The Problems With "Christian" Music Industry - From Gungor

Gungor on the Christian Music Industry

This is a great article, and I agree almost completely with what he has to say. As a musician, this is what I want to do, create music that is from the soul, and not just in the style of some "secular" band.
I also really hate the terms "secular" and "Christian" music. Music is music. Some people sing from their faith, but they create music. There needs to be less of a divide between this. Who is to say Bach, who wrote tons of church music, was not glorifying God through his instrumental music, which do not speak of Jesus, because there are no words. But yet, he glorified God by creating - the gift that God gave him, and he used it, which is so glorifying to God!

Instead, lets create music that is from our soul. Not just nice words about Jesus, but word that mean something to us, melodies that make our heart sing and want to make us draw closer to our Savior.

My heart echos the words of the Psalmist,

"My heart O God, is steadfast, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and make music with all my soul."
-Psalm 57:7

*Update
Gungor tweeted later today that he actually deleted this blog because it could have been offensive, and someone else actually re-posted this. But I still think there are some valid questions and could be a beginning to a movement of change that is beginning to happen.

The way of the wolves.

Well hey. So I've done a great job on updating everyone on my summer. Sorry about that. I just finished week 5 and have not even finished blogging about Europe. Sorry. But I am here now, being super hipster, writing a blog post at a coffee shop in East Nashville. Doesn't really get more hipster than that....

But besides my apparent hipsterness (let's be real, it's actually just homlessness), I have been having quite the experience in Nashville. Let's start with my crew.

Chacos. Love.

So I am a flex, which means I am extra and mess everything up. So I don't have a particular role at camp (well for the start I didn't), which has been a struggle and a blessing. But essentially I help out with anything Leah and Laura need who are my partner's and the real deal summer staffers in Nashville.
But... it was an odd pairing, because they are extremely fully capable and outstanding at their jobs. I mean Laura is a returner, I am a returner, and we both have been trainers. This all made sense when we arrived. Nashville is kind of like a brand new camp this year. The local coordinator had only been working for two months before camp started, and most of that time she spent finding a lodging facility. So let's just say Nashville was a bit behind our other camps, and needed a lot more projects to fill up weeks later in the summer. Also, everyone wants to go to Nashville. We learned that Tennessee is known as the "volunteer state." And that is true. Besides week of hope there are probably at least 4 or 5 other organizations in Nashville doing what we do. So me, the third awkward girl got put in Nashville to help sort out all of the other stuff going on so they could run camp normally and not still be doing extra work.

Laura and I look like we're in a band. Perfect for Nashville!

Whew. Made it through that. So more fun stuff. Leah and Laura like I said are great. This was probably a great grouping because we are all really goofy, funny, love outdoorsy stuff, and are all kind of homeless. So on our roadtrip to Nashville, we were talking about how homeless we were, and somehow thought we were like 3 wolves and wanted to find shirts that fit this 3 wolfs. You know, those weird ones that no one should ever wear, with three wolves and a moon? Yeah, well our friend Bri ended up coming across those shirts and bought them for us. And then we found crop tanks of them at Forever 21, and we are truely the 3 wolf moon crew. Go ahead and search that hashtag (#wolfmooncrew) on twitter, and you will see too many tweets from the 3 of us about our adventures. So here we are in Nashville, 3 homeless wolves, and we own two shirts to represent our crew. Plus we all have Chacos which is just cool so I had to write about that. So the three of us have had some wonderful times, me getting flexed to Nashville twice, and just a lot of good memories.
Here is a link for the amazing crew shirt we own.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Wolf_Moon

But despite the chaos we all have seen God do some amazing things. At first we didn't know if our church who was hosting us liked having us there, or what they thought of us. But God has blessed us with some amazing people from the church who have helped us and encouraged us through everything we have done. When we think the work has been too hard for any of us to handle, God does something cool. And it has been a huge blessing, despite all the chaos we felt with this camp, we have had really good reviews and feedback. They have really enjoyed camp, and experienced God while we were there. Sites that were a little rough were ones that had some really cool God sightings. The first week we had a resident whose husband had cancer and she needed help on the farm. He couldn't even eat or barely speak because it was throat cancer, but they shared their lives so much with these kids and cooked them food and were a huge blessing to our kids. Also, we had a group who it was their first time, and they pre-registered for a camp next year! I know they had a great experience despite whatever we felt. God was definitely there giving us strength, and I cannot for a second think it was anything I, or Laura and Leah did.

