The Waters Church

What is your part in leading worship with Current?
I sing lead and background vocals, as well as play acoustic and electric guitar.

>How long have you been with Current?
Three years as a worship leader with Current, before that I played drums for the Waters Worship Band, which goes all the way back to me playing a Djembe in a living room when we met in a home for church.

>When did you first develop an interest in music?
I first started loving music in elementary school, mostly 80′s rock and heavy metal bands. I started playing percussion in Jr. high, which led to me playing in numerous garage bands throughout middle school. I started singing in our church choir after I got saved, and soon after joined a Christian heavy metal band as their lead singer. Our band went on to become the Worship band for our Youth Ministry – Reload, which Clint Paschall was the Minister of.

>Who are some of your musical influences?
Most of my worship influences come from bands like Hillsong, Hillsong United, Gateway Worship, and Jesus Culture. But much of my musical influences come from bands like Radiohead, MUTEMATH, Arcade Fire, Coheed & Cambria, Derek Webb, Future Of Forestry, and Fleet Foxes, to name a few.

>What does worship do for you, personally?
Worship can be many things, but specifically musical worship in my life means everything to me. Worship is described as an action, it’s something we do in response to an overflowing love we have for God. I am not much of a poet, or a writer, there is not much on this planet that I can do for the Lord that truly invokes my soul, like music does. It is the first connection I had to God on the day I was saved, and it is the one thing that connects my emotions with my heart and my mind, and explodes out of me like it would an over excited dog to it’s master.

>Which song is your favorite Current cover?
Oh goodness…there are so many. You’ll Come, From the Inside Out, Healer are a few. But there is one that holds personal significance to me. Almost 3 years ago, before we even took over the worship ministry at The Waters. Russ and I went to a worship conference at Gateway Church. They played a song that they had just wrote, hardly anyone had ever heard it, and it was my first time to ever hear it in my life. I had such an intense connection with God that night while I sang this song that I literally just learned, that I knew we had to bring it to The Waters Church.  The song was entitled God Be Praised, and I would say it is has become somewhat of an anthem for our church. I absolutely love it!

>If you’re not playing music, what are you doing?
So I have three girls, all under the age of five…enough said…I’m kidding. I love spending time with my family. My beautiful wife Angela, daughters Avery (5), Kate (3), Reese (6mo) and I, love to travel, go to the beach, camping, water sports. We enjoy family bike rides around the lakes close to our home. We just love being together.

>When people look at you, what do you hope that they see?
My hope is that the see a loving and faithful husband to my wife, a compassionate and loving father to my children, and a servant to everyone else I encounter.

>What is your “guilty pleasure”?
Alright, I am kind of ashamed to say that I really love playing video games. I know that this is an issue in my life, so I do not own a gaming console. But on occasion, I will get a game for my PC, and will promptly get lost in it for about a week. My wife knows that maybe twice a year, I get a game that I get a little obsessed with it until I beat it.

>What makes a perfect pizza?
I will have to say I am a sucker for veggies on pizza. I literally could eat a veggie supreme pizza every day of my life. Well…maybe not every day, but a bunch!

We were so excited to introduce the new song to the church, yesterday! ”The Earth is Yours” by Gungor. From where Current was standing, it seemed to us that you were pretty excited, too, yes?

As I explained yesterday, God put this song on my heart because I had been feeling convicted about only praising God for what He has done for me. There really are so many good things in my life to praise God for. But is that the only reason I praise Him?

I thought about why I worship God and realized that I was walking a very thin line between praising God and worshipping the things that God had done.

It’s not that I wasn’t truly worshipping Him, but rather that I was losing sight of why He is so worthy of my praise in the first place.

God is not worthy of praise just because of what He has done for us. It is good to remember that He is primarily worthy of praise because He alone is God. He is sovereign, perfect, happy. He is Creator of all.

In the Old Testament, we see many aspects of God’s character and how God’s people praised Him for those characteristics. If you research the names of God, you will see countless titles bestowed upon Him that define the different aspects of His perfect nature.

