Music of the Week: Mumford & Sons

As I grow into adulthood and my growing family takes up more of my free time, my leisurely music listening has decreased drastically. It is not that I do not like music, it's just that I'd rather spend time talking with Shepard or playing with Shiloh then spending hours online trying to find new bands. However, occasionally I will still come across some good new music. I will be blogging occasionally (I wish I could promise weekly, but I don't foresee myself sticking to it) about music and bands I found. Check out last week's post about Nathan Chud's music.

Today's band is Mumford & Sons. A friend posted one of their live videos on Facebook months ago, and for some reason I clicked on it. I was sucked in! The intensity and passion, the bluegrass influence, the spiritual imagery that flows through the lyrics - it satisfied my ears and emotions on multiple levels. While it was a honestly unique sound, various aspects of their music reminded me of the Psalters, mewithout you and The Avett Brothers.

I later discovered that the lead singer and songwriter was the son of the man who leads the Vineyard churches in the United Kingdom. Obviously the seeds of God's word are in his heart, and they come out throughout their music. It's also clear that they are wrestling with doubts and disillusionment about their faith (don't we all!), and the raw honesty is part of the appeal. Be careful... you might end up finding yourself worshiping Jesus when you listen to songs like Awake My Soul. Also be careful - if you struggle with legalism, you may be offended by the use of "f***" in one of their hits, Little Lion Man.

My favorite songs include The Cave, Awake My Soul and Dust Bowl Dance. Go check them out!

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Northfield : Mercy, Mission and Marketplace

This is a part of a series of posts regarding my trip to Northfield, MA.

Shepard and I arrived late to Northfield on Friday night and missed Pete Greig's message. However, he stuck around and also shared that Saturday morning. Pete is the author of Red Moon Rising, a very influential and inspiring book in my life. This is a brief summary of some notes I took for Pete's talk on Saturday morning.

• The topic of the message was how the prayer movement can and should lead to transformation of society and culture.
• Pete proposed the growing prayer movement on the earth was because God was awakening His Church (Ephesians 5:14) - "God wakes us up so we can waken God's power to save sinners"
• He went on to break down 2 Chronicles 7:13-15, a very popular and very quoted passage about prayer: When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place.
• The context of this passage is the dedication of Solomon's temple. Solomon begins the dedication with prayer, just as God began the dedication of His temple (US!) with prayer (Acts 1:14, 2:42, 6:4).
• Starting with prayer, the pattern that is seen is
  Prayer --> Spiritual Formation --> Social Transformation
• Verse 13 in 2 Chronicles 7 begins with God promising to send bad things to Israel. He says "When I...", not if. This is the reality - bad things will happen for our good. We need to embrace pain and hardships and allow it to fuel our prayers.
• Verse 14 contrasts the when of God with an if for us - "if my people pray...". God's role is certain, ours is not.
• Verse 14 is broken into three actions which are our response in times of crisis and hardships. 1) Humility 2) Turning from Sin and 3) Prayer
• Humility as our first response requires us to begin with worship - seeking Someone instead of Something and the Presence of God before the Power of God.
• Turning from sin requires repentance. God is emphasizing holiness again. The quality of our prayers (and the people praying them) is more important than the quantity of people praying.
• God responds to the "when... if...." with a "then". When trials come, if people pray, then.... He 1) hears from heaven 2) forgives sins and 3) heals land.
• These three levels of promised transformation touch three levels of the broken world:
• Vertical brokenness - relationship with God (salvation, healing)
  
• Horizontal brokenness - relationship with others (marriages, racism, poverty)
• Downward brokenness - relationship with creation (environment, seasons)
• These three areas line up with what the Holy Spirit spoke to Pete Greig about Campus America - that its prayers would influence three areas - mission, mercy and marketplace.
  

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Northfield : Worship Music from Nathan Chud

This is another update from the Northfield conference Shepard and I attended in July. The worship was led all week by Nathan Chud, one of the founders of the Kansas City Boiler Room, who is now living with Trent Sheppard in Boston. The worship atmosphere was reminiscent of my Camp Oasis days in high school - stripped-down acoustic guitar and some kind of percussion. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was honestly surprised by the free expression that flowed as people sang, lifted their hands, danced, etc.

Nathan actually released his first album at Northfield, and had a CD Release night the final night of the event. I would highly encourage you to download the music on iTunes or below from Bandcamp. My personal favorite tracks are My Tragedy, Resurrection and Receive Your Reward.

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Some Upcoming Worship Leading Gigs

In addition to leading at the Boiler Room, God is opening up some doors for me to lead worship around the Greenville area (and maybe beyond) this fall....

