My Worship Revolution

Almost another month has past with no posts.
What a slacker I am.
Remember back when blogging was less popular, more rogue, and I could just blog when I felt like it and didn’t feel like I had to? The good ole days.
Also, still figuring out the rhythms of working 30 hours plus working on Missio Dei stuff and finding time for blogging, family, and…oh yeah, sleep.
Yeah, yeah, yeah… you want some cheese with your whine? Welcome to the real world.
Neither Facebook or my recent addiction to playing Settlers of Catan online to unwind are helping either.

Anywho…just a quick post to let you know I started the blog over on the Missio Dei site now where I’ll post some stuff more relevant to our community and what’s happening. Still need to get it set up better, but click here to swing by and check out the first post, and expect plenty more to come.

Some other big news for us that you may have already caught on Facebook or Twitter.
But if you didn’t, you’ll have to wait till tomorrow to see it here…with pictures.
Ooooooh.

Books without pictures make me kinda sad.
That’s all for now.

Has it really been almost a month since I posted last?
April has been pretty crazy.
Some quick updates and recap for you.

• Busy month as we entered our second month of raising support.
• Was actually out of town for 19 days since the beginning of April.
• Had a great time leading worship at Rancho Vista Church on Easter and getting to spend the holiday with my mom & sister.
• Unfortunately our family decided to get sick on Easter.  The day after, Caleb ralphed for the first time in his 3 1/2 years of life and was then kind enough to pass it on to Rachel and I who stayed up for hours on end in the bathroom that night.
• Got to share at Oasis church who also hosted a lunch for us to raise support.  Pretty cool for Rachel to stand in the building her dad led the church he planted in, 20 years after he started it, and get to share about God calling us to church plant.
• That night we had a support raising dessert with a group of core families from the Crosswinds days.  Again, so cool to have a bunch of special peeps who watched Rachel grow up since she was 6 years old lay hands on us and pray for us and Missio Dei Community.
• Had a fun trip to Portland where we got to hang with Kari and I got to connect with some really great friends there: Boomer, Lisa, Izak, Linzee, and Noah.
• Went to Catalyst West Coast with Rachel and Katie.  Great time of connecting with others and getting some good nuggets of wisdom to chew on as we all dream about and lead into the future of Missio Dei.
• Today I start training to work the next couple of months for the U.S. Census Bureau.  Perfect job to get us a little more distance while we keep on raising support.  Right now we are about 33% of the way to our initial support raising goal.
• We drove back home last night with Rachel’s little brother, Isaac, in the car with us.  He’s moving in with us for the month of May to help out with the kidlets while Rachel finishes up her tutoring job and I start the Census job.

There you go.
A really quick snapshot of the past month of our lives.

In the middle of all that, we’ve still been able to get together regularly in Santa Cruz with our starting crew for Missio Dei Community.
It’s been cool getting to worship together and ask God what he wants to do with us in this community.
Last week we got together for some planning of the summer, and tonight we gather again to worship, pray, and hang with one another.

It’s a very different season of life for us.
We’re still figuring out our rhythms and there are plenty of uncertainties, but I’m trying to enjoy it as much as possible right now.
Even with all the uncertainties, it’s exciting to be right in the middle of seeing God work, guide, and provide for us and our family.

Now I’ll try and get better at working in the rhythm of blogging again so you can share the journey with us!
Feel free to throw out any questions about any of it in the comments and I’ll get back to sharing our life with you hear on the blog.
Now it’s off to work for “the man!”

If Jesus had a Facebook page, what would it look like on the Holy Week leading up to Easter morning?
You no longer have to wonder.

That’s a screen shot.
Click here to check out the whole thing.

Pretty funny, and pretty accurate, too.
You might even learn a thing or two reading it.
Thanks to Chris Gott for turning me on to that.
Good stuff.

HT: Eugene Cho

A few weeks ago I was in the living room putting together a set to lead worship at Rancho Vista Church.
Caleb was on the computer in our bedroom playing games.
As I was singing, he walked over and closed the door.  Apparently I was disturbing him.
A few minutes later I was singing his favorite worship song.

