Blessings

As most of you know, Tiffany, my wife, lost her job about six months ago. It was a very emotional time for us, not because she lost her job, but because of the way she lost it. I won't go into details, but I'll say this: my wife is probably one of the most Godly, kindest, professional, smartest, and beautiful (inside and out!) people that I've ever known. She was an executive and had some employees that, well, just didn't like her. I don't know why, though I'd guess it's because she wouldn't let them get away with doing things that they shouldn't be doing anyway. Needless to say, one thing led to another and she found herself in front of her board of directors, shocked and hurt at the accusations, and the way the whole process was handled. In the end, she resigned, though there was no fault found with her or her job as the executive of that company, not wanting to make a big deal out of it, and we moved on.

Now as you all know, I'm in ministry full time. I make hundreds of dollars a year! WOW! I'm rolling in it, right?! LOL. So needless to say, it was a tough time for us. Well, this past week, she did her third interview for a company, who absolutely loves her, and has asked her to take a job with them. She's very excited to be getting back into the corporate world, and I'm very proud of her. But that's not the story. This is.

During that time, we were forced to look at a lot of things, budget, time, budget, maybe selling our house if we needed, budget... you get the idea. The thing that we ultimately realized was this: None of that mattered. What mattered was the thing we had already known, and the thing that gets us through life anyway. God is in control. Period! No, our situation wasn't one that we would just choose to have, but it was one in which God wanted to show us something. And that something was all the blessings that we have. My wife and I are so blessed, that if I had to list out all of the blessings that we experience on a daily basis, we'd be here for the next week.

So often times we only see our blessings when things are going well. We forget that to merely wake up and take a breath is a blessing that our Father in Heaven has ordained. We all say that we don't want to take our blessings for granted, but do we really mean that? I don't think we do. We take EVERYTHING for granted, every day. The whole idea reminds me of a teaching series that we did here at The Journey, called "Highly Flammable". The whole series was about how to traverse the fires of life. The entire series revolved around a piece of scripture from the book of Daniel, where three young men were given the choice to either worship King Nebuchadnezzar, or be thrown into a fiery furnace. Here's what they said. (paraphrasing) The God that we serve is ABLE to rescue us, but even if He DOESN'T, we will still worship HIM. That's a big statement!

Tiffany and I held onto that passage during this time, knowing that, our God can bring us out of this stressful, despondent time. But even if He didn't or wouldn't, we would put our faith and trust in Him, knowing that, for whatever reason, He wanted us to go through this. Peter says that we are to count it as a blessing when we get to suffer, that we may share in Christ's sufferings, meaning that God will grow us in these times and reveal more of His character to us, as we lean on Him for our provisions. 1 Peter 4:12-14.

This post could go on and on and on about how we should count our blessings. But instead, I would ask you to take an inventory of your own life. This is something that Pastor Erik has challenged our church with a few times. Take some time by yourself. Take a piece of paper, think of as many blessings that you can, and write them down. Then pray over them. Take them, one by one, and thank God for your blessings. Really try to understand just how much we've been given, and see if you're not overwhelmed at the list you compile. And if you're like Tiffany and myself, you'll find yourself on your knees, thanking the God of creation for the very breath you take, and wanting to serve Him more.

Here is a link to some passages that are encouraging, and you can use as a reference when you're going through some rough patches. Start by reading the passage from Daniel. I hope they bring you comfort. They have me.


-robbie

The Opening Act, pt. 2

I've been trying to get back to this for a week now! Allergies, kids, work and just plain old life have gotten in the way.

So last post, I asked a question. "Do you think 'Worship' is the opening act for the message?" I got some good responses. Some were encouraging. Some were disheartening. I want to start this post with a statement, rather than a question. John Piper, in his amazing book Desiring God, said this (and I'm paraphrasing), that worship is not the means to the end. It IS the end.

So what does that mean? Well, it means this: that we are not to worship God out of duty, obligation, or because we just feel good at the time. We should worship God in EVERYTHING. It is the end of all things. To worship Him is why we were created. You want to live a life of freedom-- and I mean true freedom here, not the culturalized definition that we adhere to-- then you need to become a better worshiper. And let's just put this out there. And I'm gonna give it its own line because it deserves it.

Worship is NOT singing the 3 or 4 songs before the message at church. It is merely one, tiny, though very significant, portion of worship.

Worship is a lifestyle. If you are found in Christ, the Bible says that you are a new creation, one that is capable now of choosing to live a life of righteousness. You are no longer bound to your sinful desires (though we all know as a broken and fractured creation, we will still mess up. Let's not kid ourselves here... 1 John 1:5-10) But, we are new, found in Him! That should be the most astonishing, astounding, profound thing that we could try to wrap our minds around. We are no longer subjected to the 2nd death (Revelation 20:6). If we could fully comprehend this... and here's the thing... we CAN! We just have to apply some effort... then we would wake up each morning, regardless of what our situation is in life: rich, poor, sick, healthy, happy, sad, busy, relaxed... you name it, and we would be overwhelmed with the fact that the God of the universe, the Creator of everything, chose us, before the foundations of the world, that we may become adopted sons and daughters of the Christ, and share in His resurrection, and we would be moved to a state of mind that drives us to our knees and humbles us before Him in awe and wonder. And we would strive to, with everything in our lives, live to exemplify the work that He has done in us, and our lives would be lives that are led by worshiping Him and seeking His desires, and to do His will for our lives.

Oh, if we only recognized what we have been given....

My heart yearns for a time when the church, not just The Journey Church in Lebanon Tn, but THE CHURCH realizes that getting together on Sundays to gather together in fellowship is the culmination of our week, ending in praising Him, singing songs of adoration and hearing His word preached, and breaking the bread and taking the cup. Not because it's Sunday and that's what we do.... But because we've worshiped Him all week through our actions and our decisions and our words and deeds and our giving and our parenting and in our relationships with others and in our marriages, and now we are gathering together with our brothers and sisters and we are celebrating the Risen Christ!, for all of the blessings that we have.

I'm going to say something here and I hope it bothers some of you. It disgusts me to think that people come to church on Sundays because their ONLY motivation for being there is because they love the music, or they love their worship leader, or their pastor, and it's not to worship the Living God, from start to finish. That is Idolatry. And if you're one of those people, then you are an idolater. And you need to fall on your knees and you need to repent and ask your Father in Heaven to forgive you for not worshiping Him, and allowing Him to be the sole source of your joy and adoration. And you need to ask Him to reveal to you, through His word (yeah, you're gonna have to read the Bible to hear from Him... that's kinda how He communicates with us) how to worship Him better. And then you need to surround yourself with people who get it! You need truth tellers in your life that are going to hold you accountable for walking in the Light.

