Barbie and Authentic Worship?

The other night, I had the awesome privilege of catching a glimpse of what true worship might be from my youngest daughter, Sophie. I was sitting at my computer while she and her sister were watching "Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus" which they got for Easter from their grandma. This was their first time watching it. As it was approaching the end of the movie, I caught a glimpse of Sophie. Her eyes were WIDE OPEN with anticipation about what might happen. Would good conquer evil? Would the princess save the day?

Then it happened. I saw her eyes open even wider. A soft, barely audible sound began to form in Sophie's mouth. It gradually crescendoed to a full out "YEAH!!!!!!!!", as the evil wizard was defeated!!! Then as the fairies (formerly held captive) streaked across the screen: "WOW!" And then, "BUTTERFLIES!!!" And finally, "Hey! The blush (a flower) made a rainbow!"

Yeah, I couldn't stop grinning. One of those moments where the absolute WONDER of a child is completely captivating. She was so enthralled in this movie that she couldn't help but verbally SHOUT OUT her excitement!

So let's recap. First, the evil one is defeated. Second, the captives are set free. And finally, a rainbow appears. Any similarities to worship here? When's the last time I shouted in praise of my King who conquered sin and death. The captives, like you and me, are SET FREE!!! And the promise of the rainbow - that God will never give up on us. I think I'll let my daughter take the lead for a while. I think she gets what this worship thing is all about. Hm... "Faith like a child..." Where is that from again?

Bono on Idol

News is that tomorrow night, Bono will make a guest appearance on American Idol. More about the ONE Campaign and less about singing. Which, in my opinion, is not a bad thing. It will be cool to raise the awareness of the non-Oprah watching, Gap shopping, iPod listening public in order to get the word out about possibly the greatest humanitarian crisis of our generation. Check out some of the details here.

A Little Old Cheese

Sometimes a little old cheese isn't all that bad. :)

Remember this:


And this:


And this:


Oh, yeah, finally this:


Enjoy!

A Greater Glimpse

It's in the shadow of a day like yesterday at Virginia Tech that value of our ministry seems to come into focus. Here's the dismal truth: if the Church was really being the Church, people like this dude wouldn't be slipping through the cracks. Now, I understand about the Fall and whatnot, but it seems that if somehow, someone would have intercepted this man as a kid, we wouldn't have 32 dead today. Hindsight is 20/20, but I just hope that this generation, the ones on our watch would catch a greater glimpse of hope. A greater glimpse of peace. A greater glimpse of the love of Christ.

Maybe it's because I have kids now that I'm even more keenly aware of what loss might be to the parents of these young men and women. Two days ago, these people were looking forward to graduation, jobs, their lives. Today, a much different story. Overwhelming grief. Unending questions. Pain so deep that it is beyond what words could say. My heart breaks for these. The heart of Jesus breaks for these. The only hope is in the fact that Jesus conquered death and can bring beauty from ashes. Hope is in the resurrected Christ who makes all things new and can take the worst the world can bring, and use it for His glory.

Lord, show the world a greater glimpse of who You are today.

300

Ah, for the glory of Sparta!!!

Okay, this post really isn't about swords, death, glory, really at all.

It's about the goal that I have for running 1,000 miles in 2007.

Today I passed the 300 mark!

I guess the only battle that I'm really fighting here is Type II Diabetes that my dad has. My grandpa also had it. So, I'm in the fight against this formidable foe. Literally, the fight for my life. I don't have the disease yet. But I'm hoping that a reasonably good diet and regular exercise will keep the insulin shots at bay. Who said that you shouldn't run from your enemies?

The Orange Cometh

Just under a month and a group of people from GCC will be heading down to The Orange Conference put on by the reThink Group. Reggie Joiner, Lanny Donoho, and Sue Miller are the most notable from this organization. With just these three speaking it would have been amazing, but to add Donald Miller and Nancy Beach is just icing on the cake. A shout out to Lanny who emailed me on Easter morning just to say "hey". And yes, I will be reading God's Blogs (check out his new book, it looks very cool!)

It will be great to get together with leaders from all around the nation who are looking at what it means to put together ministry that will truly help families be the main disciplers of their kids. Let's face it. Again, we know that only so many hours are spent at a church, whereas tons of hours spent at home. How we train/partner with parents to disciple their kids is going to be the wave of the future.

