Re-Run (sort of...)

Hey All,

I'm already starting to see God move in the area of me and ministry. God has already used "This is Who I Am" to touch a bunch of people in ways that I didn't even expect. I can't explain it all, but I will say "WOW." I'm a little overwhelmed w/ what He' s already done and I'm excited about what He will do next.

Anyways, I realized last week that the people who read this blog may not have been "fans" since I started. In my first entry, I wrote about the point of the blog and my vision for ministry. Those of you who never read the first entry may not know all the background or the point of all this, so I wanted to share the first entry again w/ you all. I know, it feels like a re-run for all of you who like reading the blogs for the updates. Sorry.

The purpose of this blog is to start to share my vision (or ministry) with anyone who is interested in learning. I'd like to keep it updated as to the progress and how God starts to move. I guess it would make sense to start off by sharing The Vision.

The Background:I have a heart for introducing people to new styles of worship. Particularly, I love to show people there is no 1 way to worship God. I'm a worship leader, so I'll explain this in terms of musical worship. God doesn't value 1 style of worship music, 1 language of worship or 1 action (dance, lifting our hands, laying prostrate) over others. He loves them all. And since He loves them all, we might as well put all into practice. It keeps our times of corporate as well as private worship fresh and not stale.

With that said, I love music. I've always been around it, especially christian music. I grew up in the church, my dad is a worship leader/choir director, most of my family (on my dad's side) either sings or plays some type of instrument. Growing up, I went to choir rehearsals and concerts and workshops. I was so excited when I was able to join our church's praise team.

Because of this background, I am no stranger to gospel music or gospel artists. It's what I was immersed in almost all my life. Then I went to USC. I wanted to join a Christian fellowship and the ones I ended getting involved in mainly worshipped to Contemporary Christian Music (from now on, I'll refer to this as CCM). Wow! CCM was different. "Shout to the North"..."Did you Feel the Mountains Tremble?"..."Here I am to Worship"..."Shout to the Lord"..."Better is One Day". And I LOVED IT! It was new to me but I felt the power in the lyrics and passion behind the singing. Don't get me wrong. I didn't throw off gospel altogether. I joined the USC Gospel Choir (Saved by Grace) and even ended up being President of the choir. But I also ended up leading worship for Intervarsity (TCF), which was primarily CCM. Two VERY different styles of worship and I loved them both.

God taught me so much about worship through both of those experiences and did some major reshaping of my life. What I don't love is that there is a division in the church. People who worship to gospel music and people who worship to CCM seem to be in 2 different worlds. It's gone so far that people have started saying "black music" (equals gospel) versus "white music" (equals CCM). Not only is this inaccurate, but it's exclusive.

Okay, long story short...?

The Vision:God has given me a vision. He's allowed me to imagine that I (under His leadership and guidance) can work to bridge the gap between the two groups. The idea is to take CCM songs (which, as I mentioned before, I love because of the powerful lyrics) and rearrange them by adding vamps and making the music sound more "gospel." Then sharing that music - most likely by putting out an album.

So that was the first entry and in less than 4 months, I've already grown a lot and seen God start to turn the vision into reality. Very exciting times....