Shaun Groves, who writes one of my favorite blogs on the internet, has a great post up today about things he's witnessed in the church overseas.  This one is a must-read, especially for church leaders:

http://www.shaungroves.com/shlog/comments/our_witness/

I hear people complain a lot about how there's never any good news.  I'm guilty of it as well.  Once in a while, though, you come across a story that just warms your heart.  I cam across one of those a few days ago.  Basically, it involves Warren Buffet (a.k.a. the second richest man in the world), some underprivileged girls in Omaha, and 17 brand new Hilo ukuleles.  Buffet bought the ukes and took them to the Omaha chapter of Girls Inc, where he not only gave them to some of the girls present, he also gave a lesson.  I love this story for a couple of reasons:

1.) This is a great example of somebody who has a lot giving something back.  Buffet is famous for this anyways, but this is a very tangible gift of money and time, which I think is very cool.

2.) It's musical - what's more, we're talking about the ukulele here!  As most of you know, I'm quite the ukulele fan myself, so I get excited whenever I see the instrument pop up in the news.  Great to know that more folks will be learning to play (the center is now offering weekly lessons to those interested).  It's always good to see somebody who is still emphasizing the importance of the arts to kids.

To close, here's my favorite quote from the article:

Buffett spent about an hour with 13 girls at the group's building, trying to teach them the songs "Red River Valley" and "Happy Birthday." It had to be pointed out to some of the girls who Buffett was. "After the fact, one girl came to the office and asked, 'Our ukulele teacher is the second-richest man in the world?'" Wilhelm recalled. "And I said that's true. And she said, 'The first-richest doesn't play?'" In fact, the first richest, Bill Gates, does play. Buffett taught him.

I love my church.  That shouldn't really surprise anybody, but I'm going to throw it out there anywhere.  I feel very blessed to be involved in such a great community of believers, and I thank God for them every day.  One of the things I love about Centerpoint is that, even though we're small, we've been able to consistently offer high quality arts-based programming to our community.  There are a lot of churches bigger than us that don't have that kind of commitment to the arts, which I think is sad.  A lot of time, that commitment to the arts manifests itself through concerts (such as the one we hosted last Saturday) and other similar events, but I also think it's important to offer training and educational opportunities to the folks that are leading us in worship every week. 

Towards that end, I'm proud to announce that we'll be hosting a Worship Guitar Workshop with Jon Nicol on Saturday, May 30.  This is part of Jon's new Worship Team Coach program, and we're excited to be one of the first churches hosting this program!  Jon's a good friend of mine and an excellent player and teacher - I have every confidence that this is going to be a valuable session for those who attend.  If you're in the Columbus area, check it out.  It's only $25 if you register in advance.

Last week I read a study.  That study said, among other things, that 23.8% of children in Ohio under the age of 5 are "food insecure".  That's a really nice way of saying that they don't have enough to eat.  Only Louisiana and North Carolina have larger percentages.  So why am I mentioning this?  Because of this:

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'"
                                                -Matthew 25:34-40

This is only one reference, but this passage and others make Jesus' opinion on this passage pretty clear - we are to care for the poor and feed the hungry.  I think a lot of times, though, we overlook the fact that a lot of those hungry people live here, right outside our doors, in our own neighborhoods.  We're acutely aware of hunger and poverty in other countries, and I'm not saying that we shouldn't support those folks - we absolutely should.  But what are we doing about hunger in our own communities?  Just a little "food" for thought today.

Last night, Centerpoint was blessed to host a concert by Nashville singer-songwriter Christopher Williams.  If you weren't there, you really missed out.  If you ever get a chance to see him, I highly recommend it!  (Columbus-area folks - he'll be in Granville on May 30)

Thanks for a great night of music, Christopher!

If you enjoy this post each week, head on over to Fred's blog to read more set lists!

Centerpoint Church 5/10/09

Opening Set
    -Your Grace Is Enough - G - (Matt Maher)
    -Your Love Is Deep - E - (Jamie Smith)
    -Oh The Glory Of It All - A - (David Crowder)

Closing Song
    -Center - E - (Charlie Hall)

I missed church (and therefore, Sunday Set Lists) last week due to my New Orleans trip, so it was great to be back at Centerpoint this morning!

Before I even talk about this morning's service, I have to give major credit to the folks who helped me make the transition happen from last night's Christopher Williams concert to this morning's worship.  It took some pretty major sound system work and everything ran so smoothly this morning in that area - couldn't have done it without that help!

This was the fifth week in our study of 1 Peter.  This morning's message was called "Dare I Hope For A Better Marriage?"  I'll admit that I got caught up a little bit in the whole not married thing during this one.  It was very good - great stuff for those who ARE... I'm just not.  No biggie.  Pastor Dave and his wife also presented a drama this morning that was very good.  Great script and very well interpreted!  Really set up the message well.

