Rewind: Week One

Yesterday marked one week since I arrived in Omaha. It has been busy and exhausting on many levels, but I feel like I have learned a lot and have had some great discussions with the church leaders and with my Omaha family. Speaking of, I haven't mentioned much of Nathan and Shelby Bliss yet. They graciously offered me a bedroom in their home for the summer. It has been a really easy transition for me as I already feel like they are my family away from home. Nathan works at Cox Communication here in Omaha and Shelby is a teacher and a full-time mom, which is very much a full-time job with their son, Zachary. He has quite a personality, albeit a hilarious one though. Needless to say, I always look forward to spending time with them at home because we have had some great conversations together. And watching Zach play around with his father is always a joy.

Saturday, Nathan invited me to attend his weekly men's Bible study and I decided to check it out. The topic was heart idolatry and we were studying the story of the rich man in Mark 10. Out of that, we discussed the different things in our lives which we have placed above our love for Jesus. Topics such as knowledge, approval, and respect came to the surface as we conversed with one another about we can learn to live outside of these things by worshiping Jesus for the fact that he set aside his right to all of these things and humbled himself to the point of death for us so that we might taste life. There was a line in our study material that I took to heart. It said "As one writer put it, 'You can't see your own face.' We need each other in order to see our sin clearly and deal with it honestly." This I believe to be absolutely true. However, people miss this often nowadays. And I would suggest that much of this is due to the fact that many modern churches abandon the importance of community in order to focus on increasing attendance, appealing worship music, or agreeable sermons. The fact is, when we grow in our relationship with the Lord, we also grow in the recognition of our sins. And when we have no foundation for honest and accountable community, it becomes easy for shame and guilt to overtake our boldness in confessing our pain and sharing the burden with others who can help us to learn strength during our time of repentance. When churches are not emphasizing the importance of growing in appreciation for the person of Jesus and his sacrifice for humanity, they are missing the point. After accepting Christ into our heart as our personal savior, we realize that there is a tremendous void between our recognition of God's perfect holiness and our bondage to sin. And the only thing that can fill that void is Jesus' sacrifice. As we grow in these two recognitions, our love for Christ must grow equally or else we can become lost in an extreme of God's holiness, which encourages license, or an extreme of our own sins, which encourages legalism. Our faith hinges on a relationship with Jesus and when that is not the point, there is no point.

Yesterday, I participated in my first Sunday service of Coram Deo so far this summer. Will, one of the pastors, preached on blessings and generosity and how God gives us surplus of everything so that we might use it in order to invest in his grace and glory instead of our own. He did a great job. Before both services, I was introduced to the whole congregation. It's not my favorite feeling to have everyone looking at me, but it was nice meeting everyone who came up and talked to me once the services were over. After the services, I headed over to the Mosaic, a non-profit Coram Deo partners with, in order to help out with Harambe. During this time, the church transports a group of Burundi refugees to the Mosaic for a community lunch and in order to help them to learn English. I went outside and played with the kids because they have a ton of energy (and sports were involved. Duh!).

After Harambe, I ran to get in line for the Texas baseball game at the College World Series. One of the leaders on staff here at Coram Deo had an extra ticket that he gave to me for general admission. I got in line two and a half hours early to make sure I would have a seat. And I would say my plan paid off pretty well. The Blisses and I found seats ten rows from the grass in left field. Perfect. The game was so much fun. We were actually surrounded by USM fans (who turned out extremely well. Props.), but we still got away with the win. Even though it was ugly at times. I have started an Omaha photo album that has pictures from everything I just wrote about. If you are interested, you can view it with this link:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=88899&id=661918786&l=d18b2e95ac

