Films and Living Legends

Tonight I had the privilege of co-hosting a pre-release screening of the new film about Billy Graham entitled, Billy - The Early Years.

You can read all about it HERE

It was a neat experience to not only view the film in it's very rough, unfinished form, but then to hear from the film's producer, Larry Mortorff and Billy Graham's daughter, GiGi.

Several special guests were present for the screening including Michael W. Smith and Melinda Doolittle (who perform the closing/credits song for the film).

For me, personally, the highlight of the evening was sitting next to my dear friend, Bill Graham (Billy Graham's first cousin) - former staff member at my church and current 30+ year member of Brentwood Baptist. Bill is a treasured friend..... quiet, funny, endearing, and in love with life. He has a very unique "cameo" appearance in the film. Not only is he the person shown at the very beginning of the film and the very end of the film - walking.......he also plays the part of the older Billy Graham near the very end of the film - and yes, if you blink, you will miss him!

Tonight, he showed me a photo taken of him when he was 15 years old. He is holding Franklin Graham in his arms. What a photo!!!

Mark your calendar - October 10 - go see this film - it is a sweet and sincere attempt at telling a very important story of the how it all began for a man who simply desired to follow the call of God on his life - and through the years, thousands would come to know Christ because of this man.



In the words of his daughter - "Who could have ever expected all of that from a simple farmer from North Carolina?"

Isn't that just like God?

August 21, 2008 - What A Day!

I'm not sure I can do justice attempting to blog with words and photos to describe this day.

The short version:

1. We took Matt to college (Samford in Birmingham, AL) today.
2. We returned just in time to attend Open House at Franklin High to meet Ben's teachers
3. Seth had a great friend say nice things about the film he is making.
4. Elliott's latest video is beyond hilarious and entertaining.

The Worley boys just keep bringing great joy to this world!

Here are some photos of the "taking the boy off to college" experience!

The Journey Begins - (literally as the sun was coming up, I drove behind his loaded-down Jeep)


Matt's Dorm Room Desk - (God, please make this boy study!)


Matt's Bed - (creative comforter made from his t-shirts by his grandmother!)


His First Official Day Of College - (standing in front of his dorm)


God only knows what is next. For today, I can't find enough ways to express my gratitude to God for allowing me to experience the incredible joys of these young men and where they are in their journey. College, high school, parenthood - all just trying to find their way and make their mark for the glory of God.

Fermi Project

This has captivated me.

Front Porch Photo

Why do "first days of school" keep flying by?

It is truly hard to believe we only have one left on the front porch for first day of school. (our tradition each year - first day of school front porch photo)

Granted next Thursday, we will find a way to capture some kind of photo of Matt on the campus of his new "home" for the next however many years, but I really am still trying to figure out when these little boys grew up?

I love Ben Worley and his gigantic personality that manifests itself in so many beautiful and entertaining ways. (would I have ever thought about wearing bright green pants to school?) The words that come out of his mouth and the creativity that flows from him are only exceeded in quality by the depth of this kid's love for God and people.

My life is blessed with 3 amazing sons and now an incredible grandson. We get a couple of more years with a "front porch" kid around the house before he heads off to God knows where.

I guess then I will have to beg for front porch photos of Elliott!

I Couldn't Help Myself

This is a legitimate cover of a choral collection songbook.

In my profession, I see hundreds of these on an annual basis. Most of them make sense and are based on either a very well-known song included in the collection or based on the actual name of the musical.

When I pulled this one out of the box, I laughed and couldn't stop.

First of all, I get it, so that's not my issue.

I guess I was just a bit shocked that someone would use this terminology.

Might one assume that a publisher would publish a book entitled, "Difficult Songs For Fat Sundays"?

(Hey, it's late and I'm tired, and I have bored you to tears with blogging about South Africa!)

Cape Town - Some Photos

Here is a "visual" taste of our trip!


Nashville Airport waiting to check-in......


Shane "get me off this plane right now"........


Boggs and Shane doing sound check.......


Doug and Doug - (maybe all tech guys should wear hard hats?)


Capricorn Building - (one of Living Hope's newest buildings - also, the location of a new church plant in that township)


The Gang At Cape Point - (yes, that's G-boy in the middle!)


Guys - In Studio With Lana - (11th grade CCFm Music Maker "winner")


Guys - In Studio With Mxolisi - (singer/songwriter/guitarist - CCFm Music Maker "winner")


Guys - In Studio With "Tabernacle Of Love" - (CCFm Music Maker "winner")


Old Castle Brewery - location of Dockyard Studios where we recorded the "winners"


Doug and G-boy - (Gordon, our driver became a part of the gang!)


"Deadliest Catch" Ship docking - (just kidding - actually, it certainly is a ship that could be used in that show - it was docking in Hout Bay where we had dinner on Monday evening)


Crazy Carry-On - (I named this photo because this guy carried this "stick" on the plane as we boarded in Cape Town to return home, but they confiscated my bottles of water that were sealed by the merchant where I purchased them in the secure area of the airport - go figure!)


Gang At The Team House - (when you stay at the Team House, this is the obligatory photo-op!)


Gang With Team House Staff

Cape Town - Final Day / Travel Home

I am sitting on the floor in the gate area at JFK Airport trying to remember yesterday since we just cleared customs after having been on the same plane for (18) hours. Actually, besides dealing with ridiculous check-in procedures in Cape Town, the trip home was rather painless.

Our final day in Cape Town was bittersweet as you can imagine.

John Thomas came over to express his gratitude to us for our work. (We were the ones thanking him for allowing us the privilege of being with him and all the work he and his incredible team are doing.)

G-boy took us to the Waterfront (huge mall, etc....) so Doug S. and Shane could buy d'jembes - (sp?). G-boy knows his way around Cape Town unlike any person I have ever traveled with! He took us exactly where we needed to go to get the things we wanted to purchase.

It was difficult to say good-bye to the Team House staff and everyone else we worked with. G-boy was really sad to see us go, and we felt the same about not being able to spend anymore time with him. I look forward to seeing him again next time in Cape Town.

Thanks for your prayers for our trip. When I get home, I plan to do one final "Cape Town" blog featuring photos and captions.......

If you have been reading this, and have not been on one of our short-term partnership mission trips to Cape Town, I urge you to prayerfully consider it. I am fairly certain that Avril will want us to bring two separate music teams next year.

I can't wait to see who God brings together for those trips....

Cape Town - Day 6 - Tuesday - August 5

This morning, we took the tour of Living Hope and all their related ministries.

Mike Talley did a great job condensing what is normally a much longer tour to accommodate our schedule. I realized today that no matter how many times I hear about and witness first-hand all the ministry areas where Living Hope is involved, I am stll moved and humbled at the challenge of ministering to so many people in such dire need.

From Masiphulelele where 50,000 people live in horrible conditions - to Ocean View where people were forced to move there by the government years ago, and are still angry for it - to Muizenberg where Living Grace feeds at least 100 homeless every day at noon - to Capricorn where Living Hope has just built a new building and Fish Hoek Baptist is planting a new church there - to Overcome where the government made the land available to anyone who could establish a “dwelling” to do so, and 6,500 “shacks” were put up in (3) days by people needing a place to “dwell”. The conditions are as you would imagine - horrible.

In the midst of this overwhelming reality of poverty, HIV-AIDS, oppression, and despair, God is moving in and through the people of Living Hope to do just that - bring hope to people. The Health Care Center (formerly known as the Hospice - the name was changed last year when 92% of the people who were admitted to the Health Care Center were walking out!) is an example of how God is moving and working to heal people’s diseased bodies. Next door to the Health Care Center is the Living Hope headquarters (so to speak). After touring all the other areas, we went upstairs to see the newest of ministries - sewing and computer training. We entered a room where (5) people were sitting at computers learning skills, and at least (10) women were sitting at sewing machines being taught how to sew. Job skill training is so important for people living in these surounding townships.

After lunch at The Team House, and a brief bit of down time, we headed up the West Coast to a community called Melbos. Tonight, we led a one-night, condensed workshop for a small in number, but very large in response group of people from a fantastic church called, The Fellowship. This church is yet another church plant of Fish Hoek Baptist (King Of Kings Baptist Centre). The pastor, Rob Lucas is a larger than life wonderful man who completely captured our hearts.

Boggs and Shane led a time of worship that was nothing short of amazing. I continue to be in awe of how God is using these two men to lead in Kairos on Tuesday nights at BBC. Michael is way more than a gifted worship leader in terms of his musicianship which is extraordinary. Tonight, he revealed more of his heart, his sensitivity to the moving of the Spirit in the room - it was a beautiful experience of worship that seemed perfect for the time and place and people present.