And when you allow all of that to take place in your life, you will finally understand what Worship is. And the Opening Act... well, it will become the first breath you take in the morning, as you wake up and thank Him, who ordained it that you even live.

-robbie

The Opening Act, pt. 1

Well, I've kind of been on sabbatical for the last month. As most of you know, we at the Journey have undertaken, over the last two months, quite a huge project. Actually it was about 3 projects all wrapped up into one. I'm not gonna go into a lot of details. If you'd like to know all about that, and I would encourage you to inquire... it's been a lot of fun and exciting. Check out Pastor Shawn's blog. He's gone into great detail over the last couple months about all the campus renovations, filming studio/kid's area, website redesign, and Hartsville campus launch. Which by the way, if you haven't seen our new website yet, check it out here!

So, I had a conversation with Pastor Erik, our lead pastor and one of my best friends, yesterday. We were talking about worship and how it's often perceived in our churches. And during our conversation, we hit on something that I think is key, and hold enormous implications for our lives. He brought it up, and then we began to expound upon it, to the point that I thought it would make a good blog. As you will see in the post, I'm going to ask everyone who reads this to comment on this. But if you are a Journey person... Please Please Please leave a comment. At some point, I believe we are going to have the opportunity to teach about this subject on a Sunday morning. Your answers may very well provide the subject matter for the content of that talk.

Collosians 3:15-17 says this: And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. (E.S.V.)

I guess I should've mentioned earlier.... this is probably going to be a 2 part blog. Otherwise, it'll get too long. So, here's the thought. When you come to church, and you see the opening video, or hear the band kick off the first song, or however your church starts... do you just kinda go through the motions and eventually work your way into a place where you feel like your just about to really connect to God... and then the music is over and it's time to sit down for the message. I would suggest that most of us do. I would bet that hardly none of us truly understand the purpose of that time of worship. Over the next blog or so, I'm going to begin to unpack what I think it truly means, and I'm probably going to step on some toes! But I promise, the one thing I won't do is throw stones. We are ALL guilty of the things that I'd like to talk about. And none of us are exempt from the consequences that will come as a result of our failing to engage in worship.

I'll post more later, but for now, I'd like to start this whole thing by asking a question. Please, Please leave a comment with your answer. Your answers are going to be the platform from which we get into this discussion. It's my hope that through all of this, we will all become better worshipers. Here's the question:

Do you think that the "Worship" time at church is a warm up for the "Message"? Another way of asking it would be: Do you think that the "Worship" time at church is the "opening act"?

-Robbie

Who's God gonna tell?

So, this past week, my worship team did a fast. We do this from time to time. It IS an act of obedience that we're called to, as followers of Christ. For more info on that click here! But, back to the story... One of my worship leaders was telling me this morning about how she chose to fast from red meat. She and her family went out for dinner that night and she ordered a salad. The menu said it had bacon bits in it, so she began to think through the process: "Bacon is pork. But I guess you could kinda consider it red meat... is it red meat or white meat?.... never mind! I'll just not have the bacon bits and eliminate the doubt altogether!" Now, you need to understand that on this worship team, we take fasts very seriously. If you agree to fast and then break it, we consider it an offense against the whole team, as well as God. So if you cheat, and someone finds out, you may be asked to take some time off from the team. So.... like I said, we're VERY serious about it. So with that in mind.......

In the middle of her conversation with herself, her daughter (who is adorable and I think 8 yrs old) says, "Who cares? Who's gonna know?" She smiled and said, "Well, God will know, honey." So her daughter gives her this "you are so weird" look and says, "Who cares? Who's God gonna tell?"

We laughed, heartily, about their conversation, because.... well, it's funny! I love the logic that little kids have. My son cracks me up daily with some of the things he thinks about, and his rationalization through them. But it got me to thinking about something. Integrity.

Integrity is word that we throw around a lot and dismiss its meaning. And we often rationalize things by saying, well who's gonna know. The answer is God. God knows. And if you subscribe to the beliefs of the bible (which you should... just sayin!) and are a follower of Jesus, then you are called to live a life of integrity. Who's God gonna tell? No one. Because God answers to no one. But the flip side of that is this: we may think we answer to our peers and friends and coworkers, but we don't. Ultimately, we answer to God. He is the only authority that holds any implications for our lives currently, and our eternities. And while He may not "tell" anyone of our misgivings, He will judge us for them. The bible tells us so, and is explicitly clear about that. And though you may be found in Christ, and have all of your sins wiped away, remember this: Christ died a physical, painful, humiliating death to atone for those sins. Do you think He did that so we could live a life NOT of integrity? And listen, I'm not writing this cause I've got it mastered. I'm as broken and messed up as you are. I need to hear this, too. But I'm committed to seeking His righteousness, and not my own faults and desires. That's the only way any of us can overcome our sinful, wicked desires.

So the next time you ask yourself, "who's gonna know?" Remember who it is that DOES know, and what He has done for you. Maybe then the word integrity will have a bigger impact on your thought process.

-robbie

Worship and Theology

For those of you who know me... I'm a huge reader! I love to read almost as much as playing music or golf or watching movies. But here's the catch. I've always read fiction. I've never been a non-fiction guy. BORING!!!! However, over the last few months, God has really put it on my heart to know Him more. And so, I've been reading a good bit of non-fiction. I really didn't know where to start so, I asked Pastor Erik (who by the way reads about 4 books a week!) where should I start. He challenged me to first start with what I do. Worship. So I asked around, did some research and found an incredible book by Bob Kauflin called, Worship Matters. For the first time in my life, a non-fiction book was relevant and interesting to me. And I found that I learned a TON! As a result of reading this book, I found that I was drawn to understanding more about theology. Bob says that (and I'm paraphrasing here) in order to truly and fully worship God, you must have a deep understanding of theology. I didn't know that I agreed with him at the time. And I recently posted a tweet saying that. WOW! Some of you have really gotten up in my mix for that statement! LOL so, let me clarify.

First of all, you have to look at what I said. I said in order to "truly and fully" worhsip. Not just "worship". Let me ask you something. Is it possible for you to like football and know hardly anything about it? The answer is yes. But can you truly have a passion and love for the game if you don't know every nuance of how every position works, how every play develops, why coaches make decisions, or why certain players get drafted to certain teams? The answer is NO! You can't.

So why then do we presume to think that we can worship God, the way Jesus instructs us to in John 4:19-26 , without fully knowing who God is. That is theology.