Musically, everything ran very smoothly this morning.  We were down a singer due to illness, so only five of us on stage this morning, but everybody was right on top of it.  Loops ran without a hitch and the band sounded great.  Our congregation is really digging "Center" right now, which I think is great.  It's such a simple tune, but there's so much there... just a great song!

Not much else to say today, which is a good thing!  It was just a great time of worship this morning!

I'm back from New Orleans.  Actually, I got back Monday afternoon.  Thing is, just before we got on the bus to head for home, I started feeling pretty bad... by the time we got home I was pretty sick.  I was starting to feel better yesterday, but had a lot of catchup to do.  In any case... here I sit, on Friday afternoon, finally ready to write about this trip.

First off, our trip overall was excellent!  I'm not a big fan of traveling by bus (especially 16-18 hours each direction!), but this was a good group to do it with.  Sleepless night and neck cramps aside, we arrived in New Orleans around noon on Friday and went straight to a swamp boat tour.  Admittedly, I wasn't really looking forward to that... sounded hot and sticky to me.  Not so!  There was a great breeze, and the scenery there was beautiful!  Not only that, but we saw a lot of wildlife, including quite a few of these guys:

Yup, that's a gator.  Sorry about the poor quality of the pictures, I'm certainly no photographer, and took these with the VGA camera on my phone to boot.  We saw a lot of gators, some very young, and some very large (such as the one pictured).  Great introduction to the area.  From there we stopped at our hotel (not long enough to get a shower, though) and then headed to Michaul's for dinner.  This is by far my favorite picture from the trip:

I decided very quickly that this was a city I could eat in.  The food is simple, lots of rice and beans, not too much sauce.  My kind of stuff (though I also give it at least part of the credit for making me sick).  There was a band playing there that was well... pretty awful.  Didn't exactly live up to "live cajun music" - more like "bad cover band".  The staff was great though, and a lot of the kids did take advantage of the dance lessons, which was pretty awesome.  Then it was back to the hotel for a very well deserved night's sleep.

The next morning (Saturday), we got up early and headed to Loyola University for a clinic with Dr. Joseph Hebert:

He was great, and the kids really seemed to enjoy the clinic.  There was a choir clinic, as well, but I didn't get to see more than the last 2-3 minutes of it. 

Once we finished at the University, it was off to the Jazz Festival!  So much good music (not to mention more of that great food!) - it was a really great event.  We spent quite a few hours there and saw a LOT of great artists, but the headliner that night was Bon Jovi, and of course we couldn't miss that!

Of course, he doesn't sing any of the really high notes anymore, but it was still pretty impressive.  Estimates put at least 150,000 people at the festival that day, and at least half of those folks had to be at that Bon Jovi show.  We were very lucky to get the spot that we did!

Sunday started with a 3 hour bus tour of the city.  Honestly, this was probably my favorite part of the trip.  Our guide was fantastic, and we got a lot of insights on a lot of different things, including Katrina... more on that later.  Two interesting things I picked up from the tour:

1.) Cablecars - I had no idea that New Orleans had a cablecar system.  In fact, it's the primary form of public transportation there.  Pretty cool.

2.) The Cemeteries - In New Orleans, they bury the dead above ground.  Always have, as far as anybody knows.  Each family has a small tomb like the ones pictured above.  Very interesting... just not what we're used to around here!

The rest of the day was spent in the French Quarter, but for some reason, I neglected to take any pictures.  Suffice it to say, it was a good day!

Alright, big philosophical conclusion: In the past, when Katrina and other hurricanes have hit the area, I've wondered why anybody would want to live there, knowing that these natural disasters were a possibility.  Having spent just three days there, it all makes an awful lot more sense to me.  It's a beautiful area and a gorgeous city, even after the storms.  The people are wonderful, the weather is great, and the food is delicious.  I was enchanted with New Orleans.  I was also deeply saddened by the damage that is still there.  In some areas, such as the French Quarter, things are almost back to normal, and I will say this - the areas of the city that have come back, have come back with a renewed strength and spirit that is really, truly encouraging and a true testament to the human spirit.  But there are other areas, like the lower 9th ward, that are still absolutely decimated from the storm... which was 4 years ago!  I couldn't help but feel like a lot more of us should have known about this.  The politician types seem interested in "moving on" as quickly as possible from Katrina, but how can we when there are still huge skyscrapers downtown sitting empty?  How can we move on when there are entire city blocks of empty, condemned houses?  This is a beautiful city that holds a lot of American history in it and is unlike any other "big city" I've ever been in, and it still needs our help!  Just my thoughts after a few days.  I can safely say this, though - I LOVED New Orleans and I will DEFINITELY be back!