Following the time of worship, Boggs and Shane taught a class on vocal technique combined with some general worship leading concepts while Doug and Doug had the audio guys in the back talking shop about audio ministry. Then, we came together to watch both groups function as they would in a worship setting on a Sunday. The church’s worship leader, Ryan is a “surfer boy” - no kidding. The dude is evidently quite the surfer. He is also a really good worship leader. He got up with his team and led while we gave encouragement and some simple suggestions here and there. The people present love to worship. The church is exploding in growth. They have (9) prayer meetings a week. They would not let us leave. We arrived at 6:00pm and we finally got away around 9:30pm.

On the hour drive back home, the majority of our conversation in the van centered on how God had moved in our midst tonight. It was strange because going into tonight, we really did not have a good sense of what would happen. None of our previous teams had ever done a one-night workshop. Avril could not be with us this evening, so we were “on our own”. Boggs said it best in the van coming home - “God’s presence is a gift” - tonight was truly a blessed gift........

Cape Town - Day 5 - Monday - August 4

Another perfect day in Cape Town - weather-wise, of course.

We had the joy of spending the day with our good friend, Matt Allison. (Karla and I first met him in July 2004 on our first visit.) Matt is a multi-talented individual - artist, songwriter, music business guy, studio owner, and quite the recording engineer. (He just finished engineering a project involving some of the biggest names in music here in CT - all coming together to honor Nelson Mandella. The project will be mixed in NY this week - evidently will be quite a big deal when released here in the next few months.)

He owns a very "vibey" recording studio called Dockyard Studios in the heart of Cape Town. It is nestled on the 3rd floor of what is evidently a very well known building in CT called Old Castle Brewery. Matt is such an entrepreneur, and he did great finding this location and making his studio a wonderful place to work.

We spent the day recording the (3) CCFm Music Makers Workshops "Winners". We chose these (3) from the (36) people we critiqued on Saturday at the workshop. (This whole "recording the winners" is an important element of our mission and purpose for bringing music teams to CT to help develop local talent so that hopefully these artists can have their songs played on Radio CCFm sometime in the future.)

Our first guest was Lana Fredericks - an 11th grade girl - precious, innocent, and what a voice! She sang "On My Knees" - recorded by various artists including Jaci Velasquez. We recorded her to a pre-existing track. We will bring it back to America and replace the pre-existing track with a brand new track. She was so thrilled to get to sing in the studio - her first time. Her mom was with her, and I pray this was an experience she will never forget.

Our second guest was Mxolisi (Kolisi) - a 29-year old singer, songwriter, guitarist who recorded his original song, "Always". The basic guide track that Shane and Boggs created was amazing. After Mxolisi recorded his vocal, we recorded him playing Boggs' guitar. Already we have a great track upon which to build. Mxolisi was also so thrilled to be in the studio - a first-time experience for him as well.

Our final guests were a 5-voice group from a church about 90 minutes from CT. The name of the church and the group is "Tabernacle Of Love". They sang a beautiful worship song entitled, "God Is Here". The song is one of those ballads with a "Brooklyn Tabernacle" feel to it. The group was there with their worship pastor and a few friends - again, a first-time experience for them. (Based on this group and the fact that our drummers workshops this weekend were led by a "kid" from their church, I think I need to visit this church sometime in the future!)

At the conclusion of each session, we took pictures, and we will be sending them back to these folks (via Matt Allison) in the weeks to come.

Once we return to America, we will get to work on completing these tracks and making them "presentable" for radio use here in CT.

I have always loved the "studio experience" because at the end of the day, you almost always come away with a great feeling of accomplishment. You have something to show for the hours spent, and usually it is something creative, something that did not exist that same morning - at least not in the form that it is by the end of the day.

I know this - there are (7) people living in the surrounding communities of CT tonight who had the experience of a lifetime today - an experience that brought them joy, a sense of purpose and accomplishment, and a genuine sense of hope.

That may be a perfect day in CT after all........

Cape Town - Day 4 - Sunday, August 3

If there is such a thing as a perfect day (weather-wise) in Cape Town, today was that day. The fact that it was Sunday made that all the more wonderful.

We worshiped this morning at John Thomas’ church - Fish Hoek Baptist (also known as King of Kings Baptist Centre). Worship was led by Melissa Shaw and team, then after viewing a 6-minute DVD on the gospel outreach that will be going on at the Olympics in China beginning this Friday, we prayed for the Olympics. I guess I never thought about praying for the Olympics, but considering the hostility in that country towards believers, it certainly opened my eyes to the upcoming “all the eyes of the world on Beijing” and the importance of praying for God to somehow be honored even through that event.

John preached a wonderful sermon on knowing the specific will of God in our lives. I am always challenged by his sermons. During his message, he spoke of recent UN statistics on HIV-AIDS released this past week, and once again, the largest populated area of the world infected with HIV-AIDS is South Africa. There’s certainly something to pray about.

After worshiping at KOK, we proceeded down the road 5 minutes to the township of Masiphumelele. Many of you who read this have been to Masi. One can never forget their visit to this township - a community of many thousands living in horrific living conditions, extreme poverty, with HIV-AIDS, drugs, prostitution, crime, and little, if any hope of any kind of life outside this small world of despair.

On the main street of this township is a small Baptist church. Inside this church you will find maybe a hundred believers gathered for worship which begins promptly at 11:00am, but really doesn’t get “started” until about 11:20am as more people arrive and the music/worship gets more energetic, passionate, louder, and infectious. I love this church, and I love their choir - always have - always will.

They used an overhead projector to help their people evidently learn a new song. It was in Xhosa, so I did not know the English translation. Doug Sarrett had one of the (3) new fancy hand-held digital recording devices with him - (we bought them to bring here to use, then leave them with CCFm Radio so they can use them for remote interviews, etc.....but they are incredible for music as well) - and he recorded all the music in the service. I can’t wait to bring these songs back and give them to Steve Hindalong to consider using them on the Masi Choir CD project that we are working on. (Steve is the producer of the CD)

We did not stay for the sermon because Pastor Diba primarily preaches in Xhosa, so we would not understand him.

We left Masi and headed towards Cape Point - (Table Mountain National Park - where you can visit the southwestern most tip of Africa).

On the way, we stopped in Simons Town (probably one of my most favorite places anywhere in the world). We ate calamari by the ocean, and walked around on the main street where there are buildings there built in the 1800’s. Simon’s Town is where the South African Navy Headquarters are.

Further south, we stopped to view and enjoy the penguins, then onto Cape Point. It was a perfect day to view Cape Point except for one minor issue - gale force winds. No joke. There were warning signs up all around. The winds almost knocked me over several times. It was crazy!

We got plenty of great photos/video of baboons, and enjoyed the time of leisure after two intense and long days.

Dinner tonight at The Team House was great as usual, and Boggs, Shane, and Sarrett were in rare form even for them. They had everyone almost spitting out their food or snorting it out their nose - these guys are ridiculously funny! G-Dog and Jakes joined us for dinner and the fun!

Afer dinner, G-Dog took all of us except Shane (he stayed back at The Team House to begin working on the tracks we will use to record the (3) winners of the CCFm Workshops from this weekend) to Mike & Pam Talley’s house to be able to access the Internet since as of this writing (Sunday night), our Internet service has been down since Friday morning!!

We had a great visit, and returned to The Team House to get back to work on tracks. it is now 12:55am, and I can still hear Boggs and Shane working away - these guys are great - I am not sure our new South African friends we will work with tomorrow truly understand the quality of professionals they will be working with. It really does not matter if they understand that or not - what they will walk away from the studio with at the end of the day tomorrow is a greater sense of hope and encouragement that their gifts matter, and that some fun and energetic guys from America care about them and want to serve them in whatever way they can to encourage and support them - even if we may never meet again this side of heaven.

Cape Town - Day 3 - Saturday - August 2

We keep getting up when it is stil dark, and leaving in the dark. I hate that only because the view from The Team House is so stunning in the daylight.

The drive to and from our workshops venue is over Table Mountain, so that view even in the early hours of the morning is sensational.

We started our morning today with breakfast at 6:45am and we arrived back at The Team House at 11:00pm.

