Tommy Bowman's Neverland Fabric

Why would give give mom a card ON Mother's Day?

It's too obvious right? Of course mom knows that the card is coming on Mother's Day.

The creative team at Restore took this to heart when planning Sunday's service. We finished up our series "Surburban Legends: Exposing Relational Myths" and concluded with the myth, Mom Already Knows I Appreciate Her.

Troy finished up his message giving people a chance to write a card to their mother and we would mail the card down the road, at a later date. Now mom we'll know you appreciate her on 2 days this year - Mother's Day and when the card arrives in a few months.

If something held you back from contacting your mom yesterday... why not today??

This Week's Music

• This Is Our God by Hillsong Live
• Forgive Me by Rebecca St. James Feat. BarlowGirl
• Not To Us by Chris Tomlin
• Til I See You by Hillsong United

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It's good to plan, but be flexible

At Restore we plan our services 8 weeks out. It's leaves plenty of time for us to add elements for the service. This week was #3 of the series "Suburband Legends: Exposing Reltional Myths". This weeks myth was Living Together Will Help Prepare Us For Marriage.

Within the last week I decided to take the morning in a different direction and to add some elements. So with the MYTH in mind, here's what we added this week:

1. Clip from MTV's The Hills (aired this week). It's copyrighted so we couldn't post the video. It was a great clip of a Bible study where one couple is showing Spencer and Heidi what the Bible says about sex.

2. Cohabitation Video - we shot this on Wednesday for use within the message

Co-Habitation from Restore Community Church on Vimeo.

3. Beyonce's "Single Ladies" - Somebody mentioned it in Small Group and I had to get it in the set

Beyonce's Single Ladies at Restore from Restore Community Church on Vimeo.

What I learned this week is that while planning out ahead is great, you gotta be willing to make some changes in the 11th hour. Culturally, a lot can change in 8 weeks. Scrambling the last week isn't always fun but it's sometimes worth and this morning... it was!

Quite possibly Restore's BEST video

There's been a music video
There's been a video with a bald Jesus driving a Beamer
And a great recap of life transformation in Restore this past year

The video from last week telling the story of the Enloe family might be my favorite. This is a story of Shane who said "Yes" to Jesus and quickly had an impact on his entire family. His mom wasn't in the video shoot... she was with a team from Restore in Haiti.

What I love about this video is that it's our mission in action: Helping People Find Their Way Back To God

Shane's Story from Restore Community Church on Vimeo.

Creative Meeting Poll

For all of you who take part in creative meetings, answer me this:

1. How many people in your meeting?
2. Where do you meet? What's your space?
3. What about your meeting is unique?
4. What do you bring into the meeting to spark creativity?
5. Thanks!

"You need Buddy Jesus!!"

Buddy Jesus from Restore Community Church on Vimeo.

Missing: Jesus

It's been a blast working with Nate Williams on the video bumpers for our current series, Missing:Jesus. Nate has done a ton of great bumpers but for some reason people have been actually clapping for these. We never envisioned that a bumper would be applause worthy as much as we liked them ourselves. So here's the first 3 below. If you wanna see the biggest one yet, make sure you're at Restore on Sunday.

Week 1
 
Missing Jesus Bumper: Spooky Jesus from Restore Community Church on Vimeo.

Week 2

Missing Jesus Bumper: Middle Class Jesus from Restore Community Church on Vimeo.

Week 3

Missing Jesus Bumper: Sunday School Jesus from Restore Community Church on Vimeo.

Worship Matters: ...Magnifies the Lord...

My first Worship Matters post talked about "A faithful worship leader...". Next part, a faithful worship leader "magnifies the Lord"...

This portion of the book starts with a great definition of worship from John Stott:

All true worship is a response to the self-revelation of God in Christ and Scripture, and arises from our reflection on who He is and what He has done. The worship of God is evoked, informed, and inspired by the vision of God. The true knowledge of God will always lead us to worship.

Explore God's Greatness

In His Word - This is His self-revelation to us
In His Nature - All of God's attributes exist in perfect harmony. There is no end to the praise he deserves because of who He is and His nature.
In His Works - "Sing to him; sing praises to him. Tell of all his wondrous works." Psalm 105:2

Love God's Greatness

Proclaim biblical truths about God
Express deep and holy affection toward God

Isaac Watts once said We can never be too frequent or too solemn in the general surrender of our souls to God and binding our souls by a vow to be the Lord's forever: to love him in all things, to fear him, to hope in him, to walk in his ways in a course of holy obedience, and to wait for his mercy unto eternal life.

The Jesus Transaction

Does giving to the Jesus mission ever feel like this?

10% from Restore Community Church on Vimeo.

Worship Matters: A Faithful Worship Leader...

I'm being led to spend a lot of time in prayer & thought about the worship culture at Restore. God has placed it on my heart to lead in the area of teaching on the basics of worship through words and experiences. Part of my learning is from a book referred to me by many: Worship Matters by Bob Kauflin. Here's part 1.

A Faithful Leader:

1. Is faithful to both God and to those they lead

1 Corinthians 4:1-2: This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.

2. Recognizes the potential temptations

"Ministry and fame have become so equated with each other that it is nearly impossible to think of anything but fame if one contemplates ministry in music." Harold Best

3. Is faithful to lead

If we sow to God's glory in Christ, we'll reap the fruit of people in awe of God's greatness.

4. Recognizes the fruit of faithful leadership

It's about knowing that we've pleased God, period.

My takeaway:

Do I prepare with prayer as much as I do with practice?
Are the comments about the "great music" or about the encounter with God?

What are your thoughts?