Many people say, "well, I read my Bible," or "well, I just believe". That's all good and fine. But do you truly know God? Just as you've been given a gift of music or sports or talking to strangers, or whatever else you want to throw in there... God has specifically gifted men and women to be able to discern and teach about who He is, and what His word (the bible) says. As a pastor, I guess I'm somehow lumped into that category, though I often feel inadequate to claim it. But there are those who have devoted their lives to understanding God's word. Those who have dedicated themselves to learning Greek and Hebrew to be able to take the original manuscripts that Luke and Paul and John, Peter, Matthew, etc. wrote, and translate them and interpret them for us. One of those people is J.I. Packer. This is a guy who literally oversaw the translation of the English Standard Version Bible, considered to be the closest word-for-word translation that we have available to today. The man is something like 90 years old! He's been studying God's word for over 70 years! I would say, he probably knows more about the character of God than any four of us combined!

I say all of that to say this. You cannot (and I'll stand firm on this), you cannot fully and truly worship that which you do not know intimately. You can follow God. You can love God. You can put your faith and hope in Jesus Christ (which by the way you should, since by the way He did say, "No one comes to the Father but through me".) But you cannot truly and fully and whole heartedly worship Him unless you know Him. Understanding theology is in and of itself, by default, the definition of worshiping God. Here's what I've found out since diving in to these books: my worship of Him has increased with every page I read. My time in scripture has revealed more to me than ever. And my heart and mindset are being transformed before my eyes, more so than ever before! And it's nothing short of incredible!

If you are interested, here are some books that you can find on Amazon. This link, particularly, is for a J. I. Packer book. You can find the others here as well. They are: Worship Matters, by Bob Kauflin; and Desiring God, by John Piper. That's a great start. I would strongly urge you to read them. Then if you disagree with me, let me know. In the meantime, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. Please feel free to comment below. No one is going to judge you for your comments. But I think this is a discussion that needs to be had. So, I'll ask you again.... can you truly worship God without a deep understanding of theology?

-robbie

Are You A Liar?

I get so little free time these days. I have to be very intentional how I spend my time. As someone who is in ministry full time, I've realized how my time can be usurped by people, tasks and meetings with people about tasks! So, lately, I've really tried to trim down what it is that I do for personal time. Like everyone, I have a few shows that I DVR, and God knows that I'm twitching with anticipation for LOST to come back on! (along with half the world!) And, of course, I love spending time with my family, and will do that EVERY chance I get. But there are times when I'm in the car, or by myself with a few minutes to spare, and I have recently decided to be intentional with that time, as well. Not just flailing around, waiting to wonder into something fun or interesting to do.

SO, I've been downloading some podcasts of some of my favorite teachers of the Word. John Piper, Mark Driscoll, Mark Batterson, and probably my favorite.... Matt Chandler. If you are someone like me, who likes to be challenged in your thinking, you should look these guys up. Especially Piper and Chandler. So, this morning, on my way to work, I was listening to a talk by Chandler when I had my face kicked in by the Holy spirit, convicting me of what I was hearing Matt say. Cliff's notes: 1 John 1:6-10 basically says that when the Holy Spirit convicts us of some sin our lives, and we do not repent and ask forgiveness for the wickedness that is in our heart, then we are walking in darkness and we cannot, therefore, claim to be in Him. And if we do not repent, and claim that we ARE in Him, we are calling Him a LIAR!

SMACK! Gitcha some of that! And here's what I've realized. It's not enough to say you grew up in church and that you're a moraly upright, good person. If you don't recognize that you are a human, prone to sin, and will continue to sin until you die, and HAVE to repent continuously and confess that our hearts are wicked by nature and will cause us to stumble, then you are a moraly sound, good, upright LIAR. Don't feel bad.... we've all been there.

The good news: John tells us, just as every follower of Jesus has, that by coming to the realization that we're broken, and in need of a Saviour, we CAN walk in the light. We can know Him and fellowship with Him and be loved and forgiven by Him. But it's not enough to say some prayer and think that everything's good from that point on. Salvation is about a trasformation of the heart. A continuous process. Ezekiel 36 gives us God's promis of that transformation. And we need to know that repentance and confession is not something that we did, rather it's something that we DO.

Are you a Liar?

-Robbie

On a side note, Matt Chandler recently woke up one day, a few weeks ago, and had a seizure. He was rushed to the hospital and found that he had a tumor on his brain. He was scheduled for surgery and has since had that surgery. He is doing well and hopes to make a full recovery, but he may not. And he is a huge voice in the ministry. But if you want to see what true humility and a life that lives for Jesus Christ really looks like, go here and read the blog he posted, just hours before his surgery. Matt's Blog Before Surgery

What If Facebook was a church?

So, I'm constantly bombarded with technology in my job. As most of you all know, I'm the creative arts director/worship leader for our church, The Journey. And because we are constantly trying to find new and innovative ways to present the Gospel of Jesus, we are always trying to keep what we do culturally relevant. Now don't here me say that we are only about presenting a show. Cause we're not. If we didn't have stage lights, projectors, live bands, creative short films, or any other piece of technology... the Gospel of Jesus would still be preached, and we would still (as one of my best friends and our lead pastor, Erik Reed, says...) still charge the gates of Hell with a water pistol!

But why should we? Why should we be stuck in our ways and not be cognizant of the technology available to us (the church). Jesus said to be in the world... not of it. So what does that mean? Does that mean that since we are the church, we should remove ourselves from society? Absolutely not. Think about this.... if God is good, and He created all things for good, Genesis 1, then it stands to reason that the entire world, and everything in it, was created and meant for good. Or.... God is a big fat LIAR! And I don't think anyone is going to go there.

So, because of our sinful nature, we then corrupt that, which was meant for good, and deem it unusable by the church, because it's "Of this world". That's gotta be the biggest bunch of bull crap I've ever heard! Are you serious? Matthew 15:9 says this: "They worship Me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men." We make up these rules that say, we cannot use this or that for the church because its "of" the world. That is a rule and a tradition that we should evaluate by a closely. And traditions aren't always a bad thing. Even the apostle Paul points this out in his letter to the church in Thessolonica. But when they become the difference between the lost hearing the Gospel, and not hearing the Gospel, they cannot be allowed.