As best I can, here is a capsule of our long day:

Avril drove us today to give Gordon (or G-Dog or G-Boy as our team has affectionately named him) a break from driving. On our way to our venue, Doug Sarrett asked Avril what most South Africans think of Americans? Her answered stunned every member of our team. Without hesitation, she responded with “they think Americans are right up there next to God”. In other words, they hold us up in extremely high esteem. It was sobering, humbling, and just another wake-up call to remind us of why it is so important that we come to this place and offer ourselves as servants, teachers, and missionaries. (Please don't read into my last comment any hint of arrogance or "they really need us over here" mentality.)

Just after Avril answered that question, we stopped in a township called Capricorn - another area of living conditions that are just not anything that any human being should have to live in. At Capricorn, we picked up 4 kids who have the most amazing story. All of them have become a part of a music outreach program called Mobile Music Academy where a small team of volunteer music teachers go into communities like Capricorn and teach kids music, positive self-esteem, and most of all, that Jesus loves them and He can give them hope even in the most hopeless of situations. This truly incredible program was the brain-child of a Belmont Student named Chris Dorsey who spent his summer working with Avril and team at Living Hope and developed this ministry on wheels.

When they got in the van with us, Avril had us all introduce ourselves to get to know one another, and immediately the kids began to sing songs they have learned. Avril told me privately that they didn’t know any of those songs before MMA came to them this summer. All the kids have also become Christians this summer. Only one of the kids lives with their biological mother. Avril wanted these kids to experience the workshops today as well as have them sing in tonight’s concert. (more on that later)

Our day was full of workshops and critique sessions. Boggs worked his butt off leading worship, then two guitar seminars, followed by two songwriting sessions, then he and Shane “hosted/m-ceed” the concert this evening.

Doug D (or double D), Sarrett, Shane, and myself split into two separate teams and between us listened to (36) different people sing/play in a room while we “critiqued” them. I can’t begin to write adequately about this experience, but know this - these people are immensely talented, fearful, and very discouraged. We did everything within our power to build them up, encourage them, and push them to keep doing what they are doing and not give up. These people don’t want record deals - they want hope. They want someone to believe in them - to believe they might have something to offer to God with their talent.

Near the end of our critique sessions, Mauritia walked into mine and double D’s room - she walked directly up to our table (most stood as far away from our table as possible), and proceeded to say the following:

“I don’t know why I am in here because my singing sucks. I just really need your help. Will you help me?”

How’s that for an introduction? She proceeded to open her mouth and sing acappella an old song called “In Him I Move”. I had never heard this song, but the song stunned me, and her sweet, innocent, lovely, and engaging voice filled our church classroom. It took all I had to keep it together as she ministered deeply to my soul.

When this beautiful 11th grade girl finished, she stood there, and we were all silent for a minute until I broke that silence with a question......“Why do you think your voice sucks?”, I asked. She replied, “because my friends tell me so.” My heart broke even more. I told her to get new friends - honest, I did. Double D and I proceeded to lavish every possible word of encouragement we could. She then proceeded to ask a series of vocal technique questions - she was SO hungry to learn. I pray we planted seeds of perserverance and encouragement in this young girl. She was and is so deserving.

These are the kinds of stories that take place when we bring music teams to South Africa.

Tonight’s concert was (according to Avril) one of the best she has ever been a part of. We had (12) local artists perform, including the kids from Capricorn - the people loved every moment of it. Boggs and Shane were great hosts, and it was a fitting conclusion to our weekend of workshops.

Our drive home was over-the-top silly.........during our past few days, G-Dog has been teaching us phrases in Afrikans. One of those is how to say, thank you. It sounds like “buy a donkey” - honest.

So, tonight as we were approaching a road-block where every car was being checked for either DUI, drugs, and/or if the vehicle was stolen (that should tell you about the neighborhood we spent our weekend in), the guys suggested several different phrases that G-Dog should say to the officer as he checked his license, etc.. I suggested he say “buy a monkey”. I was so tired, I did not even realize what I said - I thought G-Dog was going to pee in his pants. He could not stop laughing even as he pulled to the officer.

The rest of the way home, we exchanged lines and phrases and utter sillyness - mission trips bring this out in every team, but most especially with this group of guys - my goodness, I have never laughed so hard....

Cape Town - Day 2 - Friday - August 1

My apologies that I have not blogged - our accommodations' internet service has been down since Thursday night. I will try to update as much as possible in this and subsequent posts.

Day 2 - Friday, August 1 - Quote - "4 Seasons In One Day" - Gordon, our driver.
Today's weather was interesting and warranted this quote - from clouds and cold weather to hard, side-ways rain to beautiful sun and warmth - all in one day - the first day of August.

Our first day of workshops at Belhar were really good. Boggs and Shane opened the day leading praise & worship. I had forgotten just how responsive the people of Cape Town are in worship. We all agreed - oh how we long for the passion, emotion, and energy of these people would somehow "spill-over" onto our congregations.

Boggs and Shane led (4) consecutive sessions on Vocals. These two guys were magnificent. They are an amazing team. Everyone was talking about their classes - why not - they are skilled, compassionate, sensitive, and just downright funny!

During these (4) sessions, Doug & Doug led (4) consecutive sessions on Audio. They had the perfect size group with which to work because it allowed them to be on stage to observe as well as most all fit into the tech booth to observe and learn.

The thing that always fascinates me about these workshops is how God moves works throughout the day - and if we are listening and paying attention and being sensitive - we adapt and change accordingly.

Today's final sessions were a perfect example combining the vocalists with our tech group to emulate a SundayAM sound check/rehearsal and a "sample" worship segment. It was wonderful to watch everyone learn from each other.

Since Gordon (our driver) lives in Belhar, Avril (our host and sponsor) drove us back to The Team House with stops at a music store and Pick-N-Pay (grocery store). The visit with Avril was fantastic.

side note - no one on our team wants to sit up front in the van because of the strangeness of sitting on the side where Americans sit when we drive - except the driver sits on the right side over here and drives on the left side of the road.

Dinner at The Team House tonight was relaxing, and we had nice visit Jakes as well. She is such a great Team House host because she is genuinely interested in the teams who come over here.

I have laughed heartily and often with this team that God has assembled. Sarrett, Shane, and Boggs are relentless with non-stop humor. I thought Jakes was going to fall on the floor tonight when the 3 guys got on a roll. Laughter is amazing medicine.

Today was another reminder of the incredible work and influence that Radio CCFm has on the people of Cape Town.

An unexpected moment today was a visit with Pastor Timmons - the pastor of the church that is our host for the workshops. He has been pastor of this church for more than (15) years. He is warm, personable, humble and engaging. When asked by Avril, he told the story of how their church building was built. It took them 15 years because it was built totally on faith by the members of the church – spending most every Saturday literally constructing the building one section of it at a time – debt-free. He told me how they borrowed power from a neighbor’s house using a long extension cord, and borrowed water from another neighbor’s house when they had to mix concrete.

What a testimony to this community, not to mention of people’s faith and the body of Christ coming together to build a meeting place for the people of this community to gather to worship God.

(note – for those of you who have been to John Thomas’ church, King of Kings Baptist Centre, this church in Belhar is a slightly smaller version of King of Kings – and just as nice on the inside).

Since I am at a friend’s house using their internet service, I need to close for now.
I hope to catch up on blogging tomorrow........

Cape Town - Day 1

I so wish I could upload photos, but our internet connection is limited, and we have been asked to not upload photos - I may have to break that rule in the next few days simply because words don't tell the whole story.

This was a good day for our first full day in Cape Town simply because it was relaxed comparatively speaking related to what our next (4) days will be.

We moved into the Team House today and met Jakes (Jenny Cate). She is a delightful young woman who manages the Team House. I think she may have thoroughly enjoyed being the only woman among our "band of all male misfits". Not to mention that the lethal (humorously speaking) combination of Michael Boggs, Shane McConnell, and Doug Sarrett - well, the poor girl just doesn't have a chance! Maybe the personality balance of the more reserved Doug Diamond and whatever there is to describe my personality combination gives Jakes a fighting chance against this particular team.

Our driver while we are here is Gordon Jacobs. Gordon grew up in Cape Town and knows his way around this entire metropolitan area of more than 4 million people in astounding ways. He has already realized that he is trapped in a combi for too many hours each day with this small in number, but relentless in non-stop humor group.

We visited a large music store today to borrow a synth keyboard for our recording sessions on Monday - well, actually, we have to prepare the tracks on Sunday evening. Doug S. of course had to have a t-shirt, but they could not find one, so they promised him one when we return the keyboard on Tuesday.

