Keystrokes of a Worship Pastor

I'd Love to Hear _____________ Sing That Song...

2009-08-05T12:07:00.002-05:00

So the other day, Mel and I were sitting around talking about songs we love. Conversation quickly went to "man I bet this guy would tear that song up..." We often enter into conversations like this about people who can really sing...

Funny thing was, we had two different songs, but both wanted to hear the same guy sing them. So it got me thinking, I wonder if I issued a little online challenge if I could get him to throw a little handicam video action our way!

So, Mr. Chad Strader...I told her "Chad would be somebody he could do a bang up job on Piano Man" and Mel followed by saying "I was just thinking I'd love to hear him sing Easy by the Commodores."

For your preparation, I am including the videos that will help get you started. :)

We'll be waiting...

Much love,

Tim and Mel Barosh

Easy -

Piano Man -

My Little Man's First Trip to the Barber Shop

2009-07-31T19:32:00.004-05:00

My my little man made his first trip to the barber shop today! He was a bit nervous when we sat him down, but a lollipop made everything better. (In fact, we went through 4 lollipops because he kept dropping them and freshly cut hair does not come off sticky candy.) :)

Anyhow, this dude was so chill the whole time...like Sports Clips was his home. I think I heard him tell me the score to the game at one point.

Loved this day...great memory for me!

Kids and Passover

2009-06-18T16:28:00.004-05:00

So glad my wife is teaching our kids from the Bible. I drove up from work the other day and this piece of art was on our front door glaring at me from three blocks away. I smiled immediately because I knew what my children were learning...but even deeper that the blood of Christ poured out has made me right with God. I pray the same for my children.

We eventually brought the sign indoors because Ellie kept walking around telling people we put blood on the door. Could be a bit morbid entry into a conversation with neighbors. Then again, maybe we all shy away from the blood too much...hmmm.

Is This You?

2009-06-11T12:34:00.001-05:00

My Baby Turned 5!

2009-05-31T16:20:00.004-05:00

Five years have flown by! Our little girl Isabella just turned five this week. I snapped a couple pictures of her at our family party on Tuesday. She was so excited that it was her special day and I loved the joy she found in that day.

Old Pics and Good Friends

2009-02-22T21:52:00.002-06:00

I'm trying to sort through my picture files and get some things organized. I ran across these pictures from last summer hanging with our friends Ernie and the Monroys. Our kids love'em like family and I remember how much fun they had swimming this day. Good memories.

Mommy's New Prayer Jar

2009-02-14T16:30:00.002-06:00

Mommy was so bummed that she accidentally broke the last prayer jar we gave her. So we thought Valentine's Day would be a perfect time to replace it. The kids worked hard on this one and were very excited to give it to her!

My Family Christmas Pictures (Cut!)

2008-12-12T15:07:00.002-06:00

So I just finished shooting our family Christmas portraits to send out to family and friends. It was so much fun doing it in our own house. Good-bye JC Penny's :)

As we narrowed it down to the one we'll actually send out, here are a few that didn't make the cut! :)

It's amazing what you go through for one good picture.

Good Quote on the Lukewarm

2008-11-07T15:31:00.003-06:00

Lukewarm people probably drink and swear less than average but besides that, they really aren't very different from your typical unbeliever. They equate their partially sanitized lives with holiness, but they couldn't be more wrong.

Francis Chan - Crazy Love p. 79

My Birthday Weekend

2008-10-25T11:18:00.005-05:00

Had a great weekend with the family. We celebrated my 33rd birthday (very holy age I might add). Having 3 kiddos now, Mel and I laugh at how "flexible" our plans have to be on birthdays! We were still able to do everything Mel had planned for the day, it just was more interesting with 3 kids in tote!

We had a blast getting breakfast at Einstein Bagels (my kids still think they were donuts). We forgot the diaper bag at home and didn't realize it till we were already at breakfast. So we cruised back to get it from the house, drove to a park in the area to do cake and gifts. Then we came home and got the kids excited about Grandma coming over.

(opening my own present hasn't happened in 4 years)

Then Mel and I took off to the Grove in downtown Houston. Incredible restaurant and great vibe. We stayed there the whole night, then cruised home and crashed! It was amazing to have a few hours of uninterrupted grown-up conversation. Hard to come by these days!

(Mel enjoying the cool night air on the walkway at Discovery Green)

(The view from our outside table upstairs)

Thanks Mel for a great birthday...you're the best wife a man could have!

A Core Issue

2008-10-22T21:26:00.007-05:00

So this is a heated election and I have found passionate Christians on both sides of the fence (politically speaking). As you can read on my wife's blog, we have been following Voddie's blog as he has been doing quite a bit of research on both candidates. We are really trying to make an informed decision on which way we will vote.

What we have come to realize in our many talks about the election is this: Our vote must be run through the filter of our Christian faith. As soon as faith enters the picture, so does the infamous question of Pro-life vs. Pro-choice.

I know all the statistics. I know both the Republican and Democratic sides. I know some say there are "bigger fish to fry." But, the reality is that this issue will weigh heavily upon mine and my wife's decision.

When things get thick like this for me, I usually go to some of our current heroes in the faith for their thoughts. Below is a video from a frequently quoted pastor - Dr. John Piper

A Great Read

2008-10-21T20:29:00.002-05:00

What an incredible book I'm reading right now. This one that I'm taking slow, not trying to rush through. I find that there are numerous paragraphs I just want to read again and again. I want the words he writes and the scriptures he references to drop deeper into my soul. Here are some quotes that I've read lately that are simmering within me.

"I believe that much of the American churchgoing population, while not specifically swimming downstream, is slowly floating away from Christ. It isn't a conscious choice, but it is nonetheless happening because little in their lives propels them toward Christ."

"Leftovers are not merely inadequate; from God's point of view (and lest we forget, His is the only one who matters), they're evil. Let's stop calling it 'a busy schedule' or 'bills' or 'forgetfulness.' It's called evil."

"Many of us believe we have as much of God as we want right now, a reasonable portion of God among all the other things in our lives. Most of our thoughts are centered on the money we want to make, the school we want to attend, the body we aspire to have, the spouse we want to marry, the kind of person we want to become...God is not someone who can be tacked on to our lives."

Sunday to Sunday

2008-10-04T08:58:00.002-05:00

As we’re headed into our Sunday experience tomorrow at Crossbridge, I can’t help but to keep thinking about last Sunday. See, we are constantly evaluating our Sunday morning environment through many different lenses. Some are of the spiritual nature, some just plain logistical.

In regards to Sundays, the staff typically asks the following 4 open-ended questions about our Sunday mornings.

• What went right?
• What went wrong?
• What was missing?
• What was confusing?

So, I didn’t wait till Tuesday this week. Chuck and I went at it right when we got there on Monday. We both knew something wasn’t right and it mainly centered around the musical section of the services.

Although both services were musically up to par and the transitions executed seamlessly, there was a void. Numerous trusted sources say the sound was incredible. So why did it seem that the music fell so flat?

Here are the songs we did:

Sing, Sing, Sing (Tomlin – celebratory opener)
At the Cross (Renstrom – new song, thicker lyrics)
Faithful (Fee – very familiar, easy to sing)
Jesus Paid it All (Focus Song before talk)
Broken Cisterns (Renstrom – Communion Song)

I think I could have intro’d the new song At the Cross better and perhaps spent more time teaching how the verses go. We quite possibly have sung Faithful into the ground (I read recently that once a congregation has sung a song 30 times, the words become rote to them). Sing, Sing, Sing – not sure on this one. Jesus Paid it All went over a bit better in both services. Actually seemed to be the highlight. Broken Cisterns I’m not too worried about because we basically sang that over the crowd as they took communion. Solid song.

As you can see, I still can’t quite nail down reasoning…maybe God is doing what I can’t see. Maybe everyone was really bored out of their minds. Regardless, these kind of mornings spur me on to think more deeply about our next Sunday.

So I’m less than 24 hours away from our next Sunday. I know we are well prepared, but we were last week too. My heart is for people to experience God in a way that transforms their lives. I know that God is sovereign and does what he pleases. My prayer is that he moves greatly in our midst tomorrow!

Tim Barosh Photo

2008-09-29T07:31:00.007-05:00

Well, it's been a long time coming, but we're finally ready to get this project going! Tim Barosh Photo (www.timbaroshphoto.com) is now live and open for business.

I have always loved photography and have wanted to do it on the side for years. It just so happens that the price of gas and 3 little kiddos were the catalysts for me actually giving it a spin! :)

So yes, I am starting this business to make a little cash in addition to my full time job at this great church. If you're looking to categorize the quality of my work, I'd say this: "I'm not as good as the $6000 wedding photographer, but I'm better than your uncle Joe with his disposable camera from Walgreens."

I love shooting families, weddings, maternity, sports events, and birthday parties! You'll be able to purchase all your prints directly through my website and they'll be delivered right to your door.

To see some of my work, check out my website and my Flickr link to the right!

Shoot me an email at timbaroshphoto@gmail.com for any of your photography needs!

Praise Hymn Fashions

2008-09-25T14:36:00.003-05:00

I've been eagerly awaiting the newest copy...hot of the press and straight to my office mailbox.

Crowder: Jesus is My Friend

2008-09-25T10:08:00.001-05:00

Hey may just be the one and only that could cover it so well.

Mom's Night Out

2008-09-23T21:13:00.005-05:00

Well, tonight my wife is getting a much needed night out. She does such a fantastic job pouring into our family and home that I get really excited when she gets to get away for some refreshing. Tonight she's out with a friend from church named Cassie and I'm sure they're having a great time. I do know they went for Sushi at Japaneiro's...beyond that, I'm not sure.

Regardless, when I'm here with the kids by myself, it opens my eyes to just how difficult her job is. Having 3 kids under the age of 4 is fun, but a bit draining at the same time. Just as the baby was almost asleep tonight, the 2 year old came screaming in because she had a blister on her foot and wanted a Diego band aid. So the process of putting the baby down started all over. :)

When it was time to go to bed, they had pulled all the books off their shelf because their "keys" fell behind the bookshelf. That was fun cleaning.

Just when I thought I was in the clear...I get a call from the 4 year old..."Papi, I have a hang nail. I need the clippers"

This is not a bad night, actually it was pretty fun and I kept my cool throughout. However, I only had them awake for about 2.5 hours. She has them alone from 8:30 till 5:00 when I get home. She loves it, but sometimes I know it gets hard. Today, I ate Filet Mignon at Fogo de Chao for lunch...she ate goldfish at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. I nearly felt depressed as I ate, knowing she was the one that deserved the steak dinner.

So we've started praying each morning as a family. Once everyone is done, I pray for our family and always include a prayer for Mel to not lose the great vision God gave her for our children and our home. I pray that God-given passion would fuel her to lovingly lead our children towards Christ each day. I pray that patience would flood her soul in times of great "toddler" testing.

