This past weekend my wife (Promise Tangeman-Wurzell) and I had the chance to go be with the McRae Family. Many of you know of the McRae’s because of their 6 year old daughter Kate who is battling against an aggressive brain tumor. If you aren’t clued in on Kate’s situation check out her website at www.prayforkate.com. Kate’s parents, Aaron and Holly, have become good friends of ours as they moved to Arizona last year to be on staff with us here at Cornerstone. We quickly grew to love the McRae family and our hearts break with them as they plead with God for the total healing of their daughter, Kate.
We were able to hang with them most of the day Saturday for a photoshoot of their family and we had the most amazing time. I’m amazed when we get the chance to be with the McRae’s by the way they continue to process this together as a family. Saturday was a day full of laughter, fun, ice cream, photos, going on secret spy missions with the 3 kids (Olivia, Kate and Will), Will showing his awareness to his fashion on multiple occasions, etc… We finished the day with some Olive Garden at their house, an American Idol contest (where we all judged the performers and sent them to Hollywood) and some heavy talks about their sweet girl Kate. I have to say, personally, Saturday was a day of true Christ-filled community. It was the kind of day Promise and I needed really bad. This family truly is one of the best families we know and we’re so honored to be in their lives in the midst of all that’s in front of them.
Today, sweet Kate has just checked back in to the hospital for her 6th and most intense round of chemotherapy treatment. The treatment, as I understand it, is so intense that they’ll need to be in the hospital anywhere from 4-6 weeks. They’ll be taking her system down to a place where they can reintroduce good stem cells that they harvested months ago and the hope is to reset the body with positive, healthy, cancer free cells! It will be one of the longest stays in the hospital since her brain surgery last July and they will all need huge prayer and huge encouragement during this time.
I write this to remind us all not to forget about Kate and the McRae family. They desperately need our prayers. Kate desperately needs the miraculous healing that Jesus can bring to her body. I want to ask you to take these pictures from my blog and do something with them as they begin this treatment. These pictures were taken this past weekend and Kate looked AMAZING, she has a stunning beauty and joy about her young life. Their family is a great looking bunch too (not to mention that Patrick their GoldenDoodle is the coolest dog on planet earth).
Here’s what I’m going to ask you to do:
I want to rally another movement of prayer for Kate and the McRae Family. Would you consider taking these photos and doing one or all of the following:
*Blog: Take the pictures here on my blog and use them in a blog post asking your network of people to Pray for Kate and the McRae Family. Let people know they can follow along by sending them and linking stuff on your blog post to http://prayforkate.com :: In the post please ask people to post a blog/twitter/facebook with one of these pictures to invite their network of people to PRAY!
*Twitter: Send out a Twitter post to you networks telling people to pray for #katemcrae as she goes through intense treatment. Send your readers to http://prayforkate.com for updates and attach one of the photos in your Twitter update. Also, ask people to RT (retweet)!
*Facebook: Send out a Facebook update and post one of the photos in your update. Remind people to pray for this family and for Kate. Please tell them to share the photo and a link to http://prayforkate.com on through facebook and ask their networks to do the same
I am confident that this kind of viral blitz is an amazing way to use your online network, however big or small, as a tool to connect people for something worthy. I think people want to be invited in to pray for a girl like Kate and a family like the McRae’s. I think God loves it when we come to Him rallying for each other and trusting Him.
Thanks in advance for loving the McRae’s whether you know them personally or not. It means the world to them in this really tough season. Okay, it’s your turn to make this thing happen. Let’s light up the Social Network platforms moving people to pray, yet again, for Kate McRae!!
Today, my good friend Carlos Whittaker’s EP is available for your download and listening pleasure. Carlos, Heather and their family have quickly become some great friends of mine and Promise. We are so excited for Carlos in this new adventure of taking his music to the streets. He’s got an amazing heart for God and people. I think you’re really going to enjoy this worship project. The songs have singable melodies and remind us of Gods love for us and propel the listener to love God more!
