MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

WOW...What a whirlwind we just went through...I can't begin to tell you how proud and honored I was to serve with all of you at the Christmas Outreach Event. The feedback that I have received has been overwhelmingly positive. I believe that we had the chance to effect a lot of lives for the gospel...PRAISE GOD!!! I hope that all of you will enjoy a very restful, peaceful, joyous Christmas. I look forward to seeing you when we meet again for our first rehearsals of the new year:

Traditions Choir: Wednesday January 14th 6:30-8:30

Classic Worship Choir: Thursday January 22nd 6:30-8:30

I have already begun the search for Easter music!!! 

From My Family To Yours, God Bless All Of You And Have A Very Merry Christmas

A Life Of Worship - "Pure Joy"

Last night I had the pleasure of watching and listening to one of the greatest singer, songwriter, vocalists ever born...Al Jarreau...The first time I had the pleasure of witnessing an Al Jarreau concert was 24 years ago in Orange County at the Pacific Amphitheater. At that time Al was in what some would call his prime, right in the middle of a string of number one hits and album projects. That concert was great, but last night I witnessed an artist and his band culminate 40 years of experience into a group of finely tuned songs that was so captivating that it helped me see something I have been missing in my music...PURE JOY!!!...Every note, every sound, every beat was captured and exploited in a way I had not experienced before...The music had become so much a part of who Al Jarreau was you couldn't tell where the music and Al began or ended. 

I couldn't help but think that this kind of dedication, this kind of pursuit of the craft and art of being a musician is what I want to experience...Not for my gain...Not for any accolades, but purely for one thing to have the music I play and sing affect lives as mine was affected last night. If I could bring that kind of intensity and passion to the music of Worship what could the result be? - Half way through the concert last night I thought of how I would describe what I was seeing and hearing and the words "Pure Joy" came to mind...After the concert I asked my wife Lori to describe what she saw and she said..."The only word I can think of is joy!"

The Bible says that "The joy of the Lord is my strength..." So how do you become such a passionate and dedicated musician that people walk away from hearing what you played and exclaim..."That was pure joy!" - Our goal is a lofty one...To be that kind of musician...It starts with a life dedicated to growing in Christ and growing as a musician. It means setting aside real time to be with God and real time to practice and take care of yourself...But the reward is so much greater than Gold and Platinum records and Grammy Awards...Our reward will be one of changed lives' - The "Pure Joy" that people could walk away with, could change their lives' for eternity.

Here's to the goal of a life of worship dedicated to creating music that generates the response of Pure Joy...The perfect pure joy of the creator - May our life's work as musicians crowd the walls of heaven with soul's won to Christ.

This Week:

Wednesday - Christmas Rehearsal (All Choirs) 6:30-8:30 @ SCC Room 129

Thursday - Christmas Rehearsal (All Choirs) 7:00-9:00 @ The University Of Redlands Chapel

Sat. & Sun. - "Overcoming Our Giants" in the Weekend Services - Celebration of the death of Goliath.

Sunday Night - "Reveal" 5:00-6:00 pm - What God Has Done, Vision For the Future.

Citizen Of Heaven

If you received a previous BLOG posting called Love "?" - please disregard. It was sent by mistake. Here's the right posting:

I took a break this week from our current series "A Life Of Worship" to muse on some current realities. 

Times are interesting to say the least. Every four years there is a huge push to make several decisions that can affect our lives on so many different levels. As citizens of the United States it is our right and privilege to vote based on our beliefs, values and principles. As citizens of heaven we have a daily choice, not an every four year choice, of how we will live on earth and what kind of contribution we will make. According to the Bible our decision is a simple one. LOVE GOD, LOVE OTHERS, MAKE DISCIPLES. God made us for a purpose. He gave us charge over the planet to protect it, He gave us the ability to love our neighbors, He gave us the ability to worship, he gave us the ability to pass on what we have learned. I have to admit that this election year has been a real roller coaster for me. I got really caught up in the right and the wrong, the issues and the candidates, the ethics and the integrity. Quite frankly I became very frustrated and a bit pessimistic with all of it!!! - I believe that God places people in positions of power for a reason, I also believe that my vote does count on certain issues and sometimes even certain candidates, however there is one question that has really been nagging me through this whole process - AM I LIVING AS A CITZEN OF HEAVEN HERE ON EARTH? - Am I loving God the way He desires me to? - Am I loving my neighbor the way Jesus told us to? - Am I making disciples, followers of Jesus, lovers of God? I hope that we will  all go to the polls on November 4th to vote, but even more important than that, I hope that we will live out God's purposes in our lives daily. That's the way He intended for us. The Apostle Paul put it this way in his letter to the Phillipians:

"For you have been my partners in spreading the Good News about Christ from the time you first heard it until now. And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns."

