the glorious exchange

Last night, we gathered at the Harmony Church offices for our first monthly prayer meeting, seek. I think it went really well. Prayer is so instrumental to everything we do…because undermining prayer is the sovereignty of God. Ben Tugwell and I actually talked about it this morning at St. Arbuck’s, that in order to pray you first have to believe that God is sovereign enough to accomplish what you ask for….and that He has the right to do it. We prayed for one another in gender-groups, and we had guided alone time with the Trinity as well. I prayed through Psalm 145, and then opened my heart before God. I personally needed that dedicated time. I sometimes have a hard time praying other than “stream of consciousness” prayer, so it was really healthy for me to set time aside. Looking forward to the next one, on August 6th.

Wow, what a week! Here’s some highlights:

• Sunday was amazing! Worship was phenomenal, and the message was well received, I think. Listen to it for yourself on the website or on iTunes: HarmonyGreenville.com
• Check out Pablo’s notes, and the worship set,on his blog: Pablo Mazariegos
• I taught something pretty hard: Romans 9 and Romans 10
• Our website received a link from the first page of a Live.Com search for “Jesus”. That’s good news.
• We had a hard computer crash. Went to buy a new one, and dropped some cash. Got a great deal (do your research to save some money), because I found a package online that Best Buy wasn’t advertising in store. One of those undercover things. Can’t pull the wool over the sheep’s eyes this time…
• God is good.
• Video from Sunday’s service will be posted soon.

So it’s been active a few days now, and our new website (Harmony Church - Greenville, NC) is growing! Here’s a couple of highlights to the changes:

• The podcast link is active on the entry page (in iTunes blue, nonetheless)
• The Recent Messages are prominent on the homepage.  You can listen to the messages directly on the site if you don’t want to subscribe to the podcast.
• We now have Articles (theological and ‘editorial’ type articles) written by people of Harmony Church. I’ve written three (Grace On Us, 5 Books for Summer Reading and Why Join a Church?) Sherry Vick, a mother of two in our church, just published a great article this morning on the politics of a church community: Am I a Socialist? She’s a great writer, and brings up a great point about living corporately under the Gospel.
• We also have Stories: some ways that the Grace of God has impacted lives of people at Harmony Church. Becca Mueffelmann wrote about how God drew her to Harmony through a trash can. Interesting read here: How God Brought Me to Church
• Links to the leader blogs are there, along with The Basics, and a newly added “New Here?” section for people who are…new (eureka!)

Check it out.

More Twitteresque snippets from the life of this guy:

• Sunday was awesome. The message was out of the whole book of Revelation (we touched on nearly every chapter), and was about the worth of Christ, and putting Him first in our lives. Many Christians call this worship. You should definitely check it out on the podcast. Just go to HarmonyGreenville.com and click on the blue rectangle. It’s self-explanatory, I promise.
• Pablo has a wrap-up of the worship set here: 6.22.08 Review
• I think we’re going to start having a “Scripture reading” to start every service, a la old-school Presbyterian churches. I’m totally down with this. I love Pablo’s heart, and his desire to know the Living Word through the Written Word.
• Brad Beamon is in Ecuador. He returns in a week. Really missed that guy, but it’ll be great to have him back. He’s had some insightful posts recently at his blog (here). Definitely check out the one on husbandry (is that the right word?)
• Brad Proctor has been here. He recently joined Trailer as a percussionist, playing an electric kit and a handdrum set this past week with Pablo and Ian. Check out his blog at BradProctor.com. Plus, he twitters here.
• It’s true. I’m redesigning the website. Check it out, and let me know what you think! HarmonyGreenville.com is the location.
• Sherry, super-woman and the mother of two awesome boys (Aaron and Isaac), had the anti-environmentalist quote of the week: “I want to know how I can sell my carbon footprint.” (emphasis mine). It was hilarious at the time, and still is. I’m still looking into it….
• Clay, Sherry’s husband, and the father of the two, is amazing. He’s the only man I know with enough testosterone to make jewelry and get away with it. His jewelry is Scripture-based, and beautiful. Miranda loves it. Check out his mySpace here: Heart Art NC. So what makes him so manly? He has the hair of Samson (it’s gorgeous), he is married to a former conference-champ diver, and he sucks squirrel brains. I can’t make this stuff up. Plus, he hates tomato pudding.
• I’m stoked for this week! We’re talking about having a passion for others, and then the following week we have a corporate opportunity to follow through, as we serve the Umbrella Market through giving out free bottled water. Awesome stuff.

Here’s some Twitteresque snippets from inside the wacky world of my cerebrum:

• I loved dinner last night. Good food (thanks Miranda!) and good friends and a great woman. You can’t beat it. On top of that, Boston won the NBA title last night [in case you hadn’t heard]. I’m Irish and on the East Coast. I enjoyed it, no matter how tired I was.
• If you’re tee-totaling on coming this Sunday: you need to be here. It’s going to be off the chain. That’s right: no leashes this Sunday. It’s all let loose. Everything’s free to roam. No boundaries. Holding nothing back. [[insert idiom on ‘wildness’ here]] If you’re not in Greenville for this weekend….cop the podcast.
• Got my new Paste magazine in. Pretty sweet stuff.
• You’ve got to check out the people from Harmony who are blogging. Check my sidebar at the bottom for a full list. They’re all sharp people with a knack for writing. It’s pretty awesome reading what they have on their minds.
• The podcast for Father’s day will be up soon!