Mel is still passionate about her role as mom, wife, and manager of our home. And when she gets nights out like this, she's even more ready to dive in the next day!

Before the Kids Wake

2008-09-23T07:35:00.003-05:00

I'm sitting here on the couch with my son, waiting for the two princesses to wake up. I thought I'd take some time to write a few lines.

Sunday was our first day back to normal after the hurricane. Interesting enough, we had planned 2 weeks before the hurricane to do Jimmy Needham's "Hurricane" during the service. We nixed that one. Probably a bit too cliche. :)

We opened our service with a new song off of Tomlin's album called Praise the Father, Praise the Son. Incredible...both services caught on well and sang their hearts out. It was really a great morning to be back with our people and worshiping God.

I have heard some negative reviews about Tomlin's new album, especially on iTunes. I have to say though, Tomlin has never been unclear about his approach to songwriting. He writes for the church. The songs on this album are incredibly singable and can be used in most corporate worship settings. We will be using a great deal of these songs at our church and I am very pleased with the album. In contrast, it seems many of the CCM worship bands are drifting from the "singability" factor needed for churches to use their songs regularly. Tomlin has yet to drift from his original vision of writing songs for the church. Good stuff.

Full House

2008-09-14T21:04:00.004-05:00

Ike has brought lots of frustration for everyone. Understandable.

One of the joys of times like this is seeing everyone pull together. From helping with boarding of houses to clean up after the storm, there is always a real sense of togetherness that happens during these times.

Some church friends of ours called from out of town to see if they could bring us groceries on the way in because they saw the state of stores here!

Tonight, we're pulling together with friends and family. My brother and his kids still don't have power, so they're staying another night with us. We got a call from our good friends Iris and Pablo and they're without power as well. So, we're all hanging tonight under our roof.

Mel gets all the "girl-talk" time she can handle and me and the fellas are getting ready to play some poker.

If nothing else, there will be good conversation and deeper relationships because of this storm.

Thanks Ike.

The Days of Ike

2008-09-13T22:20:00.004-05:00

It was a long couple days leading up to Ike. We received a call at 7:20 a.m. on Thursday from our Canadian friends down the street. We joke with them about being hurricane rookies. :) Anyhow, they were needing some help boarding up the house, so after Chris and I both worked half days, we started pounding away at the wood. Chris being a chemist and myself being a pastor, it soon became quite evident the neither of us were carpenters. So, the phone call to master handy man Roland was made.

3 hours later, boards were up and the Canadians were ready to ride the storm. Roland proceeded to board his house with help from some 8 year olds and then he helped my mother-in-law with hers. While boarding in the early afternoon, I took call from a friend needing some "hurricane worthy" relationship counseling. So, Mel and I cleared our calendars and had the lovely couple over Thursday night.

We continued helping with boarding on Friday...all the while my house was taped with X's. :) One of the 8 year olds that was helping us was clowning on me for taping the windows with an X. He said, "Ike is going to be blowing through, then come up to my house and see the X's and turn and go the other way." I told him they were holy X's taped and filled with the Holy Spirit and ready to take on Evil Ike. He looked at me oddly.

My wife and I decided to take our friend Peter up on his offer to crash at his empty house that was already boarded up. We were very grateful!

Now, the day after...we had power by 3:00 p.m. and I only had one casualty...my front yard tree. I think we had power so quickly because we live a mile from a hospital one way and a mile from a sherriff's station and prison the other way.

My brother is on his way over now with his kids. They live in Katy and the power is still out there. He said the kids were tossing and turning in their sleep because they were so hot. Reminds me of my summer in Spain. No AC...sleeping with the windows open. I didn't sleep well that summer.

So, we have no church services tomorrow, so maybe we'll join some friends at the one nearest our house. We'll see...

Oh, and looking at my phone, I had about 30 texts going throughout the storm. I can't imagine texting like that if I didn't have a full keyboard phone. What did I do before these days of technology?

I know many others had it worse than us. So many people lost everything. I'm grateful tonight.

Voddie on CNN

2008-09-10T09:44:00.002-05:00

Ok, so I don't talk politics much. In fact, I rarely talk about it with anyone other than my wife or a few trusted friends that will still hang with me even if we sharply disagree on candidates and issues. Other than that, I'm not going to risk a friendship over a candidate.

That being said, the Reverend Casey Cease sent this my way today...I have thoughts, but let's see what you guys have to say and we'll go from there.

What Rocks My World

2008-09-09T10:37:00.003-05:00

Blue Wave Car Wash

2008-09-04T11:57:00.002-05:00

Quite possibly the most amazing car wash to hit Houston (thankfully one is an exit down from my house). Prior to Blue Wave, I was paying no less than $10 for the wash, plus whatever I spent on vacuums. I get it all now for $4.99! And I'm pretty sure you could lose an appendage should you get too close to their vacuums. They are by far the strongest I've ever seen...

On My iPod

2008-09-03T15:33:00.002-05:00

Here's what's in high rotation on my iPod right now.

Jimmy Needham (Firefly and Hurricane)
Glenn Hansard (The Swell Season)
John Mayer (Free Fallin' Live)
Colbie Caillat (Oxygen, Older, Battle, and Tied Down)
Amos Lee (Last Days at the Lodge)
Daniel Renstrom (Adore and Tremble EP)
Some Original Songs from this dude

What are you guys listening to?

100th Post

2008-07-22T11:22:00.008-05:00

It's taken me a couple years to get here, but here I am. The infamous 100th Post. And yes, I am well aware that I haven't posted in 2 months. :) My wife and I both decided to take a "blogging break" this summer as we focused on the family. Honestly, neither of us missed blogging. Don't know what that means, but I do know it has caused us to examine where blogging falls in our list of priorities. Neither of us has decided to quit blogging, but instead are trying to figure out where it fits into our normal weekly routine.

So, here's what I do know based on all my blogging research. If a person does not blog at least 3 times a week, most likely his or her readers will begin to fall away. In addition, commenting on other people's blogs obviously causes traffic to come to your blog. I never really started blogging to gain readers, I actually did it as an avenue to stay connected to the people of my church and my worship team. Then it morphed a bit into a family journal as well so that we could have a record of what life has been like (since scrapbooking is out of the picture with 3 kids under the age of 4).

In light of the above statistic and the fact that I haven't blogged in 2 months nor commented on anyone's blog except this guy, I am going to attempt to "recall" all my former blog patrons! I have seen that there are certain sort of "buzz words" through google that cause people stop by and visit your blog. So I thought, what a better way to bring people back than to write an insane paragraph using some of the highest googled words. So, for those of you visiting for the first time looking for a wealth of information on the following subjects, I'm very sorry, I have little to offer you in this post. :) So here we go...

My good friend and might I add, Rock Star Aaron Ivey has just skyrocketed to CCM fame in his inclusion on the soon to be in every Christian household game "Guitar Praise." Yes that's right, if you ever wondered what it would be like to walk in this guy's shoes or play like his white haired guitar player, now's your chance. Run, don't walk and pick up Guitar Praise for your home entertainment system and learn to sing and play like a true CCM Rock Star. And on a few other notes, you should know that Hurricane Gustav hit Louisiana on Labor Day this week. As Batman: the Dark Knight is arguably one of the best movies of all times, I can't help but kick myself for wasting 2 hours of my life on Tropic Thunder. American Idol has added a fourth judge this season in an effort to boost sagging ratings. We'll see if it helps. I have noticed that about once a week, CNN runs some sort of headline on their home page that has the word SEX in it to lure people into clicking. This past week it was "8 bad reasons to have SEX." We have now seen that our Presidential tickets are Obama/Biden and McCain/Palin. Teen pregnancy has already been brought up on the GOP side of things, while others out there are still calling Obama a terrorist and the AntiChrist. Ridiculous. Other things that seem to have great public appeal are Elvis, Worship, Gotees, Gotee Trimming, David Hasselhoff, the new 90210, Glenn Beck, Hannah Montana, Ross King's Clear the Stage and Michael Jackson.

So, if you have come to my blog for any of the above reasons, welcome. If you stick around, I'm sure there will be other forthcoming posts that are sure to be of interest to you. I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help in the area that you are researching. Should you choose not to revisit my blog, I won't hold that against you. But you should still go out and get Guitar Praise.

The Great Cup Marker

2008-07-07T14:48:00.003-05:00

Have you ever been hanging out with friends and looked around at the disposable cups you’re using and wondered, “Which one is mine?” “I remember setting it down somewhere…”

Here’s what I know. If you’re ever at a party or any other social gathering, I can show you the cup that is not yours. Below is my wife’s cup. We have been dating since 1996…it was then that I became privy to the little habit of “marking” her cup. She says she plans on chewing the gum again…in almost 13 years, I can tell you that I have never seen her “rechew” the gum she puts on cups, plates, and bowls. So why not just throw it away????

But I love her even more for it!

Worship and Communion Sunday

2008-07-02T14:51:00.004-05:00

Well, we're gearing up for a Worship and Communion Sunday this week. Basically, our Sunday morning services will consist of worship through song, scripture, silence, giving, teaching, and communion.

We usually keep the service under an hour, but really try to engage God through some creative elements that we don't always get to use on Sunday mornings. In my preparations for our time this week, I have been more and more convinced that there is nothing so creative or musically excellent that is capable of causing God to move.

He is independent of us. He is unlike us. He's not confined by our preexisting thoughts about him. Yet, He is present with us and many times we miss Him. My prayer for Sunday is not that the music is great, presentation is compelling, and transitions are executed flawlessly. I think those things help. My prayer is that we don't miss Him when He's right there in our midst.

I'm still plowing through Worship Matters by Bob Kauflin. In light of this week's service, here are some of his thoughts that are running through my head.

- In our sincere desire to help others view God as approachable, we must not forget that God is wholly unlike us. He is the one "who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see." (1 Timothy 6:16)

- Not once is Jesus or God ever described in the Bible as our friend. Abraham is God's friend; the reverse is never stated. Of course, in one sense Jesus is the best friend a poor sinner ever had. Nevertheless, that is not the terminology of Scripture, almost as if the Bible is reluctant to descend into the kind of cheap intimacy that brings God or Jesus down to our level." - D.A. Carson

- To lead worship in a way that makes God seem dull is a sin. But it's not creativity and production values that will help us. It's helping people clearly apprehend the character and works of God.

- The affections we're seeking to stir up are more than fleeting, shallow, self-induced emotion. We aren't trying to excite people for the sake of excitement. We aren't leading a pep rally for band. Godly affections are deep and long -lasting. They're the result of focusing on what God has done and who He is.

Looking forward to Sunday!

