Our middle school spray day went great. We had about twenty kids come out for a day packed full of tubing, hydrosliding, and wave running. We started at about 10:00 and ended at 4:00, needless to say I am a little sunburned because it was HOT! All in all it was a great day and I will try to upload some pics if I can get some.
So were on day four of our School of rock camp, and it is coming along really good. Fortunately all of the kids are really quick learners and have done a great job learning the music. Tomorrow the students are playing for the vacation Bible school kids, they have learned six or seven songs but will only be playing four of them. The video below was taken at the end of the day during our full group time.
I don’t care if its real or not this is cool!
Today was our first day of school of rock. We had a good turnout. I was working with three drummers who will be freshmen this year. We worked on three songs “Broadcast”- by Fee, “Everlasting God”- Lincoln Brewster, and “Sing Sing Sing”- Chris Tomlin. Here is a clip of the guys working on Sing Sing Sing. Let’s just say it was loud, really really loud.
This week starts a new adventure as Matt Holland and I host a worship camp for our student ministry. Over the week we will be training ten new musicians who will be playing through the month of July and become a major part of the Detour worship team. For the past five years the same band has been leading our students every wednesday night and we realize that a system must be created to train and develop new musicians. I believe we will see some great things this week I will try to post some pictures and vids of our progress.
Today was a great day at work. Every once in a while we get to spend some real relational time with our Detour students and have a blast doing it. We had 20 to 25 students come and hang out with us at Wrightsville beach. We had a great time just hanging out and enjoying Gods creation. Our group went to Wings a local surf shop and I think every one of them bought goggles to see under the water with because it was so clear. I know we looked like a bunch of tourists, out there with our goggles sucked to our eyes but it was a lot of fun
Those three words have been on my mind over the last month, highly anticipating the new album by a little band known as Coldplay. I’ve got to hand it to them this is a great product. I felt with this new album had to be different than those before and far from the earshot of Speed of Sound. Don’t get me wrong I love the song, but it may have been a little overplayed (ya think!). The Spanish (Spain) influence on the album is a great change that allowed the band to keep their flavor and smooth style while exploring the beauties of another culture. If I were to describe this album in one word it would be inspiration. This is one of those albums that leads me to the doors of imagination and creativity and pushes me through the stagnant blocks of inspiration. This cadence is great.
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While I was with our students at Bigstuf Camp I had the opportunity to hear Reggie Joiner speak in a session with the pastors and volunteers from each church. I was excited to hear that he was speaking because I had heard him before and really enjoyed the way he communicates and the practical truths he lays out so clearly and simply.
In this session he looked into Luke chapter 15 and helped solidify what I feel should be the priority of the Church. In Luke chapter 15 we read of three parables Jesus told: The Lost Sheep the Lost Coin and the Lost Son. We narrowed our focus on the parable of the lost son (also known as the prodigal son). Before we read this story it is important to note the context in which Jesus is speaking, if we go to the beginning of the chapter we will see that Jesus is talking to “tax collectors and other notorious sinners” (NLT). Note that he was not talking to the church and the religious leaders were angered that Jesus would surround himself with such people. In this story it doesn’t merely show how a father should express forgiveness, or the disadvantages of being a reckless, foolish, squanderer of gifts, but it shows that the priority of Jesus is with the prodigals.
In the story we see three main charaters the prodigal son, the father and the brother. Reggie pointed out that the father’s love provided a way to reach out to a son who had fallen while the brother showed an attitude of judgment that would have driven the brother away from the place he needed to be. That place being a home of forgiveness, restoration, and healing.
The contrasts between the two are a great example of many churches today.
A loving father is PREOCCUPIED WITH WHO IS MISSING
A loving father operates from the CONTEXT OF FORGIVENESS
The Older brother operates from the CONTEXT OF SHAME
For some reason the church has decided that because the generation desires to feel better about being bad that we should make them feel bad about being bad. The example Reggie gave was of a little girl who missed the final soccer goal, losing the playoff game to the championships. As if she didn’t feel bad enough her own mother stood up and began screaming at her from the bleacher, “look what you did, now were not going to the final game!” Honestly, does the little girl need to feel any worse?
Are we as a church shaming those who are lost to prove our point that they are wrong and we are not? Are we adding another burden to the addiction, loss, pain, and confusion of a person without Christ? When we were called to be a light in the darkness it was not to shine light on everyone’s faults and point them out, but to be the place where people are drawn to and being a light guiding others to Christ. Our light is the example of Jesus Christ played displayed in the way we live. It is a light that should never burn out. In the story the loving fathers light never burned out. He kept the lights on and forgiveness open to his son for as long as it took. The older brother did not.
My question is “where are the majorities of our churches today?” Are we older brother churches or loving father churches? What if we created environments where the lost or prodigals know they are welcome, that it was okay for them to come inside our walls? Do the lost know that the church is a place of restoration, forgiveness, and healing?
It is important to note that Jesus did not shame a sinner because of his lifestyle, but often shamed the religious ones who judged the prodigals of society. It is also important to remember that the churches relationship with the outside world creates their definition of the church.
Loving father or Older Brother? What’s your Cadence?
This is the first post on my true authentic blog. Why did it take so long? Well, lets just say now is the first time I will be able to devote time into such an incredible tool of connection and learning.
Right now I am sitting in the Philadelphia airport trying to get home for my brothers graduation. I tried to save some money and ended up flying the entire day. Over the past few days I have been with my students at Bigstuf Camp in Panama city Florida. I left this morning at 10:45am from Panama City and flew to Atlanta, from there I flew to Indianapolis where I found my flight to Charlotte canceled. I left Indiana and arrived in Philadelphia to catch a plane to home sweet home, Wilmington, North Carolina. Yep, its crazy, but now I know my way around airports pretty well! My arrival time is 12:22 am on Saturday morning so its been a long day.
