| [..who i am..] |
|---|
| I am trying to be the best husband to Jessica and father to Connor I can possibly be. In the daytime (and after they go to sleep) I am the Innovative Creative Arts Pastor at Powell Church in Knoxville, TN. I love songwriting, creating stupid videos, apple computers, and pie. |
| [..blogs that i read..] |
| journey to claire |
| real live preacher |
| bill wolf |
| cult of mac |
| adam mayfield |
| bob carlton |
| adam feldman |
| futility closet |
| jeph hurst |
| jason edelen |
| jon reid |
| church marketing sucks |
| kem meyer |
| anthony coppedge |
| betsy wolf |
| mark nelson |
| multi-site arts |
| [..graphic & video resources..] |
| sxc.hu |
| igniter media |
| sermon spice |
| highway video |
| worship house |
| digital juice |
| church marketing lab |
| [..music & artists..] |
| gregadkinsmusic.com |
| greg on Myspace |
| new city cafe |
| bill mallonee |
| the innocence mission |
| andrew peterson |
| andrew osenga |
| over the rhine |
| nickel creek |
| david wilcox |
| rich mullins |
| hem |
| andy gullahorn |
| jill phillips |
| arthur alligood |
| dave potts |
| [..my so called music career..] |
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| [..52 songs in 52 weeks..] |
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| [..where i serve..] |
| powell church |
| [..disclaimer..] |
| I am on staff at Powell Church in Knoxville, TN but the opinions, thoughts, comments, and humor on this page are solely my own. Wade in at your own risk and be warned, I'm a bit of a goofball. |
| [..my site feed..] |
| RSS |
| [..archive..] |
Sermon update
Man, preaching three times is hard! By the end of that third service my voice was about to go... I have new respect for people who do this every week. Thanks for your prayers... it went well, I felt comfortable and communicated the message well I think. It was a little scary even, I really am starting to love preaching to the point that I think it may be part of my future years from now. May just be the newness of it to me and the ability to communicate in a way other than music. Thanks for your prayers and kind words... I really appreciate all you guys who read here regularly.Someone emailed me and asked what clip I used from "Man with Two Brains". It's a great clip... it's about 20-30 minutes in... Steve Martin has a painting of his dead ex-wife on his wall that he often stands in front of and talks to. At this point, he has begun a relationship with a new woman and is standing in front of the painting. He says "if there's anything wrong with my feelings for Dolores, just give me a sign". At that point, the lights go out, the house begins to shake, the painting spins around on the wall, and a female voice repeatedly screams "noooooooo! nooooooo! NOOOOOOoOOOOOooooooooooooo!". Then it all calms down and the lights come back on. Steve Martin then says "Just any kind of a sign... I'll be on the lookout for it." It's a hilarious scene and I used it while talking about how people say they want a miracle but ignore the more common miracles that surround them already.
Back with a lot to chew on
Just back in from Cincy... went up for the weekend to play piano at an old friend's baby dedication ceremony. It was powerful and I don't think I did anything to screw it up so that's a mission accomplished.Got to spend some time with some old friends and also drive 8 hours to and from... man, my head always ends up spinning after long car trips. My best "thinking" time is always on the road... just put some background music on and get that engine humming and for whatever reason, my brain just kicks into overdrive. I have so much on the horizon right now at home and at church that it's nearly overwhelming. So much excitement at church right now and so many big plans and dreams taking shape.
God give me peace and let me only do what you want me to do... not my will but Yours.
Preaching in 10 hours. Pray for me. I'm a musician, not a preacher, so I really need it. I'll be posting more in the next week, I promise. I've been so buried at work the last few weeks... but come Monday, my head shall reach the surface and I may even find some normalcy, whatever that is.
Prove it!
Sorry I've been away for so long. I needed a break... to log off for a while so to speak. Thanks for the few of you who emailed to see if I was alright... I am doing fine, just breathing the air for awhile and deepening some relationships. It's been a great few weeks. I'm really excited because this Sunday I get to preach which only happens about once a year. I really love the challenge of bringing a message once in awhile... I am in awe of those who can do this every week... so much goes into it. It's all I've been able to think about all week. Is that how it is for preachers?