So, back to the original question and the title of this post. What if Facebook were a church? I would say to some extent, it is a church of sorts. It is a large community of people interacting, sharing life, standing up for causes, and connecting to new and unknown people. Sounds like a church, doesn't it? Except for one thing. There is no actual human interaction. (oh, and the point is not to propagate the message of Jesus) And the problem is... people are more concerned about updating their facebook status, than they are about their neighbor, or their father, or their friends, or their children spending an eternity in Hell, separated from the love and grace of the God of the universe, who loves them and created them. But yet, those of you who call yourselves Christ followers, and have facebook accounts, have one of the greatest social networking tools that the world has ever given us. The question then becomes, what will you do with what you've been given? Will you use it to REALLY connect with people, and find out how you can physically minister to them? Will you invite your network to come to church with you sunday? Will you use that, which is "of " the world, to help spread the only message of TRUE hope that can change a person's eternity? Or will you just see how many people you can be "friends" with, or how many followers you can get on twitter?

Tough questions. I hope they truly weigh on you.

-robbie

Busy week

Hello everyone. Happy Tuesday.

I hope everyone had a great weekend. I had a great one. My mom came in from Pittsburgh to visit her new granddaughter. Of course, she loved her!! Tiffany and Hadyn are doing great. Thank you all for your gifts, visits, and of course, all the food!! Cason had a big time trick-or-treating this year. He's almost 4, so putting on his costume and running around the neighborhood getting free candy was like the pinnacle of his life so far! And we had an amazing week at The Journey. If you've missed it, you can go watch the video here, as well as any of our other sermon series.

So, in my last post, I told you all some things that I learned during my short sabbatical from leading worship, as some of our other worship leaders had the chance to step up and lead. I'll say it again... I'm very proud of them and I'm looking forward to putting them into a rotation to be able to do that regularly. This week... lot's of meetings. I'll be meeting with a literary agency to discuss them representing me as an author! I'm one step closer to getting the book published. Please keep praying for me. I'm also going to be meeting with several of my leaders on the worship team to just creatively plan out the rest of the year, throughout the week. And then, because God is sovereign and just plain ol' awesome!!!!!, I'm going to be meeting with several new musicians that have been coming to the church for awhile. They are eager to get plugged in, and I'm eager to get them involved.

Which leads me to the meat of this post: If you don't already read his blog, please click here and go visit Pastor Erik's blog from Monday. At the Journey, we have always been of the mindset that we pray to see a Jesus movement in our time. And more specifically, one that starts in our area and permeates the rest of the world. This is not something that is a fly-by-night fantasy. This is something that could be a reality. Are you sick and tired of turning on the news and hearing about how bad the world is? Are you tired of hearing people argue over who should run health care? Are you tired of just going to church and consuming, or not even going to church, but longing to be a part of something that could ACTUALLY change the face of humanity? Do you struggle to find out where you belong and what life is about? Well then you want what we want. We want the God of the universe to be known. We want the name of Jesus to be the name that people run to when they hurt, when they feel alone, when they celebrate, when they search for their meaning. You want to change the world? You want to fix poverty and health care? You want to see people's lives radically changed? You want to find meaning? Then come be a part of something that actually has the power to do these things: The local church. It is the only institution in the whole world that brings the only true message of hope to a hurting and broken world. You don't have to be a member of the Journey, just be a member of a good church. One that preaches the gospel of Jesus. One that speaks of repentance and redemption and grace. One that teaches the word of God, His scriptures. Do that, and give your life to Him.... and watch what happens!

Love you all,

Robbie

Back from sabbatical

Hey everyone. Sorry I haven't posted in a few weeks. Been kinda busy!

So, as most of you know... I'm a new father again! Baby Hadyn was born last week. She's healthy, beautiful, and the sweetest thing I've ever seen. I'm already wrapped. And I knew this would happen. It's why I didn't want a little girl! LOL. Now I have two women that I'm hopelessly in love with! Cason is loving being a big brother. He thinks he's really cool now. Tiffany is doing well, except for she's about to go crazy sitting at home.

If you come to the Journey, you know that I have taken the last three weeks off from leading worship. Nothing's wrong! Just took a break. And it was good for me. I have some extremely talented people on my worship team and I've been working with them for awhile now, helping to prepare them for stepping into leadership roles here at church. As we continue to plant campuses and add services, I won't be able to be there at everything. It's going to require that other leaders step up and lead. I want to say a big congrats to Molly MacNiel, Miranda Allen, and Philip Organ. They have been working really hard and preparing themselves to move into worship leader roles here. They are the three that led these past weeks. They did an incredible job, and I heard nothing but great things about all of them. I'm very excited to know that God has blessed us with these people and their talents. I look forward to putting them into a regular rotation of leading worship. And I know they are excited to be stepping up!

Some things that I learned while taking a break:

1. Everyone needs to take a break. No matter how much you love what you do, you need a break.

2. If you prepare well, and trust those you give leadership to, they will excel when they have the opportunity to lead.

3. If you pray for God to bring you leaders, and He does, you better use them.

4. The world won't fall apart if you aren't the one who is leading at that moment, but rather, your leadership is increased by empowering other leaders.

5. Allowing other leaders to lead gives them the opportunity to taste that vision you've been telling them about, rather than just hear about it.

6. Once they've tasted that vision, their resolve is strengthened even more for the mission of the team.

7. And lastly but certainly not least.... When you have a new baby, and your friends bring you food for a week, and your family stays with you to help out with housework and things like that, you really see how blessed you are. Thank you soooo much to everyone who has been there for me and Tiffany. We love you all very much and thank God for all of you.

Finally, I know a lot of you have been praying for my book endeavor. Just a little update.... I have a couple agencies who have contacted me, wanting to represent me as an author. Please keep praying for me as I make this decision as to who to sign with. I'm very excited and know that it's going to take a lot of hard work to get this book out, but with your prayers and a good agency, I know that it is going to be successful. I can't wait until it's on the shelves and you can read it for yourselves.

Love you all,

Robbie

What would you do?

So... this weekend, we had the Cornhole Tournament at the Journey. It was really cool and we had a bunch of Cumberland University students come by (which was the intention behind the whole event!) and we gave away a $500 first prize for the winning team. All in all, it was a big success.

So, I carry a blackberry. Have to... for work. My wife hates it, but that's another story. But, I love my blackberry. I can get instant emails, text my friends, look up things on the internet.... it's literally like having my laptop in my pocket. And Saturday, during the cornhole tournament, I got the best email I've gotten in quite awhile.

As you all know, I have been trying to get the book that I've written published. Right now, I'm in the "find an agent" stage. So, I've been sending out proposals to agencies and blah blah bah.... you know how it goes. Well, Saturday, I got an email from a really good agency informing me that they were completely hooked on the story and the sample chapters I had sent them. Now, they want the entire manuscript! So, naturally, I fell all over myself trying to get to the computer to send it back to them! LOL.

