The years have been going by. My journey into Church culture and finding my place in serving/leading the Church continues on. I guess you could say I’ve experienced moderate success… I mean, I get to do what I love and pay the bills. Not many people can say that. I absolutely love my job & the people I get to do it with. I am living my dream. I am over-blessed.

Yet more and more, I look around and think that the big picture of the Church is really screwed up. The more I travel outside the States, the more it seems that the priorities of the American Church are really out of whack. It’s easy to become judgmental…to analyze worship to death & conclude if it’s really happening the best way or not. I taste & see so many good things, and I want so badly for everyone else to have them to. And so it’s very easy to take on a “Saviour mentality”…to have a perception that I’m in a place where people depend on me & need me. What a hilarious thought.

I wonder if I’m just adding to the noise…or am I really living out what God has called me to? Am I wasting my life on a bunch of really “good things”, or is there something greater?

Then I heard Francis Chan speak at Catalyst.

I don’t know about you, but this is really messing with me.

I ask myself…

Am I willing to walk away from everything, leave the crowd, & get back in the boat & follow Jesus into uncharted territories?

Or maybe the romanticized idea of getting away and escaping is actually what I need to sacrifice. To follow Jesus into my own culture. After all, the Church has always been my “Nineveh”.

I’m beyond excited about what Francis Chan & his family are doing with their lives. They are going beyond just telling the good Story, they are living it. With complete & reckless abandon! I hope that I’m not one of the ones who just looks on and admires and tweets about it a bunch, but that I’ll actually stop, think, pray and come to that place of making myself completely available to God…whatever it means, wherever it takes me, and whenever it’s supposed to take place.

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UPDATE: After a long conversation over dinner with some very close friends, I’ve had a few revelations. You see, there are some really big, daunting dreams I’ve been carrying around for some time. I’ve taken a few action steps towards those dreams, but I’ve been growing more and more frustrated with the slowness of these projects. I’ve decided that in order to focus on these ideas more, I need to sacrifice some really good things. And one of these things is this blog.

So, for an undetermined amount of time, I’m going to be fairly quiet on the blog front. In a sense, I’m leaving what’s very familiar, comfortable & secure, and I’m getting back into the boat and setting sail on the open seas. This might be for a few weeks, or it might be for a few months. I’m not really sure yet. There are some really exciting things that God has given me a vision for, and I would be living a small, boring story if I were to ignore those visions.

Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy blogging. It’s a way for me to document my thoughts and findings from my experiences on the road, and over the years it’s apparently become an inspiration & resource for others in the Church. I had no idea it would ever turn into this, and for what God has done with worshipVJ.com so far, I am truly grateful. Hopefully this site will continue to be a blessing to those who stumble across it. My hopes are that my posts, links & resources will continue to expand people’s minds and open their hearts to an infinitely creative and loving God, a God who is becoming more and more jealous for His Church as the days go by.

So, with that said…. Frodo’s gotta leave the Shire. Pumpkin Spice is going off the menu. I’m leavin’ on a jetplane… and I don’t know when I’ll be back again.

;)