Like I mentioned earlier, we had many supportive people from the church. A lot of the pastors we interact with, and they have been so supportive of us. Especially Pastor Steve. Every time he saw us, he had something encouraging to say to us and how he appreciated all that we were doing. He was also asking people and looking for projects for us.  There were several ladies who helped with the summer bible school that were helping with this as well. Such a blessing. Slowly but surely God has been showing us that they do believe in what we are doing, and supporting us. There was an elderly couple who adopted us as their Nashville granddaughters, and let us stay at their home. We literally hung out with them for the whole weekend! They took us to the Country Music Hall of Fame, took us to dinner, bought us tickets to the Grand Ole Opry, and let us sleep at their house. They are so sweet, and in their 90s I believe? They have been married for less than 10 years, and act just like a young in-love couple, except they are older! It is precious, and definitely been a support and encouragement to us.

Us on a hike. We were meant to be!

And then there is Betteye. She is our main contact at the church, the facility manager of the church. She is an amazing woman. Sometimes we didn't know how to read her, and thought she was angry with us, but over time, we got to know her more, and she opened up to us and said we were her favorite girls! She has had a lot of encouraging things to say, and told us to keep serving the Lord because this is where we were supposed to be. She may be going to Africa to start a ministry or something. God has great plans for her wherever he leads. Last weekend she let us stay at her house when she was out of town, which was so gracious! Every time we see her, it really lights up my day, because she has joy from the Lord.

Some other cool fun things that happened...
One was fourth of July. We had terrible weather all day, but it finally cleared up at night, so Laura and I went downtown to see fireworks and the Band Perry! That's how they do things in Nashville. Typical.
We also got to go to the Opry, see the Band Perry again, and Carrie Underwood. It was such a fun experience! We obviously spent plenty of time at the mall looking for dresses, and also went on a hike in the beautiful Tennessee hills! Let's just say, the three wolf moon crew knows how to have fun!

Carrie Underwood at the Grand Ole Opry

Another thing I have been very blessed by is the church Leah and I have been going to on Sunday. It's called the Anchor fellowship, and we have been so rejuvenated each week there, to help us better serve. Another thing that is cool about it is that they have a church plant from it in Grand Rapids which I have been a bit familiar with.

The Church Under the Bridge

Before this gets too long, I should touch on why I am still in Nashville. Week 4 began, and we had 3 htms, plus me, and a lot of holes in our matrix of projects for the remaining 3 weeks. I got a call from my boss telling me my role was going to change and my goal at camp was to finish the matrix and make sure we were set on projects for the rest of the summer. Kind of like a local coordinator role, but also a summer staffer. This is when things got intense for me. I went from being a Hospitality Team Member to intensely researching Nashville's service opportunities and making phone calls setting up projects and service opportunities. I spent a lot of time in an office and on the phone and not seeing much of camp. It was really tough at first, and I was frustrated that things were not coming together, and did not think I could finish it by the end of that week. The holes seemed so big, but eventually things began falling in place. In the meantime, I ended up meeting some really neat people and organizations. There is a ministry called the Bridge Ministry which ministers to homeless people. Every Tuesday night they hand out food, clothes, and supplies to homeless people, plus host a church service under the Jefferson street bridge. It is a really cool organization. So I contacted their volunteer coordinator and she was so excited to hear what we were doing and excited that we were partnering with her. In her emails she kept saying things like "I can't wait to see what God does through us working together this summer!" and lots of great encouraging things like that. I know that God is going to use ministries such as the bridge in these last two weeks, and I am absolutely stoked to see it all play out (as long as I don't get flexed again).