Anyway, I've always believed that since I started writing this book, that it was going to be successful. But in order to make that happen, I'm going to have to put a lot of energy into it. When you send a book proposal, one of the first things they want to know is.... what are you going to do to ensure the success of the novel? Well, the obvious answer is.... Whatever it takes! Right? Yeah. But what is "whatever it takes". Many publishers are willing to put money behind a good book. But few of them are willing to put money behind anything if the author doesn't have a marketing plan.

So here's the question. You've written a novel that you believe in with all your heart and soul. What are some of the things you would do to promote it? I'd really really love your input. Please leave a comment and a suggestion. Who knows you may be responsible for the greatest marketing idea to come about in 40 years! (and I'll even give you credit for it!)

Have a blessed day.

Robbie

Rain

Well, I'm going to cheat this week. I posted a blog for our praise team about this and liked it so much... that I'm using it here too. So, I hope you enjoy.

Rain... what can you say about it? We've certainly had a lot of it lately. I sit around when it's raining and think.... really? God, couldn't you just give us a nice sunny day? Couldn't we just not have to walk around and get drenched? Would it be too much to ask for a little bit of Sun?

This morning I was sulking, thinking about how much I hate the rain. Then I opened my bible randomly to Dueteronomy. I do this from time to time, when I'm not doing a book study. So, I'm grumbling about how it's pouring outside.... AGAIN! and I'm really starting to question whether or not I need to build another Ark. And then I see this:Dueteronomy 28:12.

So often we take the things of this world for granted. We dismiss the smallest of things and make big deals out of others. But more often than not, we forget that God uses ALL things for His glory. We sit around and ask God to bless us and our efforts, and in the midst of a blessing, we pass right over it. Today I was taught a valuable lesson and I was reminded of another passage of scripture. In Isaiah, God tells us that His ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts.

We need to remember this. Cause if we don't, we are going to possibly miss out on something that God is doing, something that directly affects us. We may be missing out on receiving that which we have been praying for. And in the future, maybe I'm not going to be so bummed out when it rains!

Tell me your thoughts.

Here are the songs from the Catalyst service yesterday.

"Open Up the Gates (King Of Heaven)" Planetshakers, "Did You Feel the Mountains Tremble" Hillsong, "Glory To God" Fee, "The More I Seek You" Gateway Worship

Prayer

Rarely do I ever re-direct someone from this blog to another for the purposes of explaining this blog! Actually, I don't think I've ever done it. I have directed you to other blogs for the purpose of just reading a great insight from someone else, but not the former. Today I'm going to do that.

Yesterday, my wife (who is expecting our second child) got out of bed and made a nasty face and grimaced, while holding her belly. Yeah! My thoughts too!... Uh oh! The next words out of her mouth kinda made me feel a little bit frightened. She said that she felt like she was having contractions and she was nauseous. Not good, cause that would mean baby Haydn would be coming 4 weeks early! Now, you all have to understand, with Cason (my son) she had the picture perfect pregnancy. No sickness, no tiredness, no nausea, etc. My wife is a runner, and she actually continued to run 3 miles a day almost into her eighth month last time! This one, however, has been different. Immediately I found myself talking to God, saying, "Please God, just take care of her and the baby. Whatever happens, just take care of them, please." Long story short, we went to the doctor and they said, nothing to worry about. Just some Braxton/Hicks contractions and that it was normal.

Usually on Mondays, I post this blog and one other, our worship team blog. The worship team blog is a tool that we use, as a team, to stay in the Word and hold each other accountable throughout the week for being in the scriptures. Since I spent the entire morning at the doctor's with my wife, I wasn't able to post that blog. I asked one of my leaders on the worship team to post for me. Philip, the guy I'm talking about here, is an awesome guy. Very selfless, always there with an encouraging word, and is willing to serve whenever/wherever. So, I asked him if he would do the post instead of me. And I told him to post whatever God put on his heart. Given what I just told you... he said, "Yeah! No worries!"

So when I got back to the house, I jumped online to see what he posted about. As you will see, he posted about something that is... well, should be... one of the most practiced things we do, as Christ followers. It really got some good conversations going through the comments. (this is how we communicate with each other about our thoughts on the post throughout the week) And it got me to thinking. We throw around the word "prayer" a lot in this world. But do we know what prayer really is? Do we know how we are to pray? (there actually is a template lain out in the Bible for us, by Jesus) Do we know what to pray for? And what are the possibilities of prayer in our world? This truly is a great conversation that I would invite all of you to join us in. If you would, click on the link HERE, and read Philip's post. Then, check out the comments that have been left by our team. If you would like to post a thought, please do. We would welcome your input. You will need to have a google account in order to post a comment, but that's as easy as going HERE and signing up for one. It's free and completely secure. I look forward to hearing all of your thoughts!

-Robbie

Here are the songs from the last two Catalyst services, since I didn't post last week due to the Holiday.

"Let God Arise" & "Sing Sing Sing" Christ Tomlin, "Come Now Is the Time To Worship" Pick an artist! there's like 100 to choose from!, "Saviour King" Hillsong, "From the Inside Out" Kristian Stanfill, "We Shine" & "All Because of Jesus" Fee, "Agnus Dei" & "Love Song" Third Day, "Let Me Sing" Todd Fields,

Movement

The dictionary defines "Movement" as a noun, meaning a series of actions or activities intended or tending toward a particular end.

Now, that's just one of about 14 definitions it gives, but they are all similar in content, basically meaning the same thing. When we talk about "movement", we usually mean one of two things. 1: motion: the act of moving or 2: a cause. An example of number two would be the Civil Rights Movement.

As human beings we are always drawn towards something, some cause, something that stirs within our soul that compels us to take a stand on an issue and, for most of us, to act on that impulse. You see, we were designed to be drawn towards things like this. God has birthed certain wants and desires within our souls. The problem is, often times, those things are the desires of God, but we fail to see His role in them and the significance that they were intended for our lives.

Right now, our country is up in arms about the health care movement. I would think, unless you are just a stubborn, hard-headed mule, that everyone would agree that, though we may have the greatest health care system in the world, it has problems and needs to be fixed. I don't think there is any argument about this. The argument comes when we try to decide how to fix it. But the TRUE problem is, no one is looking at it from how God sees it. Listen, I'm not here to debate the role of health care in our world. This is just one of many examples. The problem lies deeper than health care, or any other issue like this in our world.