At the end of the day when you meet Lil’ Los (Losiah) you won’t be able to resist dowloading Carlos’ new EP. Knowing he’s training this little guy up to know and follow Jesus…well…it’s worth every dollar of the download! Go get the EP on iTunes or wherever and support this amazing new artist and a friend of mine!
We are in a new series here at Cornerstone called 3-2-B which, in essence, is a series that’s sort of pointing our church to simple ways to walk closer to Jesus. The ‘3 to be strong’ are Worship, Grow and Serve. We’re talking about this idea and asking the question, ‘what IF every person in our church took a step forward in this season in each of those areas? What could happen? How much more like Christ could we become if we actually matured in our faith? How much could our maturity influence Kingdom capacity?’
This past weekend we talked to the concept of worship. We talked about this idea that worship is the bowing down of our lives in the obedient effort to give God His rightful place in our lives. His rightful place is first and above everything else. Worship is the broad canvas of our lives and there is nothing in our lives that get excluded. Everything is spiritual and everyone has the ability to worship.
As the Worship Leader at a local church I have to be honest to say that there is nothing more frustrating than how we have compartmentalized the concept of Worship to music. Music is but a fiber of what worship really should be in our lives. True worship is the bowing down of our lives in the every decision of our every day.
If you’re like a lot of people though, you may have had a simple yet unanswered question that may be the following: ‘WHY DO WE SING?’ It seems like singing is a foundational element of what we do in our local churches. I think I’ve got a guy that may be able to give you some insights on this question.
I’ve got an AMAZING friend, mentor and theologian in my life that I want you all to get to know. His name is Dr. John Hubley. The guy is an absolute lover of life, people and the Word of God. He has been responsible for taking me to all new places as it relates to my ‘Biblical Interpretation of Worship’. I’ve done everything I can to get this guy on film to capture his wisdom and legacy.
I recently sat down with John to ask him this burning question, ‘WHY DO WE SING?’.
Where there any new concepts or ideas that you learned about WHY WE SING that came out through this video? Do you like to express your worship in song? Do you dislike expressing your worship in song? What does singing mean to you in light of hearing that singing is close to the heart of God?
This morning I watched a picture montage of the tragedy that is Haiti today. I watched as THOUSANDS of people stood in line in the HOT sun waiting, hoping and fighting over bags of beans, rice and oil. Many of them waited for hours just to be told that there wasn’t enough and the aid group had given out all the food they had. The already hungry people of Haiti are now even hungrier in the aftermath of the earthquake. I was struck with the reality that as Christ followers, when it comes to those in need, prayer alone will not be enough.
I had a couple interesting and diverse comments from people on a Twitter post I put out on the subject. Some agreed, some totally disagreed and said that prayer is sometimes all you can do. Personally, I could not disagree more with that statement. I would love to hear your thoughts on prayer and the needs of the poor. Do you think that it, alone, will be enough from what you know about what Jesus commands us to do?
Below is my response to the person that may disagree with me on this statement. I think Jesus sets the record straight on how we ought to engage those in need. I want to make clear that I am a FIRM advocate that prayer is an essential component to following Jesus, but, on it’s own it will not meet the needs of the poor. Here is my response:
I look at Matthew 25 where Jesus delivers his poignant and final sermon on ‘The Sheep and The Goats’. As you read that passage, NO WHERE, does Jesus mention that if we ‘pray’ for the least of these that it’s somehow serving their needs. Interesting, because I think Jesus (of all people) knew and understood prayer and the power of it. I find it interesting that these were His words in His final sermon:
Matthew 25:34
34″Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
When he says those things, the questions come:
44″They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
He makes this next BOLD statement regarding 34-36 to answer the question and it’s interesting that He never ONCE mentions prayer. He mentions physical, tangible ways in which we serve Him when we serve others. The outcome of ‘when’ we do these things comes in this next verse:
45″He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
He then talks about what happens to ‘the goats’ or those that did not live these things out:
46″Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
I’ve heard it said that Matthew 25 is not so much concerned about the ‘ROOT’ of salvation, but, about the ‘FRUIT’ of salvation. It’s almost as if Jesus is saying, you cannot LOVE me and NOT engage in the plight of the less fortunate.
