Jesus: Not as offensive as He used to be

So Emily turns on American Idol last night and Seacrest announces that the show will open with the contestants singing "Shout to the Lord" again. I immediately begin telling Emily how they aren't going to sing "Jesus", and how mad that makes me. I then get up to check on Grace getting ready for bed, and as I'm walking out of the room I heard it. They sang "My Jesus..."! That was pretty cool, and it did shock me.

In other more important matters:

Be sure and invite your friends to join you at worship this week. We're continuing the "Worship is..." series. This week the emphasis is, "Worship is Life-changing". If you haven't already done so, read Isaiah 6:1-8.

I was reading in the book of Judges this morning when God used part of the story of Gideon to remind me of something important. He's our king. He is our ultimate authority. The Israelites were so anxious to have a human king, and when they tried to recruit Gideon for the job he reminded them that God should be their only king. If I will remember that God is my authority that will make a big difference in the choices I make.

I'm looking forward to worshipping together with y'all on Sunday. Don't miss it!

Jesus: He's so offensive

Something bothered me last night. It didn't really surprise me, but it still bothered me. I was half-way watching "Idol Gives Back", (that means I was switching between Ultimate Fighter, the Braves game, and Idol) when it occurred. To close the show, the final eight contestants came out dressed in white (cheesy) to sing "Shout to the Lord". When Ryan Seacrest said what they were about to sing I couldn't believe it. I was expecting to hear another song with that same title, but when the music started I knew it was the "Shout to the Lord" you've heard in church a thousand times. Then it happened. The first four words of the song (as you probably know) are: "My Jesus, my Savior...". Instead of those words, the Idol contestants sang, "My Shepherd, my Savior..."

Removing the name of Jesus reminded me of what we talked about two weeks ago in the last message of the Uncensored Grace series. The concept of one way to God is offensive to people. The idea that the only way you can be forgiven of sin is through Jesus is seen in today's culture as narrow-minded and just plain wrong. Of course the concept of Jesus as the only way to heaven is exactly what is taught in the bible. Remember this verse or this one? Like I said, it didn't surprise me, but it did bother me. With Oprah doing her web casts on spirituality and Bono singing in concerts about "Jesus, Jew, Mohamed, True" we need to be certain as followers of Christ that we hold fast to truth. The truth is Jesus, whether Idol sings His name or not.

Whew, I feel better now.

Read Isaiah 6:1-8 in preparation for this week's message on worship.

A prayer to the Organic God

One of the things that I probably should add to this blog is a list of the books I'm reading or have recently read. When I figure out how to add a list that includes pictures of the books, I will get one on here. One great book that I've just finished reading is "Organic God" by Margaret Feinberg. It is an uplifting look at several different attributes of God and how they impact us. One day as I was thinking about what I had just read, I wrote this prayer. Maybe you can relate to it.

Father God,
Please forgive me. I have limited my relationship with You to a list of rules and a desire for the sure-footed, easy path. I want to totally embrace the wonder, mystery, danger, awe, and excitement of who You are. Help me to live, love, and lead in that way. Amen.

Monday morning quarterback

It was great to see the sunshine yesterday! I don't think I could live in the Pacific Northwest where it rains all the time. The effect last week's gloomy weather had on my emotions makes me understand why so much of the music that came out of Seattle in the 90's was so depressing. Here are some sunny highlights from the weekend:

- Babies are awesome!
Getting to do baby dedication as part of yesterday's service reminded me that getting to see and hold babies always brings me some joy. The cool thing now is that if the baby is in a bad mood I can just hand them back over to their parents! Maybe that's why everyone makes such a big deal over being a grandparent.

- Speaking of babies...
Wendy Trusty told me that the preschool area was overflowing with kids yesterday. There are still some teaching and greeting opportunities in the preschool ministry. If you are regularly attending Freedom and you are not serving in any area yet, this could be your place of service. If you are interested or have questions send Wendy an e-mail at: wtrusty@bellsouth.net

- I had a guy tell me after yesterday's message that he couldn't believe I said "jack squat". This guy really thought it was funny because I said it during the invitation! I promise I didn't have "jack squat" written in my notes. Stuff just comes out of my mouth sometimes. I get it honest, my Dad suffers from the same condition.

