July Mix.

Wow, it is almost July! Crazy, well I wanted to give you all a great playlist for the month of July. Songs that just capture summer or songs that for some reason are just better with humidity. Who knows, but I must say this is a legit list, you should just go to Itunes and download them. Sorry no Nickleback on this one guys...

Blogs I Read

Just a quick blog telling you that you need to visit these blogs, good/brilliant people....

Robot Activate

JonRyanCreative

Jeff Noble

Duck Duck Collective

and of course...
LaRae Davenport

All I need is You.

I am sure that you have heard the song, 'All I Need is You' by Hillsong. But if you haven't...

Hillsong United - All I Need Is You @ Yahoo!7 Video

This song doesn't declare something new, or something that people don't think about. God is all we need. He comes even before food, water and shelter, because if you rely on God the rest will work itself out, I truly believe that, even though I barely act like that. But thats not my point. Every Christian knows, all that they need is God, even if they don't act like it.
The problem is that God isn't all we want. We want so much more, and we now have grown so accustomed to getting it, that if we don't get it we start declaring that it has become a need, so we can justify getting it. I am sorry I should stop using the word 'we.' I want so much more sometimes and I act like they are needs.
I know God is the only true necessity, because if my soul is safe then what does my body need, but when I turn wants into needs I overlook how gracious God has been to me.

Psalm 84 - "my soul thirst for God, for the living God.

Not what I expected.

Life doesn't always go how you think, especially when you plan it out as a 14 year old kid. The summer before my freshman in high school I remember just sitting down to decide what I wanted to do with my life. I cant say I remember exactly what the plan was, but I knew that I was going to marry this certain girl, have kids, and sing. Well that certain girl did not pan out, neither did the next 10. But I did have the singing part right. Maybe not the exact plan that I was thinking in high school, but I get paid to play music, and lead people into worship. Something I would never have guessed, mainly because at that time I thought worship music sucked. And to be honest I still hold that opinion about 'worship music' back then.
Everything changed when I won a 'Sonic Flood' cd the very next summer at youth group. Don't get me wrong, I still wasn't ecstatic about worship music, it was one cd, but that summer, in my Dodge Shadow, I had it made.
I still did not get on the 'worship movement' train. I listened to secular music and Relient K. Really, that was probably my music library, stuff on Z88 and Relient K, until Liberty.
I transferred to Liberty my sophomore year, and Liberty took things to a different level. I remember my first night at LU like it was yesterday, how great my RA's were, and making immediate friends with some guys on my hall. But the main thing I remember was the worship service that night. It was in the Schilling center, which for those who are not familiar with Liberty, picture it as is a big metal recreation center. Anyways, I did not want the music to stop. I know I was incredibly blessed to have some of the best talent Liberty has seen come thru their school, all at one time. One who is touring (Meredith Andrews) and one who should be (Jake Holman).
They were just talented, and seeing Jake lead was really a benchmark in my calling to lead worship. Knowing that someone with talent can lead with out becoming an arrogant jerk, made a stamp in my life. I don't want to leave out the rest of the band, because Dave McKinney is probably one of the most sincere guys I have ever met in my life, and it pours out in the way he leads worship.
Anyways, I had led worship in youth group, but really it was just because no one else sang and I was the singer guy. I can honestly say, I never once thought about making it my 'ministry' until I went to Liberty, and even then it took a couple years for me to even realize that it was what I was truly called to do.
It probably started when my friend Ms. Lauren Campbell, now Lauren Rosenau, told me her sister Taryn Hofert was helping put together a traveling worship band for WorldHelp. They pretty much had their band, and I was applying for the 'media guy' job (putting the mediashout jank together and all that). Well I never ended up touching a computer. I ended up being the second acoustic and background vocals, as they already had everything else, and kind of added a spot for me. Thank you Scott Spruill. During this time, we traveled on the weekends and played two sets every Sunday typically at different churches. It was great. I made lifelong friends from that, and everything I learned from packing up gear, gaff taping stuff, to setting soundboard stuff has gone into doing my job now.
After we were replaced by cute African orphans, probably a good choice, I was jobless for a month and worked one day at Kmart. Literally one day, I quit the next day so I could go to lunch with my friends. But that same week I got a call from Student Life at LU. Thanks you Chris Misiano for finding my application. I absolutely loved this job. I could write a lot about all what I got to do because of this job, but I won't drag this out. But somethings that this job did do, was got me into graphic design. I just met so many creative people and really they all just helped me along, especially Michael Sanders. He showed me the ropes in photoshop and for that I am truly thankful.
Okay, so to sum it all up I just wanted to show you just how crazy God works. He works just as well through people you don't even know as your best friend, jobs that you think are just pointless jobs, and classes that you really want to drop. I know how to run sound, hook up and properly take care of sound equipment, design, edit video, and do my best to lead worship without arrogance but still do my best to do it skillfully. I am sure the list could go on. God uses our situations to grow us, just rely on Him, His path and plan are so much better then your plan, that you had at 14.

