Tuesday, March 25, 2008

nailed to the cross...

Horatio Spafford articulated it so well in the classic Hymn "It Is Well With My Soul" when he penned the beautiful stream-of-conciousness lyric:

My sin--O the bliss of this glorious thought--my sin, not in part but the whole, is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more... Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul!

At our Good Friday services this past week, those in attendance were invited to put flesh on the bone of that poignant declaration. We were each asked to write a sin on a small piece of paper. Then during a time of worship at the end of the service--which included communion, prayer, singing and the opportunity to give our financial offerings--we were also to come forward and nail our sins to the cross.

We had a large cross--10' x 5'6"--made for the services. Now, we're well aware this wasn't some brilliant idea that no one had ever thought of... we knew it had been done before. In fact, we had done it before. But, for some reason, we'd not realized--at least I'd not realized--the impact it would make... not just on the congregation, but on those presenting as well. During the first service, I was absolutely wrecked by the sound of the hammers. My voice broke along with my heart as I closed my eyes and imagined my Savior on that very cross, having nails driven through him in cacophonous fashion by men, women and children alike. I couldn't help but take some photos afterward, the first of which is the cross from my perspective up on the platform.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

happy birthday to me...

seriously... is there anything in the world cuter than this? Conner's getting pretty good with letters, and that's a balloon in the top right--with a heart on it.

Monday, March 3, 2008

WorshipSource.com

Ok, so I just wanted to remind you all of my profile page on a great new site called WorshipSource.com. It's an awesome site--especially for worship leaders and songwriters--and it's getting better all the time. It's in BETA right now, so they're still adding features and you can help them continue to make the site even cooler. There's already a ton of people on there, so check it out.

One of the reasons I'm reminding you is because there's a blog feature on the site. I have been writing 'Worship Confessionals' -- basically just my thoughts and reflections after each weekend of worship services at my church. I'm making the confessionals exclusive to my WorshipSource blog, so make sure you bookmark it and come check it out every week. Also, for you worship leader types out there, there are instructional videos, chord charts, song stories, streaming tunes, etc. all FREE... it's very cool, and like I said it's growing fast, so it's getting cooler all the time.

So check it out!

WorshipSource.com

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Guitar Hero

yeah, so I just played guitar hero (the Wii version) for the first time at a friend's house.

I'm terrible. absolutely terrible.