What’s The Deal?

I often hear many people ask in conversation, “What’s the big deal with the Cross? Are we supposed to worship it or something?”  The answer is, YES it is a big deal, but NO, we are not supposed to worship it.

The truth is that the testimony of the cross (what happened there, not the actually spoken word of a wooden cross) is what we live in faith by.

“For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1 Cor. 1:18, ESV)

To others, the cross has no significance outside of something to hang from your rear-view mirror in hopes that you won’t get in an accident. But to us, those who put their hope in what happened at the cross, it is “power”ful. What God did there is an extremely powerful act that we base our faith on.

That’s the big deal about the cross.

Your response is everything.

dustin

New Songs

Hey everyone!

So I missed the Set List Sunday post this week, but i thought I would quickly post about the two new songs we introduced at Friendship Church yesterday.

(They’re not really “new” but they are new to our church.)

“Marvelous Light” by Charlie Hall (Bb)
This was written more than 4 or 5 years ago. I used to play it while on the Campus Praise Band at Liberty and also with the worship team at Harvest Bible Chapel in Chicago. This is great song, full of energy and truth. I’m hoping this one sticks for us here.

“The Stand” by Joel Houston (Bb)
This is one of those powerful songs that I always tend to forget about when planning our sets. Again, not a new song. In fact, it was written and released in 2005. While at Passion 2010, I heard Kristian Stanfill cover it and it finally stuck. I definitely prefer his arrangement over the original. Not that different, but just a little precision and dynamics.

I Love New Music

Here is some new-ish stuff I’m listening too right now:

[click on images for iTunes preview]

What’s On My Mind These Days

So a blog is supposed to be a place that you can share your thoughts and hope that somehow your thoughts inspire others and their thoughts. How thoughtful! So that is what I wanted to do today. Just a blank canvas for me to share what I’ve been thinking about lately. Here goes it:

• Finding out more and more everyday how important my wife is to me
• Wondering how to make the creative arts relevant to the community I live in
• Trying to stretch my ear musically and challenge my team to do the same
• Balancing “advertising” for our church with making our experiences more incredible than they already are.
• New resources. I’m on new resources overload. Not sure if everyone came together and thought, “Hey, let’s all launch at the same time” or what. There are a ton of great resources I’m finding these days. Things like new music (post coming tomorrow), local arts council, the City of Greenwood, Loops In Worship, other churches in the area and across the U.S. (love it when churches are Kingdom minded), to name a few.
• How much more/less do I need to invest (spiritually, financially, personally, emotionally) in each area of ministry I lead?
• Finally, hopefully, moving out of our apartment and into a house (let’s hope).

There is is folks. Not EVERYTHING that’s on my mind these days, but at least that’s what I can think of right now. I hope this stirs some thoughts and questions about your own life.  If you feel so inclined, leave a comment with what you’re thinking about these days. Maybe it will stir some thoughts in others who read it.

Content to Not Make An Impact

I think that most of us get so wrapped up in our own thing with our own plans and our own problems that we forget that God has called us to make in impact in the lives of those we come in contact with. He’s called us to be a light. Are you being a city on a hill, or a dwindling candle covered by your own agenda?

“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.” [Matthew 5:14-15, NIV]

We need to remember that God has called us to make an impact, not to be content otherwise. This takes effort. You have to look for opportunities to minister to others in need. You have to go out there and BE the church, the body of Christ, to a broken world waiting for hope.

Your response is everything.

dustin

Set List Sunday 2.28.10

Here’s what we sang at Friendship Church this morning as we wrapped up our series, “Phobia”:

You Lifted Me Out – Bb [Chris Tomlin]
All We Need – G [Charlie Hall]
Forever – G [Chris Tomlin]
Enough – G [Chris Tomlin]
You Alone Can Rescue – B [Matt Redman]
All For You – A [Starfiled]

Shades of Gray

I can’t wait to start this new series at Friendship Church in March 2010. We’re going to be hitting head on a lot of the frustrating questions Christians often ask themselves in regards to gray areas.

“What’s OK for me to do as a Christian.
Can I drink? Can I smoke?
Is it OK to use curse words?
If I do these things, is it a sin?”

I think we’ll be surprised by what the Bible actually says about these gray areas. If you’re in the Indianapolis area, you won’t want to miss this one.

March 2010. Sundays at 10 AM at Friendship Church.

Holy and Acceptable

Most of us don’t struggle with being acceptable. We figure if someone doesn’t like to be around us, then they wont, and hey, no skin off our backs, right? I can honestly say I have only encountered less than a handful of flat out unacceptable people. Those that I just couldn’t handle to be around for any length of time. So again, most of us find it easy or natural to be acceptable.

What doesn’t come naturally, and definitely not easy, is being holy. But God has called His followers to be just that. What does it mean to be holy? Our English dictionary would define it as “dedicated or devoted to the service of God, the church, or religion.” I think the only thing I could add to that would be to be “set apart”. Being “other than the rest”. Taking what you know to be true and living by it and it alone.

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” [Romans 12:1, ESV]

I challenge you this week to think about if you are living a “holy” life or not. Not shaved heads and bath robes, but set apart, dedicated, and committed to living by the truth of God’s Word.

Your response is everything.

dustin

Set List Sunday 2.21.20

Here’s what we sang at Friendship Church this morning:

The Glory of Our King – E [Matt Redman]
When We All Get To Heaven – A [Brad Paisley's version] – SPECIAL
Beautiful The Blood – Bb [FEE]
Glory To God Forever – Bb [FEE]
Greatly To Be Praised – Bb [FEE]
Jesus Paid It All – Bb [Kristian Stanfill's version]

It was a great morning as we talked about breaking the fear of death. Head on over to the web site to listen to this morning’s message.

Art Not Just For ‘Art’s Sake’

A good friend of mine, David Mercier, is headed for Russia for a year, for the second time. David works for a ministry called The Boaz Project based here in Greenwood, Indiana. On top of devoting his life to ministering to the orphans of Russia, David is the quite the artistic photographer. I absolutely love his stuff.

I wanted to feature his stuff on the blog today because he is selling a few pieces to have the proceeds go to Boaz’s ministry in Russia. I want to encourage you to support David, or “Frenchy” as he’s called by friends, and help bring life to the fatherless in Russia. Click on over to his online store to pick up some great art not just for art’s sake. [My lovely, artistic wife also posted about David's cause yesterday. You can check that out here]

“If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
[James 1:26-27]