Man this FTP stuff is cool. I put an audio file on this link. I think it works. The song isn't very good, but it was the best I had a recording of. One of my first ones. Psalm 123
listen here...if you dare!!!

Hey all, I am trying something new with my web capabilities. I thought I would see if I could get a picture link on this deal. It is my brother sister and I.
click here for picture

We have a few youth events coming up for the band. I am excited and nervous at the same time. Leading worship on Sundays has become part of who I am and feels very comfortable...that could be good or bad I guess...but now I am going into a new realm where I've never been and that makes me nervous. I am not sure what people will expect or exactly what we should do as a band, but I know that our desire is to expose people to worship in song.
As long as we do what we have been called to do, I am confident that the Holy Spirit will show up and people will be able to sense His presence. I just hope we don't get in the way.

I don't know what the deal is with the comments...I think it is time to locate a new link.

My wife Sara just had a successful surgery, spent over night in the hospital and came home the next afternoon. A little tired and sore but she is on the mend.
Trying to take care of Macee, our little girl, was a monumental task. She is a little ball of fire with more determination than I have patience at times, but I love it.
Thanks to everyone that has been praying...and if you didn't even know about the surgery(we didn't tell too many people)...thanks for praying now for her continued recovery.

The Lord continues to teach me the value of family. I just had a friend share a story about a person in ministry leadership having an affair. We have to be careful and on guard...the enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy. Our sin has far reaching effects...
We need to continue to live every moment with the knowledge of why we do what we do. If we lose our sense of purpose we will abandon the pursuit of holiness and settle for the pleasures this world has to offer.

Lord may we continue to come to You for the filling of our passions. You are the Fountain of Life... the River of Life... the Giver of Life. May you flood our lives...may we drown in You.
I am reminded of how scuba divers become drunk with nitrogen when down too long and too deep, they experience what is known as "rapture of the deep" or "nitrogen narcosis."
They are overcome by the nitrogen levels in the blood and may perish helplessly in the deep...in the same way, we want to be overcome by the deep...find us in the river...who is Christ.

We have lived in our current house for just over 3 years. Meanwhile, we have never had even one of our neighbors over for snacks, a meal, games, fun, or any other reason. That sounds awful just saying it...well, it is awful. That is terrible. The Holy Spirit came on me this week with a great power of conviction on this issue. We have had our house on the market for going on 9 months hoping to move back to the town of the church we are involved in. In this process we have gotten very frustrated because of the travel back and forth almost daily. It has been hard not to have a bad attitude about it, but now I have been given a new perspective.

The Lord told me that part of the reason our house hasn't sold is because we haven't been faithful to Him in serving our neighbors where we are now so why on earth would He move us when we haven't even started here yet.
That may or may not mesh with you theologically, but to me it makes perfect sense. Why would He entrust a new set of neighbors to us when we have done a miserable job ministering to the ones we have.

Harsh!!!! I use my introvertedness(is that a word?) as an excuse to not meet new people and try to serve people at a distance, but it is difficult to really serve someone if you don't even know them!!!

This whole idea of living out worship that I talk about is all a bunch of hooey palooey until I start doing it on the simplest of levels. I think we over look what is right in front of our faces because we are trying to look way off in the distance to see the "bigger" things in minstry. It is bogus to think that we want to serve the surrounding community when we ignore our neighbors right in front of us.

Where was I going with this...Oh...ya
Well, we finally invited over one of our neighbors last night to have a little snack and just talk. How refreshing!! Forming frienships and relationships that will give us opportunities to serve with the love of Christ. Why has this taken so long? Well, better late than never, I guess.

I learned something important this past weekend. I found out in my passion to see the church leave behind the spirit of religion and the fact that we "do" church instead of "be" the church that I have little patience with people that have yet to come to that conclusion.
It isn't like I am a pioneer in this. The Holy Spirit has been stirring up the hearts of believers everywhere and somewhere along the line He spoke to me too. The more I have talked to different people in my own circle and beyond, there seems to be a theme developing. We are tired of the way things have been and we are hungry for change.(especially the western church) We are hungry to begin to "be" the church to our neighbors, families, communities, and even our enemies. Local bodies of believers are at different places on this journey all over this globe.

With all of that said, we now seem to be at a place where everyone and their brother has the "plan" to make it all happen. We in the post modern realm now say, "Ok people, here is the new church...we will do this, that and the other...x, y, and z and if you don't buy into that then you must not have been 'enlightened' out of the 'modern' philosophy of the church yet, but brother we'll pray that you see the light."

I think that as much as the Holy Spirit is moving among us we have a chance to ruin it all by going right back to doing a new thing with the same spirit of religion we are trying to break free from. We have already started writing fomulas and recepies for what we must do and then condeming people that aren't doing it that way.

I have found myself doing that very thing... I'm right and you're wrong mentality

This is not to say that we shouldn't expose the things that need to change in the church, things that are done out of a spirit of religion, but let's not say that we have a monopoly on the plans of what the church should look like in the next generation.
It will be different for different communities. There will and should be the apostles teaching, the fellowship, the breaking of bread, and prayer as the commonalities, but beyond that there is no right or wrong form. The time for cookie cutter institutions is over.

There is a delicate balance in all of this and I don't yet have a handle on it, but now I see the danger in the thinking that new is right and old is wrong.

Had an unusual opportunity today. I spoke on the radio...
I did the "morning munch" on YES FM 89.3 out of Toledo. Our church secured this week's time slots(to help get the word out) since we are about to make a big move to another location and I got the call for this morning.

It was kinda cool with me being the kid that always sits in the back row, keeps to himself, and is hard to get to know. The Lord has pushed me into areas and situations that I never would have dreamed possible. In fact if He had told me all of those things years ago I probably would have run from Him with all of my might, but instead he broke me in slowly. He is good that way.

Anyway...I spoke about Romans 12:1 and how we are to offer our bodies as living sacrifices as our spiritual act of worship. Being able to live a life that is a worship offering is our prime objective on this round ball of elements flying through space. I also mentioned a couple of things that are not worship in and of themselves, but could be if you make them be
1. Sunday morning church
2. Singing "Worship" Music

We equate each of these things with worship when the truth is that worship may not really be happening during either one of those activities.
If we find out what He wants and we do it, then that is worship. How, where, and with what means we do that is irrelevant.(remember, it is what He wants)

I guess the comments got fixed...thanks to the Klink family.

Just spent a couple of days with the fam up at the lake. It was good, but also wearing. Any time you get that many of us around it gets interesting. Makes me appreciate the simplicity of just the 3 of us here in good ol' Nap town USA. Also good to be energized for living out the ministry we have been called to, thankful for what we have, and expectant about where we are going.
It was a good break from the rat race...a chance to re-focus.
Big visions...looking forward to how He is going to accomplish them.