One Year Older

On Wednesday I got just a little older. I don't want to complain about it too much because I know I am still REALLY young. Lord willing I have A TON of life left to live. The cool thing is that on my birthday we got our CO for our home and are now moved/ing in.

Courtney and I lived with my grandmother for over a year and we are SO thankful for her! It was hard to deal with the lack of space at times, but WOW was it well worth it! We will post some pics up soon of the new home.

ARP is off this weekend and we will be attending our area churches tomorrow and worshiping with our families before a BUSY October. Job hunting continues somewhat - although we are talking pretty seriously now with one prospect. Court and I have constantly been praying for God to open the right door and close the wrong ones.

Talk has started about a benefit concert for some of the flood victims in our area that we are familiar with, so please keep that in your prayers. So many people lost everything and have to start over. We want to help them do that! Keep checking back for updates.

Praying for Rain??

Well, I have been praying for rain for about a week now, and God REALLY answered my prayers! Sorry to those who have been flooded. Some of the things I have seen today have been quite surreal. Keep ARP Guitar player Spencer in your prayers- his house has been flooded!

PLEASE PRAY!

Pray for my friend Marcus. He was stabbed several days ago and is in a lot of pain. I know God is going to take care of him, so please be in prayer for him!

(marcus, me, charles)

Perfect

Today was a perfect day for golf. I went out this morning to play some golf before going into the church. If I could do that everyday, that would be awesome. It's so relaxing to go out and play some golf, spend some time in prayer, and take in all God has created.

Just a few more days until we make the drive back down to Atlanta. I am looking forward to a lot of things.

Things I am looking forward to:

- Pumping my own gas
- REAL Mexican food
- Grilling out on the deck
- Seeing my new nephew
- Knowing where I am going
- Lower taxes

Things I am NOT looking forward to:

- Pumping my own gas (just when it's cold or raining)
- The beach is at least 4 hours away
- Leaving some good friends we've made
- Higher gas prices
- No more Sugar Hill Subs (best ever!)

Please PRAY!!

I just found out a few minutes ago that my sister is in the hospital. She's about 22 weeks pregnant and having some health issues. I don't really understand all the maternity terms, but I know what's happening isn't good. Please keep her in your prayers! I will update when I know more about this. Thanks!

God is sovereign!

I'm Going Home

Today was a hard day. I resigned from my position at Shore Fellowship. It was hard, but I know the right move. God has really laid on my heart to pursue church planting back in Georgia.

So, please pray, and pray hard. I do not know where this is going to take us, but Courtney and I are relying on God to get us there. It's so scary stepping out in faith, but it's refreshing in the same sense that God is in control and is sovereign. That eases me.

While in prayer, please keep Shore Fellowship lifted as well. God has a purpose and a plan, and I know he is going to bless this church with a great worship leader.

On a lighter note, I got a sample mix of my song "Without You" today. I am blown away. It's a little different than some of you remember, but none the less, awesome! I am so pleased with what Jon has done to it. I hope to have it totally mixed and mastered in the next few weeks. I will post it then.

Dreams

Dreams are weird. This morning I woke up having had a crazy one and God put on my heart to call a friend of mine I haven't spoken to in a while. I have not been able to get it out of my head now. I tried giving him a call, but to no answer. Then, you have to leave that awkward message, "Hey dude, haven't talked to you in a while and I was thinking about you- so I thought I would give you a ring. Give me a call if you get a chance, I would love to hear from you."

Now, after I have called, I feel uncertain about it. Why? I feel that God wanted me to call him and check up on him. Maybe he needs prayer for something, or maybe just someone to talk to. It could be that he needs a word of encouragement. Who knows??

God has an awesome way of getting into our heads (well, He did create us!) I was thinking about that this morning while I was pondering on whether or not to call my friend. "God, it is so amazing how you created EVERYTHING! How can anyone really think there is no God?"

Well, pray for my friend who shall remain nameless. I am not sure what's going on in his life, but I hope that I get a chance to talk to him this week sometime.

NEXT WEEK: Studio time! I am getting pumped about laying down some tracks! Keep that lifted up as well.

