Revive Us Again

HBC recently ended a revival led by Rev. Brad Hockensmith and Rev. Eric Allen. Personally, I was encouraged and charged to review parts of my Christian life and family life. Some of the thought-provoking topics included:

• how to be "salty" saints in a sin-saturated society. Highlighting Matthew 5:13 "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?" The evangelist made comments that worthy salt has a specific task. Also, the trouble of worthless salt is that it is easily influenced by the world. Finally, there is a time of the salt to work.


• "Satisfaction Guaranteed" As Christians, we should pursue Jesus passionately, desire Him desperately, and seek Jesus exclusively. If we do this, we will enjoy Jesus eternally.


• We were reminded that walking the straight and narrow is not easy. There is a command to choose which way to go (follow or go against Jesus). We have a freedom of choice, but we must choose. Once we choose, we must chart our own course. (Matthew 7:13-14)


• Finally, we heard about the tale of three trees (Luke 23:33, 39-43). Brad preached that while on the cross, there was a sinner turned Saint, a sinner turned sour, and a sweet Savior turned substitute. He spoke of the arrogance of the lost sinner, the admission of the liberated saint, and the acceptance of a loving Savior.

I am thankful to have experienced these services. As Christians, we all need times of renewal, refreshment and restoration. We should renew our lives to Him, refresh ourselves in His Word, and restore the spiritual foundation found through prayer, discipleship, worship, and Bible Study.

"Revive us again; fill each heart with Thy love; may each soul be rekindled with fire from above. Hallelujah! Thine the glory. Hallelujah! Amen. Hallelujah! thine the glory. Revive us again."

September 2007 Church Newsletter Column

Did you know that by the time you read this on September 3, Christmas is only 112 days away? This date is important to music ministers across the nation as we are knee deep in Christmas planning and rehearsals. On Sunday, August 19, we previewed the 2007 Christmas cantata, “The Living Light” with the choir and other interested persons. We had 27 in attendance!! We are close to filling the entire choir loft. We are still looking for a few more folks to take part in the drama in between the choral songs. See me if you are interested.
The choir is working hard on their weekly musical offerings as well as Christmas music. It is not too late to join the choir. If you are interested in joining us, please make sure you can be at choir practice every Sunday afternoon at 4 pm. We ask that all choir members come to Sunday afternoon rehearsal before singing with us on Sunday morning.
In our worship services, we have enjoyed the youth camp report, the study of Psalm 23, and revival. As we continue the study of Psalm 23, we will learn some new songs in worship which highlight the love of our Shepherd and enhance the scriptural theme of the Lord being our Shepherd.
In late September through November, the choir will begin sharing a series of anthems that are arrangements of new songs for worship. These songs are Biblically founded on truths of Christ and are written by two men (Keith Getty and Stuart Townend) who are composing some of the most theologically sound music today. Imagine being alive as “Amazing Grace” or “Holy, Holy, Holy” was being written. To me, we have that honor to be alive when the songs that re-shape church music today are being written. You can visit the Getty website at http://www.gettymusic.com/, then click “hymns” and listen on-line to some of these songs like, “In Christ Alone,” “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us,” “My Heart is Filled,” and “Speak, O Lord.” The choir will introduce these songs to us and then as the weeks go on, we will sing them congregationally.
As a music minister, I am looking for and researching new music that is theologically sound, composed well, and that has Biblical depth which does not repeat the same words and/or music over and over. These new songs have all three of these good traits. I am looking forward to sharing them with you and I hope you will prepare yourself to enhance your worship music spectrum with these songs.
I will leave you with a verse to one of these songs entitled, “My Heart is Filled.”
“My heart is filled with thankfulness, to Him who reigns above, whose wisdom is my perfect peace, whose ev'ry thought is love. For ev'ry day I have on earth is given by the King; So I will give my life, my all, to love and follow Him.”

Alex's 2nd Birthday Party

WHEW!

Birthday parties are fun (if you can go for a few minutes and then leave). Alex celebrated his 2nd birthday August 16, 2007 and we had his party Saturday, August 25 at our home in Lewisport.

Sarah's dad was up helping to prep the house with landscaping, etc. as we moved in just a few weeks prior. We worked all week cleaning, planning, etc as all great parents do.

We were honored by the visits from our family (all three sides) and friends from as far as Northern KY and as close as Hawesville, we didn't know what to do with all the people!

Alex (and Gracie) received many wonderful gifts and we were able to show off the home God has blessed us with. As a typical two-year old, Alex was into the party for about 5 minutes...then decided to go elsewhere.

We are blessed with so many friends and family who care about us. Gracie is 4...Alex is 2...next year Gracie goes to Kindergarten...I'll be back in a few moments. Excuse a grown man as he weeps openly.

Take My Life...Lead Me Lord

Here is our first blog. This will catch you up with what has happened in our lives over the past few months at Campbellsville University. I officially ended my higher education role as a student on Friday, August 17. I have completed 30 hours of Church Music master's level classes. I earned a 4.0 GPA and am thankful for the education, but more importantly, I am thankful for the partnership I had with my last church, Stithton, who helped me arrange my schedule at church with the one at school. I traveled 2 times a week (an hour one way) for three semesters to finish in August of this year.

Moreover, my wife worked full-time at an elementary school, mothered two children, and cared for her mother while she endured the onset of cancer, as she did her Master's Degree on-line. What an accomplishment!

The interesting thing about it is the direct application I had to my employment. Most students had a part-time church or had not been involved in church leadership. So, not only was I a non-traditional student, but I had the most experience (ten years in part and full-time) than my other classmates.Now that I have the degree, I can look back and be thankful. Ten years ago, I never anticipated going to graduate school, but now I see it was a necessity to be a better church leader. I believe that God demands our best...in worship, Bible study, prayer, family life, relationships, in service, and in our actions. Getting my degree enhanced my knowledge of Him and His calling in my life. This degree is much more than an expensive diploma to hang on a wall. This encourages me when I think that there may be a road block or an issue in the church. God has given me the tools to meet my every need (seen and unseen). It is up to me to use the tools appropriately.

The Gaither Vocal Band sings a song about God's faithfulness that I am reminded of as I write this...here are some of the lyrics:

"When I saw what laid before me...I cried Lord, what will You do? I thought He would just remove it, but He gently led me through. Without fire, there's no refining...without pain, no relief... without flood, there's no rescue...without tempting, no belief."

These are good words to remember when you are thankful to God for bringing you through a specific situation or when you are faced with a difficult circumstance in your life.

God has promised to always be with us...He just won't always do the work or walk the walk for us. But if you watch carefully, He will hold out His hand...and lead you through.