April 7th, 2010
These are the top 10 lessons I've learned during my short, yet valuable time in music ministry and as a worship leader these past 2 years. Some of this comes from personal experience, books I've read, or conversations with friends, my pastor, or other worship leaders. Hopefully it will help/encourage you as it has done for me. In no particular order...

1. Both musically and lyrically, repetition can be a great tool for the art of music. But, use it wisely!

2. People can't be led if the leader doesn't have a direction and goal in mind. Be humble, but bold.

3. The quality of performance, popularity of the song's author, and trendiness of the music are meaningless if the lyrics are void of sound doctrine and biblical truth.

4. The music is meant to serve the lyrics. Instrumentation and arrangement are critical pieces to any great worship set. Don't overcomplicate or overplay. Less is more!

5. Love your team. Be friends with them. Care for them, and help them along. The worship team or band should reflect the church's mission and the body of Christ!

6. Start slower or softer so that you can be faster or louder later. Dynamics are often overlooked, but can make a huge difference.

7. The last song you play will normally be the song the congregation is singing after service is over.

8. The more you learn about God, the more you will be drawn to worship Him!

9. Keep improving your abilities and skills. "Hone your craft", or as my old band director used to always say, "Practice makes permanent."

10. True ministry begins with a burden to serve Christ and the community/world. It's not about us!


April 6th, 2010
The famous hymn of the church "And Can it Be?" contains a line that asks a very poignant question : "How can it be that thou, my God, shouldst die for me?" Is it accurate to say that God died on the cross?

This kind of expression is popular in hymnody and in grassroots conversation. So although I have this scruple about the hymn and it bothers me that the expression is there, I think I understand it, and there's a way to give an indulgence for it.

We believe that Jesus Christ was God incarnate. We also believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross. If we say that God died on the cross, and if by that we mean that the divine nature perished, we have stepped over the edge into serious heresy. In fact, two such heresies related to this problem arose in the early centuries of the church: theopassianism and patripassianism. The first of these, theopassianism, teaches that God Himself suffered death on the cross. Patripassianism indicates that the Father suffered vicariously through the suffering of His Son. Both of these heresies were roundly rejected by the church for the very reason that they categorically deny the very character and nature of God, including His immutability. There is no change in the substantive nature or character of God at any time.

God not only created the universe, He sustains it by the very power of His being. As Paul said, "In Him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28). If the being of God ceased for one second, the universe would disappear. It would pass out of existence, because nothing can exist apart from the sustaining power of God. If God dies, everything dies with Him. Obviously, then, God could not have perished on the cross.

Some say, "It was the second person of the Trinity Who died." That would be a mutation within the very being of God, because when we look at the Trinity we say that the three are one in essence, and that though there are personal distinctions among the persons of the Godhead, those distinctions are not essential in the sense that they are differences in being. Death is something that would involve a change in one's being.

We should shrink in horror from the idea that God actually died on the cross. The atonement was made by the human nature of Christ. Somehow people tend to think that this lessens the dignity or the value of the substitutionary act, as if we were somehow implicitly denying the deity of Christ. God forbid. It's the God-man Who dies, but death is something that is experienced only by the human nature, because the divine nature isn't capable of experiencing death.

*by R.C. Sproul

April 3rd, 2010
In a new book of collected talks on Atonement, J. I. Packer writes on the necessity of the atonement and cites an old hymn by Joseph Hart. Packer writes: "Read it carefully, for this is the true gospel."

O ye sons of men be wise,
trust no longer dreams and lies,
Out of Christ, almighty pow'r
can do nothing but devour.

God you say is good. 'Tis true.
But he's pure and holy too;
just and jealous is his ire,
burning with vindictive fire.

This of old himself declared:
Israel trembled when they heard.
But the proof of proofs indeed
is he sent his Son to bleed.

When the blessed Jesus died
God was clearly justified:
Sin to pardon without blood
never in his nature stood.

Worship God, then, in his Son,
there he's love and there alone.
Think not that he will, or may,
pardon any other way.

See the suff'ring Son of God,
panting, groaning, sweating blood!
Brethren, this had never been
had not God detested sin.

Be his mercy therefore sought
in the way himself has taught:
There his clemency is such,
we can never trust too much.

He that better knows than we,
bids us all to Jesus flee.
Humbly take him at his Word
and your souls will bless the Lord!


March 18th, 2010
Well, tomorrow is my birthday.. and that marks the 4th year of this blog. I figured I would do one of those "this year in pictures" type post.. but more like "this past 4 years in pictures". So, here goes...


We took a spring break trip in 09 to "Blackingssburgvilletown" with Bobby and Ashley, our friends from Pembroke.



I've taken trips to the St. Lawrence river, "camp" for as long as I remember. This last year is when I proposed to Lauren on the dock before sunset.



97 camaro.. this thing took a long time to build, and I only owned it maybe 8 months before selling it.



I went to Africa with a group from Providence Baptist, and also my life long best friend, Ryan.



Have you ever seen so much beauty in one picture? Beautiful woman, beautiful car, beautiful sunset..




Me and my grandpa over at my Aunts house.



Back when I had short hair!




My 99 audi



My church gave away 400 backpacks filled with supplies to inner city schools in Raleigh.



1105 Capital Blvd, new church location!




Supercharged 00 camaro. wrecked this car two times! . too bad!




A picture one of my best friends Sara Spangler took by lake lynn. boy was it hot that day!



Raleigh getting some snow! Picture was taken from my wife's sisters condo in downtown.



Lauren and I at Campbell University.




Engagement photo at Pullen Park.



My friend Eric's driveway where we kept like 16 cars. This was my home away from home for about 8 months.




My friend Eric working on my 97 camaro. We put about 45,837 man hours in this thing!




Our church setup back when we met in BHS cafeteria.






My 00 camaro up at LHS parking lot.


Lauren and I got married Dec 19th, 2009





Some of my new toys.. taylor acoustic, fender tele, cheap mandolin...




We took a birds eye view tour of Syracuse from friends of ours.



My pastor, matt up at the office. He probably won't like me putting this picture up, but I just think its hilarious



My friends Josh and Angie getting baptized last year!





My parents bought a lakehouse!



I suprised Lauren with a song I wrote her and some flowers.




At the honeymoon spot in the mountains in TN. Thats our cabin in the background!


I bought a home in Sept. 09. This is my new living room! I literally just took this picture about 10 minutes ago, haha.



Some of the guys ballin it up at my parents house. (Sterling, Matt, Emmanuel, Vas)



Fun time at Pembroke with my roomates. I had two foreign exhange students from China - they were great. (Me, Moses, David T, Terrance)



My family (some of them..)




Lars and I played a retreat that was a lot of fun at Caswell (08?)



Lars and I playing up at the Broke Coffee House in Pebroke.



My old Turbocharged 97 camaro.




Pembroke BSU Band (I cant remember what church this is.. we played at so many, haha).




Mitchhhhh!!!!! aka Papa Bear





This picture is just funny. Im so pasty white and scrawny looking. It was a lot of fun out at Silver Lake to hang with friends/family when Lauren's sister Kim was getting married to Mike(the tall guy! haha).



Lauren having fun in the snow!