New Blog

Just a reminder that we are now blogging at http://revealatfbc.blogspot.com/. I just put up a new post. Check it out.

-- Peace, Jamie

New blog site

It's time to make the transition from here to our new blog. We didn't have a name when we kicked this thing off. So we were just 1145 because that's about the only thing we were sure of at the time - that we'd be meeting at 1145 on Sundays.

Starting today, we will be posting updates and info about Reveal at http://revealatfbc.blogspot.com/. I will send out an email reminder later today.

1145atfbc will remain active, at least for a while so that we can post some items that may or may not be relevant to Reveal.

Don't forget, our next launch team meeting will be on Sunday, August 3 at 11:45 am in the Apex.

-- Peace, Jamie

Super Rabbit

As my wife will attest, I'm not a good pet owner. It's not that I dislike animals. I just don't have the patience for them. Marjorie on the other hand would have a house full of pets. As it is, we have two cats, two hedgehogs, two mice, and a frog. During the 18 1/2 years that we've been married, we've had parakeets, fish, hamsters, gerbils, a guinea pig, and two rabbits. One of the rabbits we had chewed on everything. It never seemed like the smartest or bravest rabbit around. But I hope that if we ever needed it to perform an act of heroism, it would have just like this Australian rabbit.

-- peace, jamie

Launch Team Meeting

We will have our next Launch Team meeting on Sunday, August 3 at 11:45 in the Apex. The meeting will probably last about 45 minutes to an hour. Some of the things that we will need to accomplish are getting support teams organized, setting future meeting dates, discussing Bible study options and more.

Also, we will be moving to our new blog sometime this week. I will let you know when we are live and ready to go.

--Peace, Jamie

Night

Elie Wiesel in his Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance speech uttered the following:

I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must - at that moment - become the center of the universe.

After spending a year in concentration camps in WWII Germany, Wiesel witnessed firsthand the terrible evil that is possible in mankind, the utter depravity that man apart from God is. Upon entering Birkenau for the first time and seeing the crematorium, he was astonished that such evil could happen in this world during this time without an outcry from the ends of the earth. He has dedicated his life to being the voice of the tormented and the victim.

What does this have to do with Reveal? Too often, we see those who aren't Christ-followers as the enemy. We condemn their lifestyles, their choices, their actions, and, in a very real way, we condemn them. Instead, we should see those who are follow the ways of the world as the tormented and the victim and Satan, the prince of this world as the true enemy, as the tormentor and the oppressor. More than that, we cannot remain neutral in the fight. We must take sides and overcome the darkness of this world with the Light. If the goal of Reveal is to shine Light into darkness, what are we as individuals doing now to shine? Are we conscious of who the real enemy is? Are we aware of the brokenness around us? We must make sure that we aren't neutral, and, as a church, we must make the lives of those living in darkness the center of our universe.

-- Peace, Jamie

Good, Better, Best

Do you ever feel like you can't add one more thing to your schedule and then some really cool opportunity comes up that you just can't pass on? Or do you ever feel like you're so busy doing a hundred small things that the one big task that needs your focus gets less attention than it deserves? How do you handle those situations?

Following up with some of what I said on Sunday, it's important for us to focus on what God's call is for our lives as individuals and our life as a church. It's easy to get so busy doing small things that the big task gets neglected. In the same way, it's easy to get busy doing good things and missing out on the best things.

I came across this passage today. The apostles had to make a choice - taking care of widows (a good thing) or focusing on prayer and the word of God (the thing they were called to do). In giving up the good thing to others, it did two things. It allowed them to focus on their calling. It also allowed other people's giftedness to be used.

What is distracting you from maximizing your value for the kingdom? What is distracting us as a church from doing the same?

-- Peace, Jamie

PS - If you're in our college ministry, we are planning an international mission trip to Costa Rica next summer. Put July 11-17 on your calendar and make plans to have your world rocked.

Monday AM Thoughts

• I had a great time speaking yesterday. That's twice in four weeks for me and I have to admit that I enjoy the opportunity to open up both scripture and my life and share what God is teaching me through both. My voice wasn't as shot after yesterday. But that's probably because I didn't speak as long yesterday because the worship services were so packed (especially the second).

• I love the response I get when I show up wearing a tie on Sunday mornings.

• I've heard some great things about the Reveal Band from yesterday's SEBO service. I'm looking forward to being able to worship with them this coming Sunday.

• It rained on our Young Adult couples last night at Bowater Park. So we did what any group of Baptists would do, we talked and ate until it was too late to get in the water. Also, there was a mean game of cards going on almost until the gates closed.

• Chad Wyatt posted this after a recent trip to Starbucks. I'd loved to hear of any similar experiences that you may have had. Also, do we focus on making our guests welcome at FBC on Sundays? If not, what do we need to do to make sure that we do?

-- Peace, Jamie

Creative Team Meeting

I am so pumped! Our CT meeting went great tonight. We landed on a logo and put together the first two weeks of our pre-launch gatherings in September. Lots of positive energy, give and take and tons of creative energy were flowing. Everybody was sweating before the meeting was over. We went a little bit long. For which I apologize to the Creative Team.

Here's what's coming:

• We will be launching a new blog soon, complete with logo and more in-depth discussion about Reveal.

• We will be having more Launch Team meetings soon. I'll finalize them and let you know about them by the end of the week.

• We have dates for our first and second series of pre-launch gatherings. I'll post those sometime next week.

Thanks to the Creative Team for their hard work tonight! You guys are awesome.

-- Peace, Jamie

Encouraging Words

Hello Team:
I have run across some scripture and encouraging words that I think apply to REVEAL:

To encourage us to reflect on Him-
Deuteronomy 10:21 "He is your praise; He is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes!"

To encourage us to accept His love-
"If somebody was willing to give his life for you, would you trust him? of course you would. Jesus loved you then. He loves you now. He'll be loving you every minute of every hour of every day of the rest of your life, and no matter what happens, nothing can separate you from that love!"
Elisabeth Elliot - Secure in the Everlasting Arms

To encourage us in our purpose-
Isaiah 42: 6-7 "I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people (of Rock Hill), and a light for the Gentiles (your neighbors), to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness."

Lori B.

Sunday Morning Conviction

I've been thinking a lot this week about the sermon on Sunday.  I was really struck by how DESPERATE some of these people are for the Word.  And I had to ask myself, "Am I desperate for God and His Word?"

You know I counted 10 bibles that Lori and I have between us (not counting the Hebrew OT and Greek NT from seminary) and I don't know how many other books that I have "about" God or worship or scripture or whatever.  And you know what, there are many times that I would rather pick up one of those "other" books that to go to the source and read there.  So needless to say, I was convicted to really spend some time in the Word.

Random Thoughts

#1 - Coughing or clearing your throat while wearing a face mic is a bad idea.

#2 - Noah was in the Ark a long time: Feb 17 to Jan 1 (about 11 months).

#3 - It is frustrating when the plugin that you want to use for your web-browser only works with a previous version that you can't download anymore.

#4 - The people in the OT had some weird names.

#5 - The band is starting to come together (check us out Sunday morning 9:30 AM in the Apex if you get a chance).

#6 - We need a keyboard player, if anyone knows someone.

#7 - Soon we are going to need a weekly Creative Team Meeting - be thinking of a day and time that might work.

-Will

Are You Listening?

Last night at our college Bible study, we had an interesting discussion on chapter 5 of The Organic God. I simply asked the question, "Do you feel like God is surprisingly talkative?" as the book contends. After some discussion, Hunter pointed out that he agrees that God is talkative but he thinks we can be 'surprisingly deaf.' What a great way to put it.

God is talking to us all the time - through His word, our gifts, our circumstances, teachers and pastors, and so many other ways. What are we doing to make sure that we're listening? We fill the silences in our life with phone calls, ipods, tv shows, computer games, movies, etc. We fill our still moments with activity.

The practice of simply turning everything off for a few moments each day and listening for the voice of God in our stillness will make it easier to hear His voice in the midst of the chaos of life. Take a few moments today to listen because I think we have a God who is surprisingly talkative.

-- Peace, Jamie

Housekeeping

Tomorrow night, we will have another creative team meeting. Hopefully, we will be put the finishing touches on the logo that we will be using for Reveal. Once we do that, we will begin tranisitioning to the new blog (revealatfbc.blogspot.com). Keep the creative team in your prayers as we meet.

Also, the band is beginning to come together. They led worship for the first time last Sunday at the youth worship gathering (SEBO). They'll be leading at two more gatherings (7/13 and 7/20) before we kick off our pre-launch gatherings in September.

Finally, we need to have a few more Launch team meetings between now and September as well. We need to finalize the Launch team, place people on Support teams, and begin praying together for Reveal. Look for more info about dates for Launch team meetings soon.