After the music store, we went to Logos Assembly of God Church in Belhar - a rather poor community of about 15,000 in the heart of Cape Town. This church is the site for our weekend music workshops that we will be leading. The small church staff and a few volunteers from the host radio station were so excited to have us and help us prepare for tomorrow.

On the way to the church, we passed a the oldest township in Cape Town - called Langa - where more than 45,000 people live in conditions that no human being should ever have to live in.

Tonight, we were treated to a beautiful and relaxing evening at the home of John & Avril Thomas - our gracious hosts and the visionaries for so much of what is going on down here and why our church has made the decision to partner with them in their on-going fight against poverty and HIV-AIDS, and their efforts to do whatever is necessary to bring true Hope to people of all ages. Tonight was a vivid reminder of why more and more people need to make the trip here to help these saints in their efforts.

John & Avril had invited many of their worship team members from their church to be there, as well as BBC missionaries here at Living Hope - Mike & Pam Talley and Danielle Schneider. It was an incredible evening of food, fun, getting to know new folks, re-uniting with friends I had met from past trips here, and probably the highlight of the evening was hearing Avril tell everyone there about our entire itinerary while we are here - no notes - she had the whole thing memorized down to every single detail - astonishing.....then, we prayed together. It was powerful, and I can't wait to see what God will do these next few days.

Thank you for praying - it makes all the difference......

Oh, and I have to remember to blog about my visit tonight with John Thomas as he elaborated on his recent visit to not only the White House, but his 25 minute visit with President Bush in the Oval Office. Know this - God used that visit in ways that are already beginning to be made known, and John talked about some additional things that are in motion as a result of that that made me almost break down in front of him - honestly, I just sat there with my mouth open.....

(Here's just a taste of "some" of those things - President Bush's Press Secretary, Dana Perino is coming to Cape Town to do volunteer work at Living Hope for a brief period of time beginning February 13 of next year - how's that for God working in people's lives? There is SO much more!)

Arrival In Cape Town

Our team arrived here in Cape Town around 5:30pm local time this evening. (That's 10:30am Nashville time). We were supposed to arrive around 4:00pm, but we were delayed out of New York's JFK Airport for two hours.

I like the travel itinerary of JFK to Dakar (for re-fueling) to Cape Town. I did not like the Delta jet that we were on. Anyone who has traveled even one time internationally knows about those small, but important amenities that make a 16-20 hour flight more bearable. Two of those are in-seat screens with on-demand viewing of tons of movies and TV series and multiple meals. Delta offered neither.

Now I realize that being a mission trip, one should not complain about such things, so consider this an observation more than a complaint. I am told Delta is upgrading all of their international jets to accommodate the in-seat screens.

Regardless, the trip was rather uneventful except for a flight attendant who wanted to know if I was from Kiawah Island (my hat) because she was from Charleston, SC. Go figure.....

We walked off the plane here in Cape Town to 58 degree weather, cloudy and windy.

Customs was a breeze, and Gordon, our combi driver greeted us along with two members of a current large team here from California. We loaded our stuff in the small trailer and headed to this lovely place called Sundollar where we are staying for this one night until The Team House is vacated tomorrow morning.

Our dinner this evening consisted of cauliflower soup and some kind of egg dish - interesting meal after being on a plane for 18 hours. Shane and I chose to compliment our tasty meal with a Yum-Yum sandwich - (that's South Africa version of peanut butter)

I then left the other members of the team here at the Sundollar while I went to the Team House to meet with a few members of the California team as they told me all about what they had been doing these past two weeks. I will elaborate on that in a separate post.

I forgot how much I love The Team House - it will be great to move there tomorrrow. In addition to that being on our Thursday agenda, we will set-up for our workshops at Belhar, and then have dinner at John & Avril Thomas' home tomorrow evening.

Thanks for praying for us - getting here is a fairly big deal, and getting here in good spirits is even a biggger deal.

For now, I need some sleep, so more blogging tomorrow......

5 Guys To Cape Town

This Tuesday, this ragged excuse for a music mission team of guys will be leaving for one of my favorite locations in the world - Cape Town, South Africa.

This will be my fourth trip to this beautiful city. When I think about how this whole music mission partnership/relationship came about, I continue to marvel at how God works to bring together people from literally all over the globe to accomplish His work.

I hope to make the time to blog periodically during my time there. We would appreciate your prayers as we go to lead music workshops with some of the most talented, but completely under-resourced people we will ever meet.

I know I speak for Doug Sarrett, Doug Diamond, myself, Shane McConnell, and Michael Boggs when I say "thank you" for praying - we know how desperately we need it!

I Miss My Sabbatical

Yes, I admit it openly - I really do miss my sabbatical. Who wouldn't?

Here is what I wrote in my journal this morning:

Lord, it's hard coming back from sabbatical.

the pace
the volume of work
the tension of balancing what's important with what's not
the fear and anxiety of not being able to keep up
the frustration that seeps into my personality as a result of all of the above

it's so much easier to be quiet and still when I am not working
i'm a much nicer person to be around when all of the above is not consuming me
_________________________________
I am convinced as I was writing this, God led me back to a chapter from one of the books I read when I was "not working" to remind me of the following:

"without a rich theology of labor, we'll have an impoverished theology of rest"
"before we understand God's rest, we must understand the Lord's work"
(The Rest Of God - Restoring Your Soul By Restoring Sabbath - by Mark Buchanan)

God reminded me this morning of my calling, and while much has changed in "how" I do what I do each day, the "why" I do it has not.

There is alot more to this than what I have written this morning......

I must keep pondering this, but for now - well, I have to get to work!

4th of July

It's fun to look back through the years to see how we have celebrated Independence Day.

Growing up, my parents always took me and my sister to the 4th of July Picnic at the tabernacle behind the Immanuel Baptist Church in Kyle, Texas. The church where my parents and grandparents worshiped. It wasn't the 4th of July unless we went to this picnic at this tabernacle.

Maybe that picnic influenced me more than I realized because years later, I would want to have a picnic of my own - in my own back yard - invite hundreds of my friends (that would be choir and orchestra members), and we would eat, play music, set-off fireworks and celebrate our freedom. We hosted that party/picnic for many years until we couldn't manage the crowd because we could not park all the cars!





July 4th of 1990 will always be memorable for me because we had just moved into our house here in this amazing neighborhood that celebrated the 4th with their own parade and bar-b-que. When we moved in, we were not aware of all of that, so I just remember watching the parade (at least 200 yards away) from our bedroom window as we painted the inside of our bedroom because we had so much work to be done on our new home.

All of this came back to me yesterday for some strange reason as I waited for my two youngest sons to pick out their fireworks to help us celebrate yet another Independence Day 2008!

Summer Camp

There is something about summer camp that always gets me.

For years of summers, I have watched my sons go off for a week away from their parents and return different from the way they were when they departed for their camp destination.

All of these camps must have had some kind of life-transforming and/or life-shaping experiences because even now Seth (my 24-year old) spends most of his days creating both hilarious and meaningful videos for some of the best camps offered this summer -and he even gets paid to create them!

Our two youngest sons returned today from our church student camp. They are both different young men - it really is that visible - even on the outside. Who can imagine what has happened on the inside. Certainly God knows - after all - He did it.

I love this photo of Matt - it was taken two weeks ago at Windy Gap in North Carolina while he was attending Young Life Camp.

If I created a caption for this photo - it would read, "ahh, now, this is summer camp!"

29 Years - Lost and Found

This post is an admission of negligence and grace.

One evening sometime in the month of April, I came home from work and did what I always do - I removed my watch and my wedding ring, slid my wedding ring onto my watch band, connected the watch band and then..........

For the past 60-70 days, I have been in search of my lost watch and wedding band. I have (as they say) turned things upside down in search of it. After looking everywhere possible, I finally confessed that I was afraid that I had somehow "thrown them away" in a bag of things brought home from Target or somewhere.

Who knows? All knew was I was not happy about losing my wedding ring after 29 incredible years of marriage.

So, one afternoon on my sabbatical, Karla and I went shopping for a replacement wedding ring. As I entered each store, the conversation began with me announcing "I made it for 29 years before losing my wedding ring". That usually brought about a very willing sales person to offer ridiculously expensive replacements.

My how rings have changed in 29 years!

Well, on the afternoon of June 22, 2008, I purchased my new (replacement) wedding ring - see photo!! Karla loves it (that's all that matters), and now my ring finger no longer feels naked, and that's a good thing.

So......all is well......until tonight......

I was searching for something else that was lost (not nearly as important as my lost wedding ring), and guess what I found?

Yep.....my lost watch and my lost wedding ring!