My sermon is called "Prove it" and it's a call to the church to quit talking about their faith in the walls of our church and get out into the community and love people. It is being heavily inspired by Robert Lewis' book "The Church of Irresistible Influence" which I would very highly recommend. Fantastic book. I'm filming an original video of flashbacks to my childhood... playground events where I was talking big about things I couldn't really do and kids challenged me to prove it. I'm using 4 different kids in the church to play the part of "me" when I was younger. Should be fun. Also incorporating a clip from the film "The Man with Two Brains". Steve Martin is hilarious.
In other news, the baby is fantastic, the family is fine, the dogs are adjusting, and life is quite good. I'm having a great time with the community at church and am amazed at the ways God puts people in my path to encourage me. Our church is experiencing an amazing time of spiritual growth right now and it is absolutely contagious... I feel like I'm riding a wave, (not that I've ever surfed) and I just can't wait to see how far we can ride...
I haven't written a song in two weeks, nor have I touched my recording equipment. I'm about to get behind on the project and have contemplated abandoning it, not because of lack of interest but lack of time. I'll keep ya posted.
That's about it... sorry to be gone for so long but hey, life happens!
Stand up for what you believe
We had small group last night and our topic was gay marriage. Now, I don't want to get into that too much here, but an interesting question came to me and I'd like to hear your thoughts. We were discussing trying to build bridges to the homosexual community and ways to love them. Someone mentioned that they felt it was difficult to do that and to also stand up for what we believe in. The thought that sprang into my head was that maybe standing up for what you believe in is overrated. Now calm down for a second... I know that we are ingrained from birth in America to stand up for what we believe but I wonder just exactly how Biblical this notion really is.Granted, there are obvious examples of this in scripture... disciples going to their deaths for doing this very thing. I'm not saying we shouldn't. I'm just wondering if we put too high of a value on it sometimes. Jesus gave us the commandments to love God and love each other... these two commandments trump all other things we feel we might be justified to do. So, if "standing up for what we believe" would interfere with loving each other, I wonder if we ought to just lay off of telling people what we really think sometimes.
For example... if you are a Christian and you have developed a friendship with a homosexual, are you obligated at some point to say "I disapprove of your lifestyle you know, but I love you like a brother." I'm not sure the ramifications of saying something like that are worth it... perhaps each situation is different. I'm not sure.
Well, I've worked myself into being more confused than I was when I started... perhaps you have thoughts?
Song #23 is now Online!
Go to my 52 songs in 52 weeks page to listen to song #23, "Forgiveness for Everyone". This is the one that I was asking about the lyrics so see if you think it worked or not... I still can't decide and would like to hear any further thoughts.Song #22 is now Online!
Go to my 52 songs in 52 weeks page to listen to song #22, "Willingly".For the first time, there is a giveaway involved with this song. Listen to the song, guess what sample is in it, and win two brand spankin' new CDs!
updated blog roll
Mainly just removed a few I don't have time to keep up with, added the Up my Sleeve blog. Andy is a student at Carson Newman and a songwriter who plays sometimes at the same open mic night I go to often at the New City Cafe. Great voice and great songs... check him out.52 songs by email?
If you would like to be updated by email whenever a new song is added to the 52 songs project, please email me by clicking here. Send an empty email with the subject line "song" and I will add you to a mailing list that I will send out each time a new song is added.Bad News for Southern Baptists...
It was announced yesterday that none other than Disney has signed on alongside Walden entertainment to bring to the screen in 2005 the first film in the Chronicles of Narnia series. The first movie will be The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe and it will be filmed on location in New Zealand! Peter Jackson's WETA Workshop will be handling all of the digital effects and the guy who directed Shrek is directing (but it's not animated). This should be an awesome movie... let's hope they don't screw it up!Decision on the song
After a LOT of deliberation, I have decided for now to keep the song the way it is for now. I think the concerns are legitimate but when it came down to it, I couldn't come up with any other way to say what I wanted to say, and I feel like what I wanted to say was valid. I may regret it though... seems sentiment was slightly leaning against using the word and who knows, I may go back and change it.For that matter, any of you lyricists out there, maybe you could "fix" the verse for me! Perhaps if I saw something better, I'd feel differently about changing it.
Thoughts on the Passion?
I saw the film on Friday night and was deeply moved. However, it seems that more and more are saying that the violence was too much... not believable... that no man could have stood up to what Jesus is depicted as having gone through... Here is one such review: www.AndrewSullivan.com - Daily DishWhat are your thoughts? I'll probably weigh in on this one below in the comments but I'm interested to see your thoughts first.