-- Peace, Jamie

The Air I Breathe

I've been reading through Louie Giglio's book The Air I Breathe as we continue focusing on Intimate Worship as one of our passions at FBC. He points out something that all of us probably know instinctively but don't think about on any given day. It's that we are created to worship and as a result we all worship - something. Something could be an object (car, clothes, house), an idea (a job, a vacation, retirement) or a person (spouse, children, friend). Of course that something should be God. After all, He is the creator of the universe, the most powerful being to ever exist, and the One who loves us more than anyone or anything ever could.

So how do we know what the object of our worship is?

• Where are you spending your money? This is pretty easy to check. Look at your bank statement, your credit card statement, your receipts. Jesus was pretty explicit on this one. Check out Matthew 6:21.

• Where are you spending your time? Not as easy to check but it's possible. Keep a journal during the week. Log how much time you spend watching TV, surfing the internet, reading, playing, etc. Now, this isn't a guilt-trip into a monastic life with no technology (because technology CAN play a role in our spiritual development). Rather it's a challenge to look at where you can change some habits in order to focus your worship where it should be.

• What do you think and dream about? Much tougher to do, but maybe the most important. Our thoughts will greatly influence our actions. What drives you to do what you do? What do you spend your free moments dreaming about? If there were no constraints on you, what would you choose to do? Those are the kind of questions to ask yourself when evaluating what or who you are worshiping.

My hope is that Reveal will help us stay focused 24/7 on what God is preparing and calling us to do. Have a great week.

-- Peace, Jamie

100 Greatest Songs in Christian Music (50-41)

50. Dare You To Move - Switchfoot (2000)

Charlie Hall discovered a young San Diego rock band by the name of Chin Up in 1996.  He convinced them to change their name.  They chose a name lifted from their favorite activity (surfing) and thus Switchfoot was born.  "I Dare You To Move" was featured on their third independent release Learning to Breathe.  In 2002, Warner Brothers was working on the film, A Walk To Remember, starring Mandy Moore.  Moore pressured WB into highlighting Switchfoot on the soundtrack (4 songs).  With the films success, the mainstream label Columbia came calling and signed Switchfoot.  They changed the name of the song to "Dare You To Move" and even released another song "Meant To Live" as the lead single for their ablum A Beautiful Letdown in 2003.  Says lead singer Jon Foreman, "DYTM is an attempt to honestly face the gap between who I am and who I want to be; between the way the world spins and the way it should be.  I've heard it said that we only use a small part of our brain. Maybe our soul is the same way. And maybe we're half asleep most of our lives, simply reacting to the stimulus our brain receives. Action, true action, is rare indeed."

49. Shut De Do - Randy Stonehill (1983)

I have heard this song many times before and I honestly thought it was an old African American Spiritual.

48. The Warrior Is A Child - Twila Paris (1984)

Spent 18 weeks at #1 in 1984.  Written after the release of her second album, this song offered a peak at the vulnerability of the rising talent. She remembers thinking, I just write these little songs and sing them. Yes, I do try to live out and work out what I write and be faithful in it.  But that doesn't mean that I'm like an elder in the church, you know!  While seeking the counsel of a spiritual leader in her home church, he told her, "No matter if we're a general in the army of God and have been serving God for years, and have all this experience and He's given us lots of responsibility - before Him, we're still a child."

47. Jesus Will Still Be There - Point of Grace (1993)

One of the six #1 hits off their self-titled debut album.  "When it looks like you've lost it all, and you haven't got a prayer, Jesus will still be there."

46. Secret Ambition - Michael W. Smith (1988)

The video of this song told the story of the Resurrection in a very powerful way, years before Mel Gibson's movie, The Passion of the Christ, became an unexpected global phenomenon.

45. Heaven - Bebe & Cece Winans (1988)

Featured a guest appearance by Whitney Houston and became the first gospel recording to reach the Top 10 on Billboard's Hot R&B chart since Aretha Franklin's "Amazing Grace" did it in 1972.

44. People Need The Lord - Steve Green (1984)

All people need the Lord, not only the lost who have never heard of Him, but also those who are living a external, performance-based Christianity.  Green calls those the "Elder Brothers" (from the Prodigal Son Parable) who never ran away from home nut were just as lost as the prodigal.

43. Breath of Heaven (Mary's Song) - Amy Grant (1992)

Already written by Chris Eaton when Grant first heard it, she decided to rewrite the verses from a woman's perspective (being very pregnant herself at the time.)

42. People Get Ready, Jesus Is Comin' - Crystal Lewis (1996)

Powerful song, by a singer with a powerful voice.

41. Love Crucified Arose - Michael Card (1983)

Inspired by a line from Emily Dickinson, "When love was crucified, it arose."

Random Thoughts

-- The Launch team meeting on Sunday was great. If you were there, thanks for showing up and showing an interest in the new gathering. Will and I met yesterday to begin putting dates on meetings and gatherings. I will be posting those soon as well as sending them out on via email.

-- One of the things that I seriously lack is an eye for decoration. If you don't believe me, stop by my office sometime. The Apex is in serious need of some character. If you feel called and equipped to do some serious decorating without serious funds, I would love to hear from you.

-- College Bible study was awesome last night. I love that after we conclude there are still discussions about scripture going on in groups around the room.

-- That reminds me (Margaret Feinberg), our college group will be going to Isle of Palms in August for a day at the beach. If you have any restaurants to offer up as a place to get some good seafood, let me know. Chip suggested Hyman's (which is a great little place in downtown and has some pretty good crab dip that you can get free if you have a coupon). I like Sullivan's on Sullivan's Island (cool how that happens). But I would love to hear some more suggestions.

-- I'm not even a big superhero fan, but I thoroughly enjoyed this post.

-- Peace, Jamie

Get Fuzzy

I like to laugh . . . a lot. That's why I listen to Tony Kornheiser, watch Pixar movies (WALL-E!!), and read comic strips. It's always great to laugh, but many times there's a lesson to be learned in the midst of the laughter.

Here's a comic strip that reminded me of how important it is to be careful of how we communicate our message. You never know what someone else hears when we use confusing language or words that have multiple and different meanings.

Laugh and learn.

If you have problems reading the comic above, I've made it a hyperlink which is much easier to view for those of us who are 40 and older!

-- Peace, Jamie

July SEBO's

During the month of July, the High School ministry is going to be holding SEBO services on Sunday Morning at 9AM.  Normally they hold these on Sunday nights during the school year, but in an attempt to keep the momentum from this past Spring going, David has decided to have three services during the summer (July 6, 13, 20th).

The Sermon series is called "Up-N-Out" and is about our relationships with God, Ourselves, and Others.  During the course of this series, we will be using movie clips from Chariots of Fire, The Legend of Bagger Vance, and Schlinder's List.  Also the REVEAL Band will be playing worship for the Youth.  If you are interested, you are all invited to come and worship with us.  For those in the Band, here are the sets we will be using.

July 6

Marvelous Light

O Praise Him

Blessed Be Your Name

Your Love Oh Lord

July 13

Beautiful One

All We Need

Agnus Dei (Worthy)

Til I See You

July 20

You're Worthy Of My Praise

Hallelujah (Your Love Is Amazing)

Kindness

Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)

Hope to see y'all there.  Don't forget Band Practice Thursday June 26 at 7PM and Tuesday July 1 at 7PM.

--Will

Community

Tuesday nights are college Bible study nights. So I pulled into the Platt's driveway at 7:09 last night ready to begin week one with a bunch of college students, Margaret Feinberg, and her book, The Organic God. After some snack and chill time, we began about 7:45. It was an awesome time of discussion, laughter, and some debate (do organic energy bars taste like they smell?). It's so cool to be around people who have a desire to seek God, to admit their own weaknesses, to ask tough questions, and to be honest about their struggles. The Bible study went until about 9:30. Then we had some more hang out time.

About 11:00, I walked out of Hunter and Allison's house and stood in their driveway mesmerized by the night sky. The moon hadn't risen yet and there's not too much light pollution out that way so you could see the stars and planets. After a few minutes discussing my very limited knowledge of the night skies, I hopped in the car and headed home.

Home. It's usually a place that I want to be. But tonight, at 11:20, I walked into an empty house. Marjorie and Victoria were at her parents. Elizabeth was in Louisville, KY. I was alone(Dude, I miss my girls!) and the house felt empty after the past four hours.

All of which made me think of how we are created for community, to be with other people, to enjoy the experiences and interactions we have with others. Some people live alone and come home to an empty house or apartment each day. That makes the time that we have with others even more important. That makes the Tuesday night Bible study or the Wednesday movie night or the Thursday game night or the Sunday school class even more important for us.