Camp (pt2)

It's amazing that the busiest week I have had since college, when I worked for Student Activities and we had events everyday during freshman week, has been the most refreshing week I have had in quite some time. I have had the opportunity to go to 3 different conferences in the past 9 months and will be attending a worship one in September at Liberty, and yet I have been encouraged and refilled more than all those combined. It has reestablished my calling every night, I am a worship leader. I love leading people into worship. I wasn't even in charge this week, all I did was play lead parts (not well) and sang without a mic. I have to look at my guitar a lot when I play lead, so when I did get to look out at the kids, I saw earnest/yearning students wanting to just praise. Man, I wish everyone could have passion and innocence like a 14 year old.
The thing is, kids/teens know what grace is and use it. Adults also can tell you what grace is, but can't get past their own sin. So they constantly beat themselves up and can not worship God, when in reality God has thrown their sin to the east and west. God just wants/deserves/craves your worship. We are sinful people, there really is nothing good about us, but the enemy has started to confuse us, and plant the idea that we are good and that we really can't worship until we get everything lined up in our lives. WE CAN'T. Acting like we can actually offends God, we can not do anything good a apart from Jesus ( John 15:5). When we act like we can it takes away from how incredible Gods grace is. It's like a murderer taking out the trash, and wanting to be praised for doing so. "good job, you carried a bag outside...but you killed a guy last week." Everything that we do is junk to God, BUT (see this is a huge but) with Jesus it becomes brilliant, fresh, and beautiful!
Worship God! Get past your failures, it will probably happen again, and amazingly God will forgive you again, and then again. Forgive yourself and get back to serving and worshiping the God that created you for that sole purpose.

Here are some more videos from this past week...
Prayer/Communion Service.


Nothing like a homemade waterslide.

Camp.

I have always loved camp. I went to the mega camp known as Lift for the last 2 years of highschool, which I loved. But before then our church had a camp for jr/sr high. It was out in the middle of nowhere, but there is something about being in an unairconditioned chapel and sweating, where God can just grab you and rip your heart back to him. I don't know what it is, the nature, the speakers who bring it or just those quiet/intimate moments that really only occur in situations like these.
I am playing guitar at a camp this week, no mic, which is awesome! Within the first 20 minutes my head was swarmmed with my years of camp. The smell of adolescent sweat, although making me cringe, made me think of the dorm style rooms we stayed in, that contstantly smelled of a mens YMCA locker room, even when it was 'clean.' The overwellming smell of perfume just before dinner because the girls didn't have enough time to shower.
Besides all the fond memories of late camp nights, all the camp crushes and of course singing 'pledge allegiance to the lamb' with my brother. I also remember God getting a hold of me during my counselor days at camp chof in ohio. The speaker pulled me aside, and no, I have no idea who he is now. But anyways, he grabbed me and just asked me what I was going to do with my life. I remember not having an answer and he then said, 'well that's fine what are you doing now?' And I wish I could explain what I felt at that very moment. I could have cried, I knew that I was coasting spiritually. I knew God had a plan for me but I was too lazy to do anything. And I knew he just wanted me to transfer. I knew God wanted me at Liberty.
So camp was a big deal for me. Without it, I would never have met, my wife, LaRae. Never realized I was made to worship/lead worship because I wouldn't have traveled and played with CrossCulture. I wouldn't have some of the lifelong friends I met thru Liberty, (Kameno, Stuart, Cedric, Sanders, Glauco, Ryan Law...and the list goes on). All of this is because I was able to get out in the open and hear Gods voice. Thank you camp.
Here are some videos of the week so far, there will probably be more to come...