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Archive - February, 2010

Exploring the Journey of Lent

February 26, 2010 in Ponderings, Worship with 2 Comments

It’s been said that our life betrays what we believe. Or that our beliefs are betrayed by our life. Either way, most, if not all, Christians say that Christ is the most important thing to them, but their living says they are more concerned with life, work, status, homes, cars, retirement plans, etc. Most aspects of life reflect a forgetting of our Maker, Redeemer, and Savior. I’m not here to tell you how a life that has Christ as the most important thing will be played out in you specifically, but to simply cause you to think.

This aspect of drift and forgetting is a common occurrence in all of our lives. The issue isn’t so much if it has happened (because it will at some point), but recognizing it and making appropriate course corrections.

The season of Lent, at its core, calls us back to God, back to basics, and back to the spiritual realities of life in Christ. Back to the things that we say we believe in. It’s a time when we can ask Christ to once again put to death sin and indifference toward God and others so that we might fulfill the Greatest Commandment to love the Lord our God with all of who we are and to love our neighbors as ourselves. We can once again enter fully into the joy of the Lord Who is our strength. Continue Reading…

[QOTW] This Life

February 25, 2010 in QOTW with 1 Comment

From Martin Luther:

This life, therefore, is not godliness but the process of becoming godly, not health but getting well, not being but becoming, not rest but exercise. We are not now what we shall be, but we are on the way. The process is not yet finished, but it is actively going on. This is not the goal but it is the right road. At present, everything does not gleam and sparkle, but everything is being cleansed.

Found via Tyler at Man of Depravity. Thanks!

Why Sing New Songs?

February 23, 2010 in Worship Leading with 3 Comments

If you attend a church for any amount of time, you will eventually be asked to learn a new song. For some this is an exciting thing. For others it is not. Perhaps you wonder why we choose to do new songs. By doing new songs, are we saying that the old songs are bad or no longer useful? Not at all. The song selection for a worshipping community does not need to be either new or old, but can be both.

Some may say that we should do new songs because the Bible tells us to. They will point to Scriptures such as those found in Psalm 96:1, which says “Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth;” or Psalm 149:1, which says “Praise the LORD. Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise to the assembly of the saints.” However, most scholars believe that the meaning of these verses, and others like them, has little to do with an actual song, and more to do with what happens in our hearts as God renews us through the Holy Spirit and we see and understand the amazing grace extended to us through Jesus Christ. As our hearts are reborn, then what is expressed is a new song of praise to the King of kings instead of the old song of sin and selfishness. It is the redemption through Jesus Christ within our lives. Continue Reading…

[Video] Post It Stop Motion

February 19, 2010 in Creative Stuff, Media with 0 Comments

Found this via Jon over at StuffChristiansLike.net (thanks). It’s a stop motion piece done with a ginormous amount of post-it notes. Very well done and very cool. There is also a “making of” video. The process is as impressive as the finished project.

Enjoy!

[QOTW] Compelled to Serve

February 18, 2010 in QOTW with 2 Comments

From Henry Blackaby in Experiencing God Day-by-Day January 15:

“One mark of revival, during which God comes to His people in power, is that God’s people are compelled to offer their lives for His service.

“When God comes among His people in power, there is never a shortage of volunteers or resources for His work!

“There is no need to pray that God would come in power. That is the only way He ever comes. We need hearts that are so responsive to Him that He will choose to demonstrate His power through us.”

Worshiping Together: 2/14/10

February 16, 2010 in Sunday Setlist with 1 Comment

As we move through February, we continue the “Be People of Prayer” series. This past Sunday, Valentine’s Day, we took a little different approach to the topic of prayer. Focusing on passages in 1 Peter 3:1-7 and Matthew 18:19-20, we took a look at the value of husband’s and wives praying together and how the relationship between the two can impact the effectiveness and vitality of the prayer life in a home.

The service as a whole was a great time together of remembering and celebrating Jesus. We sang, prayed, heard Scripture, and did communion together. Click through for more details… Continue Reading…

Online Tools I Would Miss If They Disappeared, Part 1

February 13, 2010 in Random with 2 Comments

Disclaimer: None of these companies/products are giving me anything to talk about them. I just like them a lot.

As I do life and ministry, there are number of online tools that I find extremely helpful. I thought I would share a little about them. If you have more questions, or if I can help you get hooked up with them, let me know. These tools are a huge help for me to keep things organized, tracked, and synchronized. Very important when you have a lot of irons in the fire.

Dropbox is an online sharing, synching, and backup tool. But it’s not just about dumping stuff on someone’s web server and hope they don’t lose it for you. Dropbox is a web-based service, yes, but it is also a computer based service. What happens is that you download a small program that you install (windows, mac, and linux compatible). Once you install the program, you end up with a special folder on your computer(s) called “My Dropbox” and a small tray application. As you move files into the My Dropbox folder, they are automatically uploaded to your account at www.dropbox.com. Here’s where the cool part comes in. Your files are then available on your original computer, under your account on the Dropbox website, and also on any other computer that you connect to your Dropbox account. You can even view your files on any web enabled device (like everyone’s favorite the iPhone or iPod Touch).

The folders automatically sync with each other, and if you accidentally delete something, Dropbox saves it for 30 more days. You can share files with other Dropbox users, and you can even share files with folks who don’t have Dropbox yet by sending them a special link.

All this for the low, low, price of free for 2GB of storage space. You can gain more storage space if you refer someone and they sign up. If you need lots of space, you can increase with a paid plan.

I’ve been using Dropbox for a while now to have easy access to ministry related files, stuff I want to transfer from home to work, and other stuff. It’s been great. If you would like to try it out, use this link, and we will both get a 250MB bonus added to our limit.