I too, am a millenial.

It has been awhile since I've posted, but that's because I have been so busy with school and preaching

my very first sermon.

I felt inspired to speak to this article that seems to be circulating the web like wild fire. 

Dear Church: An open letter from one of those millennials you can’t figure out

Well I too am a millennial and this article kind of annoys me. Sure, we don't like gimmicks or being taken advantage of, or feeling like we are being singled out by anyone...who does? 

From the article:

• I love the theology, but I hate the expectations of pseudo piety.
• We preach faithfulness all of the time, does it take time for people to make the change?Absolutely, especially from us independent millennials. 
• Love the gospel, hate the patriotic moralism.
• We don't believe in patriotic moralism either.
• Love the Bible, hate the way it’s used.
• How do you use the Bible? We use it to gain an understanding of God.
• Love Jesus, but hate what we’ve done with him.
• We've put Jesus at the front of our lives, or at least we try to, it can be difficult sometimes.
• Love worship, but hate Jesusy entertainment.
• Don't let it be entertainment then. Enter into the time of worship as that, worship, or find another church. 

I say all of this to say that different people worship differently. It seems like this is a difficult concept for some to understand. I don't want more liturgy. I find it stifling and boring. My worship is not enhanced by call and response psalms. Choirs are beautiful and fun to perform with, but they bore me if I'm in the congregation. Let the spirit and I connect through a contemporary song, let's partake in the Lord's Supper in order to be reminded of Him, let us cheer together during baptisms, but don't confine us all to a box. 

I think we irked me most about this article is that it paints a broad brush across a group of people, and that seems like exactly what the author is tired of. Well from one millennial to another, don't count me in your group. 

Are there churches that get it wrong? Absolutely. Are there beautiful high church services? Absolutely. Are there worshipful low church services? Every week. Perhaps the change that needs to happen is in author's heart. Please don't ask my church, which preaches a sound gospel, uses contemporary worship music, and loves Jesus, to conform to your idea of church. Because if we weren't meant to be different, we might as well all still be Catholics. 

Gone but not forgotten!

It's been awhile since I've posted and that's because I wanted to refrain from being so negative about our healthcare system. Needless to say, Karleen and I, by the grace of God were able to pay off all of our bills in one fell swoop.

Always check your bills and try and negotiate anything you have to pay!

I wanted to post today because it is the anniversary of a tragic event that happened 3 years ago. Three men from our unit were killed in Afghanistan by a suicide bomber. There is nothing more surreal and saddening than having to process the emotions of sadness, anger, some guilt, and disbelief, all while having to continue the mission and keep on keeping on.

As sad as it is to think about the huge void their losses have created I am comforted to know that they are living in paradise now. All three men believed in Jesus and the sacrifices that he made for us. I hope that their families and friends can find hope and comfort in that thought. My prayer is that their families leaned on God and not pushed Him away.

Never forgotten:
MSG Rieck
MSG Hannon
CPT Rozanski
4Apr12

Miscarriage, why does no one talk about it?

     I know the answer: It is one of the saddest events you could possibly experience. You don't want to talk about it and remember those terrible emotions. Plus as guys, we're in the passenger seat of one of the saddest and most helpless experiences you could face, and that's terrifying. This isn't something that we can fix, so we need to be strong for our wives! However, in the attempt to be strong we can miss our opportunity to grieve, which is a missed opportunity to grow closer to God.

     Right before last Thanksgiving, my wife and I went through the saddest time of our young marriage, and one of the saddest times of our individual lives. We sat in the ER and found out that the new soul Karleen was carrying was no more.

When we got the news I went immediately numb.

     What do you say? What do you do? What can you do? "My brain is telling me everything is bad! Everything is wrong! Fix it!" I felt so broken and helpless at that moment in time. I am the protector, the problem fixer, the rock, and in that moment I was lost.  I did all I could think to do right then: hold my wife and tell her that I love her.

     When we came home I was in a haze. We sat in silence for awhile and I asked if she wanted me to pray and she said yes. Looking back on it, it was probably the first time we prayed together in private. I cried the hardest I had cried since I knew better not to cry. I was no longer numb and laying our prayer at the feet of God and putting our trust in Him allowed me to be vulnerable.

     I feel like Karleen and I grew much closer to each other as a couple, and also much closer as a couple to God. I feel like we grew closer to others as well. We had told some family and friends that we were pregnant and I thought that it would suck so much to tell those people we lost the baby (it did), but there was something therapeutic about sharing our sadness with our closest friends and family. The more people I told, the more I heard of others who experienced the same thing. It's still terribly sad, but now we have a support system and more than our fair share of love.

     My wife is incredibly strong and an amazing woman of God and when we got done crying for a little bit she said: "It feels so weird, I am extremely sad but I know everything is going to be ok." I am not naïve to think that everything is a-ok, but I do know that out of valleys come mountains, and by God's grace and strength we will carry on. We don't understand why it happened but we do know we can trust in God. And that is comforting.

