Overcome

I've been really burdened the past few months, and especially the past few days, for the people in our church family (and extended to the thousands more in our community) who are hurt and scared and unsure of their future because of the current economy. I have close friends who are facing foreclosures, who haven't worked in weeks, who are having to make life-altering decisions. I can't explain why I've felt so strongly about this, other than God is calling me to become more sensitive to the needs of those around me, seeking out ways that I can invest what I posses in the lives of others.

Just a year ago, January of 2008, I was experiencing the most emotional and uncertain time of my life. Both my wife and my new daughter were teetering between life and death, and was hurt and scared and unsure about my future. I'd love to tell you that my faith was strong, but it certainly was not. Although we are now in a place where we feel much more secure and safe, looking back, I know that we are, right now, no closer or further from God's plan for our lives than we were then. And, though I can't totally relate to those who are really experiencing the crunch of the economy right now, I can understand the feelings that come with knowing that you're not in control when things don't look good.

I recently came across a song called "Overcome" that has really helped me put the past few years of my life into perspective. The first video below explains the circumstance surrounding the writing and recording of the song...the second video shows the recording of the song. I hope that this song might remind those who are hurting today, no matter the reason, that there is hope and purpose in every situation for we who trust in Jesus.

New Songs

Here are a few of the new songs that we've either learned already this new year or are about to learn sometime in the next few months:

"Glory Of It All" - David Crowder Band (just learned this one and using it as our theme song for our Moses series)

"With Everything" - Hillsong (heard this one for the first time a few weeks ago at C3 and am stoked to teach it to our band and worship choir)

"Exalted" - Chris Tomlin (another one that I am stoked to teach to our worship choir)

"Praise The King" - Cindy Morgan (an older song, but one of my favorites...will probably teach this one to the worship choir for Easter)

"Give Love Away" - Exodus (written by a band from Liberty University...very Hillsong United-ish...give it a listen)

What new songs are on your radar for the new year? Or, if you're not actually in the band, what new songs would you like to see your church learn?

Nate

Moses Art 01

As I mentioned in This Post, I'm working with local artist, Amber Elwood to create a series of paintings that will help illustrate big events in Moses' life as we work through our current Sunday Morning Sermon Series, "The Journey: Start to Finish - Tracking the Life of Moses". Below is the first piece depicting Moses' humble beginnings (read Exodus 1-2:10).


These paintings will be added to our stage as the story progresses (the piece above was added yesterday). I'm stoked to see how the rest of it turns out!

Nate

Attendance?

How has your church attendance been during the recent economic crisis? Interestingly, ours is up about 25% over this time last year (from about 200 to about 250), which could easily be attributed to "natural" growth, but could also have something to do with the crisis that many people are facing because of the slow US economy.

Just curious...

Nate

Moses Poster

Although not for every series, we like to create posters that promotes our sermon series...kind of like a movie poster you might see under a movie theater marquee.


How do you create a buzz at your church?

Nate

Moses Graphic

A local artist, Amber Elwood, created an original piece for us to use for our sermon series "The Journey Start to Finish: Tracking the Life of Moses". Below is the process from start to finish...

The first sketch.

The second take and final product.

The conversion from canvas to digital graphic.

This is the first time I've ever worked with another artist to create something like this for our church. The final version is exactly what I pictured in my head when I first talked with Amber...only way better! We'll use this throughout the series as our main graphic. I'm really stoked to have Amber create a few more big stage pieces for us that portray big events in Moses' life!

What do you think?

How does your church embrace the arts and utilize her artists?

Nate