Song of the Week #126

"The Solid Rock" from 12.10.11 by PMetro Worship. Yep, we do old ones, too :)

Song of the Week #125

For God so loved the world, He gave us His only Son -- Jesus. We celebrate His birth because He is the Savior of the world. Whoever believes on His death, burial, and resurrection as the Messiah shall not perish but have everlasting life. Repent from your sins, ask Jesus into your heart, and make him the Lord of your life. It's the best decision you can make today, and the one that will jump start you living the life you were meant to. Amen.

Song of the Week #124

Song of the Week #123

PMetro worship team's take on "Fill Me Up" by United Pursuit Band. This is from a night of worship and live album recording on 12.10.11. Yes, I made the janky video to get it up here on YouTube :) you know you like it

Song of the Week #122

Here's a live version of an amazing song of off "In the Night Season".

Song of the Week #121

Song of the Week #120

Save It

This guy and gal held out. What a great decision it was, and how true this post is.

Song of the Week #119

Song of the Week #118

the story and the song...

Song of the Week #117

Song of the Week #116

Here is a simple and beautiful cover of "One Thirst". You can check out the Bethel Live version from this earlier post.

Song of the Week #115

Song of the Week #114

Song of the Week #113

Song of the Week #112

Song of the Week #111

Here's a great song off their new album:



and here is a live clip...pretty hard to look away :)

Do Something Different

If you want something to be different then you’ve got to do something different.

Most people have heard that one definition of insanity is to do the same things over and over again while expecting different results. We kind of chuckle when someone brings this to our attention, but rarely let the reality of the statement set in. Maybe we make one minor change in regards to the specific situation we are in at the moment, but the overarching truth of the revelation never really sets in.

Let me say it to you clearer: I know why you have the same patterns repeat in your life—it’s because you keep doing the same things. I know why you are getting frustrated with the same results everyone else has had—because you are doing it basically the same.

If you want things to be different then you’ve got to do something different.

If you are looking for a spouse and you keep ending up with the wrong person, then you’ve got to change something. Maybe you look in different places, maybe you don’t start out the relationship the same as all your other failed ones, maybe you work on yourself first (Oh! What a revolutionary idea!).

If you want your relationship with your parents/kids to be different, then change something in the way you relate to them. Maybe you honor them, maybe you listen before speaking, maybe you put your foot down when being walked over, maybe you change the way your parents did things with you—if it isn’t working then it might need changing.

The story is the same for whatever situation…your career, the way you handle finances, personal addictions, how you spend your time, how you treat your body, how you interact with people, etc.

More to the point of this blog, the same holds true for those of us in the Body of Christ. If we want our relationship with Christ to be stronger than it has been, then we’ve got to change something. If we want to reach the lost better than we are, then we’ve got to change something. If we want our small groups and worship teams and youth ministries to be more effective, then we’ve got to do something different. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the heart behind things changes, or the intentions, or the core values…what this DOES mean is that our approach has to differ if we want to see different results. This could mean the structure, the time, how it is presented, the prep work, who is involved, who is not involved, what is done, what is not done, the accountability, the follow-up, the marketing, the resources, expectation levels, focus levels, management style, focusing on the 'why’ instead of the 'what’ or the 'how', defining what success actually is, how honor is shown, refining details, becoming more transparent, sharing responsibility, being more mindful of who is representing your platform, etc.

We cannot assume that just because our vision is big and our heart is pure that things will turn out dandy. There are countless numbers of believers that have made those assumptions only to see the results fall short of what they envisioned. WE HAVE GOT TO DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT IF WE WANT THINGS TO BE DIFFERENT!!!

I’m praying for whoever reads this message to get honest with yourself and get some people around you who will be honest with you and push you towards whatever is in your heart to do. If God has put it there, then it is good, but a lot of times these things in your heart need some refining…sometimes you need help in the planning, or of how to get from Point A to Point Z. Pray a lot, ask the Holy Spirit for help, get great people around you, and plan to do something different. Do it!!! Amen.

Song of the Week #110

Song of the Week #109

Song of the Week #108

Song of the Week #107

Song of the Week #106

Song of the Week #105

Eight One Twelve

Eight is a number that represents new things. This eighth month, August, has always been one of my favorites because it shows signs of newness--school begins, cycles start over, signs of life everywhere.

I'm also very much about first things. You can help set the course and the tone for the future with the way you do the first things. With this being August 1st, you can help set the tone for the rest of your year (and for the new things that are in your heart) by making sure you put time and effort into the right things today. In plain English: don't worry as much about the time-consuming tasks and little things today. Focus on big picture, your future, and realigning your priorities to how they should be. Yours won't look exactly like mine, but here is where you should start:

1. Relationship with God
   
2. Family
3. Everything else

This is August 1^st, 2012 and this day will never happen again. Make the most of it by taking time to look at the big things. Asking tough questions and facing issues that you’ve avoided needs to happen. Your excuse of busyness needs to get buried.