     This brings me to the rant part of the post. As a result of this terrible event, we had to visit the ER three times. Twice because of how bad my wife was feeling (spared the details) and then a third was a result of passing out after giving blood in the hospital. These were emergency situations, hence the reason we went to the Emergency Room. Well it turns out the insurance company thinks otherwise. So in addition to the sadness of losing our baby we are now paying more for the loss than we would have if we had had the baby. How indescribably broken is our health system that we now have to determine what is an emergency and what is not, based on whether or not we can afford to go to the ER? Should we not pay anything? No that's dumb, should I have to pay $80 for them to hook up the finger pulse reader to Karleen's finger? Absolutely not! I had a watch that counts to 60 seconds and I can count above 100.

     I am thankful God has provided me with a wonderful wife and I am thankful that we grew together, despite the great sadness that we experienced. I would much rather have had that growth experience not going through this event but God knows the path, so praise God!

My first graduate class is almost done and bad band practice.

     I can't believe that I have one more class and only two weeks to get my final paper turned in. It is amazing that in only a little over a month and a half I have completed my first graduate course. Learning exegesis and studying the word of Jeremiah has given me a totally new insight into God and the old testament. Knowing how to study the word makes the word clearer. Next class is leading in a multicultural environment. There are 3 books to read for that class, it's intense! Pray for my sanity.

     Every Wednesday night I give the daughter of our band's drummer guitar lessons, then we eat dinner together, and then usually end with a band practice. Last night must not have been our night. It started with  my wife not being able to go because of a stomach bug, then I left my capo at home. I tried to tough it out and transpose in my head...while singing...and experimenting with effects...and showing our bass player new technology. It was a recipe for disaster and it did not taste very good. After we gave up on that song we moved onto another song and my guitar strap fell off mid song. Finally we hit our stride a little bit and busted out a couple more songs and ended the night. Struggling is a good exercise every once in awhile, we should all try it sometime!

I hope you all have a blessed week.

Had to miss church :(

     Hello from wonderfully sunny, snowy, bitterly cold Southeast Michigan. We got hammered with some snow Saturday-Sunday. I actually had to miss church because as we were getting onto the highway, we spun out and kissed the guardrail. Thankfully nobody or nothing was injured except my poor bent up license plate. Well, maybe my ego. My wife was hesitant about going because of the weather and I made the decision that we were. Needless to say...she was right. 

     The weather was bad in Toledo too and thankfully our pastor is a quick thinker. He told my wife and I to of course turn around and go home, and then he led prayer time, communion, and his message. He told me it allowed people to share who don't normally share. I think that's awesome! Activities like this allow people to build relationships in a focused environment.  It got me thinking, how else can I lead worship as a worship leader? Music is awesome, it is one of the gifts I have been given, but I also believe I am called to think of the whole service, and in fact, I've been charged by Jacob (our pastor) with thinking of the whole service. 

Have you ever had to miss church as a worship leader or pastor? 

Have you done any activities in lieu of singing? 

A week off and message recording.

     How do you deal with a week off from your Sunday morning service? Thank goodness that our small campus has a talented young lady who plays guitar and sings. She has filled in for me once before and handled the transition week between the old worship leader and myself. Getting to lead worship as a high school student is a great experience. Our church can be very responsive in their singing when they want to be, they really harness the spirit and make leading worship easy. This is my hope and prayer for the church this weekend as I am away.

     Recently we've decided to record our services so that our pastor's sermons are online. The mother ship campus already does video and it is something we are considering. Unfortunately at this time all we have is a go-pro camera, and as cool as it would be, we aren't filming our services while jumping out of a plane or white-water rafting the rapids. Just like everything I've been trying to do in this position, I am trying to make sure we are able to walk before we start running.

     I first wanted to make sure we could get at least a decent sound without video. We got the audio recorded via the mixer which has a USB out that we send to the computer and record the whole service with audacity. Later in the week we cut the audio for just the sermon. For the message and spoken word it sounds good and does exactly what it needs to do. Free software plus one cord makes the set up a breeze. Eventually I think that the goal is to add some video and a room mic to pick up the feel of the room.

     Any small churches out there recording their services via video or just audio? Are any of you worship leaders responsible for recording the service? I enjoy the task! Any tips for a church in its infancy of service recording?

Have a blessed day!
With God's love and peace.
Jeremy

This is my: "Hello World!" Post

     You can read my sky high information in the "about me" section and it will give you the basics but I hope that you follow this blog so that you can get to know me more. This initial post is not to give you the dating profile version of me, rather I would like to give my hopes of this blog. I would love to be able to provide an outlet for my experiences in my spiritual journey, through study of the Bible, teachings in church, and dialogue with those in the world around me.
     This is also a blog to chronicle and put some information out on the internet about my experiences not only  as a part time worship leader in a small campus church that is dedicated to making disciples for God, but also as a member of a band that enjoys performing and recording contemporary Christian music.
     How do we lead people to Christ in a gym on Sunday mornings that we have to set up and tear down each week? How do I balance being a husband, teacher, student, and church leader? How do I hear the voice of God and act on that calling? Subscribe and let's figure it out together!

With God's Love,
Jeremy