So in the midst of everything that may seem overwhelming or hard, I've found moments of grace, great people, youth groups, experiences, and seeing kids excited about serving and seeing God work in their lives. This is the part in the summer where I need to constantly choose joy because each day is a gift.
Thanks everyone who has been to Nashville this summer, y'all were awesome! And you coming the last few weeks, get ready for God to speak to you.

This has been a small piece of the journey of the 3 homeless wolves. Stay tuned for more.

Some German Adventures....

Starbucks in Germany where I did some blogging

So sorry everyone who was keeping up on my blog. I kind of fell off the face of the earth, and never shared any stories from the last half of my trip. Now I am traveling again, but in the States, for my summer job… we are somewhere around Kansas City. Sorry about that.

One of the church's we sang at in Germany

So now I have to figure out where I left off. Somewhere in Prague. After we left Prague, it was time to head to Germany. This is where we stayed at the  Haus der Musik und Begegnut, or something like that. Essentially, it is a big house where people can come stay. They often host choirs or other sort of touring groups. It was great, all the room names were musicians. Everyone was so kind and welcoming! They had food prepared for us late at night when we arrived.

It was quite nice.

The next morning, we did a church service at the church of Hans Gerhalt - the one who runs the haus we were staying at. We also had a concert there that evening, and in the afternoon was sleep and rest time. I definitely passed out.

Sightseeing in "Rothenburg"

Church in Rothenburg

The next day, we had a sightseeing tour in a nearby village, and a concert at another church. Our whole time in this area was so great because everyone was so hospitable, making sure all our needs were taken care of, feeding us wonderful food, and having some great conversations with us. It was great seeing these people interact with Dr. Walter's as they were all such great friends.

On our sightseeing tour we went to Roteburg, where we saw a lot of historic sights. There was a "castle gate" that used to be a drawbridge. It was probably one of my favorite things I saw. 

Prague and the Czech Republic

So this blog entry will be an update on what happened in the Czech republic.

So we are on our way to Germany! I am on the bus and there are beautiful hills and cute villages behind me. It is so green! (Sorry now that I am posting it, I am in Germany, but when I wrote it that was happening.)
But anyway, we arrived in Prague on Thursday and met our tour guide to do a short 1 hour tour of the city. We walked through the city and saw a lot in a short amount of time. It was great! We saw old town, new town, many town squares, and a monastery. We also got to see the opera house where Mozart's Don Giovanni premiered and Mozart conducted it. There is so much history in this city!

After sightseeing, we rolled into the Dolce Villa, and had to get ready for the concert, eat and head to the concert.  Dinner was really good again. We keep having all sorts of incredible authentic food on this trip. And everyone wants to keep feeding us.

Our concert was downtown at a church that had extremely live acoustics. At the end of "Praise To the Lord" sound was still going for about 4-5 seconds afterward. So I guess it is tradition in Prague to sing on the steps, inviting people to the concert, since we had a small audience. So we sang our fast songs on the street. It was fun singing in the little square outside the church, and many people stopped to listen or take pictures. The concert was a bit hard because we had to adjust to the acoustics, but it was still great to have the opportunity to sing in Prague. There were not a lot of people there, but everyone there seemed to really enjoy it!

One lady came up to me after the concert, wiping her eyes, saying how wonderful it was, and how glad she was that we came.

After the concert we went back to the hotel and pretty much went to bed.

St. Vitus Cathedral (Behind) and one of the main old town squares

The next day, we got up a bit early to do a sightseeing tour before we sang at the International school of Prague. We went to the Prague castle as well as the Cathedral St. Vitus. It was so beautiful and built in the gothic style. May have been my favorite that we have seen so far. We also sang a few songs in that space, which was quite wonderful. (And we didn't get kicked out for doing so!) Another thing we saw was this really cute street that had some shops in it. I got this little book about kava houses or cafes in Prague.

