Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: blog, blogging, friend, Kris Mohrman, new
my good buddy started a blog. Go show him some love. Check his blog everyday like a stalker.
He’s a good dude/youth pastor/musician/fountain of creativity/new dad/has a cool wife/great friend.
happy blogging, satchmo!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: artist, baseball, belmont university, blog, blogging, brian kelley, nashville, songwriter, worship
A couple weeks ago, Brian Kelley came in to lead us in worship during our weekend gatherings. I couldn’t help but be impressed with his spirit, attitude, leadership, etc. He’s one of those guys that you just know is going to do well at what he puts his mind to. It was such a powerful weekend as I was able to just enjoy the presence of God.
Brian plays baseball for Belmont University in Nashville and a while back I took my daughter to watch him pitch. Not only did he win over my daughter completely and become probably her first big crush (she’s 4, back off), but I too was inspired by his discipline. It takes a lot to compete at that level. I told him later that I wish I could just one time run off the mound to the dugout in an excited fury after getting that third strike on the third out!! what a rush!!
Check out Brian’s blog. In addition to everything else, he’s an up and coming songwriter and artist. Be on the lookout for him.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: blog, blogging, healer, lies, Mike Guglielmucci, scandal, Todd bently, trust
I’ve been trying to stay away from blogging about the “Healer” scandal (I mean scandal mostly sarcastically). I do want to weigh in on whats bugs me the most about this whole situation.
If Christians continue to glamorize and make celebrities out of leaders it’s going to continue to give Christianity and Jesus a bad name.
We do it to ourselves. We set people like Mike Guglielmucci and Todd Bentley on an undeserved pedal stool and then are in unbelief when they prove to be human.
I’ve had people ask me, “Are you still going to that song, Healer?” like theres some kind of curse on it. Listen, the song is anointed but so are thousands of other songs. I never did the song because of the writer so I’m not going to stop because of him either.
The truth is, as he was leading the song with and oxygen tube in his nose, he was suffocating. Suffocating from an addiction that was killing him. To me, the song “Healer” increased in significance for several reasons.
A) Although he wasn’t writing it about cancer, I believe he sincerely wrote it as a cry for help.
B) I appreciate that the song talks about who God is, no matter where you’re at. “I believe You’re my Healer” as opposed to “Thank You that I’m healed” takes the focus off us and puts in onto Christ. It speaks of His nature and character. He is the healer whether you’re healed or not. I can sing this song when I’m sick and when I’m well. It puts the focus on him and off me.
C) They’re are many times I’m leading a song by faith and not feeling. Often we have to proclaim God’s truth and healing over our lives before it happens. I believe this is what Mike was doing.
I don’t look down on him, I identify with him. We all have things in our life that need healing.
My daughter Grace turned 4 today. We had a massive princess party for her at my mom’s house. In classic form, my mom went over the top and put on an amazing party for her. One she won’t soon forget.
This afternoon I was reflecting on the night she was born. I was in a place of frustration, burn out, and all the other crap that comes along with it. Satan had me completely twisted around on what I believed or thought to be truth. I was ready to give it all up until August 16th, 2004. A day I’ll always remember. Not just because of Gracie’s birth but also because it was the day where my heavenly Father revealed his love to me again. As I sat that first night, Jamie was asleep, and I was holding Grace in my arms, I weeped for this new love I never felt before; the love of a Father. I couldn’t help but ask God, “This is how you felt about me all along?”. I realized that my life is so much bigger than me or what I want to get from it. That love was about giving not getting.
God has brought Jamie and I to an amazing place in our lives since then. His blessings are too many to count.
I can’t wait until Gracie gets old enough for me to sit down with her to tell her how she saved my life; how she’s my gift, my gift of Grace.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: blog, blogging, the beachside church, worship
Just a reminder for you Beachsiders and folks in the central Florida area, we’ll worship together tonight at 6:30 in addition to the worship gatherings tomorrow. Come check out the Sat night worship gathering. Its a real laid back, fun service. Plus, Robbie’s message this week is going to be off the charts. Trust me, you won’t want to miss it.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: blog, blogging, chad jarnagin, coldplay, the blogstar, viva la vida
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Bible study, blog, blogging, pagan christianity, the beachside church
We invite you to join us on Wednesday nights starting on August 6th from 6:30-7:30pm (light food at 6:00pm). We will do a 6 week book study using “Pagan Christianity?” The purpose of the book is “Exploring the roots of our church practice’s”. “Are we really doing church by the book?” The purpose of the 6 week discussion is to consider what it means for Beachside to do church. What is discipleship? What does a small group ministry look like? How do we best honor God with our faith without increasing the burden of religion?
Just on a personal note, this book/Bible study will really expose a lot of the common practices within the church. It’s good to read the book or participate in the study with an open heart and mind. We are asking God to reveal truth to us without putting limitations on Him because of what can be our own narrow mindedness. I look forward to the discussion that comes from this.
For more info on the book check out www.paganchristianity.org
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: blog, blogging, musical, psalty the singing songbook
My mom made me play “Psalty the singing songbook” when I was in middle school. Complete with the blue tights, painted face, and the cardboard box I had to wear. This really starts to explain many of my adult issues. Watch this video and you’ll understand.
The goal is to see how far into you can get without your gag reflex triggering.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: blog, blogging, failure, freedom to risk, the beachside church, worship
One of the things that has been built into our DNA as a church from the beginning is the freedom to take risks. The evil step brother of that is failure. I revisited this concept with the launch of our new sat night worship gathering last week. This means our forth gathering for the weekend. I get a bunch of feedback on both sides of the argument. Some say its a fun service that works real well and others say it will wear you out. I guess it all depends on personal experience. The point is, sometimes in the church world, we won’t try anything because we’re so afraid it might fail. Therefore, we keep doing the same ineffective, “safe” things.
We’re going to do everything within our power to make it work. We obviously want it to succeed. BUT if it doesn’t, we’ll kill it. We’ll try something else. The great news is that we are growing and need to accommodate the growth somehow. I know that a sat night worship gathering is tame compared to the things that God is wanting us to do in the future.
I love not having the pressure to be tied down to a tradition. I love having the freedom to experiment, take risks, fail, and continue to find new ways to point people to Christ.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: block party, blog, blogging, the beachside church, worship
This weekend was pretty intense. Crazy but good. Here’s my weekend mind dump;
- There were moments in the week where I was pretty sure I was going to get everything done for the weekend. The team came together well and pulled it off. The new set looks good.
- I was nervous our block party was going to get rained out. A massive storm came through but thankfully was gone by the time the event started. A few lightning strikes set us back a bit but we bounced back quick.
- It was awesome to see all the volunteers at work making the event happen. Kudos to Steve and Missy for coordinating all that.
- Our first Sat night worship gathering went great. Great crowd, great energy. I love to see people excited about God and what He is doing in their lives. I think Sat night is going to be a fun service.
- This weekend we kicked off a new series called, “The Game of Life”. I won’t go into it all but I will say the teaching was great. Just go to the website and listen to it.
- To see our church grow in worship is awesome. We’ve come a long ways. People are excited about Christ and that shows.
- Tonight the fam and I went out with some close friends and had some much needed down/chill time. I appreciate that now more than ever.
Drew Powell 