Wednesday Night

I completely forgot to tell you guys about this week's service! We had something like 33 wednesday night (not counting women and children... that's for you Andrew). No, actually we had about 33 youth, not including adults- the largest youth service I've seen at Master's. I know that numbers don't mean squat if God isn't moving, but numbers do show that these youth are excited about coming to church, so excited that they want their friends to be there with them. And on top of that, God is moving! The girls really made a great showing wednesday night and outnumbed the guys 2:1 and it's really awesome that God brought so many girls to the service- the message was on Deborah and Jael. Marc is doing a series on Judges called "Judge This"... I think that's what it's called... anyway, wednesday we talked about how God used Deborah to bring victory over Jabin's army and Jael to kill Sisera, the general of said army. (Jael drove a tent peg through Sisera's head and into the ground, remember?) Marc did a great job of conveying the message of "God can use you, no matter who you are" and even tied it seemlessly into the gospel at the end. That's one of my favorite things about these services- you will always hear the gospel. No matter what the rest of the message is about, it all boils down to the gospel of Jesus Christ. The simple yet profound truth that "God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8
God is really moving through these wednesday night services and I'm ecstatic and very humbled to be a part ot it.

A Motley Crew

Here's the youth. Oh, and the bearded one in the back isn't a youth, that's Brad. Brad plays bass with me on wednesday nights. This particular collection of youth (this picture doesn't quite include the entire group) went to the Power of One Conference in Pigeon Forge a couple of weekends ago... I love these guys!

First time for everything...

So tonight was my first time speaking in front of a youth group. Marc asked me a few weeks ago if I wanted to preach one night so I took him up on the offer and spoke on the gospel tonight. I was quite nervous since it was my first time. I mean, I spoke in front of FCA pretty much every week my last two years of high school and led some short devotions, but this was my first time with an entire message. Having such an important message to share, I didn't want to be destracting with my own ill-preparation and I definitely didn't want to say anything false. I really just wanted God to completely take over tonight and that's exactly what happened. As soon as I started talking I knew that the Holy Spirit was definitely working in the room and that God was doing some very big things in the hearts of the youth. Although no public decisions were made tonight, it was obvious that they were turning everything over in their heads as they listened. I pray that the message shared tonight will act as another seed that God uses to bring His people to Him.

Awesome Night

Last night was a great night of worship at Master's Church. Marc spoke about God's holiness so I tried to select songs that would really allow us to focus on God's main attribute. Mary Beth came in to sing with me and it was really great to able to sing the split guy/girl chorus on You Are Holy (Prince of Peace). God was really in control the entire night and took us all out of the picture so that we could see His holiness as we've never seen it before. That is especially true in the life of one of the youth. Upon hearing Marc talk about the holiness of God and our unholiness, or more importantly, when the truth was revealed to this young man by the work of the Holy Spirit, God did an amazing work in his heart and made him a new creation. I'm so excited that this youth was saved last night- not simply saved from hell, but saved from his sin. I absolutely love it when God takes us out of the equation and does His work in and around us- all we have to do is sit back and worship Him.
To God be the glory, great things He hath done.

Worship

This morning I met with Marc (youth minister) and Alex (pastor) of Master's Church- where you can find me Wednesday nights- and talked about some different possibilities for the future about the music ministry there and the Wednesday night youth services. I was planning on driving back to Frankfort after that to get my tire replaced (I ran over a nail the other day and I'm on my spare at the moment) but I ended up just going down the road to the nearest S&S. They kept my tire and said it may be fixable but they aren't sure until they can see how deep the nail goes. (I'll have to check back on Monday.) So, not having to travel to Frankfort really opened up my schedule today and has allowed me to spend more time in prayer, especially in the area of my own personal worship.
God has really been convicting me these past few days of focusing so much on the music and forgetting why I play and sing in the first place. He's showing me that my singing and playing isn't worship at all if it's only an end in itself. If His glory isn't the ultimate goal of my music than it's all in vain. It's become so easy for me to get up on the stage and concentrate so much on sounding good, playing the right chords, and singing the right words (in the right order) and completely forget about the God to whom I'm singing. I can't even count the times that we've finished a concert or a worship service and I've messed up some notes or words and that is the only thing I remember about the night. I was so out of tune with the Holy Spirit working that I completely missed everything important that happened. I'm sure that all worship leaders have gone through this problem and I'm sure this isn't the last time this will ever happen- it will be constant battle that I fight for the rest of my life to forget about everything and focus on God. I pray for your support as I repent.