I guess I'd been meaning to look more into Phil Munsey before tonight, but I've been busier than anticipated. Regardless, he's teaching tonight. About all I know so far is that he had a series of sermons on Joel's "Become a Better You." He's also got a new book out of his own, "Legacy Now." Just a hunch that there might be a good deal on that book to get it into folks' hands after a message on it? Come prepared. He sounds like a chip off of the Osteen block, so it promises to be great.

SIDENOTE: I'm running the video of Part Three of the series on B.A.B.Y. and I'm immediately impressed to see them doing "Say So" with a guitarist playing a flying V. How cool is that? I think I need to dig deeper into their video archives.

To God goes the glory ... and to whoever was within earshot of me during worship service last night, goes my apologies.

I actually forgot that we were having a full praise & worship service. Let's just say the whole thing hit just the right spot. It's busy season at the day job, so I'm pretty much dragging myself into church these days. Some great song selection, some great vocals, some great new twists to the ensemble setup, some Michael Hodge opening the whole thing with a little e-bow action, some jaw-dropping moments by Steve & Da'Dra ... it all added up to a wonderful and refreshing time.

I'm generally among those who cringe a bit when someone near me is singing wonderfully off-key, but I had the pleasure of sitting near one woman who managed that feat with such volume, dignity, and fearlessness, that I was actually encouraged by it during this service. That, added to the fact that the service itself was just the cup of water I needed, probably might not have meant the same to anyone within earshot of the two of us.

My bad. Next time, I'll add my own guitar solo noises. Let's see how well THAT goes over.

If the office PC is acting normally, I'll see if there's a video clip or two worth adding. Been having a few issues with it that made me switch to worry mode as I thought, "I might have to store this one in my own memory."

UPDATE: Well, as luck would have it, I'm going to have to go with memory on this one. In all the busyness that is work, the computer was manned by another after I left. Seems they only saw fit to close one program ... the one that records the webcast. Yeah, that's steam coming out of my ears. Had a great idea of something to do for my little guitar celebration toward the end of the year that I needed the video from for it to work. Ugh ... fortunately, God always has a Plan B. After a few hours of record-setting disgruntlement, I'll be sure to inquire about that.

BTW, did anyone else notice that we essentially got a preview of the "Free to Worship" CD between the band's rehearsal and the beginning of service?

Just to commemorate the unique day, why not blog?

I'd have loved to comment more about Marcos' sermon on Wednesday, but when I got back home, I discovered something unique. It seems the recording I'd gotten of the webcast had all the video, but none of the sound. Weird.

But I did find it interesting that Marcos' own musical history shared something I'd witnessed elsewhere. Namely, that of critics of his music. In Marcos' case, there's t he comic irony of him having his hair too long on his first album. The only slightly more serious concerns about the music being too fast as well as the drums & bass being too heavy remind me of the criticisms I once heard of another form of Christian music that came onto the scene in the 80s.

Christian heavy metal, of course, had a rich diversity of critics. If it wasn't the hairstyles (too feminine), or the volume level (much, much too loud), there were even wilder tangents to tackle. I found the oddest from Jimmy Swaggart (pre-fall from grace). Swaggart, to those who will recall, was/is actually a talented musician, and is related to Jerry Lee Lewis & Mickey Gilley. While Swaggart touched on a wide array of criticisms of the band Stryper, in particular, the one criticism that I was most astounded to hear was that the use of minor chords and scales reflected a particularly satanic influence. That's it ... the use of minor scales. Who knew that even if the most well-intentioned musician (according to Swaggart) missed a note, he'd have hell to pay for it? Feel free to check out the Wikipedia entry on Stryper for more on the Swaggart critiques.

And just to make sure it doesn't go unstated, there's a "new" Stryper CD out today. "The Roxx Regime Demos" is a collection of demo recordings the band recorded to get a record deal back in the early 80s (under their original name of Roxx Regime). The band has long used the "777" symbol as sort of a beatdown on the more satanic "666." It would have been unfortunate to see the date 7-7-7 pass without a Stryper album of some sort.

Needless to say, my own favored genre of Christian music took a few poundings from many of the same type of critics that Marcos seems to have experienced. Small world, I suppose.

We're once again blessed to have Marcos filling in for the touring Joel Osteen this weekend. With a little luck, the sound will return to the webcast. I'm tempted to pick up a CD of Wednesday's sermon and synch it up with the video. If nothing else, it'd make a good experiment on my part.

Marcos also plugged another treat coming up on the calendar: Israel Houghton preaching next weekend. Mark your calendars now for that one. No idea what to expect, but I doubt Israel will disappoint. The Wednesday inbetween then and now will have another night of praise & worship with Steve & DaDra. Those nights are always one's worth looking forward to.

For now, though, 7-7-07 sounds like a great day to head to church ... which is exactly what I think I'll do.

So, I get to church a little late. Me & the boss spent a bit too long at the office comparing notes on a few projects before he heads out of town. Plus, I was kinda tired and lazy after a pretty long day. By the time I did arrive, I'd missed a few songs of praise & worship and knew I'd have to settle for a seat far more distant that I'd prefer.

It's amazing how God wastes nothing. I end up forcing my way to one of the sections that was really supposed to be shut off. Back row. I opted to sit through the rest of praise & worship and see what there is I can revel in while seated quietly, recovering from a day of mental exhaustion. As luck would have it, I noticed the section for the hearing impaired was rather unpopulated. Well, not entirely. There was, of course, the one lady doing sign language. But there was also one other lady enjoying the music for all it was worth. It just struck me as amazing that in this church that packs 16,000 into the seats at the Sunday 11am service and that see over 40,000 turn the virtual turnstile as they enter our doors (that is to say *if* we had turnstiles) ... here's a veritable church for one going on under the same roof. It was, by far, the most beautiful thing I think I've seen in the sanctuary in some time (with all due apologies to Cindy Cruse Ratcliff, Victoria Osteen, Dodie Osteen, Lisa Comes and scores of other astoundingly beautiful women who grace our church with their presence on a regular basis).

