It used to be that the hardest part about apologizing was…well, apologizing.

I think that the new hardest part about apologizing would probably have more to do with not sending a tweet or writing a blog about “remaining humble,” “admitting mistakes,” or turning it into some sort of egocentric leadership lesson.

Transparency is great and super important, but I’m starting to think that you embellish your mistakes and flaws just to “fit in” with the real people that sit in the seats.

I promise to like, admire, and respect you more if I can just see you love.

~chris

PS: I totally blew it with my wife today. I had to go into her work, apologize, and ask for her forgiveness.  I bet some of you know what I’m talking about…have you ever blow it with somebody you care about in your life? I’ve got three ways that….

I have been pretty absent from posting here lately.  It has been a crazy few weeks of travels, events, and mucho other stuff.

I can’t take too much time here right now, but I did want to post the most epic setlist ever.

This Saturday night is capitalC, an event that I am lucky enough to be a part of.  Essentially it is a worship night.  The cool thing about it is that it involves multiple churches from all over Des Moines coming together and saying “WE are the Church.” Big “c” church.  Get it? capitalC?

Anyhoo, for more info you can check out the website.

So here is the set list. Six different worship teams with a mixture of originals and not.  But I guarantee it will be a night to remember.  We are expecting God to move in just an epic way.

So. Pumped. Right. Now.

Sing Alleluia
Agnus Dei
Worthy
I love you lord
Nothing but the Blood of Jesus
He Was There
Only You
Grace that is greater
Tell the World
Blessed be your name
From the inside out
I’m not ashamed
Beautiful one
Lead me to the cross
God of wonders
Because Of Your Love
Glory To God Forever
Beautiful The Blood
Your Love is Everything
Sweetly Broken
Awesome In This Place
Peace Like A River
Where Would I Go
Break Our Hearts
With A Loud Shout
Overflow
Enter In
Can You Hear Us
From the Rising of the Sun
Love Came Down
Beautiful Jesus
Savior King
Came to My Rescue
Carrier
We Are Hungry
Your Love Never Fails
Hosanna
Hallelujah To My King
You Are God
Closer
Come Thou Fount
All Creatures Of Our God And King
Our God Reigns
Lord, You have my heart
God of This City
How He Loves
With Everything

Will you be there?

Even if you can’t be there in person, if all goes as planned we should have a live internet feed.

Follow @capitalC10 on Twitter to keep up to date on the happenings!

~chris

Lent is something you have probably heard people talk about, but a lot of us don’t really know what it is.

Don’t worry, that doesn’t make you a bad person.  (read the wikipedia for a ton of info about it.)

The short version is this:

Lent is a season in which we practice giving up something important in order to refocus our lives on God.  By fasting from certain things, we practice dying to ourselves.  And by refocusing our lives, living to God, we intentionally choose things that help us become the kind of people God desires us to be.

We found a calendar and distributed it to the people at The Gateway Church, but would encourage anyone to journey along with us this year during Lent.  It is a bit different than what you most often hear people talking about, like fasting from something specific for 40 days.

This calendar suggests daily practices for fasting-from and living-to during the 40 days of the Lenten season.

Here is the link to where you can see the calendar, or of course save it and print it out.

~chris

I’m sitting in my old seat, located at my old Starbucks, waiting for my old wife to come get me.

That’s not completely true.  I actually have the car, but I am waiting for her to finish getting her hair did.

And as far as the old part goes, well…that’s true. She turns 27 on Thursday. Can’t believe I’m married to such an old, old woman.

