy birthday to my amazing wife, Jennifer. I lead worship at church and do a lot of media stuff. I also do the college class on Sunday mornings. At home, I mow the grass and take out the trash...that rhymed. My wife does pretty much everything else that pertains to our wonderful little life. I will not list the things she does, because that could backfire per me forgetting something. I'll just say that she does it all. I love her more now than ever. There is no other female on this earth that could put up with me and still love me the way she does, and I am so thankful for her birth. So, happy birthday to the best wife and mother I know...and here's a little Office humor for a laugh...enjoy.

Slap Face

Worship Confessional 08.10.08

Today was one of those days that I love. My favorite days to lead worship is when I walk into the worship center and sense what I call a buzz. It's hard to explain or describe. It's some unseen, unheard quality in the air, and I can actually sense that the people or ready to worship. I call it "the buzz". I walked in and immediately felt that today. From the first note to the last, the people engaged, and I just walked off feeling so grateful, yet unworthy to lead these people every week. Here was our set list:

"Our Love is Loud" - David Crowder Band
"If I Have Not Love" - Matt Redman
"The Least I Can Do" - Mark Roach
"Alleluia (Our Praise Is) - mine

If you haven't tried "If I Have Not Love" by Redman yet, it's an amazing song for corporate worship. It's really easy and very congregational friendly, and yet it's very powerful, because it's a scripture song. Our crowd has grabbed it from the first time we did it.

This is also a contribution to Sunday Setlists.

Easy to Remember

So, to follow up my post yesterday about 08/08/08 day, I heard something else. Evidently, there was a baby born yesterday and here's the stats:

8th day...8th month...2008
8:08am...8 pounds
and yeah, you guessed it, 8 ounces

This will be very convenient and easy to remember in the family.
I feel sorry for whoever was born on June 6th, 2006...or maybe I fear them?

Click here to read more.

Sermon Video Illustrations

If you use videos for your sermons, here's a couple that came out of our church.
We have 2 videos on Sermonspice.com:

1. "Singular Worship" (this is a great concept video we made back when there was actually a Cingular Wireless company. It's about worship that is just between you and God, or, exclusive worship.)

2. "I Love My Space" (this is a really great video that is great for student ministries, and now, really for everyone. It has actually done very well on SermonSpice.com. Obviously, we took the whole "myspace" idea and turned it spiritual.)

You can purchase both videos by clicking here. The funds that have come in from these have helped our worship ministry do some things we probably wouldn't otherwise do. Check it out.


This is also a contribution to Creative Chaos //21 at Ragamuffinsoul.

08/08/08

We're going to be celebrating the triple number days until 12/12/12. Today is 08/08/08. My mother-in-law is scared of a terrorist attack, and today is my father-in-law's birthday. I think there's going to be a lot of weddings today. It will be an easy anniversary date to remember, especially for guys. Is there a secret meaning for today's date? I don't know. I guess we'll find out.

My New Shirt

So, I wore my new t-shirt today that I got from Old Navy. It was only $4.99. The thing is, I have received compliments and comments all day long about this shirt. It truly is a phenomenon. I need to buy 6 other ones of different colors for each day of the week. I'm not still not sure why this shirt is so popular today.

I call this pose "the gas pumper".

Friends

We had a great time tonight hanging with some friends in Jacksonville. The grandparents babysat, so we got to really relax and enjoy the evening. I haven't laughed so much in a while. It was a blast. We had dinner with Levi and Ashley (who recorded my latest album), and long-time friend Daniel and his fiance, Crystal. We ate at Longhorn Steakhouse which never disappoints. We were there for probably 2 1/2 hours and it flew by. Fun times.

SCC on Good Morning America

I watched this this morning. I felt different things:

1. Inspiration and appreciation for SCC and his family for being so faithful in representing Christ for so many years, and even through a tragedy like this.

2. Sadness for his family, and just asking God "why?".

3. More of an awareness of the little time that I have with my kids, and how I need to make the most of it.

4. Belief in God, because only God could shine in people's lives in a way like this.

Word Wednesday .::5

Word Wednesday is posted every Wednesday. Each week I post a scripture that I've read that week that has spoken to me in a fresh way. I believe that if we read God's Word every day, He will give us at least one scripture every week that will impact us. My hope is to see others comment and share a scripture that they have read.

I just finished the Psalms this week and I love one of the last chapters. Here it is:

Psalm 148

1 Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord from the heavens;
praise him in the heights!

2 Praise him, all his angels;
praise him, all his hosts!

3 Praise him, sun and moon,
praise him, all you shining stars!

4 Praise him, you highest heavens,
and you waters above the heavens!

5 Let them praise the name of the Lord!
For he commanded and they were created.

6 And he established them forever and ever;
he gave a decree, and it shall not pass away.

7 Praise the Lord from the earth,
you great sea creatures and all deeps,

8 fire and hail, snow and mist,
stormy wind fulfilling his word!

9 Mountains and all hills,
fruit trees and all cedars!

10 Beasts and all livestock,
creeping things and flying birds!

11 Kings of the earth and all peoples,
princes and all rulers of the earth!

12 Young men and maidens together,
old men and children!

13 Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted; his majesty is above earth and heaven.

14 He has raised up a horn for his people, praise for all his saints, for the people of Israel who are near to him. Praise the Lord!


What can I say about this passage. If you remember English class, there's a lot of "understood you's" in this passage. Praise is not a suggestion. This is definitely a command, and it is all meant for God's pleasure, yet God is so good that he gives us pleasure in His praise.

What's your Word?

Sincerely,

Have you ever struggled on what to put when you're signing off on a letter. I've been noticing different ones lately. This morning I got an email, and the person signed off:

Believe,
Phil


I have never seen that one before. Most of the time I skip it and just go for the name, because I'm a chicken.

What's your sign-off?

Do you need a laugh today?

Here you go...

Balled Out!

Crawling

Jade started crawling Saturday. Here's a little footage of it.

As promised...

Here's the uncut footage of Josh's...um...episode in the car on vacation. Enjoy.

Worship Confessional 08.03.08

Today was incredible. We started off the morning by finding electrical problems in our sound booth. There was a total of 3 outlets out, so I grabbed a power stripped and began consolidating everything together. Long story short, everything worked great. We're just praying that we get to the bottom of our on going electrical problem this week.
After that, I began getting ready personally, and going through the set list one final time in my head and heart. I couldn't get past the last song in our set. It just didn't feel right, and God basically told me to change it up. I ended up replacing it with the Newsboys, "He Reigns", which is a big one at our church.
It was one of those worship sets that just never came down. We worshiped for about 20-25 minutes, and God's presence was really heavy in the room. By the time we got to "He Reigns", we had already gone pretty deep in our worship. So, when we started the intro, the place immediately got into it with a clap, and they were singing the verses loud, which those verses are not the most congregational friendly, comparatively speaking. Basically, the discontentment I felt that led to putting that song in last minute, was the Holy Spirit leading us to that moment.

Here was the set list:

"You are My Friend"-mine
"Mighty to Save"-Hillsong
"God of Justice"-Tim Hughes
"He Reigns"-Newsboys

Also, I had a cool treat by meeting a fellow worship leader, Eddie Mann, from way up in Pennsylvania. We had connected previously on Songdiscovery Community. He was down for vacation. I really enjoyed it, because it's rare that we can meet face to face, when we all have our own busy world's going on.

This is also a contribution to Sunday Setlists.