more leeland

Okay, so I'm not head-over-heels about this band or anything, but this is cool for a variety of reasons:

The YouTube note on it says, "Performing inside a Chick-Fil-A because the show was rained out."

First of all, Chick-fil-A is a chain of fast food restaurants (whose claim to fame has been - you guessed it - chicken sandwiches) in the south. I'd never heard of them. Their official statement, as quoted on the front page of the website partly states, "to glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us and to have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A." Cool.

So I love ... and I spent many of my developmental years surrounded by bad to mediocre bands performing in pizza joints, skating rinks, and basements so if all this sounds foreign to you just know I'm not crazy. There are people out there who need this, really.

So I love that when the show got rained out, they just plugged in a guitar and a mic for the lead singer and let him worship in the fast food restaurant. Come on - that's cool. He probably didn't have a monitor set up, and probably felt relatively alone without the other four band members.

I also like the crowd. There's a toddler just behind him jumping around, there are several middle-aged women singing along, the guy behind him is his brother I'm told, there's the older guy in a suit and tie directly in the field of vision. As the little camera moves you see people of all ages ... worshipping Jesus in a chicken joint. What's not to love?

leeland

This is an indie-punk band called Leeland. Timothy just pointed them out to me. I'd never heard of them, but I already want any/every CD they have available. A little YouTube research provided a dozen videos of them just worshipping in punk venues and department stores when shows got rained out. Pretty amazing.

Their website is here.

spring is coming

Sunday morning (was days ago, I know ... it's busy around here) I sat at the keyboard on stage at CITW and let my fingers follow the progression of chords the team was on as I looked around. PJ sat faithfully at his post behind the sound board watching and listening and bantering with Laura who is always faithfully somewhere but this morning was preparing overhead slides for worship. Laura - between the banter - sang along with Tami and Mike "...a thousand times I've failed, still Your mercy remains..."

Little Alexis pulled open the door just off the sound booth and half-drug Hannah inside the sanctuary, followed closely by Noah and Sammy. The kids obediently planted themselves on a short row of chairs off in the shadows and watched the team on stage. Sammy bounced in his seat and clapped surprisingly close to the beat for a three year old.

Bianca entered through another door, looking absolutely gorgeous and yet administrative as only a few strong women can do. Clipboard in hand, she was on a mission, but she took a deep breath and picked up the pre-chorus "...let justice and praise become my embrace, to love You from the inside out..." She handed something to Tami, commented on the business of the morning, and left through a third door.

The kids held down that row of chairs - though Sammy's was still evidently resisting.

Then it was Bette, in through the same door as Bianca and apparently following suit. Her hip jacket and big sunglasses somehow complimented her motherly affection and prophetic wisdom, where in anyone else it would have been an offensive contradiction. She placed her purse on her seat and joined in "... my purpose remains the art of losing myself in bringing You praise ..." She delivered a chord to a very grateful substitute guitarist and closed the sanctuary door behind her as the chorus crashed, "And the cry of my heart is to bring You praise. From the inside, out, Lord, my soul cries out..."

Tim walked in, and Sammy got off beat again, and I was completely overcome by Christ's love for his Church. Not just me and my friends, and not my weak heart back to Him - Him and His bride and the love that started it all. This is what three years of ministry was for. He came and lived and died for my sins, but He gave everything He had to train up 12 guys at the same time and this is why.

I closed my eyes to keep from crying and quietly sang along, "... never-ending, Your glory goes beyond all fame ..." Suddenly, my spirit resonated with a word, "Spring is coming," and I knew it meant so much more than the snow melting and the feeling of sun on my skin again.

Spring is when gray is exchanged for color, hopelessness for joy. Spring is when we finally clean out cars and basements and cluttered places that have been sitting dorment and stuffy for far too long. It's when driving, walking - moving - becomes a pleasure again, rather than a chore. It's when the ice and snow that has plagued the surface finally melts and softens the hard soil beneath. Spring is when seed starts to sprout and life emerges in places we'd forgotten about.

Relief washed over me and seemed to ease a burden I didn't even know was there. There is a breakthrough, a release, a new level, whatever you want to call it ... I'm sticking with "spring," coming - and soon.

I'm not sure why CNN hasn't called yet ...

In other exciting news ... brave voyagers Timothy and Dave successfully trekked across the frozen Fox River on Saturday. Video is forthcoming.

Connor and Caleb watch from the relative safety of a snow-covered picnic table.

IT was all kinds of good clean ... boredom. Because, really, once you're out there ... it's over as soon as it's begun.

exciting news!

So much news and so little time!

Perhaps best of all is Bianca Poms is pregnant! Hooray! And as this is your headquarters for all Church in the Word baby happenings, rest assured there will be updates over the next nine to 10 months. Oooh, baby.