Lord, steady my mind and heart and lead me to the things that You have for me. Let Your voice echo in my mind and heart so that I can hear You above all the noise...I want to hear Your voice and nothing else. Thanks for loving me. I love You. In Jesus Christ’s Name, Amen.

Song of the Week #104

The Importance of Rest

I've already sent this to our worship team and the Arise interns we have here this summer. Take 10 minutes away from distraction and watch this.

Song of the Week #103

Song of the Week #102

A declaration and proclamation of His goodness. Let us, as a generation, take hold of it!

Song of the Week #101

Song of the Week #100

Song of the Week #99

You gotta check this out:

Song of the Week #98

This is good stuff. And I met him today, so I can attest that he's the real deal. Come see John Mark McMillan tonight in Owensboro, Kentucky at PromiseLand Metro Church. Follow this link to get your tix online and save some money!

Song of the Week #97

John Mark McMillan: this Sunday night in Owensboro, KY. Click here for tickets. Gonna be awesome!!!

Song of the Week #96

Song of the Week #95

Song of the Week #94

Yes, I love John Mark McMillan's music. And, yes, he is coming to Owensboro, KY on June 9th and 10th so I'm giving him even more love on this blog than normal. While on the 9th he'll be talking and teaching privately with the Arise interns, you can come hear him and some friends perform on Sunday night the 10th. If you're interested in that, click here. Either way, enjoy another great track of musical goodness and lyrical depth right here:

Arise Worship Internship

If you, or someone you know, loves the Lord and loves music then you need to tell them about the Arise Worship Internship. Arise is an intense 8-week worship internship that focuses on students encountering the love of God and equipping them to lead others into His presence. Interns are taught that worship flows from dwelling in the presence of the Father, and that this relationship is primary above all else. From there, they learn Biblical truths and also how to lead with excellence.

In short, the Arise Worship Internship is about raising up and releasing sold-out lovers of Jesus Christ into the world to spread the Gospel, help others grow in their relationship with God, and to change culture. At Arise, its about Word, Worship, and Musicianship.

The deadline to submit applications is Tuesday, May 15th so hurry and get this in front of the people you know! They will love you for it :) Oh yeah...John Mark McMillan, Jeff Deyo of SONICFLOOd, and Sarah Reeves are all gonna be there. That's pretty cool, too.

Song of the Week #93

JOHN MARK

Thought I'd throw this up here before it gets everywhere: John Mark McMillan is coming to the Arise Worship Internship this summer! Yes sir! Our 2012 Arise interns are going to get to hear John Mark teach, speak, and do a Q&A. Wow. This is stinking incredible!

God is showing us lots of favor. How fun to be in the middle of it! Thank you for Your goodness, God. Continue to pour it out and let us be wise with what You are blessing us with. In Jesus Christ's Name, AMEN!!!!!

Song of the Week #92

Song of the Week #91

Your Greatest Resource

All the money in the world, the best reputation, the most political capital, the most influence, the best personnel…none of this can replace, or even begin to replicate the Spirit of God. For everyone out there today who feels like you are grasping at air and you see no resources to accomplish the things put in your heart, know this: God is your greatest resource. The Holy Spirit and the power contained therein is the greatest force on the face of this earth. The Holy Spirit is the power of the Living God alive in you. Thus, you have the greatest resource ever known to man literally with you all the time.

Father, let us become more fully aware of Your presence. Let us not calculate resources with only logic and what our eyes see, but let us open our hearts to the unlimited possibilities of walking, lockstep, with the Holy Spirit. May our eyes and hearts be full of hope as we begin to see more as You see, and may the love of Christ drench every moment our of day and every inch of our being. In the Holy Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, AMEN!!!

Song of the Week #90

Song of the Week #89

Song of the Week #88

Song of the Week #87

Song of the Week #86

Song of the Week #85

Song of the Week #84

Song of the Week #83

Song of the Week #82

Song of the Week #81

He is good in all seasons!

Day of Love

Who We Are pre-release

Hey!!! Exciting stuff today! A song I wrote, "Who We Are", is being officially released today!

The single is being promoted by Mercy29. If you haven't checked out this organization go look at what they're doing at Mercy29.org. We have decided to recover all recording costs, then raise M29 $1000 right off the bat. Then, 25% of everything else over that will also go to support Mercy29's efforts.

So go download this song. You can get if free if you want; but if you want to buy it then just pay whatever you want and know that you are getting good music AND supporting an awesome organization. Tell your friends, and go get the song here:

AnewDeclaration.bandcamp.com

Enjoy!! And thanks for checking it out!

Song of the Week #80

Song of the Week #79

Song of the Week #78

Song of the Week #77

Be You Cause People Want Truth

I just had some good time with Jesus. I just sat in His presence for a little while. Prayed a little, worshiped a little, praised Him some. Then I got something I feel needs to be shared, so here I am writing it. The thing I want to tell you is simple: be true to yourself because people want truth.

Does that make sense? It’s a big deal, and you need to get it. It’s two-fold…#1 be true to yourself. You gotta be you. God made you in a unique way, so much so, that nobody else can do you like you can. The way you think, the words you use when you talk, your set of abilities, etc.