I'm also looking forward to getting a chance to hang out with people I don't normally get to hang with. Our Youth ministry peeps: DC Curry, Judy Gregory, Johnny Keim, and (my man) Corey Mann. Also our Children's ministry crew: Georgia Fawcett, Amy Rembold, and Brian Davis (my roomate). My sense is that God is doing something cool to bring these youth ministry and children's ministry worlds together for discussion and ideas, not just on our team, but all across the nation. My prayer is for an explosion in Kingdom potential for the next generation. More as we get closer.

Finally Finishing "Simply Christian"

A few quotes from N.T. Wright in the final chapters of his newest book "Simply Christian":

"You can't reflect God's image without returning to worship to keep the reflection fresh and authentic."

"In the same way, worship sustains and nourishes fellowship; without it, fellwoship quickly deteriorates into groups of the like-minded, which in turn quickly become exclusive cliques - the very opposite of what Jesus's people should be aiming at."

"At the heart of the Christian ethic is humility; at the heart of its parodies, pride."

If you haven't read it, I would recommend it if you like a little more talk about orthodoxy (right belief) and a little less about orthopraxy (right behavior).

Next book I am looking forward to is Rob Bell's Sex God.

Much Fun with Live Space Invaders!

Check out this very fun stop-action version of Space Invaders!!!

Big Easter at GCC!

WOW! What a fantastic group of artists and technicians we have! An amazing group of over 50 volunteers/staff helped put together the programming for an incredible EIGHT Easter services this weekend. Our attendance was just over 10,000 people which is also amazing considering that Easter came right at the end of Spring Break! You can check out the service HERE.

Some highlights:

DC Curry (our youth director/former Notre Dame football star) helped bring the heat as Trace Rorie (my brother with the kickin' voice and best hair), my wife, Lisa and I performed the Black Eyed Peas song "Let's Get it Started".

For worship, we sang Charlie Hall's "Marvelous Light" and Chris Tomlin's "Let God Arise". Chris' song has that line in it that continues to ring true in my heart "Our God is the God who saves." I LOVE THAT cause it's so true. Over and over again, I get to see it in the lives of people around me. Props to our whole team who really showed the energy that these songs demanded. Tim and Steph, you guys rocked!

Lisa and I then had the chance to sing the Elephant Love Medley from Moulin Rouge. My man, Jeff Petersen did an outstanding job getting the background to look SO COOL! The scene went from day to night and then to fireworks at the end. The moon looked incredible. Not to mention the dry ice that the tech team put together. Yeah, we were floating on clouds. Great work guys!

Later, Trace sang The Killers "When You Were Young", complete with weird movements that Brandon Flowers (lead singer from The Killers) does. He sounded awesome. Finally, at the end, in traditional Easter fashion, we ended with Goo Goo Dolls' "Better Days". Particularly at the 7:30pm service on Saturday, I could sense the Holy Spirit doing something amazing in the room. Grace was offered and accepted. Forgiveness met us during this song. I talked to Trace after and mentioned that it was one of those "Fix You" moments. Beautiful.

Thanks again to everyone who did such a great job! Especially the band, Adam, Brian, Dustin. You all did so well, with so many different songs.

All in all, a great weekend and a great launch to our Sound Vows series which should be very helpful to many people. I'm looking forward to it.

New David Crowder Band Video

Hey check out the brand new anime' video of Foreverandever etc from DCB here.

Fun.

New Linkin Park

Oh yes, my friends. I've been waiting on this for a while. Like Good Charlotte, LP have gone to a little more radio friendly sound, but in a good way. Their pre-release "What I've Done" has some pretty weighty Jesus lyrics with:

Put to rest,
What you thought of me
While, I clean this slate,
With the hands,
Of uncertainty,
So let mercy come,
And wash away…

What I’ve Done,
I’ll face myself,
To cross out what I’ve become,
Erase myself,
And let go of what I’ve done…

Check out the video with very insightful recognition of the each person's responsibility for the sin of the world.



New album "Minutes to Midnight" release on May 15th. I'll be buying.

At Long Last...

Lisa and I had the chance to perform this little number for our Volunteer Celebration back in February. It's "Taylor, the Latte Boy", made known by broadway singer, Kristin Chenoweth. Hope you enjoy it. BTW, I think my wife ROCKS!!!