Anyway, point being that it made the night for me to notice that. In reading Shane Claiborne's "The Irresistible Revolution," I'm in the final pages of it and there's more than a few critical notes on big churches. Claiborne spent time as an intern with Willow Creek Church in the Chicago area. And his criticisms are one for care of the larger church community, not the more frequent juvenile attacks on display elsewhere.

But still, I had that in mind as I'm watching this - realizing that while many folks think of Lakewood as a big church, I have a hard time seeing it that way. Sure, there's a lot of people there. Even on a slow Wednesday, there's 3-4,000 in the seats. Bigger than 99% of the churches at peak time on a Sunday. But the Lakewood I see also has some great group settings that number in the hundreds (L7, Koinonia, Celebrate Recovery, etc ...). There's our groups that measure in the nearly-a-hundred range like the group that heads out to a late dinner after Koinonia on Saturdays. There's the Compass Classes and Freedom Series classes that meet in groups of twenty to sixty or so to go in more depth of Bible study and other specific topics. There are the circles of friendship that measure anywhere from two to ten ... or, if you're really popular, maybe even a hundred or more.

And then there's this occasional church for one like the one I got to see Wednesday night. It's enough to make you rethink the whole "big church" concept. I mean, maybe we're not a big church - we're just a lot of smaller churches under one roof. Or we're still a small church in the sense that all followers of Christ are called to be one church.

I sorta held off on posting my thoughts on Marcos' Wednesday sermon for a variety of reasons. One was an excuse of convenience - I was sick and spent much of the day Thursday sleeping off a head cold. The second was that I might talk myself out of using my cynical observation immediately after the service.

Seems I was approached by my friend Dale who rather enthusiastically proclaimed to have gotten a lot from this particular sermon. The topic was on staying away from the darkness. After kicking off with an anecdote from Marcos on a recent news story about a murder-suicide, the message qualified easily as one of Marcos' heavier topics. My response to Dale? "Great, so you're not going to kill someone now?"

I know ... I really need to work on that whole sense of humor thing.

Romans 1:18-32 served as the basis of the message. And you might be happy to know that I also got a word or two out of it. Marcos homed in on two themes in particular: (1) glorify God, and (2) give thanks.

On that note, there's one aspect to which I have to confess some amount of envy. Once upon a time, I recall Marcos preaching another sermon and he commented that reading the Bible for a particular word to meditate on was somewhat easy for him as a musician. He could simply write a song about it and replay it in his head. I suspect he's not the only musician with that advantage.

Pertaining to this Wednesday sermon, however, I had the temporary advantage of realizing one of my favorite tunes instilled this message rather nicely. So with that, I uploaded the song into the nifty widget a couple of posts below. The lyrics practically sing themselves:

How do you explain/How do you describe/ A love that goes from east to west/and runs as deep as it is wide/You know all our hopes/Lord, you know all our fears/And words cannot express the love we feel/But we long for you to hear

So listen to our hearts/Hear our spirit sing/A song of praise that flows/from those you have redeemed

We will use the words we know/to tell you what an awesome God you are/But words are not enough/to tell you of our love/so listen to our hearts

If words could fall like rain/from these lips of mine/And if I had a thousand years/I would still run out of time

So if you listen to my heart/Every beat will say/Thank you for the life/Thank you for the truth/Thank you for the Way

So listen to our hearts/Hear our spirit sing/A song of praise that flows/from those you have redeemed

We will use the words we know/to tell you what an awesome God you are/But words are not enough/to tell you of our love/so listen to our hearts

For something a bit more up-tempo, there's this nice punk rock tune by Five Iron Frenzy that I posted on an ancient YouTube Tuesday.

Beautiful day, wonderful feeling, this reason to sing, psalms meaning songs singing praises all day long. Joy fills the weak, joy makes us strong. Filled 'till we burst, songs of praise to the God of the Universe.

Despite our selfish selves, despite all loss of hope, despite our lack of faith, despite our stony hearts, despite the waning moon, despite the ebbing tide of how we think this world should be.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow, praise Him all creatures here below, praise Him above ye heavenly host, praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Gray rainy day, down in the mud for us. Don't feel I can sing, songs to the God in control of the seasons. But what's good and bad, flow from the hands,
of the God with the perfect plan. Filling us with joy, all of this will glorify

And that, my friends, is as close as I get to our more talented musician friends who have the great luxury of turning any word into a song. Thank God I at least have a big CD collection.

More fun looking through the upcoming schedule of services at Lakewood: Dr. John Trent is apparently slated to hit the pulpit on June 27. I know rather little about him save for the fact that one of his books is on Dr. Paul Osteen's recommended reading list and another has occassionally looked interesting to me: The Two-Percent Difference. He's written quite a few other books, though. So I probably ought to hedge my bets on anticipating any particular message that night.

Just as well ... I appear set to pick up this Eugene Peterson book next month. Still pondering something from the nonfiction shelves, though.

One more of those weird little things that I notice at a church service that I didn't expect ... In this case, it was a great performance by Stephen Crawford leading praise & worship on a Wednesday night. Ever since Steve and Da'Dra came on board, there's been a frequent disconnect between the obvious level of talent they have and the comfort level they sometimes exhibit on the Lakewood stage. Over the past week or so, I've noticed that that's not true anymore.

Last night, Stephen Crawford was clearly in command of the stage and put on a clinic for how to lead praise & worship. It was a thrill to watch. In Da'Dra, I've noticed moments previously where the same is true. I think it's safe to say that both of them now look, feel, and sound a lot more at home singing from the stage than at most points prior.

On the downside for the night, I stroll into church a little early expecting to pick up Marcos' book and wanting to flip through a chapter or two before things get going. One problem ... the book isn't in stock at the bookstore yet. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed. Particularly after having passed up a copy at the bookstore yesterday. But it looks like they just want to roll out the release with Marcos preaching this weekend. So I wait.