UPCOMING EVENTS

October 29th - 1/2 & 1/2 Christmas Choir Rehearsal 6:30 pm - Room 129

October 31st - Harvest Fun Fair WE NEED VOLUNTEERS AND CANDY!!!

November 6th - New Members Added To The Christmas Choir

November 7th - Fall Celebration - 6:00-9:00 at MY HOUSE!!!

Fall Celebration

You are invited to the annual "FALL CELEBRATION" on Friday November 7th 6:00-9:00 pm at my house. We are inviting all who volunteer for the weekly ministries and weekend services in Worship arts along with their spouse or friend to a night of Celebration over what God is doing at Southwest. We will be having a fiesta including a Taco Bar, awesome deserts and a Game Show for great prizes!!! - We will also be putting together 100 shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child So here's the Skinny:

What: Fall Celebration

When: November 7th 6:00

Where: Dave's House

78405 Via Sevilla

La Quinta, CA 92253

Who: You and your spouse or friend

Bring: School Supplies (pencils, crayons, coloring books, calculators etc.) to fill a shoebox.

This our chance to get to know one another better, to fellowship, have some fun and to show God's love to children in need. Please RSVP by November 3rd by calling Heather at 220-2000 x2257 or send an email to: 

heather@southwestcc.org

Looking forward to seeing you there to bring in the holiday season!!!

John Olver & Susan Clark Are Getting Married

Hey Bloggers - Two of our very own are getting hitched and they asked me to send you out an invitation to the special day. John Olver & Susan Clark have survived engagement and are getting married on Saturday October 4th at 10:00 am outside SWCC right by the fountain. Aaron and Alison are driving in from Las Vegas to sing some special music along with John's Sister Marie. I have the privilege of performing the ceremony. One thing that John wanted you to know that this is strictly a Tommy Bahama Wedding...No suits allowed!!!

If you are planning on attending please RSVP by emailing Susan at: sclark50@dc.rr.com

Hope to see you there!!!

A Life Of Worship - Worshipping The Creator

I am constantly more excited about what Scientists are discovering year after year. With technology doubling every 6 months we are starting to see things that were never imagined before. 25 years ago a multi-national scientific team started to dig a 15 mile tunnel, 100 meters underground, near the CERN laboratory in Geneva. The tunnel would house grandest experiment in the history of mankind. This massive undertaking has produced the largest Super Collider ever. It's so complex and so cutting edge that close to $9 Billion Dollars was spent to complete it. What does it do? - Well check out this video:

So what's so important about this experiment? - Well I believe that it will reveal that there is an intelligent design behind the beginning of everything!!! - Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" Notice the heavens were created first. That's because after this massive release of energy the universe had to cool down before forming mass. Now according to the physicists at CERN, one of the goals of the LHC is to find the "Hick's" field or what they have nicknamed the "GOD" particle. This particle has to exist in order for there to be mass of any kind. Most scientists are very uncomfortable with the fact they haven't found any of these particles. According to one of the scientists that is working at CERN "if there is no Hick's Field, (GOD Particle), who is generating the mass?" - WOW!!!, he said, WHO is generating the mass? Why is this so important?, because it's the best possible explanation for why we exist. 

Romans 1:20 says: For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities - his eternal and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. 

God's invisible qualities...That which gives life...The very particle that is unseen by human eyes but holds together everything...Out of the unseen God is generating LIFE!!!

