Call it a rant. Call it rambling. Call it whatever you like.
Lately, I have seem to have attracted all kinds of people who cannot keep their word. If I told you of these people, most of you would be surprised to know who they are. People in high positions. People being paid lots of money. People with “prestige”.
I recently read an article in Worship Leader Magazine about a gang member who had recently given his life to Christ. The article continued to tell of how after only a few months of being a Christian, he felt it “wasn’t the right thing for him”. So, being the “go-getters”, the church pursued this young man after he denounced Christianity. They asked him why after so little time as a Christian that he decided he wanted out. His response absolutely blew me away. He said that there was more love in a gang than there was in the church. Ouch. Is this the way that we portray Christ? Picking and choosing the few we want to be in our group? That’s not the way it’s meant to be! We are to be Christians (which literally is interpreted as “little Christs”). Our actions, words, emotions, feelings, etc. should reflect an image of Christ. If we say we will do something, hold true to it, no matter how big or small. No matter how much it hurts, call that person and tell them the truth. In the big and the small, let’s reflect a true image of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
What have you done to show the world Christ today?
Did you ever Pinky Swear Promise as a Kid? Like that officially made them tell the truth or something? Do you promise? Really?
Remind God of his promises…He ”Pinky Promised” them. Stand on his word. Trust in him. He will provide. He will supply. Remind him daily. As of late, my prayer has been reiterated in Rueben Morgan’s song, You said:
You Said
Lyrics by Rueben Morgan
You said
Ask and I’ll give the nations to you
O Lord that’s the cry of my heart
Distant shores and the islands
Will see Your light as it rises on us
You said
Ask and you will receive
Whatever you need
You said pray and I’ll hear from heaven
And I’ll heal your land
You said
Your glory will fill the earth
Like water the sea
You said
Lift up your eyes
The harvest is here
The kingdom is here
Oh Lord I ask for the nations
Whatever promises you were given, don’t give up. Don’t give in. Hold tight to them and always be on the lookout for the day when they start coming to pass. Let’s bind together and impact this world for Christ!
10,000 songs. Ten thousand. Diez Mil. dix-millièmes. diecimila. 一萬 That’s alot. That’s how many songs Amy and I have sang in the last 7 years.
Here’s the breakdown:
Time at Victory: 7 years
Approximate number of times to lead worship: 1,000
Avg. Songs per Worship Service: 8
Avg. Songs per Altar call: 2
Avg. # of songs in the key of E: 15
Avg. # of songs in the key of G: 25
Avg. # of songs in a flatted/ key: 0
That means that we probably sang songs like ‘Open the Eyes’ and ‘I Could Sing of Your Love Forever’ about 400-500 times apiece..Yowza!
So hat’s off to the last 10,000 songs that we sang, and here’s to the next 1,000,000. May God continue to grow and bless us 10 times over on the next 10,000. We pray God’s blessings on you all…thanks for letting us worship with you. If you haven’t worshipped with us yet, what are you waiting on?
Nowdays, if you haven’t noticed, there’s an “i” everything. It all seems to have started with ipod. Then came itunes. Then all the accessories: idock, icable, ispeakers,idvd. iPhone. Then came the app store with all the games like ibowl, ifish…etc. i,i,i! Well now, there’s actually one ‘i’tem (hah!) that I think actually looks pretty sweet. It’s called I’-Stand. It’s a guitar stand made by Hercules that’s a disc and looks to fold up rather nicely (for those you gig-ers). You can check it out over at Musician’s Friend. If you don’t already have a product that starts with an ‘i’, then I say welcome to the iworld when you ibuy this iguitar istand.
So I am pumped. Maybe this is better…I AM PUMPED! On 1-18-09, Garo Nargiz is coming to share his love for God with us at Victory. Garo has been an inspiration to me ever since I have started thinking about becoming involved in the Worship Ministry. Today, our congregation knows and sings many of Garo’s songs, and they seem to thoroughly enjoy them! I first met Garo at a mid-sized church here in Tulsa, where he was leading Worship Service. It was then that I began to see my calling begin to unfold in front of me. Garo has since been commissioned as an Assembly of God Missionary to Brazil! How exciting!
I extend my hand of invitation to you to join with us on 1-18-09 at 10:30am. If you’ll leave a comment or email me, I’ll give you the heads up on directions, schedules, etc. Come expecting great music and an awesome word from God (and Garo).
So Santa has already came to my house. (He visits early every year. Keeps telling me that I’m very good every year and shows up to hang out and give me my gifts. Me and Claus’, we’re buds.) Being the jolly old man soul that he is, he knew that I really wanted and needed the new Guitar Hero World Tour video game. Right now I’m touring in Hong Kong, scraping up enough cash to hopefully get a gig in the USA. Yeah, what is that about? You have to play in these foreign countries before you can get a gig in the good ol’ US of A.
