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I just watched this video-testimony on Perry Noble’s blog and was nearly moved to tears (did I just admit that?)

What a powerful testimony this is of life-change that is possible with complete surrender to God!



Thanks to NewSpring Church for creating this beautiful video! And thanks to Jason & Jennifer for being willing to share their story with all of us!

Jennifer’s quote sums it up: “No situation is hopeless, nothing is too big for God.”

I love that!

Today was a fantastic Sunday at Shippensburg First Wesleyan. I started a new DVD-based curriculum in my Sunday School class this morning that will run for the next 6-weeks and focus on educating Christians on some of the cults and religions in our society.

I also preached a message entitled, “No More Excuses” based on the interaction between God and Moses in Exodus 4. One of my visual-illustrations was this terrific Nike commercial featuring Matt Scott, a professional wheelchair basketball player.

Sermon audio is here if you’re interested.

It was also quite overwhelming to recognize the Veterans within our small congregation. I counted at least 8 this morning that served in our Nation’s Armed Force branches.

I left this morning with a renewed excitement for what is happening at First Wesleyan! The Holy Spirit was so evident this morning as we worshiped together and I was humbled again as I walked out of the church at what the Lord has trusted me with in shepherding this congregation.

This morning we also announced our 4-week Christmas series that we will be launching starting November 28th. It’s called Come Together. I’m looking forward to the Christmas-season and sharing the holiday with our Shippensburg First Wesleyan family! I have a brainstorming-session/meeting with a couple of our creative-ladies from the church tomorrow morning to brainstorm how we can possibly transform our church sanctuary into something unique and Christmassy. I can’t wait!

Hillsong NYC

10.31.2010 — 2 Comments

I had heard that Hillsong Church (Australia) was launching a church in New York City – Hillsong NYC. I wasn’t keeping up with the details and found out today that they held their first service just a few weeks ago on October 17th.

The church is co-pastored by Joel Houston & Carl Lentz. They will launch weekly services in February and are doing the monthly gathering soft-launch model that is seeming to be more and more popular with new church plants.

Judging from their launch-video, I’m excited to see that that they are reaching a large population from the city for the Lord!

I love what Carl says in the video: “If New York City is a melting pot, then Hillsong NYC should reflect that. And our prayer is that God will always give us favor so that our church will be a place where anybody can call it home.”

I’m proud to be a part of the ONE church around the world that surrenders to Jesus Christ as our head. I will continue to pray for churches like Hillsong NYC that are waving proudly the banner of our Lord Jesus!

NYC is only 4-ish hours away from us here in Shippensburg. Who’s up for a Saturday road trip?

This is an incredible display of “planned improv” (I just made that up, of course). It’s a commercial for T-Mobile UK somehow and it features a select group of VERY talented voices gathered at London’s Heathrow Airport (Terminal 5).

Their display of love-for-strangers is catchy don’t you think?

You will want to watch this video, I can almost guarantee it!

Songs heard in this piece:
“At Last” by Etta James
“The Boys are Back in Town” by Thin Lizzy
“Oh My God” by Lily Allen
“Comin’ Home Baby” by Michael Buble
“Return of the Mack” by Mo’Reese Marks
“The Passenger” by Iggy Pop
“I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)” by George Michael & Aretha Franklin
“Welcome Home” by Peters & Lee

I love reading the Tweets and Blogs of a few ‘famous’ people. One of those ‘famous’ people is Adam Young – the young man behind the group “Owl City” and that song-you-can’t-get-out-of-your-head “Fireflies“.

I had known for awhile that Adam is proud-and-loud about his faith in Jesus Christ – but only via third-parties. Some of his music and lyrics had shown up in some youth ministry resources with a blurb about his testimony for Christ.

Just this week, however, Adam made it extremely clear personally where his “hope is found” via a blog post over at his site – owlcityblog.com

From his blog post:
_____

As I’m so often reminded what a priceless gift my life is, I ache with everything in me to make it count, so that when I finally cross the finish line, I’ll hear the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

To me, there is no greater reward.

Of course, all of this weighs heavily on the spiritual scale, so allow me to be completely honest and say none of it is intended to be “crammed down the throat,” if you will. That is not my intention. This is what I wholeheartedly believe, and to that belief, I remain steadfast until He returns or calls me home.

One thing is certain:

When He comes for His own, He will have no trouble recognizing me… because my banner will be clear.

___

Powerful words from the twenty-four year old singer/songwriter.

Young also embeded a recently-recorded cover-track of “In Christ Alone”, written by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend. That is getting radio-play now here, locally.

You can download the track here: “In Christ Alone” by Owl City.