... and I pick up another book: "The Air We Breathe" by Louie Giglio. I figured I'd be done with it in short order and it looks like I'll put it to rest sometime tonight. It's a great read and I highly recommend putting on Chris Tomlin's "See the Morning" as you read it. Not surprisingly, they go very well together. As it stands, I'm about to blow a minor fortune on Amazon.com for what may well represent a new shelf full of books in the library. With a little luck, reviews should be forthcoming over the course of the next month.

I also noticed that Fiona Mellett had a CD for sale at the counter, a 2004 release entitled "Water in the Wilderness." Easy call in picking that one up while I was at it. Michael Hodge does electric guitars on the recording. The guitars are rather sparse, but the songs are great. I'll have to ask around to see if it's ok to put up some sample clips of tunes sometime soon.

Oh, and Lisa Comes just about rocked the house with her sermon. It's a good sign when the sermon begins with a Bible passage I've already highlighted the heck out of in my Bible (Hebrews 10:35-39). Perhaps it was no surprise that, with this passage being the key, Stephen Crawford's own confidence level was on proud display. Would that we all display that level of confidence every day.

I guess this is going to be a week of video.

My own backstory for Wednesday night is that I was dead tired and procrastinating heading out to church ... as if a convenient excuse would come along and prevent me from doing so. No luck, so to speak. I make it out anyway, a little late, but still alive. The first video is nice just for the point of seeing Wendell Burton performing for larger audiences:

The second clip from Wednesday has another bit of backstory. My first introduction to Lakewood was via a member back in early 1990-something. I recall them telling me how the church was pretty equally populated by whites, blacks, & Hispanics alike. I thought at the time maybe that was a bit of an overdone point - too good to be true.

The signifigance of that is due to those of us in the south growing up in many still-segregated environments during the 70s and 80s. John Osteen started his church in 1959. He grew the church during the most tumultuous time possible to be situated in a black part of town with an upscale white suburban subdivision going up nearby. That Lakewood Church stands as a fairly evenly-represented congregation (and let's not forget our Asian friends, shall we!) is nothing short of a miracle. It might be one thing to spawn a church in the 80s or 90s that accomplishes this, but 1959?

Dr. Paul Osteen gave some wonderful insight into his father's character from that period of time that I think stands on it's own in light of that bit of history:

I don't want to let too much time pass before revisiting Marcos' sermon from Wednesday. If we take to heart Marcos' point that Mark 16:15 is one of Jesus' key, critical teachings, I'd hope that more of us pay attention to detail on delivering our own stories of coming to Christ. I'm not sure I have mine down to a solid 3-5 minutes, but here's mine.

I'll start with the short and sweet version: guy wants to go to college more than anything on earth, runs into some issues that make that a challenge in his first semester, realizes that some help is needed to deal with the challenges now on my plate, accepts Christ into his life, gets back into college, kicks tail in just about every class, lives happily ever after.

Now, of course, there's details to flesh this out a bit. My family did drag us kids off to church when we were little and lived in a small town. We were Episcopalians ... much like all the other nice, normal, upright folks in Indianola, MS. There wasn't a country club as I recall, so the Episcopal Church had to suffice. I was even baptised at St. Stephens. So it's not like going to church, praying, sitting through Bible Class, or fidgeting during Rev. Murray's sermons was anything new to me. But it never really took. Besides, I kinda preferred the music that all the non-churchgoing folks listened to at the time. Still do, truth be told.

By the time we moved back to Texas, going to church got dropped. For some reason, though, I was blessed with good friends and a few good influences. My best friend & I once decided we were going to see who could get the best grades in classes we shared. He beat me out, but I was fairly quick to catch up and enjoyed the incentive to do better. By the time High School rolled around, I had a new friend who was great about sharing his own faith - a more charasmatic faith at that. We usually exchanged listens to each other's music, which I chalk up to starting my appreciation for music as a means of growing in faith. Although I didn't know the difference between being born again and dragged off to church by Mom on Christmas Eve, we were good friends. Specifically, I recall playing some early Stryper songs. I've got no explanation as to why I enjoyed listening to Stryper despite not being born again or really even considering myself much of a Christian. Divine appointment, maybe? Who knows.

The introduction to college was a rough one. As a kid, I'd spent countless hours killing time just thinking about what it'd be like to go to any number of colleges, just savoring the potential experience. If I'd heard that Penn State has a good program for some field of interest that sounded good to me, I'd probably go wherever I could to see how much it cost to go, what classes I might take, and so on. Same for just about every other school in the U.S. But by the time it got down to brass tacks, I guess I just had it within me to go back to Houston - our family's home. I applied to Rice and Univ. of Houston. Rice would have been interesting and rewarding, I'm sure. But dad went to UH and so did I.

I had it within me to conjure up the notion of majoring in Biochemical Engineering. Looking back, I've got no idea why, but it sounds incredibly cool. Besides, I didn't want to be one of those people who spent years seeing what they wanted to be and took a lot of Psych. classes while trying to "find themselves." I was focused, I was on a mission.

I also failed Chemistry and only survived Biology due to the Lab grade being included with the coursework grade. Not good news for your up & coming Biochemical Engineer. Adding insult to injury, there were some financial difficulties at home.Even though I didn't really want time to rethink my grand plan for the rest of my life, it seemed I'd have quite a bit now. So I sat out a semester, went back to the drudgery of work and eventually resettled into community college for a semester. Later, the family would move back to Houston. At least this was some good news.

Somewhere in the process of rethinking the entire rest of my life, I picked up a book or two - most notably Josh McDowell's "Evidence that Demands a Verdict." I think it was my own unique way of testing whether or not there was any answer for me in Christianity - not really having a good sense of what that entailed outside of mom dragging us kids off to church, wearing uncomfortable clothes and missing football games. At some point, however, the synapses clicked, I said a prayer, and now go about living happily ever after.

