I wonder what it would be like to have people you don’t know…..may never know….may never even meet… praying for you. To know that somewhere in this (or your) state, in this (or your) country, in this world – someone is lifting you up. It’s kind of a humbling thought. It’s apart of this “togetherness” as one body.

I want this post to be a place where we can lift each other up. Pray for one another. Dish out things that need to be prayed for. Maybe something you have been holding back. Maybe something you have been holding in. Maybe something that you have been holding on to. Something that’s tearing you apart that you just want to be lifted up.

Maybe your going through a tough financial place and you need prayer.

Maybe you are going through divorce/relationship problems and you need prayer.

Maybe it’s something that you are afraid to tell someone and you need prayer.

Maybe it’s a need for a job.

Maybe it’s a tough decision you are trying to make.

Maybe it’s a need for strength.

Maybe it’s a need for a miracle.

Maybe it’s a need for God to intervene in your life.

Maybe….

Dish out something that you want to be lifted up! That you are thankful for. That you simply just want to celebrate.

God provided.

God supplied.

God answered.

God showed up.

Here’s what I’m asking:: Comment your prayer concerns/praises/etc. below. Pray for each other. Pray together.

Everyday Thursday we will meet together. Here. At this post. All day. And pray. We will pray via twitter (or if you don’t have twitter, still pray along!) with the hashtag #praytogether. Expand this presence among the twitter community. This can be unbelievably powerful.

-0r-

Reply to peoples comments by saying that your are praying for them.

The possibilities are endless.

Pick out prayer concerns that you read. It can be 1, 2, 3, 4….however many you want. And we are going to pray. Together. Don’t just pick the first ones you see but seek out ones that stick out to you. The list will grow as people begin to add concerns and praises to the comment section. You can re-post these to twitter using #praytogether. You can re-post these on your blog.

This could turn into a global awakening towards prayer.

This could be an incredible experience if we just take time to lift one another.

Imagine what God can do if we simply call upon him.

So start the prayers….NOW….and we will see you Thursdays!

One of the weirdest parts of living in todays culture is the amount of community that is created via online. One of the best communities that I’ve seen displayed online through a blog is at Carlos Whittakers blog at www.ragamuffinsoul.com. If you get a chance, swing by there and check it out. It’s awesome what is going on over there.

Other forms of community are established on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Wordpress, Blogspot, etc. We have this internet 2.0 connection with each other that is unexplainable.I’ve seen people come to Freedom because they met someone via twitter that went to Freedom and they were invited over the internet.We have received messages on MySpace of people that found out from MySpace (which is never used anymore!) and have become involved within the life of Freedom Church. We have created Facebook Groups and Pages that have brought people to our church. It is incredible that you can create that type of community online.

That’s what I want to create here. Community. Where people can talk with each other. Express ideas. Give insight. Express opinion. Ask questions. Explore life. Together. Connect.

But even more, a community where we can take delight in God. Where we can pray for each other. Tell others what God is doing in Your life. Tell others what God is doing in your church. Tell others what God is doing in your city. In your state. In your country. In your world. You get my drift? – It’s about spreading His Kingdom, not ours.

Creating Community….

Expanding the body of Christ…

Do you want to be apart of it?

Life is definitely better together.

Many Christian view  themselves to be self-righteous. It’s a sad falling that has stereo-typed the Christian faith. Many Christians sit on their throne, high and mighty. Condemning and extorting those who they view as futile to them. They bash the sinful, as they themselves stand sinful in nature. Christians take a shot at the unbelievers, condemning them to Hell for their mistakes, while Christians don’t have it all together.

We don’t reach out.

We don’t love.

For this, I would like to apologize. To those who are hurt. To those are hurting. To those that have been banished from a church. To those that have been judged by the “holy”. I want to apologize, on behalf of all Christians, to those who have been condemned. To those that have had religion shoved down their throat. To those that feel lost. To those that need comfort, yet find despair when they walk into a churches “open” doors. – For this I apologize.

But…

Hope is found.

Hope is available.

Hope is real.

“For in the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’”
-Romans 1:17

We are all found righteous before a Holy God when we accept His Son. When we accept the resurrection. When we accept the salvation offered to us by a man who “For our sake he made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” – 2 Corinthians 5:21

Righteousness is offered. Righteousness is real. Not the fake righteousness that so  many Christians offer. But true righteousness, true purification, true humility, true love – through the power of the resurrection.

We can stand pure. We can stand holy. We can stand unashamed before the Throne of God because he offered His life for us to know Him. Amen.