Then it was time to head to thee school. We sang for the younger kids as well as middle-high school students. It was fun talking to some of the kids as they were from all over the world, and had also traveled all over the world. They all seemed to really enjoy it! One little girl and her two friends came up to me and asked me a bunch of questions - they were all so cute! This one girl was like "I am an actress. I was in a tv show, and my movie comes out in December!"

In the Prague Castle

In the second time we sang, I talked to a girl afterwards and Heidi asked her how long she had been in Prague and she told us two months. We asked if she was adjusting well, and she said yes. She said she really enjoyed the music because it was all so new to her (she was from India), and she enjoyed hearing all the different types of music.

After leaving the school, we went into the city again and did a short tour, walked across a bridge and saw many of the other historic bridges, and all sorts of neat stuff! There was also a spot where they had filmed Fast and Furious. We walked, where Leonardo Dicaprio  had walked! (Just a random fun fact.)

Finding fun things while we were shopping

Then we had free time, so me Heidi and Brianna did some shopping. Got some cool gifts and saw so many cute things. There were a lot of cool markets and shops with neat authentic Czech stuff. But it didn't take long until we were too tired to shop, so we walked around, took pictures, and saw some interesting things. One guy in one of the shops thought it would be cool to hit on us, which we got discounts on all of the stuff we bought, but at the same time he was creepy. He asked Heidi if we wanted to join him for coffee… Yeahhh we definitely said no.

There was also a lot of strange cultic things in the city. There was a guy who was doing strange and weird magic tricks in the square. There were a lot of strange shops too. It was rather unsettling.  I think we were just made aware of how dark of a city it is. All of its beauty cannot mask the darkness and sin that lies in its midst. We were told before that it was a very atheistic nation, and gave us more reason to be there and bring the light of Christ to it.

Eventually we met up with the group and went to an authentic Czech restaurant which was delicious! I had this potato thing that was two layers of potato with cheese in the middle, then the whole thing fried. So yummy! After dinner we went back to the hotel and it was sleepy time. 

Vienna, Music Capitol of the World!

When we arrived in Vienna, we did some sightseeing from the bus with our tour guide. I was a bit out of it so I don't remember much, but we had some time to walk around the city and mostly see a few things and drink coffee. We did a bit of tour walking as well and saw some important music houses. Our tour guy told us all about the city and the buildings. We saw many Mozart houses including where he died, and a Beethoven house. We also saw the graves of Beethoven, Schubert, Shutz, and Brahms. In general there were so many music important buildings and sites, I cannot even list them all! It was just one thing after another.  Mozart performed here, this is the opera house, here is a museum, this is where Beethoven lived.  Another amazing thing we saw was the St. Stephen's cathedral which was breathtaking. Then we went back to the hotel, had dinner and relaxed a bit. It was a pretty chill day - like days off are supposed to be!

St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, Austria

The second day in Vienna, in the morning we had more tours - of the palace of the Hapsburg dynasty royalty. We saw Empress Elizabeth's palace which was enjoyable, except for the fact that she was obsessed with herself. Like no joke. We saw the royal treasury and I don't know if I have ever seen bigger crowns in my life. Or maybe even any crowns. We did other walking around the palace area since it was such a huge history place, then went into the city for lunch. We had some good food and then did some shopping. We went to H&M where we ran into a pickpocket, which made us all a little freaked. Thankfully I still have all of my belongings, but definitely was a little overcautious for the rest of the day. We shopped until we were too tired to keep walking, and then headed back to the bus. We went back to the hotel for dinner. After a short walk around Modling, we went to bed early.

