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

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 -

 

Kids and Passover

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.

A Core Issue

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

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

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!

Long Three Weeks

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!

Now Concerning Death

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

Relational Ministry - Part 2

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

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.”

New Transform Website

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