One of my favorite things in the world is worship music. If you’re not a Christian you probably think I’m weird and if you are a Christian chances are you think I probably am boring because it’s pretty much all I listen to.

But I absolutely love it. It’s pretty much rocking my iPod non-stop.

Before I became a Christian I didn’t really have a taste in music. I’d get a CD, enjoy it, and listen to it for about a year straight. It was pretty varied too. I listened to everything from Red Hot Chili Peppers to Linkin Park to 50 Cent, not really latching on to a particular style but more latching on to the songs.

When I began going to church I experienced an amazing thing: songs that expressed my new-found faith in an amazing way. There is really a special connection when a song speaks directly to your heart.

Now, I’ll admit there is a ton of terrible Christian music, just as there is a ton of terrible secular music, but if you find the gems it can truly be some of the most powerful stuff you ever hear.

I’ll probably start talking about this a bit more in future posts, but I wanted to set it up a bit.

Here’s a brief snapshot of who I’ve been listening to a lot recently:

• Above the Golden State
• David Crowder Band
• Tenth Avenue North
• Kristian Stanfill
• Hillsong United
• The Violet Burning

Any recommendations?

Tweet
Category: Christian Music
No Comments »

I saw this in an elevator at George Mason University last night.

It was probably about a 5′ x 5′ elevator. I think you’d have to stack people on top of each other to fit 21…

It almost seems like a challenge…

Tweet
Category: Random
No Comments »

Well, it’s official. I am no longer a Northeasterner.

Sure, some mannerisms may remain, and I still like the sports teams, but today I lost all official Northeasterner-ness.

There was about two inches of snow yesterday, and a little ice on the road, but if you were strictly going by the way I reacted, you would have thought it was a blizzard dumping two feet of snow.

To be fair, I’m only reacting the way 90% of the people around DC act whenever this happens, but really it’s a little ridiculous.

It took me 30 minutes to scrape the ice off my car and warm it up, and then 100 feet of unplowed road, but then from there on out it was just fine driving…but here I am, checking weather reports all day yesterday, texting people to find out if work was open, and listening to WTOP (the local news radio station) for my entire drive to get the latest on the slightly slippery roads.

If someone from Massachusetts had seen me and the rest of the DC metro area, they would have laughed.

Tweet
Category: Random
No Comments »

Ministry is really about people.

Not programs.
Not events.
Not processes.

Why? Because our ministry is to be modeled after Christ’s ministry, and “The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). Jesus didn’t come to set up an amazing church service, or to develop a great great activity or anything else like that. He came to change lives. To be relational. To save the lost.

Over the weekend we experienced tremendous success at the Leadership Forum I helped with.

The worship band was absolutely incredible. There were hundreds of people. Everyone found their discussion groups. The speakers were great.

But that’s not why it was a success.

It was a success because people came away changed.

And that’s what it’s about. People. People crossing from death to life and people being equipped to carry the light of Christ to the darkest places on earth.

Tweet
Category: Thoughts on Ministry
No Comments »

So this post needs a little background. The past few months I’ve been working on the MBC Leadership Forum, a conference that we’ve put together for MBC Staff and Key volunteers in order to encourage and equip them in their ministry leadership. I’ve had an amazing time working on it, even though it’s been a ton of work.

Tonight (Friday) was the first day (it will continue tomorrow) and it was absolutely spectacular. I was running around for a lot of it, but I did get a chance to see most of the Forum, but wasn’t able to really let anything sink in until the final session of the day.

And wow, did it rock me.

Todd Phillips, the Director and Teaching Pastor of Frontline closed out the day talking about a leader caring for their “inner self”.

One of the most dangerous traps we as ministry leaders can fall into is building up all our outer “stuff” while neglecting to care for our inner self.

Here were two points that he made that, honestly, I’m not doing a great job at:

We need to find time to be alone.

This is something I have a hard time with. I love being around other people. I love hanging out with friends, and just being around people in general. I really have a hard time pulling myself away to be alone, just me and God.

I know I have to though, because that is where the most amazing moments you will have with God happen. It is in aloneness and brokenness that God shapes us.

Prayer (or lack thereof)

Todd really hammered home the importance of prayer in the life of a ministry leader. He argued that many, if not most, ministry leaders find having a strong prayer life difficult. I would agree with him 100 percent.

I know I struggle with this. I look at my to-do list and see my e-mail inbox flooded and prayer is the last thing on my mind. But that’s stupid. Am I so arrogant that I think I can handle this on my own?

Another thing that he said that struck me is that we often only talk to God during our busy times. Another thing I would agree with him on. What I would like to do starting now is make a concerted effort to carve out a chunk of my day where I completely shut off everything except God. I’m not going to lie, it’s going to be hard, but it’s essential.

The whole idea of self-care, of caring for our inner self, is something that is absolutely essential. If we do not care for our inner self, if we do not build a strong relationship with God at the absolute core of our beings, then we will not be able to sustain the weight of our ministry or of our gifts. All the amazing ministry and spiritual giftedness will not stand up if there is not a strong foundation underneath it. In fact, the stronger our gifts and the bigger our ministry is without the cultivation of our inner self, the bigger the collapse will be when it comes.

The Leadership Forum ends tomorrow, and my prayer is that it finishes as well as it went today, and that people do not walk out unchanged.

Tweet
Category: Thoughts on Ministry
No Comments »