Brahms and Shubert's Grave I think

The next morning, I had a cool moment with God before we left Modling/ on the bus leaving the city. I had a nice quiet morning to myself. After breakfast, I took my cup of coffee outside on the patio and read my bible in the fresh Austrian air. It was beautiful.
It was also beautiful because I read Psalm 82, which verse 10 says "Open your mount wide, and I will fill it." and in verse 16 it says "But he would feed you with the finest of the wheat and with honey from the rock would satisfy you." It was great because I realized how God is here to feed us and really provide everything we need, but we have to be open to receive it. This is the importance of entering every concert with prayer and opening ourselves to God. And the great thing is that God is not only providing our needs, but he has been satisfying and giving us things we enjoy. God has gone above and beyond in simply providing. He not only provided what he has called us to, but also has given us amazing experiences in these great cities and in wonderful host homes, and in times of rest. Even just the wonderful food has been a piece of God's overwhelming blessing and provision. Yes we are given food because we need to eat, but it has been in great abundance and great cultural different food.

Then I got on the bus that morning and right after journaling on Psalm 82, Dr. Walters shared that he found the Lord satisfying his hunger for things that were his 'favorite things.' The Lord was also feeding his soul, and satisfying him. It is cool how God unites his people by putting similar things on their hearts! God has been so good!

Bratislava, the Quiet and Lovely City

Bratislava, Slovakia

We boarded the bus after our final concert in Budapest in the afternoon to head to our next country, Slovakia. And then we began the 4 hour trip to Kosorsko Slovakia. It had beautiful landscape, and a lot of green fields and rolling hills in the distance. We got closer and closer and eventually entered the beautiful hilly landscape. It was absolutely beautiful! Lots of trees and green grass on the hilly green mountains. There were cows and sheep on the hills like something out of a movie.  Truly beautiful with fun mountain homes on the landscape.

The concert there was also wonderful. The Slovaks were more reserved, but we still saw how they appreciated the concert. The church was an old historic church, built in I believe 1879, and it was full! The mayor of the town was there, and both her and the pastor so greatly appreciated the concert. It was really neat because the mayor said when we came, it was like the sun shone and warmed the day, which we had been focusing on that word "shine" in Christ shining through us when we sing. The both of them, I could tell were just so touched by us being there.

They were so kind! One lady came up to us and said in broken English how she was touched in her soul. She was a such a blessing and I was glad she told us.  We left \the church and got on the warm bus (as it was very cold up in the mountains!), and then headed to Vrbovce to meet our host family church. I already blogged about my host family and the great blessing they were. So feel free to check that one out! (With Dakujme in the title)

Our second day, we woke up and had such a nice (HUGE) breakfast  with our Slovak family again. Martin was there to translate for us, which was so great. They asked us about Michigan and we showed them how you can show Michigan on your palms and showed them how to do it. They enjoyed that! We also told them about the beautiful Great Lakes we have in Michigan. We also told them we really liked Slovakia so it wasn't all about us.

We walked to the church and met up with the bus to head into the city in Bratislava and did some shopping and a sightseeing tour. We saw a lot of the city, and had fun in the markets in that city. It was fun as the town is so cute! We also ran into Mike's brother from Michigan state's choir. That was crazy!

But mostly I should talk about the concert downtown Bratislava that night. God was truly working there. It was amazing! It was probably the best one we have ever done. Beforehand, we were so tired and having a hard time focusing. In our prayer time, we prayed for strength in our weakness, and God sure came through! "Prayer" was probably our best song, and almost everyone shared afterward how God spoke to them during that song. We had so many wonderful comments from the concert. We had many smiles and thanks from people at the concert. One lady said she was so blessed to meet us and see us, and wanted to know more about us. I saw her meeting as many of the chorale members as possible.

So on our way back to Vrbovce, we did share time, and so many people had moments in that song. This share time was such a blessing, and joyful. There were many tears shed as we could praise God for him working in us. My moment was in "Prayer" with the words "help me spread your fragrance." I know that was exactly what we were doing, and we needed to ask God for strength to do it. This is what we were doing and we could not forget that it was by his strength that we could sing.  It was really a cool moment to feel God's presence and strength in us, especially as we sang that song. 