So, now the dilemma......keep the new one or wear the old one?

At this writing, that decision has not been made, but I am still in shock that I actually found this lost wedding ring.

God extended grace to me - yet again.......

One Month

On May 27, I "officially" began my sabbatical. I am not going to elaborate on the past 31 days in this post, but I am going to quote from one of the many wonderful books that I have been reading.

I read this quote on the plane home from Chicago yesterday. It hit me in the face as if I turned my head right into someone's left hook.

The book is entitled, The Rest Of God - Restoring Your Soul By Restoring Sabbath - written by Mark Buchanan - pastor and author (3) books.

What he wrote on page 147 is what nailed me........

"As I left for sabbatical, many people in my church wished me well. They told me they'd miss me, that they'd be praying for me, that they hoped I came back refreshed. And then they usually said, "You deserve this".

I don't. I can think of all kinds of people who deserve it: a single mother who works three jobs to ensure her kids have a decent home and good clothes; a couple who have been clocking twelve-hour days or more six days a week for many years, trying to keep a small business from sliding over the edge; a tradesman who never has time for a holiday when the work is on and never has money for one when it's not; a millworker whose shifts change like the clouds so that he's seen the inside and out of every hour of every day and now never quite sleeps and never fully awakes. I can think of all the people who do their jobs faithfully and capably, even though they die at it a little every day. I like what I do, and I have not worked half as hard as half of these people, and few will ever be given the luxury of a sabbatical.

No, I don't deserve it. It's pure gift, like being born in peacetime and not war, like being forgiven, or kissed, or told you have beautiful eyes. I never earned a minute of it. I don't deserve a scrap of it.

But I feel obliged to the people in my church who have allowed me it. Obliged, not to come back smarter, or thinner, or more eloquent, or more studied up, though all that could help. The obligation I feel is not to pay them back. These things don't work that way, on some barter system where the church trades several months of leave in exhange for shorter, pithier sermons.

The obligation I feel, rather, is to come back restored."
_______________________________________________________________________

God bless Mark Buchanan, and I thank God he wrote this book

Taking A Walk With A Legend

I have to admit that I seldom take walks. I either jog or do nothing. Shame on me.

Last week, I had the extraordinary privilege of taking a walk with arguably the most respected musician/arranger/orchestrator of our time, but more importantly, a true gentleman, husband, father, grandfather, and genuine friend to many.

What a joy to simply take a walk with and converse with Ronn Huff.

Besides being a true genius of an arranger and orchestrator, this man is a deep thinker, he asks hard and great questions, and he expressed a sincere interest in my life and my career. He is quiet and determined. He is passionate and sensitive.

I treasured our time together in ways I will never be able to adequately articulate, and I pray we will have more "walks" in the future.

Here is what was written about Ronn when he was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall Of Fame (3) years ago:

"Being inducted as a non-performing member of the Hall of Fame, Ronn Huff’s legacy is well-known to anyone who has directed church choirs in the last 30 years. While minister of music in a Denver church he arranged and published two highly successful books of hymns, "Celebration, Music for Festival Choir" and "Celebration II." But his arrangements and recording of Bill and Gloria Gaither songs into a 1973 musical called "Alleluia, A Praise Gathering" brought national prominence and was the first religious recording to receive an RIAA Gold Album certification, selling over a million records and books. A Christmas work called "His Love, Reaching," a collection of early Praise and Worship songs entitled "Exaltation" and a series collaboration with the Singing Churchmen of Oklahoma are among the successful church music publications he authored. Huff claims to be an arranger, not a composer, but his work is found on many recordings, both sacred and secular. In the past two years alone his name appears on and arrangements are heard in the recordings of Faith Hill, Charlotte Church, Amy Grant, Celine Dion, Jewel, Martina McBride, Allison Krauss, Sandi Patty, John Michael Talbot, Keith Urban, George Strait, Clint Black, Lonestar, Boston Pops, and The American Boy Choir. Until recently Huff held the position of Pop's Director for the Nashville Symphony, but a battle with Parkinson’s Disease has limited his activities in recent years."
________________________________

While these credits speak to the amazing accomplishments of Ronn, you would never know any of this from a simple conversation with him. He would rather talk about his family, his faith, and ask questions about you, your family, and your faith.

If I could only take more walks like this one!

Planes, Trains, & Automobiles

Time and People.......

Two very important ingredients of life, and I am realizing during my sabbatical that I am pretty horrible at both - I don't build in nearly enough margin of time with regard to anything I do, and I don't spend nearly enough of the 24 hours in a day with people - especially people with whom I enrich their life and (as I am discovering on my sabbatical) with people who greatly enrich my life when I give them my undivided attention.

I spent the day on Wednesday in the beautiful city of Baltimore, Maryland. (Since Karla and I are such NCIS nuts, I loved seeing signs on the interstate for exits that Gibbs and crew are always talking about in the TV show).

I was in Baltimore for one reason - to meet with a new friend, worship pastor, author, and one of the nicest guys I have ever met. He gave me an entire afternoon of his time - something I will always treasure because even though I don't build margin into my time, I know what it takes to "give up" an afternoon with someone - especially someone you hardly know!

So, realizing I did not want to waste one minute of this man's time, I wanted to make sure I got to where I was supposed to be "on time".

He asked me to meet him for lunch at a restaurant (47) miles from the Baltimore airport. By my Google Map calculations, it would take anywhere from 45 minutes to 90 minutes (depending on traffic) to get from BWI to my lunch destination. With my plane arriving at 10:30am, there was no way for me to have enough time to rent a car and get there on time, and the last thing I wanted to do was to be late to the beginning of an afternoon of conversation.

So, I took a cab - yes, a cab - 47 mile cab ride! What an adventure as my cabbie drove 80 on the interstate (not wearing a seat belt) while glancing often at his portable Magellan he would hold up with his right hand. I was strapped in holding on for dear life. We left BWI at 10:45am. We arrived at my lunch destination at 11:15am. He certainly got me there on time - 45 minutes early! Talk about margin.......

Oh, and yes, it cost a fortune!

Fast forward to the end of my amazing afternoon with this fine and gracious colleage. (I knew I was not taking a cab back to the airport, but was not sure of my options, and quite honestly, I was not about to fret over them while immensely enjoying the company of my new friend.)

So, not surprising to me, my new friend offered to drive me back to the airport. Well, that was not an option because I had already imposed by taking up an afternoon of this man's time - the final straw could not be a 2-hour (in traffic) round trip for him just to get me to the airport, but to give you one more reason to understand what a great guy this man truly is - he would have done it without thinking about it.

I asked him about the Metro - (rail train public transportation). He looked it up on-line, and we landed on a most adventurous (and lengthy) itinerary of two different trains, and finally a city bus to get me back to the airport. (margin, sweet margin)

So, I took the red train, then the green train, then a 30-minute wait for the city bus at the last train station to get me to the airport - I finally arrived at BWI having spent 90 minutes watching the scenery blow by me, rushing through dark tunnels, loving the smell of the city bus, and enjoying the heck out of watching people - all at a total cost of $7.60.

You gotta love public transportation.........

Margin, margin, margin - it allows you to enjoy this beautiful world that God created!

Sit Long, Talk Much, Laugh Often

Karla and I returned late last week from a few days at the beach. It was paradise. I forget what the ocean and sand does to my state of mind. Our trip was an incredibly gracious gift from many people with whom I serve along-side-with (I know that is horrible grammar, but whatever) - the point is - I am grateful beyond words for that gift - the time away with my precious wife was immeasurable.



On Saturday night, our family gathered to celebrate Father's Day - a great dinner, conversation, laughter, some tears, and even some gifts. I received some neat cards, a DVD collection of a TV-series that I have not seen but looks extremely interesting, a "sleep-noise" machine - (gotta love the sound of the ocean as I drift into sleep mode), and two different photo-sets from my sons that I will treasure. In keeping with "tis better to give than receive", I am most excited about my gift to my Dad. (Because I am such a loser and did not get it until I returned from the beach, he will not receive it until tomorrow). I so look forward to his call when I can tell him how to most enjoy it!

This particular Father's Day was also a day of "firsts".

Our first without BigBy - Karla's father who passed away on January 2. It was difficult at times because we miss him, but Seth's prayer reminded us that he is in a better place. Where would we be without that hope?

It was also Seth's first Father's Day. He is a great Dad, and he brings loads of joy to his family and to our extended family....and to me.

My heart is full of gratitude for the experiences of ocean, beach, companionship with the most important person in your life, and the gathering of family around the table.

