The Best Encouragement A Worship Minister Can Have

In my opinion, of course.

It was announced this past Sunday that I'm leaving the church I'm at, for a few good reasons and I've had a lot of encouraging comments from people who are sad to see me leave but understand that the situation I and the church are in makes for tough decisions.

However, the most encouraging comment to me came from someone who just happened to be in that middle ground where they were applying for the worship team, and I wanted to let them know that I wasn't going to be around, yet I couldn't because it wasn't announced yet. That's always a tough issue, to know what to say, how to say it, and when.

Anyway, I received their application in the mail along with a letter. In the letter, this was written:

"You are so talented and I always appreciated that you led worship rather than turning Sunday morning into a performance or concert."

It's encouraging to me because that is exactly what I have strived to do in the now three worship ministries I have led. To me, worship isn't about who's up on stage. It isn't about polish or perfection (although we strive for excellence). It isn't about instrument solos or vocal solos or cool lights or nifty props or appealing stage decorations. It's about God. It's about our response to His workings in our lives. It's about our sacrifices to Him through song or time or money or talents. It's about giving up our lives to the One who gave up His life for us.

My hope is that the church I'm leaving will keep wanting to worship, not a performance.

Re:Light Campaign Blog

It's here!

My other blog has started up, you can find it by clicking here or by going to http://relightcampaign.blogspot.com/.

A New Chapter...And A New Blog.

Well, some of you may know what's going on in my life, but for those who don't, here is an update:

I am moving back to Ohio. We were never able to sell our house, and the church plant I'm employed by is struggling financially, so the best thing to do is to move back. I have mixed feelings about moving back. On one hand, at least we're not moving back to somewhere that we don't like. Where we are at in Ohio is beautiful, we have family there, and a lot of friends. On the other hand, I had kind of dreamed for several years that someday I would return to my home state of Colorado, and I did I guess, but for a much shorter time than I had thought.

I do not have a job in Ohio. I have no idea what I'm going to do when I get there. However, I am still just as passionate about fighting human trafficking as ever, so I'm hoping I can find something there - whether it be my job, or just a side project. I have some ideas, I have some dreams, I have some hopes as to what can be done in my life with fighting human trafficking, but I don't want to push my agenda. I want to be led, not lead.

On that note, I'm about ready to unveil a new blog. This blog will continue to be my personal blog, with stories of my life, things I read online, links to funny videos, and more. I am starting another blog, which will be dedicated to my passion of fighting trafficking and slavery. I think I'm going to transfer some of what's in this blog over to that blog so it can be a resource for those who want to join in the battle as well.

Anyway, I'll let everyone know as soon as the blog comes out. I would ask that you continue to be in prayer for direction for my life as I make the transition back to Ohio.

Paul Hewson Speaks at California Women's Conference

If you go here, you can see Paul Hewson, or as we know him, Bono, give a talk at the California Women's Conference that took place recently. Good stuff.

Call + Response

Last night, I took nine students and other adults from Life Church to see Call + Response, a movie that came out in select cities, Denver thankfully being one of them. We saw it at the Landmark Mayan theater, which is just as pricey as the Landmark theater that I went and saw Religulous, but in this case, the popcorn and drinks weren't free. Grr.

Anyway, if you have the opportunity to see this movie, either in theater or on DVD, I urge you to do so. It is a documentary movie about human trafficking done in a visually and musically stunning way. There were interviews with movie stars (Julia Ormond, Ashley Judd), politicians, journalists, and leaders of anti-slavery organizations (Gary Haugen of IJM being one of them), interspersed with incredible music performances by Switchfoot, Cold War Kids, Imogen Heap, Justin Dillon (also the producer, writer, and documentarian in the film), Matisyahu, and others. It was a cool way to bring the issue of human trafficking to the forefront.

You can go to the movie's website to find out more information about the movie itself, as well as ways to get involved with the anti-slavery movement.

I am also going on Saturday to a conference called HTAC - Human Trafficking Awareness Conference and will get to meet some of the people who are my heroes in this movement. I will blog about my experience after the conference.

Religulous

I went and saw the Bill Maher documentary movie "Religulous" today at the Landmark Theater in Greenwood Village, CO.

First off, let me talk about the theater. It is extremely awesome - the cost of a movie is 9 bucks which is around the usual price. However, they have a complimentary popcorn and soft drinks area where you can get as much popcorn and drink as you want! How awesome is that!

Now, for the movie.

Maybe I'm at a certain place in my life where I am no longer defensive when it comes to someone attacking Christianity or religion. Maybe I'm at a certain place in my life where I can see a lot of what's wrong with religion in our world. But I seriously liked this movie. I've read a lot of Christian reviews, and all the complaints about Bill Maher making fun of religion and being mean or whatever. But from my point of view, he was asking good questions, and then poking holes in the answers he was given. I don't think it was in a mean-spirited way, it was more of in a "You gotta be kidding me, you actually believe that?" kind of way.

As for favorite scenes, I loved two of the Catholic priests/bishops/whatever he interviewed - one guy was a Vatican astronomer or something, and he talked about creation vs. evolution, the other guy was interviewed outside the Vatican, and was just a funny character. When Maher asked him if he felt that Jesus would live in a palace like the one the pope lives in the Vatican, his response was basically "No Way." And he confided to Maher that in a list of saints/people that Italians would pray to in times of emergency, Jesus was actually sixth. Incredible.

My favorite line was by an Arkansas senator who was getting grilled by Maher about all kinds of things, including the creation story, and being flustered, he said, "Well, you don't have to pass an IQ test to be senator." The look on Maher's face was priceless.

The scenes at The Holy Land Experience in Orlando, FL were hilarious, and there was one interview with "Jesus", i.e. the guy who plays Jesus, that actually made Bill Maher think for a few minutes.

Overall, I thought it was good. The Islamic parts of the movie were very interesting to me. Maher covers Christianity, Judaism and Islam, and even Mormonism and Scientology. It will offend you as a Christian, but that might be a good thing, because it may cause you to think about the silly things and the brutal things that are done in the name of religion.

Youtube Video Of The Week - 10.05.08

I seriously almost peed my pants watching this one for the first time. I've heard some fabulous medleys in my time, but never a medley that combined "Christ The Lord Is Risen Today" with "That's Amore". The facial expressions at 2:14 and on are amazing.