Oh, and another point in the backstory ... all this was around the same time that every televangelist in the world seemed to be caught with their pants down, their hands in the collection plate, or their prayer requests being found in trash dumpsters. 1987: Jim & Tammy Faye ... out. 1988: Swaggart ... down. 1991: Tilton ... mercifully exposed. If I wanted a good time to come to Christ (1988 to be precise), I couldn't have picked a worse time. And in case anyone's looking for the insult-to-injury moment here: the parents weren't too thrilled either. Apparently, the candle they got from Rev. Murray at m baptism was all they needed to know that I'd be an Episcopalian for life and there were no takebacks ... certainly not for any son of their reciting anything that sounded like this newfangled pentacostal gobbledeygook. That was best left in the weird churches that nobody talks about in polite company.

So, how I go about leaving that scene to sitting in a little bitty church in Houston with a smiling preacher on more televisions than any other man of God? I call that divine irony. But between the point of accepting Christ in my life and landing at Lakewood, I'd not had a church home. At all. Tried visiting a few churches, but nothing took. The people were nice as all getout, but the rituals of each church took a lot of getting used to.

I remember visiting a Full Gospel church near home. The pastor was nice as can be, met me before the service, talked with me and even gave me a shoutout from the pulpit. The guy sitting next to me, I recall, was dressed like your everday ordinary punk rocker of the late 80s. Very cool and he was a nice, welcoming person as well. As hopeful a sign as I ever saw to this point. But by the time he asked if I wanted to break bread with everyone during communion, I think I mistook it for a sign that I shouldn't impose. Ya know, on the off chance there wouldn't be some for someone else who was hungry. Yeah, I still laugh at that, too.

I remember visiting the church up the street from home, thinking proximity was on my side. Heck, I could walk to church and feel like an Orthodox Jew for the fun of it. I figured a Bible Study night visit would do me well - I wouldn't have to fake singing 500 yr old hymns that seriously did nothing for me at all. Just dive into the Bible and go. And then I see so many other parents dragging their kids to Bible Study. I'm convinced this saved from having any repressed memories of my childhood ... because they all came out that night.

In the 19 years between then and setting foot at Lakewood, I owe every positive step of my journey to a pen pal in McAllen, good music, and the occassional good book. To this day, there are songs by Stryper and the Altar Boys that have thoroughly enriched my life for reasons that go beyond having a nice sound to them. That they also encompass my love of both heavy metal and punk music is perhaps no small coincidence.

Of course, over a year and a half ago, I did finally find my church home. And I might like to think that my contribution to building the body of Christ is to share the importance that has in one's spiritual growth. There were always hints to me that being in church is a good thing ... and I was acutely aware of the Bible's call for us to be in community. But until you know what it does for your wellbeing to actually be in church with fellow believers, it's a tad difficult to appreciate what it is you're missing.

Now, all this longwindedness is to merely paint what might as well be nothing more than backstory. My life today is certainly far richer than it was before - both in terms of being born again and in having a church home. I recall moments before Lakewood that I'd be hard at work and get stressed out over the slightest possible thing, recycling whatever sense of pain or agony might exist in my life at the time, and not knowing what to do with it. There was a pretty low period in my professional life for a number of years that affected that way too much. The good news, for me, was knowing how to put that into proper perspective and getting back on track with God's plan for me.

Perspective may or may not be the end-all to every person that reads this. That's fine. I'll trust that it means something splendid to the few out there it's supposed to reach. While there may be a better example to give, try this for a visual: if you've ever seen a train wreck on the news, have you ever thoughto to wonder how they get those things cleared up? Trains aren't exactly small items. And they don't all happen where it's easy to reach. And I'm guessing you can't just haul off a container with a Ford F150 truck. It takes a lot of heavy machinery to clear up that mess. And good luck getting a crane (I'm guessing one might help in this instance) dropped off in a cow pasture in the middle of nowhere.

And for each of us who's had a certain level of messiness in our lives that we know we're unable to clean up without a bit of help ... that, to me, is where I see God in my life. Whether it's helping me put my plans for college back on track after a bad semester, helping me find the means to grow in Christ without a sense of community, putting my professional goals back on track, or putting me in the right place at the right time when a church like Lakewood happened to move a few miles closer to me - God moves a lot that we sometimes close our eyes to. Even a church.

Got a story? Hopefully it's much shorter than mine. But if you'd like to have yours posted here, drop me a line or post it in the comments.

Interesting reading here after Marcos' sermon last night. The message then was on the importance of our own experience and story as it pertains to the importance of Christ in our lives. It's the simplest form of evangelism ... and the most important.

Hemant Mehta has gotten a fair amount of publicity as the "eBay Atheist" due to having auctioned off his attendance at a church via eBay. The results have been enlightening - for Mehta and, I would argue, for us Christians as well.

There's food for thought all in Mehta's interview here ... and I'm sure the book will be worth a peek as well. For now, here's an outtake from the interview. Later, I'll try and dive into Marcos' sermon a bit.

HJ: You say in your book that your interactions with Christians, for the most part, have always been good, but they're—we're—not asking the right questions. What are some of those questions that Christians need to be asking when we're talking to someone with different beliefs?

HM: You should ask: Are atheists really bad? Why do we think other religions are wrong? And not just "I'm right, so they're inherently wrong," but what really do they believe? Why do so many people believe these other things? Why do only certain people believe in Christianity? How do we know what's divine? How do we know every single thing the Bible says is true?

And I know some of these questions have been answered in apologetics books, but it would be great if more regular people, not just academics and authors, asked themselves these questions. I think that might make their faith stronger—or maybe it'd weaken it—but more than anything, it would get them thinking, to really distinguish what they believe.

HJ: Often, many Christians shut down because they're afraid they may not have all the answers.

HM: And I want to say—that's OK! If you're talking with someone who's also not trying to convert you to atheism or another religion, but is just trying to have a discussion with you, it's OK if you don't have the answers. Talk about the questions you have. You may find you have some of the same ones. You can always read and look up material after the conversation, but just talk while you're together!