We have a sign that is visible above our kitchen table - If it were not so large, I would carry it around with me because it should not be limited to our kitchen.

It reads - SIT LONG, TALK MUCH, LAUGH OFTEN

Celebrating 15 Years

One thing that a sabbatical affords is time to reflect.

About a month ago, the incredible choir that God has allowed me to lead and serve along side with for the past 15 years did a most wonderful thing - they gave me a book of congratulatory notes written to me (by choir members) on the occasion of my 15th anniversary as worship minister at church.

For whatever reasons, last night I decided to open the book and read some of the notes. It was a most humbling experience to read nice things that people wrote to me.

I must share one of them in this post because I laughed out loud - for quite awhile -oh my gosh - this is hilarious and so fitting considering the person. (I so love you GT!)

Here ya go - and this is EXACTLY what he wrote:

Worley,

You are a such a loser! Talk to me after you have been at one job for 30 years. 15 years is just getting started. Seriously, I love you more than my 20-gauge shotgun. You are awesome and I admire your heart and your love for God and His people. It is an honor serving under your leadership. If there is ever anything you need, ask someone else.


priceless.......

Forgiveness - Don't Waste Your Life

This past weekend, I enjoyed going to see two of the top movies currently playing in all local theaters.

In each of these movies, a particular line jumped out at me as being refreshing and possibly even redemptive (if not surprising) considering I was not at church, but sitting in a dark room for two hours with total strangers having paid alot of money to be entertained.

In one of the movies, one of the main characters asked this question, "but what about forgiveness?"

In the other movie, the main character at one point says, "I just don't want to waste my life."

Two blockbuster movies with totally non-contrived lines spoken by lead characters as part of the overall plot of each movie.

I just keep thinking about those lines.....

I hope I forgive more frequently than I judge, and I hope I'm not wasting my life.

Sabbatical Thoughts - Day 3

During this "time away" during which I am resting, reading, studying, and listening to God - I stumbled upon the following from Dan Perkins - Pastor of
Twin Oaks Church - San Jose, CA

I will be probably spend several days pondering the following:
_______________________________________________________________________________

I don't know why it's taken me this long to realize that most things in life that are good for you can also be bad for you (key word... most as opposed to some). So... I got to thinkin... What makes it so? Reminded of that old joke about the town idiot who thought the thermos was the greatest invention ever made. "So," another person replies, "What's so special about a thermos? It keeps things hot or cold."
"Yes!" says the idiot... "But how does it know?"

What I've discovered are the two key components in whether something will be good or bad for you.

First, Moderation. Without getting into the moral implications of behavior (duh! put down the breadstick) this seems rather obvious. Too much of anything can be bad. Right? The notion of "you can never be too rich or thin" has already been dispelled by anorexia and the lottery. Besides, anyone who has been to Hawaii can attest there comes a time when you do want to go home. So what makes moderation a determining factor of whether something is good or bad for you is when you push beyond the point of content for the sake of consumption. We here in the US are trained to think and consume beyond contentment. Why? Because we can!

So, you're probably thinking, "What's so special about the thermos..." Well, I'm not saying this is certain but I think our ability to moderate our consumption is a key link to our ability to live holy. As a pastor I have had to deal with a lot of people's choices that have put them in difficult life situations. Invariably, those choices were the results of people going beyond the point of contentment insisting for more! More sex, more numbing, more money, more power, more... More... MORE! Just because we can do something doesn't mean we should do something. Sadly, we have grown up in a place and in a time when you walk into the candy store you check your pockets to see how much money you have and proceed to buy all the teeth-rotting, insulin-rising, pre-packaged stuff we can get our hands on. Why do we do this? Perhaps it because we've been conditioned but I know some folks who just know how to live contently! They have little, drive older cars, take simple camping vacations, you get the idea; and they're happy! They're simply happier than most folks I know because they're content! How did they miss the conditioning?

The second cause for good or bad is our Motivation. Now this one gets a little tricker to identify because it's hard to pin down motivation. I believe motivation is fluid. It changes course like a meandering river based on the current landscape. In fact, motivation can quickly change when confronted with certain obstacles. Our motivation can either push us to these obstacles and reveal our heart's conviction or push us through these obstacles and reveal our heart's resolve. They key here is our heart. What good or bad that results of any action, activity or ability is what lies within our heart... "YES! But how does it know?"

Our walls... The things that we hold within... for security, defense and identity or let me put it this way, for peace of mind, confidence in any situation and what you want people to know about you; are healthy when we are moved and monitored by a standard beyond ourselves and built on a foundation of spiritual and ethical bedrock. Our gates... The things we let in our lives, determined not by quantity but quality, will ultimately decided how well we live our lives.

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Tyndale House Publishers. (2004). Holy Bible : New Living Translation. "Text edition"--Spine. (2nd ed.) (Ro 12:2). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers.

So how does this work in your life? Here are some questions for you to discuss.

How content are you and what makes you content? are you leaking?
What do you fill your life with to be "full?"
Are there appropriate and/or defined boundaries in your life?
If so, what are they?
If not, what should they be?
What causes you to act on something?
Do you see yourself as a leader or a follower? A motivator or moderator?
What precautions have or do you need to take on letting good things in your life and removing the "crap" from your life?
When was the last time you did an inspection of the gates in your life? food, entertainment, friendships, habits, recreation, pursuits... what's been burned, loose and hanging off the hinge?
Read Ecclesiastes 12:1-6 and discuss it's meaning, keeping in mind what can be good for you can be bad without moderation and proper motivation...

Yes, remember your Creator now while you are young, before the silver cord of life snaps and the golden bowl is broken. Don’t wait until the water jar is smashed at the spring and the pulley is broken at the well. For then the dust will return to the earth, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.

Tyndale House Publishers. (2004). Holy Bible : New Living Translation. "Text edition"--Spine. (2nd ed.) (Ec 12:6-7). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers.

They Really Do Grow Up Too Fast

Our 18-year old has grown up and graduated high school.

This weekend at two different functions, we enjoyed a DVD slide show and oh my what memories to see this kid come into our world, grow up in this house and neighborhood and now he moves on to college.

I know you get sick of hearing it, but they really, really do grow up too fast, and I know you get sick of hearing "cherish every moment", but cherish every moment....

even the ones you want to forget because they were tough at the time....

My friend prayed this prayer at his son's graduation party some 18 years ago, and I have never forgotten what he said......"Lord, thank you for giving us this young man. We know he is on loan from you, so for as long as you will allow, may we be gracious and loving parents and worthy stewards with this gift."

Matt Worley - congratulations - you have brought years of joy to many, many people, and I thank God that He has loaned you to us - what an amazing gift you are!

Generations

Recently, my parents and my sister came for a brief visit from Texas. I insisted that this photo be taken.

(4) generations of Worley men.

My prayer is that someday this photo will mean something significant to Elliott's kids.

I think that's important.......

American Idol - Shout To The Lord

I know that if you have wandered onto this blog, you have already been overwhelmed by this subject line, but I would encourage you to read this in its entirety. I hope to get to meet Josh Harris one day - this whole blog entry of his just confirms my respect for him, and deepens my desire to meet this man and hear him speak to me in person.

This is very powerful stuff, and yes, it is long, so just deal with it....
__________________________________________________________________________________
FROM JOSH HARRIS
I wanted to highlight a few interesting comments that have been left on my first and second American Idol posts this past week. I was glad that several people with more "inside" information stopped by to share. So here are their remarks followed by a few closing thoughts from me...

Christians Inside Fox
A Christian woman named Beverly posted what I thought was a helpful inside perspective from Fox. It helped me to see that, for Christians who work at Fox, having the song played was a triumph. It's easy for me to be cynical as I watch and forget that there are believers working at this network who are looking for any chance to shine the light of the gospel. She goes on to share that positive feedback from Christians would be helpful. Thanks for taking the time to post, Beverly.

I work on one of the "sister shows" of American Idol...so picture an office, with all of the producers, crew, etc. gathered in watching the live feed at our CBS offices, then this song comes on...an office filled with a few Christians....atheists and agnostic Jews. You could hear a pin drop....it was awesome.....the power that came through....nothing had to be said...no debates....just people being touched more than they realized...producers, writers...crew that had never darkened a church door in their lives, or their only experience with Christians was a negative one. You don't always see the workings of us Christians that are behind the scenes...you don't know how much prayer went into getting a song with that message on a, let us not forget, a SECULAR show. So, from someone behind the scenes, the best thing you can do is write to the producer of Am. Idol and simply state how much you appreciate the diversity they showed in having an very inspirational song in their program. Period. No criticizing. This will go farther than you realize. Also, pray, pray, pray for us Christians that have chosen Hollywood as our vocation, career and our mission field.