The door opens and Caleb has a big smirk on his face.
As I get to the chorus, he starts belting out, “Glory to God, Forever!” and dancing.
Micah is standing by the table and starts bouncing up and down doing his own dancing as well.
Before long, I stand up from the lazy boy, and I’m standing in front of the TV leading my 2 boys in worship.
One singing out the words and spinning around.  The other a huge smile on his face bouncing up and down.
And I was going for it.

I’ve led worship in front of hundreds of people at a time.
Never reached the thousands of people at one time level.
But I don’t think either could possibly compare to the joy of leading those two in worship in the living room of my house.

Until it all came to a screeching halt of course when Calebs spinning ended with a giant collision in the middle of the room with his walking younger brother.
Blessed.

Oh, and here’s a quick video of Caleb rocking Glory to God at the dinner table the week before.
Good to know I have a fill in if I ever get sick.
He’s even got the fist pump.
Just wait.  He’ll be schooling me in worship leading before you know it (if he isn’t already).
You’ll understand the post title when you watch the video.

I’ve fallen behind a little on the blogging.
Been traveling, leading worship, and raising support.
All good times…for the most part.

But today is St. Patrick’s Day.
Just to remind us who St. Patrick even is, I invite you to check out this post from last year.
And when you pinch someone cause they aren’t wearing green, remember it’s all because of the missionary endeavors of Patrick in Ireland. Natural connection, of course.

Speaking of, the other totally understandable way to celebrate the evangelization of an entire country is drinking beer.
So join me at The Catalyst tonight to listen to The Wild Rovers in the Atrium. 9pm. No cover.
And I’ve been told I have to try an Irish Car Bomb since they’re 6 bucks tonight and I’ve never had one.
Hope to see you there!

I read this tonight.
It’s the Shakertown Pledge.
Written in 1973.

Recognizing that Earth and the fullness thereof is a gift from our gracious God, and that we are called to cherish, nurture, and provide loving stewardship for Earth’s resources, and recognizing that life itself is a gift, and a call to responsibility, joy, and celebration, I make the following declarations:

1. I declare myself a world citizen
2. I commit myself to lead an ecologically sound life.
3. I commit myself to lead a life of creative simplicity and to share my personal wealth with the world’s poor.
4. I commit myself to join with others in the reshaping of institutions in order to bring about a more just global society in which all people have full access to the needed resources for their physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual growth.
5. I commit myself to occupational accountability, and so doing I will seek to avoid the creation of products which cause harm to others.
6. I affirm the gift of my body and commit myself to its proper nourishment and physical wellbeing.
7. I commit myself to examine continually my relations with others and to attempt to relate honestly, morally, and lovingly to those around me.
8. I commit myself to personal renewal through prayer, meditation, and study.
9. I commit myself to responsible participation in a community of faith.

Wow.  What could the Kingdom impact look like if we all actually committed ourselves to such things?
Which commitment stands out to you the most?
Where do you need to begin?

Yup.  It’s been almost a year since my last Worship Confessional.
My very first week at CLC I started doing Worship Confessionals.
Do I thought it fitting to do one for my last week on staff as well.
That, and several people insisted I record the ‘Bromance Mash Up.’

The Set
Hosanna
You’re Alive

Bromance Mash Up

You Gave Your Life Away
Restless
Glory To God

I was told by some that we have the worst clapping church in history.  So we played this instructional video before worship to start off with a bit of fun.
Restless was awesome to introduce.  Unfortunately I capoed the wrong fret and I’m ticked at myself cause it would have been a bit better up a step.
Singing Guy Love with Chris was awesome and actually went over better than I expected it to I think.
It was a lot of fun to roch out with a full band for my last week after 3 years of worshipping hard with our CLC family.

Below is a recap of the whole morning with clips.
And below that I embedded Guy Love in it’s entirety for your viewing pleasure.

