November Lunch

Falltime in Corvallis. Pretty awesome. I feel the need for some Chili and Cornbread.

Let's meet for lunch this Sunday (nov 2) in the brownhouse (W4) after 2nd service. This is a potluck...bring your best Chili and Cornbread! Please attach "alarm-rating" stickers to your pot of chili if needed (i.e. 3-alarm, 4-alarm, no-alarm). See you there!

NWH Celebration Sunday 2008

Celebration Sunday was great again this year...always cool to see the congregation together in one service. Thanks to all those who worked hard - moving and setting up gear, practicing parts, going to extra rehearsals, etc. - to make it possible. I appreciate the humility of so many of you who do things that receive no "notice", but make a huge contribution. Thanks for serving God the way you do. Here are some pics to check out (click to see larger images).

If you have some time, post some comments here. How was your time in worship (whether you were leading, or not)? What would you change to help our congregation worship on these Sundays? What were your thoughts about the message (The Dream. You can listen here: http://www.nwhills.com/index.php?id=303)? How do you see WAM fitting into that vision for our church?

Enjoy the day. God bless you and your families.

Starfield in Corvallis

The band "Starfield" is going to be leading a worship service this Thursday at 7pm here in Corvallis at Calvary Chapel. This is the band that gave us some of our worship songs like "Reign In Us", "Filled With Your Glory", "Revolution" and some others that I've added to our playlist on this page. Check out their website for some other songs and stuff (http://starfieldonline.com/). More info (tickets, etc) is available on Calvary's website here: http://www.calvarycorvallis.org/current_info.

Conveniently, some of this week's worship team could not attend our normal Thursday night rehearsal, so it's been moved to Saturday morning at 8:45. That leaves Thursday night wide open for you to go see the band if you want :-)

WAM Goes Tropical (pictures)

Hey all. It was great to see so many people turn out for our September team "lunch". Thanks again to the Lampis for hosting, and thanks to all for taking some time to just hang out together. Great pics (click for larger images). Until next time...

Patience and Grace

God has this incredible patience and grace. In a spiritual sense, absolutely. He forgives our repeated offenses and continues to offer us the salvation we don't deserve. But Jesus also taught us in such a practical way. Read this passage from Mark 6:

The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest." So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.

I find this amazing. Why? Well... if I were exhausted from serving people all day and decided to get away to a quiet place with my buddies, but found that MORE people were IN our quiet place, wanting MORE from us...man. I wonder if I would have compassion on them and desire to minister to them like Jesus did. Sadly, I think my first thought would be : "What are you DOING in MY quiet place!? I need to rest! Get out!

Hopefully, Christ has taught me more. More patience. More grace.

What would your response be? Who tests your patience? Maybe they don't even deserve your patience, but what does Christ teach us? : To give it anyhow. That's grace. I know. Sometimes that seems impossible. The great thing is we don't count on our own strength to do it. We count on God's strength. The angel Gabriel told Mary: "Nothing is impossible with God."

My encouragement to you: The next time you find yourself short on patience and grace, ask God to give you the perspective that Christ shows us in Mark 6:34. Look at "the crowd". Have compassion on them, then give them more patience...more grace.

Pressure Release

This is an excerpt from an article written by by John Andrew Schreiner in "Worship Leader Magazine":

Lately I've come to the opinion that we are working too hard. As worship leaders, it's easy to feel the weight of expectations from the pastor, staff, congregation, other musicians, and ourselves. We want to be our best (nobody wants to be pro-sloth), and we want to provide music that will lift up the church and glorify God. Still, it seems we might have lost sight of a few things along the way. One is the presence of God. We know that when two or more believers are gathered in His name, He is present in the midst of us, regardless of any of our efforts. If we are a little out of tune, it doesn't mean that the Holy Spirit won't join us; He's already there. Are we acknowledging and enjoying the mysterious presence of God in our midst? Worship is far more than a human work, it is the work of the Holy Spirit. As Hughes Oliphant Old stated, "When we worship, having our minds enlightened by the Spirit, our lives cleansed by the Spirit, our wills moved by the Spirit, and our hearts warmed by the Spirit, then our worship is transformed from being merely a human work into being a divine work." God is present, His Spirit moves in our midst, and we can respond with thanksgiving and without pressure. [...read the rest in the Mar/Apr edition of Worship Leader.]

Our team is full of worship leaders, or as we've said in the past, "lead worshippers". Does this article resonate with you as a lead worshipper? Are we allowing God's presence to be the motivator of our worship? Hope to hear from you.

Living a Circus?

The circus came to town this week. My kids are getting older so it hadn't occurred to me that they might still enjoy seeing a circus. But there we were, buying over-priced cotton candy and watching wide-eyed at the three rings of high-flying flambouyance. It wasn't Cirque Du Soleil, but we had a great time.

As I watched, my mind suddenly re-connected with the reason why - in our workplaces, and in our lives - we sometimes look at the craziness of some situations and say "man, what a CIRCUS!". The three-ring circus is designed to give everyone something to watch at any given time. No breaks. Multiple viewing options. Jaw dropping heroics. If you watch one ring too long, you miss what just happened in the other rings. If you try to watch all three...well you're just getting a small sample of each.

Sometimes our lives become a circus. And we FEEL it. We're tired. We're trying to keep all the "acts" going at once, making sure everyone is happy and contented. So we aren't able to focus on caring for our families or carrying out our responsibilities at work or studying for the next exam...or worshiping God. "God, I can't spend time with you today because I've got elephants falling over in ring three, Ricardo lost his grip on the trapeeze in ring one...and the circus clowns...well, they're just OUT OF control!".

Here's my encouragement for you:

For the Lord is God, and he created the heavens and earth and put everything in place. He made the world to be lived in, not to be a place of empty chaos. “I am the Lord,” he says, “and there is no other. I publicly proclaim bold promises. I do not whisper obscurities in some dark corner. I would not have told the people of Israel to seek me if I could not be found. I, the Lord, speak only what is true and declare only what is right. - Isaiah 45:18-19 NLT

“So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today." - Matthew 6:31-34 NLT

What about you? Are you living a circus? Got any thoughts or encouragement for us? Leave a comment.

Until next time...Slow it down. Seek Him today. Find comfort in His word. Ask him to "order" your life.

God bless.