Whether we live alone or with family or with a roommate, community doesn't happen just because we're around other people. Community happens when we come together for a purpose and encourage one another in our walk with Christ and empathize with each other and pray for each other and . . . well, you get the picture.

My prayer for FBC in general and Reveal in particular is that it is a place where people truly experience community, where people are accepted and loved, where people are encouraged and where people linger after Bible studies and game nights and worship gatherings because they enjoy the company of the people around them.

-- Peace, Jamie

PS - If you picked up my copy of The Organic God last night by accident, I'd love to have it back. I have your book at my office. I'll gladly make a trip by your house to exchange it. Thanks!

100 Greatest Songs in Christian Music (60-51)

60. Lead Me On - Amy Grant (1988)

59. My Tribute (To God Be The Glory) - Andrae Crouch (1971)

58. Welcome To Our World - Chris Rice (1997)

57. Jesus Is The Answer - Andrae Crouch (1973)

56. Via Dolorosa - Sandi Patti (1984)

55. Stomp - Kirk Franklin (God's Property) (1997)

   #1 on Billboard's R&B Albums chart for five weeks.

54. There Is A  Redeemer - Keith Green (1982)

   Killed in a plane crash a few months after this album

   was released.

53. He's Alive - Don Francisco (1977)

52. Rise Again - Dallas Holm (1977)

51. Mirror - Evie (1977)

100 Greatest Songs in Christian Music (70-61)

70. To Hell With The Devil - Stryper (1986)

   Stryper is an acronym that means "Salvation Through

   Redemption Yielding Peace, Encouragement, and 

   Righteousness".  The Isaiah 53:5 reference that accompanies

   the Stryper logo states "by His stripes we are healed."  This

   album spent over 40 weeks on the Billboard's Top 200 album

   chart and produced the #1 most-requested video on MTV.

69. Easter Song - 2nd Chapter of Acts (1974)

68. Watercolour Ponies - Wayne Watson (1987)

67. Praise The Lord - Imperials (1979)

66. He Is Exalted - Twila Paris (1985)

65. We Shall Behold Him - Sandi Patti (1981)

64. Soon and Very Soon - Andrae Crouch (1976)

63. We Are The Reason - David Meece (1980)

62. Your Love Broke Thru - Phil Keaggy (1976)

61. For Future Generations - 4 Him (1994)

Weekend Update

Here are a few things that are rolling around in my brain after the weekend.

-- It's been a while since I've spoken at two worship gatherings on a Sunday morning. Since I don't do it very often, I forget how much adrenaline you have going between the two gatherings. I also forget how much of a strain talking for 30-40 minutes straight can be on your voice. I was sounding kind of hoarse about noon yesterday. For those who were there, every word of the dishwasher story is true as best as I can remember it almost 15 years later.

-- We (Marjorie and I) headed to Charlotte yesterday to enjoy lunch with a couple that were a part of our student ministry team at Eastern Hills Church when we on staff there. We met at an Italian restaurant (Angela's) just around the corner from our old house. The food was good (I had Chicken parm and Marjorie had something with eggplant in it) but it was even better to hang out with friends that we've known for over 13 years. Their kids were in my youth group. Their oldest just finished her third year of teaching at an elementary school. Their youngest will be finishing up at UNC-G next year. Here's a picture of their youngest (Abe) when he was in a band called Philmont. He's the second from the left.

-- I watched the NASCAR race from beginning to end yesterday. I know a lot of people find road courses boring. While there wasn't a lot of passing up front (ok, really there was none), I enjoy watching the racing back in the pack a lot. Even though Kyle Busch won, I was happy to see Jr finish in the top 12 and Gordon get all the way up to 3rd after a horrendous first part of the race.

-- The above item is for Will.

-- My family loves to play games together. Actually, Elizabeth hates it. So while she's gone to Louisville, KY on a mission trip, we spent some time Saturday and Sunday night playing some games. Saturday, Marjorie took Victoria and me to the woodshed playing cards. Marjorie won the first 5 hands we played before Victoria won the last two. I was shut out. Then last night, Victoria took me at Connect Four. She beat me 4-2 in a best of 7. If Connect 4 were an Olympic game, I'd be pushing Victoria toward a gold medal.

-- Entertainment Weekly landed in my mailbox on Saturday. It's an entire "best of" issue for the past 25 years. Yes, that's correct, top 100 lists of movies, tv shows, music, pop culture events and more. My head almost exploded. I put the issue away until I can have an entire day to deconstruct each list. I don't think I'll be able to fit it all into one blog. Actually, I may have to create an entirely new blog just for this issue of EW.

-- We have an incredibly important meeting this Sunday morning at 11:45 in the Apex. Please be in prayer about it as we get ready for it. Also, talk it up with your friends and encourage them to be there.

-- Peace, Jamie

Pumped

We have our second creative team meeting tonight as we get ready for our first series at Reveal. The series will be called . . . "Reveal." Man, that is so original. Actually, what's getting me excited about the series is the chance to flesh out some of the core values that will guide what we do and how we do it at Reveal. Some of the items on our checklist for tonight are putting together the creative elements of the first worship gathering, getting a Reveal logo together, and looking at how to create an atmosphere for worship in the Apex. If you get a chance, pray for our creative team as it meets tonight. If you're on the creative team, make sure you're in the Rock at 6:45 tonight.

-- Peace, Jamie

Sixth and S Saratoga

Here's my last New Orleans story. I share it partly because this is the kind of stuff that happens on mission trips - stuff that throws a wrench into your plans, that churns up a little chaos just when you thought you had everything working for you, and that will definitely be talked about the next time you go on a mission trip, the time after that, and probably the time after that. I also share it because of the response that it generated among our team.



We left Rock Hill with 22 people - and 2 met us there. We had 15 on the church mini-bus and 7 on a rental van. We pulled into New Orleans late on Monday night. On Tuesday morning, we left for our work site about 8:30am. Part of our team spent the day working on houses that were in various stages of completion. The other part of our team spent the day doing yard work around the neighborhood - cutting grass, weed-eating, etc. About 4:00pm, we began to pack up and call it a day. A small problem arose when the driver of the rental van (Jimmy) couldn't find the keys. Then the search began. A group began to retrace Jimmy's steps. After a few minutes, this is what they found.







As Jimmy had been running the weed-eater, someone had needed the keys to the van. When he had put them back in his pocket, he hadn't been able to get them all the way in while wearing his gloves and the key fell out as he did the weed-eating. Trevor Ashe, our lawn mower man, was following Jimmy and proceeded to chop the key into oblivion. A few calls to Avis (the greatest rental company ever) from Andrew Kiel led to a new rental van being dispatched. However, Trevor, Jimmy, Andrew, and Mic Anderson had to wait at 'Sixth and S Saratoga' for about two hours for the new van to arrive. As they sat in a rough area of New Orleans, I'm sure there were some uncomfortable moments (and more than a few laughs, I think). But there were good attitudes all around as we waited for the 'Sixth and S Saratoga' gang to get back to where we were staying. As always, we learned the necessity of flexibility on a mission trip. It was tremendous to watch our group grow closer during a moment (albeit a somewhat brief moment) of adversity.


-- Peace, Jamie

What If...

What if...

   God couldn't take the time to bless us today because

   we couldn't take the time to thank Him yesterday?

What if...

   God decided to stop leading us tomorrow because

   we didn't follow Him today?

What if...

   we never saw another flower because

   we grumbled when God sent the rain?

What if...

   God didn't walk with us today because

   we failed to recognize it as His day?

What if...

   God took away the Bible tomorrow because

   we would not read it today?

What if...

   God took away His message because

   we failed to listen to the messenger?

What if...

   the door of the church was closed because

   we did not open the door to our hearts?

What if...

   God stopped loving and caring for us because

   we failed to love and care for others?

What if...

   God would not hear us today because

   we would not listen to Him yesterday?

What if...

   God answered our prayers the way

   we answer His call for our lives?

What if...

   God met our needs the way

   we meet the needs of others?

What if...

   God didn't send His only begotten Son because

   He wanted us to be prepared to pay the price of sin?

--Will

100 Greatest Songs in Christian Music (80-71)

80. Where There Is Faith - 4Him (1990)

   This may be my favorite 4Him song (even though it was on their

   first album and seems a little dated).

79. The Robe - Wes King (1993)

  Written from collection of Sermons by Charles Spurgeon called

   Sovereign Grace: "Sinner, you say you have no faith.  You're right.

   You have no faith. Faith is of God.  Come as you are, and He will

   give you the faith that you need. You say you're guilty.  You're right.

   You are guilty.  Come as you are and God will pardon you.  Sinner,

   you say you're naked and ashamed.  Come as you are, and the robe

   that He will clothe you in is made of a garment of the grace of His

   Son.  Come as you are."