HJ: Hemant, you're still an atheist, but you say you've learned some things through this experience. And you've wanted others—Christians and non-Christians—to join you as you went through the process of exploring Christianity and its churches. So, what do you hope Christians learn from your observations?

HM: Clearly, most churches have aligned themselves against non-religious people. By adopting this stance, Christians have turned off the people I would think they want to connect with. The combative stance I've observed is an approach that causes people to become apathetic—and even antagonistic—toward religion as a whole. Many evangelical pastors seem to perceive just about everything to be a threat against Christianity. Evolution is a threat. Gay marriage is a threat. A swear word uttered accidentally on television is a threat. Democrats are a threat. I don't see how any of these things pose a threat against Christianity. If someone disagrees with you about politics or social issues or the matter of origins, isn't that just democracy and free speech in action? Why do Christians feel so threatened?

You need to spread the message of Christianity—the message being what Christianity stands for—loving each other, helping the people around you. Those are things everyone can get on board with.

Also, atheists … we're not non-believers. We do believe in a lot of things, but they come from other experiences and other encounters, not necessarily a book.

As mentioned previously, this clip of a Wednesday night altar call by Israel Houghton was something rather unique and enjoyable. It's kinda long, but I think it's worth watching in full, if only to see Israel muff a Joel Osteen impersonation, but ace Franki Valli. Just watch and you'll see what I'm talking about.

Oh, and as for Israel's pseudo-blasphemous praise for New York barbeque ... I forgive him.

There are just some things I cannot resist ... and this is the most coolest, incredible thing ever:

Backstory: I'd planned on heading to service like I do most Wednesday nights. But this time, work intervened. We simply had to wrap up a project last night and it ate too deep into the schedule. Had I made it to church, I wouldn't have been able to record this, however ... well, I could. I just haven't mastered the intricacies of doing so yet.

Anyways, I noticed about an hour earlier that for some odd reason I had no sound on my machine. None, nada, zippolla. I looked for everything to fix it. Nothing worked. Best I could figure, my laptop was running a bit too hot and some things were just not behaving normally (it happens late in the day when the laptop has been taxed too heavily). So I'm recording this service - no sound - and notice they're focusing in on Michael Hodge a bit more than ordinary. I catch that he's doing something kinda cool and showy and I re-test every fixit option for my sound card all within the span of about 10 seconds. I leave it to the recorder to capture whatever coolness it is that I'm missing, though. Sound will just have to wait.

So I get back to work this morning ... sound card is humming along nicely ... and crack open the recording of last night's service. And all I can say after hearing Michael wailing away like that is "Wow!" I still haven't even made it through the rest of the recording, I was just in a rush to show this bit of genius off.

Needless to say, Michael Hodge is one of the numerous (amazing, even) well-kept secrets at Lakewood.

Ironic timing today. I'm iced in at home. Check the email to see if tonight's service is still on. No cancellation notice as of 1pm. Figure it's worth the adventure to make it out to church tonight. Jump in the shower and discover afterward that tonight is off ...

Due to the uncertainly of tonight's weather, and out of concern for the safety of our church family, we have decided to cancel tonight's service and all other scheduled activities.

We look forward to seeing you this weekend at one of our 4 great worship services.

Until then, have a safe and blessed week.

So the agenda for the night is some combination of catch up on reading, repair the home PC, go out to eat, and catch the second night of American Idol.

For those of you who aren't familiar with Houston, we generally have two weeks of what might be called Winter. It's noted for an ugly accumulation of ice on the ground and blisteringly cold winds seemingly imported from the North Pole. By February, things are back to normal, though - outdoor volleyball, softball, and pool parties abound. But this is usually the time for our northern friends to bemoan our very southern inability to handle meager, barely-freezing temperatures. Have at it. I'm still reminded of my first summer in D.C. where I learned that schools were shutting down for a day or two due to it being too hot. Wimps.

/ kidding
// mostly

A few belated thoughts from Wednesday ...

First, Paul Osteen's sermon last weekend must have been popular. When I got to the bookstore on Wednesday, I was told they were out of CDs from it and to check back after the service when they might have some replacements. Afterwards .... still no replacements. That's a shame since it was a great sermon. But on the plus side, if they burn a few more CDs of it for this weekend, it could be like getting two sermons for the weekend instead of just one.

The second point, I tread cautiously on ... It might be an understandable shortcoming that a blog like this, run by someone who goes to one church two times a week might be understandably laudatory of each and every sermon. But what would be enlightening about reading each week: "Great sermon"?

All that to lead up to this: Wednesday's sermon was an example of the type that I tend to not savor as much as I'd hope to. Doesn't mean it was bad, just that there's something worth noting about it that doesn't speak to me. Doesn't mean it was a waste of time .... anything but. It also isn't to suggest that I find greater fault in a Lisa Comes sermon than anyone else's. One glance at the home page ought to indicate to an attentive reader that it's a Lisa Comes sermon that once served as the final nudge to even begin this blog. And yes, there have been other sermons by other pastors at the same church that I've sat through and thought, "How does this relate to me?" without having an easy answer by the time I left. Taken together, they're all in the minority.

Wednesday's sermon was about listening to the voice of God and following it. Fine and well, but it was put in the context of Luke 5:1-11 ... do it "because [God] says so." I'm not here to refute the inherent logic of listening to God or even doing what He calls us to do. Far from it. But I get a sense that calls to do something because we're told to do not fully address the rebellious nature that at least some of us have (and some more than others). Perhaps because I fully accept my own sense of rebelliousness (as imperfect of a shortcoming that it may be), I should note that calls to do something because I'm told to do them really don't move me to action very well. Clearly, there are times when we get carried away in our rebelliousness. But there are also times when God uses our rebelliousness.

