Music Recomendation

The new Gateway Church Worship album "Awaken The Earth", is awesome! If you like worship music, this CD is the one to listen to over and over. God has blessed this church to write some incredible worship music over the past 3 years. Songs like Revelation Song, You Are God and others seem to be the standard of excellence with this church. You can find it on itunes under gateway worship.

God and the Universe

What a great message by Pastor Trevor yesterday at the creek! Imagine how large our universe is, and how much greater our God is! Why do we sometimes give him praise in such small amounts when He is so big? I think it has something to do with the way we view Him. I heard it said once that our worship is a reflection of how we view God. If we really saw Him as our Savior and creator of the universe then I believe our worship would take on a new form. The way we worship sometimes, makes me think that we view God as a mere dignitary or CEO. The God I serve is not a life sized thing or title, He is the great I AM! He is the creator of the world and redeemer of all man kind from beginning to the end! As you worship Him, keep in mind that He is a big God who deserves Big praise, so as David said, let's make His praise LOUD!

Music: The Brooklyn Tabernacle

For those of you who like music, let me suggest the Brooklyn Tabernacles new CD, "I'll Say Yes". This is a great addition to any praise and worship or choral collection. The title track says it best when the question is asked of us by the Lord, "Will you be willing to serve me?" This album is both inspiring and eclectic, ranging from typical praise and worship such as "Holy Is The Lord" and Worthy Is The Lamb" to Choral ballads such as"How I Love The Name" and "Ill Say Yes". Another home run for Carol Cymbala and the BTC.

Childhood Games: The Name Game

I am so amazed that people who claim to be part of the body of Christ get caught up in so many childish games. You know the ones I am talking about. For example, "Follow The Leader", the game where different people in the church want to be in control and tell everybody else what to do. Or what about "Red Rover"? That's where people dare others to cross the line and just "try something". But my favorite is the "Blame Game". Yes, that's right, the game that church people play by blaming other people or churches for the problems that they have caused themselves. I have to admit, it intrigues me when people use slander, gossip and other tactics of the devil to carry out a "righteous call to spread the truth". Gods word tells me that we are to speak the truth in Love not be ticked off when things don't go my way and blame everybody and start calling names. I am thankful that the God I serve is a God of Love and compassion and he still cares about us even when we play our games. I really wonder sometimes if God is not calling the church to "GROW UP", and act like the one we are called to serve!

So whats your point?

Ok here it is. Recently I was watching Television and an ad came accoss the screen that stated the following..."Are you tired of Rock n Roll Music in church? Are you tired of casualy dressed preachers? Are you tired of preachers using everything but the origional KJV bible? Come try "XYZ" Church." As I read that and think about it even now, I am amazed at how biblicaly void those statements are! It seems that we have gotten out of the bussiness of reaching people with the gospel and gotten into the spiritual rut of trying to clean people up before we win them! Rock and Roll music is not what is killing churches, it is legalistic teaching that majors more on opinions than the word of God! When scripture states "How will they hear without a preacher?" it does not follow up with "Who will use the King James Version". And as far as dress code goes, if we want to get right down to it, a suit and tie is something that only the wealthy and Pharisees would have worn as they falsely worshiped in front of huge crowds so they could be seen. Please do not misunderstand, Suit and tie is great if that is what you worship in, but I have felt God just the same in khakis and a polo shirt. It's time in our culture that we stop beating people to death with our opinions and begin sharing our faith in confidence knowing that when we lift up Jesus and not out argument for or against something minor, that HE will draw people to himself. The church has become so good at slamming another church because of their "style". If we want to take a passionate stand for something, lets find those churches who have blatantly subverted the word of God and allowed the pastor to preach out of other books rather than the bible. Stand against those people who call themselves Christian but would vote and support a presidential candidate who would sign back into law, partial birth abortions. Find the truths in God's word and stand for those things, not against churches who are reaching others for the Kingdom of Christ! Do I use the KJV? Not usualy but I do study out of it from time to time. Do I like the contemporary music in church? Yes, as well as some of the songs of old that are great pillars of our worship! Do I dress casualy in church? I put clothes on that are fitting to wear in the presence of a king and I come to praise him, not admire wardrobes! What is my point? That majoring on issues in place of lost people, is pointless!

It's the most stressful time of the year, but it dont have to be!

I wonder sometimes if people who lived 200 years ago, ever dreamed that the Christmas season would ever be this busy and jam packed? In the last couple weeks I have been trying to get some Christmas shopping accomplished, and it has turned out to be more of a life or death mission getting in and out of malls and parking spaces, than shopping and enjoyment. People act as if they lose all sense of awareness and go temporarily insane. If we would just slow down and remember that when we are in a rush, that we are not being Christlike, instead we are being more like "ourselves". Even during the holidays, we should reflect Christ and His example, after all, it is His birthday that we are celebrating.

The Creek
Things at Hawk Creek are really exciting now as much as ever! With almost 500 attending on a weekly basis, every parking space is full, and the children's ministry to capacity God is showing off even still! There have been many saved over the last several weeks and several new members! Lives are still being changed in Celebrate Recovery and new ministry opportunities are presenting themselves on a weekly basis. If you are reading this, let me ask you to pray as we begin construction on our new facility located on HWY 80. This is a major undertaking and will require God's hand and blessing throughout the entire process. I am thankful that He has been in the forefront of all that we have been involved in so far. May we always remember that ministry is about Connecting to God, Serving People, loving both and Promoting Jesus!

New is not always good

First let me update you on the creek! Yesterday was absolutely amazing. With 4 salvations, 8 joining the church and several re-dedications, God's presence was definitely in the house. The congregation was singing loud and giving God everything during worship, and the message was very anointed, giving each person the truth in love from the Bible. So here we are, another election over with in Kentucky, and a new governor has been elected. The people of the commonwealth has chosen a man who stands for expanded gambling, and refuses to take a stand on the ten commandments. So is this new governor a good thing? We read of new buildings going up, new businesses being starts, new people taking positions, but what makes new things bad things? I believe the answer lies in if the subject in question glorifies God or not should determine the answer. In life we can come up with so many reasons to put out the old of anything and bring in the new, but if the new is not needed and is not used to glorify God then why not stick with the old.