At the end of the day it comes down to one thing. The Church has removed itself from many of the roles that God intended us to serve. Do you know that up until just a couple hundred years ago, the Church was the trend-setter in the world? That the Church defined culture? Now, it seems like there is such a disdain for the Church in our world that more and more we are removing God from everything. Why is that? Here's a thought: Over the last two hundred years, the Church has been more about telling people what they can't and shouldn't do, instead of telling people about the love and hope of Jesus. And rather than love people, regardless of their circumstances, we have chosen to put up this imaginary wall around an imaginary city that we call Christianity. It has a big, huge moat around it, and you would think that it has fire-breathing dragons and man-eating crocodiles live in the moat. Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church in CA. made one of the most brilliant statements I've ever heard about the church. He said this: "The Church has NEVER been persecuted for its righteousness. The problem is, instead of being the hands and feet of the body of Christ, doing the work of the church, we've become one big MOUTH! And people are tired of hearing it!"

What I've noticed though, is there is a group of people who are tired of seeing this world go to hell in a hand basket. They understand that we were created for more. They understand that there is a movement that is taking place around the world, one unlike any movement that has taken place since the time of the disciples. I believe that God is raising up a generation of people who are not concerned with legalistic religion. Rather, they are desperate for a relationship with the Living God, a relationship that we were born to desire. They are concerned about the things that God is concerned with. They are seeing the world through God's eyes and they are about his purposes. This movement is what we at the Journey call, "The Jesus Movement". And we're seeing it take place before our eyes. We are seeing people's lives transformed. And we're seeing these people start to take action and begin to be the hands and feet of the body of Christ. You want to see things like health care, poverty, and brokenness get fixed.... then we must be the Church that Jesus created us to be. The Church that He gave His life for. We gotta stop running our mouths about all the things we're against, and start telling people what we're for! We can't change someone's situation. We can't transform anyone's life. Only He can. And when we fully understand that we, the Church, carry the ONLY message of true hope and change, then and only then can we fuel the movement of Jesus.

-Robbie

Songs from Sunday's Catalyst service:

My Glorious (Delirious), Filled With Your Glory (Starfield), Not To Us (Todd Fields), I Stand Amazed (Kristian Stanfill), Give Us Clean Hands (Chris Tomlin), Salvation Is Here (Hillsong)

Football

Ok, so today, I'm not going to go into something deep. I'm going to talk about something that is very dear to my heart.... FOOTBALL! But first... I want to say thanks to everyone who has helped to get the new "Sex" series ready at The Journey. Yesterday was the first week, and WOW! It was really awesome. We had a lot of new guests there. I hope that they will find a home with us, but more importantly, I hope that they encountered the Living God.

I can't remember when I've been so excited for football season to be here. It's been a long time. After living in nashville since '91, it's been up and down for me during football season. I moved here from just outside of Pittsburgh in a little town in West Virginia, just on the state line. Interestingly enough... I'm not a huge Steeler fan. I know... blasphemy! So, shoot me! But I am a WVU fan. And well, it's just been up and down. Because of that... I was bent on not giving into the pressure and donning the Big Orange. Last year, though, my boy Erik conned me into going to a game. We went to the Florida game. If you follow football, you know how that went. It was one of the most electric environments that I've ever been in. It was really exciting... for about the first three minutes of the game. LOL Anyway, I began to give in and realized that I have become a huge UT fan. With Kiffin taking over, I'm excited to see what happens. So Go UT!

But here's why I'm REALLLY excited. I told y'all that I'm not a huge Steeler fan. Long story that I won't go into, but as a kid, there were two teams to watch... the Niners and the Cowboys. If you know me, you know how badly I HATE the Cowboys! So, I'm a Niner fan. This year, I've TVO'd their pre-season games and I got to tell you.... not since the late 80's early 90's have they looked like this. They have (talking starters here) something like 8 takeaways on defense, they're killing QB's, they got a rookie RB (who I hate to admit is from Alabama), who is running up and down the field like he's playing against high school teams, and Alex Smith actually looks like an NFL quarter back. Shaun Hill is right behind him (looking as good or better) trying to win the starter job. It's the second year as head coach for Mike Singletary and this guy is coaching these guys like they just came off of a Superbowl win and they're trying to repeat. Could this be the year that the greatest team in NFL history begins a new dynasty?

Living in Tennessee, I'm still a big Titans fan too. So don't think I've given up on them. But they're in the AFC, so it's ok. You all know what they did last year. I'm hoping that they won't fall apart either. Who knows? Things could get absolutely retarded in the NFL and NCAA and we could see a Niner/Titans Superbowl, with UT winning the National Championship!........ It could happen!

Here's the songs from yesterday's Catalyst service:

Jesus Is Alive (Fee), Everybody Praise the Lord (Lincoln Brewster), Filled With Your Glory (Starfield), Help Me To Find You (Todd Fields), Word Of God Speak (Mercy Me), Everlasting God (Todd Fields)

Another Busy Week

Yesterday was an incredible day at The Journey. Once again, we had seven or eight people scheduled to be baptized, and God moved in a mighty way. I think we had something like Fourteen total. It was incredible.

Anyway, I'm constantly blown away by this church and the people that are involved in it. I've never been a part of a church where everyone in the church is crazy for what we're doing. I mean, if I had to guess, I'd say that over 70% of the people who come here, are involved in something. The servant to consumer ratio is astoundingly low! It just goes to show you: you don't have to be in ministry full time to do ministry! If you are someone who calls yourself a Christ follower, you are a minister! The bible says that... not me. Check it out. It's there... I promise!

So, next week starts a new series that Erik, Shawn, Todd and I have been putting together for quite awhile. It will probably be the most controversial series we've ever done at this church. It's called "Sex". And that's exactly what it's going to be about. We're not pulling punches, and we're not softening it to be "Churchy". This is going to be a hard-hitting, straight to the point series about sex in our culture and what the Bible says about it. If you don't have a home church, and you live in the Nashville area, you DO NOT want to miss this. I promise you... you've never heard anything like this in any church you've ever been to. Just FYI, though, this series is rated "MA", for mature audiences. If you have a young child or a young teen, there will be age appropriate teaching in the Navigators area for the next four weeks. (That's our kid's church). Parents, it will be up to you, whether or not you feel your child is old enough, and mature enough, to listen to the content. Don't panic! You won't see or hear anything pornographic. I don't want to scare anyone, but you will hear real life issues and very direct teaching. If you're not ready to have that "Talk" with your child yet, you may want to send them to the Navigators! Otherwise, your Sunday afternoon "Nascar Nap" is going to be replaced with, "Mommy, what did he mean when he said.... (fill in the blank)"!

If you are not someone who lives in the Nashville area, you will be able to watch the teachings online at our website. Or you can go to itunes and subscribe to our podcast. Just search Pastor Erik Reed, or The Journey Church-Lebanon Tn.

Look Forward to seeing you all there!