A Day at the Beach

2008-06-30T22:24:00.005-05:00

I must say, I'm not a huge fan of the beach. Not that I don't like outdoors, but I just prefer cool crisp weather, crunchy fall leaves, and a hot cup of coffee. So when Mel suggested that we take the kids down to Surfside, I was a bit hesitant. But I didn't want to be the party foul, so I agreed to the sandy adventure. And, man I'm glad that I did! We had an incredible day!

We ended up making friends with the people parked next to us and our kiddos played together the entire time. When we left, our oldest daughter was asking them to join us for dinner. :)
I think they still wanted more beach time that evening, so we all exchanged emails and said we'd try to meet down there again sometime.

Here are some pics from our day at the beach...

Best Kiss

2008-06-30T09:06:00.003-05:00

So I have been starting to get my feet wet with photography. It something that I've always loved, just haven't had the know-how. In the past months, I've been seeking lots of advice from this guy and this guy to help get me started. Both have been more than excited to share all their little secrets. :)

Anyhow, the folks over at Best Kisses contacted me through my flickr account and offered me an insane amount of money to post a picture of my good friends Roland and Johanna. On this particular day, Roland and Johanna were with me helping a family in our church renovate their house. I must say the one thing about photography I've learned is this... get a big memory card and snap as many times as you can! The other 12 pics of Roland and Johanna didn't come out as good.

Take a read through the website of Best Kisses. It's actually pretty cool what they are doing!

I Love My Dog But...

2008-06-24T11:07:00.007-05:00

So, I'm cruising to work this morning down the newly expanded 8 lanes of Hwy 90 and I see something that makes me do a double-take. My camera was in reach, so I decided to get a shot of it...

In case you think your eyes are deceiving you...here's a close up. You can click on the images to get a really good shot. And yes, the dog is sitting on a pillow and is wearing goggles.

Here's my dog...at home, on the carpet, doing what she does best. No extreme sports for her...

My Day With the Kids

2008-06-21T08:43:00.012-05:00

So, yesterday my wife was out helping a family in the church that just had twins. In order for her to be freed up to be with them, it was best for all three kids to stay at home with me. In an effort to be the best dad to my kids I could be, I began to mentally prepare myself the night before. Upon waking up, these were my thoughts:

- Today will not be an easy day
- It’s unlikely that I will sit down very much
- There’s a good chance I will get thrown up on
- I will clean the kitchen no less than 3 times today
- Whatever you do, do not get your computer out. Your kids need the best you today.

So, I woke up at 6:30 and began my preparations for the day. Coffee on, milk ready for the girls, and milk thawed for the baby. This was not my first time alone with all three, but it would be the longest stretch.

We had a great day…my kids had my full attention and I really enjoyed my day with them. Upon planning for the day, I decided I would put one of my wife’s little “home maintenance” programs in place for the day. She has told me that she’s been trying to make sure the kids clean up their mess before they move onto the next activity or before leaving the house.

I thought that to be very wise, so I tried it out.

I must say it proved to be the tension reliever of the day. If you have toddlers, you know it takes about two minutes to wreck a room. I would turn around and there would be crayons and paper thrown everywhere after 5 minutes of coloring. Then they were ready to dress up and play princesses. Coloring was no longer satisfactory.

So I would tell them, “Ok, we’re not going to play princess until all the colors and paper are picked up.” It was like magic…”Ok papi, we’ll clean up.” We went through this process about 4 times during the day, cleaning the immediate mess before moving on to make another.

The whole day wasn’t about messes though…my favorite part was when Cash was sleeping and we went outside to wash the car. (Granted, there’s no reason to wash my heap of a Ford Escort, but it’s the smallest car and they feel they’re making a contribution to its cleanliness).

I couldn’t find a bucket, but we did have this big tub we keep toys in. It turned out to be the best thing since sliced bread. A “mini pool” if you will. Here are some pics of their time “washing the car.”

Long Three Weeks

2008-06-20T09:09:00.003-05:00

So, it's been an incredibly long three weeks. It was a ministry first for me. 3 funerals in 3 weeks. 1 per week...the good thing is that all these folks were believers and it was great to celebrate their lives and know that they were finally home. However, it has been a great drain on my family and I. Since I was a part of all 3 funerals either singing, preaching, or creating videos. That meant my wife was alone to manage 3 kiddos in a reverent environment! 4 year olds, 2 year olds, and 10 week olds have no idea that you're supposed to be somewhat quiet during those times.

My kids did great overall, but I gotta give kuddos to Mel for the hard work. Her job was definitely harder than mine.

Talking death with our 4 year old was interesting at times. She wanted to know why the person was sleeping in the treasure box. :) That gave us ample reason to explain the great "treasures" of heaven to her!

June 24th 2008

2008-06-11T07:54:00.006-05:00

This date can't come soon enough for me.

Mel and I saw Amos open for Norah Jones years ago...all he had was a guitar and a 5 song EP. We met him after the show and Mel got his autograph. We've been hooked ever since and his music stays on high rotation on my iPod.

So here's to a romantic evening of slow dancing in the kitchen with my wife...soon after June 24th. :)

Barber Shop Revisited

2008-06-10T21:22:00.004-05:00

So when I first started my blog, I talked about Oscar's Barber shop and my experience there. Well, my days at Oscar's are gone. Why you say? Because I now have 3 kids, 1 less full time salary, and the last time I filled up my Jeep it cost me $65. (Cost me $28 when I bought it). If I can save a few bucks by changing barber shops, I will.

And I'm happy to say that I've made the move to the Richmond Barber Shop where I save a good $5 to $8 with each haircut. That's about $100 a year in savings.

I thought my last barber shop was for guys, but this one is in a league of its own. Let's just start by saying, the guy that cuts my hair is named "Colt." Give you a picture? Yeah, he's country. You can get your shoes shined as well or buy yourself a jar of honey. There's a life size cutout of John Wayne in the corner...along with a few other portraits of him. Footballs signed by Bum Phillips. Baseballs signed by Nolan Ryan. There's a hat rack...and guys use it.

It just so happened that the shop was full of patrons the last time I went. Not one of them under the age of 50...except me. But let me tell you some of the lines that I heard thrown around...ones you don't hear much in Suburbia. But our Suburbia borders Redneck Town, so the two collide every once in a while and it always makes for a good time! So here are some of the one-liners I heard that day:

"Well, when I leave here, I gotta go spray my cotton."

"He was happy as a June-Bug"

"Supposed to feel like 104 today."

"You hear that old man __________ died?"

"It's hot, but we're still gonna run our trot lines this weekend."

These are just a few of the reasons why I love my barber shop. This is why I don't get my haircut at a "fancy" place in the mall by a guy named Sergio that swats me on my tail with his comb. There's no trendy music that I can go home and download on iTunes. No hair products called "Sexy" are available here. It's just a dude in a ball cap with some clippers and an antique cash register.

Fabuloso Mondays

2008-06-09T22:46:00.005-05:00

So Mondays are one of my favorite days to come home from work. Why? Because it is the day my wife mops the entire house! And a splendid job she does I might add. But more importantly than the clean floors, there is the lovely aroma of the purple Fabuloso. It is the shekinah glory of all household cleaners.

It is a rare Monday that I don't thank Jesus for the lovely smell of purple Fabuloso.

*there are other colors of Fabuloso, but they are far inferior and merely "aspiring" to be all that the purple Fabuloso is.

Friends vs. Seinfeld

2008-06-04T10:38:00.002-05:00

Yes, I believe the title itself is probably causing all sorts of vibrations to rise up in many of you. I'm not afraid to go there.

This is often a topic of discussion around our office here at Crossbridge. To go even further, it is the final question of every job interview we've done as well. "Friends or Seinfeld?" The person immediately feels on the hot seat and the answer they give will inevitably tattoo them for their entire tenure here at CB.

I know, I know...many of you will say "statistics don't lie...just look at the numbers." Yes, the Seinfeld finale was watched by more viewers. But, looking at the overall numbers from season to season, there is a clear winner in terms of viewers.

Seinfeld Stats

Season	Ranking	Viewership
Four (1992–93)	25	12,754,700^[35]
Five (1993–94)	3	18,274,800^[36]
Six (1994–95)	1	19,652,400^[37]
Seven (1995–96)	2	20,330,800^[38]
Eight (1996–97)	2	19,885,000^[39]
Nine (1997–98)	1	21,266,000

Friends Stats

Season	Timeslot (EDT)	Season Premiere	Season Finale	TV Season	Rank	Viewers (in millions)
1	Thursday 8:30 P.M. (September 22, 1994 - February 23, 1995) Thursday 9:30 P.M.(February 23, 1995 - May 18, 1995)	September 22, 1994	May 18, 1995	1994-1995	#5	24.3
2	Thursday 8:00 P.M. (September 21, 1995 - January 18, 1996) Sunday 10:13 P.M. (January 28, 1996) Thursday 8:00 P.M. (February 1, 1996 - May 16, 1996)	September 21, 1995	May 16, 1996	1995-1996	#2	29.4
3	Thursday 8:00 P.M. (September 19, 1996 - May 17, 2001)	September 19, 1996	May 15, 1997	1996-1997	#3	25.0
4		September 25, 1997	May 7, 1998	1997-1998	#3	24.1
5		September 24, 1998	May 20, 1999	1998-1999	#2	23.5
6		September 23, 1999	May 18, 2000	1999-2000	#4	20.7
7		October 12, 2000	May 17, 2001	2000-2001	#3	20.2
8	Thursday 8:00 P.M. (September 27, 2001 - October 4, 2001) Thursday 8:50 P.M. (October 11, 2001) Thursday 8:00 P.M. (October 18, 2001 - May 16, 2002)	September 27, 2001	May 16, 2002	2001-2002	#1	24.5
9	Thursday 8:00 P.M. (September 26, 2002 - May 15, 2003)	September 26, 2002	May 15, 2003	2002-2003	#2	21.6
10	Thursday 8:00 P.M. (September 25, 2003 - April 29, 2004) Thursday 9:00 P.M. (May 6, 2004)	September 25, 2003	May 6, 2004	2003-2004	#2	22.8

Now then, I know you die hard Seinfeld loyalists are all throwing things at your computer screen right now...but really. Episode after episode I have tried to watch...with nothing more than the occasional "ha" at some mediocre joke. I do keep giving it a shot, but seriously, not funny.

Friends on the other hand...Mel and I have the entire library and we watch the show regularly. Laughing every time as hard as the first time we saw it.

So, I'll open it up to you guys for comments. Are you a Friends or Seinfeld person? Why?

I'll also set up a little poll to the right to add to the fun!

A Real Quote

2008-06-03T22:24:00.002-05:00

My wife is in one of her "modes" right now...at 10:30 p.m. She passes me in the house and mutters with great enthusiasm - "There's nothing better than a clean bathroom."

Really?

I'm forever in debt to Mel for the incredible house keeper she is. But really, nothing better than a clean bathroom? I can think of so many other things...but I don't want to burst her bubble you know. So my answer is this...