I am a firm believer that God does not need our praise. He is perfect…without need of anything. I’m also a believer that our praise is not for God’s benefit. When we come before Him and worship in spirit and in truth, He responds to us and reveals Himself to us…changing us from the inside out.

In my own life, I have seen where I have praised God primarily for what He has done instead of for who He is. The danger of this comes when I begin to see God’s existence as merely for my own benefit.

I believe that this is why–even though God does not need our praise–He wants our praise! He wants us! When we go to Him regardless of what He has or hasn’t done for us, we begin to truly see Him for who He is–apart from our own need of Him.

And as God reveals Himself in that way, we let go of false ideas of who we have expected God to be. We begin to understand His true nature.

This is the whole idea behind the song, “The Earth is Yours.” When we sing these lyrics with our hearts focused on who God is, instead of only what He has done, we choose to proclaim His sovereignty, His Lordship over us. The earth is Yours, God…and everything in it. Hear us crying out!

Your voice it thunders
The oaks start twisting
The forest sounds with cedars breaking
The waters see You and start their writhing
From the depths a song is rising

Now it’s rising from the ground

Holy, holy, holy, holy Lord
The earth is Yours and singing
Holy, holy, holy, holy Lord
The earth is Yours
The earth is Yours

Your voice it thunders
The ground is shaking
The mighty mountains
Now are trembling

Creation sees You
And starts composing
The fields and trees
They start rejoicing

Now it’s rising from the ground

Holy, holy, holy, holy Lord
The earth is Yours and singing
Holy, holy, holy, holy Lord
The earth is Yours
The earth is Yours

And now it’s rising from the ground
Now it’s rising from the ground
Hear us crying out
Hear us crying out

Holy, holy, holy, holy Lord
The earth is Yours and singing
Holy, holy, holy, holy Lord
The earth is Yours and singing

Holy, holy, holy, holy Lord
The earth is Yours and singing
Holy, holy, holy, holy Lord
The earth is Yours
The earth is Yours

>What is your part in leading worship with Current?
I play the keyboards and sing.

>How long have you been with Current?
I started with Current back in March, I believe.

>When did you first develop an interest in music?
I really can’t remember.  My mom was in a gospel trio when she was pregnant with me so I guess it’s been since before I was born.

>Who are some of your musical influences?
My mom was the biggest influence on me.  My sisters and I say she is in heaven now teaching the angels how to sing and play.  She played piano, organ, guitar, fiddle and accordian… pretty much anything with strings.  I have to admit that she couldn’t learn how to play saxophone.  I tried really hard to teach her but she never got it.  LOL.

The other influence was Elvis Presley.  I loved (and still do) his voice but not only that, I loved his heart.  I’ve heard so many times about how Elvis LOVED to sing gospel.  His love of people and music is something that I’ve always admired.  On a funny note… my mom told me when they announced he died that I just stood looking at the radio and asked “who am I going to marry now?”.  Ironically, I was only 7 yrs old.

>What does worship do for you, personally?
Worship for me comes in many different fashions.  When a song hits me, the tears start flowing.  I’ve been on stage pretty much my whole life so hearing gospel / praise songs is very routine for me so I catch myself sometimes not allowing the meaning of the song to really sink in.  When I stop and actually pay attention to the message, it gets to me.  For me, music has the ability to change the mood I’m in… you add to that a message of God’s love and well… it just doesn’t get any better than that.

>Which song is your favorite Current cover?
I would have to say “You Are For Me” is one of my favorites.  I LOVE the keyboard part to start with,  but the whole message of the song is so touching.  The message that God is for us, no matter where we are… he is for us.  What an awesome message!

>If you’re not playing music, what are you doing?
Oh wow…  those that know me know this is a loaded question.  When I’m not playing music, I’m either working one of my full time or part time jobs or actually enjoying a weekend off with my wonderful husband, Kevin.  We don’t have many opportunities to just chill out.

>When people look at you, what do you hope that they see?
This may not make a lot of sense to many however I would really hope that people see something in me that people saw in my mom.  It has been my goal to touch as many peoples lives as my mom did.  When she died, the church couldn’t hold the amount of people that showed up for her funeral…the Mississippi Congress took a day off in remembrance of her. She loved everyone and I truly hope that people see that quality in me…a person that loves God and tries to love others in the same way.

