Sunday Recap May 16, 2010

Well, after a few days away, I was able to focus on the last of the Primal series. We are really ramping up our worship at New Hope and after the worship last week in the fellowship hall, couldn't wait to get back in our super-cooled sanctuary. :)

The worship set: Here I Am To Worship, Better Is One Day, Nothing But the Blood, Grace Flows Down



When is our faith revealed to be strong? When it's bright and sunny and everything is going well? Or at Midnight? Paul and Silas revealed just what loving God with all your strength can do. In Acts 16, after a terrible day, they found the strength in Christ to have a hymn sing at midnight. We can do the same if we give God our all.

Really enjoyed studying through these messages.

Sunday Recap May 2, 2010

After the worship workshop on Saturday, I could hardly wait to see what God was going to do on Sunday. As worship approached, I was talking with someone in the back of the sanctuary and saw a group of the praise team members gathered around Bunny at the piano. Their smiles told me that they felt the same way. After the welcome and announcements, I prayed that God would allow us to draw nearer and we began. It was great.

Melanie Winter had challenged us to stretch beyond what we had been doing and to sing and play with confidence (echoing what I've heard Bunny say a hundred times), and I really felt like we did. Having the vocalists on one side, the guitarists grouped and the bass and drummer grouped together seemed to really help us hear each other which is a real key to playing as one.

Our worship set was: O Worship the King, Forever, Shout To the Lord, and My Jesus I Love Thee was used for the invitation to commitment.

We're going to continue to work on what Melanie taught us in the weeks to come but I'm confident the improvement will continue.

The message: The third in my "Primal - A search for the essence of Christianity" series which is based on Mark Batterson's book. This week was relating to loving God with all your mind - curiosity. probably the hardest for me to get a grip on. Not because I couldn't relate to what Batterson had written, but because it seemed to be difficult to frame in such a way I could point people to Jesus - not just to studying more facts about Him.

After reading every reference in the Bible to curiosity and going back to the book several times, I settled on John 1:35 and following as the core text. It seemed to work well.

Primal by Mark Batterson

Mark Batterson is one of the current crop of young and innovative pastors who are not only seeing the Kingdom grow where they serve, but are also helping other churches by writing books to equip, enlighten, and encourage. As pastor of NCC in Washington DC, he has seen God grow a congregation from 25 to several thousand over the past few years. NCC is making an impact there, and around the world as they reach out on mission. Mark has written two other books - "In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day" and "Wild Goose Chase".

Primal contains everything that readers have grown to expect from Mark.

There's a clear focus and articulation of what he wants to achieve with the book. There are lots of references from other disciplines, particularly science and medicine. And there are stories about people and how God has worked in their lives. If I have a beef with Mark, it's that he shares more of the references than he needs too. Yes, it's fascinating stuff - how the brain works, how much blood the body pumps,etc. But the material he's sharing is better. Having to slow down and digest the scientific tidbits hurts the flow. But I'll tell you this - I wouldn't ever play trivia against Mark. :)

That's not to say that anything about Primal is trivial. His call for a new reformation centered on love for God is right on track. The way he gets the reader to that conclusion winds through chapters that pose challenges to the heart, soul, and mind. He does it in a vibrant and accessible way. I can see this book providing great discussion for small groups and real value for personal spiritual growth.

There have been quite a few books this year I have recommended to people in my church. It's late in the year now, but Primal has to get added to the list. I managed to get a copy free from the publisher so I could review it, but go buy a copy. It's worth the bucks and the time.