Reformation Day Saved Me From This Guy

If by chance, you are unfamiliar with Reformation Day, I want to encourage you to look it up and find out specifically what it is.  This site is probably a good place to start.

Truth be told, Reformation Day is a day to celebrate freedom.  The freedom from a particular religious organization or leader.  More importantly it was and is a proclamation of the free justification we have in the eyes of God.  Not a work-out-your-sin by doing great works, having great faith, giving more money, but purely by Christ doing great works for us.

Reformation Day stands for five freedoms.

• The freedom to open the Word of God and read it for ourselves. To know that we don't have to have someone interrupt into our language for us to understand it.  We can read the words of God and know them. We can know God through His word.  Scripture alone is our authority. We don't look to ours or anyone's experience.  Just the Word.
• The freedom to trust in Christ alone. To have Him be our ultimate Shepherd.  No man can rule us above or beside Christ, for He alone is our authority.  Paul writes in his second letter to the Corinthians, "Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God." (2 Cor. 3:5)
• As I stated above, I/we have been saved by the grace of God alone. There is no work for me to do to save myself.  If, essence, am dead at the bottom of the ocean before know Christ, how am I to revive myself if I am truly dead? Surely, it is the grace of Christ alone to breathe life into us first - reviving us.  Bring us to faith.
• Yes, faith alone. This faith is imputed to us because of the work of Christ. We are free to believe because of the power of God working in us. B. B. Warfield stated "It is not faith that saves, but faith in Jesus Christ.... It is not, strictly speaking, even faith in Christ that saves, but Christ that saves through faith. The saving power resides exclusively, not in the act of faith or the attitude of faith or in the nature of faith, but in the object of faith."
  
• So where does all of this bring us? To lay down our lives in worship.  Our only right response to declare that God alone be the glory. The psalmist write "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth." Ps. 19:1-4

Reformation Day is a day freedom from ourselves. 

Enjoy it.
You are free.

Mother, Artist, Activist.

Meet Sara Groves again for the first time.

Sara is a kaleidoscope of colors. With every record she creates we, the listeners, climb a little closer to her heart and discover something new about her character. Her honesty, vulnerability and artistry are what make us feel so connected and keep us so inspired. I recently caught up with Sara to hear about what big, new things are happening around the Groves home and discover the backbone of her new record, Invisible Empires.

John: What does Invisible Empires mean and how did the name come about?

Sara Groves: Well, I never fully know what I’m working on [when I start writing] – such as a theme, but inevitably the songs will start to overlap, and I’ll start realizing ‘oh this is all kind of about the same thing.’ It’s always a mystery for me when I’m working on a record, figuring out what the hub of the wheel is. And I feel with this record the hub ended up being a lot of what I was reading from Eugene Peterson’s book, A Long Obedience in theSame Direction. He talks about Psalm 127 which says “Unless the Lord builds the house, the builder builds in vain.” He says the work of man is frenetic. We chase after things, it’s futile. He says literally, man works like the devil, and then he compares that to the work of God. He says the work of God is a lot like pregnancy, you’re making a human being. You’re doing quite possibly the most important work you’ll ever do, but you’re not really doing anything. You’re just getting out of bed, and walking around and eating. As a mom, having carried three children I can appreciate that metaphor. So this whole record is really wresting with the fact that a lot of times I feel like I’m working like the devil. ‘How on earth do I get to that place where His yoke is light, where He’s making my paths straight?’ So this record is looking at the flawed areas of my life where I’m really worrying a lot [and asking], am I seeking stuff on my own and how do I work with God, letting Him work through me?

JOHN: And so the Empires are Sara’s empires?

Sara: Yeah, Invisible Empires to me talks about what Eugene talks about, and what’s in 2 Corinthians: the unseen world – the work that God does – is eternal and real. The Kingdom that He’s building is real but invisible, and then here we are building what we think is real but it’s actually virtual. I look at technology a lot because I feel like it’s something we’ve got to stop and question, ya know? Right now it’s sort of running ahead unabated and I feel like we’ve got to look at it and say ‘Ok, I’ve gained all of these conveniences, but what did I lose?’ And that to me is all part of the same idea of man-made work. We literally worship the things that we’ve made with our own hands. That’s as old as mankind, that problem. I just want to ask the questions about the stuff that falls in with man-made struggle and that frenetic life.