>What is your “guilty pleasure”?
I shouldn’t admit it but I love to drive fast.  A dream come true for me would be to be a race car driver…if only I could do that without having to worry about the crashing part.  lol

>What makes a perfect pizza?
A perfect pizza?  I like the California Garlic Chicken pizza.  I have to admit my favorite food is sushi though.  I don’t think they make a sushi pizza…yet!

>What is your part in leading worship with Current?
I play the electric guitar and sing leads and background vocals.

>How long have you been with Current?
I have been with Current for 3 years.

>When did you first develop an interest in music?
I really came into it when I was in high school. I am not going to lie, I started playing guitar to impress girls. After awhile of playing I started to care less about impressing girls and I really feel in love with the instrument and the whole idea of playing in a group.

>Who are some of your musical influences?
I have currently been influenced by Hillsong Live, Hillsong United and Lincoln Brewster. I have learned a lot from them about worship music and what true worship looks like. The roots of my influences for guitar playing would include Stevie Ray Vaughn, Eric Clapton and Stanley Jordan. (If you don’t know who he is you should check him out on Youtube, his talent will blow you away)

>What does worship do for you, personally?
Worship for me gives me the opportunity to really just put my full attention on the Lord. Because I am focused 100% on him I feel refreshed and ready to take on life. Every time I am just worshiping to music in the car or playing on Sunday, it helps me remember that we have a savior who loves us and will never fail us.

>Which song is your favorite Current cover?
I am a huge fan of the fast stuff. Anything that we play towards the beginning of a Sunday morning set. My favorites would have to be either Solid Rock or You’ll Come. I am also a big fan the slow song None But Jesus. To be honest I really can’t narrow it down, I like them all. Each song helps us connect with God in a different way and that has to be one of my favorite things about worship music.

>If you’re not playing music, what are you doing?
Taking care of my two kids (Campbell and Bennett) and hanging out with my beautiful wife Kristin. Once the kids are asleep we are usually just relaxing watching TV or I am working on Graduate School work.

>When people look at you, what do you hope that they see?
I hope that they see a man first. I have learned a lot from being at The Waters, about what a real man looks like and I hope that I am viewed as one by those around me.

>What is your “guilty pleasure”?
Cereal, I can’t get enough cereal. It is my desert after dinner every night. I don’t know what it is but cereal just warms my heart, especially the classics like Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Life.

>What makes a perfect pizza?
First off its the price, $5 dollar pizza you are the best!!! After that it has to be meat, lots of meat. If I can have a pizza that is $5 dollars and has lots of meat, well lets just say I am pretty sure that I have found a piece of heaven on Earth.

There is much more to the story of the woman at the well than the proclamation that Jesus makes about worship, but I was blown away by a small revelation that I found today specifically from this verse:

“God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” -John 4:24.

As I read this passage, a familiar question popped up–one I have thought about before but never sought the answer to. What exactly does it mean to worship in spirit and truth? Today, I decided to find out.

I focused my attention on www.blueletterbible.org. With the NASB version on this website there are blue numbers beside each of the words or phrases that link to the original language of the text and various definitions. There are so many resources on this website that I often spend quite a bit of time on only one verse or passage. If you’re like me and you desire to dig a little deeper, this is a good resource to have.

So, anyway, this morning I went to John 4:24 in the NASB and specifically clicked on the blue numbers that link to the origins of the words “spirit” and “truth.” I found several definitions. I read through the ones for “spirit” and then moved on to “truth”.  That is when I found something interesting…I went back to “spirit” to double check. This is what I found:

Spirit, noun: pneuma 4a) the efficient source of any power, affection, emotion, desire, etc.

Truth, noun: al“theia 2a) truth as a personal excellence 1) that candour of mind which is free from affection, pretence, simulation, falsehood, deceit

What I found is that Jesus is clearly making a reference to very different, but equally important, parts of our being. Our spirit is what drives our passions, hopes, courage, and dreams. We talk about people sometimes, especially groups of people (think football) who have a fervor for life and how they have “spirit.” Conversely, truth is defined here as conviction (think, “I’m convinced”) of the things that we believe to be true, aside from passions, hopes, courage or dreams.

