So Belinda Doolittle was voted off American Idol last night. Sad to see her go, but I must say that the top three are all deserving of their standing.
Belinda is an amazing singer and performer, but the really cool thing for me dawg is that Christ shone through her throughout the competition. In fact, it was great to have several committed Christians in the top ten and to observe the grace with which they handled themselves in the midst of what must be tremendous pressure. Of course Jordin is a strong believer and I'm guessing she'll end up in the top slot, but we'll see.
Who knows, maybe Blake will end up getting saved as a result of his close relationship with some good examples of genuine Christian faith. Wouldn't that be cool!
I'm looking forward to watching Belinda's career develop - as it's sure to do.
You go girl!
May 17, 2007
May 15, 2007
final Ireland entry...
Picking up where I left off a couple of posts ago, we made our way to Carlow, traveling through some beautiful country.
We enjoyed supper with Seamus and Jenny O'Callaghan and their three kids. Seamus is the pastor of Carlow Community Christian Church and Jenny oversees the worship ministry. After we had eaten, the worship team members began to show up.
Until recently, CCCC had been going through a season without a worship team and Jenny led worship on her own. They are now blessed with a group of people who have committed to the worship ministry and they asked us to come and do a workshop with them for vision-casting and to help them to focus on their task as worship leaders.
It was a great evening and we really enjoyed our time with everyone.
The next evening, back in Dublin, we got together with some friends of ours who have started a church plant in the Blackrock area. They are traditional Irish musicians and we try to meet up when we're in town for an evening of music and worship. We love sitting around the living room, instruments in hand, playing and worshiping together. It's always a highlight of our trip.
Friday it was off to Galway on the west coast of Ireland for our conference with Aontis, formerly known as The Association of Evangelical Irish Churches. We were a bit concerned that the turnout may be low, in part because Galway is in the midst of a water crisis and you can't drink the water. This is all due to a little critter called cryptosporidium, a nasty parasite that has contaminated the entire water supply from an unknown source.
This conference was to include people from churches from across Ireland. We ended up with about 15 people from about 4 different churches -- not quite what we had hoped for. But even though we were few, it was a really good weekend, none-the-less.
It was great to have Jay and Rachel with us to help lead worship and Jay was still able to do a guitar workshop which ended up being a big hit with those who participated.
We finished early enough for us to make it back to Dublin at dusk. Sunday morning we went into the City Centre and attended services at Core Church. Ravi and the team did a great job leading worship and we enjoyed the rest of the service as well. Core is very unusual as Churches of Ireland go. The Church of Ireland is Anglican and generally very conservative regarding liturgy and worship service forms. Rarely, if ever do you find a CoI congregation that is as charismatic and progressive as Core.
We made it home safe and sound Monday evening. Molly picked us up and she ended up spending the night.
Good to be home with Molly, but our hearts are still in Ireland and we look forward to returning this fall.
We enjoyed supper with Seamus and Jenny O'Callaghan and their three kids. Seamus is the pastor of Carlow Community Christian Church and Jenny oversees the worship ministry. After we had eaten, the worship team members began to show up.
Until recently, CCCC had been going through a season without a worship team and Jenny led worship on her own. They are now blessed with a group of people who have committed to the worship ministry and they asked us to come and do a workshop with them for vision-casting and to help them to focus on their task as worship leaders.
It was a great evening and we really enjoyed our time with everyone.
The next evening, back in Dublin, we got together with some friends of ours who have started a church plant in the Blackrock area. They are traditional Irish musicians and we try to meet up when we're in town for an evening of music and worship. We love sitting around the living room, instruments in hand, playing and worshiping together. It's always a highlight of our trip.
Friday it was off to Galway on the west coast of Ireland for our conference with Aontis, formerly known as The Association of Evangelical Irish Churches. We were a bit concerned that the turnout may be low, in part because Galway is in the midst of a water crisis and you can't drink the water. This is all due to a little critter called cryptosporidium, a nasty parasite that has contaminated the entire water supply from an unknown source.
This conference was to include people from churches from across Ireland. We ended up with about 15 people from about 4 different churches -- not quite what we had hoped for. But even though we were few, it was a really good weekend, none-the-less.
It was great to have Jay and Rachel with us to help lead worship and Jay was still able to do a guitar workshop which ended up being a big hit with those who participated.
We finished early enough for us to make it back to Dublin at dusk. Sunday morning we went into the City Centre and attended services at Core Church. Ravi and the team did a great job leading worship and we enjoyed the rest of the service as well. Core is very unusual as Churches of Ireland go. The Church of Ireland is Anglican and generally very conservative regarding liturgy and worship service forms. Rarely, if ever do you find a CoI congregation that is as charismatic and progressive as Core.
We made it home safe and sound Monday evening. Molly picked us up and she ended up spending the night.
Good to be home with Molly, but our hearts are still in Ireland and we look forward to returning this fall.
May 6, 2007
busy
Sorry that I haven't yet finished the second half of my post from earlier in the week. As I think I may have mentioned (or maybe not, and I'm too lazy to go into my past posts and find out) Beth and I have been attending a missions conference at 1st Baptist here in Gulf Breeze. It's been a very busy since Wednesday evening and today is full as well.
At the same time, it's been a great week. The people at 1st Baptist have been so loving, generous and supportive, plus it's been great to get to know some other missionaries and church planters.
We were also asked to lead worship tonight at the evening service, so we feel honored to be able to do that.
I should be able to get caught up on the rest of the trip report in the next few days. Same Bat channel -- same Bat station.
At the same time, it's been a great week. The people at 1st Baptist have been so loving, generous and supportive, plus it's been great to get to know some other missionaries and church planters.