Again, I observe, PRAYER alone will not be enough to meet the call of what Jesus asks of us to develop as the fruit of our salvation. I’m not saying dismiss prayer, but, I am saying we better do more than just pray according to Jesus. My prayer is that Jesus would give me the courage and heart to serve the way He wants me to serve. I hope it’s your prayer too.
I’d LOVE your thoughts on this post. What do you think?
One of the highlights of 2009 was the chance to get to know Charlie Hall. I wrote about it after my time with him back in April 2009.
I’m reminded of the beautiful lyrics he penned called ‘New Year’. It’s a song of recognizing the pain of our past, yet, pointing towards the hope and light that is found only in Jesus for our future. It’s a powerful song of redemption and restoration! It’s a song that deals with failure and hope. Dark and light. It’s a song that roots itself in the power of what God can do in our lives. This is a New Year…so RISE, SHINE and point the way to GOD’s great light. It is my prayer over my life and over yours for 2010! May we point the way for MANY this year to the great light and life that is found in Christ.
I’d love for you to leave a link to your ‘Year in Review’ here on my blog. I wanna read what happened in your life in 2009 and what you’re hopeful towards in 2010. Drop a link!
New Year by Charlie Hall
Verse 1
My heart beats like a drum, flying up with the sun as I grab your hand again!
Renovated with life, my eyes again bright. You are radiant!
Pre-Chorus
Where hope can hold my hand in sorrow and we can walk in tomorrow
Where peace is found in troubled days and the joy of Jesus carries pain
Chorus
This is a new year. This is a new day to rise, shine and lift up your eyes.
This is a new year. This is a new day to rise, shine and point the way to Gods great life.
Verse 2
I’m held in this place, this beautiful space where heaven meets the earth.
My heart opens wide and the Father pours life deep inside my soul.
How true this is!!! Seriously though, I’m about to go Christmas SHOPPING and I’m pretty quick to get annoyed. Hopefully this will remind me not to take myself to seriously…I HAVE RESOURCES TO GO SHOPPING….THAT’S AMAZING. Don’t be a Scrooge this Christmas Season.
My friend, Andy Barron, who works with Switchfoot shot me a link today. I have to say that Promise and I haven’t laughed that hard in a while. It’s a video like this that makes me hope that one day I’ll have a little girl that’s cool, personable and loves her some music. If you haven’t heard Switchfoot’s new record called ‘Hello Hurricane’, well, do yourself a favor and quit missing out.
The first video is of the Switchfoot music video and Andy Barron did a bunch of the footage for the video. You’ve got to watch the real music video first so that you have context. Once you’ve finished watching the real music video make sure to watch this little 6 year old girl, Kadyn, totally bring the heat on the song. SO AWESOME!!! I’d love to hear your comments too!
I thought this was quite a provoking thought from a great thought leader on the tension of ‘The Worship Industry’. This definitely creates more questions than answers for those of us ‘Worship Leaders’. We can tend to be suckers for the ‘feeling’ and when it’s not experienced there are many things we are quick to blame. I think we are doing ourselves and our communities a disservice when we allow the barometer of our experiences to become an industry of good feelings.
The real art is creating environments that are engaging and yet honest in their every intent. It is quite the tension. I really do think I carry a heart to create environments in which we worship honestly. I love gatherings that allow me/us to live in light of our wins and our struggles/failures. I think we need to expose both with equal value, it’s real life. Honest worship is the lament and the praise. The bowed down low and the lifted high. Recognizing our failures help us know how to celebrate our wins at another level. Recognizing, together, that we’re all in the same boat and life isn’t always a sugar coated treat is so important in our churches. People are sick, people are well, people are winning, people are losing, people fail and people succeed. This is the teeter totter of life and in all things Christ is making a way to bring glory to the Father in our ins and our outs. Following Jesus is not always as easy as we sometimes wish it could be, it’s a journey. It’s a long journey of consistent dependence on Christ, He is the Hope of Glory and we must lean into him in every season.