"I Know Right!" I join her in that great undeniable joy of a clean bathroom!

Worship Matters

2008-06-02T22:39:00.007-05:00

I'm currently reading this book called Worship Matters by Bob Kauflin. Chuck and I are meeting weekly to discuss our thoughts on it and we're finding it to be a catalyst for some really good discussions.

This week I finished Chapters 11 and 12 and they blew me away. I think it would be easy (especially for worship pastors/leaders) to just breeze through a book like this looking for quick answers to common issues facing the local church today.

But I'm finding that Kauflin packs a lot of stuff into 2 sentence quotes. He'll launch something out there and you see that you still have plenty of chapter left to read. However, it usually makes me stop...I can't just do the holy "hmmmm" and move on. I have to dig deep into what he said. So, below are a few of the quotes from his book that are rocking me right now. They are causing me to evaluate, think more deeply, and realize that after 12 years of leading worship, I still have so much left to learn!

Quoting Gordon Fee - "Show me a church's songs and I'll show you their theology."

"When is the last time a non-Christian came to your church and fell down on his face, convicted and gloriously converted?"

"Given the biblical history, God's commands, and the immeasurable benefits we receive from Word-centered worship, it's worth asking why worship today is so often focused on sensory experiences, inward feelings, and subjective encounters."

"We need songs that have substantive, theologically rich, biblically faithful lyrics. A consistent diet of shallow, subjective worship songs tends to produce shallow, subjective Christians."

"Music can make shallow lyrics sound deep. A great rhythm section can make drivel sound profound and make you want to sing it again."

"The bottom line is: Sing God's Word. Lyrics matter more than music. Truth transcends tunes."

Organization OverRated

2008-05-27T21:41:00.003-05:00

So, my wife is probably the most organized person I know. She's second only to this lady. (My wife reads her blog religiously).

Now then, I am not known to be the most organized person in the world. I'm organized "in my own way" as I tell Mel all the time. However, I do have this unique and I believe "guy only" trait of remembering driving directions to places after only being there once. I don't know many gals that are good with driving directions. Especially when you start throwing north, south, east and west into the conversation.

So, back to being organized...my wife is. But every once in a while, it backfires on her. For the past 6 months, she's been looking for these Hallmark cards she knows she has. Basically, she buys cards on a regular basis, so they are ready to go when we have a birthday or a holiday that necessitates a card. Keeps us from running to the store last minute...I'm thankful, truly I am. :)

Last night, we're looking in the home office for something I'd misplaced, but that I know is in the office. She tells me, "look in that box up there on the file cabinet." I bring it down and you guessed it...2 shoe boxes full of Hallmark cards. I busted out laughing...they had been up there for over 6 months, "neatly organized," but completely unable to be found.

On another note, I found the thing I was looking for within a half hour and it was inches from where I remembered I put it. Stuffed ever so messily in a coffee cup on my desk with about a hundred other things. Most that know her well call her Monica. (Friends reference and precursor to my next blog post!)

Now Concerning Death

2008-05-22T14:13:00.010-05:00

This week I am preaching a funeral and at the same time disheartened by the tragic news affecting the Chapman family. As I am preparing for the funeral service tomorrow, my own thoughts about death have begun to creep in. Seeing children lose their life scares me like crazy...and seeing just how close the above scenario with the Chapman's was to a situation at our house last week I am even more taken back.

I have been in silence nearly the whole day today, just trying to get my arms around God's sovereignty and our inability to comprehend how and why He operates the way He does.

Spurgeon's thoughts on the matter are hammering me right now -

"Should it not be the business of this life to prepare for the next life, and in that respect, to prepare to die? But how can a man be prepared for that which he never thinks of?...Each fading leaf admonishes you. You will most surely have to die; why not think upon the inevitable?...If I do not think of death, yet death will think of me. If I will not go to death by meditation and consideration, death will come to me. Let me then, meet it like a man, and to that end let me look it in the face."

Something happens in my soul when I'm forced to think about death. I begin to look at life from an eternal perspective. I forget about the fact that my lawn has brown spots already starting to grow (it's only May). Instead, I begin thinking about living in a way that makes much of Christ Jesus. I wonder why He isn't a part of more of my conversations. If I believe what I say I believe, then I have the most important and glorious news to share. Yet, my suburban life urges me to pull my car in the garage and "fence" myself from all those around me.

If I think about death, I cannot help but think about how I treat my family and those closest to me. I examine the fact that I am the head of my family and I will either be a blessing or a curse to them. The question is not if I will affect my wife and children's lives, but rather, will it be for their joy or for their sorrow?

I don't know the answers to all the "why's" concerning death and its often unfortunate timing, but I do trust the sovereignty of God. When my fears rise up and I want to put my trust in my mere flesh and inferior understanding, I have to cast it aside and say "Whom have I in heaven but you? and on earth there is nothing that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." Psalm 73:25-26

American Idol Recap

2008-05-22T09:13:00.002-05:00

So I was wrong...and thankfully so. And by 12 million votes.

Though I still believe it was one of my least favorite seasons, the finale last night was pretty awesome. The song Michael Johns and Carly did was the highlight for me...but second to this little treasure.

Cash Giggling

2008-05-21T23:50:00.003-05:00

Having a little fun with my little man. I walked into the room tonight and heard him "talking" to me when he was over on the bed. So I went over to have a chat with him and this is what it turned into. This is a fun stage!!

Cold

2008-05-21T10:21:00.007-05:00

I'm going on 3 weeks with this cold now. I shook it for a couple days last week, but it came back with a ferocity I can't explain. However, a couple of my questions to God when I see him will be:

Why is it that when I need to be sleeping, my cough is absolutely the worst? Why not in the daytime when I'm awake and going about my day?

Instead, you stay up all night just watching the digital clock on the microwave move minute by minute. (Yes that's on the microwave, because the couch is the only place that I can sit up and sleep with some sort of comfort!)<

American Idol 08

2008-05-20T21:10:00.005-05:00

So, my thoughts are that this was a pretty lame season of AI. Honestly, after Michael Johns was voted off, I really stopped watching. I would let my wife fill me in. :)

I did however watch the showdown tonight between both Davids. I must say David A. did a pretty good job, though I favor David Cook much more. I know all the 10 year olds will vote David A. to be the next Idol, but regardless, Cook was a great contestant and I believe the better performer.

But if you look at the season as a whole, it fell quite short of the previous seasons. I don't think the show is losing its edge, I just think it's tough to hit a homerun 7 seasons in a row. I'll look forward to next year's show and in the meantime, hearing David A. on every soft rock station and David Cook on every top 40 station.

Side note: Did anyone catch Randy say that David A's first performance was the best of 2007?

The Lion and the Cub

2008-05-16T22:02:00.005-05:00

Every once in a while, I get the opportunity to lead worship outside of Crossbridge. Over the years, I’ve developed several relationships with friends that love to come and lead with me. I don’t know why they do sometimes…rarely can I pay them more than a fajita taco, but they still come.

This go ‘round, I was leading for 2 weeks out at Clear Creek Community Church in League City. These guys were so kind in our formative years to financially support us while we launched the church and since then have had both Chuck and I out to lead for them.

The past two weeks, I gathered a few of my friends, and we went out to lead their midweek services. On a whim, I thought I’d invite one of my mentors to join me. In the past 5 years, I’ve gained a friendship with a guy named Sam Perry who has really helped to shape me as a worship pastor.

I remember being a senior in high school and all my friends driving up to Waco every week to be in Sam’s worship service and to hear Louie Giglio speak. I would listen to the Choice CD’s thinking, “man, maybe I should go to Baylor and try out for this team. But I can’t sing like this dude Sam.” (I actually longed to be a part of Baylor Showtime, but thought, “hey, this Choice thing sounds cool too.”) I’m sure now there were probably no “auditions” for Choice. Oh the naivety of my 18 year old mind.

Sam went on to lead in the formative years of Passion and then became the worship pastor to Faithbridge out in the Spring area. It’s there that he and I began to meet every quarter or so to talk about being a worship pastor. He taught me about team management, saying hard things in love, putting the cookies on the lower shelf during worship services (making songs accessible to the masses), and how the most important part of my job description is to stay connected to Jesus.

Needless to say, Sam has been instrumental in my journey as a worship pastor, far more than what’s stated above and too much for a singular blog post.

So He agreed to come and lead one of the nights with me…he sat behind the keys and sang back up. We co-led one song and it was a blast. I must say it was like the cub leading while the lion sat back and watched. It was crazy to turn around throughout the service and see Sam looking at me for cues. Talk about an upside down scenario. I must say though, he tore it up on BGV’s and keys. There were so many times I found myself literally laughing and shaking my head in amazement.

Sam is now the worship pastor at Grand Parkway Baptist with Neil McClendon. The good thing is that he’s about a 5 minute drive from my church. Hoping to further our friendship by sheer proximity.

I must say, Wednesday night was one of my favorite worship services of all time. The caliber of leaders I was playing with was amazing (ya'll are awesome, thanks). The crowd really wanted to pursue God in worship, and the speaker was great! Those times are incredibly refreshing for me!

Great and Not-So-Great

2008-05-04T22:57:00.003-05:00

Well, I’ve been itching to get back to blogging, but it always seems like it falls to the bottom of my list during this newborn season. In the past 6 weeks, I have realized there are some great things about having a newborn…and there are some not so great things about it. Regardless, our new little boy Cash Harrison Barosh is a stud and I love having a son!

So here’s my list…

Great things:
• Meals made for us every night for a month! Thanks Crossbridge and thanks Sheila for organizing it!
• Swaddlers Pampers (These are the Cadillac of all diapers! And you only get to use them in the beginning cause they only go to size 2.)
• 2 full days at St. Luke’s Hospital. Best in Houston in my opinion. ☺
• That Purell clean feeling…kills lots of germs!
• A baby that only weighs 8 lbs…those days don’t last long.

Not-So-Great Things:
• When the meals stop coming
• Waking up after you’ve only been asleep for 20 minutes
• Shirts that smell like regurgitated milk
• They can tell the difference between you standing and sitting. Standing makes them stop crying…sitting makes them start. Why can’t it be the other way around?
• Sterilizing

Well, I’m falling asleep as I write this…I know there is much more, but I’m going to crash now. Hope to be back soon! For more pictures of Cash, visit my wife's blog.

Yes I know...

2008-04-14T09:22:00.003-05:00

I have not been blogging much...let's just chalk it up to the 3 week old little wrangler in our house, along with a perpetual tiredness that seems to be consuming me. I hope to be back to a regular blogging schedule soon. In the meantime, here's a link that is rocking my world. Maybe it will give you new perspective as well. I find that each time I read this blog, God speaks to me in a profound way.

Coffee and Music

Bulgarian Idol

2008-03-29T23:23:00.000-05:00

One of the best performances I've seen in a while.

He's Here...

