Worship Set List May 20

Here's the Worship Set from ACC yesterday:

• Say Say - Kristian Stanfill
• Holy, Holy, Holy - Reginald Heber & John Dykes, Arrangement & New Chorus by Brian Morrissey
• Mighty to Save - Hillsong United
• Greatly to Be Praised - Fee
• Holy - Matt Redman
• Agnus Dei - Michael W Smith, Arrangement by Third Day
• Declaration of Dependence - Starfield

The Petebox

I am a fan of almost every kind of music that is out there and I love to see artists display their craft, not just listen to it on my iPod.

That being said, Ladies and Gentlemen........I present.........

The PETEBOX.

Small Groups Registration - Summer 2012

Just a short reminder that our Small Groups Registration is live over at ameliasmallgroups.com

Click on over there and get yourself registered for one of our two amazing Small Groups this semester.

Set List 5-13

Here's the worship set-list from ACC yesterday, May 13:

Declaration of Dependence - Starfield
Let God Arise - Chris Tomlin
No One Like - NewSpring Church
How He Loves - John Mark MacMillan
You Are Holy - Elevation Worship
Proclaim the Name - Aron Paul Kirk
Emmanuel (Hallowed Manger Ground) - Chris Tomlin

Epic Hunger Games

Okay, I must admit I enjoyed the Hunger Games. Good plot, great subtext on how far our society has gone with current reality shows and where they could head, but except for Cato, Clove, and Katniss, (sorry Peeta fans, he was terrible) I found the participants to be a tad boring at times.

Apparently so did someone else. How about these participants for an all out Epic Hunger Games?

I would be glued to the television set.....

Summer Semester Sign-Ups

Hey ACC, just wanted to give you a quick reminder that our Summer Semester Small Groups will be open for registration beginning this Sunday at ACC.

Here is the lowdown on our groups which may help you decide which one you want to be a part of:

Ground Floor

Facilitator – Mike Edmisten

Day – Tuesday Evenings

Time – 6:30pm – 8:30pm

Location – TBD

This group starts on the “ground floor” of Christianity and explores the basics of our faith. We’ll discuss foundational truths about God, Jesus, the Bible, the church, what it means to be a Christ-follower and much more. We’ll also explore in depth the God-given vision for ACC.

Got questions? Good. Got doubts? Bring them. Nothing is off limits.

Beyond the Message

Facilitator – Mike & Amy Cothran

Day – Saturday Mornings

Time – 10:00am – 12:00pm

Location – Cothran’s Home

This group will dive deeper into each week’s sermon as we explore what happens Beyond the Message. We will meet each week to discuss several questions that pertain to the previous week’s message at ACC and how we can use what God’s Word says to transform our lives so that we can grow closer to what God wants us to be while growing along with each other.

Perspective Shift

This past Sunday, I sat and worshiped with my ACC family from the seats instead of the stage. Doing so gave me some huge perspective shifts and I wanted to share some of those with you today.

Onstage you worry about your notes.
Offstage you worry about your heart.

Onstage you set an example.
Offstage you set an example.

Onstage you say things to God out loud.
Offstage you say things to God from your heart.

Onstage you display your worship.
Offstage you display your worship.

Onstage your focused on what you're doing next.
Offstage your focused on what God is doing next.

Onstage you worship God with your church family.
Offstage you worship God with your church family.

Onstage you serve.
Offstage you live.

On both sides of the stage, God is only concerned with one thing - our hearts.

If our hearts are not worshiping Him, we might as well sit down and keep our mouths closed. God would rather have that from us then have us halfheartedly bring him worship that we don't feel like bringing at all.

I am blessed to lead a church that loves God and worships Him with their whole hearts. It is a privilege and an honor for me to stand in front of you each week and lead you to the throne of God and having a week to see just how you worship has taught me more than ten years standing in front of you has taught me.

Thank you God for this gift and thank you ACC for being as passionate about worship as you should be.