We were also asked to lead worship tonight at the evening service, so we feel honored to be able to do that.
I should be able to get caught up on the rest of the trip report in the next few days. Same Bat channel -- same Bat station.
May 1, 2007
One final, crazy week
We're home now, but I have to get you caught up on the remainder of our trip...
After returning from the EWL conference late Saturday night, our luggage and guitar didn't arrive until Sunday afternoon. Our connection in Frankfurt was extremely tight as our flight out of Prague was delayed. We had all of 10 minutes from one gate to the other.
Sunday, we met with Alan and Sheryl McElwee, friends of ours who have begun a new church plant on the south side of Dublin. It was good to get caught up with them, talk about the struggles they are dealing with starting a new work and gain some new insights into the church culture in Ireland.
It was another beautiful day and we enjoyed a walk with McElwees on the Dun Laoghaire (Dun Leary)pier and lunch following.
Monday morning we drove to the airport to pick up Jay and Rachel Johnson, good friends of ours from our church who came over to meet us in Ireland help us with the conference we were doing in Galway Friday and Saturday. They were wrecked from jet lag and it was our job to keep them awake until bedtime. We started out with fish and chips at Beshoff in Howth. It was raining for the first time since we arrived in Ireland, other than a few overnight showers. But soon the light drizzle cleared and the remainder of the day was cool and bright.
That evening we went to Bennigan's (no, it really is an American institution) and met Ravi Gidoomal, who coordinates the worship at Core Church in Dublin City Centre. This is the church where Eoghan Heaslip used to lead worship before he went to take a position at a church in the UK. We had a very interesting time with Ravi, who has been in Ireland only about 2 years now. He shared with us how the worship ministry at Core operates and we shared with him about what it is that we do.
As usually happens, the first part, in fact the good majority of the conversation, there was a reserved, non-committal attitude from Ravi. This happens when we make a cold call to someone who has no idea who we are and try to set up an appointment with them so that we can share about our work, find out about what they do and see if there might be some mutual advantage in developing a relationship with them.
It's tricky. The other person often wonders, "What do you want from me?" I assume that they may think that we are in Ireland to either show the Irish how we Americans do worship, or that we think they have something that will benefit us in some selfish way.
However, once they discover that we are only there to offer whatever we may possess to help worship ministries grow throughout Ireland, no strings attached, there is a dropping of the guard, a visible change in their countenance and they open up to us. This happened with Ravi and although Core may or may not ask us to work with them, we gained insight and perspective.
Tuesday held one canceled appointment due to a funeral that the pastor had to do. We were able to get together with Alex Mosely, who we first met at Swords Baptist in January. He is the worship leader at Ballyfermot Community Church in Dublin. Unfortunately we couldn't work out getting together with Alex and his wife, Keely, so we settled for a quick lunch with only him.
Wednesday it was off to Carlow to meet with a newly-formed worship team at Carlow Community Christian Church. But this entry is getting lengthy, so I'll continue another time.
After returning from the EWL conference late Saturday night, our luggage and guitar didn't arrive until Sunday afternoon. Our connection in Frankfurt was extremely tight as our flight out of Prague was delayed. We had all of 10 minutes from one gate to the other.
Sunday, we met with Alan and Sheryl McElwee, friends of ours who have begun a new church plant on the south side of Dublin. It was good to get caught up with them, talk about the struggles they are dealing with starting a new work and gain some new insights into the church culture in Ireland.
It was another beautiful day and we enjoyed a walk with McElwees on the Dun Laoghaire (Dun Leary)pier and lunch following.
Monday morning we drove to the airport to pick up Jay and Rachel Johnson, good friends of ours from our church who came over to meet us in Ireland help us with the conference we were doing in Galway Friday and Saturday. They were wrecked from jet lag and it was our job to keep them awake until bedtime. We started out with fish and chips at Beshoff in Howth. It was raining for the first time since we arrived in Ireland, other than a few overnight showers. But soon the light drizzle cleared and the remainder of the day was cool and bright.
That evening we went to Bennigan's (no, it really is an American institution) and met Ravi Gidoomal, who coordinates the worship at Core Church in Dublin City Centre. This is the church where Eoghan Heaslip used to lead worship before he went to take a position at a church in the UK. We had a very interesting time with Ravi, who has been in Ireland only about 2 years now. He shared with us how the worship ministry at Core operates and we shared with him about what it is that we do.
As usually happens, the first part, in fact the good majority of the conversation, there was a reserved, non-committal attitude from Ravi. This happens when we make a cold call to someone who has no idea who we are and try to set up an appointment with them so that we can share about our work, find out about what they do and see if there might be some mutual advantage in developing a relationship with them.
It's tricky. The other person often wonders, "What do you want from me?" I assume that they may think that we are in Ireland to either show the Irish how we Americans do worship, or that we think they have something that will benefit us in some selfish way.
However, once they discover that we are only there to offer whatever we may possess to help worship ministries grow throughout Ireland, no strings attached, there is a dropping of the guard, a visible change in their countenance and they open up to us. This happened with Ravi and although Core may or may not ask us to work with them, we gained insight and perspective.
Tuesday held one canceled appointment due to a funeral that the pastor had to do. We were able to get together with Alex Mosely, who we first met at Swords Baptist in January. He is the worship leader at Ballyfermot Community Church in Dublin. Unfortunately we couldn't work out getting together with Alex and his wife, Keely, so we settled for a quick lunch with only him.
Wednesday it was off to Carlow to meet with a newly-formed worship team at Carlow Community Christian Church. But this entry is getting lengthy, so I'll continue another time.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)