I Have a Friend
This friend’s name is Scott Phillips. Scott is a few years older than me, and we came from the same area in NW Pennsylvania. First, I speak for myself when I say that I am glad to be away from that place. Second, Scott is an artist that now lives in Nashville, TN and he creates music and art pieces you can check out at his site. We had Scott come to VA and play for our 100th anniversary for our church last year. This was the first time I had seen him in years. I want to encourage you to check out his music. He has been an inspiration to me and I hope his work can bless you as much as it has me. I’m singing “Time to Come Home” from his second album in church on Sunday, I can’t wait to see how it turns out. Enjoy his sounds! (BTW, iTunes carries his music)
-AOD
Thanks Walt!
I want to say thank you to a good friend of mine, Walt Barnes, who came and spoke to our church last night. Walt was our M-fuge camp pastor in 2006, then he came and spoke at our revival services in Oct. 2006, and now he’s back in town this week for World Changers. Terrace Crawford is heading up this week’s WC project and also had Walt for a camp pastor in 2007. So on his day off, Walt came to our church and blew us away with a sermon from John 3:22 calling us to be uncomfortable in our walk with Christ. Not the norm nowadays with this get rich, comfortable, prosperity Christianity that is out there.
I really enjoyed catching up with him about his school and speaking life, as well as his life with Cathrine (his wife). We talked about the direction we see the church going, how important and interesting school is. All this along with a sermon, worship and prayer time in about two hours. He also informed me that next summer he gets to choose what weeks he wants to speak at M-fuge. This is big for a preacher that just got started 2.5 years ago. I love this guy, and I want to encourage you to book him for your event coming up. He has an anointing from God to preach. If you go to his website, you can check out some podcasts from previous messages. Thanks again, Walt and many blessings as you continue to run the race!
-AOD
I Can’t Resist
This is too amazing to pass up. A lot of people are blogging about this right now, but I feel some of my readers probably don’t read that many blogs. Never fear! I will find the interesting stuff that is out there FOR you. Check out this new church that Francis Chan is building in CA.
The building project website gives more detail, but here is an excerpt…
“The idea of building an outdoor sanctuary rather than an auditorium sprung from a desire to save millions of dollars. It came from a belief that God would rather we spend that money in other ways. It comes from a thought that God would receive more glory from seeing His children sacrifice for others- namely, those around the world who lack basic necessities. The idea then evolved into developing the property into more of a park-like setting that could be enjoyed by the church and community throughout the week. In this way, we would be giving to our community as well as to the needy around the world.”
So, instead of building a gigantic building, they are building an amphitheater/park experience that can be used throughout the week as well. What an amazing way to serve the community!
Granted, an outside park is probably not going to work very well in Dearborn, MI; however, if you and your church reside in the sunny south or other beautiful areas of the country, take advantage of it. Maybe you don’t need a huge outdoor sanctuary facility, but you can serve your community with your building. Be creative, don’t let your building become the massive ton of bricks that just sits on the corner. Many churches have been given wonderful properties or buildings, use it to glorify God not just on Sundays and Wednesdays.
-AOD
It Has Been Said
“Ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be open.” Luke 11:9
Well, I said I wanted to experience worship away from the stage. Tonight was the most moving service I have been a part of. There was barely a message other than simple calls to repentance, challenges to follow God NOW, not in the future. The music was very repetitive, but meaningful and powerful. I say repetitive because that has been the challenge all week; dude, play more than 5 songs over a 4 day period. (these thoughts are running through my head)
I asked to experience worship in a way that I am not used to, and most of the time I was sitting down. I received a filling of God that I have not felt before. I sought after my God that seeks me and I found true acceptance and a peace that passes all understanding. I knocked and the door to my heart was opened to accept the Spirit and reject myself.
-AOD
How Does It Work?
When you feel “moved” by the Holy Spirit, what does it look like for you? We’ve had a great week of camp and I’ve seen God working in these students. For me, the Holy Spirit is most evident when He is working on my students. One student this week took on a leadership task in VBS, and ran with it. Directing people, assigning duties and speaking up in our “breakdown” meetings; I didn’t know she had it in her. Another student said, “I prayed for the first time tonight” and he’s been coming to Wednesday night services for months. When I see the entire group hugging on each other, counseling each other and loving each other through tears, that is God at work. I see God move most when dealing with people.
I feel my worship is the most authentic when I am helping lead music in some capacity. It has been difficult this week to step back and not criticize and try to worship with everyone. The first night was great, but I can see myself starting to fall into the critical trap. One of the best ways to feel God move is through the emotion of the crowd when you’re on stage. I want to feel that when I’m the one in the crowd.