Budapest was amazing. Slovakia impressed upon my heart, and I was ready for Vienna!

The Church where our first concert in Slovakia was at! This is an old church, built in the later 1800s!

Hungary... but I really got a lot of food here...

Since I haven't done this story in order, I actually began my trip in Budapest, and then went to Slovakia.  So now I am finally getting to Budapest, and hopefully I will get to Vienna and maybe even Prague tonight. 

It was my first day in Europe - and it was a long day. Almost 9 hours- closer to 10 of flying and waiting around in airports. I slept a few hours on the plane, but kept going until late into the next day. I was definitely feeling the jet lag. 

But the fun stuff - we arrived in Budapest and met up with Olivia and our tour guide, and drove to Olivia's church, and had real Gulash. (Which is soup with meat, potatoes, and other wonderful goodness). It was sooooo good! Then we hung out and took pictures of the church as we waited for host families. Karen, Deb and I stayed with a family who lived across the street - the wife spoke some English, and the son was pretty fluent, so we were able to communicate pretty well. 

Soon after getting settle I got asked to go downtown with their neighbor, another host family, to go downtown. So I went with Alison, Jessica, and their hosts. It was so fun! They showed us a lot of cool things in the town, bought us Gelato (yummm), and we walked around a bit. There were so many restaurants with people eating outside - such a wonderful atmosphere.  It was cool because they they told us a lot of Hungarian culture/ language/ history and taught us some phrases. It was fun talking to them although we could not always understand each other. It took some patience. I learned that when "zo" is on the end of verbs, it means the place to do that thing.  Such as "Teazo."

After that I was about a zombie walking and went straight to bed.

The next day we had our first concert in Szekesfahervar, about an hour outside of Budapest. But first, we had breakfast with our host and some wonderful sightseeing. We went to the fort/ castle thing, and the Matthias church.  We continued walking through the streets, by the "castle" and palaces where we saw some wonderful views of the city from the Buda side.  Akos gave us a lot of history of Hungary, it was interesting to hear the background on these people. Then we went to Pest, I exchanged money to forints, and went to Starbucks!

Then we traveled to our concert. It was an amazing 1st concert. They way we connected with those people was truly an act of God. Although we didn't understand each other, we found common ground in Christ and in the music. It was beautiful. Everyone sang beautifully and was engaged. I was overwhelmed because I knew this is what God had called us to do - to declare the love and light of Jesus to people.

Olivia's family was there and it was great to see them and watch her mom so engaged with the music.

But I felt so blessed watching the Hungarian's faces as they were touched by the music. Especially on Esti dal, they knew the words, and I watched their faces light up. It brought tears to my eyes. Later that night, I was listening to All Sons and Daughters, and these words fit what my heart was feeling.

"All will sing out, Hallelujah, and we will cry out Hallelujah!"

This is so true.  The people were brought into God's presence tonight. Not by us, but by what God did. I am so thankful for the vision Dr. Walters had, and how this trip was made a reality.  I am so blessed!

Afterwards, we ate dinner which was wonderful. I think their potato salad beats the Schaefer family recipe. The people were so hospitable  We sang for them, and they for us. One guy came up to us, saying he had no words for how much he enjoyed the concert, but that it really touched him. 

They also gave us pins with Hungarian flag colors, like they wear in March for what I believe is their independence day.

Our third day in Hungary, we did some more sightseeing with Akos. He took us tours to the Hero Square, and the real fake castle... (not exactly sure...). We saw some great things including a hot spring! And of course I knew that they had the most of them in Iceland...
But anyway, afterwards, we went to the Holocaust memorial museum. It was definitely hard, and an emotional experience for many of us. It was hard to see because so much history had happened right there in Hungary. I think the site of the Museum itself was a containment for Jews in WWII. We had a very quiet bus ride following where we then prepared for the concert.We  had a pretty good concert, but a hard beginning as we were all tired from a long day. It was another great concert. It was amazing how many people we could connect with.
It was fun too because there were some probably high-schoolers who really wanted to talk to us, and we tried many languages, but none of us knew the same ones.
The next morning we sang in Olivia's church! It happened all so fast, but it was a third great, and final concert in Budapest. Then we were off to Slovakia! Which I already blogged about. 

