Worship

Hello all. I am writing you this on the wake of our flight out to Glacier National Park. Please be in prayer for traveling mercies to be bestowed upon Jeff Keller and myself this week. We will be praying for your experience with God in worship this week and next as well.

As we are about to embark on this adventure, I find myself excited to be in a physical environment that will be different than what I have in my everyday life. To be removed from the rat race, and placed into the frontlines of God's creation in it's rawest form. I find myself worshipping God in nature, just as I do in song, and service to Him. What about you, what elements do you find aid in your focus and passion for worship? Song, visual media, nature, helping poor and needy people, reading the Word, etc.. what is it that really connects you to God? Please share, I love to hear about how God is working in the lives of His people.

I love the book of Thessalonians 1. Today I read this passage and envisioned our church looking upon each other in this way:

1 Thessalonians 1:2-3

2We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers. 3We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Have a blessed week everyone, and I will be praying for your hearts this week. Be strong in the Lord!

Don't forget to come out to the worship concert at CLC on Friday night September 11 at 8pm. Be praying for the 10/40 window. Especially Inda right now. There is a crusade to kill Christians starting, there is a group that has the desire to remove the Christian church from the Indian culture totally. More on this to come.

In Him,
Mark

Upcoming Event

Hello everybody,

I just wanted to pass along a special event that your Cross Pointe Worship Team has been invited to that will take place on September 11, 2009 at 8pm @ The Christian Life Cathedral in Fayeteville, AR. Our team has been invited to help lead a night of worship and prayer focused on missionaries and for the residents of the 10/40 window.

In case you are unfamiliar with the 10/40 window, you can check it out on the web at: http://1040window.org/what_is.htm.

This will be primarily a college event for students, we would like to ask for your prayers for this ministry opportunity starting now in advance. That God would prepare us as a team, prepare our hearts and the hearts of those in attendance, and that he would bless our missionaries to reach out to the folks in the 10/40 window that they would come to know Jesus personally.

I will keep you updated on this event in the upcoming weeks.

In other upcoming events, Jeff Keller (our Media/Sound director) and myself will be heading to Glacier National Park to backpack the backcountry and so we will be gone the weekends of August 30th and September 6th. I have been blessed to have such a great team with individuals willing to step in to lead worship these weekends.

August 30th - Keith Marinus will be filling in and leading.
September 6th - Rebecca Mullikin will be leading.

They are both excited about having this opportunity to lead you in worship. Make sure you appreciate them for their service.

Thanks for all of your prayers and support! I am praying for your week.

In Him,
Mark

Texting and Cell Usage

So this morning I had a thought as I looked down at my iPhone. The image of folks bowing their heads in a worship service has always been a sign of reflection, prayer, and worship. But it seems these days that individuals could be bowing their heads texting, surfing the web, or taking electronic notes with their cell phone. I am sure there are a lot of opinions on the use of cell phones in a worship service, as we have all been able to observe the glares when someone leaves their ringtone on accidentally and it goes off durning the sermon. But what if in the future there was a way to incorporate cell phones, twitter, texting, etc. into a worship service?

For example, what if on the screen during a service people are enouraged to send "tweets" to @crosspointenwa with their personal reflections or prayer requests? Or what if during a new song that the praise team is implementing, the congregation could "text" a vote if they connected to it or not?

These may be random thoughts, but the church must stay up with the technology of today and find ways to use these as another avenue to reach people "where they are" and minister to them.

I do think it is important to not make the use of technology an 'idol' in our lives, but that it would be used in a (I Corinthians 10:31) context.

What do you guys think of these ideas? What do you think of the church in general staying up with technology to use for new ministry opportunities? Please feel free to "share your thoughts" below.

Have a blessed week!
In Him,
Mark