A few days ago, Nathan showed me a video called a Sermon Jam. Basically, it is a music video that sets excerpts from a John Piper sermon to music. It is a pretty neat video, but more than anything Piper's message from that video has completely haunted me. And it broke onto the surface again in the Bible study Saturday and during the service on Sunday. He was preaching on Philippians 3 in which Paul speaks of counting all things loss aside from the knowledge of Christ. Piper said that God gives us money, food, clothing, friends, family, and everything else so that we might use and display them in such a way that it is PLAIN to the world they are not our treasure. Christ is. Piper followed up this point with a quote that has stabbed my mind in such a way that I cannot escape it. "The way we display the supreme worth of Jesus is by treasuring him above all things and then making choices which make the joy we have in his supreme worth manifest." I cannot help but think about the people who believe faith in Christ is a matter of reaching a certain level in achievement and that is enough. There should not be any conditions on our pursuit of Christ. He is our treasure and we should pursue him in such a way that it is PLAIN to the world that he is our hope. That is something I would certainly like to see in my life.

I will close with two videos that have been very sobering to me this past week. The first is a sermon clip from Matt Chandler, my favorite pastor. The second is the John Piper Sermon Jam that has been on my mind in this blog. And lastly, I put a video I took of Zachary Saturday. I taught him a trick that Brittany will undoubtedly appreciate ;-)

“Functional Atheists” – Matt Chandler - Watch more Videos at Vodpod.

Despite The Clouds

I have been in Omaha for three full days now. Honestly, it was a little strange at first. Over spring break, I was here in the city spending time with a bunch of fellow church regulars talking about the Gospel with Coram Deo and spending every waking minute together. Now, I am in the same city with the same church and the same leaders, but without everyone from Austin. That was a little strange getting used to that situation because I felt like I was walking into it all over again, but by myself. And in reality, that's what I am doing, but that feeling has long since vanished. So far it has been a neat experience and I can already tell that I am going to learn a lot and make many new friends along the way.

In talking with the leaders of Coram Deo, I am realizing that there will not be much schedule structure to my time here. Basically, their idea for getting me to grow as leader in living missionally is to simply immerse me in their lives and in the life of the church. I have been spending most of the days at the office doing sermon research and reading up on topics they have given me. And in the evenings I have joined a missional community on Tuesday nights and just returned from a weekly meeting for communal prayer on Wednesday evenings. The thing that I have come to appreciate most in the last few days is how deeply this church and its leaders strive for clarity and support for everything that they do in this church by the Gospel alone. They don't make a move without scriptural grounding. And I can really appreciate that because often doctrinal thought can become completely diverted and skewed because we choose to look for either what we want to feel and receive or we turn to someone else's opinion rather than the Gospel itself. They have asked me to read a book this week on covenant renewal worship, something that Coram Deo practices, and it has been interesting thus far.

In fact, I happened upon what I considered to be a neat insight on sin and humanity during my time reading today. The book is called The Lord's Service and it is written by Jeffrey Myers. In the Old Testament, people were cleansed of their sins through a ritual of animal sacrifice. Why? Because humanity is bound to sin from the moment of conception (Psalm 51:5) and God, being just, requires that we repent and be cleansed of it. In actuality, the punishment for sin is death (Romans 6:23) and we deserve to pay that price. But God is also a loving God and in the Old Testament times allowed humanity to embody the death it deserved through the sacrifice of animals. Leviticus talks about the smell from the burning of the animals offered up as acts of confession and repentance being a pleasing aroma to the Lord (1:13). Through this ritual, the followers of God died to their sins and were cleansed in order to follow the Lord in purity. The insight I found interesting is this: Meyers believes this has not ceased in its necessity. It has simply changed in method and custom in light of the death of Christ for all of our sins. When Jesus was crucified, he took upon himself the death that we all deserve as punishment for our sins. He died a horrific and terrifyingly brutal death so that we would not have to. Therefore, the sacrifice of animals was no longer necessary. However, much of the language used in the Old Testament in regards to animal sacrifice is used in the New Testament in regards to humanity. Jesus called his followers to "deny" themselves in order to follow him (Mark 8:34). In Romans, Paul calls christians to offer themselves as "living sacrifices" (Romans 12:1). And in his letter to the Corinthians, Paul describes christians as being an "aroma of Christ" (2 Corinthians 2:15-16). All of this imagery and terminology of death, sacrifice, and aroma point back to the Old Testament times in order to remind us that (using the words of Coram Deo's pastor), although the "cultural practice" of animal sacrifice is no longer necessary, the "timeless principle" of dying to your sins in order to live for the Lord still very much exists. Now we are the sacrifice. But rather than die a physical death, we are called to live a life of death to ourselves in order to glorify God.