The idea is that a football player with a large amount of “spirit”–in order to truly be great–must still be convinced of things that are concrete (could be as simple as gravity or more complex, such as strategy). An athlete with only the spirit to do what he desires with his game is likely to rise fast in ambition, but likely to fall just as quickly if there is nothing to ground him. An athlete with only a mind for truth is likely to see reality not as a challenge but as a chain. He never takes a chance because his passion is overrun by his fear of failure.

So, what is the application for the life of the believer? I have to go back to the analogy that explains what worship is. The origin of the word refers to a dog licking his master’s hand. We’ve said this in church and it’s funny and it’s true…but thinking in terms of spirit and truth, I want to take it a little farther.

If a dog is so caught up in his affections and excitement at his master arriving home, he may very well miss the fact that his master is up to something and desires that his dog join him in it. Maybe the master has picked up a rope and wants to tug. If the dog is all excitement and no focus, he may miss his opportunity.

Again, if the master arrives home and the dog is watching carefully and analyzing each movement and anticipating each thing that the master may do, he may not miss an opportunity to be involved in what the master is doing, but where is his joy? What he misses out on is the spirit of why the master is doing what he is doing.

We talk about balance in life, in not following behaviors or lifestyles to extremes. Everything good in moderation…I honestly believe that part of what Jesus had to say to the woman at the well was very practical. If we want to be great worshipers–to make His name great–we must worship in spirit and in truth. The passion for our Master must always be there as well as the steady foundation of His truth to keep us at the very top of our game.

>What is your part in leading worship with Current?

Bass, looking cool in the back.

>How long have you been with Current?

About a year and a half.

>When did you first develop an interest in music?

Further back than I can remember, I always had a love of music and the feelings and emotions it could create.

>Who are some of your musical influences?

Johnny Cash, Social Distortion, Flyleaf, David Crowder Band.

>What does worship do for you, personally?

I had never really known worship until I was with Current; I had sat through more services than I can remember and felt the Lord move through worship and through sermons;  but I had never really experienced worship until I was playing for Jesus, not for myself.

>Which song is your favorite Current cover?

One we don’t play very often, which makes it more special to me. It’s called “Bound”, originally recorded by Gateway. The lyrics really speak to me.

>If you’re not playing music, what are you doing?

Spending time with my wife, Liz, and our sons, Aidan (4) and Declan (2).

>When people look at you, what do you hope that they see?

A broken man made whole by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

>What is your “guilty pleasure”?

Candy, I eat more than my kids.

>What makes a perfect pizza?

When it’s free.

I remember it like it was yesterday. I stood with roughly a hundred people in worship, accompanied by a piano and an organ–my father leading music with only a mic and a hymnal. The hymn was one of my favorites…In The Garden. The song always touched me so deeply. Even though I was barely 10 years old, I had such a beautiful moment with God. The music ended and the pastor walked up and said a prayer over the offering to come.

I was standing on the front row of the church about to go up and sing “special music” as soon as the tithes had been collected. As I looked over the people in the room, they smiled back at me. Such a joy of the Lord was in that place. And then I realized as the baskets were being passed and the piano and organ continued to play…I’m the only one still standing! I was absolutely mortified. No wonder everyone kept smiling at me!

Slowly, smile still in place, I sat down on the wooden pew and tried to collect myself. I couldn’t believe I had forgotten that we were supposed to sit down after the offertory prayer. As soon as I sat down–the music ended, and it was time for me to go up and sing. Now I really felt like an idiot! How can I go up and sing for these people now? They had just seen me make a total fool of myself. By this point I was wishing to be back in that garden with God.

I walked up the steps to the podium, hundreds of eyes watching and judging me. My knees were shaking, my palms sweaty. The cassette began to play and I opened my mouth to sing…and nothing came out. What are the words?!?! Finally, I snapped out of it and began to sing somewhere in the middle of the verse. The faces in the congregation smiled at me, but I knew what they were thinking. Amateur.