2008-03-21T11:39:00.002-05:00

Sia - Day Too Soon

2008-03-19T21:54:00.005-05:00

Ok...this gal rocks. This song is on high rotation on my IPOD Classic (no I don't have an IPhone - not bitter). All I gotta say is this is a live performance and she tears it up...just as good as the studio cut. Thanks to Alex and Mike for the recommendation. She does so many runs, but for some reason it works for her. Amazing. Wonder if we could do this song at church. :) You know, we have the Love Song series coming up...this one sounds like it's right out of Song of Solomon. :) I won't tell you about the time we had a girl sing Insensitive by Jann Arden.

Fun With Friends

2008-03-19T14:58:00.009-05:00

So our neighbors down the street came to hang out with us the other day. Our kids love playing outside together and it was a real treat this day. Terri and I turned around and her son had cuddled up close to our oldest girl sitting on my guitar case. So I ran and got the camera...here's the "little story" as it unfolded. Good times...thanks for coming to hang out Terri!

Now then, the younger one is a story all her own. I think the picture speaks for itself, but our little boy on the way better look out. This girl can hold her own.

(Yes, she really did pull those two boys from our driveway to the next one. She's a firecracker.)

Still No Baby...Yes I Watch American Idol

2008-03-19T06:45:00.002-05:00

No baby yet...we're two days past the due date, despite what the little baby ticker on my wife's blog says. I think that 2 means 2 days late...anyhow, for more on baby stuff, check Mel's Blog.

Yes, I watch American Idol...regularly. It's sort of the water cooler talk on our Worship Team at church and everyone has their grand thoughts. What’s really funny is this...I am by far not the most talented musician on our team. Let's put it this way, I suck compared to some of the people on our team. But when Idol conversations come up, it's funny how everyone weighs in on their favorite contestants. Everybody has their rationale...and everyone's right. Then you see this sort of turn to me..."Tim, what are your thoughts?" Then I speak with the utmost American Idol authority that can be given to a worship pastor from God. And conversation is over. Either people don't want to rock the boat by disagreeing with me or it is true that God has imparted great American Idol discernment that cannot be refuted. I like to think it's the latter...

Anyhow, so I will weigh in now...last night's show was terrible. I struggled to make it through. I don't understand what was so hard about finding some incredible Beatles tunes (Strawberry Fields???) and doing them in a way that is at least palatable to the average joe. So, here's to hoping next week is worth the watch...

My Family (WillowTree Style)

2008-03-14T20:16:00.009-05:00

It's been an incredible 8 years in the Barosh home...I can't wait to see what's in store. But here's our life so far...told through WillowTree People. :)

Multiply the last picture by three and you have us. Now...if they only had a statue of a dude crashed out on the couch, our family picture would be complete! :) Seriously though, I need to get better at statue number 1. I love my wife and I used to be good at romancing...what happened Mr. Barosh????? No worries, I'm working on learning how to continue the romance with 3 kids in the picture. There's just a little learning curve involved!

New Series at Crossbridge

2008-03-13T14:29:00.005-05:00

Excited about the new series starting at Crossbridge. Should be a good time! If you live in the area, March 30th - May4th would be a great time for you come check out Crossbridge. Click the banner below for more info!

Dustin Kensrue

2008-03-04T14:32:00.002-06:00

I still plan on finishing my Relational Ministry Posts...but for now, here's who is on high rotation on my IPOD. This dude is bad. He would probably name his little boy CASH.

Dustin Kensrue - Thanks to Ryan for hooking me up.

Relational Ministry - Part 2

2008-02-27T10:17:00.004-06:00

Our first house-deal fell through…obviously God was at work. We ended up where we live now…that’s a story for a post in and of itself. We’ll just say that as we were leaving the house (unsure of whether this was for us) and Mel said, “I want to see the bathroom one more time.”

As she opened the cabinet, she found a little piece of paper in the far back corner that had Hebrews 11:1 written on it…it was a piece of our confirmation that we were to purchase this house. Even though I was quick to doubt…I told her, “Go put that back, that’s for the people who are supposed to buy this house!”

So, we moved in, determined that we would live on mission among our neighbors. Relational Ministry – from a natural overflow of an invested relationship, we would share about who Jesus was. Not with Jesus tracks and a sign in the yard that says “we don’t drink or smoke because Jesus doesn’t.”

Instead, we would be intentional about getting to know our neighbors and look for opportunities to be the hands and feet of Jesus to them. It’s not a cop-out for not talking about Jesus every time we’re together. It’s taking a long look…realizing we would be living here for years. Over that time we would have numerous opportunities to share. If we’re too forceful upfront…we could ruin opportunities for years to come. We wanted this to be natural part of a relationship with people we genuinely cared for.

So, we were one of the first houses built on our block and as people moved in, we would take them a welcome gift. Nothing big…just some cookies or rice crispy treats. That was our first step in getting to know their names and introduce ourselves. We would leave telling each other "You remember their name? Roland I think? Or was it Ramon? I don't know...go ask him again." Names are important to people...it says something to them if you can't remember their name.

Over the past 6 years, we’ve hosted a block party at our house on Halloween for the entire neighborhood. We don’t play Awesome God over the speakers the whole time…we play music people out here like. We try to take a night that was meant for darkness and somehow be a light for Christ. It’s crazy at times to see over 100 people standing in your front yard from all walks of life, but now everybody knows the pastor in the corner house throws a pretty good party!

Relational Ministry - Part 1

2008-02-25T22:53:00.002-06:00

Relational Ministry is a term that has been in my family’s vocabulary since 2001. That is the year that Mel and I started doing a program called CARES by Apartment Life . We were a CARES team for nearly 2 years here in the Sugar Land Area.

The overall concept of the program is this: In exchange for a rent free apartment, we served as the event planners for the community. On the faith side of things, the apartments knew we were Christians and allowed us to share our faith with their residents…in a non-threatening way of course.

I’ve never learned more about sharing my faith than I did in those 2 years. All through High School, I was very outgoing and handled myself fine in relational settings. Upon entering college, I was involved in a relationship that killed my self-confidence, causing me to second guess myself in nearly every relational environment.

I spent the first years of my marriage, unlearning years of unhealthy habits – such as standing in a corner with my plate of food as a shield anytime someone new came to talk to me. ☺ Since my wife is such the relational guru…I had the best coach in the world. While serving as a CARES Team, Mel would come and take my plate away from me and make me go talk to new people…I cursed her at the time, but I love her for it now!

Mel went on to work full-time for Apartment Life, serving as the Regional Director over Houston. At that time, we stepped down from being a team and purchased our first house. As we prayed about where God would have us live, our number one prayer was this: “God, we’ll live where you want us to…just put us in a place where we can have a Kingdom impact on the people we live among.”

ONCE Wins Big Last Night

2008-02-25T11:40:00.003-06:00

Mel and I were so excited about Glenn Hansard and Marketa Irglova winning best song last night. Here's their performance from the show...I love to watch the underdog win!

Cleaning, Cleaning, Cleaning

2008-02-23T12:39:00.004-06:00

I've never seen my wife happier! We are cleaning all weekend. The girls have gone to Grandma's and we have less than 48 hours to make this house ready for Baby Boy. (No, we have not agreed on a name yet. :) See my wife's blog for the latest on that.

Seriously though, a whole weekend dedicated to cleaning...on the happiness scale, this is up there with our wedding day. No joke. She's like giddy the whole time... "and what if we do this?" "Do you think we should move this here?" "We should put some shelves there."

We'll have some pics soon...because this my friends, is a memorable weekend. It's pre-baby nesting at its best!

Death By Suburb

2008-02-19T07:08:00.005-06:00

As a staff, we are all reading different books about the suburbs. When we go to staff meeting today, we will each give a synopsis of what we read in our book and then we'll enter into discussion about our current suburban context. We started this last week and it was a very enlightening conversation. Our Connections Pastor Brandon Baca started doing some great research on our area and brought it to our meeting. It was amazing to hear some of the statistics he shared.

So my reading is from a book called Death By Suburb. Just seeing the cover intrigued me and I was really drawn to dive into it!

So far, I would equate it to a "light" version of the Celebration of Discipline by Foster. It's basically an exploration of how to engage in the spiritual disciplines while living in suburbia.

However, this guy really starts to shine a bright light on the veneer of suburbia. He has no problem calling a spade a spade and including himself in the mix. In fact, he sort of tells on himself the first 3 chapters. He's refreshingly vulnerable.

Here's a great quote from the book. "The suburbs tend to produce inverse spiritual cripples. Suburbia is a flat world, in which the edges are clearly defined and the mysterious ocean is rarely explored. Every decision gets planned out, like the practice of registering at retail stores for one's wedding gifts. Only tragedy truly surprises."

How true is that last statement! We're so prone to predictability in our lives. We're prone to worship safety and accomplishment. We covet the neighbor's house and cars. We compete with each other through the accomplishments of our children. It's only when tragedy comes knocking on the door that we're awakened from our slumber. I like that Goetz is trying to give some avenues for living what he calls "The Thicker Life" in our suburban context.

Chores After Kids

2008-02-18T06:50:00.003-06:00

Not that I've ever been that great around the house in the first place...

But man, I really stink now that we have kids. I'll preface this one by saying I am not a night person at all. Truth be told, I could crash every night at 8:30 if this world allowed me too. :) However, I live in reality and it's a rare night that Mel and I go to sleep before 10:00.

That being said...there are many things that are piling up around the house that only I can do. Like, take the kid clothes stuffed, highly wife-organized Rubbermaid bins to the attic so they don't obstruct the walkway in our master bedroom. Or attempt to annihilate the growing weed population in my backyard. Put safety covers on all the outlets that have plugs (this is a big one cause I have to turn off the power to each outlet, then unscrew the current fixture, screw the new one on...etc). I need to clean the garage and add shelving to the laundry room. This is just the short list.

Needless to say, most of these are best achieved when the girls are sleeping. That means it either happens after 8:00 at night (the dead zone for me) or early in the morning before they wake. I used to have no problem waking early, but for some reason, I do now. Major sleep deprivation is my excuse.

So...at 5:00 a.m. this morning, I was removing caulk from our shower. I hate caulk. And it's like this mad sprint to get it done before the girls wake up.

Mel and I are so different...she will stay up to till 2:00 a.m. cleaning (like last night). I just look at her in sheer amazement, while I crawl into bed.

Overall, I'm still trying to learn how to fit all my house duties into my schedule now that the kids are here. They don't do well around weed eaters.

New Transform Website

2008-02-14T17:31:00.006-06:00

An organization called Transform Ministries that I'm a part of with my friend Casey Cease has launched their new website! Check it out when you get a chance...click the image below

Designer Replacement

2008-02-13T14:27:00.008-06:00

Ok...so a while back our church lost our graphic designer. He's pretty incredible and is now working at a great place that lets him drink beer while he works. Hilarious. But since he's been gone, I've become his shoddy replacement.