78. Dive - Steven Curtis Chapman (1999)

  Many of SCC's songs come out of sermons preached by his pastor,

   Scotty Smith (Christ Community Church, Franklin, TN).  This one

   was about two men fly-fishing in deep water and catching a large

   number of fish while other anglers who were unwilling or unequipped

   to go into the deeper water weren't catching anything.

77. Friend Of A Wounded Heart - Wayne Watson (1987)

76. Alive - P.O.D. (2001)

  P.O.D.'s sophmore effort Satellite entered the Billboard Top 200

   at #6 (The highest selling Christian debut ever.  The video for alive

   made it to #1 on MTV's Total Request Live (TRL).  Rolling Stone

   rated it a 4 out of 5 and said, "If P.O.D.'s religious devotion inspired

   them to turn out the most soulful hard-rock record so far this year,

   then maybe more new-metalheads should get down with God."

   Billboard Magazine said, "Satellite not only has the juice to elevate

   P.O.D. to much deserved superstar status, it could very well blow

   some desperately needed hope into the air."

75. Why Should The Devil Have All The Good Music? - Larry Norman (1972)

74. Arise My Love - NewSong (1994)

This is an incredible song!

73. Love In Any Language - Sandi Patti (1986)

72. More Power To Ya - Petra (1982)

71. In The Light - Charlie Peacock (1991)

  Probably made more famous when dc Talk covered it on Jesus Freak.

   Michael Tait says, "It's probably one of our top three songs of all time.

   Charlie did an incredible job writing that one."

Prayer Team

Pondering a Prayer Team. . .

A few of us have been putting thoughts together about what a Reveal Prayer Team would look like. There are lots of ideas:
1) We can have people praying during the service backstage (as Elevation does) or we can have people pray in a room before the service begins. When two or more are gathered in His name we will see some powerful things happen.
2) We can have a representative from each of the other teams let us know what the prayer requests are for their needs and purposes and have certain folks pray for them throughout the week (or we can also have them do double duty and serve on both teams, that way they intimately know what the teams needs are)
3) We can pray for the particular sermon series and for the hearts in the community that will be touched by those messages. We can pray that their hearts will be stirred to attend the services.
4) We could collect prayer requests for those individuals that ask for it or who have made decisions that week.
These are just initial thoughts - I am sure that there are many others things we can be praying for.
It would be great to hear others thoughts on what a Prayer Team might look like. Any thoughts on how often we would meet as a team?
Lori, Allison & Lindsay

Unknown Author

I was sent this little blurb from a friend a while back and thought that it might be helpful to the group.

"It is often among us singers and musicians that God is 'used' to display man's talent, rather than man's talent used to display God.  When this happens, our music amounts to nothing more than sounding brass and tinkling cymbals in God's sight.  Any offering which is not acceptable to God will bring no spiritual or eternal benefit to the people, no matter how much they may enjoy what they hear and do.  We may succeed in leading them to an emotional high.  We may even bring the preacher out of his chair and people out of their pews; but if we haven't led them to God, we have failed our calling.  If what we have done has attracted people more to ourselves than to God, we have failed our mission.  We are not called to be entertainers of the people, we are called to be ministers of the gospel.  May the standard God has set for us be the standard for which we all strive."

Author Unknown

--Will

100 Greatest Songs in Christian Music (90-81)

90. Stubborn Love - Kathy Troccoli (1982)

  She moved to Nashville and worked in a Christian Book Store

   while working on her first album.  Three years later, she visited

   the bookstore again and was humbled when she heard them

   playing her album in the store where she was once a cashier.

89. I Will Be Free - Cindy Morgan (1993)

  Written while reading the book Hinds Feet on High Places

   by Hannah Hurnard (1955) in an effort to gain some insight into

   some issues of fear that she was dealing with in her life.

88. Home Where I Belong - B.J. Thomas (1976)

   He is best known for his hits "Raindrops Keep Falling On My

   Head" (1969) and "Hooked On A Feeling" (1968).

87. My Deliverer - Rich Mullins (1998)

   On September 10, 1997, Mullins sat down in an abandoned church

   with his guitar and a K-Mart tape recorder.  He recorded 9 songs

   he had written for a new record.  Nine days later, he was killed in a

   car wreck.  Myrrh Records decided to produce the album as a two

   part series - (1) The Jesus Demos and (2) The Jesus Record.

   The second album was made up of covers of "Demos" by other

   artists.  "My Deliverer" was the first track.  It won, posthumously,

   the 1999 Dove Award for Song of the Year and Mullins was give the

   1999 Dove for Songwriter of the Year (which he never won while

   he was alive.)

86. Runner - Twila Paris (1985)

85. How Excellent Is Thy Name - Larnelle Harris (1985)

84. Stand - Susan Ashton (1991)

83. He's My Son - Mark Shultz (2000)

   Written while he was a Youth Pastor at a church in Nashville, TN.

   A couple in the church had a 15 year old son with leukemia.  Mark

   says he couldn't begin to understand the depth of pain that the

   parents were feeling, but God did and placed this song in his lap.

   This song has become his signature work.

82. In Christ Alone - Michael English (1992)

81. When God Ran - Benny Hester (1985)

   I personally like the cover of this song by Phillips, Craig & Dean

   (Restoration) much better than the original.

100 Greatest Songs in Christian Music (100-91)

In 2006, CCM magazine published a list (as voted on by the readers) of the top 100 contemporary songs "that have not only achieved commercial success, but have forever changed the lives of those who have listened."  I thought I would take Jamie's lead and give my two-cents worth along with a few stories about how some of the songs came to be written.  Anyway, let the count down begin.

100. Beautiful Scandalous Night - The Choir (1992)

This was covered by Bebo Norman and Sixpence None The Richer

on City On A Hill: The Gathering (2003)

99. Say The Name - Margaret Becker (1993)

98. Ready Or Not - DeGarmo & Key (1983)

97. Strength Of My Life - Leslie Phillips (1984)

96. Sometimes Alleluia - Chuck Girard (1975)

A founding member of Love Song, a group that many people credit 

with defining the Jesus Movement (precursor to what we now call 

Contemporary Christian Music)

95. He Will Carry You - Scott Wesley Brown (1982)

94. Undo Me - Jennifer Knapp (1998)

This whole album (Kansas) is very good.

93. Undivided - First Call (1986)

92. We Are His Hands - White Heart (1984)

91. The Champion - Carmen (1986)

I'm not a Carmen fan, but you have to admit that he has influenced CCM.

As this continues over the next few weeks, more well known songs will appear, trust me.

--Will

Meetings

The Creative Team will meet Wednesday, June 18 at 6:45pm in the Rock.

The next Launch Team meeting will be Sunday, June 29 at 11:45pm in the Apex. If you know someone who's interested in being on the Launch Team, let them know they're invited.

-- Peace, Jamie

Beach

I will be at the beach for the next week, playing in the surf with my daughters and walking on the beach with Marjorie and eating way too much fried seafood from Calabash. No posts for me this week. Have a great time while I'm gone.

-- Peace, Jamie

Spiritual Warfare

Do you believe in spiritual warfare?  Like in kind in This Present Darkness by Frank Peretti?  I do.  And I believe that if you are not already experiencing it, you will because of your involvement in REVEAL.

I also believe that Satan knows the areas in our lives where we are weakest.  Those areas that we try and hide from other people and protect in our own strength by not letting others in.  It is in these very areas where Satan loves to attack because he knows that we are the most vulnerable there.

Well, if I may be completely honest (and vulnerable) with you...one of those areas for me is "being good enough".  Now this may manifest in many different areas.  In school, it was with grades.  When I got married, it was (and still is) being a good husband.  But now I have a new focus: Am I a good enough (effective enough) worship leader, worship planner and minister in general.

Those of you who have been reading the blog know that I work part-time at Home Depot from 4AM to 8AM and that because of the early hours sleep is at a premium for me.  And of course that is exactly where Satan has chosen to attack me.  For the past several nights, I have been having very vivid nightmares about failure in my position of worship leader/planner/minister.  It has made getting a good night's sleep impossible because I am waking up every hour or so.

Make no mistake.  Satan does not want REVEAL to succeed.  He has worked hard to make the de-churched group cynical, hard, and callous towards "any" church experience.  He is attacking me here because he knows that if I am constantly worried about what "I am doing" or what "people think" then I am not focusing on what "God is doing" or what "God thinks".

Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus:

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.  Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.  Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand." (Ephesians 6:10-13)

A couple of things that you can do. (1) Spend time with God and allow Him to sure up those areas.  (2) Get an accountability partner. (3) Pray like crazy for each other, REVEAL, and First Baptist in general.

But take courage in this, if REVEAL was not going to become anything...Satan would not need to attack us.

--Will

Amos 5:21-24

More from The Complete Worship Leader by Kevin J. Navarro.

"Deep in the souls  of many Christians is the idea that worship is the music part of the service that precedes the sermon.  They talk as if worship only prepares people for the message.  Many believe that only forty minutes of uninterrupted, free-flowing worship will get them into the presence of God.  Others believe that we need to have the hymns of the faith to get into the presence of God.  If a person is living in disobedience, he or she will not be able to come into his presence in forty minutes.  We have put more emphasis on the form of worship than on the function of worship." (p. 139)

 

The Old Testament Prophet Amos says it this way (Amos 5:21-24, The Message):

"I can't stand your religious meetings.  I'm fed up with your conferences and conventions.  I want nothing to do with your religion projects, your pretentious slogans and goals.  I'm sick of your fund-raising schemes, your public relations and image making.  I've had all I can take of your noisy ego-music.  When was the last time you sang to me?  Do you know what I want?  I want justice - oceans of it.  I want fairness - rivers of it.  That's what I want.  That's all I want."

We all need to examine our own hearts before God.  We need to make sure that we are doing this service for the right reasons.  What we don't want to become is the pharisees of 2008.

--Will

The Complete Worship Leader

I mentioned in a previous post that I wanted to put up some thoughts from several of the books on worship that I have been re-reading.  These quotes come from The Complete Worship Leader by Kevin J. Navarro.

"Dead hearts cannot produce dynamic worship, but hearts that are passionate about Jesus will make any worship experience exciting." (p. 53)

"If our personal experience of salvation motivates us as worship leaders to praise God, this will be contagious to the congregation." (p. 59)

"When the body of Christ comes together before the throne with humility, all authority will be released on the church to experience the manifest presence of God. When we realize that worship is first and foremost for God, we will relinquish the temptation to design the worship service for us." (p.135)

It is important to remember that we are all worship leaders.  From the moment that we contact people in the parking lot as they drive up we are leading them in worship.   Every contact, every smile, every action is important in creating an atmosphere of worship for REVEAL.  Remember it's not about us, it's about God.

--Will

Here's Your Sign

Saw this from Los and it reminded me of the signs that some saw while we were in the French Quarter in New Orleans. I would say that the 'sports fans' category puts me squarely on the Highway to Hell, as AC/DC would put it.

-- Peace, Jamie

Greatest Summer Songs

Back to my addiction to lists, I was over at EW once again and ran across the top 25 Summer Songs (there's actually 100 but I didn't have time to go through the entire list.) I can't comment on all of them because I'm apparently into Spring and Fall songs more than summer and some of the songs that I think should be in the top 25 are probably somewhere in the top 100. Again, I just didn't have the time to look (translation: I'll probably look at the other 75 later this week.)

Here are some highlights:

• # 25 Don't Go Breaking My Heart - Elton John and Kiki Dee: I actually have this as my one of my favorite Elton songs (because really who knows another song by Kiki Dee). I remember this one because Valerie Bertinelli and MacKenzie Phillips sang it on One Day at a Time. I could see either Philadelphia Freedom or Little Jeannie replacing this song but I can't really say that I totally disagree with it.

• #24 (They Long to Be) Close to You - The Carpenters: Maybe there's a contextual thing that I'm missing. I just don't really care for the Carpenters.

• #22 Every Breath You Take - The Police: Anytime an 80's song shows up I'm going to have a pretty strong opinion. While I love this song, for summer listening I'm throwing in Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic, followed by Message in a Bottle.

• #21 Wouldn't It Be Nice - The Beach Boys: Pick any BB song and put it on this list. This one's good enough. Low-key, smooth, easy to listen to, it's a good song to listen to while you walk down the beach at night with the love of your life.

• #20 Wipe Out - The Surfaris: If you've heard it, you know at #20, it's probably not high enough. You can almost hear the surf and smell the suntan lotion when this one comes on.

• #17 Maggie May - Rod Stewart: My bias will show here. Any list that includes Rod Stewart in its top 20 stinks! This list, obviously, stinks.

• #14 I Get Around - The Beach Boys: There are so many other Beach Boys songs that I would put here - Surfin Safari, Fun, Fun, Fun, Barbara Ann, Good Vibrations. That said, I Get Around is a good song. But for a summer list, I would choose one of the others.

• #11 Summertime Blues - Eddie Cochran: If you like 50s music, this is a great song. If you don't, skip it. It has a great hook regardless.

• #10 Satisfaction - The Rolling Stones: While many people may have debated Stones vs. Beatles, there would be no debate in my house. The Rolling Stones are the Cal Ripken of rock bands. Part of their greatness is their longevity. Their music has never been great for me. All of which means that this song is rated too high here.

• #8 Borderline - Madonna: There aren't many Madonna songs that I like but this one I love. This one and Crazy For You. I think this is a unique song for this list. Maybe that's why I like it here.

• #7 Dancing in the Street - Martha and the Vandellas: Probably like many of my contemporaries, I was introduced to this song by Van Halen. Unlike many of my contemporaries, I like this version better. Really, what says summer more than this song.

• #5 Under the Boardwalk - The Drifters: Ok, maybe this one does. Great song to listen to as you're eating an ice cream cone and walking on a pier somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean.

• #2 California Girls - The Beach Boys: Again, Van Halen introduced me to this song. Unlike DitS, I like the Van Halen version better.

• #1 Summer in the City - The Lovin' Spoonful: Uh, never heard it. Maybe I should head over to itunes and check it out.

For my money, here are a few songs that could have made the list - YMCA, Village People; Cruel Summer, Bananarama; Come Monday, Jimmy Buffet; Summer of 69, Bryan Adams and Streetcorner Symphony, Rob Thomas. Let me know what songs say "Summer" to you.


-- Peace, Jamie

Beyond Worship Gatherings

I came across this quote from Dallas Willard today.

We must flatly say that one of the greatest contemporary barriers to meaningful spiritual formation in Christlikeness is the overconfidence in the spiritual efficacy of 'regular church services,' of whatever kind they may be. Though they are vital, they are not enough. It is that simple.

As we are planning a new worship gathering aimed specifically at unchurched and dechurched people in Rock Hill, it will be very important to constantly remind ourselves that a worship gathering has a purpose - for those who are believers to express our awe for God and to lift up the name of Jesus to those who are not Christ-followers. Ultimately, spiritual growth may begin in a worship gathering but it will never be completed there. For each of us, our spiritual maturity only begins when we start diving into Scripture on our own, developing a personal prayer life, and serving others - in other words, when we are consistently developing spiritual disciplines in our own lives.

Why is this important? Two things - one, if we are going to be a part of the Launch Team for the new worship gathering, we MUST, MUST, MUST be growing spiritually on a personal level. Two, a new worship gathering is the beginning not the end. To be successful, we will need to help people develop spiritual disciplines through small groups, missions events, one-on-one discipleship, etc. In other words, to successfully launch a new worship gathering we have to look beyond the worship gathering before it ever begins.

Have a great week!

-- Peace, Jamie

Postcard from New Orleans, Pt 2

After we finished working on Tuesday, we went to downtown New Orleans. We walked down Canal St and rode the ferry across the Mississippi River. The ferry is free unless you have a car and, well, you don't want me trying to pull the mini-bus onto the ferry. I could begin to see some of our team building relationships and getting to know each other better. Here's our team picture from the ferry. On the walk down to the ferry, there was a street band playing at the corner of Canal and Bourbon and most of the group stopped and listened to the band for a few minutes.

Wednesday we worked a half day. I spent the morning on the floor of a house covering it with brown paper for protection - no AC this time. In the afternoon we spent some time doing some serious shopping in downtown. We also went into St. Louis Cathedral at Jackson Square. The cathedral was pretty big and contained a lot of cool architecture and art work. One of our college students thought that it was neat that the pews all had little footrests. The highlight of Wednesday was supper at Mulates. We rode the trolley from the French market down to Julia St and ate at a very cool cajun restaurant. The food was very good - alligator, crawfish tails, crawfish etouffee, skewered shrimp, or a hamburger (for Andrew Kiel). But the best part was the band that played the whole time we ate and the dancers who took to the floor just in front of our table. There were probably about 6-8 couples who danced for almost an hour. Some were so good they looked like they were gliding around the floor. One of our guys - Mic Anderson - couldn't stand it and asked one of the ladies to give him a spin on the dance floor. Mic earned some beignets at Cafe Du monde for his effort. Soon, we had a few of our group giving the dance floor a shot and providing a good time for those who were too chicken to hit it ourselves. For the record, neither Jimmy Watts nor I made it to the dance floor. We were too busy eating. Most of us (there were three exceptions, you know who you are) finished the night at Cafe Du monde for beignets and cafe au lait. The food was good but the powdered sugar fight was the highlight of the trip. Before we left most of us had quite a bit of sugar in us and on us.