And there you have it.
That was yesterday.
And today marks the beginning of a new chapter for us.
CLC – thanks again for going to the throne with us every week, for investing in us and in the lives of our kids, and for loving us during this season of ministry.  We are praying that God will bless CLC greatly and do amazing things there in 2010.

I’m in the process of rapidly getting website and other info rolling for the new church.
Our name at this point, which will most likely stick, is Missio Dei Community.
Why?  Well, that’s another post that I’ll share soon.
The quick and easy info…it’s latin and means “mission of God.”

SO – I thought you could help me to pick the best URL for the website.
Poll should be embedded below.
And please feel free to leave any comments here as well.

Thanks for helping!

Today I drive to Tracy for a meeting with the church multiplication team for Converge, the denomination that we are partnering with in our church planting adventure (formerly Baptist General Conference).  This is where things will be officially finalized and kicked into high gear.

Rachel and I have known for a number of years now that God has called us to a ministry of church planting and multiplication.  But we always knew we didn’t want to just go at it alone.  Even in a context where we are simplifying our ideas of what ‘church’ is and using an atypical approach and model to church planting, we recognize that there is great wisdom in 2000 years of church history.  There is great value in being coached by those who have done it before and being connected to those who are in the trenches as well.  So why Converge you may ask.

Over the past year we looked at several organizations and talked with multiple people.  On one hand I give two reasons that I was drawn to Converge…primarily.  One – they major on the majors.  Two – they aren’t tied to one model of church planting (at least not in our district anyway).
But in addition to that, they are a movement with a history and passion for starting and multiplying churches.

Ed Stetzer is the author of several books and a very well known and reputable name when it comes to church planting and leadership.  A few months back he spoke at a Converge event, and this is what he had to say about the denomination:

I have written before that I believe that Converge Worldwide is the leading mid-size church planting denomination in America today. Just a few months ago, I was in California training their church planters. Today, it seemed like most of the attendees at the meeting had planted the churches they pastored. They ooze church planting– and it has changed their denomination for the better.

In denominational life, as in so many areas of life, what you celebrate, you become. Meetings in some denominations are “celebrating” everything BUT church planting. But, by celebrating church planting, the folks at Converge Worldwide have created a momentum that has transformed their movement.

Check out the rest of Ed’s blog post here.
Just one of the many reasons I’m excited about working with the crew at Converge.

Allow me to briefly share with you the highlight of my week at Recreate.
Soon after I’ll fill you in on more of the week.

Today is the release date for an album called Beautiful Things from a band called Gungor.
Formerly Michael Gungor Band.

Truth is, I wasn’t really looking all that forward to Gungor.
No good reason.  Only I knew he had helped write Friend Of God, and I shared a few weeks ago about my love for that song.
Didn’t really know much else about him.
OH MY GOODNESS.
Now I know that he is possibly the best musician in Christian music out there right now.
(I know some would say that doesn’t mean much, but he’s better than most secular artists too, if that helps.)

The concert would be better referred to as an experience.
There was media that went with it, a 10 piece band including a cello, violins, a xylophone, and a freaking keytar of all things!
It was written in 2 movements – dust and breath.
I was quickly immersed in this spiritual musical experience that absolutely blew me, and everyone else in the room, away.
At one point, they were playing and I remember feeling so raptured by the beauty of the music and emotion and I looked around to see hands in the air and tears on faces around me.
Mind you this was during a long stretch of purely instrumental music – no words.
It’s been a while since I’ve seen music in and of itself effect people in such a way in the culture we live in.
Chris Vacher wrote a great post about the experience over here.

Real quick, let me invite you to check out 2 videos.
The first one below is them sharing about their new album and the experience.
Right below that is a little video I put together from Recreate.  The first 6 minutes or so are the start of their performance.  Then, there is a clip from Kim who was sitting next to me of the last minute.
You gotta love all the heads bobbing in unison at 7:05.

The video doesn’t even begin to do it justice.
But at least it gives you a small sense of how we responded that afternoon.

I highly recommend that you go buy that album now.
Enjoy.