May 19th, 2009 "The aim is never to become a master of the Word, but to be mastered by it." - D.A. Carson, "The Scholar as Pastor" "That God is good is taught or implied on every page of the Bible and must be received as an article of faith as impregnable as the throne of God." -A.W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy "Pride takes our whole lifetime to die." -Jerram Barrs, The Heart of Evangelism "I have read many books, but the Bible reads me." -Karl Barth, quoted in Bill Hull, The Complete Book of Discipleship "When we find any of the good truths of the gospel come home to our souls with life, vigor, and power, giving us gladness of heart, transforming us into the image and likeness of it- the Holy Ghost is then at His work, pouring out of His oil." -John Owen, Communion with the Triune God "Worldliness is that system of values, in any given age, which has at its center our fallen human perspective, which displaces God and His truth from the world, and which makes sin look normal and righteousness seem strange. It thus gives great plausibility to what is morally wrong and, for that reason, makes what is wrong seem normal." -David F. Wells, Losing Our Virtue: Why the Church Must Recover Its Moral Vision "The design of the gospel is this- that the image of God, which had been effaced by sin, may be stamped anew upon us, and that the advancement of this restoration may be continually going forward in us during our whole life, because God makes His glory shine forth in us by little and little." -John Calvin, commenting on 2 Corinthians 3:18, in The Commentaries of John Calvin on the Second Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians May 18th, 2009 To see my notes from the Inspire 09 Conference, CLICK HERE. May 15th, 2009 The conference here in Nashville was great. I have gotten to meet and hang out with some pretty cool people: Jason Ingram (wrote "Give Me Your Eyes" recorded by Brandon Heath and "By Your Side" recorded by Tenth Avenue North), Carl Cartee and band, Pocket Full of Rocks, Jeremy (lead singer of FFH), Rob Howard (worship pastor at Fellowship Nashville), Don Koch (great christian songwriter), Pete Sanchez (wrote the song, "We Will Glorify"), Chad Cates (writes for Avalon, Selah, etc). I got to sit in with these guys and listen to a writers in the round session for a new song that is being co-written for Casting Crowns. I am staying at Rob Howard's house in his basement. His neighbor is one of the vocalists in Point of Grace! Lots of cool people here, lots to learn. I also meet Matt King (plays drums for Matt Redman, Brenton Brown, etc), John Newell, Dennis Dearing, Joe Blair (works with Bebo Norman, Phil Wickham, etc), Dave Buehring, Dr. Michael Easley, Ronnie Freeman (worship in residence here at Fellowship Nashville), Randy Hughes (got a lot of free guitar strings from this guy), Scott Williamson (did sessions with DC Talk, Brooks and Dunn, Michael W. Smith, Nicole Nordeman, etc). These guys are great and have been awesome getting to know and letting them get to know me and give me tips and tricks and also just heart felt genuine advice and encouragement and inspiration. I can't thank God enough for giving me such an amazing opportunity to love and be loved by these men and women and be learning from them. The seminars were great and hopefully I will be posting up some notes here pretty soon. May 10th, 2009 Happy Mother's Day! I got my mom a vase from Crate & Barrel. I also found out today that I have spent $306 dollars on Itunes since November, 2006. Wow... Anyway, I am heading out Tuesday this week to go to a worship leading conference in Nashville, TN for the week. I will be able to meet and hang out with a lot of cool people and musicians like Car Cartee, Rob Howard, Pocket Full of Rocks, Chad Cates, etc. I am excited, it should be a great experience. I hope to learn a lot and just be encouraged as well. Is it bad to want to be encouraged? Haha. Oh well. I also got my new 09 Taylor 314CE acoustic this last week. I love it. Great guitar. Smooth and easy to play, great sustain, tone, all around a great guitar. I will be sure and post up some stuff from BOTH conferences when I get back and have some time. I am always going to be looking for a job when I get back, so if you happen to know anyone that is hiring, be sure and send me an email. Thanks guys, see ya! May 8th, 2009 Check out a new cover I put on youtube today. It is a song called "Glory to God Forever" by Steve Fee. Simple song, but yet still has great implication on our lives.Check it out on my "music" page. May 6th, 2009 The Gospel Coalition was amazing! I am still processing all of it. Hopefully I will be posting some of my notes up here on the journal. I am quite behind on posting notes that I take from reading books and sermons, etc. I am currently reading 3 books: 1. Worshipping in Spirit and Truth by John Frame (doing a book study with Daniel Renstrom). 