Be broken for those who are hurting
And pour out love

Be broken for those who are weeping
And pour out comfort

Be broken for those who are lost
And pour out hope

Be broken for those who are weary
And pour out relief

Be broken for those who are broken
And pour out restoration

Be broken for those who are weak
And pour out strength

Be broken for those who are forsaken
And pour out redemption

Be broken for those who are hungry
And pour out relief

Be broken and pour out

“Whatever you do unto the least of these, you do unto me.” -Matthew 25:40

I think one of the ministerial misconceptions that we take into granite in ministry is how to increase our role. As pastors, musicians, ministers, preachers, teachers, etc. everyone wants to increase their role. If you are in ministry you want God to increase your role. Increase your capacity. Increase your influence. Increase your sustainability. You (we) want God to utilize us to do amazing things in His name.

side note: if you are in ministry and are reading this and this does not describe you, then you need to rethink why you are in ministry, because you may be hurting the Kingdom of God more than helping it.

But throughout our time in ministry we wan’t God to use us. So, for this to happen we do more of what we know. We pray more. We read the Bible more. We listen to more messages. We listen to more podcasts. We watch more sermons. We learn more chords. We do more to feed ourselves and grow ourselves larger.

Don’t get me wrong, all of these things are critical in ministry (refer back to this post). If you are preaching without truth (scripture) you are preaching opinion. If you are leading/living without direction (prayer) you are wandering in circles. – but one of the things that we miss as ministers of the gospel is this: to increase our role/capacity/influence we must decrease. To increase ourselves we must decrease ourselves.

Luke 9:23 spells it out and we miss it. BY A MILE. “Then he said to them all: ‘If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.’”

As one of the basic foundations that we preach on. That we teach on. That we believe. – we often overlook it when we are wanting God to use us to do incredible things.

So as you move forward. As your ministry increases. As your influence increases. As your capacity increases. I offer  this as a motivator. Continue to search His word. Continue to pray. Continue to learn. Continue to observe. Continue to listen. But as you move forward, continue to die to yourself daily so that He may increase in Your life, because if we you (we) don’t, then we are pushing our agenda and not His.

We had our last Generation of the 2008-2009 school year this past Sunday night – and I can tell you that it has been one absolutely amazing year. We’ve seen over 25 students come to know Christ, many of  them planning on getting baptized in June, and God has done a move in our ministry because of our cry of the Holy Spirit to move within Generation.

It has also been a year of learning…

I’m 20 years old. Going to be a junior at KSU in the fall. And I am the Student Pastor at Freedom Church. Many people can only handle one of those things at a time, but I’ve learned how to balance. How to manage. How to lead – with many faults and failures along the way.

But one thing that I have taken from this past year, that I want to relay to student pastors out there, is this…

I have found that if I am not spiritually, mentally, physically drained after preaching to student on a Generation night – then I was not adequately used by the spirit of God, I did not give enough of myself to be used, and I ultimately let my flesh and mind get in the way of God’s heart and will. – and this has been a learning process for me.

I’m subject to opinion – we  all are – but God’s word is not. It’s not about what we think, but rather, what is. For me, growing up, many preachers that I would hear would go around a point, or try and miss a critical  note in a sermon, to help from disatisfying the congregation – but what I have found is that by altering God’s truth, you are distasifying the Spirit and condeming your congregation. It has been a struggle for me, to hit on the hard stuff, because no one likes to hear it, no one likes to say it, but God ordained it, God placed it in the Bible, and thus it needs to be addressed.

So, as a follow up to my previous post, I urge you, student pastors, to preach truth and not opinion. To preach truth and not knowledge. To preach truth and not schooling. – God has placed it on the table for us  – through the means of His word – and it is up to us to preach it as is, unaltered, and unashamed.

The lyrics to  this song have helped me get through this week.

Read through them, in both perspectives.

Maybe they will help  you as well.

You:

I know i need you
I need to love you
I love to see you, and its been so long
I long to feel you
I feel this need for you’
And i need to hear you
Is that so wrong?

Now you pulled me near you
When we’re close i fear you
Still I;m afraid to tell you
All that I’ve done
Are you done forgiving?
Or can you look pass my pretending?
Lord I’m so tired of defending
What I’ve become
What have i become?

i hear you say “my love is over,

God

Its underneath, its inside, its in between
The times you doubt me, when you can’t feel
The times that you’ve questioned ‘is this for real?’
The times you’ve broken, the times that you mend
The times you hate me and the times that you bend
Well my love is over, its underneath
Its inside, its in between,
These times you’re healing
And when your heart breaks
The times that you feel like you’ve fallen from grace
The times you’re hurting
The times that you heal
The times you go hungry and *are tempted* to steal
In times of confusion and chaos and pain
I’m there in your sorrow under the weight of your shame
I’m there through your heartache
I’m there in the storm
My love I will keep you by My power alone
I don’t care where you’ve fallen, where you have been
I’ll never forsake you
My love never ends, it never ends

It never ends.