In other exciting news, Titus has emailed from the Philippeans ... twice! Here's the first:

I had a free moment, so i thought I would send you guys an update on how I'm doing. Things are going well. I lost my wallet, and a lot of money, but I am okay for the remainder of my trip, so no worries there at all. God has been teaching me a lot about storing my riches up with Him instead of on earth. Solomon says that everything under the sun is vanity... Jesus tells us to store up our treasures in heaven. He says, "where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." it is true, and since the heavens are above the sun, I am no longer going to store up my treasures under the sun.

Well, the ministry out here is going great. I am helping out a lot with speaking, and I am being used as the right hand mand of the pastor in charge, so I get to hear about a lot of different issues and aspects of what is going on. It is pretty neat. We have to be careful and intentional to schedule time with God because there are a lot of things that come up. It isn't that you can't be with God when you're doing those things, and it isn't that you aren't with God always, but time alone with God is what I desire, and I can now get a small glimpse of why Jesus often withdrew himself into the wilderness for time to pray.

God is working here though, in great ways. We will be doing a VBS in April, and that will be very fun, the kids here are awesome and they are love Jesus. So it is very encouraging to be around them. God has also been working in the adults. Last Thursday we got a report that a pastor's wife was having difficulty with her baby. She was 7 months along with a due date in April. Jhun (the head pastor as of now [Rob, who I guess would be called the senior pastor, is in the states]) and I fasted on Friday from dawn until dusk. Then on Sunday before service I found out that the problem was that they could not detect a heartbeat in the baby and the woman was having discharges. She told me about it and I asked her if she wanted prayer, and she said yes, so we (her, her husband, a disciple, and myself) went in to her house to pray (which is connected to the church). While we were in there, we laid hands on her, and prayed for a bit. And then church had to start, but I didn't feel like I was supposed to be in service, and I felt I was supposed to pray for her through the service. So I asked if it was okay to do so and they said sure. So I prayed. And I prayed. And I prayed. It ended up being a three hour service! But the Lord lead me to some scriptures, mainly in John 14, about using Jesus' name, and taught me a lot about what it was to have faith. So she decided to come home with us so that we could take her to the city in the morning and she could go to the doctor for a check up. On the way home from church I was practicing my Tagalog and I was trying to say, "God of life, you are good", which I managed to get out, and Jhun asked me if I was listening to worship, and I said no. He said that they were singing a song about that! The song was in English, Hebrew, and Tagalog. Well anyway, through the day she was saying that her stomach was hard, and looked upset. So when the morning came, we went to the doctors office, dropped her off for the examination. When we came back, she was there and she said that her baby was fine, and that it had a normal heartbeat! Praise God! It was very good news.

So we are now working in more of the ministry aspect of life rather than the repair aspect of it all. A lot of the island has power, and a lot of it has water too. We get brown-outs but it isn't too bad. I haven't been sick either, which is great. Though I have gotten sun burned twice. And it is no fun. The first time was because I didn't wear sun screen at all, the second time was because i didn't think to but sun screen on my lower back, so i have a pink bar across my back from where my shirt lifted up. you live and learn though, right?

Anyway, God is very good, and things are going splended. Please keep me in your prayers and let me know how things are going at church.

Then, today, I got:

Hey guys, sorry for the email again, but I have some good news. Right after I sent out the email to you guys saying that I lost my wallet, and updating you on what has happened, I started to leave the internet place, and there was a tricycle (like a taxi) waiting out there, and when I got in, the driver hands me my ID and says, "Do you know this guy?" Ha! Praise God! It was good, he had all of the contents of my wallet except for the money and the actual wallet, but that's okay. So I got my social security card back, my drivers license and ID, and my bank account number, credit cards and my library card back. I was worried about the library card because I didn't want to come back home and find out that I had overdue books!!! THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN A DISASTER!

But I thought I would update you though. My wallet had been lost for about two weeks, but I knew I would get it back. Now I only have to wait for the money to come back. I told the Lord that when the wallet came we would lead the person to Him, not as a bargain, but for the glory of the Lord. I invited him to the college and career night, which is tomorrow. I think he will come, but if he doesn't, I know that the Lord will give me opportunities to minister to him.

Anyway, God is good, and I need to get going. Keep me in your prayers.

Titus

Good stuff. I've got more. Hopefully I can get back to you tonight before midweek service. Come to midweek service!

hoodie

Check it out: I made a hoodie. Well ... I decorated a hoodie.

And I have no idea why it keeps loading sideways, but so be it. I'm looking at it in my iPhoto and it's fine ... I'm just not that savvy ... or patient right now. You get the idea. "Jesus heals emo." I crack myself up. If you want to see it right-side-up you can come to Switch tonight.

