Some Fun Random Pics

I hadn't posted any pictures in a while, so I thought you might like to see some fun random pictures of us over the course of the last year. So here's the game: can you match the event with the pic?

a) Lunch in New Orleans

b) Worship at the Emerging Artists' Series

c) Dinner at Benihana's

d) Baby Greyson's first concert

e) Peyton at the Invisible Children's Global Night Commute

Have fun!

Birthing Classes and Concerts

Well, Vicki and I have finished our birthing classes. We got a certificate and everything! I have to say that those videos we watched are still with me . . . . UGGHHH! Anyway, we also are putting the finishing touches on the nursery, (pics coming very soon) and getting any last minute baby items we need. We did get an interesting item called ButtPaste. (Check out my myspace pics for more info . . .) To say the least, we are so ready for her to be here! We have three more weeks and they are dragging by SO SLOW. Still, I know that it will all be worth it when we hold her the first time. So, keep us in your prayers.

Next, I want to tell you how much of an incredible concert we had in Neosho, MO. We've been back to this youth event called JumpStart for a couple of years now, but the teens were absolutely amazing this year! They knew the words to most of the songs, and were singing them just as loud as we were! But the coolest time was at the very end of the concert- we closed with Face to Face (as usual). And they were singing every word, so at the bridge of the song, Mike just pulled his microphone down and let them sing it while we backed THEM up . . .

My eyes were closed, but if I had opened them, people would have seen my eyes well up. It was one of the most incredible experiences I've had, to have people who know your songs so well, that they sing them out loud at your concerts! WOW. It's one thing to sing a worship song like that, but it means something to me when it was one of OUR songs, you know? It makes me feel like we're still relevant, and that this ministry IS changing people's lives and making an impact. It felt good.

I hated missing out on the whole weekend, I had to leave early, just in case the baby decided to show up unexpected! And I wished I could have spent some time with our friends Free Indeed. I pray that God will allow us to cross paths soon.

That's it for now. I'll holla at ya'll real soon.

Ready For Summer To Be Over

I saw this on Mike Cope's blog. It describes me perfectly.

I am fall, not summer.
Cool, not hot.
Mountains, not beach.

Sunrise, not sunset.
Morning, not night.
Fall back, not spring forward.

Whatcha think?

Thinking on Unity

I started and finished Together Again by Rick Atchley and Bob Russell on the plane ride back from the Pepperdine Lectureships. It was an entertaining read! It calls christians from the Churches of Christ and the Independent Christian Churches, both rooted in the Restoration Movement, to rethink our historical lines of division and make a renewed stand for unity. This brief book does an excellent job of stating the traditional issues that have kept our tribes distinctive and how we have arrived at those interpretations (mainly the instrumental/a cappella issue), but also argues that what we have in common is so much richer and stronger than the peripheral issues. It also urges that the two churches should begin building bridges to unify with each other, and that it can be done without compromising ones individual preferences in regard to worship style. It encourages us to think creatively about ways we can support each other.

I’ll be honest- I am all over this!!! We have been in this “family feud” with the Christian churches for far too long. And though I still lead worship in an a cappella tradition, maybe I need to begin thinking of ways to build some bridges to our instrumental brothers and sisters. Now, unlike some of my COC brothers, I enjoy worshipping with instruments and have even led from time to time with a guitar (there are some great songs out there that just don’t work without one). Still, I suggest we need to think about unity beyond the borders of Sunday morning. Too often the issues will fall right back into the “worship service” paradigm. We really have to get over this!!! Think “out of the box” here, people! Very little about the kingdom of God falls within the borders of Sunday morning hour at the church building! The church and the move of unity has got about 5% to do with the worship times and 95% to do with serving the poor together, loving and praying for each other, do outreach projects together, etc. In other words: It’s about BEING church, not DOING church!

On top of this, the more I mull all it all over in my head, I feel like, in our context in Rochester, MI, that we could expand the borders of our thinking even more! How can we reach out even beyond our first cousins we’ve been talking about and reach to our second and third cousins?