Anyhow, 98% of our graphic design has fallen into my court these days. That includes the big jobs that you want to look good...stuff that actually represents your church. So, Phil has now become my 24 hour Adobe Support (via Ichat) and Aaron is my inspirataion for photography and shots like this.

But even with these great mentors at my disposal, there are some things I just can't achieve in the time frame necessary, without the proper tools. So...I have invested in my first Wacom Intuos Pad. (Notice it says for the "serious photographer and designer," that's me...very serious. Serious doesn't equate good though!)

I wish I had this tool a little earlier so this current series graphic wouldn't have taken me so long!

So...we have a new series with Crossbridge coming up soon. When Chuck and I discussed where we wanted to go with the logo, I knew I couldn't make it happen without the Wacom Pad. Once I get it done, I'll try and post it! Aaron, keep posting pictures so I can bite off your work. Phil, don't ever close out Ichat.

Pancakes and Princesses

2008-02-13T13:47:00.002-06:00

So last night I got to have pancakes with my 3 Princesses. Soon, we will have one little warrior to add to the mix, but for now, it was a very "pretty" evening. My wife heard that IHOP was having National Pancake Night yesterday. We all got a free stack of pancakes...it was a glorious thing. Truly, one of my favorite foods in the world...and it was free. The service was terrible, but have you ever had good service at IHOP? Anyhow, it was good to be out with my girls...and good to have it for free. You should try it next year!

Don't Judge Too Quickly

2008-02-07T15:12:00.000-06:00

A friend of mine sent me some of the new Ameriquest Videos. These are classic...it's been a while since I've seen some good commercials. Superbowl kinda let me down this year.

Double Dipping

2008-02-02T01:31:00.001-06:00

What do you do at 1:30 a.m. when you're up with your sick 3 year old? You blog while you hope the cool bath brings her fever down.

I'll be attending a Super Bowl party on Sunday with some friends of mine. Now thanks to this article, this is all I'll be thinking about.

On Sunday, millions of Americans will be plopped in front of big-screen TVs watching the Super Bowl — and, yes — stuffing their faces with chips, dip and anything else they can get their hands on.

So, this brings up the question: Is double dipping really that bad?

A new study by Clemson University set out to answer that exact question.

According to The New York Times, the study was inspired by an episode of "Seinfeld" in which the character George Costanza is confronted at a funeral reception after dipping the same chip twice.

Clemson University food microbiologist Paul Dawson said he proposed the study to get undergraduate students involved in scientific research. A team of nine students had volunteers bite a wheat cracker and dip the cracker for three seconds into a tablespoon of dip, it was reported.

They repeated the process with new crackers, for a total of either three or six double dips per dip sample. The team then analyzed the remaining dip and counted the number of aerobic bacteria in it. The students found that on average, three to six double dips transferred about 10,000 bacteria from the eater’s mouth to the remaining dip, the Times reported.

"The way I would put it is, before you have some dip at a party, look around and ask yourself, 'would I be willing to kiss everyone here?' Because you don’t know who might be double-dipping, and those who do are sharing their saliva with you," Dawson told the Times.

The study is set to be published later this year in the Journal of Food Safety.

Wow...

2008-02-01T22:37:00.001-06:00

How they find my blog...someone Googled: "unintentional love bite" and ended up here. Don't know what that says about my blog, but thanks for visiting. :)

Here's what they found - Love Bites

Worship and the Arts

2008-01-30T23:18:00.000-06:00

So, one thing I'm stoked about with our new building at Crossbridge is that we will be able to incorporate other artistic expressions in worship. We have tried over the years to bring stuff such as painting, photography and drama into our services, but they always seem to fall short because our cafeteria lacks any sort of creative vibe. It's like one big blank room with windows and cinder block walls.

I plan on assembling some teams of artists within our church to help bring the arts to a more prominent place in our worship environments. Music has obviously always had a place; it's a part of the Bible Belt worship culture. However, some of my more moving worship experiences have been void of music and full of other artistic expressions. Not to negate music, it's still one of my favs!

I do believe this will only serve to help expand our people's view of worship as well. I love to hear the stories of worship behind paintings and photographs. I love to hear how people prepare themselves to read scripture...they actually ask me in advance for the reading so they can practice! I want to pour gas on the fires and passions that burn within these artists...I just need an avenue to do so. And that is coming soon...

Finally...the wait will soon be over!

2008-01-28T21:19:00.000-06:00

www.nkotb.com

Can You Lend Me Your Kidney?

2008-01-24T09:40:00.001-06:00

This dude goes to my church...amazing story and an amazing man! Check it out!

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/sixel/5480871.html

First Video IChat

2008-01-23T21:28:00.000-06:00

Had my first Video IChat today. Pretty amazing. I think I may never leave my office now...but then I could only Pastor people that have Macs...that might not be such a bad idea. :) Funny thing was, I chatted with my friend Pablo as he was sitting right next to me...then we got his brother-in-law Ernie in on the action. It took some coercing because he was in class at U of H. But yes, in the middle of lecture, there was Ernie on IChat Video. We proceeded to try as hard as we could to get him to laugh out loud. It was classic.

The whole time, I couldn't stop thinking about the days I spent working at Office Depot in High School and my first year of college. I remember there was this revolutionary new phone that allowed you to see each other via camera. The video quality was beautifully choppy and fuzzy; the machine was as big as an Apple IIE. We kept it in a big plastic case up front to keep people from damaging the state of the art piece. It was priced well over a $1000, you had to sign up for a specific phone plan, and the other person had to have the same machine. Keep in mind, it was just a telephone with a screen and camera. No computer. Definitely not portable. I wonder what those people that bought it for over $1000 think now?

Know What You're Doing...

2008-01-21T23:22:00.000-06:00

Side note for all you bloggers...if you decide to play with your blog template, know what you're doing. :) I was trying to make a tweak on my blog (not knowing HTML very well) and I lost my entire template! Hopefully I'll get everything back I lost. I wanted to punch my screen...but my computer is only a couple days old...and that's another blog entry I would not like to elaborate on right now. I'll give you a hint though...I spent 3 hours of my life last week having the passenger side window on my Jeep replaced. (Which included the removal of about 3 lbs. of Duct Tape).

Worship Through the Eyes of an Unbeliever

2008-01-21T22:51:00.000-06:00

I often wonder what unbelievers might think of our worship gatherings on Sunday mornings. I think the longer we are Christians, the harder it is for us to remember what it was like when we were far from Christ.

Our worship environment is pretty open to people's individual response to what God is doing in their heart. It's not uncommon to see people raising their hands, kneeling, or crying throughout entire songs. At the same time, there can be someone on the next row with his hands in his pockets looking very uncomfortable.

And we're supposed to somehow craft a worship gathering that encompasses these two polar opposites. Sometimes I see how the "seeker" route became so attractive for churches during the late 90's. Simply cater to one group on Sundays and another group midweek. Eliminate the dilemma of making unbelievers feel "uncomfortable" and believers feel spoon fed.

So what do unbelievers, non-convinced people think when they are in an environment like ours? We just kind of go after God and hope that He shows Himself to them. I do talk to the "newcomers" and try to let them know what to expect. Our Pastor speaks directly to both groups of people and does so effectively. But do they look at us with our hands in the air or sobbing in on the second row and think: "What a bunch of Freaks!"

I don't know. It's messy...but it's good. Have you guys ever asked someone that's not a believer how they experience our worship gatherings? What kind of responses have you heard?

Worship and Suburbia

2008-01-16T21:01:00.000-06:00

Our church staff has been in deep discussions for a while now about how to approach ministry within our context. We all have this love hate relationship with Suburbia. Everyone loves the perks of Suburbia, but everyone hates what Suburbia produces in us and the people we lead.

I’ve recently had a few conversations regarding worship in our context. For the purpose of this post, we’ll use the word worship to refer to our Sunday morning gatherings. Though I know that’s a mentality we’re trying to battle…that "worship is just what we do on Sunday mornings, " it will help for me not to have clarify every sentence I write here. ☺

Anywhere that I have led worship, my foremost thought after “What does God want to do here?” is “Who and Where am I leading?” This question helps me immediately put up a filter by which to make decisions about our worship gatherings.

I must say that this question permeates our thinking as a staff on a regular basis. We whole-heartedly seek God’s direction for where we’re going. Then we immediately consider our context. Do we claim to be experts on our culture…no, but we do think we have a pretty good tap on it.

So what do our worship gatherings look like in Suburbia? What is our aim on any given Sunday morning? Are we out to put on a “show,” or are we trying to lead people to God? Seems if you do anything that smells of production…you’re putting on a show. Try to create an environment that is creative and conducive to reflection…you’re manipulating people and not allowing God to show how He can work even in a sterile environment. Try to buy a building that will allow you a place to “ground” your ministry and people say, “can’t we just go worship in a field?”

The context of Suburbia must be considered when planning. Scripture confirms that (1 Cor 9:22). A balance must be found between letting it rule your thoughts and letting it be a factor that you consider in your planning. It’s easy to replace God with what we think is best for our culture. It’s easy to do what other churches do in Suburbia and miss how God wants you to reach Suburbia.

Church culture drives me crazy at times. What’s Fellowship, Lifechurch.Tv, MarsHill, Willowcreek, or Northpoint doing? “That must be where it’s at!”…Those are great churches and they are having an incredible impact reaching Suburbia in the way God is leading them . But honestly…I can’t sing U2. It would be rather humorous to listen to. But yet I’m called to a similar people as those in Grapevine, TX. I’ve been refreshed lately by watching some other churches and well respected leaders not cave to the system.

I don’t have all the answers, but I do have a heart for reaching my community…in Suburbia. In one of the safest cities in America. ☺

8 Weeks Away

2008-01-16T14:02:00.000-06:00

Well, we're 8 weeks away from the due date...and the support is growing for Cash. Many people are already calling the baby by that name. Loving it. And pictures of baby clothes. This is really fun. :) Thanks Erin C.

Princess Waffle Night

2008-01-11T18:23:00.000-06:00

Mommy is out at her MomTime group tonight. So it's me and the girls...and Princess Waffle Night! The girls are excited, Polar Express is on and the waffle iron is hot. Will let you know how it goes!

So, here are the pics from our Princess Waffle Night! What a blast...the girls were stoked about having breakfast at night time. Grandma Carolyn gave the girls this Waffle Maker that makes a picture of a princess and a prince on your waffle.

Big girl kept telling me... "Papi, be careful, don't cut the King!" As you can see below, she liked it so much she kept giving it kisses! Good times!

Christmas at the Barosh House

2008-01-10T11:50:00.000-06:00

Christmas was a blast at our house this year. I loved every minute of it. My wife took the kiddos through some great Biblical stories using the Jesse Tree to help keep us focused on Jesus throughout the season. Christmas morning was really fun as the kids got three gifts, just like Jesus did. This year was the year of the bike. It was hilarious and still is. Here are a few pics of the girls.