That's all.

FYI

This is a public service announcement: I lost my phone Tuesday night. I suspect it got plowed into one of the mounds of snow that currently frames our parking lot. So if you're trying to call me - I'm not being rude. Send me an email and I might get it. Your best bet if you really need to get a hold of me is to call Timothy.

offense

I think I encountered a new level of offence this afternoon. I shouldn't even put it in past tense, because honestly I think I'm experiencing it still. I still feel a little like my chest cavity collapsed and some fragment of bone has punctured some vital organ. It's making it hard to breathe.

These things are so hard, but I know a year from now it will seem like the smallest trial. Right now, though, I don't even want to talk about the specific thing that happened. Not to you, not to my parents, not to my husband, not to a total stranger. If you know me, you know I tend to wear my heart on my sleeve, but this hurts me so much I just don't want to speak it.

I know that right now I should go pray, and then go enjoy a good midweek service, but I'm still trying to decide if I wouldn't rather just go home and be alone. Clean my apartment - which has been on my To Do list since the weekend, and now it's Wednesday already - and calm myself down. I know if I go, though, that I'll clean and I'll pray, but I probably won't really calm down.

I know I need to forgive, let the Lord be my judge, and not worry about what my accuser thinks of me ... but it really bugs me what he told me he thinks of me. I should stand before God, and God alone, but I'm grinding my teeth right now.

I know that Jesus was falsely accused and opened not His mouth, and that a servant is not above her Master ... but I have this righteous sense of what I percieve to be justice that really wants to write a strongly worded letter. And I know that my perception of justice is skewed, and that, being chief among sinners, justice is the last thing I should be asking for.

I know all these things. I know the condition of my heart right now is wrong. I know I need to close my eyes and take a deep breath and smile and lay aside vengence and go to the dumb party Sunday afternoon. I don't want to do any of those things, though.

So what is this? Good, because I realize the deception of my heart, or bad, because I won't immediately silence it?

back from the weekend

Mondays are extra irritating when the weekends are so packed full of the Holy Spirit. I know He's here in my office but don't try to tell me its the same - because I'll tell you that you probably missed church this Sunday. But let's back up ...

Friday night was record-awesome. Over 40 teenagers showed up for our youth ministry service, and yet another one surrendered her life to Jesus. It's interesting (and many times frustrating) to watch the spiritual walks of a group of teenagers. Some are running forward, some kind of sprint and then get tired, others are crawling as though the floor is unsteady, some stand still and wave to people as they pass, still others can't seem to decide which was is forward. The best is when one of them suddenly breaks into a sprint, but recently a couple of the runners seem to be looking around funny. Just keep praying for them ... and for the youth leaders. We need it.

Saturday I drove to WHEATON and back to accompany a young trumpet player. Wheaton. That took way too long. I was starting to get frustrated at slow/bad drivers, red lights every 1.5 miles, zero parking availability, and being lost in an elementary school that was so crowded with pre-pubescent musicians it stank a little like a locker room. Just as I was about to lose it a still, small voice reminded me that I didn't really have any claim on my time anyway. Ouch. "Whose life is this, again, Mine or yours? If it's Mine, why are you so upset about you?" That ended that.

Saturday evening was spent putting together packets for the youth missions trip meeting Sunday, and watching Luther. I'm getting through Here I Stand right now, so the movie was a good reinforcement of what I'm learning. As far as I am in the book, the movie was pretty darn accurate, which never happens. I recommend both. My wonderful husband, Timothy, showed up a little later for the last half of the movie and some spaghetti. Being that we were working on missions stuff, I guess, he stopped off at some Indian grocer near our apartment and got three bottles of Thum's Up. Where ever I am Thum's Up (no, there's no B) will always taste like a dirty road side stop in India. Mmmm.

Church on Sunday morning was better than ever. Worship didn't want to end, which was okay with everyone. Holy Spirit wanted an alter call just then, and pastor obliged. I love it when that happens. There are mornings when it seems like the people who are really searching for God find His presence, and then there are these Sunday mornings where you'd have to be dead to not recognize His presence. And if you were dead, you probably wouldn't be for long. The worship team had a rather slap-happy time of steadying hands and regaining strength in the legs in the green room. Glory to glory - I expect even more next Sunday.

And the missions meeting was a success. We fed them, motivated them, equipped them, encouraged them, informed them, and assuaged the fears of their parents. Ta-da!

titus updates

Interesting fact: The day our dear Titus left for the Philippines, Timothy did one of those double-takes where you read a scripture that you've surely read before as though it were the first time. You know what I'm talking about. The verse was 2 Corinthians 8:16-17:

But thanks be to God who put the same earnest care for you into the heart of Titus. For he not only accepted the exhortation, but being more diligent, he went to you of his own accord.

