Ministry

Worship at Christmastime

We have crossed into December, and the countdown to Christmas is officially underway in our house. Our tree was standing for over a week without ornaments until last night. It’s a prelit tree, but it looked a little odd with the middle section blacked out for several nights in a row. That’s one of the issues you run into when you have a lot of ornaments that plug in. Last night we finally added the ornaments.

My wife has found time to add little things all around the house. She bought some new LED candlelights online for each of the windows. Some faux brick cardboard lines the walls of a sitting room, trimmed neatly with puffy white “snow” and all of our stockings. And we hung some paper snowflakes from the kitchen ceiling.

This Sunday, though, I get to do something I rarely have the opportunity to anymore: lead worship. It probably seems silly that a guy who wrote a book on worship suddenly finds himself out of the role. But part of the role I do fill now, as assistant pastor, requires filling in where other needs are, since we have a number of worship leaders in the church.

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Uncategorized

Why Obama Might Be President

[No, I’m not taking sides publically one way or the other.  I have voted already (with absentee ballot), but I’m not giving that away, either.  In this post, I will speak as part of a collective, though my opinions or experience may not be the same as the generalizations made.]

Many evangelical Christians support John McCain, and would be devastated if Barack Obama were to win the White House next week.  It doesn’t sound as if there is a great exodus planned in that event, as many hardcore Democrats threaten every election to “run for the border” of Canada should a Republican take office.  Still, the disappointment of “losing” the top office in the country to such a staunch liberal would eventually manifest itself in our pulpits, our magazines, books, and coffee house conversations.  All of this leads me to the number one reason I believe Barack Obama might win on November 4th.

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Christian Living

How do you know, that you know, that you know?

In a small group meeting this weekend, I talked about the Theory of the Heart, and I mentioned how one aspect of including our heart in worship is to love God. One of our discussion questions asked how we can fall more in love with God. The answers were your typical Bible study answers: pray, read your Bible more, talk to God, worship. And I heard one member of the group comment, “Man, I wish someone would just give a straight answer.”

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