#2 people want truth. This I find to be truer every day. People want something true in this world where so many things are fleeting, deceptive, and disappointing. They are bombarded with lies from the time they leave their house in the morning until they get home at night. Then through the wonderful medium of television they can tune into whatever they choose so that until they go to sleep they can very easily be further flooded with ideas and images that are far from true. This is the world in which we live, and people are hungry for truth.

This is how the two ideas go together. When you aren’t being you then you aren’t being real, you aren’t showing truth. By not being true to yourself, you are robbing the world of who you were created to be. At the core, this is one of the biggest lies you can tell. People want you, NEED you, to be you! We do not want you to be like anyone else; we just want you to fulfill the fullest potential of who you are made to be by Your Maker.

This whole thing came to me as I was in my prayer closet. Yes, I have a literal closet I go sit in sometimes when I want to get away from noise or distraction :) So, there I was and I had already had a few good minutes of Jesus time and I was thinking about how earlier today I had urged some members of our church’s worship team to get some personal time with God. And then I was thinking how I could tell them I had some good alone time. That is when the idea behind this blog actually hit me.

You see, I started thinking about how I was gonna tell them about it. Ha. I thought about saying, “I felt led” to go my “prayer closet” and that I got a “revelation” from the Lord. You know, use all these Christian words that we love to throw out there. And then, I could sound all holy and whatnot in front of these worshipers. But that is when I thought, “Why?!” Why dress this genuinely good experience up with a bunch of crap that does nothing to really add to the message? Why do I feel it necessary to make something seem like more than it is? Why attempt to impress people with fancy words and an inflated portrayal of a real experience? My Jesus time tonight wasn’t a hear-the-angels-sing kind of thing, nor was it a completely life-changing encounter with the Lord in the traditional sense; but it was some good time with Jesus, the lover of my soul. And that’s enough.

So I’m sitting here writing this blog, eating ice cream, watching an Austin City Limits of Mumford & Sons, and being completely real with you. That’s my big revelation for the evening ;) I want you to be you, other people want you to be you, and I KNOW God wants you to be you. If you aren’t sure who you are yet, that’s ok—pray to the Lord and ask Him to reveal to you what He had in mind when He created you. Here’s a good place to start: you are a child of God! A son, or a daughter! And if you want some more Scriptural stuff to look at concerning your identity in Christ, check out this previous blog.

That’s all I got for tonight. Gonna finish this ice cream and hit the sack. Much love in Jesus Christ to all!

adam

Song of the Week #76

Start It Off Right

Happy New Year!! 2012 is gonna be amazing! We’re gonna see the Lord do some awesome things—and we get to be a part of it!

I’m a big believer in starting things off right; setting things in motion correctly from the start; setting a precedent. The first things you do are the things that resound and set the stage for the rest of the show. That’s why getting the most important things first is so critical.

So to start off your 2012, I encourage you to make the most of this first week. Write down the things that are of most value in your life. Then, write down all the things that you want to do/grow in/develop/mature in/work towards/see happen this year. If you’re feeling frisky, go ahead and rank them :)

Now that you have a list, it’s time to do something with it! During this first week of the year, do something to work towards each one of your goals. I’ll use myself as an example…my big priorities are my relationship with God, my family and friends, leading worship/stuff at church, music, and business. Some of the things I want to accomplish this year flow from that list of priorities:

mature in my faith
see more unity in the Body of Christ
start leading worship in more places
write more music
strengthen the relationships in my life that matter to me
get better musically

So in starting the year off right, it makes sense for me to do things this first week to work towards each of these goals. It looks something like this:

mature in my faith --> make time to pray and fast and hear what the Lord is saying to me

see more unity in the Body of Christ --> pray for unity, interact across boundaries, set up joint events, LOVE

start leading worship in more places --> contact people now for things going on all year long

write more music --> set aside time each week to write...even if inspiration isn’t necessarily hitting me

strengthen the relationships in my life that matter to me --> spend time, set up lunches, make calls

get better musically --> practice pushing myself vocally every week, find voice instructor

Set things in motion now that are going to affect the rest of your year. If you sow good things, then the harvest shall be good! Pray and see where the Lord leads you and press into the things He lays on your heart. He knows you better than you do because He made you. Maybe you should ask Him what He thinks about you ;)

And if you don’t know Jesus as your personal Savior yet, give your life to Him. There is nothing better. Jesus is the only Son of God; He died for your sins. You've not done anything so bad that He won't forgive you. If you believe on His death on a cross for your sins, His burial, and His resurrection from the grave; confess your sins and turn from them; and acknowledge Him as lord of your life, then you can have everlasting life in Heaven with the only true God. Start 2012 with the biggest and best decision you’ll ever make.

God bless you all and may many blessings flow your way this year through Our Lord Jesus Christ! Peace, love, and blessings through the magnificent Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Amen!

adam

Song of the Week #75

This is raw and happy and awesome! 2012 is gonna be a year of celebration...what a great song to start it off!!!