I thought that was a cool thought. On another note, prayer tonight was awesome. It is an open invitation to anyone who attends the church to come together on Wednesday nights in order to pray together. Tonight, the focus was on listening to the prayers each of us have been lifting up individually and then praying for one another as a group. I remember experiencing this same prayer meeting over spring break and it left a big impression on me then. Setting aside at least an hour to simply sit and pray together is a really cool sacrifice in my mind.

All in all, these first few days have been challenging. I have a million thoughts running through my head and as they slowly surface I will be sure to post them. But for now, I think this is enough. I will say that the sun needs to freaking come out already during the days in Omaha. I had five and a half cups of coffee today and never felt like I woke up.

I will end on a lighter point. A lot of the people I am talking to up here are big fans of modern folk music. I have recently become a huge fan of two girls in Austin who play folk music together. They call themselves The Reliques and if you haven't heard of them yet, go here now. They have a ton of talent and deserve your time.

Thanks for the prayers. Please feel free to contact me anytime. You know where I'll be.

In His name alone,

- Collin

Jesus Loves Rock Too

Just to let you know, I am officially in Omaha now. But before I say anything about that, I need to make an update about this past weekend’s events. Luke, Landry, and I finished up two days at the Red Letter Rock Fest. We are full of great music and our ears are still ringing, reminders of the loud and drumming memories we now hold. I can say without a doubt that it was the most amazing concert I have ever attended. And if you know me at all, you know that I don’t say things like that about music unless I mean it. But it was not just the music that impacted me. Shows like the one I experienced continue to serve as reminders for why I listen to the music that I do. There was rap, punk, alternative rock, metal, and everything in between. But for all of their differences in musical pursuit, they each have one thing common in their motivations for what they do – glorifying our Heavenly Father. These are the shows that continue to negate any comment I have ever heard that people cannot hear about Christ through rock music. Each band wears their heart on their sleeve and they are unashamed to testify to what they believe. I’ll give you a quick rundown of the highlights from this weekend’s show. There were two big moments in my mind.

The first happened on Friday with the band Disciple. I have always been a fan of these guys. They started out playing music that sounded like old 80’s metal, but their lyrics were entirely Bible verses. They rocked, but no one really took them seriously. After a few years of mediocre success, they got haircuts and modernized their sound. Their set at Red Letter was amazing. Tons of energy. At one point, the guitarist jumped up on an amp and did a backflip onto the stage, guitar and all. But the coolest part was midway through the set. The vocalist, Kevin, pulled out his Bible and read a passage from John 10. He then began telling a story about returning home after finishing up a recent tour with Skillet. When he got back, his 8-month old daughter was a little unsure as to whom he was because he had not been around much due to the touring. So he decided that during his break from touring, he would spend every waking moment with her. Changing diapers, feeding her, but most importantly speaking to her and helping her become accustomed to his voice. By the time he had to leave on tour again, his daughter knew him as “Da Da” and clung to him as he told her goodbye. He went on to tell us that this is often how our relationship is with God. We want Him to speak to us so badly when often He is right in front of us screaming to get our attention. It’s not necessarily because we are looking in the wrong places, but we cannot hear Him because we have not spent time developing that relationship to the point of understanding who He is and recognizing His call. God is not a metaphor or an abstract idea. He is a living being and He wants each and every one of us to have a relationship with Him. And He sent his son to die for us so that we might be able to do so. By the time Kevin finished talking, he was on the verge of tears. I was very moved by his candor.

