True Worship

True worship takes us beyond ourselves and brings us into the presence of the King. We cannot hold on to selfish wants and desires and expect to simultaneously surrender all in worship. What would our corporate worship times look like if the majority of us were truly worshiping in spirit and truth? What would your personal worship time look like if you were engaged in true worship? What are we doing? It seems that most churches are not presenting an offering of worship to the Lord each week at all. Instead it has become about "me". "I want..."

Let's each try to enter into our worship services this week with hearts that are desperate for Him. Eagerly seeking to rid ourselves of the "me" mentality and abandoning all, offer up a pure heart full of praise to our Father. Just don't wait until that moment and expect it to happen. Prepare yourself for that moment all week long as you spend time in prayer, in the word, and in His presence. You will be amazed at how differently you see things on Sunday.

...from the past

A childhood friend just posted this picture on Facebook today. This was our championship team in 1985. I was 10 years old. If you are having trouble finding me, I am center/back row. I know...the tallest one. I was on this team for 2 years. I think this team is the one that won the championship that year. Our nemesis was the Phillies. We played a preseason game against them and lost 20-0. Then we played them during the season. We were beating them until they rallied on a muddy, rain-soaked field to beat us 6-5. I remember the mud and rain very well because the ball was hit to me and I was slipping in the mud. I couldn't get my feet under me to get to the ball and throw it in. Meanwhile, runners were rounding the bases.

However, we faced the Phillies in the championship game at the end of the season. They were undefeated and we had the one loss to them during the season. In the championship game, we beat them 6-4. I went 2-4 in that game. How do I remember all of those details??? I loved sports and had a great childhood. Those things still mean a lot to me today. Wow.

Goodbye Alex

Nearly 2 years ago, Caleb got a hamster for his birthday. He wrestled with what to name him, but finally settled on Alex for his new friend. Alex became a part of our family and was so much fun to play with. He was a great pet for the kids because he never bit anyone and would let them play with him all they wanted. Unfortunately, Alex passed away this past Saturday. I think the kids have come to grips with it. But, Alex will be missed. Goodbye Alex! Thanks for the memories.

MusiCalifornia

The Immanuel Choir will be singing with Bradley Knight tonight at MusiCalifornia. We are premiering his new Christmas worship project. It should be really cool. Buses leave at 3:30pm for Pasadena. I'm excited for the opportunity. MusiCal is always cool. See you there tonight!

College Flashbacks

For those of you who have not entered into the world of facebook yet, let me give you a little insight. As you gain friends, any of your friends can "tag" you in a photo. Basically, they post a picture of you, place a tag in the photo with your name, and any other friends of yours on facebook are notified that this picture exists. So it was with this picture. A "friend" posted this picture they had of me and Jody in college...and tagged it.

I actually love this feature of facebook. I love walking down memory lane with all of my college "friends". If you are on facebook, friend request me. If you are not, what are you waiting for? Let's be friends.

Pandora

I am so loving my blackberry apps. I still believe the iphone is the standard in phone technology and everyone else is left battling for a distant second place, but blackberry is making strides.

I recently downloaded the FREE Pandora app. For those not familiar with it, I can basically create my own radio station for my listening pleasure. Ex. I type in Phil Collins in the search window and it creates an online Phil and "the like" genre of radio for me. I can rate each song with a thumbs up or down to let it know if I want that song on my radio play list or not. Then, I spend the rest of my day listening to great music for FREE with no commercial interruptions. Who needs satelite radio anymore?

Try out Pandora. Its simply awesome!

What's Going On...

1) Jody flies in from Georgia tonight. We are so excited.
2) The drama ministry did a great job with "Building Bridges" this weekend.
3) Travis Cottrell is leading worship with the Immanuel Choir this Wednesday @ 6:30.
4) The Immanuel Egg Hunt is this Saturday @ 11am. Fun times!
5) Choir rehearsal this Sat. from 9-11am. Getting ready for...
6) MusiCalifornia on April 15 in Pasadena with Bradley Knight.

I read a lot of leadership blogs, books, etc. Most of what I read is so inspiring. But, even guys who are great leaders get it wrong sometimes.

Recently, I read a statement by someone that I think is a very good leader. I don't always agree with his approach, but his execution and inspiring of people is amazing. He said, "if you are not offending people you aren't preaching His gospel".

While on the surface there is a lot I can agree with in this statement, I think we often times give ourselves too much credit. "We" should not be offending people. We should leave that to "the gospel". I know this may seem picky, but I see that approach far too often.

Secondly, when we go into an opportunity to preach God's word anticipating the offense, it is tempting to intentionally offend by our presentation as opposed to the content. I see it too often when a someone expects offense to take place, they present it with an "I don't care what you think" attitude and the offense takes place via the messenger and the message isn't truly heard.

Finally, our responsibility as believers is to presnet the truth in love. Let the gospel truly be the offense. Not our attitudes and intent to offend.

Twitter

I am now on twitter. If you are not following me yet, go to twitter.com/jeffbumgardner and click "follow". You will get all of my updates, thoughts, and random happenings through the day. Check it out.