Crazy stuff...

I was recently listening to a podcast recently (http://allaboutworship.com/) and the last question they ask at the end of an interview is "What is the most embarrassing moment you've experienced while leading worship or during a show?" As I've listened to a few of the interviews, I thought of my most embarrassing moment and thought I'd share with both of my readers.

I was in Louisville, OH leading worship with my boys Billy Wayne, Dave (bass) and Dave (drums) for one of Billy's weekend retreats. I'm fairly certain is was Saturday night and Billy was giving the altar call. It was one of those sweet nights in worship where the Spirit of God just falls and you are overwhelmed by His presence. I don't know if my eyes came open much that evening because I was just worshiping the Lord.

Billy asked everyone to close their eyes and bow their heads. As he began to pray over and talk to each person in the room, he gave me "the signal" to play lightly while he was speaking. I got the signal and started playing. I was sitting stage right in a folding chair at that point in the night. The next part is a blur.

I remember shifting in my chair to get a little more comfortable and then it happened. It seemed like slow motion to me. The back leg of the chair creeped off the edge of the stage and I was gone! I tried to catch myself, but there was nothing stopping it. I ended up on my back underneath the sound table, feet straight in the air, guitar in hand and I could not get up!!! Keep in mind there was an altar call going on at that moment. When I finally made eye contact with "The Daves" they could not even look at me because they were laughing so hard! Dave the drummer couldn't catch his breath, Dave the bass player just laughed and pointed. Finally, Billy looked back and saw what had happened (keep in mind....altar call) and could not continue the altar call without laughing.

The Daves came over and helped me out from under the table. Billy Wayne tried to keep his composure. Once I made it back on stage, we couldn't even sing or play a song because we were laughing so hard. Luckily, I didn't get hurt, nor did any equipment. It was one of those things that you just look back on and laugh at yourself.

Afterwards, one of the students came up to me and asked, "Did you mean to fall off the stage?" LoL.

So much...

God has given so many opportunities to share His Good News in so many different places and ways. The main way has been through music and teaching. Whether leading worship at North, leading worship or playing concerts at other churches, teaching the word, or encouraging a fellow believer, God has wore me out this summer!! At first it was just Anthony and I, then God added a few more people to our group. Ryan, David Ray, David, Doug, Austin, Curtis, and Tracey have all given their time and energy to push the Message forward.

Anthony and I began recording a CD back in June and finally finished that up about a week ago. It's currently in Florida with a friend getting some finishing touches done. Anthony met Billy Wayne at summer camp this July and to make a long story short, he's in New York City with Billy as I type this sharing the Word through song and testimony. He will be back soon and really isn't sure what the next step will be for him.

The weekend of August 22, NPBC will be leading the worship service at Parkersburg's Homecoming. I am part of the worship team that will be sharing God's Word through song that morning. The great thing is that the services at North will still be happening as usual. I'm so grateful for God placing Jill and I at North. God does so much through the people and ministries there.

Our band (right now Redemption's Mirror, but we're looking for a new name) is going to play at Unify09 in Tomlinson Park in Williamstown on 8/29/09 at 1:00pm. It's been amazing what God is doing through that event. I think so many people will hear the Gospel, maybe for the first time, and have the opportunity to experience community in a whole new way. Through Unify09, Joe Webb (emcee for Unify) and I will be on WTAP's Daybreak on 8/24/09 at 6 in the morning. I'm not a huge fan of the 6am thing, but it's a great opportunity.

Who knows what God has in store. Only time will tell. Please pray that I will trust God in all of this. The most important ministry that I have is my family. I don't want to lose sight of what is most important. I just want to love Jesus and serve Him. Anything outside of that is not worth it.

This is my first attempt at mobile blogging. Wish me luck!

Sufficient....

I'm one of the worship leaders at my North Parkersburg Baptist Church. I mainly lead on Wednesday night. Over the past year and a half, I've had the opportunity to learn about worship and what that looks like on a personal and a corporate level (I'll save that for another day). The Wednesday evening service at North is called "The Pulse". There is a great team that makes it happen; from planning to set up to execution to tear down. If everyone wasn't working together it wouldn't happen....so thanks to all of you that help out. While preparing for the Pulse, the planning team brain storms creative ways to help folks "encounter and respond to God".
As part of the planning, we take different aspect of God and use that to explore different ways to design the service. We have explored everything from God's faithfulness to His onmiscience. We dig through the scriptures, journal, pray about, and discuss these characteristics and then we plan the service. We also choose the songs that we'll play based on the worship theme. Ok, you needed some background to understand what's next.

Sufficient (2 Corinthians 12:9)
"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.

So often I put an "and" after Jesus alsmost as if He's not enough. For example, Jesus and good works or Jesus and reading the Bible and praying. I don't come right out and say it, but it's evident by my thoughts and guilt that I place on myself. I often feel like God loves me less if I don't read my Bible and pray every day. If I screw up, I feel the same. The fact is that Jesus' blood, His sacrifice, is all that was needed. From the moment of conversion, God sees Jesus' blood instead of my sin. I am forever a Saint. Even w hile I'm writing this "head knowledge", my heart doesn't completely buy it. It's as if I feel like I have to feel guilty in order to "pay the price" of my sin. By that, I'm not believing that Jesus' sacrifice is enough; Jesus and... The verse above we read that His grace is sufficient and his power is made perfect in our weakness. I have to embrace my weakness and point to Jesus. He is enough. he is sufficient. No more Jesus and... Only Jesus.

Brand New

Well, I decided to start a blog. I have no clue how to do this, but we can learn together as we go.

I'm not quite sure what this blog will be about yet, but I felt like I needed to start one so I could share what's on my heart and mind to an audience of more than my circle of influence. My hope is that those reading may be encouraged. Also, I think someone may be inspired to pursue a relationship with Jesus through the stories and experiences that I share.

I've often felt that I couldn't make a difference and that my calling wasn't as important as others. A wise man once told me that I would never experience the life that God wants me to until I accept my calling and step into it. I feel like I have done just that over the past few years and that wise man was right. I think the best is yet to come as I pursue Jesus with my life.

I'm excited to share some of this journey with you and I pray that you will be closer to Jesus after reading each post.