Me and Ross King (Part 2)

2008-01-09T09:25:00.001-06:00

So, I know it’s been a while since I’ve blogged. If you want to know the truth, the time that Mel and I usually blog has been consumed with watching season six of 24! Soon as the girls go down, we’re in bed and Jack Bauer is doing his thing. During the actual TV season, my wife and I don’t have the patience to wait for commercials, let alone an entire week between episodes. So, we watch 24 Marathon-style when it comes out on DVD. 2 more episodes tonight and we’re done. It’s bittersweet!

On New Years Day, my wife and I got a much needed night out! We actually went to a house concert that Ross King was doing here in the area. Just Ross and a percussion player. Though there was not one “worship” song in the evening, it was one of the more worshipful times I’ve experienced in a long time. Thanks to Pablo and Iris for the invite!

I got to chat with Ross a bit after the concert. The dude is about as real as they come and you can tell he walks with God. There are people that quote scripture when they talk – “Well you know…it says in Colossians 3 that…” Then there are people that scripture is just a part of their life. They can’t have a conversation without it somehow oozing into their vocabulary. There’s a humility in the way that they talk about scripture. This was my encounter with Ross.

We covered the entire spectrum from worship culture to multi-site churches. From our weaknesses as worship pastors to rock star worship leaders. It was good and honest conversation.

On a side note, I bought 15 of his newest CD “Perhaps I’ve Said to Much” because I want to give them away to some people. He’s addressing so many things that our church deals with and I want people to sit, listen, and think. I want the words to stir their hearts like they have mine. Like they did for Mel as I looked over in the middle of the concert and she’s in tears during the song Non-Religious Me.

Thanks Ross for a great night of worship through song and reflection.

Once

2007-12-24T09:04:00.000-06:00

Some good friends of mine and Mel's came over to the house last night because they desperately wanted us to see this movie. I'm glad they came...it was incredible. Thanks Pablo, Iris, and Ernie! I immediately went to Itunes and downloaded everything I could and text my buddy Mike to share the musical wealth! :) The music is passionate and the lyrics are great. Here's a little montage from the movie Once...hope you like it.

Merry Christmas!

Note: If you do decide to rent the movie, be prepared that the first 10 minutes are littered with curse words. It gets much more palatable after that. :)

The Saga Continues...

2007-12-17T22:29:00.001-06:00

I received this picture in an email from a friend...supporting my move to name our boy CASH. Though some of you may be surprised, I have had a good majority of women actually liking the name! This was a female friend of ours that sent the picture and she's totally for the name. I'll say this much...Mel is even growing more fond of it. Ha! This boy is going to be happy I went the distance for him on the name CASH. I still have till March and I'm not backing down!

How They Find My Blog

2007-12-15T19:55:00.001-06:00

I'm amazed sometimes at what people type into google and stumble upon my blog. Now, a buddy of mine discussed this once on his blog and it began a chain of "googling" that was pretty hilarious. You can read it HERE. Anyhow, nothing as crazy on my blog, but I'm amazed at how many people google "Gotee Trimming" and end up here. I talked about it in a blog back in March of '06 called The Barber Shop Church.

Hope all you Gotee trimmers are finding all your gotee trimming needs fulfilled on on my site. If you have taken some gotee trimming cues from my site, please feel free to leave me a comment letting me know how I've impacted your life in such a way. In case you're wondering, my gotee trimming specs:

Length: No Guard
Gillette Mac 3 Razor and Small Scissors for detail work. Plan on carving my initials in there one day.

Or maybe Mel's initials?

Or T + M.

Or T+M=3 Kids.

Rough Week

2007-12-14T12:33:00.000-06:00

Haven't had a chance to blog this week...it's been pretty rough around our house. Our little princess had a virus that had her temperature up around 104.5 for 2 days straight. Thankfully, everything has passed and the doctors says she's in the clear now.

She was such a trooper! In those two days, she went between the doctor's office and TCH in the Med Center a number of times. She had to endure 4 Shots (2 really big ones), blood drawn from her arm, a catheter, and xrays. It was tough to watch, but she came out like a champ.

Here's a picture of her on the xray table...with Rufus her favorite dog. :) Since Mel is pregnant, she can't go into the xray room, so I get to be the bad guy! She's looking at me the whole time like "Why would you do something like this to me?"

Now we're back to dressing up and wearing purses. Good times.

The Worship Pastor Spoke

2007-12-05T19:52:00.000-06:00

So I recently taught at our church on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Yeah, I know…save the 2nd lowest attended Sunday of the year for the worship pastor to speak! And the people that are there are still overdosed on turkey and pumpkin pie. Seriously though, it was a fun morning. I love our people and we had a great time together.

Anyhow, we spent most of the morning discussing worship, but not in a musical sense. One of my chief desires since we started Crossbridge over 5 years ago has been to help our people understand that worship so much more than the music we play or the songs we sing.

Since we live in a church culture that typically equates worship with music, it’s really hard sometimes to break through that mentality. I do it every Sunday morning as I say, “Why don’t you stand with us as we worship!” I feed the mentality that the music piece of the Sunday morning worship experience equals worship. So, I’m working on my vocabulary and I’m looking for other words to communicate similar meaning, but a broader view of worship.

We discussed our “working” definition of worship at Crossbridge that is sort of a hybrid of Harold Best, Tim Keller, and Louie Giglio all rolled up into one! This is what we stated…

Worship is our continuous outpouring response to God’s Self Revelation.

I could go into this definition a lot more, but it would probably be easier for you to either listen to the talk or pick up Harold Best’s book called Unceasing Worship.

One of the things that hit me the hardest as I was preparing for this sermon was that I never stop worshipping. Nor do I start worshipping with God. My worship merely gets transferred from a lesser god to the one True God. I worship. Every moment is worship. The Question is “What Am I Worshipping?”

So I’ve been faced with this question daily since I spoke…What Am I Worshipping? There is a war for my worship and someone is winning. I am giving all of my mind’s attention and heart’s affection to something or someone. Unceasingly. Outpouring.

What I’m finding is that these nonsense gods seem to get a lot of my attention…a lot of my worship. My worship to God (Jesus Christ) must be an act of my will. To willfully turn away, and turn to Christ. I still struggle.

What Would Jesus Buy

2007-12-05T14:15:00.000-06:00

I love the "Gotta have the Christmas Spirit with my new rims!"

The Ripple Effect

2007-11-29T17:14:00.000-06:00

I couldn't stop reading...then praying...then reading...click here -

The Ripple Effect

More John Piper

2007-11-21T21:45:00.000-06:00

Oh man, this is good...the content of this video is incredible. My church is wrapping up our series called EPIC where we have been really caught up in the gospel story. My heart is far from the place that Piper talks about here, but man I want to be there.

Back To It...

2007-11-20T22:32:00.000-06:00

Hey ya'll,

I'm back to blogging after a little hiatus while my family and I went on vacation. My mother-in-law gave us some free tickets to Disney World! Mel's sister lives right across the street from the park, so we had free lodging too! Not to mention, she's a manager at the Maggianos down there in Orlando, so we got free italian food two nights in a row!

Very long road trip...two toddlers and 22 hours to Orlando was crazy! But I must say, my girls did well. We had some little surprises along the way to keep them engaged for the long haul. I think next time we will look for an airline donor (say another grandparent) to hook us up with flights!

Maybe I'll have some pics a little later...

In other news...I'll most likely be moving in a slightly different direction with the blog. Since I am a worship pastor, I still plan on having posts about worship and other stuff along those lines. However, I have realized just how difficult it is to write about worship all the time...so you're likely to see some nonsense posts and more of my family journey here as well. If that sounds really boring to you, you’re welcome to unsubscribe to my blog. Though I don’t think anyone has subscribed to my blog.

I also thought the blog was looking a bit morbid...so I thought I'd brighten it up a bit. I'll be tweaking it along the way, but I like the brighter look.

Think that's all for now...

Oh one last thing...I got a call from a good friend of mine tonight. She got Mel and I tickets to a house show with Ross King. So, in a few weeks, I'll be sitting in a living room with Mr. King discussing the stories behind the songs I posted about a few weeks ago. Good times...

CASH

2007-11-02T15:22:00.000-05:00

So Mel and I have come to the place where we have to begin deciding our "boy name." I have held on to the hope that this would be a no-brainer. However, that hope is fading as the name Cash is not even on Mel's radar. So, we decided to put this one out on the blogs for your feedback. A simple yes or no in the box below will suffice. However, if you would like to give your reasons why you think we should use this name, feel free to do so. :) All negative comments can be left at Mel's blog! You can vote in the right hand column.

My Lovely Inbox

2007-10-17T08:56:00.000-05:00

Please save my inbox! I will continue to receive the following highlighted emails until you visit Mike Haskew's Blog.

What to do when you don't have time to blog...

2007-10-16T12:30:00.000-05:00

You post a video.

I gave this to my wife as well, so you can catch it on her blog too. I think Driscoll handles Lakewood theology well without bashing Osteen himself. What are your thoughts?

BTW, interestingly enough, someone signed me up to be a partner of Joel Osteen Ministries today. I received my confirmation email this morning. I have my thoughts on who the culprits might be. All I have to say is that you should be expecting a rather large shipment of the Your Best Life Now board games. COD.

Ross King and Me

2007-10-03T10:39:00.000-05:00

Well, there's no real relationship there...but I do have a couple short email conversations with him. Regardless, his new release "Perhaps I've Said to Much" is on high rotation on my IPOD. The lyrics are amazing...I love how he goes after some of the prevailing issues in the local church, yet he doesn't seem to exclude himself from the dilema either.

If you have $10, go to Itunes and download it. The songs I'm digging are Light of the World, Greatestneverever, Keeper of the Way, Happy (this song is slightly hilarious and convicting at the same time), Everybody Medicates, and Home (if you're adopting, have adopted, or thinking about it, this song has great perspective).

Wrecked this Weekend

2007-10-01T16:14:00.000-05:00

I have had a weekend where God’s just been hammering on me…here’s how it looked.

- Friday – reading two books in the same vein “Don’t Waste Your Life” and “Irresistible Revolution” (thanks Aaron and Jamie). Check these books out; they’ll rock your world.
- Saturday – ran sound for a missions banquet in the Galleria area. The lone survivor of a terrorist attack on some US missionaries in Iraq a few years ago was speaking. Her name is Carrie McDonnall. All I have to say is that she had 22 bullet holes in her body and lived to tell about it. She lost her husband in the shooting though. All this and she’s my age…literally looked like somebody that would go to our church. I told my wife I just stood in awe for a moment after she spoke…about 5 feet from her, seeing the bullet holes in her arms, missing fingers, realizing that was the closest I had ever stood to someone who was nearly martyred for our faith. Holy moment for me. She’s the real deal.
- Sunday – My pastor Chuck gets up and ends his sermon with two challenges. One: get involved with the Convoy of Hope in November. Two: join the Advent Conspiracy. Check these two things out…incredible stuff.