Robbie

Here's the songs from yesterday's Catalyst service:

"Happy Day" Tim Hughes, "Reign In Us" Starfield, "With Everything" and "Lead Me To the Cross" Hillsong, "Lift High" Eddie Kirkland, "All Because of Jesus" Fee

Are You A Sheep?

I watched an interesting show this past week, called "The Shark Tank". If you don't know what that is, it is a show where young entrepreneurs, who have great ideas, or even small operational businesses, come into a room with 5 business tycoons worth a combined net worth of over a billion dollars. These young entrepreneurs try to pitch their idea or their business to these moguls in hopes of a partnership or an investment into their small start-up company.

In a nutshell, I loved this show. These poor people were getting sleighed by these business giants. They'd go in and offer them 10% of the company for a $500k investment, and the tycoons would come back with a counter of 51% for an investment of $1 million. Most people would say... wow! That's stupid. Why not just give them the $500 k and take 30 or 40% of the company? The answer is because these people didn't become billionaires by taking the safe route. Nor do they like to be pushed around. If they are going to invest the money into something that they believe in, they are going to make sure they have the controlling interest in the company, and they're going to make sure that the company has more than enough to float it until it can turn a profit.

I say all of that to say this. Leaders often times don't want to believe that they are lead-able, if that's even a real word. (If not it should be) These young entrepreneurs didn't want to hear from someone more powerful than them, that they had a great idea, but in order to make it what they wanted to make it, they would have to give up control over it. WOW! How many times have we had to face that. It hurts sometimes doesn't it?

Peter didn't want to allow Jesus to wash his feet, because he thought that it was beneath Jesus to have to do that. In another instance, Jesus was having dinner at a Pharisee's house, where there was an incident that took place involving some spilled perfume and a woman. The Pharisee quickly rebuked Jesus for his actions, thinking he knew far more, but Jesus quickly put him in his place. All throughout scripture we see that Jesus taught his disciples that in order to truly lead, you must first be a servant, but then, you must also allow yourself to be led or taught, when necessary. These young business minds, most of them, turned down the offer of a 51% controlled interest of their company out of selfishness and not wanting to be led. But they were standing in the presence of greatness, people who have done what it is that they sought to do. People who have made billions of dollars. Did you hear that.....? BILLIONS.

So why then are we selfish? Why do we fight against being led? Why do we think our way is the best way, when there are people who do what we are trying to do at a higher level than us. They've been successful in their area, but yet, we know it all... "Can't tell ME anything!"

This is something that as I grow as a leader, I'm wrestling with daily. I know that I have to surround myself with people who do what I do.... and do it at a higher level than I'm doing it right now. Cause they have knowledge that I probably don't have! I'm a sheep. Whether I want to admit it or not, I'm a sheep. Sometimes I get to be the lead sheep, but nevertheless, I'm still a sheep and I need people to lead me, so I can effectively lead people. What are you doing to allow yourself to be influenced, or led? Me.... I'm reading some good books, trying to build relationships with some guys who are doing what I do, and I'm trying to listen to the people that I do lead (WHOA! That's heresy!) so that I can become a better leader to them.

C-y'all.

Robbie

God Appiontments

Ever have a meeting set up and when you get there, it's like pulling teeth to get through it? I have. Hate them! But what about the meetings that are just kinda organic? They just happen... no one really set a specific time or day, you just run into someone and decide to have lunch? Or something like that? Yeah! Those are the best. Especially when they were directed by God.

I had one of those the other day. I call them God appointments. They are appointments that you may not have been aware you had, but God already put them on your calendar, so you gotta be there, whether you intended to be, or not! LOL.

Anyway, sunday at the Journey, Erik was talking about discipleship. Now, I know that everyone says......UGHHHH! and big flashing signs go off that say, "CHURCH WORD.... CHURCH WORD"! Yeah, discipleship is a church word, but it's not specific to church! As Erik talked about, we have been being discipled since we were born. I won't go into it. You can click here and watch for yourself.

In a nutshell, we cannot become more intimate with God until we decide to try and live our lives in an effort to mirror Christ. You have to continuously be on a journey, moving down the path. What I've come to understand is this: When you decide to move in the direction of being more like Him, He will set appointments for you, in order to grow you. Unfortunately, for some, they will dismiss those God appointments and remain standing still. My prayer for you is that you would move. That you would see your life as the testament of what Christ has done for you, and that you would live a life worthy of the Gospel that saved you in the first place! That you would recognize your God appointments and take advantage of them.

Love you all,

Robbie.

P.S. I know I didn't get to post last week. My family and I were out of town. So here are the songs from this and last week's catalyst service.

"Rain Down" Delirious, "He Reigns" Newsboys, "Reign In Us" Starfield, "Praise" me (sorry y'all. this is another original. I promise I'm trying to get them recorded), "Breathe On Me" Todd Fields, "Let The Praises Ring" Lincoln Brewster, "Behold" me again!, "O Praise Him" Crowder, "Every Body Praise the Lord" Lincoln Brewster.

Too Good To Be True

We are a jaded society. If something comes along and it looks to good to be true, we usually dismiss it and move on because.... well, it's too good to be true.

I had an opportunity last week come my way, and it looked too good to be true. As most of you know, I am an aspiring author (along with all the other stuff I already do! LOL). But I have written a novel and am trying to get it published. I enjoyed writing it soooo much, that I've actually started on another one. I've found a passion that I never realized I had. I love to write. Now, I was a professional song writer for many years. I've been blessed and have had a few of my songs cut, and the excitement of that still lingers. But this is different. NO BOUNDARIES! Unlike song writing.

So anyway, a friend of mine tells me about this resource for new writers, where they can find agents, publishers, editors, and just about every thing else an aspiring writer needs to get up and running and be successful. Too good to be true.... right? Wrong!

After arguing with my self for a day about whether or not I'd be spinning my wheels, I put together a little proposal for my book. Not expecting to hear anything, or at least not anything for a few days or weeks, I hit "Send". I mean, I'm a nobody in this world. These guys are professional literary people. They deal with hugely successful authors. They're busy. Probably got a thousand manuscripts on their desks that they'll never even get around to looking at, right?

Fifteen minutes after I sent the email, I got my first response. So I open the email, fully expecting the automated response saying, "Thank you for your submission. Our office is currently not accepting new manuscripts, due to our full client base." Except, it didn't say that at all. Not only wasn't it a "auto-response", but it was a personal email, from the actual agent whose name is on the firm. The first line in the email was "Great Proposal!" They said they were very much intrigued and wanted me to send the entire book proposal as soon as I could. WOW! Needless to say, my head was spinning. So, instead of messing around for the rest of the day (this was my day off), I decided to start working on the full proposal. About ten minutes into it, I get three more emails, from three more agents, all saying the same thing: "We loved it, please send the proposal."

