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Every now and then I receive something that just needs to be passed on. It was written by my friend and fellow Auto Shop Instructor Lonnie Harwell. Lonnie teaches high school students in Santa Rosa. Enjoy

There’s Only One Way, by Lonnie Harwell

Ever had to have a freeze plug changed? It’s one of those car parts that cost about a dollar to purchase, but about $200 to install. I’ve had to put dozens of them in but never in a Chevrolet S-10 4×4 blazer, that is until recently. It is a lesson, among other things, in humility that I’ll never forget.

The first problem with this vehicle is that it’s a Chevy and I work at a Ford dealership. But, if one buys a Chevy from a Ford dealership (a used car), one can also purchase an extended warranty on said vehicle as it was in this case. The second problem is that it’s red in color and is owned by a person whose last name is Rose, and red and rose definitely clash. I should have called in sick. The owner complained that it was leaking coolant. I must have spent a good 2 hours looking for that stupid leak (I really should have called in sick), but it was nowhere to be found. After leaving it under pressure over the weekend I finally discovered the source of the trouble. It was the freeze plug behind the left front motor mount just above the front differential next to the steering shaft. In other words anything that could be in the way was.

The book time to do this job was 3.3 hours: no problem (or so I thought)!The next day I had to get another box of freeze plugs because the previous three had been destroyed by my attempts at installing them. Two were dead instantly, but one lasted a good 15 or 20 attempts. Well, after installing a total of 8 freeze plugs (I know it just kills me to think I couldn’t do in say 5 or 6), I thought I finally had it fixed. I let the vehicle sit over night and I just about cried the next morning when it was still leaking. It was just a little crooked and I thought I could straighten it out. Well, needless to say I didn’t know that two gallons of coolant could drain out of an engine so quickly. I was beside myself.

I remember thinking, “God please let me know what lesson I’m supposed to learn because this is killing me.”After cleaning up the coolant, the shop foreman, Ron, came over and told me that he would help me put the freeze plug in. I informed him that it was now personal and that I wouldn’t let a truck beat me. After all, I had one more freeze plug left and the parts guy could order more.

However, Ron is my direct supervisor and … well, if you have any questions about authority read Romans 13. After I raised the engine up two more inches and moved the steering shaft out of the way, Ron came over and in about two minutes had that freeze plug installed and no leaks. I was amazed, humbled and extremely grateful. I had to give up doing it my way and let him do it.

So many times people want to get to God on their terms and not His. My sister asked me (after going to our Easter celebration) “Why do you have to go through Christ to get to God?” I replied, “In simplest terms it’s because He’s God and that’s His way. Jesus tells us in John 14:6 ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” There’s only one way to God and it’s through Christ. No exceptions.Lonnie

Well, after 7 weeks of projects and events, it’s finally time for some fun.  We’re off to New York to do some playing in the city and then up north to Ballston Lake to visit Gramma.  (She still lives in the same house that I grew up in!) We haven’t been back here in 5 years so this trip is pretty special.  We are all really looking forward to spending sometime by the lake and just having a change on scenery.  Stephanie snapped the shot of our plane being serviced for the non-stop flight to JFK.  It was the first thing she took a picture of once we arrived at the gate.

And yes….. I am posting this from Gate 66 at San Francisco International Airport. Here you can see the kids already relaxing in the boarding area.  Notice Tim cruising the internet on his new phone.  I guess we both need a vacation from technology, but I doubt that’s going to happen with either one of us.  We’ll just have to see what Becky has to say about that.  Well, time to pack up, we’ll be boarding soon.

In June I had the opportunity to teach a FREE ONLINE SEMINAR to worship leaders and team members from all over the world. It was a real cool experience and I’ve gotten quite a bit of positive feedback. The topic was on "HOW TO BUILD A MORE COMMITTED, UNITED, AND PASSIONATE WORSHIP TEAM".

You can click on the banner above to go to the site and hear this teaching for FREE. Just o to the site, create a login and you’re there. Check it out. I’d love to hear your feedback. Feel free to come back and drop comments here on the site.

As some of you know I spend all of last week on the campus of Stanford University attending the Digital Media Academy for intensive training in the Apples digital editing software; Final Cut Pro. I arrived last Sunday evening, settled in to began class on Monday morning.

The class was taught by Tom Wolsky, a seasoned television producer, director and editor. (And an Excellent Teacher, as well.) The classes moved along at a pretty good clip as we had to cover quite a bit if of material in one week. My goal was to take the Certification Exam to attain Apple Computer’s Certification as a "Pro-User" in Final Cut Pro.