Here’s a quote from Piper that sort of sums up my weekend.

Why don’t people ask us about our hope? The answer is probably that we look as if we hope in the same things they do. Our lives don’t look like they are on the Calvary road, stripped down for sacrificial love, serving others with the sweet assurance in heaven (Matthew 5:12)! “You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just” (Luke 14:14). If we believed this more deeply, others might see the worth of God and find in him their gladness.

Worse

2007-09-18T15:21:00.000-05:00

Only one thing in this world worse than Barney.

Christmas Barney in September.

Thank you grandparents.

What's On My IPOD?

2007-09-13T10:41:00.000-05:00

Some may not care, but thought I’d share. These are the songs, artists, or albums that are in high rotation on my Ipod.

Robbie Seay Band – Give Yourself Away – by far the best recording from these guys. I’ve listened to the whole CD, but now I’m just stuck on #3 called A New Day. Maybe cause it makes me think of my wife, but wow…what a good tune. My pastor read the lyrics to Beautiful, Scandalous Night in our service 2 weeks ago…powerful stuff.

Jeff Johnson – Glorious Day – The title track on this CD is great. There are some other good tunes on there as well, especially if you’re a Rascal Flatts fan. :)

Billy and Cindy Foote – If I Say I Love You – Just a single track available on Itunes. I heard it at a conference they did a while back here in Sugar Land. The song just grows on you. Not a lot of worship songs hammer down on obedience like this one does.

Matthew and Lizi – The Meaning of it All - Great project from a buddy of mine down here in Houston. He and his wife Lizy make a great team. The title track on this one is really nice…if you like Watermark, I think you’ll like Matt and Lizy.

Spur 58 – Sleepwalkers – These guys are great. This is another album where I get stuck on a particular song…I really dig Ready to Love. I just loop it sometimes when I’m exercising. Great jogging song.

Bon Jovi – Lost Highway – Laugh if you must, but it’s like a corridor to the past. My favorite 80’s band with all new tunes.

Kellly Clarkson – My December – The girl can sing…she’s pretty angry on this album, but the song Sober is incredible.

Sandra McCracken – The Builder and the Architect – If you like Caedmon’s, she most likely wrote one of your favorite songs. Great rootsy type album, especially like I Boast No More and Rock of Ages.

Marc Brousard – Home – Friend of mine got me hooked on this guy. The title track and Lonely Night in Georgia are the highlights of this album.

Half Past Forever – Take a Chance on Something Beautiful – I’m a big Chris Sligh fan. He has some great tunes on this one. My favorites are Know, Cry Tonight, In a Moment, and Tunnel Vision.

Guess that’s all for now…let me know if you have some new tunes I should add to my playlist!

I Found an Old Post

2007-09-11T21:47:00.000-05:00

So, I was sorting through my blogs, realizing I had never posted this one. So I thought I would. The only thing not true here is that I did not go to San Antonio a couple weeks ago. :)

The title of the post was to be "The Church is Smaller Than We Think"

Two weeks ago I ventured off to San Antonio for a little personal retreat. I try to go a couple times a year to meet with another worship pastor there that I really admire. While I’m there, I try to spend a great deal of time in silence while I listen for what God has to say. The next couple posts will be from an overflow of things God spoke to me during that time.

One area that I spent a great deal of time exploring was the topic of conversion. It started in my staff meeting the day before as we discussed a book called The Nine Marks of a Healthy Church. Though at times this book has seemed pretty dry to me, the chapter on true Biblical conversion really rocked my world.

The main thought: We all know there is some contingency of people in our churches that are not converts. However, we are becoming increasingly numb to the fact that there are many more people in our congregations who think that they are converts, but are not. Therefore raising the total number of unregenerate people in our midst!

Why does this rock my world? Because when the worship team leaves the stage on any given Sunday that the crowd participation is sub par, the common phrase used to describe that situation is this: “Man, what was up with them today…they were dead!” Oh how true that statement is…within in our crowd on any given Sunday, is a great number of DEAD people…no pulse, no breath…merely corpses!

So why are we surprised at a lack of response from our people? Can we expect anything more out of a lifeless being? We cannot cause them to come to life…and creating puppets that clap when we tell them too is fruitless. We have to open our mouths and let the gospel go forth! We have to pray diligently! But the actual act of breathing life into dead people…only Christ can do that!

So, I’m not going to be depressed because everyone didn’t raise their hands when we sang the song Unchanging and it tells us to “raise up holy hands.” I’m going to open my mouth, let the gospel go forth, pray for God to do what only He can, then sit back and wait on God.

Thunder

2007-09-06T10:23:00.000-05:00

I love what the Message says in John 1:23…in more conservative versions you hear John the Baptist say “I am the voice of one calling in the desert…make straight the way of the Lord.” Then you have the glorious Message version: “I’m thunder in the desert: ‘Make the road straight for God!’" I love that…THUNDER. Clear. Concise. No ambiguity.

It makes me think of our roles as worship leaders in the church…are we thunder in the desert? Or are we merely a voice, drowned out by all the other voices of our culture? Our people walk in each week and a battle is raging for their worship. A thunderous approach may be the very avenue needed to break open the haze of mediocre worship that their lives are prone to be characterized by. You can’t mistake thunder…especially a loud clap of thunder. There are times when thunder hits that it actually shakes my entire house, causes my dog to bark, and moves my kids to tears.

As worship leaders, do we come each Sunday wanting to thunder about the greatness of King Jesus or are we more concerned about “being heard?” There’s a difference. Our lives should thunder about the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. That’s what we shout about…that’s what we sing about…When we stand on Sundays to lead people, it will be clear who we serve, and our proclamation can be a voice or a thunder. I want to live a life that thunders about the one whose sandals I’m not worthy to untie.

A Lesson From My 3 Year Old

2007-08-19T21:13:00.000-05:00

So my wife is pregnant with our 3rd little baby! We already have two little girls and they're rocking my world. I never dreamed I would do so many pony tails...even the little "bam bam" ones on my 15 month old! Anyhow, my wife was battling some morning sickness this evening, so I thought I'd try to put both the girls down by myself.

Well, I got their teeth brushed, their milk ready and their dolls in hand. I started with the youngest and asked my 3 year old to stay out in the living room with mommy. She laid on the couch with mommy and I was off to the nursery with the little one. The kiddos sleep in different rooms, but we keep all the clothes in the nursery.

So I finished with little girl and came to get big girl from mommy. I started to put her pajamas on and quickly realized that the pajama bottoms were left in the nursery. Well, if you have little ones, you pretty much know the shrieking that you are in for if you return the room before they have fallen asleep. But I had a plan...

I left her top on and remembered there was a pair of green bottoms in the laundry room. So, I grabbed them, got her dressed, said our prayers, and then put her down for the night...fast forward 10 minutes.

I hear crying from her room along with my name thrown in a few times. Not a usual happenstance, so I thought I should check on her. I walk in and she's standing up, right in front of the door looking up at me. I say, "what's the deal?" She looks down in great disappointment and then looks back at me and says... "Papi, my pajamas don't match." She was heartbroken...

This is not uncommon for my daughter...she is a creature of habit and there are certain things that must be in place for her to go to bed. They are small things, but oh so necessary. So it got me thinking...

How do we respond when things aren't ideal...when our pajamas don't match? Do we stand there crying and whining because our world has been interrupted? Are we immobilized until things return to "normal?" Am I really any different than my 3 year old?

Is God Better Than Sex?

2007-08-09T12:59:00.000-05:00

Love to know your thoughts on this video. Piper knocks it out of the ballpark and pretty much nails our culture. If there's any question that he may be missing the mark a little bit, just go look at all the comments under the video on YouTube.

Chew on This...

2007-08-09T12:39:00.000-05:00

Wow! This is a terribly convicting quote, but one that really resonates with me right now. Seems that even Scotland in the 1800’s struggled with some of the same issues we face here in wonderful Suburbia of 2007. Pastor Robert Murray M’Cheyne says:

I am concerned for the poor, but more for you. I know not what Christ will say to you in the great day…I fear there are many hearing me who may know well that they are not Christians, because they don not love to give. To give largely and liberally, not grudging at all, requires a new heart; an old heart would rather part with its life-blood than its money. Oh my friends! Enjoy your money; make the most of it; give none away; enjoy it quickly for I can tell you, you will be beggars throughout eternity.

Ouch…

In the same breath…I received a poster from John Piper this week to promote his book Don’t Waste Your Life. All it said in big bold letters was “GOD SAVE US FROM THE AMERICAN DREAM.”

Thoughts on all this?

Howl at the Moon!

2007-08-06T11:12:00.000-05:00

So recently I went to San Antonio for vacation with my family. My wife and I cruised up to stay a night there, not realizing that you should probably have a hotel reservation if you’re driving up there on a Saturday. We did end up finding a place to stay…in Austin.

Anyhow, we ate on the Riverwalk…as everyone should when visiting. Afterwards, we began our quest for a place we could sit and relax for the rest of the night. After spending an incredible night at Pat O’Brien’s in New Orleans 6 years ago, we have longed to see another great dueling piano show.

So we swung by Pat O’Briens on the Riverwalk to see if they had the show. They did…but oh, so not New Orleans. Then Mel saw an ad for a place called Howl at the Moon. We went to the tourist center (across from the Alamo) to find out more about this other dueling piano show. They ended up telling us where it was and gave us free tickets if we went before 10 p.m.

Well, it was good we got there before 10 because we were able to actually get a chair! That placed filled up in no time and the show was on. From Jesse’s Girl (for my wife) to Piano Man (for me), we spent the night singing some of our favorite tunes along with about 200 other patrons. These musicians were pretty stinking amazing!

Upon leaving, we realized just how popular this place was. When we arrived, we walked right in and to our seat…as we exited, there was a line of about 100 people that wrapped around the block. Wow.

So, this little story serves to preface my point…we saw all kinds of worship that night! Now most of the worship was directed to inappropriate places, but it was worship indeed.

The people worshiped the boos that made their pain go away. They worshiped the song. There was worship directed towards the various military branches of our armed forces (not that I don’t value what they do…please don’t misunderstand me here). Some worshiped sports teams and colleges. Others worshiped half dressed women who could “shake it.”

Everyone was captivated by something…myself included. I was captivated by the sheer musicianship of these people onstage, wondering why they don’t use it for the kingdom.

Why do we settle? Why are we so prone to worship things that have no eternal value and end up leaving us wanting more? Why are we more captivated by people than we are by the person of Jesus Christ?

CS Lewis says it with even more eloquence and conviction:

"Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased."