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