2. The Minute After You Die by Erwin Lutzer (I picked this book up free at the conference), interesting so far! 3. Confessions of a Reformed Minister by Mark Driscoll (funny guy). Anyways, I also updated the main page and music page today. Check em out! May 4th, 2009 This past weekend I was able to be a part of an event in downtown Raleigh called the Convoy of Hope. There was over 6,000 people from the inner city who were there that got free groceries, hair cuts, dental/medical attention, etc. I was a part of the prayer tent. This was a unique experience for me. I was able to pray with probably 75 people if not more.. families, children, people my age, people much older, much younger, same color, different color, etc. Evangelism has become a bigger part of my life these past few weeks, especially on a more personal level than ever before. It's amazing! May 3rd, 2009 Don't Waste Your Life by Lecrae: (amazing song..great beat) [Hook: Cam] Don't wanna waste my life [Verse 1: LeCrae] I know a lot of people out there scared they gone die couple of em thinking they'll be livin in the sky but while Im here livin man I gotta ask why what am here fo I gotta figure out waste my life/ no I gotta make it count if Christ is real then what am I gone do about all of the things in Luke 12:15 down to 21 you really oughta go and check it out Paul said if Christ aint resurrect then we wasted our lives well that implies that our life's built around Jesus being alive everyday I'm living tryin show the world why Christ is more than everything you'll ever try better than pretty women and sinning and living to get a minute of any women and men that you admire aint no lie We created for Him outta the dust he made us for Him Elects us and he saves us for Him Jesus comes and raises for Him Magnify the Father why bother with something lesser he made us so we could bless Him and to the world we confess him resurrects him so I know I got life matter fact better man I know I got Christ if you don't' see His ways in my days and nights you can hit my brakes you can stop my lights man I lost my rights I lost my life forget the money cars and toss that ice the cost is Christ and they could never offer me anything on the planet that'll cost that price [Verse 2: Dwayne Tryumph] Armed and dangerous So the devil jus can't handle us Christian youth them a stand wid us Livin' n driven/ given a vision/ fullfillin the commission he handed us London to Los Angeles Da rap evangelist Ma daddy wouldn't abandon us "I gotta back pack fulla tracts plus I keep a Johnny Mac" So are you ready to jam with us So lets go, gimme the word an lets go Persecution lets go Tribulation lets go Across the nation lets go Procrastination bes go Hung on the cross in the cold Died for da young and the old Can't say you never know Heaven knows How many souls are going to hell or to heaven so we gotta go in and get em Whaaaaat! [Verse 3: LeCrae] Suffer Yeah do it for Christ if you trying to figure what to do with your life if you making money hope you doing it right because the money is Gods you better steward it right stay focused if you aint got no ride your life aint wrapped up in what you drive the clothes you wear the job you work the color your skin naw we Christian first people living life for a job make a lil money start living for a car get em a house a wife kids and a dog when they retire they living high on the hog but guess what they didn't ever really live at all to live is Christ yeah that's Paul I recall to die is gain so for Christ we give it all he's the treasure you'll find in the mall Your money your singleness marriage talent and time they were loaned to you to show the world that Christ is Divine that's why it's Christ in my rhymes That's why it's Christ all the time my whole world is built around him He's the life in my lines I refused to waste my life he's too true ta chase that ice heres my gifts and time cause I'm constantly trying to be used to praise the Christ If he's truly raised to life then this news should change your life and by his grace you can put your faith in place that rules your days and nights May 2nd, 2009 Today I am officially a college graduate! It is now time for the real world. Time to find a job and find my own place. I like change. I am excited about what God has in store.