The other big moment came from Skillet. This band has absolutely blown up in popularity in the last few years. They sell out shows right and left and the pyrotechnics they had on stage Saturday had to have cost a small fortune. And just like many crossover bands, they have ample opportunities to leave behind faith and pursue musical careers for the sake of fame. But unlike many crossover bands, they are not doing that. John, the vocalist, spent a few moments between songs telling everyone that he loves playing music and performing in front of people, but at the end of the day it is not the reason he wakes up every morning because it never truly satisfies. It is his faith in Christ and living only to glorify the Lord that keeps him going every day. And immediately after, they played a worship song.

Skillet. A hard rock band. Playing a worship song. At a rock show.

Over 20 bands performed this weekend and each one of them made sure to point out that God was the center of their music. Skillet and Disciple took time out of their sets to both pray and share the Gospel. Family Force 5 ended their set by praying for the crowd and the rest of the festival. I do love rock, but I love it more when it is done to glorify God. Because that always reminds me that Jesus loves rock too. And the Lord can and does reveal His glory through it.

You can check out my photos from the festival at this link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=87654&id=661918786&l=88f8580f82

On another note, I am in Omaha now and I am actually writing this blog in the church office. I reported for duty this morning and my first assignment was to go jogging two miles with two of the church leaders. Fun stuff. I will be moving in with my Omaha family this evening. I’m excited about that. I will update again as soon as possible.

Love you all.

- Collin

T Minus Three

Although I still have three days until I officially begin my time in Omaha, my summer travels begin today. Since I have only had about two and a half weeks of free time between finishing school and beginning my internship, I have been trying to squeeze in visiting time with as many friends as possible along with staying at home with my family. It has certainly been relaxing, but today I will be driving up to Fort Worth, Texas where I will meet up with one of my best friends, Luke, and his brother, Landry, and we will be traveling from there to Snyder, Texas in order to be a part of the Red Letter Rock Festival. A few of our favorite bands, most notably Skillet and RED, will be there rocking our faces off. And if my calf muscles are not sore beyond belief because of jumping and my voice completely spent due to the yelling, the weekend will be a failure.

My expectations are pretty high for this summer though. In previous years, my summers have not amounted to much other than a dead-end job and entertaining myself at home -which of course is not a bad thing. I must add though, I did spend my summer in Rome last year and gained a lot from that experience, including a beautiful and amazing girlfriend! But this time around, the stakes are very different. Before spring break this year, I was dead set on earning myself a federal internship in Washington DC for the summer. It fit my interests, would be a good addition to a future resume and I had a really good shot at most opportunities for which I might have applied. But God laid Omaha on my heart in a big way and I feel like this summer is going to sharpen me in areas that are much needed for me as an individual.

From all outside perspectives, I know that I have given up internship opportunities that could have had large implications for any career in government that I could have chosen to pursue. The most exciting thing for me though is that I am perfectly fine with that. I may not be pursuing an opportunity that has clear potential to lend me help in advancing a future career, but I am pursuing an opportunity that has eternal implications. And that far outweighs the former in my mind. As much as this summer will be an immersion in leadership training towards living missionally, it will also be life training as I truly believe that this is what we are all called to do - engage others with the Truth in terms of grace and not agenda. As much as the world may see my decision as being one that is in all respects a step backwards, I see it as being a leap forward. Granted, it may not be something with which I can pad my resume or add extra zeros to my future salary, but then when was that ever our purpose in living? It is never enough.

I have many questions to ask during my time with Coram Deo and I hope to have many conversations that challenge me in what I believe and cause me to dig deeper for the Truth. Because it does exist and it is available to those who seek it. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to all who read along with me and consider my thoughts. Thank you for your prayers and your support. Please feel free to contact me at any time for anything. I have invited you along with me for a reason.

Let's do this. Today, my journey begins.

- Collin

But you chased me down and broke in just when I was done believing. Spun me around so close now I can feel you breathing. Sunlight burns inside and I feel so alive and help me now. Tell me how...how can this last forever?

RED - "Forever"