JOHN: So the cover kind of also tells that story, right?

Sara: Well, you’ve got the dark city which might be like man-made cities and behind is this ethereal Kingdom of God. Again, the invisible things of God are more real than the visible things of earth. And then you see a sound wave and that’s actually me singing the words ‘invisible empires’ from the song “Obsolete.” So it’s sort of an embedded message inside the cover. When people get the actual record there are midi files which look like flowers. When you play the piano in a midi file, it looks like flowers with stems and those are also decorating the artwork throughout. So we kind of merged this idea of technology and the spiritual world. We were trying to capture all of those ideas.

JOHN: You’ve talked about technology and how at times it could be a big hindrance to our lives, not necessarily a convenience. How does the Groves family ‘unplug’?

Sara: I have a friend Miranda Harris who says ‘technology is a great servant and is a horrible master.’ I feel like my job as a parent is to get technology into that place where it is under our feet, not mastering us. My husband and I really struggled with watching TV too much and our kids basically had a video game addiction. So as a family, about 2 years ago we did a media fast for the entire summer. We thought, in Minnesota you gotta get outside in the summer! So it was really hard, but we drew a deep line in the sand. [We decided] for the next 3 months we’re going to abstain from everything; we did a whole media fast. And then we talked about what we would add back in.  It was really neat. The conversations were really healthy. I think having been detoxified, my kids were able to talk about it reasonably – in the past they couldn’t even talk about it, like it was their obsession. We were able to decide that 30 minutes a day with video games was enough for us and that we didn’t want to let the TV back in because it was definitely eating into all of these things we discovered. We still to this day don’t have cable, but we do have a physical TV that we watch a movie occasionally on, but those are some steps we’ve taken. Troy and I try to keep our online life really to our business or the music, connecting with fans and stuff.  I’m not on Facebook at all. As soon as Facebook came out it was a divine moment for me because I knew it would feed into all of my vices so it was something I wouldn’t be able to participate in.  I basically heard God say, other people get to do this but you don’t (laughs). So we do other stuff that will feed into our Facebook page, like I write a blog occasionally and Troy does Twitter a lot. I just really felt that it was going to keep me away from my family, from my kids and the people that I really want to be physically there for. So anyway, that might seem radical to some people and I’m not saying that this is in anyway a judgment or a law, but those are some of the parameters we’ve drawn.

JOHN: So that’s how the Groves family operates…

Sara: Yeah, that’s how we roll.

JOHN: When you look at the overall record, you do talk about busyness, technology, all these sorts of outside influences coming into us – but there are a few other themes in the record as well. What else is there?

Sara: In ‘Finite,’ the first line of the song says, I’m not every woman, it’s not all in me. I was sitting across the table from Jill Phillips and we were both feeling absolutely exhausted, pulled in a million different directions and she said the word ‘finite.’ I latched onto that and said ‘there’s a song in that word.’ So we sat for the next two hours and worked on that. In ‘Mystery,’ I talk about trying to bring God to earth somehow as if I could specifically do that. In ‘I Will Wait for You’ I say, I’m going to wait for You now more than ever. I can work like the devil, but that can’t really be my way, I have to wait for You. So it is my weariness at trying to do all of this work by myself and trying to make the Kingdom come. You’ve followed us as we were embarking with InternationalJustice Mission, and we still work with IJM, (we have the song ‘Eyes on the Prize’ on this record that’s about their work). But I think I jumped in with two feet and started taking off, maybe getting a little ahead of God a little bit. And I had to realize and say, Ok, I can’t change the world, God will change things through me and He can change me. I have to wait on the Lord, and say I’m waiting for whatever You’ve got for me, and I don’t want to get ahead of You anymore. And then tying that in with the idea that I want to be about Your work, not my own work, not my own kingdom but Your empire. So that’s definitely, I would say, the river that runs through the whole record. Honestly, it’s a tired mom trying to figure it all out saying ‘I think You have more rest for me than this and I don’t think that all these things I feel obligated to are You. I think I’m obligating myself to things that aren’t necessarily God-centered.’ So how do I purge my life of all the distractions to really listen for the things that God wants me to do?