Knowing this, how can our response be anything but WORSHIP. How can we look at anything the same way again without seeing God's hand. The God Particle has literally formed you and holds you and everything else together, perfectly. But he didn't stop there he created us beyond the mass and gave us a spirit for one divine purpose...Because he wanted to have communion with his creation. He wanted to show his love and receive our love through worship and prayer and his word. Hallelujah, God Is With Us And He Is Worthy To Be Praised.

A Life Of Worship - Taming The Tongue

As we start the 2008-2009 season I want to focus on the foundational truths that will help us draw closer in our relationship with the Lord and examine and develop our daily walk individually and with one another. Worship is not just music, it's everything we do in our weekly services, Fellowship, Prayer, Communion, Teaching and Singing Praises Etc. But Worship goes beyond the weekly services and should become a part of our daily lives. In other words Worship should be a lifestyle. Watch this mini-movie called "A Life Of Worship":

With this in mind I want to start a series of posts called "A Life Of Worship". Today's topic "Taming The Tongue". I can't think of a better place to start when developing a life of worship than dealing with how we talk to and treat one another. James 3:1-12 deals very specifically with the power of the tongue. In verse 9 the scripture states - With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. A few weeks ago Pastor Rick addressed this very section of scripture in his message "Your Mouth Reveals Your Heart"   Click on the title and check it out again it will challenge you for sure. Now none of us are perfect and we will blow it from time to time when communicating with others. I know this first hand. I have been challenged recently to be more aware of how I communicate during rehearsals. It's very easy to get caught up in what you are doing at any given time and forget that people are involved in everything we do. And because of that we need to be more sensitive to peoples feelings and how we interact with one another. We have a choice. We can be the deliverers of blessing, encouragement and building one another up or we can we can be the "small spark" that ignites a forest fire. Here are some things we can do to apply this biblical practice into our daily lives:

• Think before you speak
• Listen more than you talk (James 1:19)
• When joking make sure it's not pointed at someone else (Eph. 5:4)
• Don't Gossip!!! (Proverbs 16:28, 17:4, 25:10)
• Be gracious (Col. 4:6)

God grant us the courage and the wisdom to apply all of these important things to our lives. Help us to develop a true sense of living a life of worship. AMEN!

Does God Have Your Attention?

Today's post come from a movie I just watched the other day with my wife Lori. The movie was called "Facing The Giants". Now I consider myself a movie nerd and what I mean by that is I LOVE movies. I'm one of those guys that doesn't just watch a movie but I'm thinking about the music, the editing, the cinematography, everything. Several times during a great movie you would probably hear me say something like "Wow, I wonder how they did that?" or "The screenplay on this one is awesome". Anyway, all that to say that "Facing The Giants" is not a 10 as far as movie making goes. In fact as Lori and I watched it there was a time when Lori used the word "hokey" to describe a few parts in this film. With that said I have to admit that this film impacted me in a way that was very surprising. A struggling High School Football Coach is facing another losing season, possibly losing his job, friends he trusted turning on him, finding out he and his wife can't have children and a car that never works and is always breaking down. Yet in the midst of all of that instead of giving up, running away and cursing God he turns to God, completely stripped of any pride, joy or agenda and lays it all down at His feet. He then turns the focus of his football team to building character instead of winning football games. Here's a clip from the movie at that first practice after his encounter with God:

A lot of times we look at situations in our lives as God trying to get our attention. When things aren't going so good or when our plans and agenda's are not working out as we planned, instead of thinking that we could be wrong we often times think God is thwarting our plans to get a point across. Maybe we need to just be available for God and listen more than make our own plans. Maybe instead of giving up in defeat we need to change our perspective and do what the Coach in this film encourages his players to do, "Praise God when we win and praise God when we lose". This life in not about us. This life is preparation for eternity. I walked away from this movie challenged to live a life that honors God, to care more about people then process, to trust and love God no matter what my circumstances are, to change my perspective to God's perspective, and never give up under any circumstances. WOW!!! for a very low budget film it certainly made up for it in content. So I ask my original question. Does God have your attention? - Are you paying attention to all He is saying to you? - Do you praise God when you win and praise Him when you lose? - As for me and my family, we will Love, Serve and Worship the Lord!!! I guess the only thing to say now is rent or buy a copy of "Facing The Giants" and see for yourself what God has to say to you. Please feel free to leave a comment about this post.