U2′s new album (which I’m enjoying right now) is available; today only; for $3.99. You can find it here:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001S6HZTE/ref=dm_ty_alb

I thought I’d include some things that I’ve been reading recently.

5 Things Churches Must Learn to Survive a post about how we interact with institutions has changed and what the church can learn from that.

The Biggest Sin in Your Church A post from Ed Stetzer (who is quickly becoming one of my favorite guys) about the sin of “the lack of obedience”. Great read.

Two Reviews on Tony Morgan’s “Killing Cockroaches” book. One practical review and one that made me laugh.

Andy Stanley on Communication ’nuff said.

A Global Translation Tool in REAL TIME in Chat A-MA-ZING

Take Some Risks A post by Craig Groeshcel about transparency in leadership.

That should keep you busy.

What are you reading right now that’s impacting your world?

HT to http://sxc.hu again for the pic that served as the base for this graphic. This is the graphic we’ll be using this weekend:

Enjoy and feel free to use, or point out all the stuff that’s wrong with it.

If you’re looking for design inspiration, here’s some sites I use.

http://vecteezy.com
http://dafont.com
http://sxc.hu
http://istockphoto.com (pay site)
http://morguefile.com

And here’s one of the BEST posts I’ve seen about church graphic resources:

http://churchrelevance.com/free-church-graphics-and-resources-toolbox/

What do you use for inspiration?

One of my favorite churches recently used “We Will” as the theme for their Global Impact Celebrations. These guys are really doing it. I’m so humbled to have played a part in the life of their church through this song.

Here’s the graphic they used:

I went down there last Wednesday and played sax for their set for the opening of their celebration. It was amazing to hear a church full of people singing the words of a song that I wrote. It was even crazier to see “We Will” on every piece of print that they handed out. Just insane for me to see that.

I just want to say thanks to their pastor, Michael Fletcher. Thanks for your heart for Him and for seeing the world changed by Him and for allowing this song to become a part of the worship culture at Manna.

Thanks Wayne for introducing it to them!

You can hear Pastor Fletcher’s message to conclude their Global Impact Celebration here:

http://mannachurch.com/pages/sermons.html

It’s the Feb. 22nd sermon titled…you guessed it; We Will.

Thanks for rejoicing with me in this moment.

(Welcome to the new blog. The archives from Merge Worship are available here, but this blog will be more personal. Merge Worship may relaunch in the future, but for now I’ll be living my blogging life out here. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy your stay. Take off your shoes, drop your mask at the door and make yourself at home.)

My heart has been a little wrecked recently. There’s more than one explanation as to why that could be the case but none are really worth rehashing here. I was surprised by the way my heart has been revealing itself recently. Just the other day I sat down at the piano and this chorus came flowing out:

I want to tear down the walls of apathy and make believe

Take off the mask I wear of everything is perfect here

I wonder if I will ever find a place where I can just be me

I want to live…honestly

Now I hadn’t been doing a ton of thinking about living honestly but I will say that I live (and have for the past couple of years) in a state of what I call “holy discontent”. My heart has been heavy with the desire to be a great leader, a phenomenal Dad, a wonderful husband and a difference maker in the world for His sake. And the truth is that on any given day I feel like I stink at a number of those things but I don’t know who I’d actually say that to. I have a great wife, amazing family and wonderful friends but some days I still feel all alone.

In many ways I think I just want to be able to be real. Human. Honest. Broken.

Do you ever wonder if you’ll ever find honesty? Do you ever dream of a place where you can share all your stuff and hear truth and love in response? I do.

Someone called me the other day and said they “needed everyone to like me”. That could be the most difficult job description I’ve ever heard. With that in mind, let’s say a short prayer.

“Heavenly Father, please let them love blue jeans and tennis shoes.

Help them enjoy a ranging variety of music and styles.

May they always appreciate quick wit and sarcasm.

And help them to love an overweight, balding guy who’s still trying to hold on to being cool.

In Jesus’ name.

Amen.”

What would you pray in your prayer of likability? (now’s also the time when all my friends comment and tell me what I missed in mine)