JOHN: Through your art you’ve certainly opened up – whether it is marital issues, strengths, weaknesses, parenting, you’ve shared a lot that maybe other artists are uncomfortable doing. It has certainly made an impact on people. When you look at Invisible Empires, do you feel that you’re following along that same path, opening up that heart again to the public and saying ‘here we are, this is our life?’

Sara: Yeah, ya know Fireflies and Songs was a very personal record and almost every song was me lying on the operating table. With this record I did pick up again kinda like with Tell Me What you Know and Addto the Beauty where I looked at some other things that were happening in the world. ‘Scientists in Japan’ is about bioethics (laughs), that’s not necessarily where you find me at home opening up own personal heart. So I did return to some other broader, cultural themes in this record, but there definitely are some. ‘Mystery’ would be a deeply personal song about my last couple years’ struggle with anxiety and walking through fears. I couldn’t feel God in the traditional ways I had felt Him. I’ve always had very emotional connection to God. So basically in dealing with the anxiety and panic attacks I was having I had to tell myself, my emotions are not my reality. The way I feel is not real right now! I feel like I’m going to die, and I’m actually not going to die, I’m going to be okay. But I had to deny my emotions. For a good year and a half I just rehearsed that. My emotions are tricking me, they’re not reliable. And so having had an emotional connectivity to God, it impacted the way I would feel when I would pray, everything, how I sensed God. But in the place of this emotional sort of thing I’ve always had of God, this other sense of His presence has come, that I’m really grateful for. I don’t think I would have gotten there without this whole experience, but He has been so faithful to me, and so present. Not in this emotional way where I’m “Oooh! I feel Him! I feel these emotional goosebumps!” It’s just been this solidness, I can’t even describe it. It’s literally just been a season of manna. So ‘Mystery’ is definitely a song where I’m confessing that I’ve just been working at this, trying to pull God down, I’m physically tired from trying to bring ‘Your kingdom come on earth’ And saying ‘I must not be doing it right because I need a rest. But You will meet me again. You will show up, it’s not about me, it’s about what you’re doing.’ ‘Miracle’ is a very personal song about marriage and relationships. Feeling things I can’t feel, saying things that are hard to say, not just in my marriage but in friendships. So yeah, I definitely have moments where I’m writing from that very deep personal place, and then I have other things where I’m revisiting things like I have in the past, cultural movements and events. Things that I feel like I want to ask a question about before we run full force ahead (laughs).

JOHN: So yeah, tell us about ‘Scientists in Japan?’ Where did that come from?

Sara: Well, so in the very beginning of that chapter in Long Obedience… there’s a quote that Eugene Peterson pulls out from a French philosopher and says [something like] The marker of this day is that we set great machines in motion without any idea of where they are headed – I’m butchering this – but he says, how tremendous the means with no concept of the end. We set machines in motion without any concept of where we’re headed. We just set things in motion, set things in motion. So I was at this think tank with Christian leaders and this bio-ethicist look the stage. He said literally there are only a handful of us who are Evangelical in the field of bioethics, and he had spent a year of his own time going around to all of the Christian colleges asking them, begging them to start carrying at least a minor in bioethics. There’s not a single Christian college, university of liberal arts or otherwise that is carrying a minor in bioethics. And the response was the same, well, students aren’t coming here for that, they go to the universities for that. Well exactly! We’re giving the entire field over, he said, we can’t talk about these things in churches. If I were to stand up on a Sunday morning and say “Scientists in Japan are building a robot to take your job,” I would be booed off the stage. So ya know, the little feisty part of me said, I’m gonna write a song, hopefully a whimsical one, that starts with that line (Laughs). It was compelling what he said, ‘you will face ethical challenges as you care for your aging parents, unless you think about it, you will be caught off guard.’ And that spoke to me. I will one day be caring for my aging parents, and I need to know what I think about life and death and all of the things between those.