Easter was awesome! HE is alive!!!

What Was Used 1/13/2008

Our set went like this:

Awesome Is The Lord Most High- Tomlin (Psalm 47:2)
Look To You- Hillsong United (Psalm 34:5)
Jesus Paid It All- Stanfill (Phil 2:8)
*From The Inside Out- Hillsong (Matt 11:28)
Marvelous Light- Hall (John 8:12)

* From The Inside Out- We played the first half of this song pretty quietly, after the band came in, we had three testimonies on how God had changed lives "from the inside out". It was pretty awesome to see how the congregation responded to this. After the testimonies, we had a time of prayer. We invited anyone who wanted us to pray for them up front. God is amazing!

-cg

What Was Used 1/6/2008

Here is the set list from worship yesterday:

Solid Rock- Delirious?
Kingdom Come- Hillsong United
Forever- Tomlin
Everlasting God- Brenton
Let God Arise- Tomlin (this one always comes off well...lots of energy!)

Prayer- Prayer is an important part of worship. It really helps to slow down the fast paced worship service, and helps us to get on our faces before Christ. It's also extremely humbling to see how the Spirit moves at times like these. Praise God!

What songs did you do this week?

When The Music Fades

This morning at Shore Fellowship we did an acoustic music set. I was a little worried that it would not come off well, but I was pleasantly surprised. I incorporated "Heart Of Worship" by Redman, but before hand we prayed for a minute; it was nice to slow down and be still before God. I suggest this for any congregation to try out at least once. We have done this once before, and it always helps the congregation to really start lifting up their songs and voices to God rather than just singing for the heck of it.

It's past Christmas and almost the new year. This next year is going to be an interesting one. God has really been challenging me and I am pumped for what He has in store!

A scripture I challenge you to contemplate is Romans 12:1-2-

"(1)Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. (2)And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."

God bless your new year!

-cg

Let The Dead Bury The Dead

Every Tuesday morning at 6, I meet with about 16 other men for discipleship, accountability, and prayer. This morning I was reminded of Luke 9:57-62. It is amazing to see how honest Christ was! There were men that said, "Lord, I will follow you wherever you go." How does Jesus reply? "Foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head." (paraphrase) So Jesus was telling this man, "If you want to follow me, you're going to be homeless." There was another man who wanted to follow Jesus, and all he wanted to do first is bury his dead father. Jesus told him to let the dead bury their own, and you go proclaiming the kingdom of God. Still another man wanted to follow Christ, but he wanted to say good-by to his family. Jesus said that no one who puts his hands to the plow and looks back is fit to serve God. Thus, we must sacrifice everything to serve our God.

This is a harsh reality that we must come to grips with. Do we really want to give everything up so that Christ is exalted? Are we really prepared to do that?

I love God, I want to bring glory to His kingdom, but I must first die to myself and allow Christ to live through me. "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me." (Gal. 2:20) Not much more that I could add to that.

to live-
cg

Prayer Kills

Sunday, September 2, 2007- Prayer Kills

At church Sunday, we had a lot of prayer incorporated in our worship. We simply took some time during one of the songs and invited those in the congregation that needed prayer to come forward. It was amazing to see the response. I am going to start posting some videos of the worship service (just clips, nothing too crazy) so that you can get an idea of what we do at Shore Fellowship. I wish that I could come up with another word to describe God's amazing love. He is really working in our hearts up here in Jersey.

As for the new record, I am still demoing out some new tunes to get to Glen so he can start chewing on them. That's about it for that.

Saturday, September 1, 2007- GO DAWGS!
My Georgia Bulldogs kicked it! Taking some critics by surprise on Saturday when they defeated Oklahoma State 34 – 14. I was pleased with the performance. I do think that we have some issues on defense that need some work, our line is a little weak, but it was only the first game. This Saturday, the Dawgs take on South Carolina. This is the SEC opener and I am already on the edge of my seat.

Glory, Glory to old Georgia
Glory, Glory to old Georgia
Glory, Glory to old Georgia
GEO- R- G- I – A!

to live-
cg