I have to admit that there were several moments during the week that I really thought that I should put off taking the test. Passing the Apple Certification Exam is not easy and and requires that you pass with a score of 80% or better to be certified. I knew that the test has a low pass rate for 1st time test takers. What I was not aware of (and glad that I didn’t know) was that no one coming out of this class had ever passed the test the first time they took it. This is no reflection on the instructor; the test is very hard.

Well, it took me about an hour to take the exam, but when the smoke cleared, I PASSED; and am very excited. The picture in this post (of myself with Tom Wolsky) was taken just after I passed the exam. You can check out Tom’s Website at www.fcpbook.com or DMA at www.digitalmediaacademy.org .

The stage was set, and during the third week in June I left Sonoma County to spend a week at the INFOCOMM Convention in Las Vegas. INFOCOMM is a large secular convention catering to the multimedia industry. If you’re looking for anything in the world of Audio, Video, Projection, Digital Signs, Effects and various other Communication Tools, etc. This is the place you want to be. As I do on a regular basis my original plan was to spend one day at the conference teaching workshops for Technologies for Worship Magazine .

A few weeks before the conference I received a phone call from my friend Marcus telling me that the band had canceled and that there was no one set to lead worship from the quiet stage in the TFWM Pavilion Area on the main convention center floor. The Quiet Stage is a demonstration platform which is set up in the main exhibit hall and features the latest in technology for houses of worship. At this point we began the process of looking for a band to fill the vacancy. As we talked with several worship teams it became fairly obvious that it was Gods plan for me to put a band together. So I got on the phone and with only 2 weeks notice lined up my good friends Mark Holling (Drums) and Lonnie Harwell (Bass) to accompany me to :as Vegas. As we talked we lined up a lead guitar player from Las Vegas to sit in with us.

As the event got closer the lead guitar player (whom I had never met personally) had to cancel due to a family emergency. When this happened we weren’t sure what to do; however after a few phone calls it seemed that God was putting us together with a couple from Memphis, TN. (Again… whom I had never met. We were introduced to Drew and Stacie Jackson via an online video conversation. (I love technology!) After meeting we decided that we would all fly in to Vegas, have a quick rehearsal and get up on the stage with very little playing time together.

After a Tuesday night sound check we took the stage on Wednesday morning for the first of four 45-minute worship sets, that we would play daily for the next three days. The Lord, as He always does, (I still don’t know why this surprises me) met us there and it was as if we had been playing together for years. The coolest part is that for 3 days we had the opportunity to lead Praise and Worship Music in the center of a secular convention, in the heart of Sin City. It doesn’t get any better that that!

After we completed our three days of playing together it was hard to say goodbye to Drew and Stacie. On the flight home Mark, Lonnie and I continued to talk about the chemistry that we all had together. So, as far as the report goes, INFOCOMM ‘08 will be remember as one of our best conferences to date. Oh yeah, my classes went really well too, however, they were overshadowed by the success of the Quiet Stage and the fact that we looked out over a secular convention and watched people come into the TFWM Pavilion Area and begin to worship with us.

Although we don’t have any immediate plans for our next event, I sense that it won’t be very long until we are reunited again. Musical and Spiritual Chemistry rarely come together like that so quickly; and becasue of that I know that we will all be playing together again real soon.

Check back in a couple weeks and I’ll have some Audio Files posted from the event!

Have you ever found yourself in a local church worship service trying to connect with God, or perhaps trying to relate to the people around you? Have you ever had this thought keep running through your mind; "I just can’t relate to what is going on here." Whether you call yourself a "Christian" or not, you might be surprised to discover that there are a lot of people just like you. They may have a different way of describing it. "This is boring" or "I don’t get anything out of this" or "I can’t understand what they are talking about". You might even be surprised to know that about half of the people, who say they are Christians in Sonoma County, don’t go to any church at all, because of this fact. You might even be one of them.

Jesus Is Appealing

Maybe you have read the bible and Jesus appeals to you, perhaps you have even had a real experience with God. You may even think that what Jesus had to say and the way he lived really makes sense. In fact, perhaps you’d like to experience that kind of life on a regular basis.