Maybe that is a just a kick in the reality when it comes to the music business. Get big in another country first, then come to the US. Maybe the US only lets in the greatest foreign musicians?!? Apparently, I’m not rich enough to play in the USA yet. You have to have at least $8000 earned before you play this one show in the US. Hmmm…. how many non-US musicians have made it big here?
These are off the top of my head:
Coldplay
U2
Michael Buble
Eric Clapton
Beatles
Sting
Radiohead
Pink Floyd
The Rolling Stones
Duran Duran
Fleetwood Mac
Oasis
The Pretenders
AC/DC
Wow. No wonder it costs $8000 to play a gig in the US on Guitar Hero WT. Check out David Crowder’s Guitar Hero Guitar in the Video Below. Awesome.
Hold your ponytails and pop rocks kids, Chris Tomlin is coming to T-town. Mark your calendars now and buy your tickets online. February 4, 2009, 7:00pm. Spirit Bank Event Center.
If you consider yourself a worshipper, then you’ve already bought tickets and are pumped about the concert. Go get ready by buying the newest Tomlin album, Hello Love. If you search around the blog, there’s an awesome A-lister review of it. I give it all thumbs up. Buy the album, memorize the songs, and be one of the “hip kids” at the concert by singing every word of every song at the top of your lungs…scream them like there’s no tomorrow…even the quiet worship songs. I dare you. I triple dog dare you. (Oh, yes I did)
As of October 25, I have received my ’License to Preach’ with the Assemblies of God. What does this do for me, you ask? Well, there are some privileges it comes with. Below, are a few of the more exciting benefits.
Wanna get married of renew your vows?
Want me to preach your funeral (please, no)?
Want me to Pastor your church?
Need a Worship Pastor/Children’s Pastor/Youth Pastor/Everything else Pastor?
All of these things, (and many, many, more) I am now Licensed to do as an Assembly of God Minister. It’s just another step in my journey to get to where God wants me to be. I do realize that if God has called and appointed you, that this is merely a nice looking piece of paper with your name on it. The Assemblies of God makes it clear that they do not call you, but they help to equip you. I must say that I have learned quite a bit about the legalities of the church while taking the courses to reach my ‘License to Preach’ level. I now know why some things are done the way they are done in our churches.
Please continue praying for me as I strive towards the highest level of achievement with the Assemblies of God, starting in January. This last tier of learning is called the ‘Ordination’ Level. Hopefully this time next year, I will have completed everything to obtain my Ordination with the Assemblies of God. However, there is a 2 year wait until I can actually complete the Ordination level. Here are some of the Benefits of Ordination as defined by the Assemblies of God. Learn more about the Berean Bible School here!
I know that God is preparing Amy and I for great things!
The Assemblies of God National Music Department have recently launched brand new forums! (Added to my BlogRoll to the right also!) I applaud the NMD for all of the upgrades to their website recently. They have newly re-vamped the entire music department online. I Love it! Cruise on over to the forums and join in on the discussion!
If you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m addicted to technology. Techno-junkie I think is the right term, or something like that. Anywho, I’ve been counting down the days when my cellphone contract is up for renewal so that I can buy myself one of them there Iphones without giving my left arm, right leg, kidney and DNA sample for it (Without a contract renewal the Iphone will run you about 500 bones!). October 7th is D-Day. Unless something dramatic happens between now and then, I should (fingers crossed) have an Iphone. Finally. I’m embarrassed to be so far behind technologically. I mean geez, the Iphone has been out for almost 3 months.
After all who in their right humanistic mind wouldn’t want an Iphone? You can do virtually everything with it. Surf the web (with either 3G network or WiFi), check email, use it as GPS, play games, organize yourself with some planning applications, check stocks (which aren’t going so great as of late), use it as a remote control, watch Youtube vids, take pictures with the built-in camera, check the weather, access your home computer from anywhere with Internet access or even play the guitar. I’ll say it again: even play the guitar. There’s a certain app for the Iphone that allows the user to play the guitar on the touchscreen of the phone. And, underneath it all, it’s an Ipod. If you can think of it, there’s probably an application available to do it on the Iphone. Did I mention the accelerometer?
Apple has an Application Store (App Store) in which you can find applications to download to your Iphone to use. The really neat thing about the App Store is that most of the games are made by independent programmers, not Apple. So your cold hard cash spent at the App Store goes mainly to those geeky 12 year old computer gurus sitting in their boxers eating Cheetos in their parent’s basement. Kinda makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.
Call it a rant. Call it rambling. Call it whatever you like. 
Did you ever Pinky 
10,000 songs. Ten thousand. Diez Mil. dix-millièmes. diecimila. 一萬 That’s alot. That’s how many songs Amy and I have sang in the last 7 years.
Hold your ponytails and pop rocks kids, Chris Tomlin is coming to T-town. Mark your calendars now and 
The Assemblies of God National Music Department have recently launched 
