BabuLife

Old Becomes New

Being a church that is considered a "contemporary" church, we surprise folks with a classic now and then.  There's so much rich tradition and history behind many of the great Hymns of the faith.  We'll pull out an oldie every once in awhile and put a new spin on it.

Recently during weekend services I had the opportunity to sing a Hymn called "The Love of God" written by Frederick Lehman. I love singing this one.  When you look at the lyrics you see the beautiful way the author tried to explain the unexplainable love of our God.

The love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest star, and reaches to the lowest hell.
The guilty pair, bowed down with care.  God gave his Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled, and pardoned from this sin.

O love of God how rich and pure!  How measureless and strong!
It shall forever more endure.  The saint's and angels song!

Could we with ink the ocean fill, and were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade,
To write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole, tho stretched from sky to sky.

That day a church member approached me to tell me that as a little girl, she used to sing that hymn all the time.  It never meant anything to her until that day.  After hearing the message Tim did on God's unconditional and never ending love for us, it hit her.  When she heard the song in that new and fresh way, she understood the line "Could we with ink the ocean fill, and were the skies of parchement made..."  She was blown away by the song she knew as a child, but never understood fully until now.

Whether it's an old hymn, new hymn or a spiritual song, it's always refreshing to see and hear how people are connecting with the Lord and coming to an understanding of His nature through the worship music at Grace.

So...what's your favorite hymn?

Check out "The Love of God" on iTunes recorded by MercyMe here.
Check out Mandy's blog called "Blending Worship".

 

Gospel Aerobics - "My Praise is Funky!"

My buddy Brian had a HILLARIOUS link the other day.  Watch the video here below and check out his link.

Worship Confessional: 7/29/07

Vacation's over!  Back to life as it was.

Worship today was pretty exciting for us on stage.  We had a new vocalist join the team this week and Kristen did awesome! She overcame her nerves and did a great job leading the church.  Way to go Kristen!  We also had Jim Williams playing some rhythm guitar.  Great job to Jim as well!

Second service was packed out again.  Tim's doing a good job encouraging folks to come to first service to make some room for visitors and guests who want to check out the church during second service.  It looks like it has been working...but I think we need some more folks to step into the first service from second.  We are anticipating a spike in attendance when school starts and typically visitors prefer the later time.

Busted out the new Hillsong tune "Mighty to Save" to close out the service.  Seems like it went well.  It can be difficult to tell with new songs if they are clicking with the congregation.  If you're out there reading this and you enjoyed the tune, drop a comment please and let me know.  I'd love to get your feedback.

Here's our worship list.  You can click the song title and it'll take you to iTunes where you can purchase them.

• How Can I Keep From Singing? by Chris Tomlin
• Sing to the King by Passion Worship Band
• How Great is Our God by Chris Tomlin
• Here is Our King by David Crowder Band
• Mighty to Save by Hillsong

Vacasheeeoooon

Adhering to the advice of Tim...I'm taking the week off from the office and attempting (ahem...attempting really hard) to not log on this week.  The family and I will be doing various things around Kansas City that we've never had the opportunity to do with the kidlets. 

I think the wife has us mapped out for the week to visit the following places:

• Nelson Atkins Museum
• Union Station Science City
• Neighborhood Swimming Pool
• Hallmark Kaleidoscope

No blogging this week....if I can stay away.

Later!
-Babu

Death Star Orientation

A post for my Star Wars brethren out there.  I wonder how many of us have given previous bosses the impression they have way more power over us than they really do.  Anyone? Enjoy this Robot Chicken video:

Final Day of Summer Breakout (VBS)

Sheeeew!!!!  There were a LOT of droopy eyes this morning when we rolled in at 7ish.  I know my kids started out the week sitting in bed dressed at 6:30a.m. anxiously waiting for SBO to start at 9.  By today, they were in bed when I left the house and had to be peeled from their pillows.