We also heard through the grapevine (and yes, it's a very long vine) that his wallet was stolen somewhere in transit. The whole thing, which I'm told was a little over $800. Titus being the guy he is, though, expressed relief to our reporter that he is really learning to trust in his Provider.

Keep him in your prayers.

salvation coming to a punk rock scene near you!

That's right. The light of Christ is shining in the punk rock subculture and it just got three times brighter! Look forward to seeing dirty, bearded, mohawked, plaid, pierced and tattooed young people in your congregations soon! (Maybe start showing some slides or something to prepare people ...)

Color me psyched. Let me start at the beginning. If you're on Battle Cry, you know this already, but just be excited with me again. For purposes of brevity I won't explain "zine." If you don't know what a zine is, wikipedia actually has a really good definition.

I started a zine before I got saved that was met with very good reviews. I had fans, man. My mailing list extended to the Philippines. No kidding. That's not to put my hand to the plow and look back (Luke 9:62), but just to say I know how to stinkin' zine. (Ya, it's a noun and a verb for those of you who are new to this.)

So then I met Jesus, and He has a way of changing things ... even zines. The new, resurrected zine was not met with ... well really anything. It's been written about in review zines, but I wouldn't call them reviews because the writers don't actually analyze the zine at all. They just harass my faith for a few sentences and put my POB address at the end. Marketing rule #2: There's no such thing as bad publicity.

I got a couple letters, mostly from prisoners, but not nearly the response I was used to. It's easy to get discouraged. Monday, though, that discouragment was banished.

I had to go to the post office anyway, so I thought I might as well cruise by the box. Not one, but TWO packages waited to greet me. They sat on my passenger seat for the 30 minute drive home, and I admit I wasn't excited yet. It wouldn't have been the first time I'd gotten a "shut up and die" letter. Not this time. Both were very excited Christian ziners who had also been searching desperately for other Christian ziners. Every time I meet a Christian ziner (I've met three now, which is still "every time") there's (1) the expression of relief to have found kinship and (2) the inquiry for more. "Do you know anyone else?" Now I can say Yes!

If you're natually skeptical - like I tend to be - you're wondering how Christin these zines are. I wish I had the copy of Scallywags that matte sent so I could quote verbatim, but one of the stories was about a small troup of people presenting the gospel via puppet show in a brothel in Brazil. After each performance one of the guys would speak a little about Jesus' love. The second time, as he took the "stage" he wrote, "I felt the Holy Spirit come on me so strong." I was elated to read that in a zine. Dozens of prostitues (and a few pimps) came up for prayer with lots of crying, by the way. That's a good zine.

I'm so excited. Now I have this huge vision for a Christian distro. Four zines and one button machine is enough to start a distro I think. And with the kind of favor and grace we've got - shoot. In no time at all it's going to be so un-punk to not love Jesus. Jesus and plaid will go hand in hand. Basements will be packed out with dirty teenagers singing painfully simple songs about Jesus completely out of key. The pro-choice movement will come to a screetching halt as half its supporters slap red tape over their mouths instead

Mark my words. You heard it here first. Five Stones Printing is bringing the real Jesus - in glory and power - to punk houses everywhere!

titus

That was us praying goodbye over Titus the evening before he left for a six month mission stint in the Philippines. We're not sure if he'll come back ... or if he'll come back for very long before leaving again. I got the following email last Monday, in case anyone's wondering how it's going:

Hey dudes,

I made it to the Philippines. After some tough work at the airports, I got through. British Airways decided they wanted to go on strike, but only for about an hour. So my flight was delayed an hour, which was long enough to cause me to miss my flight to Taiwan. I ended up getting a hotel for free and my meals for free from United, praise God. I caught the next flight, and I arrived safely.

I have to admit, I wasn't expecting that, at all. But praise God that I went through it; I learned a lot. God provides, and He shows favor. I got a nice seat next to the emergency exit, with all of the leg room I wanted. And on the next plane, I met a Filipino Christian, who gave me his number incase I needed anything. So that was awesome. He was truly a great person, and I lift him up to God for being a friend to someone who needed one.

I am in Manila now, and I will leave here tomorrow in the morning. We're going to take a plane to Lagaspi and then from there we will take a ferry to the island. So all will be well. The house has running water and electricity. I am very thankful for that. From what I was told, we were going to have none of that for a long time. But God is a God who provides, and I know that I will be calling on Him a lot while I'm here, which was the plan.

Well, anyway, I thought I would email to let people know what was going on.

Keep me in your prayers,

T

quickie

Go here for this morning's happy ending. I'll be back on lunch.