Sunday, September 12 - Discovery Church
Evening "Lord's Supper" gathering w\6:22 band

Sunday, October 3 - Harmony Church
Sunday morning worship at 10:10am w\6:22 band

Saturday, October 16 - Covenant Church
An extended "Free Worship" gathering at 7pm following their Saturday night service
Acoustic worship w\Scott Bircher

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Summer Goals : Review

At the beginning of the summer I set some goals for myself, both personally and professionally. I don't recall if I blogged about them or not, but I figured I would do a quick review of those goals online so that you can see what I have been up to this summer.

Personal

• Move into New Apartment
  We did it! And we'll have to do it again soon because we have another baby on the way!
  
• Continue dietary and exercise disciplines
  Shepard and I decided to only eat out on Sundays after church and for date night (t. We decided not to buy meat (it turns out that "A kilogram of beef is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions and other pollution than driving for 3 hours while leaving all the lights on back home."). We also want to spend 30 minutes on Wii fit per day. This has not happened as I had hoped! Shepard and I have pretty much abandoned the Wii Fit at this point. We have been pretty good about only eating out one day a week and not buying meat.
  
• Attend a Church Life Group
  This actually happened by us starting a life group in our home with some folks who already attend GCF as well as some who do not. Thankfully we have rotated who would facilitate discussions each week, so there was not a burden on me to plan a weekly lesson. This was also the Boiler Room's mid-week summer Bible study all wrapped up into one Wednesday gathering at our apartment.
  
• Pay $200/month towards Credit Card Debt
  For those wondering why we are in debt: 1) we got screwed over by a previous landlord a few years ago, had to pay some bills on credit cards and are still paying things off and 2) I bought some guitar equipment (interest free until April) on a music store credit card
  

Professional

• Spend two hours a day, Monday-Friday, in the "secret place" of prayer, worship and fasting
  Doing it... love it! Would love to get my life to where I can spend about four hours a day in the prayer room.
  
• Listen to Mike Bickle's 20-part Bride of Christ teaching series
  Working on it! Hectic summer schedules and traveling have made it hard to stay on track, but I've listened to about 10 of 20 hours of teachings.
  
• Host a Gathering for our Levite Fund Partners
  We did it for the first time earlier this summer and it went really well! We will definitely do it again.
• Increase Monthly Support by $400
  We actually have ended up with $600+ more per month! However, with the news of baby#2 on the way, we will definitely be needing some additional income. We are still praying for a bit more!
  
• Host monthly Burns and Global Bridegroom Fasts
  We did it! Our last summer Burn is at Worshipfest. It's going to be awesome!
  
• Delegate leadership for a mid-week community gathering
  As I mentioned earlier, the Wednesday gathering at our home became the answer to this and the church life group goal.
  

Other Potential Projects

• Consolidate old CDs onto iPod and into CD cases
  I have started on this, but am not close to finishing. I have a lot of old CDs!
  
• Record 4-5 song Worship EP
  I began the process for a 4-song EP titled Pour Out. Drums, bass and electric guitars are recorded. I still need to finish acoustic guitars and vocals. Should be released this fall!
  
• Sort through live Boiler Room recordings and release a "Live at Boiler Room" album
  Put it on the back burner until I have more time.
  
• Finish You Sing Over Me, a soaking CD
  Also put it on the back burner until I have more time.
  

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Onebody

I will continue with my posts about Northfield and Responsibility, but I wanted to make a quick update regarding the Onebody Project that happened in Greenville last week. Onebody "seeks to unify the youth in Greenville to make an impact in the community" with a "local missions week" experience. This is the second year of Onebody, and my friends Ryan Hudson and his fiancee Ashley, two college students, were actually directing the entire project! I believe about 100 teenagers signed up for the work week, and dozens of college students and adults volunteered to pray, lead small groups, bus students around, lead worship, prepare meals, etc.

I felt like 6:22 was supposed to partner with and fuel this ministry by supporting it through prayer, finances and our time:

• We were able to cover it in prayer at the Boiler Room in our Monday morning prayer meeting.
• We were able to give to fund one "family group" - this equates to the expenses for about six students.
• Some of the young adults in the Boiler Room community were able to volunteer in various ways throughout the week.
• The Boiler Room hosted an evening worship time for the Onebody leaders, Monday-Wednesday, that was a time for them to come spend an hour in the prayer room to be refreshed. I led worship for those nights. One evening, Erica Ashe, a Boiler Room attendee, had her back healed in the midst of the worship! She had damaged her back, and could barely bend over. While we sang In Christ Alone, God healed her! No one laid hands on her. It was awesome.
• I also had the privilege to speak at Onebody's Thursday afternoon large-group gathering. I was asked to simply share the gospel. I had about 20 minutes, and I focused on the reality of our sinful condition apart from Christ. The good news is not good unless we realize how desperately we need Jesus and what he did at the cross! The teenagers seemed to be engaged, and some came forward to pray with their group leaders afterward.

I am super proud of Ryan and Ashley, and the other Onebody leaders for making the week happen. I know the kingdom came to earth through their work, prayers and love for the city of Greenville. I was honored to be involved.

Here are some photos:

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