Worship Set May 6

As most of you may have noticed, I was not on stage leading worship yesterday.

Big props first of all to Josh Young who allowed me to be a "member" of ACC for the day yesterday by leading worship for me. I was able to garner some huge perspective on the day which I will be sharing here tomorrow. 

Having said that, Josh picked out the set of songs he wanted to lead and I thought he and the band did a fantastic job. It's so comforting to know that I can step off the stage and we will not lose a step in the quality department. Josh is a great worship leader and he strives for the same level of excellence that I do.

These are the songs that the band led yesterday at ACC:

• Glory to God Forever - Fee
• Exalted One - Elevation Worship
• The Broken & The Tired -  Elevation Worship
• Your Favor -  Elevation Worship
• You Are Holy -  Elevation Worship
• I Have Decided (Where You Lead Me) - Aaron Pelsue

Juggling Level 792297

Random Humor Thursday!
I dare any of you to try these tricks out at home....

Small Groups For 2012 Summer Trimester

Hey ACC,
I told you last week on my blog that we would let you know what groups we'll be offering this Summer, so without further ado, here are the two awesome groups we're rolling out this Trimester:

1. BEYOND THE MESSAGE (Facilitated by Mike & Amy Cothran) - This group will dive deeper into each week’s sermon as you explore what happens Beyond the Message. You will meet each week to discuss several questions that pertain to the previous week’s message at ACC and how you can use what God’s Word says to transform your lives so that you can grow closer to what God wants you to be while growing along with your group members.
2. GROUND FLOOR  (Facilitated by Mike Edmisten) - This group starts on the “ground floor” of Christianity and explores the basics of our faith. You’ll discuss foundational truths about God, Jesus, the Bible, the church, what it means to be a Christ-follower and much more. You’ll also explore in depth the God-given vision for ACC.

Signups will begin on May 13th at ACC  and online at ameliasmallgroups.com

Bonus Post - The Dark Knight Rises

Bonus post!

My favorite movie series is Star Wars, but my favorite superhero is and will always be Batman. Having said that, I am super excited that The Dark Knight Rises comes out this Summer and was pleasantly surprised to wake up this morning and find the final trailer online for this Bad Boy which comes out in July.

Buckle your seat belt and click this link to watch the full trailer.

Context & Definitions

I have a neighbor who is a Jehovah's Witness.

Now on the outside, you hear that and think, Oh, he's a person who follows Jehovah (God's name in the Old Testament) and he's a witness, which means he tells other people about God.

And if it was just that, I would have no problem with it. As a matter of fact, when I began to talk to him about what I believe, there were several times he agreed wholeheartedly with me. 

And I couldn't figure that out, because what we believe could not be different.

He believes that:

• Jesus was raised from the dead, not with a physical body, but as a mighty spirit creature
• The second coming of Jesus was an invisible spiritual presence that began in 1914
• The dead exist only in God's memory: the wicked will not be punished with conscious torment but will be extinguished forever.

Conversely, I believe that:

• Jesus when He was on the earth was fully God and fully human and was raised as such - with a physical body, yet still fully God (John 20:24-29)
• The second coming of Jesus has not yet occurred but will happen soon (Revelation 22:12)
• Hell is very real and those who go there go to eternal punishment (Mark 9:47-48, Revelation 20:15)

The problem we were running into in our discussion was our context and our definitions. 

Every time we talked, he agreed with me that Jesus was before time, but what I didn't find out until later was that he believed Jesus was a created being. John 1 states that Jesus was with God and was God in the beginning. It says nothing about Him being created. 

When you talk to someone who doesn't share the same faith as you, often times, you can walk away feeling frustrated as if what you had to say fell on deaf ears. 

Next time you have a conversation though, start with defining what you're going to be talking about. Ask questions like "What do you believe about salvation?" or "Who is Jesus to you?" 

Then you'll be able to get at the heart of what you're really talking about. 

My Jehovah's Witness neighbor is not ready to give up his faith, but at least we understand now what the other person is talking about.