Worship Leaders: Do you feel like your environments and mindset provide a place for you to break the mold of ‘The Worship Industry’ which has it’s roots in pleasing the consumer? Are you finding it a task to sing things true of the reality of what it looks like to follow Jesus? What songs are you singing that bring out the lament and what songs bring out the praise? Is the art we’re creating really art or are we writing songs to produce the consumer feeling? Is the art we’re offering our communities really art or is it just an attempt at evoking that ‘feeling’ that we like, on one side or the other.
This last weekend had some special love on it. I don’t know if it had to with the prayer that has been going on before, after or during the gatherings or God is just simply moving in the lives of people that are coming. Either way, it was a great Sunday. I blogged about one of the songs we did which was a hymn called ‘Holy God’. It’s an incredible hymn and I think you should check out the blog post about it.
We also did the Chorus and Bridge of another new Matt Maher tune called Christ Has Risen. It was an amazing night of prayer and song. Here’s a couple videos from the day. Beware, the audio came off of the Front of House mix…so the recording quality isn’t Grammy level. At least it will give you an idea of what we did though and it’s been a while since I’ve posted me leading. Let me know what you thought about the songs. Enjoy!
My good friend Matt Maher is a student of the hymns. Last year, I heard a retooled version of this song while praying with Matt Maher and his gang. It was such a powerful statement of the theology of our faith. I love that this hymn comes from the 1700’s. It’s a song of the fathers of our faith. There were men and women writing songs in the 1700’s with the same heart and mind that I have about my faith in 2009. There were people hundreds of years ago crafting melodies for the corporate gathering with a heart to teach theology through their song. There were men and women bowed down in awe of the mighty hand of God.
Matt wrote a beautiful chorus addition to this old hymn. I’ve actually never asked Matt why he wrote the chorus or why he chose this hymn, but, when I sing it I’m reminded of the timelessness of the faith we have through Jesus Christ. What an amazing gift to be able to sing truthful words, worship our God, teach theology and gather in awe of our amazing God. How sweet to look back in history and know that men and women worshiped and adored the same God that we worship and adored today in Chandler, Arizona, today in 2009. We do it bowed down with one heart and one mind declaring that He alone is holy!!!
Worship Leaders: What songs are you singing in your church that are full of theology?
Here’s how we did it at church today!
Check out these lyrics:
Holy God
Holy God, we praise Thy Name;
Lord of all, we bow before Thee!
All on earth Thy scepter claim,
All in Heaven above adore Thee;
Infinite Thy vast domain,
Everlasting is Thy reign.
Hark! the loud celestial hymn
Angel choirs above are raising,
Cherubim and seraphim,
In unceasing chorus praising;
Fill the heavens with sweet accord:
Holy, holy, holy, Lord
We praise You with one heart
We bless You with one mind
We bow down in awe of Your might
For You alone are holy
Holy Father, Holy Son,
Holy Spirit, Three we name Thee;
While in essence only One,
Undivided God we claim Thee;
And adoring bend the knee,
While we own the mystery.
May I recommend that you buy Matt’s newest record called ‘Alive Again’?? I can, almost, promise you that you will not disappoint. Click the picture above for a link to the record! Enjoy!
WOAHH, where did time go? I've been working on some @SlingshotGroup projects and it's now 2am?!? Yikes. Here's to really good sleep!! gnite! 1 hour ago
Sitting in a 'Meet the Staff' gathering @cschandler. I wonder how many of these I've been to in my almost 8 yrs. I still really enjoy these! 6 hours ago
