send a net. save a life.

well, it's been over a month now since my CD release concert at Morning Star Church, my home church in St. Louis, MO... the concert was a benefit for an awesome charity called 'Nothing But Nets', a grass-roots malaria prevention charity tackling the staggering disease's death tolls with a simple $10 bed net.

Anyway, at the concert, we raised over $3200 for Jacob's Ladder, a 'netraiser team' formed by Jennifer Long (pictured here with her son Jacob.) She's a long time friend and charter member of MSC, and she actually contracted malaria while on a mission trip for the church. Six months later, she found out she was pregnant and while the malaria had lay dormant in her system, it would soon rear it's ugly head and make 'morning sickness' seem like a headcold for Jennifer... (and she'd had 3 kids already, she knew the difference.) My point is, Jennifer is trying to reach a goal of $30,000 and you won't believe where she came up with that number... read more about Jennifer's netraiser team here.

So, you should know this about me... I am a firm believer that most people--not all, but most--have $10, $100, $500 even $1000 or more that they could give at any given time for the right cause. If you knew that there were a problem out there that you could really impact right now for ten bucks, I think you'd do it. Well, when Jennifer told me more about Nothing But Nets, I gave my entire first night of CD sales...

All I ask is that you check out the video, and consider giving to Jacob's Ladder.

(also, important note I found on the site: The United Nations Foundation is a registered public charity under section 501(c)3 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. 100% of your donation will go to providing nets to children in Africa; no portion of your donation will be diverted for administrative costs.)

Many Blessings,

Mark



[phil 4.8]

'Flood'

ok, so all who are reading this... I'll likely be posting a new blog here every Sunday or Monday just reflecting on our weekend services at MSC--you know, just 'cause that's what I do, and I thought maybe some of you would be mildly interested in such a thing. There's a little 'comment' button around here somewhere that you can click if you disagree, I'd love to know! :)

Anyway, so this Sunday we wrapped up a series on the flood called 'The Perfect Storm'... this week's message was about God's promise that He would never again destroy the earth with a flood. We did the song 'Flood' by Jars of Clay--come on, that song is ridiculously fun to play! We introduced 'You Never Let Go' (Redman) for the first time, and it was received really well... definitely a keeper. I think I'm a bit late to that party, actually. Other than that, we did 'Beautiful One,' 'You Are Good,' and 'Breathe.' We had a really cool moment in the middle of 'Breathe' where we just vamped over the last three chords for a few minutes and just worshiped spontaneously... we don't do that kind of very often at all at MSC, but I love those moments. I usually wind up coming up with a little melody and lyric that we all join in on before we head back into the song form. It was completely different at all three services, and I thought it was pretty cool... hopefully, God enjoyed it as well.

I'd love to hear about your weekend services!

Bye for now...

Mark



[phil 4.8]

Let The Blogging Begin...

Well, I've decided that I need--at least for now--my own, dedicated blog... so I can better communicate with anyone out there who'd actually enjoy doing so, and so I can post videos of my ridiculously amazing 3-year-old son playing the drums much better than he should be able to...



yeah, so that was really more of a test than anything, but seriously, he's not messin' around, is he?!? Love it.

Well, talk to me out there... ask me questions, tell me what you want to hear about... or just blindly read the nonsense which I will so boldly post here from time to time--that's ok, too. Either way, I declare simply, "Let the blogging begin..."

Many blessings...

Mark