What an amazing (hooah!) week this was.  I cannot say enough about all of the effort everyone does to minister to my kids and the 250 others.  Great job to all who volunteered this week from the decorating, teaching, site leading, and worship.

I had my wife snap some shots from the audience today.  On the final day of SBO all the kids join the band on stage to rehearse for their big Sunday presentation.  Here are some shots of the last day...be sure to scroll down to watch a video clip of one of their performances.  You BabuLife readers are getting a sneak peak of what's to come this Sunday.  Enjoy:

Summer Breakout Shots

Here are a few of the shots from the stage during our Thursday Summer Breakout (VBS).  You voluntees are AMAZING (HUH!)
Look at these two cats.  Brad had a different head piece each day.  Stay tuned for tomorrows headgear. Today consisted of our Pastor of Children's Ministry, Brian Gann, and fellow scuba friend, Michael Lomely climbing out of the baptismal in full scuba gear.  The kids loved it!

Blog Addiction

Yeah...I think I'm sort of addicted to blogging.  Take the test yourself.
HT: Rich

77%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

Worship Confessional: 7/15/07

So I'm a little late on this post. I was going to let it go but couldn't.  Sunday ROCKED.  You can head over to our pastor's blog to see his post about Sunday.  Second service was packed out.  First service folks...you seemed to be a little more awake this week. :)

During the worship we had a newly married couple get baptized.  And by newly married I mean within 24 hours.  Zach and Teri took a break from their honeymoon after being married the day before to take their first step in following Christ.  They took advantage of having all the friends and relatives in town to share this awesome moment with.  Zach and Teri are in my small group and it was so thrilling for me to see them take that step together.  Way to go guys!!!  Now go enjoy your honeymoon!

Here's the worship list from Sunday:

• Lord Most High by Dave Leubben
• Blessed Be Your Name by Matt Redman
• Let God Arise by Chris Tomlin
• The Love of God
• Come Home Running by Chris Tomlin
• I Will Trust in You as recorded by Jeremy Camp

So what makes a Sunday rock you may ask?  It's the response we hear from the stage.  There is no greater rush than when you are a part of leading people who are completely engaged in worshiping the Lord.  Each week our team prays backstage for every person who crosses the doors of our worship center.  That they'd be able to leave behind distractions and completely focus their attention and affections on the Lord. It's a privilege to be a part of something like that.

See you!
-Babu

My Hope is in You - Rough Draft Audio

Throwing up another cheap audio recording of an original tune.  This song has been written over the last 17 years.  Verse 1 was composed while I was in High School as a teenager with no relationship with God.  Second and third verse were written while going through a job loss which was a dark valley in my life.  The chorus was composed with my buddy Brad who grabbed a Bible and we began reading the Psalms.  We found this passage in Psalm 39:7 and found this to be a great verse which says it all:

"And now, Lord, what do I wait for?  My hope is in You." (NKJV) Read the context here

From there the bridge was composed...which to me feels like it might be a totally different song.  I don't know that this is really a worship song (which means one that would be well suited to lead people to worshipping God...however, I could be wrong) So per the request of some of my worship buddies from my las song post, here are the lyrics and below you'll find the rough audio...just me and the geetar:

Verse 1
Looking to the other side questions fall as answers rise
Every time I walk into the other world I think of You I do

Verse 2
The wind is tossing me about, stirring up all seeds of doubt
But when I lift my eyes I see, the Lord His hand is reaching out to me

Chorus
My hope is in You, my hope is in You
Lord what am I waiting for?  My hope...is in You

Verse 3
There is a place where death and sorrow will never be in my tomorrow
And all the world will then proclaim, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain!"

Chorus
My hope is in You, my hope is in You
Lord what am I waiting for?  My hope...is in You

Bridge
My soul will rejoice in the hope that You bring
My heart will proclaim Your majesty
My spirit will rest in Your marvelous works, I'll sing...

Chorus
My hope is in You, my hope is in You
Lord what am I waiting for?  My hope...is in You