This is my inaugural post on this here blog. Throughout the life of this blog, i'm going to try to show my life, and speak and think honestly about both life, music, and ministry.
Now, to start, some background on me:
I live in Knoxville, TN, and work at a homeless shelter downtown, in addition to my part-time job as the worship leader at a Methodist church in North Knoxville. I also am a part-time(that's a theme with me-i never can seem to commit to just one thing) singer-songwriter(I just released an ep on amiestreet.com yesterday-you can find the link on the side), and am also a YoungLife leader at a high school close to downtown.
I had a meeting with my pastor yesterday, and we talked about the direction he'd like me to take with leading worship. I like him a lot-he's about a lot of the same things i'm passionate about-teaching the bible like it is(as opposed to shaping it in our own image), seeing the lord's supper done more than just once a month, the richness of liturgy-plus he's not afraid to say to his congregation what his opinion is on a subject. I've only been on staff since the end of June, and i feel like i'm still developing a lay of the land, as far as what will work with this congregation goes. I also have a rather difficult task of trying to reshape what i do, and have always done, as far as style of worship goes. I taught myself how to lead worship in a very contemporary fashion; I lead on guitar, and am often loathe to introduce songs in any other way than just playing them. After all, the writer wrote that song to convey the message. If he/she needed to have a spoken-word introduction to the song, they would have thought of it and added it to the text. However, i'm not exactly the most comfortable speaking on stage either.
After i met with my pastor, i went shopping for some books. I'm trying to rebuild my library, after having to sell most of the good stuff away to help pay rent last year. Here's what i got:
My Beautiful Idol by Pete Gall- I'm about halfway through this-picked it up at the christian bookstore, using my 20% off "partners in ministry" discount. I'm really enjoying the challenge in this book-it's hitting me at the right time-and it's exposing some sensitive places in me(my dependence on looking good and being nice to a certain girl who lives a couple hundred miles away, and how that might be an idol that i'm keeping to myself-being one) that probably need to be cleared of all the dead flesh so that some good healing and scarring can happen. I'll probably write more about this when i finish it.
Disputed Questions by Thomas Merton- Merton was a monk who lived in Kentucky (no joke...the abbey is just east of Elizabethtown(of the movie with the same name), and where i'll likely be taking a 5 day retreat sometime during January), and some of his writing on solitude is pretty amazing. I'm not sure when i'll get to this, though.
The Little Flowers of Saint Francis- It's about St. Francis of Assisi...if you don't know who he is, you need to find out.
No Holds Barred by Mark D. Roberts- I like using...let's just say, vivid language in prayer sometimes. So the tagline "Wrestling with God in prayer", kind of appeals to me. Besides- the kid in the plaid shirt is executing a pretty perfect arm-bar on the cover of this book. Worth mentioning. This will likely be my next read, and will probably get a full review after i read it.
Red Moon Rising by Pete Greig & Dave Roberts- I already have this book, but i loaned it out to a friend of mine over a year ago, and now it's sitting on his bookshelf. I bought this copy for 75 cents, though.
Emerging Worship by Dan Kimball- I didn't buy this, i'm borrowing it from my pastor, but i felt it worth mentioning because of the topic. I'm working through it right now, and as with most things i read, i'll likely discuss it here.
With that, i'll call this a successful first post. I need to put some laundry in the washer and run toward finishing this book, in addition to planning the worship service for sunday. If you're interested in any of the books i've talked about, i've put in links so you can buy them and read them yourself. Grace and Peace to you.