The song finished and I returned to sit with my family. My mom had tears in her eyes–to this day she cries everytime I sing. This time I was pretty sure I knew where her tears came from. I don’t remember anything about the sermon that day. After church people came over to thank me for my song. I limply shook their hands and mumbled thanks. What else could I say? I had let them down.

As funny as this story is, the sad part is that I really was so consumed with “the way things are done” as well as how well I thought other people thought I was doing them. This thought process followed me into my adulthood, simultaneously spurring me on to do better and paralyzing me from being able to do better. I continued to use my talents in church, but every time I would shake and sweat noticeably.

When Tim and I joined the Waters, we were pleasantly surprised to find that there wasn’t so much of an expectation of “the way things are done.” There was, however, an almost immediate need for Tim to use his talents and play bass with the band, and we were excited that he would be part of worship leading. My husband, being my best support, began telling people that I could sing. At first, I was not excited about this. I had been cautious about being involved in music for many reasons.

I went back and forth between longing to be part of worship ministry again and wanting to stay as far away as I could. I knew that I had a tendency to worry too much about what people were thinking of me. In the past my focus had been so off…whether or not people accepted me rather than God receiving glory through my obedience. After a lot of praying and mainly through Tim’s encouragement, I decided to give it a try.

The first Sunday that I stood with the band to sing, before the music even began, I knew something was different. Instead of wondering if I were being judged, I wondered what God wanted to do through me. I looked at the Waters worshipers and prayed for them…that our worship together would connect them a little deeper to God–that our worship time would open their hearts to receive God’s truth.

A miracle happened that day. For the first time ever in my life, I sang without nerves. Not one tremble or bead of sweat. I knew at that point that a victory had been won. I don’t know when it happened or how, specifically. But I do know that my thoughts had changed. I wasn’t doing anything that I hadn’t been doing before. The only difference was that God’s truths had taken root in my heart, moving my focus to Him and off of myself.

Have you experienced anything like this in your life? When, if ever, did you begin to notice a similar change in yourself?

There are so many good books out there, and just as many that may not be so good. As followers of Christ, we’re instructed to test whether something is of God or isn’t by viewing it in light of the Bible (1 John 4:1). I’m learning in most cases that truth and lies can be found in even the most unlikely places. Everyone is capable of getting something wrong, while even the most uninformed individuals can surprise you with amazing biblical truth. So, what’s my point?

Today I was reading a book by a man who is not necessarily known for sound biblical theology. The book that I grabbed off of my bookshelf and cracked open was titled, “God’s Favorite House” by Tommy Tenney. I haven’t read the entire book–I stopped after a couple of chapters when I hadn’t seen nearly enough scripture references to back up his assertions. Right or wrong they may be, but at the time I didn’t have the energy to get out my Bible and test this book against it, so I set it aside. [Read more...]

In Romans 8, Paul writes to the church with a powerful statement: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” I really want to focus on the “no condemnation” part, but before I do I’d like to share about the word “in”. It comes from the Greek “en”, and it gives the idea of being so covered by something that whatever you are “in” actually goes before you and is behind you as well as surrounding you on all sides. It is a place of rest between the actions of coming and going. To be “in” something or someone, you are completely safe and at rest. So the idea of being “in” Jesus literally implies that you are surrounded by Him, safe and secure.

As Paul is writing this verse, he is trying to get the Romans to understand that no matter what accusations (think “devil”, meaning “accuser”) come at them, they are protected–they are completely “in” Jesus, who Himself is above any and all accusation. He lived the perfect life for us, so that when we are resurrected into our new life “in” Him, we are blameless before God–but also before men and our adversary (Satan).

The word “condemnation” seen here is from the verb katakrino, meaning “to give judgement against, to judge worthy of punishment”. Jesus used the same word when a woman who was caught in sin was brought out to be stoned. Jesus told them that whoever was without sin should cast the first stone. When no one did, they left her alone and Jesus asked her, “Did no one condemn you?…I do not condemn you, either.” The point that Jesus was making to her accusers was that they were not in a position to judge because they themselves were not blameless. [Read more...]