I'm reminded of a an online post somewhere, written recently by an atheist who loved to watch religious programming. One enterprising evangelist offered him a platform to give his take on various churches. The post in question covered a range of televised pastors. And in it, he noted that pastors that suggest this atheist do something because God tells him to likely aren't going to reach him in any meaningful way. But he noted Joel's ability to give an example that reframed the matter in a way that at least made him a little more interested in following up in some regard - be it reading the Bible reference in question for more info, or actually following one of God's universal commands.

Now, I realize that a Wednesday sermon at Lakewood has a different audience than a weekend sermon. It's more of an opportunity to teach and go into more depth with an internal audience. But if I were to conclude that we each (Christian and otherwise) don't possess at least a little bit of this same rebellious spirit, I'd be neglecting what I sense is an incredibly wide swathe of human behavior.

There were tangents of the sermon that I left with wanting to read up more once I got home. But there is a sense of practicalness that I sense was missed in it at the same time. Perhaps in that light, it was a magnificent sermon due to the amount of follow-up questions it left at least me with. What compels me to note this sermon this time is the way in which it left me.

My sense is that there's perhaps a whole other sermon, by someone far better than I to deliver it, discussing ways in which our rebellious spirit has to be overcome. And maybe even those in which maybe it should be heeded. The Apostle Peter (the very one quoted for the sermon title) is my favorite for that last reason. It's hard to suggest that the guy who lopped off an ear of a soldier right there in Jesus' presence was anything less than rebellious. Jesus' relationship with Peter is all the more interesting to me because of how it puts that rebellious spirit into context.

We're instructed in the Bible to guard our hearts, to not conform to this world, to anticipate suffering in this world for our faith. We're told in church that common sense and wisdom (two terms that Lisa did include in this context) are certainly allowable so long as we do not fully "lean upon our own understanding." But how we discern God's voice and filter a variety of thoughts through "common sense" or "wisdom," to me at least, necessitates at least a few ounces of rebelliousness. Enough so to at least pause and say "no," "maybe," "not yet," "I'm going to need more information," or "let me pray on that" from time to time.

I don't really have a blog-sermon of sorts to put that fully into context of Christian Living. So, for now, I just note my one, singular reaction to Lisa's sermon from Wednesday. Of course, I'd also be remiss to point out that the very same Apostle Peter went on to write in his first book of the Bible about self-control and living a life fully attuned to God's will. Peter certainly lived with his rebellious ways, all while doing things "because you say so." I suspect there's a great message there over how those two elements intersected. I suspect I'd be pretty interested in hearing it, too. Not necessarily because anyone tells me to, of course.

A few belated thoughts from Wednesday ...

First, Paul Osteen's sermon last weekend must have been popular. When I got to the bookstore on Wednesday, I was told they were out of CDs from it and to check back after the service when they might have some replacements. Afterwards .... still no replacements. That's a shame since it was a great sermon. But on the plus side, if they burn a few more CDs of it for this weekend, it could be like getting two sermons for the weekend instead of just one.

The second point, I tread cautiously on ... It might be an understandable shortcoming that a blog like this, run by someone who goes to one church two times a week might be understandably laudatory of each and every sermon. But what would be enlightening about reading each week: "Great sermon"?

All that to lead up to this: Wednesday's sermon was an example of the type that I tend to not savor as much as I'd hope to. Doesn't mean it was bad, just that there's something worth noting about it that doesn't speak to me. Doesn't mean it was a waste of time .... anything but. It also isn't to suggest that I find greater fault in a Lisa Comes sermon than anyone else's. One glance at the home page ought to indicate to an attentive reader that it's a Lisa Comes sermon that once served as the final nudge to even begin this blog. And yes, there have been other sermons by other pastors at the same church that I've sat through and thought, "How does this relate to me?" without having an easy answer by the time I left. Taken together, they're all in the minority.

Wednesday's sermon was about listening to the voice of God and following it. Fine and well, but it was put in the context of Luke 5:1-11 ... do it "because [God] says so." I'm not here to refute the inherent logic of listening to God or even doing what He calls us to do. Far from it. But I get a sense that calls to do something because we're told to do not fully address the rebellious nature that at least some of us have (and some more than others). Perhaps because I fully accept my own sense of rebelliousness (as imperfect of a shortcoming that it may be), I should note that calls to do something because I'm told to do them really don't move me to action very well. Clearly, there are times when we get carried away in our rebelliousness. But there are also times when God uses our rebelliousness.

I'm reminded of a an online post somewhere, written recently by an atheist who loved to watch religious programming. One enterprising evangelist offered him a platform to give his take on various churches. The post in question covered a range of televised pastors. And in it, he noted that pastors that suggest this atheist do something because God tells him to likely aren't going to reach him in any meaningful way. But he noted Joel's ability to give an example that reframed the matter in a way that at least made him a little more interested in following up in some regard - be it reading the Bible reference in question for more info, or actually following one of God's universal commands.

Now, I realize that a Wednesday sermon at Lakewood has a different audience than a weekend sermon. It's more of an opportunity to teach and go into more depth with an internal audience. But if I were to conclude that we each (Christian and otherwise) don't possess at least a little bit of this same rebellious spirit, I'd be neglecting what I sense is an incredibly wide swathe of human behavior.

There were tangents of the sermon that I left with wanting to read up more once I got home. But there is a sense of practicalness that I sense was missed in it at the same time. Perhaps in that light, it was a magnificent sermon due to the amount of follow-up questions it left at least me with. What compels me to note this sermon this time is the way in which it left me.

My sense is that there's perhaps a whole other sermon, by someone far better than I to deliver it, discussing ways in which our rebellious spirit has to be overcome. And maybe even those in which maybe it should be heeded. The Apostle Peter (the very one quoted for the sermon title) is my favorite for that last reason. It's hard to suggest that the guy who lopped off an ear of a soldier right there in Jesus' presence was anything less than rebellious. Jesus' relationship with Peter is all the more interesting to me because of how it puts that rebellious spirit into context.

