How Great Thou Art...

When I was a child I was into the performing arts.  For my first public performance I was in a Vaudeville Show and my act was to sing the "Elephant Song" (I was five...).  On Opening Night I had my elephant costume on and I took the stage behind a dropped curtain, and as the curtain raised in true Vaudeville style a giant placard with the name of my act was revealed to the audience.  The curtain went up.  I saw the crowd... And I....... RAN!!!  I ran as fast as I could with a huge paper mache' elephant head on my shoulders.  The crowd roared in laughter, and started cheering.  Well, when I heard them cheering I turned around and ran back onto the stage, did my song and received another roaring round of applause.

It turns out the placard had been put on the stand backwards so the audience saw a blank white placard, and an elephant who suddenly ran off the stage.  They thought it was part of the act.  They laughed at the emcee who was flipping the card around while I made my way back to center stage.  That mistake though unintentional, sealed the deal for me.  I was addicted.  I LOVED to hear crowds roar, cheer, applause, etc.

I was encouraged to use the talent God gave me at church, so I did.   My first solo at church was "How Great Thou Art".  Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) I was unable to separate "performance" from "worship".  I was unable to "Worship" in the true sense of the word because for me it was still a performance.  The fact that there were no judges, and rarely any applause (we didn't clap in church) didn't change the fact that for me, it was still about glorifying me and not Praising and Glorifying God Almighty.  So, I don't lead worship, or sing in one of the worship bands at church.  I am content to Worship from the pews, because there I can worship.  There I can cry.  There in the pew, by myself, I don't care what other people think and I can worship.

Every now and then I hear a song or see a performance and think, Man, I would LOVE to do this piece...  And I just did.  Just me and the four walls of my office.  But it is too awesome to not share...

So, enjoy this, I certainly did...  If you have a good internet connection, go full screen and watch it in HD, it is very well done...

How Great Thou Art by World Outreach Church featuring StikYard from World Outreach Church on Vimeo.

Until His work in me is Complete.
Paul

Church History - April 2, 2013

Below is the link to the lecture for April 2, 2013.

Church History Hangout 3/26/13

Hey Folks...

Here is this week's Lectures.

Part 1



Part 2




Sorry, I lost internet connection and we lost about 10 minutes of lecture while I re-connected.  The Part 2 is just one long stream of the rest of the evening.  I had been told that I could not do a recorded hangout longer than about 70 minutes which is why I did multiple sessions last week, but going forward I am going to do one session, as I learned the limit I had been told was not accurate.

Until His work in me is complete.
Paul

Church History Hangout 130319

This post will host a live broadcast of the Church History Class on 3/19/13.

FIRST HOUR



SECOND HOUR



THIRD HOUR



Paul

Tomorrow is the BIG DAY

It has been way too long since I posted on here.  I need to do a better job of posting here to keep people up to date.

Tomorrow, Saturday, February 9, I will preach my first sermon.  If you aren't doing anything and want to join us, we'll be worshiping with a friend of mine, Andrea, who is a very talented worship leader, and I'll bring a short sermon.  This is my final exam for my current class, Contemporary Preaching, so I have to adhere to my Professor's guidelines, 20-30 minutes.  We'll finish up with some more worship music and of course a time of prayer.

The Details:

7 PM - 8 PM

Christian Community Church North

5586 Olentangy River Rd

Columbus, Ohio 43235

 

View Larger Map

 

I hope to see you there!

 

Until His Work in Me is Complete,

Paul