Tuesday night and Wednesday really became a great time of team-building. I have a couple of more stories to share and some reflections about the trip before I completely leave NO in the rear view.

-- Peace, Jamie

Teams

Last night at our meeting, we clarified some of the language for our teams. To help people understand our structure and how we will go about launching the new gathering, here are the teams that we will be using to kick things off.

• Launch Team
  The Launch Team will include everyone who will commit to attending and supporting the 1145 worship gathering @ FBC for the first 18 months. Launch team members will be asked to be a part of one of the 1145 Support Teams (i.e. Parking, Connections, Childcare, Counseling/ Follow-up, and Greeter).
  
• Leadership Team
  The Leadership Team will include the team leader from each 1145 Support Team (i.e. Parking, Connections, Childcare, Counseling/ Follow-up, and Greeter). Each team leader will be responsible for making sure that each aspect of their team is covered each week. The team leaders will also meet on a regular basis with the Young Adult Minister and the 1145 Worship Leader to plan and coordinate all aspects of 1145 @ FBC.
  
• Creative Team
  The Creative Team will consist of the Young Adult Minister, the 1145 Worship Leader, the sound technician, the video technician, the stage manager and the graphic artists. Different members of the Launch Team will also be asked to be a part of and give input to the Creative Team on a semi-regular basis. The Creative Team will develop ideas for creatively communicating the main idea of each 1145 worship gathering.

I've covered the responsibilites of the support teams in an earlier post (see Support Teams). We are still building our Launch Team. Anyone interested in being a part of the Launch Team with questions can email me at jamieb@fbcrockhill.org. Also, our next Launch Team meeting is scheduled for 11:45 am on Sunday, June 29.

-- Peace, Jamie

Postcard from The Big Easy

I didn't get a chance to blog from New Orleans last week because I was usually ready for bed by 11:30 every night. But I thought it would be great to give you a few highlights from the trip.

• New Orleans is a long way from Rock Hill - On Monday, it took us 14 hours to get there. We left RH at 9:00am after waiting around to get an updated sticker for the license plate. The DMV moved at warp speed for us. We pulled in to Celebration Church at 10:00pm (that's 11:00pm RH time). On the way home, we left NO at 7:00am Central time. We pulled in to the FBC parking lot at 10:20pm Eastern time. Granted we did have a little problem with the bus around Biloxi but it's still a looooooong trip.
• Never pass up Zaxby's for Krystal - A couple of our guys decided that going cheap at Krystal's was better than taking advantage of a well-placed Zaxby's. I'm not sure they ever truly recovered from that very bad decision.
• Hanging blinds is good work, if you can get it - On Tuesday, our team set out for our work site. The guys working with us assigned us different tasks - putting down a fake wood floor, putting siding on a house, putting down ceramic tile, digging holes, etc. I told the leaders I would do whatever. Whatever ended up with me hanging blinds in a house that was mostly finished. It was 88 degress outside. Inside where I was hanging blinds - 72 degrees. Yep, that's right. They gave me the tough job of hanging blinds in an air-conditioned house. Let me just say that I did NOT request the inside job. I did not, however, decline the inside job.

I'll post some more about the trip in the next few days. Trust me, the best is yet to come.

-- Peace, Jamie

Team Meeting

We will have a team meeting at 7:30 Wednesday night, May 28 in the Rock. The meeting is for everyone interested in the 1145 service. Part of the meeting will consist of discussing launch plans and the leadership team vs. the launch team.

-- Peace, Jamie

Top 20 Movies for Kids

I get addicted to lists. I'll see a list and want to check it out, compare it to my list, critique it. Entertainment Weekly posts lists all the time. However, they're 'photo gallery lists' which means you have to click through twenty or so pages to get the complete list. Whenever I go there, I always tell myself I'm not clicking through all of those pages but inevitably I do. So to save you from going here and looking at 20 different pages, I did it for you.

Entertainment Weekly's The 20 Best Movies for Kids

• Wizard of Oz – The flying monkeys always scared me as a kid. I read the book in fourth grade and fell in love with it. The movie holds up well seeing that next year it will be 70! years since it was released.
  
• The Parent Trap – They’re talking about the original. I’ve seen it and the Lindsay Lohan remake and actually prefer the remake. But they’re both pretty good movies.
  
• To Kill a Mockingbird – The book is one of the best ever written. I never liked the movie that much and don’t see kids enjoying it a whole lot.
  
• The Sound of Music – My family loves this movie – and by family, I mean, the girls in my family. I laugh at and make fun of the movie constantly when it’s on, which leads to glares from my daughters. It’s usually best for all involved if I leave the room when this one’s playing at my house.
  
• Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory – So much about this movie scared me when I was a kid – the oompa-loompas, the bad eggs, the big, purple girl. I have to admit that I enjoy this version a lot now. If I see it on and flip over to it, chances are I’m gonna be there a while.
  
• Charlotte’s Web – This is the old cartoon version. I loved the book, read it probably 20-25 times in my life. I don’t remember much about the movie except Templeton’s voice was done by Paul Lynde and he made me laugh.
  
• E.T. – Darn, I had forgotten how good this movie is until I saw it recently. WOW! I laughed out loud. I also cried when E.T. died. Man, that is one of the most emotional moments of any movie that I can remember. Plus, Neil Diamond did an incredibly bad song based on the movie. Hearlight, anyone?
  
• Back to the Future – Okay, this is one of my favorite movies of all time. However, I question how much of a kid’s movie it is. It’s more of a teen movie to me. Some of the language I would consider kind of rough for elementary age kids.
  
• Spirited Away – Never saw it.
  
• Little Women – Very good movie. Never read the book.
  
• Babe – A very good movie. It’s funny how much character that pig had, plus James Cromwell was excellent.
  
• Shrek – As bad as the sequels are, this movie is not only very, very good, it also passes the rewatchable test. Funny how a movie that set out to destroy all of the ‘Disney’ clichés ended up playing to every one of them.
  
• The Incredibles – Funny, I didn’t particularly care for this movie the first time I saw it. However, I’ve seen it probably 7,8 times since and it gets better every time I watch it.
  
• Iron Giant – Never saw it.
  
• Star Wars – For the record, this is episode IV (A New Hope). For me, it’s Star Wars. All the others have to have names (Empire, Return, etc), but not this one. This one is my favorite movie of all-time. It came out when I was nine. I fell in love with Princess Leia. I wanted to be Luke Skywalker. I wanted a droid like R2D2. I’m sure the FX are passé and boring now. But in 1977, they were incredible. The story is great. It’s entertaining for kids and yet deep enough for an adult to give it some serious thought. Do I take Star Wars too seriously? Probably.
  
• The Lord of the Rings trilogy – How this movie series made it on to a list for kid’s movies I’ll never know. For the record this series comprises my third favorite movie of all-time. The story is awesome. The movie-making fabulous. But way beyond most ‘kids.’
  
• The Princess Bride – Now THIS is a kid’s movie. I love almost everything about it. And again, it’s in my top 10 favorite movies of all-time. Inconceivable!
  
• The Lion King – The best animated movie of all-time.
  
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – I prefer Goblet as a movie. Although Prisoner is a better book.
  
• Stand By Me – Saw it a looooong time ago. Don’t remember much about it.
  

Movies that my family likes that aren't on the list include Nanny McPhee, Ever After, Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, Peter Pan (live action), and National Treasure. I could go on but that's enough for now.

-- Peace, Jamie

New Orleans

It's almost 7AM CDT and we are in the process of packing up the bus and heading back to Rock Hill. To say that a mission trip has been a fantastic experience never truly captures what happened. We did a lot of work on houses in areas that were as rundown as any I've seen. We had the pleasure of working with Crossroads Missions on about five homes that they have built in an area that is downtrodden and in many place falling down. The homes that they have built are for the most part the only bright spots in the area. We laid flooring in some houses. In other houses we put the finishing touches so that they could be sold to first time homeowners in the area.
It was a great week. I'll post more about next week. Right now, I have a 14 hour drive to begin!

-- Peace, Jamie

Clearing the Desk

I had a ritual at some point in my life where I would clear everything off of my desk on Friday before I left my office. Well, it was less of a ritual, more of a good intention. I tried to do it as often as possible but, more often than not, I rushed out of the office to get home and begin my weekend and arrived at my desk on Monday morning to find the same clutter that I had left from the week before. Today, though, I will symbolically clean off the desk of the 1145 gathering before I close up shop on Friday.