Then comes the big, "BUT ". The way you have experienced church and the life of Jesus just don’t add up. In fact, you may have wondered how some of those people could call themselves Christians, and act the way they do’ religious on Sunday, but very different the rest of the time . Perhaps you don’t understand how authentic followers of God are not impacting the world around them, but instead settling to live in a sub-culture that they have created. Maybe that just isn’t your idea of what a Christian should be…….. You are not alone.

There Is Another Way

Maybe your experience with Christianity has mostly been about someone telling you how you should behave, or what you should believe and why their point of view is right, or "more right than you". All the time you have been thinking that being a Christian is more about the way you live, loving your neighbor, having compassion for those in need, etc.

Are you seeing this as a reality in the church? Have you been told that you are deceived because you have mentioned these concerns to church leaders? You are in good company! You might be surprised to know that Jesus, himself addressed this very issue when he told the religious leaders of his time, "Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but on the inside they are full of dead mans bones and all uncleanness".

A Relevant Faith

Maybe what you are looking for is an authentic community of people who are trying to follow God, through His Son Jesus Christ. People who want to learn from the past, but also be a part of a relevant faith community today, who realize they don’t have it all together… who are more focused on asking questions, than giving answers. If this is you, you are not only not alone, but whether you know it or not, you are desiring to be a true follower of Jesus Christ. If you are looking for a better way, a more organic faith, a true expression of Christ, than you are among a few people who have been willing to look at the church, as it is today, and desire to se change.

An Authentic Community

Over the last few years it has been the desire of myself and my wife to be part of an authentic expression of Jesus Christ in the real world. Many of you who are reading this may have been to churches that have been marred by additions to the faith. You know what I mean. Additional rules and formulas for growth that make the church look more like IBM than an actual expression of God. That’s NOT what following Jesus is all about!

Ask yourself a question. Have you ever felt like there was more to life than what you are doing today? Do you have a sense that there is a greater purpose for your existence? Is there a craving in your soul for a more fulfilling life, but you don’t know where to turn to connect with people like you?

Well recently we have working to develop such a community. We call it MOSAIC Healdsburg. We are a community of God seekers, committed to live by faith, to be known by love and to be a voice of hope. If something about what I have said resonates with you, post a comment, drop an email, or give us a call. Lets begin a conversation as to what our community might look like if Christians and those seeking God begin to seek out that authentic experience, and dare to follow God the way that He originally intended.

NEWS: Technologies for Worship Magazine called last week and asked if I could put together a band for the Pavilion Quiet Stage at the INFOCOMM Convention in Las Vegas. So, along with teaching two classes I will also be leading four worship sets each day from main convention exhibit floor. Pretty Cool!

I will be joined by Mark Holling of Santa Rosa, California; Lonnie Harwell of Lakeport, California; and Gino Quartucci, who leads worship for The River Christian Church in Las Vegas, Nevada. Imagine being at a large secular technical conference and hearing prasie and worship music being played LIVE in the exhibit hall. This is a great opportunity to use music in communicating the message of Jesus to the world. For more information and to register check out http://www.tfwm.com/conferences-infocomm2008.

I spoke with a very good friend of mine this morning who was sharing about the loss of her father and the fact that her husband (a JCM Board Member) was back east sitting at his dads bedside, awaiting his final breath. AS we spoke it brought back memories of my own dads passing back in 1995. Below is a reprint from "Things They Didn’t Teach Me In Worship Leading School". It’s a little longer than a normal post, but I hope you’ll find it relevant in some way today.

I Am Your Father

It was May of 1995 and I found myself on a plane headed from my home, north of San Francisco, to the northeast, to visit my parents. This would be different than my other visits because this time my father lay in a hospital bed, with his life slowly slipping away. I had not seen him in about five years and didn’t know what to expect when I arrived.

My older brother met me at the airport and we immediately left for the hospital. After the initial greetings and hugs from my mom, my focus turned to my dad. I had been prepared by others in the family as to my dad’s condition, but there’s nothing like being there to make reality set in. I remember that my dad was always pretty strong, especially for being 5’2” tall, and very sharp mentally. Nothing much ever riled him, but when it did, lookout! This was not the same man I remembered, as I watched him, lying there peacefully, yet unresponsive to my greeting. Over the next week, I spent most of my time at the hospital, being with dad and supporting my mom. We almost lost him on two occasions that week, but when it was time for me to finally return to my family on the west coast, he was still with us.