We're instructed in the Bible to guard our hearts, to not conform to this world, to anticipate suffering in this world for our faith. We're told in church that common sense and wisdom (two terms that Lisa did include in this context) are certainly allowable so long as we do not fully "lean upon our own understanding." But how we discern God's voice and filter a variety of thoughts through "common sense" or "wisdom," to me at least, necessitates at least a few ounces of rebelliousness. Enough so to at least pause and say "no," "maybe," "not yet," "I'm going to need more information," or "let me pray on that" from time to time.

I don't really have a blog-sermon of sorts to put that fully into context of Christian Living. So, for now, I just note my one, singular reaction to Lisa's sermon from Wednesday. Of course, I'd also be remiss to point out that the very same Apostle Peter went on to write in his first book of the Bible about self-control and living a life fully attuned to God's will. Peter certainly lived with his rebellious ways, all while doing things "because you say so." I suspect there's a great message there over how those two elements intersected. I suspect I'd be pretty interested in hearing it, too. Not necessarily because anyone tells me to, of course.

Great praise & worship service last night. I mean ... just amazingly incredible. It was my first chance to see what Steve & Da'dra Crawford could do in the long format and they exceeded any expectation I could have had for them.

But what I most appreciated about the night was the fact that Steve screwed up on vocals. Twice, even. Well, at least to my count. Maybe there were more flubs that I missed. And maybe I'm even being too harsh in neglecting some mistake of Da'dra's that I missed all night long. But Steve's were noticable goofs. So much so that one had Da'dra pointing to the words on the screen in an attempt to get Steve on the right page (in jest, of course).

What makes that such a wonderful service that I'd heap such high praise on it, you ask?

It shows that these great singers are human. It gave the service a sense of authenticity that helps connect performer and worshipper. Ya know, because we make mistakes, too ... or so I'm told. The evening also allowed some of the bond that Steve and Da'dra share to shine through.

I've typically found it a bit more obvious to sense the bond between musicians who are married and perform well together (ie - Carrie & Michael, for instance). There's something there that's magical and great to listen to. But a brother & sister team like these two, I've not seen much that makes that combination as special. At least not until last night.

Seeing the two work together like they did last night was one of those great musical experiences you don't see everyday ... you get to see what it is that makes them work better together than apart. Nevermind that each is a great singer in their own right (reminds me, I've got a great video of Steve saved up for a Monday Video ... I need to get cracking on a Da'dra video as well).

The latest series of sermons by Joel has been a great one. Now that my work schedule has cleared up ever so slightly, I might even have some time to explore it in a bit more depth. After soaking in the Saturday service and watching the Sunday webcast, however, a few quick thoughts are in order from the latest sermon.

The overall series has been along the lines of letting God be God in our lives ... realizing how God wants to be involved in every aspect of our lives. This weekend, it focused a bit more on how we listen to God when it comes to making major decisions in our lives. The central scripture for this message comes from the Psalms:

Psalm 32:8 (New Living Translation)

⁸ The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life.
I will advise you and watch over you.

Another one included weaves nicely into the current reading of John Eldredge's "The Way of the Wild Heart"

Psalm 37:4 (New International Version)

⁴ Delight yourself in the LORD
and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Actually, a previous book of Eldredge's ("The Journey of Desire") spoke wonderfully to how our desires weren't meant to be buried, yet so many of us assume that all of our desires should be buried once we're born again. As if all we're waiting for is the rapture.

But the point is not that any desire comes true if we just walk right, talk right, and think right. God gives us the desires of our heart. Sometimes we can let a dream become an idol, we're reminded - pursuing the dream regardless of whether it fits within God's plan for our lives. Many of us chase professional goals, relationships, or other dreams or desires that seem to make us happy. At the right time, God gives us our desires. Listening to that guidance, realizing God's path instead of our own isn't always easy. You'll know it by the peace you have with the decision ... but you'll be tested along the way.

As Joel adds - stay in God's best plan for our lives. Are we paying attention to the still small voice or are we letting our desires consume us? God will give us the grace to do what He has called us to do. He will not necessarily give us the grace to do what we've begun in our own strength.

I've been in a few professional roles where I can look back now and see how I was uncomfortable with the choice, but went with it because it was there. As I type, I've been on a rather fun, exciting journey of flying solo and now landed in a spot where I can more easily see the difference between the fit I have now and the misfit that was before. Not that there aren't tests still on the plan I'm in right now. There are. But the peace I have knowing where I need to be, knowing that I am where I belong, and enjoying what I do - challenges and all - is telling enough.

Anyways, that's about all I can crank out for now. As time frees up even more, I might revisit this sermon and go back in the series for a few more thoughts to throw in. We've had a few fun weeks of music and entertainment. Worked out nicely since I was swamped at work. But now I'm feeling like getting back into more of a textual mode. After about a month or so of having a hard time focusing enough to read a book, I'm already knee-deep in the latest Eldredge book. So look for a few belated book reviews as well. Oh, and fear not - Mondays and Tuesdays are still time for video and music.

How busy has it been around here this past week? Aside from not getting a lot of blogging done, the biological system informed me last Sunday that I'd be needing a little sleep. So I missed an opportunity to visit a neighborhood church. I also happened to miss the Drama Team's workshop and audition on Monday. And work curtailed a shot at making it to Tina Underwood's class yesterday. On top of it all, I feel like I've gotten in maybe 10 pages of reading accomplished over that time.

Good problem to have, actually. Or so I'm told. The day job is pleasantly busy. There's an odd sense of delight you get knowing that your to-do list is growing faster than it's humanly possible to get through some of the items. Adding to it, however, is a few personal projects (boring, blog-related) that may very well alter my free time quite a bit.

For now, a few thoughts that probably don't fit into what anyone would call an organized thought pattern.

I did make it to church on Wednesday. Knowing Marcos Witt is giving the sermon usually adds a bit of motivation. Given the recent Time magazine cover, perhaps it was far more than coincidence that the sermon series would be on Financial Freedom (I think there's one or two more left - Dr. Paul is next week). And what do we learn from that? To pray for obscene wealth? Hardly. By the time Marcos hit one of my favorite passages, it was smooth sailing.