I’m not making a case that we should assimilate and morph into a new entity. I am saying we should think creatively as to ways we can encourage and empower each other.

Maybe we should put on a musical or dramatic production featuring and directed by multiple people in different churches.

Maybe do joint mission trips overseas AND/OR to the gulf coast.

Host a Wednesday night series on the different branches of Christianity out there and have them come in to speak about their tribe, what makes them distinctive, what they can learn from us, and finally, what they feel we could learn from them.

This is just off the top of my head, but I’m sure there are more. Let us all find us ways to reach out of our little box and show the world how big our God really is.

Easter Sunday

I thought I would post a few pics from our Easter service- courtesy of Kara Graves. That Sunday we asked families to bring a flower to worship with them. Near the end of the service we asked them to come to the front and place their flowers on two crosses we had put at the front of the auditorium. It was such an amazing experience to see these symbols of death become symbols of new life. The transformation was beautiful.

A first-time reflection

This morning, we went to the doctor to get our 19 week ultrasound. This also is the visit that we find out if the baby is a boy or girl. So, we get up first thing in the morning and make our way to the doctors office. We walk right in and begin the procedure. I can't tell you how incredible it is to see your baby for the first time. Ten fingers- check. Ten toes- check. Heart beating correctly- check. Everything was in working order and developing perfectly. We have a healthy, beautiful baby girl. It was all REAL.

I stopped in my tracks just three days earlier, when we were unloading the last of our personal boxes and things from the storage unit in Nashville. Sean and the guys brought it up to us while in town for a concert at RCC. Sean had brought up a few extra items that, when I first saw them, didn't register as real to me. He pulled out a clean, white baby bed, complete with hardware, a Pack-n-Play, and a new stroller. Now, I had seen our child's ultrasound at the 8 week mark, and it began to register that I was to become a father soon, but there was still somewhat of a distance at that point. But now, in this two-hit combo, it all became really REAL.

I can't describe the paradigm shift I'm going through- I am seeing the world through a slightly different lens today. It is a lens countless men have put on throughout history and have never looked at the world quite the same way. It's like turning the corner of a long curve and, suddenly, the road opens up to this beautiful view. Your eyes follow the road down for many miles before the end vanishes from view. It's as if God, for a brief moment, pulls back the curtain to show a glimpse of the road ahead and what's to come. It's that moment, a watershed moment if you will, in which I realize I am now . . . a daddy.

Palm Sunday Reflection

Historically, this week is the final week of Jesus' life. We start with "Palm Sunday" and walk with him up to the bloody cross on Friday. Here is my reflection on this time of year:

When I see the palm branches this Sunday, I begin to think about what it would’ve been like to be there. An observer- a participant in that scene. I close my eyes and put myself on that street- seeing Jesus coming in on a colt. Where would I have stood? In the crowd, pushing my way to the front? Maybe I would have stood back a little- or run up on a hill to get a better view of the whole scene. Would I have broken off a palm branch from a tree and come sprinting back to place it on the road? Would I have taken off my coat to lay it down? Would I have shouted out “Hosanna!” It seems the only thing I really could do- It is the cry of a people to honor a true King!

But to be there at that scene - I’d have to be at a second one. Now, it is very tense here. People are angry- spiteful. I look around this crowd and notice the same people who were crying out “Hosanna!”, now yelling “Crucify Him!” We had welcomed him a week earlier with palm branches, now we welcome him with flogging and spit. You’d think we’d have chosen Jesus over Barabbas to be released. Certainly, I would have chosen Jesus, right? How could we be sentencing to death the Messiah they'd been praying and waiting for all this time- the Lamb of God . . . . our King?

For me to be in the first crowd, I HAVE to be in the second one. It was every bit my fault Jesus was on that cross as them. Pilate may have given the order, but the hammer was in my hand. They wanted a king- they needed a king. But somehow He didn't meet their expectations- they just couldn’t see Him.

Maybe I’m still there.

Maybe I’m still one of the crowd.

Maybe I'm still waiting for another King.