I returned home with a heavy burden. Although we hadn’t seen each other for years, it was as if I was about to loose the most precious person in my life. I remembered all the little things my father did for me, as I grew up. The time, during a rain delay at Shea Stadium, when he found a way to get me into the bullpen to meet my favorite ballplayer. The times that he showed up, when my high school rock band would play at area dances, knowing, full well, that we would not be doing his favorite Frank Sinatra numbers. Memories of all the ground balls hit to me, fishing trips off the end of our dock, and his patience as he looked for the wrench that I dropped in the lake, while we were working on the boat. It all came rushing back to me, as if it were yesterday.

Two months went by and I was in contact with my mother almost daily, until our family vacation in July. I purposed to leave my burden home, as we traveled to visit my wife’s family in Southern California. As I always seem to do, while on vacation, I carved out some time to visit a fellow worship leader at his church in Los Angeles. I sat in on his worship rehearsal and enjoyed the time we had together that evening. We said our good-byes and I left the church to return to Orange County. On my way home, my thoughts were focused on the events of that evening and my task as a worship leader. Then from nowhere I heard a voice, as though the person was in the car with me. The voice simply said; “I am your Father.” The presence of God filled my Dodge Caravan like I had never felt it before. I recognized the voice of my heavenly Father speaking into my spirit as it came a second time; “I am your Father.”

In tears, I focused on the Lord, wanting to hear more, but I didn’t. I just knew, that for whatever reason, my God wanted me to feel HIS love for me in a powerful way. As I drove on, I noticed that the heaviness that I had lived with for months was gone. I had a father. And no matter how much I would miss my earthly father, when he left us behind on earth, I had a heavenly Father who loved me with more love than I ever could have experienced in my life. Although I had been in pastoral ministry for years, I had no idea of the depth of my Heavenly Father’s love for me… that was… until the following day.

At about 2:30 in the afternoon, I was alone at my sister-in-law’s house when the phone rang. I answered it and found my mother on the other end speaking the words I had feared would come for the last three months. “John, your father just passed away.” I cannot tell you what we discussed after that, nor how long I was on the phone. What I can tell you is, that I was once again consumed with the love of my heavenly Father, who cared enough for His earthly son, that he prepared me in advance for my father’s passing. The only thought that was running through my mind, while my mother spoke, was the fact of how great a God we serve and how much He desires to be our Father. A real Father.

On that day, my relationship with Him drastically changed. I see a God who is truly a Father to me. A man I can look up to and admire. A father whom, although I still blow it at times, I can obey with 100% confidence that He has my best interests in mind. I never really doubted the love of that Father. I knew the scriptures and the reassurance of His love through His word. But, until that day, I had never experienced the genuine love that He had for me. That same love can be experienced by all of His children. The next time you read the BOOK, picture yourself as a child, sitting on your Fathers lap, reading you a bedtime story. A story from His heart. A story that cost Him his own Son. A price that He paid so He could be a Parent to us. Listen to His heart, hear His words, and be confident that the love of your Father will never cease, regardless of the circumstances of your life.

Did that effect the way I worship? What do you think?

From April 15-17 I had the opportunity to teach at the National Association of Broadcasters Convention in Las Vegas. I taught two workshops for Technologies for Worship Magazine. All classes were very well attended and we had great interaction. What is amazing about this particular event is that NAB is the largest Broadcast Technology Conference in the world. There is no other convention center in the US that will hold the show. So here we are in the middle of NAB and our teach from TFWM is equipping the church and furthering the cause of Christ in the midst of this event, which included a full stage where live worship was being offered several times a day. It was just an amazing time

On top of that, I was also there to "attend" the convention. I’m really not used to this, but it was absolutely great. So on top of my regular teaching role I was able to sit in on several classes and learn myself. I was only there for two days, it was way too short, but we packed a lot into these days.

During that time I was interviewed by IPTV. You can see the interview on the Healdsburg News Website at http://www.healdsburgnews.tv/news/2008/04/23/talking-media-at-nab/

On Easter Sunday morning at 6:30am I had the opportunity to lead the Santa Rosa Community Sunrise Service. This is a citywide event that is held annually at Santa Rosa Memorial Park. It brought back some great memories as I led worship here back in 1998.

This year, which marked the 35th annual event, included John and a team from Mosaic Healdsburg, Hope Chapel Windsor, and Cornerstone Community Church. Pastor Brandon Philpott from Cornerstone brought an encouraging mesage and John coordinated the service and lead worship.

The event was extremely well attended and I was asked to lead the service again in 2009. Mark your calendars and we’ll see you there!