- I got to spend some alone time with Emily yesterday. Grace was off at a friend's house, so Emily and I watched one of the Harry Potter movies in the Fortress of Solitude. I would rather hang out with Sherry or my two girls than anyone else.

There's a lot to get started on this week. I'll keep you updated on all the latest news. Thanks for reading and commenting!

Friday quote and other info

I haven't included any quotes from famous people for the last couple of Fridays, so I thought ya'll would enjoy this one from the man who never got any respect.

"The only normal people are the ones you don't know too well."

So true.

Here are a few other things that might interest you:

- Keep praying about land and buildings. We will be making an announcement about this fairly soon, but in the meantime keep praying for wisdom for the team working on this project. There will be an important meeting this Tuesday morning at 8:00 that should clarify things even more.

- Have you read Psalm 100 yet?

- The Braves are 1-3. I know that there are still 158 games left to play, but the bullpen is worrying me. Not to mention the fact that Mike Hampton, who hasn't pitched in almost three years, got hurt last night. He didn't get hurt during the game mind you, he got hurt warming up. To quote modern day philosopher and renaissance man Allen Iverson, "We're talking about practice. Not a game, practice."

- I'll probably write more about this later, but I ran across this verse in Proverbs the other day. That's what I pray would be the effect of Freedom has on Greer. Greer should be a better place to live because of the presence of our church!

- I'm looking forward to seeing ya'll this Sunday. Be sure to bring your friends!

Worship is...

I'm really looking forward to the new series of messages that we are starting this Sunday. After some conversations with different people over the last couple of months and lots of praying and thinking, we decided several weeks ago to focus April's messages on worship. I believe worship is very misunderstood by lots of church folks. I'm not going to claim that a four week message series on worship will cover all there is to know, but I am very excited about the things we can learn together about worship this month.
Here's some stuff I want you to be working on:

- Invite your friends!
I know that is the standard thing I always encourage you to do, but I wanted to be sure you continue to do it this month. You might think that a message series on worship would only apply to followers of Christ, but that's not true! What better way for a friend of yours that does not know Jesus to learn about His love and care by listening to messages about why He should be worshipped?

- Read Psalm 100.
Each week I'll post a specific scripture passage for you to read here. This week the message will come from Psalm 100. It would be cool if you would read it everyday this week. As you read it, ask God to speak to your heart about how He wants you to worship Him.

- Tell other Freedom attenders about this blog.
No I'm not looking for more readers so I can feel better about myself. At least not totally. If everyone who is a regular Freedom attender comes on Sunday having read Psalm 100, and knows the direction we're heading I think it will make a difference in what happens during worship. Send a linc from this post to your friends in an e-mail, or just ask them if they've read Psalm 100 yet.

Thanks for all ya'll do to make Freedom happen week after week. Let's keep it up!

What's Happening on April Fool's

I've never really gotten into April Fool's Day. Probably because to pull off a really effective April Fool's joke lots of prior planning is required. Prior planning is not my greatest strength. I was trying today to think of some great April's Fool's Day jokes that I've heard about, and only a couple came to mind.

One was when Sports Illustrated wrote an article about a new pitcher in the New York Mets organization named Sidd Finch who threw 168 mph fastball. Supposedly the magazine received lots of letters from people wanting to know where they could see Finch pitch.

The other which I have only recently heard about, so I'm not sure if it's true, is even funnier. I heard there was a radio show in Baltimore, MD where the two DJ's promoted for weeks that Tyra Banks would be their special guest at an appearance they were doing. The day of the appearance, tons of people showed up to see supermodel Tyra Banks and instead they got....Shirley Hemphill. You remember Shirley from "What's Happening". I'm sure that there are people out there who like Shirley Hemphill, but when you were expecting Tyra Banks that would be quite a shock.

What's the best April Fool's Day joke you've been a part of, either as the joker or the jokee?

By the way, just to be in the spirit of things: Eddie Van Halen called today and asked me if I would go on tour with the band. They fired David Lee Roth (again) and would like me to be their new singer. I am leaving the office in a few minutes to be fitted for a spandex outfit. (Now that would be funny!)