Philippians 4:12-13

¹²I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. ¹³I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

I feel like I live those words on a daily basis. The lesson from them is to find contentment from the only source that provides it. Although not mentioned, one of the reasons this resonates so easily with me is that it's a spinoff from favorite chapter in the Bible.

Isaiah 55:

¹"Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.

² Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.

The conclusions from Marcos' notes are worth echoing, as well ...

1. Once we find peace in Jesus, we'll never have lack of anything.
2. When we live in the joy of the Lord, nothing can replace His joy.
3. Once we know God's perfect love, His love will supply every one of our needs.

So there ya go, folks. A genuine sermon on finances from Lakewood. Wonder how many folks would find it "unbiblical." Even better, I wonder when any of the national news magazines will devote a cover to this.

Anyways, back to other matters. Saturday is still a great day to visit Koinonia if you haven't done so already. Yes, last plug for this, I swear. But when the Lakewood band is playing, it warrants a few dozen reminders. It also deserves us telling a few dozen of our closest friends.

And Sunday offers no excuse for sleeping late on my part. Kaleo is moving into West U. Head pastor Bill Steger was kind enough to offer an official invite my way via email. The resources section of the site has now been relocated by me. I've got a few of the sermons loaded on the MP3 player. Now all I have to do is find a surefire way to be awake in time to be there at 9:30.

If you attend Wednesday services, there's a nifty survey on the Lakewood website accepting feedback on the services. Very short, very quick, and very painless. But be sure to give some genuine feedback rather than just say how much you love everything. As much as I like the legroom and prime seating available on Wednesdays, it's just as nice if it's a packed house.

On that somewhat evangelistic note, I happened upon a couple of highlighted events coming up next month:

Sept. 9 ... Star of Hope Transitional Living Center: A Day of Celebration with single-parent familes! Come and encourage families making a new start. Volunteer opportuinites include serviing food, playing sports, crafts, and games, music and ministry. Pick up a flyer at the Information Centers. To sign up, call 713-491-1254

Sept. 30 (8:30am - 12:30pm) ... How to Share Your Faith
Helping everyday peiople confidently and effectifely share their faith with friends, family, skeptics in practical ways. Speakers: Renee Branson and Saleim Lahleh. To RSVP and for childcare, call 713-491-1270

So my day gets off to a bad start ... I wake up late, I go and leave my notes from last night's service at home. So while there's no hope for an early recap of the sermon while it's still fresh on my mind, all is still well. There's a couple of points in Lisa's sermon on overcoming fear that I hope I can still capture somewhat faithfully to how they registered with me. We'll see.

But in a bit more bookstore browsing, I spent a bit of time on two books. I'm in danger of reading Bill Hybel's "Walk Across the Room" for free. But it's such a great read that I'll probably cave in regardless and get a copy. There's a section of chapter three that really hit home with me. So much so, that I had to write down a few paragraphs. I was hoping Amazon would bail me out by having the book scanned into their search engine. No luck there, either, it seems.

So about all I'm left with for immediate thoughts is that other book I picked up: Billy Graham's "The Journey". I have to confess that there's something about Graham's writing that usually leads me to pass them over. Not that it isn't good. Far from it. But my first glance through this book, I was just struck with a sense that it was a bit too elementary for what I felt I needed. The book is, in this sense, a very basic guide to many of the central Christian beliefs while being an admittedly great apologetic. That's great. But I've already read several books like that dating back to my own original early days of being born again.

But in looking at the book after reading the Newsweek article, I got a bit of a different reaction as I flipped through a chapter or two. In this light, the book is Graham's own closing arguments ... those things he's learned from roughly half a century leading people to Christ. Simple and basic, sure. But also worth stating for once and for all. In other words, I read it more as Billy Graham's own personal advice (albeit through ghostwriter), rather than just another Billy Graham Crusade speech put to the form of book. The words sank a bit deeper with this in mind and makes the book a far more refreshing read. Even though the words, the arguments, and the liturgical feel of the text echo words you may have heard from numerous days back, there's still something refreshing about reading them with a bit more perspective.

Anyways, more tonight. Koinonia this weekend should be great with Shauna & Kelli kicking the jams (acoustically, that is). Compass Class on Saturday has a wrap up on "Choosing God's Best." Got a question about the book? ... a comment? Come by at 6pm, then. Make a full evening of it.

Ask ...

One cruel fate from the worship service, however, is that the addictive number that Darlene unleashed on us isn't available yet. "The Freedom We Know" is set to be released on Hillsong's Mighty to Save CD, which comes out September 5. ... with a little luck, Cindy Ratcliff will work the song into heavy rotation here at Lakewood (hint, hint).

... and receive!

Well, well ... wasn't that timely? Second song into the set, there we were (actually, we knew it was coming since they rehearsed it prior to service). As luck would have it, the crowd reaction seemed to indicate that I'm not alone in thinking this oughta get more run.

Anyways, the rest of the service was wonderful as well. I can get used to the drama team doing some work on Wednesday services ... it seems like we see them a bit less on Saturday nights at Koinonia. Paul's sermon was on "Winning Over the Critical Voice Within." Somehow for a church that allegedly doesn't mention the word Satan, that name sure came up a lot. I may or may not have a whole lot to add whenever time permits. For now, it's late, I'm tired, and there's a whole lotta work to get done at the office.

In other news, the monthly pick for book material has gone poorly. I did manage to sift through all the initial selections I had, but nothing really grabbed my interest. Adding to that, I felt that most of them were a bit more nebulous than my current tangent of interest was calling for. Fortunately, Bill Hybels has a new book out: "Just Walk Across the Room." I had a little bit of time to flip through a chapter or so and this one really hit the target with me. The workload has ground my reading time to a trickle, so I've still got a whole John Maxwell book to finish. I'm thinking I'll just finish that one and call it an August, making Hybel's book my September selection. With a bit of effort, I may have a few reflections from Andy Stanley's "Visioneering" to post soon.