Anyhoo, as long as I am sitting in my old “office,” where I wrote 90% of the blogs in my life, I thought I’d write a post for old times sake.

~~~~~~

I have been reading this book called the 7 Feast of the Messiah.  A lot of you probably know that I love the Old Testament, but it just makes Jesus, His sacrifice, and the new testament writings so much more incredible when understood in the light of the Old Covenant.

The book is written to help non-Jewish people understand the backstory and meaning, and to help Jewish people understand that Christ really is the Messiah they have been waiting for.

I will probably write more on this as I continue to get deeper into this book and finish it up, but one thing I read just is really sticking out to me.

Leviticus 23:2 talks about “…the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations…”  The Hebrew word that is translated as convocations is miqra, which literally means “rehearsals.”

God gave Israel these seven “rehearsals” every year to teach them about the major events in his restoration plan.  If we want to get a deeper understanding of redemption and God’s plan, than we can study these feasts that were so specifically detailed in the Old Testament.

The first 4 festivals are in the spring, and they teach us about the first coming of Jesus, the Messiah.  The last 3 festivals are in the fall and they teach about the second coming of Jesus.

I have so much more that I want to write and get out of my head, but I need to make sure that it makes sense.

So I guess consider that your warning…

~chris

I was raised by a Pastor, who was ultimately just a lover of God that enjoyed learning about pretty much anything and everything.  He also enjoyed sharing that knowledge with pretty much anyone and everyone.  While I may not have been too thrilled as a 10 year old, I really appreciate it now.

Two of the people that I heard about the most often were John & Charles Wesley, and for good reason.  Both incredible men, John and Charles are credited with starting the Methodist movement.  John being known more for theological works, and Charles as a musician and song-writer.  (Bonus factoid: John Wesley was the first person to put the term “agree to disagree” in print, and it was around the theological differences of Armenianism and Calvanism.)

Anyhoo, the other day I stumbled across some writings of John Wesley and the following golden nugget was in there:

John Wesley’s singing rules for Methodists:

1. Learn the tune. Learn these tunes before you learn any others; afterwards learn as many as you please.
2. Sing them exactly as they are printed here, without altering or mending them at all; and if you have learned to sing them otherwise, unlearn it as soon as you can.
3. Sing all. See that you join with the congregation as frequently as you can. Let not a slight degree of weakness or weariness hinder you. If it is a cross to you, take it up, and you will find it a blessing.
4. Sing lustily and with a good courage. Beware of singing as if you were half dead, or half asleep; but lift up your voice with strength. Be no more afraid of your voice now, nor more ashamed of its being heard, than when you sung the songs of Satan.
5. Sing modestly. Do not bawl, so as to be heard above or distinct from the rest of the congregation, that you may not destroy harmony, but strive to unite your voices together, so as to make one clear melodious sound.
6. Sing in time. Whatever time is sung be sure to keep with it. Do not run before nor stay behind it; but attend close to the leading voices, and move therewith as exactly as you can; and take care not to sing too slow. This drawling way naturally steals on all who are lazy; and it is high time to drive it out from us, and sing all our tunes just as quick as we did at first.
7. Above all, sing spiritually. Have an eye to God in every word you sing. Aim at pleasing him more than yourself or any other creature. In order to do this attend strictly to the sense of what you sing, and see that your heart is not carried away with the sound, but offered to God continually.

I think this is incredible, and it blows me away that each of these 7 rules is just as applicable in our worship settings today as they were in the 1700’s when Wesley was working in the church.

I love how he lays out 6 very practical musical boundaries and expectations that create a framework for his final and most important rule: the importance of the heart and the motive.

~chris

With each series we do at The Gateway Church we try and have a local artist create a piece that represents their interpretation of the topic. For our Origins series, Anna Farrand created an incredible piece! You have to see it in person for the full affect, but you can get a glimpse with this photo.

Here is her explanation of the piece:

The theme of this piece came from the book of Numbers and the first census of the twelve tribes of Israel, paralleled with our lives today and the census of 2010.  The background is a collage of vintage maps that create the land of the twelve tribes where Israel is today. The top layer is an intricately cut-out map of downtown Des Moines. The goal was to create this almost graphic, blank, top layer that represents today’s google map society, contrasted with detailed 1960’s road maps representing where we came from.

Make sure to check out more of Anna’s stuff at her website, annafarrand.com.

~chris

It’s Tuesday…And I’m feeling pretty good.

Here is a picture from the window of our apartment.  This should give you a glimpse of what our lives are like here in DesMo.

Seriously though…it’s cold as heck.

I am so excited about things here in the city.

Church is going incredibly well, and my heart just starts pounding when I think about the community that is forming here.

Friendships are growing stronger, new ones are starting, and old ones are staying strong.

capitalC is coming along amazingly, and I am so excited about what is forming there.

We’ll be back in Corona next week for a few days, so hopefully we’ll enjoy warmth, the sun, and lots and lots of In-N-Out, Wingstop, and yes, even Miguels.  (But just so Es will stop yappin’ about it.)

God is good.

~chris

I haven’t been able to stop thinking about something I read earlier this week.  Just kinda chewing on it, I guess.

I like to tell people about good things though, so here…maybe you can enjoy it’s flavors too.

“Distractivity is what you’re doing when you get distracted from what you should be doing. It’s generally what you want to do, often what you need to do, and arguably, what you’ll do best.”

I found it here whilst surfing through the web.

~chris