JOHN: So you and Troy are working alongside Charlie Peacock on an ‘Art House North’?

Sara: We are. We are hoping to get an offer on our house this week. We’ve purchased a 100 year old church, and the Art House in Nashville is a 100 year old church, that is also the studio and home of Charlie and Andrea Peacock. So we asked him about four years ago, ‘would it be possible for us to partner with you in this way?’ and they were excited, so we’ve been looking for properties. The byline of the Art House is ‘creative community for the common good.’ So basically the goal in the simplest form is, artists often work in isolation but we want to give them a reason to gather whether formally or informally, and we believe that sparks will fly when they get connected. So we’re hoping that people will respond to the different artist forums and things that we hold at the Art House. I really believe something creative and new that our city has never seen will be born out of artists connecting with other artists. So that’s our dream. We’re going to live in the church, we’re building out a parsonage in the basement, and then the whole building will be used for hospitality and events. So that’s where we’re headed!

JOHN: Ok, so last question. We know you started homeschooling this year. Can you briefly tell us about your experience? And are you homeschooling all three kids?

Sara: I am sending Ruby to preschool, that gives me time with the boys that I need, they’re 5^th and 3^rd grade. [It was] a little bit out of necessity but it was also [a result of] a neat experience with a missionary family that put us squarely in the homeschooling camp this year. A friend of ours from IJM called and said my hero in the faith is coming to the United States and he wants to meet you. He’s a missionary in Burma doing incredible, incredible things. So we cleared our calendar and they came, and they were a team, Team Eubank. And in talking with Karen Eubank (the matriarch), I just caught a vision for us that I haven’t had before. We’ve always been Team Groves but we were doing a lot of things by putting the kids in school, a lot of gymnastics and things to keep them in the sort of ‘normalcy’ of public school, whatever that is, and we just all of a sudden felt really free and called to home school. We really call it ‘world school,’ we like the term. It’s been surprisingly joyful; I thought it would be more stressful than it’s been. I actually feel like we’ve simplified in a lot of ways, and the boys are thriving. And I’m having fun, the teacher in me is waking up and it’s really been joyful! That’s the only word I have for it. So I don’t know how long we’re going to do this, I don’t know what God has in mind for us, but it has been a huge blessing.

JOHN: Ok, we said that was the last question, but one more. Candy corn or the fake pumpkin candy corn things?

Sara: The real deal, that’s so funny. I just went on a trip where I wasn’t with my husband or my kids and I got a glimpse of myself without any checks and balances (laughs). I didn’t mean to do this, but I went to the grocery store and before I knew it, I had a bag of candy corn and like, all kinds of terrible snacks. So over the weekend I ate an entire bag of candy corn! If my kids were there, or if Troy was, I never would have done that… but I got a little freedom and I just went nuts and ate a whole bag of candy corn. So yeah it’s definitely a favorite (laughs).

JOHN: Sara, thanks so much for taking the time to talk with us today. We love your music and message – and wish all the very best to you and your family.

Reckless Faith vs Risky Faith

One of my favorite albums from Steve Camp is Justice.  There is such a call to non-conformity and to live righteously before God.  The past few days, this song has been "ringing" around in my head.

How easily Jesus is forgotten amid the comfort of my life
How the flames become a flicker, and faith a brilliant disguise
Our Sundays become a holiday, they're an empty exercise
And the cost of real devotion seems so foreign to my life

Chorus:
Oh, to gladly risk it all, oh to be faithful to His call
Abandoned to grace yet anchored in His love
Living dangerously in the hands of God

Our Lord He is a hiding place, His hold is strong and sure
Though the storms may rage around me in His love I stand secure
So let me live like I believe it, and though my faith is prone to fail
Though I cower under trial, by His grace I shall prevail

Chorus:
Oh, to gladly risk it all, oh to be faithful to His call
Abandoned to grace yet anchored in His love
Living dangerously in the hands of God

Spoken:
There's safety in complacency, but God is calling us out of our comfort zone into a life of complete surrender to the cross. To live dangerously is not to live recklessly but righteously. And it is because of God's radical grace for us that we can risk living a life of radical obedience for Him.

You've got to walk on for the Lord He walks with us
You've got to walk on though it costs you everything
You've got to pray on

Spoken:
For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth, that He may strongly support those whose hearts are completely His. (2 Chronicles 16:9 NASB)

Chorus:
Oh, to gladly risk it all, oh to be faithful to His call
Abandoned to grace yet anchored in His love
Living dangerously in the hands of God

Living dangerously
Are you living dangerously
Oh we ought to be living dangerously in the hands of God

The Church - A Simple Plan

So what constitutes a great church from an ok church?

Its rather simple really.

A great church has the following in place:

- a high view of Scripture and all that accompanies it.

- people that enjoy hanging out with each other.

- people that eat together. a lot.

- people that continually pray for each other.

Nothing that grandiose.   It's not a great building.  It's not a great worship band.  It's not a website that uses flash technology. 

Luke says it this way in Acts 2:42-47,     

And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

What's amazing about following this simple plan is that it became contagious to a point where others, non-believers, wanted to join in.

So, the question is, how are you doing in this?  Or how is your church in this?  

The result should be 

- hearts filled with joy

- the worship of God

- unbelievers coming to Christ  

If you don't see those things happening in your church and life, then perhaps you have been focusing a little too much on making sure that your favorite songs are in the worship service.

Two For One - an interview with Shane E.

The current landscape for Shane and Shane looks significantly different than when they became friends in college. They’re husbands, fathers, and now worship leaders at their local church in Dallas. This year they even signed with a new record label, Fair Trade Services. We caught up with Shane Everett about this new season for the duo, and their recent release of The One You Need.

JVDV: This record is distinctly different than many of your others, stylistically and even in the overall tone of the message. How did you land on this direction?

Shane Everett: Maybe I should start a little further back. We changed record labels and started demoing songs. We were really working through what we wanted to say to our community, which was the first time we’ve ever written from a ‘non-devotional-type’ place. We started asking the question “Lord, what do you want to say to us?” That sounds pretty elementary, but it was kind of a new thing. We’re part of this collective of people (The Oaks Fellowship in Dallas, TX) who are pursuing the Lord together. When you get involved in a local level it’s eye opening, ya know? There are people with a lot of hurt, issues, [you’re] walking with people through stuff. So I think we were just in a different place, asking different questions than we’ve ever asked before.

JVDV: There seems to be a variety of genres represented on the album – was that intentional, or did the songs just seem to take on lives of their own?

Shane E: We said, “Ok, let’s approach this by saying that nothing is off limits.” So any idea that the team had, we said “Let’s try this on one song... Ok, scrap that. Let’s try this on another song.” We just had a blast making this record, and hopefully that comes through. We were invigorated, it was a new season, and we were asking different questions. So if it feels different it’s probably because the approach was completely different. We were just like “Man, let’s seek the Lord, have a good time making a record and say the things that the Lord puts on our heart.”

JVDV: What led to your new role as worship pastors?

Shane E: Well, the college that we’ve been involved with, Southwestern Seminary, had a leadership program that was 90 students. They would work with a local church and study in one of three different tracks: evangelism, pastoral and missions. So they asked us to come be part of a worship track and they would add more students. Now we have 35 worship interns. They do normal curriculum at the school and then come to see us for ‘lab’ time – six hours on Mondays. We do songwriting, and discipleship. So that’s our portion. [The interns] also have a theory class and some other stuff, but our specific role is in the songwriting and recording part of the program.

JVDV: That’s awesome! Not going to guess here but, coffee or Red Bull?

Shane E: Oh, coffee man!

JVDV: So, in this six hour period of time, how many cups of coffee do you and the other Shane consume?

Shane E: (Laughs) Ya know, we actually don’t drink any coffee then!

JVDV: Well, for being in a class 6 hours, you certainly have your job cut out for you, to make sure it’s all interesting and engaging…

Shane E: Yeah, well, I’ll tell you this – we have such a good time. This is how a basic class works: The students don’t go to class, they come to us. We have a new studio in a big, old stone house on 22 acres and there’s recording stuff set up everywhere, so it’s pretty high energy. They get there, and we’ll talk, have some snacks – we have coffee if you want it – and then a student will share his heart about a song and play it. Everyone has a lyric sheet and a chord chart, and we’re just making notes and giving critiques and reviews and then we mess with the song for a little bit. In the first few weeks everyone’s timid and it’s a little awkward, but after that everybody opens up. The students become pretty tight knit. We’ll ask, ‘What’s the message you’re trying to say?’, ‘What are you trying to communicate?’, ‘What’s the Lord telling you through this?’ So, that’s our role – less about the music, more about the heart. Then we collectively pick a song and produce and record that song all together. We’ll have a drum kit set up, so we’ll do a click track and record the drums, we’ll do bass, guitars, and then vocals – so everyone is super engaged. Everybody’s into it, as you can imagine. It’s pretty awesome for them.

JVDV: You and Shane both have families now, and the writing on this record certainly addresses that to some degree. How much did your current family situation influence those songs versus what you’re doing over at the seminary?

Shane E: I would say that four or five of the songs on the record came from class songs. Because we make them write a song every week, either Shane or I will have to write one each week too. So a lot of the songs came from that. But one song specifically is written toward our kids, Shane and I both have little girls. The title of the record is from the song “The One You Need.” It’s like, if we had to stand before our kids or our family and we had one thing to say, what would it be? We just want to let them know that Jesus is the One that they need. In a world where there’s a lot of competing world views and ideologies of how to find peace, ya know, there are a billion and one self-help books or even Disney telling them this is what a happily ever after looks like, we wanted to say at an early age, Jesus is the One you need.

As men we want to be the one to take care of our families and our daughters. I want to give them everything - I don’t want to mess up. I want them to come to me for anything that they have and I want to try to fill that place in their heart. But eventually, Lord willing, this kid’s gonna grow up and move out and be on their own. It’s just a horrible thought for me (laughs), but one day it’s going to happen. I just want them to know that Jesus is the only One who can fulfill the deep places of their heart. The only one that can give them a true hope and a future. I hope this song resonates with my daughters throughout the entirety of their life. We want to point them to Christ as much as we can and this is just one of our attempts to sing and say that over them.

JVDV: Do you think this song is the theme of the record?

Shane E: It’s definitely the theme of the record. The whole record is very Gospel-centric, probably more than any other record we’ve ever done. I think we’ve written out of a devotional spot usually – something really introspective and this has been more of a ‘global’ Gospel record. We did it on purpose because we feel that the more we do this, especially being involved in a local community, man, we just need the Gospel. It’s the renewing power of the Gospel on hearts that is so huge. C.J. Mahaney said something that’s really resonated with me; we feel like in our Christian world we have the Gospel, we get saved and then we move on to bigger and better things, and I thought that was so true. It’s like we think ‘Oh man, I’ve got all this ministry to do,’ and ‘we’ve got the Gospel but that was 10 years ago.’ It’s coming back to that and letting it wash over us daily. It’s changed my life. Remembering what the Lord has done and remembering what He is doing through the renewing power of the Gospel. I keep saying the same thing but it’s become a residual prayer in my heart, daily in my journal “remember the Gospel, remember the Gospel, remember the power of the Gospel.” It’s become the heart beat of the record. It is devotional but it’s been a really good season to remember that.

JVDV: Since you have transitioned from the ‘devotional’ place of writing to this ‘Gospel’ focus, do you think your listeners are ready to transition too? And were you at all scared, or do you think your audience is going to dive right in?

Shane E: Hindsight’s 20/20, ya know (laughs). We HOPE they go with us. As an artist I think there’s already insecurity that comes from wearing your heart on your sleeve, which is what we do in our writing. A lot of the songs come out of our journals. Apprehensive is the nature of our business, for us anyway. Your art is special to you and we try as hard as we possibly can to make it as good as we possibly can. You never know, but the response so far has been really great. We played these songs for a bunch of people before and everyone seemed to be really on-board with the production, the songs, and the themes, so I think so!

