Heart For Worship

Over the past few weeks I have really been thinking about my approach to worship. I've actually been working to decrease my role on Sunday mornings. The temptation for any worship pastor is to make it about themselves. This is generally done subconsciously...If not said worship pastor should probably find a new job...but its easy to fall into this trap. I too was beginning to fall into the trap of making it the TJ show. So I am now making a concerted effort to make it about God and to deflect some of the attention away from myself.
While considering ways to do this I came across a concept that, while it may not be new to you, its new to me. There is a difference between having a heart to worship and a heart for worship. A heart to worship, in my opinion, is the category into which most people fall. If you enjoy singing, listening to worship music, spending intimate time with Christ, and giving Him the glory (all good things and things we should do), you have a heart to worship. I fall into this category and hopefully most Christ followers do as well. However, in order to lead people in worship, whether as a pastor, worship leader, or any other position, one must have a heart for worship.
In my opinion, having a heart for worship means that you have a passion to see God's people worship Him. A heart for worship is a rare thing but I believe it is something we have to strive for. It is wanting other people to have that personal, intimate experience with Christ that you have. I believe this is what God wants for us...to know Christ in such a way that we cannot stand for others not to know Him as well. I love God and I love to worship Him. Now it is my hearts desire to see those around me love God and love to worship Him.


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Who's Your Daddy?


Well, its time once again to break out the Auburn flag and fly it proudly at my front door. Unfortunately no one around here really cares except maybe the Va Tech fan that lives down the street...boy would I like to trash talk him about the 2003 Sugar Bowl. We are really excited because our friends Ryan and Emily are getting ESPN Gameplan and said we could come watch Auburn games anytime. I'm not sure that they realize the consequences of such and offer. Anyway, I saw this picture and thought it was perfect for some trash talk. Unfortunately, most Alabama fans don't know how to use computers or read even, so it might go unnoticed. Anyway, War Eagle!


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What a Weekend


Its been a while since the last post but with Bay Hills moving to a new facility I've hardly had time to eat or sleep, much less write witty, inspiring posts on my blog...At least that's how I like to think things work.

This weekend was crazy. It started off really well. Because the school we meet in decided to wax the floors on Friday, we were not able to get in to do any work. So instead of what has become my customary "Friday night till eleven work day," Beth, Karoline and I were able to spend some quality time together at one of our favorite places. That was great because they had been out of town for nearly three weeks and had just got in that morning.

So Saturday morning came early and I got to the school at about seven after making a Starbucks run only to find that the container in which we were storing everything had been broken into. They took our projectors, sound board, sub-woofers, lightboard, and our velour drapes (I assume to cover up their loot). This really kind of threw a kink in things. After a lot of phone calls and some really good people helping out we were able to get the stuff we needed to do church the way we had planned.

Sunday was another early day. I arrived at the church at seven to put in the finishing touches and prepare for the morning. You wouldn't believe it. We had parking issues in our new facility that should have been able to hold the cars of our congregation. We were adding more chairs in both services and are now having to think about buying more. The band sounded better than ever before. The singers were great. The energy in the congregation was great. It was probably the best worship service I have ever been involved in.

God was there and we all knew it.

It was great seeing how God works, in spite of the circumstances, through his people. We could have easily said "let's just go down the street to the old building and wait until we can replace our equipment," but we know that Satan would be patting himself on the back if we did that. We are beginning to reach our community in new ways and at a much faster rate. We realize that we have invited him to oppose us in new ways now but we know that He who is in us is greater than he who is in the world!

Keep praying for Bay Hills! This is not a God friendly area and its not an easy place to take a stand for Christ, but He is our strength and His purposes will be accomplished.


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Great Newsweek Article


I know what all of my super-conservative friends are thinking right now..."newsweek is a liberal sounding post, I'm not reading that"...what has Bill O'Reily done to you? Anyway, there is a great article about Billy Graham, in fact it is the cover story. They don't even marginalize his Religious beliefs. It's really cool. Anyway, check it out.


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New Book



Okay, so I forgot to tell you but the books I read last month were "The Long Walk" by Slavomir Rawicz and "I Am Not But I Know I Am" by Louie Giglio. "The Long Walk" was a random pick. I literally went through Barnes and Noble and picked a random book. It, however, turned out to be really cool. Its about a Polish man who escapes from a Soviet prison in northeastern Siberia with a few other inmates and walks to freedom in India...that's right India. It is a true story. Check it out.

"I Am Not but I Know I Am" is by one of my favorite author/speaker/Auburn fans, Louie Giglio. You might recognize some of his work like the song and book "The Air I Breathe." not to mention the song "We Fall Down" and the college movement "Passion" that produced such personalities as Chris Tomlin, David Crowder, and Matt Redman to name a few. Anyway, this book is about how insignificant we are and how great God is...sounds depressing, but the cool part is that God still takes time out to love us and to know us. This book is about understanding that this life is not about you, its about God and what He can do through you. Happy reading.


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BayHills.net is up! The moment all four of you have been waiting for. Check it out even if you don't live in the Bay Area which by the way won't back down. Its pretty cool.
Haven't you been waiting for a place to hear David Fasold streaming every week, not to mention my CD that you still haven't told your friends and family about. But really it is cool. Also, you can subscribe to the E-Newsletter. Anyway, I'm excited about it because I've been working on it for months. But I can't take credit it was all about Bill Jones at UDFD Design. He's really good. You should all hire him.


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Wow, working is hard

Maybe I'm not used to real work but I really got worn out this past week. We are all busting our humps (pardon my French) trying to get the big Bay Hills move done these next few weeks. I learned how to pull wire, and do some other pretty cool stuff though. I think that when I look back on this whole experience though I won't remember the 13 hour days or the 7 day weeks...I know what you're thinking: "aren't all weeks 7 days?"...Not in my world weeks begin on Tuesday and end on Sunday, Monday is something other than a day of the week usually. Anyway, what I'll remember is the people God put me alongside to work with. I really have enjoyed getting to know guys like Sal Castro, Larry Willitzer, Dave Lewis (who is insane), and getting a little closer to guys I already kinda knew before this whole deal. Now, to anyone outside of the greater El Sobrante area...Basically if you can't hear me shouting right now...You have no idea who I am talking about. However, I urge you that when you are doing stuff you don't like or maybe you even hate it, look around for why God has you there. Its really cool.

Hey by the way, check out the new bayhills.net, its really cool.


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