The point is, why do we just assume things are too good to be true? I think a lot of people think that about Jesus: He's too good to be true. If they only took the time to investigate His message, they would see that it IS good. Way better than anything we ever deserved.... but it IS true! How many people do you know that dismiss the hope of having a relationship with their Creator, only because they think it's "Too Good To Be True"? What can you do to convince them to investigate it? Are you condemning? Or do you love them, unconditionally and allow the love of Christ to show through you? Just some thoughts.

Love you all,

Robbie

Here are the songs from yesterday's Catalyst service @ The Journey

"Salvation Is Here" Hillsong, "Glorious One" Fee, "How Great Thou Art" (public domain), "Saviour King" Hillsong, "Your Grace Is Enough" Chris Tomlin

The Mark of A Great Life

I went to a funeral yesterday for the grandmother of a great friend, Alex Perry. She passed away, after a long bout with cancer. Funerals are always sad, because they signify the end of a relationship, as we know it. And, they remind us of our own mortality. But they can also bring joy. I know that sounds counter-intuitive, but it's true. It all depends on the life you led.

First of all, I want to give Alex a huge compliment. They only asked a few members of the family to speak at the ceremony. Alex was one of them. Now, Alex doesn't speak in front of groups of people regularly, as it is. But there were probably close to four hundred people there. He did an awesome job, speaking on behalf of the family. He shared some personal stories of his grandmother, and I know there wasn't a dry eye in the entire building. So, Alex, great job, bud. I was praying for you, as were many others.

What made me smile, though, was the fact that this lady had led an extraordinary life. And you didn't have to hear anyone's stories to confirm that. All you had to do was look at the many people who were gathered there to remember her. There were people of all ages, each having their own story and memories of a woman who touched their lives in some way. Typically, when an elder person passes away, and you attend the funeral, you tend to see a lot of people in that age group, and then a few stragglers of different ages who are there, either as family, or just to support the family members. That wasn't the case here. Outside of myself and a few others who were there to support our friends who'd lost a love one, the majority of the 400 or so people who were there, knew her. And they loved her. And it spoke volumes about the life she had led. And they were of all ages, from teenagers to people older than she was.

The pastor who led the service was also a great friend of hers. And he reminded all of us that one day, we'd be sitting in a box, just like she was, and that there would be some pastor standing up there talking about us. The question that he asked was, "what will that pastor be able to say about you?" Did you live a life worthy of being remembered? Did you impact the lives of those you came in contact with the way she had?

Alex's grandmother was a devout Christ follower. Therefore, she spent her life trying to tell people about the hope that she carried. She never wasted an opportunity to share her faith with anyone. And the fact that she was a truly humble and generous person, allowed her to speak into the lives of those she came in contact with. I know that when she breathed her last, a few days ago, she saw the face of her saviour moments later. And I'm even more sure that she heard the words that we all hope to hear some day.... "Well done, My good and faithful servant. Come, My Father has prepared a place for you at His table."

We often live like we have forever. The reality is, we don't. Furthermore, we don't know how long we have. I know that's a buzz kill for some of you, but it's the reality of where we are. You could live to be 100, or you could die tomorrow. Are you living the life that you were created to live? When you go, will people say you lived a life worthy of being remembered? And will you find yourself living an eternity in the presence of your Creator? Or will you be found wanting, separated from God and eternal life?

Hard questions, for sure. But they are questions that, someday, we will all answer. I pray that your life will reflect the right ones. If you are someone who doesn't know, and I mean truly know, what it means to have a relationship with Jesus Christ, and you have questions, please contact me. You can send me a private email through our church website, if you like. Just click here, and you'll be able to contact me, or one of the other pastors, or elders, at the Journey. Any of us would welcome your inquiry. Or, if you are open to a conversation that you don't mind other people reading, just leave a comment. I'd love to have that conversation with you.

Blessings everyone.

Here are the songs from yesterday's catalyst service:

"God Is Alive" Fee, "Let Me Sing" Todd Fields, "Revelation Song" Gateway Worship, "How He Loves Us" Eddie Kirkland, "Salvation Is Here" Hillsong

Change

So, first of all.... (and I know I say this all the time, but God is good and it's always true).... we had an amazing day at the Journey yesterday. We taught a new song (possibly my new favorite song) and Erik's talk on "Joy" was unbelievably eye opening. I'm editing the video as I'm writing and it'll be posted later today on the website. Just click here to go watch it, or you can go to itunes and search "Pastor Erik Reed, The Journey Church, Lebanon Tn." and subscribe to our podcast now.

So... change. Always happening, can't avoid it, and most of the time, it isn't the most convenient timing in our lives. BUT.... more often than not, it's always for the better. Yesterday we dove a little deeper into some change that is taking place within my worship team. For awhile now, I've known that as the Journey grows, more is going to be required of me and my team. Right now, we can manage doing two services in two different locations. But what happens when God decides to blow the doors off the place and, suddenly, we need to expand our service times? Or add locations? That's the big dream that we all have.... to be allowed to minister to more and more people. Well, Erik and I have talked about it at length. The fact of the matter is... we can't be in two places at one time. Duh! So what do you do? The answer: you raise up leaders who can do it for you. You work as hard as you can to try and replace yourself. Notice I didn't say duplicate. I said replace! BIG difference. That's another blog for another time!

So, with that in mind... the Journey Creative Arts dept. is having a BIG meeting tonight to discuss some changes that are going to be implemented in order to allow us to begin to move into a place where, not only are we ready to expand into other places, but where we are growing together as a team spiritually. We've been rather busy lately, planting a new campus, moving one campus into another location, and preparing to possibly launch a third campus. And I'm concerned we may be getting a little bit of center with tracking our spiritual growth. We are going to implement some rather big ideas to help us keep that side of things in order. And so, I would ask all of you to pray for us, as we step into a time of some "Change".

Love you all

-robbie

P.S. I know it's been awhile since I've given you all the set lists for our worship time. We have been teaching a lot of new songs. So, rather than list everything we've done over the last few weeks, here are the songs that we've been teaching. Most of them aren't "new". But they are new to the Journey. They may be new to you as well. So check them out. Great stuff!

"Rain Down" Delirious, "The Love Of God" Jeff Deyo, "With Everything" Hillsong, "Not To Us" Todd Fields, "Help Me To Find You" Todd Fields, "Revelation Song" Gateway Worship, "Reign In Us" & "Filled With Your Glory" Starfield.