JVDV: We’ve really appreciated the direction that you and Shane have taken on this record. It’s really fresh and it’s a fun listen.

Shane E: Oh, thanks for saying that. Honestly, we’ve had fun, we’re getting out there and taking breaths. Our label tells us they appreciate us; what we do. It’s felt like a team, it’s got energy. We’ve been really enjoying the process. I think the last four or five years we’ve been doing it and walking with the Lord, but we just didn’t feel like we were moving forward, if I can be transparent. We were on the road, writing songs, seeking the Lord, but I think that now being involved in the church community has pushed us over a hump – there’s a bunch of cogs in the wheel. A step back has given us a new heart, a new vision for the future. We’re more excited about this than we’ve been since, I think, our first record that we came out with - which is crazy. Don’t know how to say it other than to say that we’re having fun.

JVDV: What is your preference, playing at a church or in a concert setting?

Shane E: We like them all, it just usually depends on a crowd. Leading worship at our church we really enjoy, but just for having fun, we like an old theater or something with people who are the most engaged.

JVDV: If you could choose anybody that you’d love to go on tour with, who would it be?

Shane E: U2, man. That would be so awesome.

JVDV: Ok, what about realistically?

Shane E: The Crowders. They’re not going out anymore, but we did a tour with David Crowder*Band and that was the most fun touring situation. We love those guys so much, we’re great friends. Maybe we could convince David to go with us to do one more?

JVDV: What book are you currently reading?

Shane E: Multiple books, but I started the Chronicles of Narnia over and I’m almost done with that. Also, Justification of God by John Piper, again. It takes me so long, but it kicks me in the teeth everyday.

JVDV: Thanks for taking the time to chat with me today. We really appreciate what you guys are doing out there. Take care!

To learn more about the program that Shane and Shane are a part of, or to hear the songs created each week by the students, visit oaksleadership.com.

Winds of Change

This morning I ran.
It was my long run.
Nothing unusual about it.
Except one thing.
It was windy.
Amazingly windy.

As a runner, I am always hoping for the perfect conditions for my run.  Today the wind was both my helper and my hindrance.  As I left my house, I ran with the wind and felt it almost push me along.  It was almost a coach, encouraging me, let me know that I could run farther, faster and longer.  It felt good.

The turn to start heading back was a different story.
I was facing the wind.  Soon it began to mock me.  To threaten me.  It still pushed me, but this time it felt as if it was pushing me into a bush on the side of the trail.  Once I even stumbled.

A couple times, I had to laugh.  I was amazed at how powerful some of those gusts of wind were.

My mind drifted, as it often does while I am running, to a song from Geoff Moore.  His song, Winds of Change, from his Foundations record was very influential to me during my college years.  That song still impresses me today.

Winds of change came calling
Hit them without warning
The foundation was all that remained
Everything else was carried away

From this day, there are 77 days left in 2011.  I don't know what change will be in these days.  I am not sure what this wind will bring.
Loss.
Joy.
Separation.
Happiness.
Death.
Life.
Old.
New.

I guess what both Geoff and I continue to learn, not just through this song, but through life, is that the foundation of the things of earth pass away.  It's guaranteed they will.  So the question is what is my foundation? 

Winds of change come calling
Hit us without warning
Let all we need be all that remains
Let everything else be...carried away

Winds of change come calling
Hit us without warning
Let our foundation be all that remains
Let everything else be carried, carried away

The hymnwrite, Edward Mote, wrote, "My hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus blood and righteousness."  That is and must be where our true foundation lies.

Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable (Ps. 145:3).

“Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand?” (Job 26:14).

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa. 55:8–9).

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” (Rom. 11:33–34; cf. Job 42:1–6; Ps. 139:6, 17–18; 147:5; Isa. 57:15; 1 Cor. 2:10–11; 1 Tim. 6:13–16).

Remains of Septembeard

The fu man shoo.