The Folks at Hillsong
I expressed curiosity about how the process for rights to use the song worked. This person has some knowledge of it and about Christians in the Idol band. I appreciated her comment that we should "reserve our outrage for the real tragedies of this world." Well said.
I know the people from Hillsong who negotiated this deal thru Integrity Music, and the word change wasn't approved, but while they deal with that, they are quite happy the song was song used.

There are also very strong Christians in the American idol band, who are witnesses in places most of us don't have influence—let's rejoice that He is praised, even if by 'indifferent' vessels—let the fruit of our ministry be heard in our churches and in the churches of pop culture.

Let's reserve our 'outrage' for the real tragedies in this world...Let his praises rise... Even from hearts as cold as stones... God can command praise from stones—not just the redeemed.

Jason Castro's Church
A girl named Leslie attends the church that Jason is from. She writes,
Jason Castro and his family attend my church in Rockwall, Texas. He is a Christian and has asked for prayer because one of the other contestants is either an atheist or agnostic. I was told that Jason Castro encouraged a few of the others to sing "Shout to the Lord" after they at first balked at the lyrics. Just FYI: Jason's mother gave him the idea to get dreadlocks, and he now uses his look as a way to be able to witness to teens that normally wouldn't listen. Way to go, Jason!
Sharing the Gospel
I was inspired by this youth pastor who instead of merely hanging out on Christian blogs like this one used this whole discussion as an opportunity to try and share the gospel on secular blogs. Here's a portion of his post...
Well, I can see why some people would be offended by there being a worship song in American Idol. But, at the same time, if all of the singers didn't mind singing it, I don't see why it's a big deal.

The connection between helping the world and praising Jesus go hand in hand. Not to sound like a "Jesus freak" or anything (but I am a youth pastor), but you simply can't love God without loving your neighbor. So, a worship song to the Christian God (even if they left out his name on Wednesday night...but, incidentally, they did say "Jesus" on Thursday night) should almost be like a rallying cry for Christians to do something about all the injustice in the world.

If Christians did more loving in the name of Jesus than judging in the name of Jesus, His name would be much sweeter to the world.

Anyway, I try my best to do this. And I hope that others will be inspired by that song to honor Jesus with their lives and not just with songs.

If you want to discover who this Jesus is, then come check out my blog where I am going through the Bible trying to read it without any preconceived ideas, reading it for what it is. I'm open for discussion too. So, please, if you are wondering WHY people make such a big deal about God, I'd encourage you to check it out.

No Hellfire and Damnation
And finally, Michael Glitz, the columnist at the Huffington Post who I joked with in my post was kind enough to drop by and share the following comment. His words remind me how silly all the ranting over this fiasco must appear to people outside the evangelical Christian subculture.
Hey Josh, Thanks for taking my link in the spirit of positive discussion in which it was meant. My reference to the fact that some evangelical Christians were annoyed included everyone in your community who weighed in on this post, a fair number of whom were annoyed more than "curious" about whether the composer could sue, as you were. Hey I thought that was "annoyed" too to be honest (grin). Others on Huffington have pointed out what carol said that a further reason the group sing-along was inappropriate was the simple fact that not all of them are presumably evangelical Christians and so singing that song without it coming from your heart is at the very least troubling. Thanks for weighing in without hellfire and damnation.
Closing Thoughts
So far, my two posts about the song have been more humorous than serious. I wasn't outraged when they edited the lyrics. I was surprised when they did the song again and included Jesus' name, but I didn't think it was a major triumph of God's kingdom.

As I've read various comments people seem to fall into two different camps. Some Christians are upset—because they left out Jesus, because non-Christians were singing a song of "praise", because it was all about money, because it's another example of Christianity being "censored." Other Christians are elated—because they put Jesus back in, because a praise song was heard by millions of people, because they see this as incredible evangelistic platform.

I guess I'm not really at home with either group. With all due respect, I don't think that having a song like Shout to the Lord sung (even though I like it) is going to usher in revival. This reminds me of the fervor before the movie The Passion of the Christ was released. People spoke about this movie as if it was the ultimate opportunity for the gospel to advance. I don't think it was. Was I glad that it was released? Sure. But I think that it's too easy for Christians to think that any moment in the media spotlight on TV or in film is a bigger deal than it really is. We should welcome any opportunity for media to help spread the good news about Jesus, but I don't think we should put too much stock in that vehicle. The gospel is going to advance as it always has—steadily as it is clearly proclaimed by believers in their words and modeled by their lives and actions. The gospel advances as local congregations receive and live God's word for their neighbors to see.

So I'm more excited about Christians inviting their unbelieving friends over to watch American Idol together so they can build friendships and establish a platform for sharing the gospel in that relationship than I'm excited about an occasional worship song being sung on the show. If both happen, that's cool, too.

Oh, and let me gently disagree with people who are upset about the song being sung, edited or not. Don't get so worked up about unsaved people singing songs of praise to Jesus. It happens every Sunday in churches around the world. It happens in my church every Sunday. Thankfully, a large portion of people at our church are Christians. But there are many people who claim to know Christ that don't. And there are many unbelieving people who come who need to repent and believe.

Here's reality: we live in a secular, pluralistic society. We need to be good neighbors to agnostics and atheists and people of other religions. Christian faith and practice shouldn't be forced on others. And we shouldn't be overly surprised when "gospel" music that is very meaningful to believers is co-opted and used in secular settings by people who don't have personal faith in Jesus. How many times has Amazing Grace been sung and loved by people who don't really grasp its truth? Like it or not we live in a culture where many people view gospel music as merely a style that is part of a cultural tradition. That's all it means to them.

Moments like this are reminders for me that the songs and trappings of Christian culture are not the hope of the world—Jesus is! We need to make him known. We need to love and seek to serve the world around us through prayer, through faithful evangelism, and through Christ-like service of those in need. Our goal is not building a more air-tight evangelical bubble. Neither should our goal be hoping that our subculture will burst out into the broader culture to great acclaim.

Instead, our goal should be to proclaim Christ and him crucified to the people we go to the school with, work with, and live next door to. Our goal should be to preach the gospel and live lives worthy of that gospel. Our goal should be to use our gifts in every sector of society so that God is glorified. I'm grateful there are Christians at Fox attempting to do that. I'm going to try to be more faithful to pray for them and all the rest of us, that we'd be busy making Jesus known.

Long after American Idol airs its final show, Jesus will still be on his throne. Isn't that a comforting thought? Let's seek to make him known right where we are.

What I Would Give To See This Video

LEWISTON, Maine -

Police are searching for a man accused of shoving an electric guitar in his pants and walking out of a store in Lewiston, Maine.

Police say the theft occurred last week and they're looking for three men. One of the men shoved a Fender Stratocaster in his pants and pulled a sweatshirt over the top. The other two acted as lookouts.

All three can be seen on footage from video surveillance.

Strangely enough, the music shop has seen the method before. A man did the same thing in 2006 but was caught as he tried to walk out.

(personal note - I hope this guy was a large man - wow, I can't begin to imagine this in my pants - imagine the trousers on this guy?)

Asking The Right Questions

(I have always believed in the importance of asking the right questions.)

I am part of an on-line network of fellow music ministers who serve in churches much like where I serve. We are constantly e-mailing one another to share ideas, learn from one another, and exchange resources to better equip ourselves to serve better and longer.

This week, one of my colleagues asked this very important (and right) question:

As you look over your ministry for the past 10-15 years (or longer if you want) what (personally or professionally) have you done, instituted, dropped, re-worked, etc that has brought the most impact and progress for the effort?

I have to admit, I don't know how I would/will answer that question - I promise to work on that and blog about it at a future time, but for now, one of my good friends answered it in the following way, and it so impressed me, I had to blog about it.....

1. No plateaus – no matter what I have seen or done, there is always more to see and do.

2. Hang out with young people – my teenage kids still let me associate with their friends. I workout with college students who are stronger than me. It pushes me to do more (see #1).

3. I belong to Jesus – not my boss, my job, or even my family. Helps me keep an eternal perspective.

4. I could learn something new about God everyday, live to be 100, and still have an awful lot to learn when I get to Heaven.

5. Never meet a stranger – treat EVERYONE as being more important than yourself and they just might teach you something.

6. Don’t quit memorizing scripture – “Without faith it is impossible to please Him…” “Faith comes from hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ.” Kind of speaks for itself.

