Check out the article I wrote featured in this month's More Radio magazine! ...
It has been an incredible ride! I'm coming up to three years of doing music full time—writing, recording, touring. I'm continually amazed at how God provides, open doors, and works in incredible ways. Five years ago my wife and I discerned if God was really truly calling us to a life of ministry or if that was just what WE had wanted. We took baby steps, prayed, looked for confirmation, even tested it out first, and now years later I'm overwhelmed with His faithfulness.
This past year of my life has been one of the busiest. I feel blessed to have done 110 ministry dates this year across North America including churches, conferences, retreats, schools, and camps; both speaking and leading worship! I've witnessed God working in different communities, and also people expressing their worship in different ways.
My wife and I also welcomed our fourth baby (yes that's right, I said FOUR)! As a father I feel blessed that I have the opportunity to spend so much time with my kids. Most weekends are consumed by travel and ministry but Monday to Thursday I'm “dad”, going to the park, changing diapers, reading stories, getting into tickle fights, painting finger nails, princess tea parties... Did I mention we have all GIRLS??
Before, when I worked a “real” job I didn't get to see ALL of my kid's life. I saw from dinner until bed time for about two hours at most per night (which was usually the crankiest time). Now I get to be part of all of it. What a blessing that is.
One of the major projects I'm pleased to have finished this year was a live worship album titled, "The Praises of His People". It's been on my heart for many years to create a functional tool to help people enter into worship. This live project is a collection of some well known worship songs (and a few of my own). It's the type of recording someone can put on in their car on their way to work and feel like they are in a church worshipping along. I'm really excited about how God is going to use this to lead souls into a deeper relationship with Him.
Upon reflection of my past year of ministry, I've really noticed God challenging me to grow and develop. I've noticed him nudging me in many different aspects of my life. It started with a more disciplined time of devotion. I started setting aside the first thirty minutes of my day to pray. I realized that my prayer time was mostly spent asking God to fix things. So I decided I wanted to devote a good amount of time to just "listen". Sometimes this means reading a Bible passage and reflecting on it, but more often it was just having sacred silence. As I started to make this more of a routine, I noticed that the days I was too busy or too lazy would be the days I felt the most distant from God.
Paralleled with this discipline, as an artist and presenter I've felt God moulding me into different areas. My songwriting has changed drastically, not only in ability but also style and topic. I used to exclusively write the same old praise and worship tunes (which I love writing), but now I find myself writing about God's love for us as experienced in every day. I blame that on my kids...
What God had inspired me to present five years ago is very different than what I feel He's placed on my heart today. All of this to say, I've realized as an artist we've never really fully made it, we're never really fully done or complete. I don't believe God wants us to stay stagnate or succumb to our comfort zone. I believe if we're living a life through His Holy Spirit, He will continue to lead us. For some this might mean a continual nurturing of the gifts God has given us, for others it might mean touring new areas, or writing new songs. Whatever the call He's placed, our response needs to be a simple "Yes Lord".
This past year of my life has been one of the busiest. I feel blessed to have done 110 ministry dates this year across North America including churches, conferences, retreats, schools, and camps; both speaking and leading worship! I've witnessed God working in different communities, and also people expressing their worship in different ways.
My wife and I also welcomed our fourth baby (yes that's right, I said FOUR)! As a father I feel blessed that I have the opportunity to spend so much time with my kids. Most weekends are consumed by travel and ministry but Monday to Thursday I'm “dad”, going to the park, changing diapers, reading stories, getting into tickle fights, painting finger nails, princess tea parties... Did I mention we have all GIRLS??
Before, when I worked a “real” job I didn't get to see ALL of my kid's life. I saw from dinner until bed time for about two hours at most per night (which was usually the crankiest time). Now I get to be part of all of it. What a blessing that is.
One of the major projects I'm pleased to have finished this year was a live worship album titled, "The Praises of His People". It's been on my heart for many years to create a functional tool to help people enter into worship. This live project is a collection of some well known worship songs (and a few of my own). It's the type of recording someone can put on in their car on their way to work and feel like they are in a church worshipping along. I'm really excited about how God is going to use this to lead souls into a deeper relationship with Him.
Upon reflection of my past year of ministry, I've really noticed God challenging me to grow and develop. I've noticed him nudging me in many different aspects of my life. It started with a more disciplined time of devotion. I started setting aside the first thirty minutes of my day to pray. I realized that my prayer time was mostly spent asking God to fix things. So I decided I wanted to devote a good amount of time to just "listen". Sometimes this means reading a Bible passage and reflecting on it, but more often it was just having sacred silence. As I started to make this more of a routine, I noticed that the days I was too busy or too lazy would be the days I felt the most distant from God.
Paralleled with this discipline, as an artist and presenter I've felt God moulding me into different areas. My songwriting has changed drastically, not only in ability but also style and topic. I used to exclusively write the same old praise and worship tunes (which I love writing), but now I find myself writing about God's love for us as experienced in every day. I blame that on my kids...
What God had inspired me to present five years ago is very different than what I feel He's placed on my heart today. All of this to say, I've realized as an artist we've never really fully made it, we're never really fully done or complete. I don't believe God wants us to stay stagnate or succumb to our comfort zone. I believe if we're living a life through His Holy Spirit, He will continue to lead us. For some this might mean a continual nurturing of the gifts God has given us, for others it might mean touring new areas, or writing new songs. Whatever the call He's placed, our response needs to be a simple "Yes Lord".
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