HELLO KLEAN KANTEEN

I did it. I gave in and bought a Klean Kanteen bottle today. I was introduced to these by my good friend Chris, our youth and children's pastor at ACC. What's so great about a Klean Kanteen, you ask?

-Made from high-quality stainless steel
-Dishwasher friendly
-BPA-free ("Recent studies have shown that many plastic water bottles, including Lexan bottles, leach toxins such as BPA. These studies have linked BPA to breast cancer & reproductive mutations.")
-It's reusable and therefore good for the environment!

This last one was what did it for me. As a musician and a vocalist, I drink a lot of water. For the past several years I have been buying bottled water to drink, and I always bring a bottle to Wednesday evening rehearsal and Sunday morning services. I always have one in the car with me as well. So it's safe to say that in any given week I burn through at least 3-4 plastic bottles that get thrown into landfills and pollute the environment. In general, I'm not an outspoken environmentalist or passionate about being "green", but I do think that we as human beings have a responsibility to be good stewards of this planet that God has entrusted to us and commanded us to cultivate and keep (Genesis 2:15). As I have been thinking a lot about this issue, I guess I started to feel convicted about all the water bottles I've gone through over the course of my lifetime. So that's what did it for me.

Goodbye plastic disposable water bottles, and hello Klean Kanteen!

Weekend Service Review #3 - February 22, 2009

This morning we were in Philippians 2:1-11 - one of my favorite passages in scripture that is often referred to as the kenosis passage or the "humiliation of Christ." Here's what we did:

-Forever (G) - instrumental prelude
Welcome
-Everlasting God (A)
Dramatic Reading - Philippians 2:1-11
Message intro - video clip from Hitch
Message Part 1 - Dave
Communion
-Mighty Is the Power of the Cross (E) - communion special
Message Part 2 - Dave
-May the Mind of Christ My Savior (D) w/ new chorus
-Adoration (G)
Benediction - Jude 24-25

I really liked the dramatic reading of this morning's Scripture passage - it set up the message nicely and definitely brought out the text in a fresh way. Hopefully we will be able to do more dramatic readings like this in future weeks - maybe at least 1 per series?

PASSION 2010

Registration for Passion 2010 is now open! It sounds far away, but January 2, 2010 will be here before you know it. Last night they opened registration with a live worship and prayer video broadcast from the Passion house in Alpharetta, GA. They had a promotion that the first 1,000 people that registered would get in for $99 bucks - and that filled up after the first three minutes of registration being open. Crazy...

Even though I am no longer in college, I still qualify for the 18-26 age range to attend the conference, so I am hoping to attend.

You can register here for $129 until April 1.

Weekend Service Review #2 - February 8, 2009

Yesterday was a bit of a crazy day at ACC and a first for our current staff. Dave, our senior pastor, was scheduled to preach, but he caught a nasty case of the flu on Friday night, so he called Chris (our youth pastor) and myself around noon on Saturday saying he didn't think he would be able to make it on Sunday morning. So Chris had about 18 hours to put together a 30-minute sermon. (Doesn't sound hard to you? Well, then, you try it some time. :)

In my opinion, Chris did a great job filling in for Dave. He talked about loving God and loving others, the two greatest commandments according to Jesus in Mark 12:28-31. This is what Scot McKnight labels the "Jesus Creed", and it is the subject of his book by the same title.

Chris asked if the worship team would plan a few extra songs just in case he went short. We ended up just adding one song at the end of the service - "Lord Reign In Me" - which worked out great because it encapsulates our desire as a congregation to let God have His way in our lives as we seek to love Him and others - AND it was also in the same key as our originally-planned last song (added bonus!)

So here's what we did:

-Let the Praises Ring (E) - live prelude w/ vocals
Welcome & announcements - Chris
-O Come Let Us Adore Him (G)
-Adoration (G)
Message Part 1 - Chris
-It Is Well With My Soul (B)
Time of directed prayer where I shared a bit of background to Horatio Spafford and how he came to write It Is Well, and then instructed everyone to pray for someone they knew going through a trial or hard time.
-You Never Let Go (B)
Message Part 2 - Chris
-From the Inside Out (C)
-Lord Reign In Me (C)
Benediction - Ephesians 3:20-21

Overall, I think the morning turned out well, considering the circumstances. "Adoration" sounded awesome with a full band this week - Jim nailed all the drum parts, and Karen programmed the string parts into the synth - the end result was powerful, and people really responded to it - even with it being the second week we've sang it - ever!

Weekend Service Review #1 - February 1, 2009

When I started this blog I promised you readers (and myself) that I would review the Sunday services at our church and give a snapshot of what the service looked like, including what elements we used and what songs were sung. Now, I can't promise that I will do this every week, but Lord-willing I can make this into a habit that sticks.

So ... here's what yesterday's services looked like:

-Short Welcome & announcements
-Holy Is the Lord (G)
(Exhortation to worship God with not only our lips, but also our lives, based on Matthew 15:8-9)
-Beautiful Jesus (A)
Message Part 1 - Dave
-Consuming Fire (G)
(Introduce new song which I explained will be a theme song for our Philippians series, based on Philippians 3:13-14)
-Adoration (G)
Message Part 2 - Dave
-The Solid Rock (D)
Benediction - Revelation 1:5-6

We did an acoustic set with guitar, bass, keys and djembe, and overall I feel like it sat well. There's always the challenge of keeping the energy level up on acoustic weekends, but one benefit is that the congregation can hear themselves better, which I know many people appreciate.

Dave preached a great message from Philippians 1:1-11 on how we are all a "piece of work" - what a great reminder that our sanctification is a lifelong process of becoming more like Christ. You can listen to it here.