-AOD
Greetings From Student Camp
I am so stoked that there is FREE, non-pass-protected Wi-Fi in these dorms!! I guess that is what private schoolers (Wake Forest University) pay for! So we just had a great session of worship and preaching as well as an awesome session of church groups. The theme for this week is “the Way”. Todd Agnew is our worship leader, and WOW! I wasn’t a huge fan before tonight, (I’ll be honest) but after meeting him and seeing his heart AND seein him play worship music, he is great and we are going to have a great week with him!
Our speaker, David Edwards, did a great intro to the week by laying out five different “ways” you might be on in your life right now. Each is a route sign or sign-post that the Israelites had to go through in their journey.
Exodus 15 – follow along
1. Rescue – the Red Sea looks impossible to conquer. We give up and say, “Jesus, I surrender to You, I need rescued.”
2. Release – after the Red Sea, looking back. The stage of forgiveness, “forgive me for my doubt, and help me to forgive others.
3. Requirement – the people were bitter. There may not be any answers to “why” questions, so then the question becomes “who” will we trust?
4. Refusal – v.24 “what do we do?” We know what God wants from us, but we refuse to do it.
5. Renewal – 40 years in the wilderness. God says, “oh you want to do it YOUR way, go ahead.” Are we going through the motions and not doing what we should, on cruise control.
Finally, v.25, the saving grace is that God turned the waters sweet with a tree. The tree is the cross. God has pointed to a tree, how have you responded? What stage are you in? I told the students tonight, “it is like the 1. rescue is surrounded by all the others and we can jump from stage to stage throughout our life. But it all starts at the rescue. So, have you identified your sign-post?
-AOD
Speaking of Videos
The last post reminded me that I wanted to share a video with you. A couple of us on staff here at OVBC came up with a concept to connect various groups together in the church. We simply called it “Summer Connect”. So I become media guy at the church and put together this commercial for Sunday morning and for the website. I think the media guy in the church (for those that can’t afford to pay one) is whomever is under 40, wears clothes that are “in style” and maybe has a crazy haircut and can decipher the difference between Mac OSX and Windows. (I didn’t say Mac and PC because my friend jsleeper might tell me that a Mac IS a PC!) Anyway, here’s the commercial put together with iMovie because I don’t know Final Cut yet. Did I mention it’s my first go at this kind of thing?
Gearing Up For Student Camp
Next week myself and my lovely wife (along with a couple other adults) will be headed to Wake Forest, NC to Student Life Mission Camp. I look forward to camp every year because it generally doesn’t require me to prepare a whole lot except for the group bible studies at the end of the day. I am interested to see what this new camp is like, we’ve never been there before because I try to go to a different place every year. Last year we went to the Master’s Inn and it was my favorite of the past four camps. I’m not going to lie, I like to do the least amount of face time/teaching time with the students as possible during these camp weeks. I am more interested in them building relationships with other students and themselves.
I do think it is important to do a large event with the students in order to build unity and trust. I know of many churches that do their own summer camp every year. I used to think they were crazy, now I can definitely see the need for a similar event. We have gone camping and we’ve put together our own revival type events. These are the events that the students really remember most and I believe it is because they “owned” them. They helped put them together, they planned activities, they participated in serving others, they did it all. Give your students ownership. Don’t be a micro-manager, allow some things to fail. Your student ministry will be better off.
-AOD
Invest
I had several students come up to me last night and say either “I’m going to be in high school after Monday” or “I’m done with high school, no more exams!!”. This time of year is interesting to me. I recently graduated from college, so for about a month now I have lived I guess the “normal” grown-up life. I go home to my wife and daughter (and dog) to have dinner, maybe band practice later in the evening and life is good. So when someone says, I can’t wait until…what do you do? Do you jump on the opportunity to give advice? Do you say congratulations, see you at the ceremony? What?
I usually ask questions like, how does it feel? Or what are your future plans? I think that relating to people best is to show a true interest in what is going on in the person’s life. How many times has someone asked you “how are you today?” and you give the fixed response, “good, and you?” We even learned that in Spanish class, remember? “Como estas? Bien gracias, y tu?” Why have we become so quick to fake a response to give the perception of perfection? And when we someone gives us all their aches and pains when we ask them how they are doing, we avoid them next time we see them. I am just as guilty as anyone else here.
Here is what I propose. Don’t ask unless you mean it. And when someone asks give the true response. Or, if you are one that is in a hurry a lot, “It’s good to see you” works well. If you really want to reach out to people, and form relationships with them, ask how they are and truly be interested in their response. Jesus was very interested in those around him. He invested His life into 12 nobodies because He knew their true potential. Who are you investing in? Who is investing in you? A good friend of mine said today, “an effective leader is one who surrounds them self with good people”. Invest in people/relationships, show the world you truly care.
-AOD