I posted about this song a while back, when I first ran across it online.

Since then, this song has absolutely consumed my worship. The words, the passion, the melody, the drive – everything about this song makes me want to stand up and shout. It’s one of those songs where the emotion builds up inside of you, continuously as the song progresses, right in line with the drive of the song – and as the song crashes so do you – emotionally, spiritually, physically.

From beginning to end, this is one of the most lyrically felt, true songs that I have ever experienced:

‘Open our eyes, to see the things that make Your heart cry. To the be the church that You would desire. A light to be seen. Break down our pride, and all the walls we’ve built up inside. Our earthly crowns and all our desires, we lay at Your feet.’

‘So let hope, rise, and darkness tremble in Your holy light. And every will see JESUS our God. Great and mighty to be praise. God of all days. Glorious in all of Your ways. The majesty, the wonder and grace. In the light of Your name.’

‘With everything, with everything, with everything – we will shout forth Your glory. With everything, with everything, with everything – we will shout forth Your praise. Our hearts the cry, be glorified, be lifted high above all names. For You our King, with everything, we will shout forth Your praise.’

This is the song that we as a church need. And I don’t mean church as a building, but church as the body. The hands, the feet, the eyes – everything. We all play an intricate part in the most beautifully sown together story ever known to man. Everyone – equally represented – in the body of Christ. ‘We will be YOUR hands, we will be YOUR feet, we will run this race for the least of these.’ - This is what the body is called to do. It is our job. It is our duty. It is our obligation.

It’s not even necessarily the music that gets to me – sure the instruments help drive emotion – but its the last few minutes of the video that ignites my soul because it is the part where it all comes together. The crowd leads, the crowd takes charge, the crowd owns their role as the body. They lift high, as one ‘WITH EVERYTHING, WITH EVERYTHING, WITH EVERYTHING – WE WILL SHOUT FORTH YOUR GLORY!’ – This is our calling, this is our role – to spread HIS fame to all of the world:

‘To bring justice to where there is injustice. Hope where there is hopelesness. Peace where there is anxiety. Love where there is fear. Salvation where there is brokeness. And now may this God, our God, the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ. That great shephard of the sheep, equipped you with everything good for doing His will. And may He work in us what is pleasing to Him, through Jesus Christ to Him be glory forever and ever. And may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.’

This is my prayer.

Hillsong – With Everything from With Everything on Vimeo.

I’m EXTREMELY behind on my blog (sorry faithful followers!) but this Christmas Break has been extremely busy and this is one of the few times I have been able to sit down at the computer.

I’m in the middle of my break while myslef, Ian, Blake, Emily, and Blake’s parents are up at the cabin in Blairsville. We are building a sweet lighting structure thingy for our new location for Sunday and it has taken FOREVER but it’s starting to look pretty sweet now. 

With that said, here is a quick recap of my break thus far:

• Bikes or Bust was a HUGE success! We raised over 200 bikes for kids who would possibly not have a Christmas this year!
• Our Christmas Eve service kicked some major A. All I can say is that if you missed it, I feel extremely sorry for you.
• Christmas was fantastic here at the Orr house. Got to see a ton of family that I haven’t seen in a while. We also played our traditional game of football….my team sadly lost.
• We had our first ever baby dedication/communion at Freedom on Sunday. It was flippin sweet and all of the babies were so dang cute. There were so many of them they took up the whole stage.
• We are currently working on a light fixture thingy project to go on our new stage at Barber! We have worked for a total of about 17 hours now and are still going strong! We are almost there!
• New Years is right around the corner. New Year’s resolution is coming next week in: Answer Me!

And finally! Merry Christmas and Happy New Years to all of those I have not seen and/or told this to. Looking forward to seeing what God is going to pull out in ‘09. Peace!

God continues to blow me away everyday.

I saw some old faces last at Echo that I honestly thought I would never see there.

It was very humbling experience. Actually, it was almost a slap in the face.

God was basically saying: “Don’t downsize me! I can make anything happen. Just watch.”

I let myself get in the way a lot and think that I have to fix all situations and what not, but God showed me that I control nothing and he controls everything.

It was extremely exciting seeing the few guys I saw there and it made me want to jump in the air and do a heel click.

I really enjoy doing those.

If you never have done a heel click, step away from your computer and do it now.

I promise it will be very gratifying.