• Will and I met for a couple of hours this afternoon. It was good to have Will back and it's great to have Lori back on the east coast for good. Will heads back to Home Depot on Monday morning. Lori will be working in Charlotte and getting ready for a very important test in the fall. Pray for them as they get adjusted to their new apartment.
• In our discussions for naming the new gathering, Reveal is the one name that we kept coming back to. We have a couple of other names that we tossed around this afternoon as well. We will probably have one or two more names that we toss into the discussion at our next Leadership team meeting.
• As discussed earlier, we will be doing four pre-launch gatherings. Will has the theme for the first two-week series and will be meeting with some people who will hopefully be on the creative team to begin going through the creative process. It's exciting to begin getting involved in what's going to be an incredible journey.
• Our next Leadership team meeting will be on Wednesday, May 28 at 7:30 in the Rock.
• On a non-1145 related note, my family played Jenga tonight. If you haven't played Jenga, don't do it unless you like loud crashes and tense moments. We reached the 29th level before yours truly pulled a Jenga-thingy from the bottom row and sent the whole tower crashing to the ground. We decided that a time-lapse video of Jenga would be pretty cool.
• Check out this link. Tony Morgan blogged about the article here. It's a great article that we all need to think about in our journey here at 1145 as well as in our personal and professional lives and our faith journey.
• Don't forget NASCAR All-Star Sunday this week at FBC.

Thanks for your patience this week. I will be in New Orleans next week with our college ministry. Pray for the 24 of us who are going. If I get a chance to post from NO, I will. Does anyone know if the Hard Rock Cafe in NO is open or not? I need an HRC t-shirt for the collection if it is. Have a great weekend. I'll see you on Sunday.

-- Peace, Jamie

Support Teams

The support teams for the worship gathering will be a vital part of the planning process as we get ready to launch. The success of the gathering will depend greatly on people, called by God, serving Him through this gathering. Here are some of the areas that we will need people to serve in:

Parking - People to stand in the parking lot and make sure that people coming to the gathering can find a place to park. They will also be a first touch person, greeting people with a smile and a wave before they ever get out of their car and as soon as they get out of the car.

Greeters - People who will . . . wait for it . . . greet people at the front door with a smile and a helping hand, holding the door open and, once again, welcoming people who are coming to the gathering. Greeters will aslo be at the entrance to the Apex, handing out pens and 'welcome and announcement' cards (we'll be looking for a better name for that).

Connections - People who will set-up and serve at different tables for the gathering. The tables will include a welcome table with information about First Baptist, small groups, etc., a missions table with opportunities to become involved in missions/service locally and globally, a media table with books, CDs, etc. for sale, and a coffee/snack table.

Counseling - People who will be prepared to pray with and answer questions after each gathering is finished. These people will be trained and equipped to meet with people who are searching for the presence of God in their lives.

Follow-Up - People who will be in touch with guests. These people will be responsible for following up with letters, emails, phone calls, etc for people who are new to the gathering.

Creative - People who will work directly with Will to develop the creative aspects of the worship gathering. These people will meet regularly to develop creative (wow, imagine that) ways to communicate the gospel and the themes and topics of any given series.

Of course there are things that aren't mentioned here because we are still developing them (like childcare, taking up the offering, etc.) or because we haven't thought of them yet. Thanks for you patience this week. Let me know what you think of what we've put down so far. It has been a rich and rewarding week putting some of these thoughts and ideas into a more organized form. It makes me even more excited about the possibilities of the new gathering.

-- Peace, Jamie

Pray for Will and Lori and Will's dad. They will be driving back from California in the next few days. Will and Lori will be moving in to their apartment on May 15, at least I think that's the date. Will, let me know if I'm wrong.

What in the world are we doing? Pt 2

Running a little behind. Will and I had a great meeting yesterday. After it was over, we had a pretty good handle on how some of our teams are going to be set up. Look for a post with more info about our teams later on this week. We will be having a creative team meeting once Will and Lori get back from California. Then on May 28, we will have a launch team meeting to finalize plans for the fall.

Following up on yesterday's post about questions that we need to ask, here are three more.

4. Do we experience the joy, love and encouragement of being together as a church? (See Hebrews 10:25 and John 13:34-35)

5. Do we somehow remind everyone of the mission of the church and why we exist? (See Matthew 28:18-20)

6. Do we enable people to individually contribute something as part of the body of Christ? (See 1 Corinthians 12:27 and 14:26)


-- Peace, Jamie

What in the world are we doing?

Getting back to some of the things that I gleaned while I was reading Emerging Worship was making sure we ask the right questions as we plan our gathering. I mean, let's be honest, if we want to get a group of people together to get excited about something, to applaud and maybe even give a shout of encouragement, and to sing some songs, we can host a concert, a football game or some other athletic competition or a play. But there's something very different about a group of Christians gathering to actively worship God. But what makes it different? Great question! Here are some questions that need to be at the forefront of our thinking (hey, forefront, i like that name).

1. Do we lift up the name of Jesus as the centerpiece of why we gathered? (See Revelation 5:6, 13-14, Colossians 3:17, and Philippians 2:9-11)

2. Do we have a time in the Scriptures learning the story of God and man? Do we invite everyone to be part of his story today in Kingdom living? (See 2 Timothy 3:14 - 4:4)

3. Do we pray together and have enough time to slow down and quiet our hearts to hear God's voice and yield to his Spirit? (See Acts 1:14 and John 4:23-24)

There are more but I'll save those for tomorrow. For now, let's get excited about what God is able to do in our lives and about the plans that He has for us in our journey together at First Baptist Church.

-- Peace, Jamie

Meeting Tomorrow

Will and I are getting together tomorrow to do some planning. Pray for us as do, that God will give us wisdom as we meet, that we will know what questions we need to be asking, that we will be prepared for the unexpected. Also, be praying for people to be called to be a part of our leadership team.

Also, I am working on a description of some of the needs we will have for the gathering. Look for a post about that tomorrow or Wednesday.

-- Peace, Jamie

Asking the Question "Why?"

My ultimate goal in the planning/programming for this worship service is to ask (and be able to answer) the question "Why?" for every element, song, movie, etc. that we use. This is important to me because questions may arise as we begin to push the boundaries of what is currently normal for worship at FBC. But if we (as a team) have already been able to answer the questions of "Why?", then we will be ready to explain the reasoning behind the element. Some of those "Why?" questions could be:

Why would we use this ______ at all?
Why would we use this ______ at this point in the service?
Why would we use this ______ in this way?

It is my hope that we would be able to think theologically (as well as aesthetically) through these questions and ultimately avoid the dreaded "Because we've always done it this way" answer.

Will

New Music?

As we begin to select and work with the band, I wanted to give everyone a list of some of the songs that we will be working on for the new service. As a worship leader It is really exciting and encouraging when the congregation is engaged in worship and singing out to their Creator with confidence. But it can be very uncomfortable for the worship leader and the congregation when a song becomes a solo because the congregation is not familiar with it.

So in a attempt to help in the transition of learning new songs and building a new repertoire, here is a preliminary list of songs for the new service.

O Come Let Us Adore Him (Passion - Sacred Revolution)
I Am Free (Promise Keepers Band- The Awakening)
Happy Day (Tim Hughes - Holding Nothing Back)
Marvelous Light (Charlie Hall - Flying Into Daybreak)
Let God Arise (Chris Tomlin - See The Morning)
Undignified (David Crowder Band - Can You Hear Us?)
Center (Passion - Passion: The Early Session 02-EP)
You Are God Alone (Phillips, Craig & Dean - Let The Worshippers Arise)
Til I See You (Hillsong - Look To You)
On Jordan's Stormy Banks I Stand (Jars Of Clay - Redemption Songs)
O Praise Him (David Crowder Band - Illuminate)
Blessed Assurance (Kenny Clark - Music Of The Spheres)
By His Wounds (Mac Powell - Glory Revealed)
Kindness (Passion - Passion: The Road to OneDay)
Glorious Day (Todd Agnew - Better Questions)

Obviously, this list will not cover all of the needs of the first few services so I will be using other songs as needed.  The goal here is to give everyone some songs to be listening to over the next few months.

Also, if you have a song (Christian or Secular) that you would like us to use let me know (willbeaty@hotmail.com).

Will

Worship Is A Verb

In preparing for this new service, I began to read back through several books that I read in seminary for my worship concentration. Here is a list of good books on the subject if you are interested.