7. Laugh really loud and really hard everyday. Just look around, there’s always plenty of material.

8. Dance whenever possible.

Steely Dan - 31 years later

My married friends with (3) grown sons tell me all the time how uniquely different each of their sons were growing up and how they continue to be different.

I am finding that true as my boys grow older. It is fascinating to watch as their interests expand and take shape.

Ben seems to be the more musically interesting of the (3). That's not to say that Seth does not have musical talent - he does having taught himself the guitar and mandolin. Matt has the best singing voice of the (3) even though he wouldn't be caught dead singing solo in public.

Then, there is Ben who blew me away recently when he told me that I told him once that if he were going to be serious about his musical talents, then he would need to make sure he develops an appreciation for all styles and genres of music.

I don't ever remember telling him that, but if he says I did, then I must admit every now and then, wisdom somehow escapes out of my mouth.

Ben is definitely appreciating music...not to mention becoming one heck of a bass player and soon to be the section leader of the "tenors" (or "quads" as they are sometimes called) in the percussion section of his marching band at school.

Yesterday, Ben gets in the truck with me and immediately asks if I have my iPod in the truck. I have not seen my iPod since Matt borrowed it months ago. He then asks if I have any CD's in my truck - as he put it, "I have to listen to music when I am in the car."

So, I happen to have Michael McDonald's Motown CD, a CD of Sting, and one of my all-time favorites - "Aja" by Steely Dan. I asked if he had ever heard of Steely Dan - what was I thinking - Ben is 15. "Aja" was released in 1977.

We had a blast listening to all the songs - appreciating the sparseness of the production - able to hear every instrument cleanly - marveling at the bass lines, the classic Fender Rhodes sounds, and just great music.

I was thrilled that my 15-year old could appreciate something as classic as Steely Dan....

The End Of March

There is so much I have wanted to blog about since my last post. I can't figure out when and how to write.....just one of those seasons.

I am sitting here now writing because today we buried yet another person just 3 months into this new year - a person who had immeasurable influence on my oldest son.
During the very meaningful memorial service today, I was reminded of the time that teachers have with my kids - the potential for unforgettable influence. Mark Madison had that kind of influence on Seth. Seth's whole life is wrapped up in telling a story in a format that people can watch and listen and experience. Mr. Madison - the Media/TV Production instructor at Brentwood High School - shaped Seth's passion in his most formidable years - 4 years of high school. I know Seth's heart is broken over the passing of this man at the too young age of 58. I am grateful that so many people came today to acknowledge the impact he had on their lives.

Barely a month ago, my friend for many years and the first songwriter I ever signed to a publishing contract, Gary Driskell passed away. He was 50. Just not supposed to happen, but it did. His memorial service on March 1 was a celebration of everything that Gary wanted his life to be about - in giving honor of God. Tomorrow in worship, our whole service will be about heaven. One of the songs I chose to be sung is one of Gary's best songs - yes, it won a Dove Award for Song of the Year in 1991, but more importantly, as I reviewed the words of that song tonight - I realized how powerful and hopeful they are. I look forward to how they will minister to the many hundreds of people who will be in attendance in our worship services.

Then, to top all of this off - (and I know how trite this will appear as you read it), probably the saddest, but so profound movie I have ever watched is CASTAWAY. It has been on all weekend on TNT. I can't not watch it. I keep catching bits and pieces of it. I own the DVD, but resist ever opening the package to place in the DVD player to watch because I know the effect it has on me. I still remember watching it in the movie theater. It took me weeks to get over it, and I am not sure if I ever did. So powerfully written and acted - not to mention the incredible musical score - wow......what emotion.....

Sadness, sorrow, pain, hurt, suffering.......all of these things will pass away, but they are so very real for so many people - maybe that is part of why I keep doing what I do.....I am not a doctor or a nurse or a brain surgeon - I don't have that power or ability to literally save someone's life. I am simply an encourager - I am a believer in the hope of the message of the Gospel. More and more, I am experiencing first hand those people who have no life without that hope. So, every Sunday we gather to remind one another - to encourage one another that apart for Christ, we have nothing.

My ramblings continue to ramble......tomorrow we talk about heaven - tonight I am sad for my wife who lost her father earlier this year - I am sad for the family members who still grieve the death of their husband, father, son named Gary Driskell, and now the wife and son and brother of Mark Madison. At the same time, I must praise God for giving us hope - where would we be without it?

God Bless Pam Moses

Somethings really never change.

Yesterday, I was making my way down the hall at church when I happened on that wonderful sight of one of our Brentwood Young Children's School classes walking in single file back to their classroom. The only thing missing was the "rope" - you know, the thing that all the kids hold on to to keep everyone together walking in single file following their teacher.

This particular class' teacher was none other than Pam Moses. As I walked past her, I told her that her group reminded me of when she taught my son, Matt. He was 5 when he was in her class.

She then asked me how old Matt was. When I told her that he is a senior in high school, she responded with "that makes me feel about 100!!!".

I told her if she feels that old, how do you think I feel?

So tonight, I bless God for Pam Moses - 13+ years of helping to shape the lives of boys and girls as they become men and women!

Why Don't We Ever Sing "__________" Anymore?

My position as worship minister opens the door (quite often) for comments, opinions, suggestions, and even criticism for how we do worship - most especially the songs we sing or don't sing.

A few months ago, a guy came up to me after a service and asked me if we could sing "__________" (a title of a song that will remain nameless for this blog) sometime? I told him (like I tell everyone) I would certainly consider it.

SIDE NOTE
We sing 3-4 songs every Sunday. We have averaged (over the past several years) somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 different hymns and 45 different choruses sung in our services each year.

Back to my story -
So, this same guy (I think) e-mails me in November to remind me to sing "__________". I ignored it because I was busy with Christmas, and honestly, this song didn't fit at Christmas anyway.

Well, this past Sunday morning as we were preparing for our orchestra and other worship leaders to arrive, this same guy (whom I did not recognize) makes his way through the Worship Center evidently on his way elsewhere, never stops walking, but says to me (loud enough for those around to hear as well), "are we singing '______________' today?" When I told him, "no", he replied, "well, I sure wish we would sometime soon because we haven't sung that song in so long, I think I have forgotten the words." (he never broke stride as he headed out the door elsewhere)

I have wondered what he would have done if by chance Sunday would have been the day we really were going to sing "____________"????

Joy Unspeakable

This child makes me smile!

Not So Great A Beginning To 2008

The longer I live, and the longer I serve in a ministry position where there is always pain and heartache and someone in need, it should not come as a surprise that it is bound to happen more close to home at some point.

It's not the way any of my family wanted the new year to begin, but the phone call came this morning around 10:30am, and the day has been brutal to say the least. My sweet wife's father, Byron passed away this morning as his sweet wife, Carolyn was taking him to see the doctor because he had not felt well these past few days due to what we thought was a simple cold.

I spoke with a friend on New Years Eve whose mom passed away a few days ago, and it seemed like similar stories - things seemed so normal, then.......they're gone. They are GONE - no more time with them - no more words to be exchanged - no more hugs - no more pats on the back - no more smiles......it hurts to see my wife, my mother-in-law, and my brother-in-law hurt like this.

As if that was not enough, I had to take my 18-year-old to juvenile traffic court this afternoon because of a speeding ticket he received a month ago when he was still 17. The "court experience" began with a high school senior reading aloud an essay he wrote about dying in a car crash and what it was like for his parents to identify his body because he chose to drive 93 mph in a 70 mph zone.

Having just come from sitting in the ER with the body of my "just deceased" father-in-law, the reading of that essay was sobering and even more painful.

So, 2008 is off to a not so great beginning. As my beautiful wife said to me in the midst of her sometimes uncontrollable sobbing this morning, "I don't know how people with no faith deal with something like this"........she is so right - I don't know how they deal with it, but it is a powerful reminder that as long as there are people out there who don't believe in the Jesus we believe in, then we continue to do whatever we have to do to love these people, and introduce them to this Jesus who in times like today reveals Himself in ways never before imagined to help heal hurt and pain that is so deep words fall short in describing it.

Thank you, Byron for your constant words of encouragement, your love of life, your faith, your laugh, and your example of how to live a life of significance for the Kingdom.......you will be missed, and I know you are already enjoying your eternity!

(I love this photo because it was captured following a most incredible evening at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center last spring when we enjoyed an evening of hymns with our incredible symphony and several special guests artists - Byron loved that evening - he told me that often - it was a memory that will remain with me forever.....)