Introduction to Christian Worship - James F. White
The Complete Worship Leader - Kevin J. Navarro
Worship As Theology - Don E. Saliers
Real Presences - George Steiner
Unceasing Worship - Harold M. Best
The Great Worship Awakening - Robb Redman
Worship Is A Verb - Robert E. Webber

Since we are not wanting to simply change the musical style of the existing services while keeping the basic service order and elements the same, I thought that some discussion on "What is worship?" and "How do we want to worship?" would be helpful. So over the next few months I will post a few quotes from some of these books to help spark some discussion and thought on worship. To start off, here are some from Robert Webber's book, "Worship Is A Verb"

"The focus of worship...is not human experience, not a lecture, not entertainment, but Jesus Christ - his life, death, and resurrection." (1)

"The purpose of worship is not to prove the Christ it celebrates, but to bring the worshiper so in tune with God's reconciliation through Christ that his death and resurrection become a living experience." (25)

"In worship there aren't 'preliminaries.' Every part of worship is an intricate aspect of the whole." (74)

"In beholding our God, these gods that would divert us and send us away from Christ are exposed and sent on the run. Worship is not complete without beholding our God, without seeing and experiencing the greatness of his power and love." (100)

"It seems to me...that we twentieth-century Christians have perhaps unconsciously lost something that is extremely important in our worship experience - a recognition that the one before whom we stand is Almighty God." (111)

"Worship is not something rote, mechanical, or intellectual. I do not worship because I've always done it. I don't worship because of peer pressure or for a better social standing in the community. I respond to God in worship because he makes a difference in my life. Worship reminds me of my commitment to Christ." (125)

Will

Disturbed Minds Working Together

UPDATE: I've pulled off some of the names that I think we decided against last night. Destiney is supposed to email the complete list from last night. Here are a couple of more that I am adding:

Frontline

Axis

Both of these are names of existing young adult ministries in other places. But I thought I would toss them out anyway!

-- Jamie (5/5)

Brainstorming - the unrestrained offering of ideas or suggestions by all members of a committee, conference, etc. in an effort to find a solution to a problem, generate fresh ideas, etc.

A sudden clever plan or idea.

A sudden, violent disturbance of the mind.

Coming up with a name or brand for a new worship gathering is not the most important decision that we will make in the coming months. However, if we are going to be about creativity and excellence, then the first task that we tackle should reflect both excellence and creativity. With that being said, there are no bad ideas. Ok, maybe there are some bad ideas. But some of the best ideas may be sparked by one of those ideas that make everyone make a funny face when they first hear it.

Here are some ideas that have been tossed out for the new gathering.


Dwelling Place

Converge- Coming from different directions to unite for one purpose

Link1820 - For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them. Matthew 18:20

Raised Up - Egeiro (to raise up)

Beloved - agapao

Revealed/Reveal/Revelation - Phaneroo

Risen

Connection

Atone/Atonement - kaphar

Conversion/Converge

Grace - charis

Offering - qorban

Redeemed/Redeemer

Faithful - pistos

Fusion

Wellspring/Lifespring

Unseparated/Inseparable (From Romans 8:38-39)

Providence

Please feel free to email me any other ideas that you have (jamieb@fbcrockhill.org) or you can post in the comments section as well.

There and Back Again

I’ve sat and stared at an empty computer screen for a few minutes as I try to decide exactly what to post first. There are so many places that we need to go. What will the worship gathering look like? What will be involved in getting it organized? Who’s going to be on the leadership team? What will we call it? Who’s going to do what? All good questions. But before we tackle those questions, there are a few very important things to remember as we plan and get ready.

To prepare myself for the journey ahead, I finished reading Emerging Worship by Dan Kimball. He pointed out a few things that I think are good to keep in mind.

First, in a worship gathering, we create a place where we can express love, devotion, adoration, and praise to God (4). Whatever elements we include, whatever music we play, whatever videos we use, ultimately we are unable to make anyone worship. Our best efforts can only create an atmosphere where worship can occur. But make no mistake that should be our goal every time we gather.

Second, the results of worship produce in us a greater love for God and a greater love for people (11). Hand-in-hand with that is that worship is a lifestyle of being in love with God and in awe of Him all week long (4). At the end of the day if what happens in the Apex on Sundays doesn’t affect how we live our lives on Monday through Saturday it will be a failure regardless of how many people show up.

Tomorrow, I will post some of the names that we have tossed around. We will meet Sunday night. The plan is to meet at 7:00 but we may move it up to 6:30. I’ll let you know.

Peace -- Jamie

It's Not About Me

3:20 AM...It's either really early, or really late depending on your frame of reference.  Well, for those of you who don't know me yet, that is the time that my alarm goes off every morning during the week.  See, I work at The Home Depot stocking shelves and my shift runs from 4 AM to 8 AM.  I usually don't have many coherent thoughts during my morning routine, but today I as I drove to work, with my radio blasting David Crowder singing "The Doxology" (Passion: Hymns Ancient & Modern), I had two thoughts. (1) 11:45 is much better than 3:20 and (2) "Praise God from whom all blessings flow."

Now you may not see many blessings in having to be at work at 4 AM each morning, but for me that is a huge blessing.  A little background on me will help clear this up.  January 2007:  I had just graduated from Seminary and was looking forward to moving to a full-time position at the church I was at in Pasadena, CA.  Lori and I had attended this church the whole time we had lived in Cali (since Fall 2003).  I had also done all of my Internship work at the church (about a year and a half).  But God had other plans.  I was laid-off and all of my plans were shattered.  I started looking for a job and learning a lot about the business side of church.  Lori and I became very discouraged.  But then things started to look up because I got plugged in with a church in Columbia, SC that was looking to improve on its existing "contemporary" service.  I worked part-time for them from California planning services and emailing the sets in each week.  At the end of October I packed up the apartment, said goodbye to Lori and got on a plane for SC to live with my in-laws.  Lori was finishing up her Masters at Southern Cal and I was coming to SC to start my first full-time ministry job after seminary.  But that job only lasted 4 days.

Once again, my plans were shattered but God had other plans for me.  Before long I was eating lunch with a family member who leads worship at a church in Charlotte and he mentioned to me that a church in Rock Hill was looking for a worship leader to help out.  About the same time, a position came open at The Home Depot across the street from my in-laws sub-division.

All along this journey of the past 16 months, God has been telling me "It's not about you...It's about me."  And His blessing have flowed in some amazing ways.  I am really looking forward to all that God is going to do in this 11:45 service.  But we need to remember that even though we are going to do a lot of "work" to get this service up and running, God is ultimately the one who is going to make the service happen.

In the meantime, I'll keep praising God for that 3:20 alarm.

Will

Temporary Home

I always love getting on a bus on a Saturday morning with my backpack, a bottle of Diet Mt Dew, a couple of magazines and a Donald Miller book and heading out to some obscure location for a weeklong mission trip. Let's see, I've been to Brunswick, GA on a few occasions, Myrtle Beach, Miami, Nashville, and the list could go on. That morning is always filled with anticipation and the hope that at the end of the week, I will be exhausted and fulfilled. It was a hope that almost always was met. At the end of that first Saturday, I would unroll my sleeping bag in a corner on some hard floor of some church or gym. Then I would put my suitcase at the foot of the sleeping bag, pull out my alarm clock, my handmade (by my wife and daughters) Peanuts blanket, and my sound machine (yes, a sound machine, set on white noise if you must know) and settle in for an exciting week. By Tuesday, the floor, the roommates, the bugs, the temperature, the distance to the bathroom, the lack of hot showers or some other distraction had me longing for home. And when I would climb back on that same bus just one week later, I was ready, very ready, to sleep in my own bed, eat at a table with my family, and stand in a hot shower that would last way longer than is environmentally responsible. But I would also climb on knowing how important that week had been in my life. On many of those trips, I had built a home for a family or a church, shared a meal with a homeless man, led a child to begin a walk with the Creator of the universe, or given water to a stranger on a hot day. But it was always me who ended up being changed, finding hope, experiencing the love of God. Those temporary homes were important places for me and will always be cherished.

Today, I am getting a new temporary home. Here at eleven forty five at fbc we are setting up a temporary home for the leadership team of the new service that is going to begin in the fall. This will be a place for us to discuss ideas for the gathering, to share our dreams of what God can do, and to encourage one another. Once we get a name established, we will move on to our permanent home.

Will and I will be posting ideas as we discuss them. We will also keep it updated with news of meetings, events, prayer needs and more. I am filled with the same anticipation and hope that filled me when I first hopped on those buses. I know there are gonna be a few Tuesdays along the way where some obstacle will make me want to give up, some difficulty will make me long for the end of the trip, or some 'disaster' will make me question why I'm here. But I make this journey with the confidence that when the bus comes back to get me this temporary home will have inspired us on our journey. It will be a place where we encountered God together and sensed His movement and direction in our lives. It will be a place that I look back on in the same way I look back on Brunswick, Myrtle Beach, Miami, Nashville. In other words, I hope this new, temporary home will be one that we cherish.

Now if you'll pardon me, I have a sleeping bag to unroll and a suitcase to unpack.

-- Peace, Jamie