And hopefully our Bratislava concerts coming. And as soon as I can, I will write about Vienna, and Czech. I have about a 7 hour bus ride tomorrow, so I will try to work on it then!

Picture time!

View of Budapest from the Citadel. 

Ďakujem.... Ďakujem.... Nie ďakujem.

So I know I haven't blogged yet on this trip, but that is because I have not had proper internet yet. So sorry. We are now in Austria, on hotel stays, have internet, and no concerts tonight!!
Absolutely loving Europe. Love the coffee! Way better than in America. Have to also get used to the wash closets (bathrooms) cause they are literally closets. Also getting used to the food. I am eating like 3 times the amount of bread and meat that I normally do. Like I eat both three meals a day here. Its crayyyy.

We left Slovakia this morning, and for me with some tears and sadness. After the wonderful time and great connection we had in Budapest, we were a bit unsure about Slovakia. We had concerts in Kosariska, and Bratislava. We stayed in Vrboche which is an absolute adorable little mountain town. The people there were so hospitable and it was so joyous to stay there! Most of the host families spoke no English, including Karen and I's. I'll share a little bit about our stay there as it was probably my favorite part of the trip so far.

So we get paired up with our hosts, and of course the lady who we go with, speaks no English. "Oh well", I thought, "I am down for charades." So we leave the church with our luggage and she grabs her bike, "oh, we're walking...." Its dark, we're in a foreign country, with a lady we don't know who we cannot speak to. So we follow her down the streets until she finally enters a gate of a cute green house. We go in the door, and are greeted by a precious old man who has a great warm smile. We also see a younger boy - close to our age and gave a sigh of relief when he spoke English. "Grandson," he said. "I am here to translate for you."

I was so thankful. They bring our bags upstairs, and tell us to come down for dinner. It is probably 9:00pm or later, but Dorina (host mom), made us a ton of food anyway. We were able to talk to them, learn some Slovak, and they asked questions about us. It was so great to be able to really talk to them, and get to know their culture. They welcomed us in their home and we shared in some traditional Slovak traditions and food. It was seriously such a fun and crazy night. The family was really funny, and we definitely laughed a lot. Karen and I went to bed going, um... what just happened? We LOVE Slovakia! Dorina kept telling us "eat everything", "eat more" and to be kind, I kept shoving in more food. It was seriously God's grace in letting all that food fit in my belly. Not sure how it happened.
It was fun to see some of the English phrases that Martin (grandson) knew. "Bon apetite" which is not English, and "bottoms up." It was also great because he said his grandpa was a boss, and he knew what a bro fist was.
Martin also helped us learn some Slovak, such as ďakujem - which is thank-you, and dobrú noc (goodnight), and dobrý (good). He also taught us ano (yes) and nie (no) which he later said after we refused more by using nie, "I should not have learned you 'nie'." It was so funny! It was great watching Paul (host dad) and Dorina's face light up when we used the Slovak phrases. Except Dorina also made fun of us because we said dakujem a lot because we didn't know much else... :)

We wake up the next morning to another huge meal - bread, cheese, meat, kava (coffee), cukar (sugar), chai (tea), more bread, and tons of sweets. I seriously am going to gain so much weight here I feel like. I do not go hungry.
But anyway it was so great visiting with them and getting to know them more. Paul had the greatest smile, especially when he was laughing at us. Saying goodbye this morning was very hard. We took pictures together, and gave hugs and kisses (like the classy cheek kind (: ), and Dorina kept holding my hand or would link arms with us, and kept touching my hair and cheek. It was so motherly and kind. Martin said she was so glad to have met us. We gave her the typical host gifts including a card, and she put the card on her shelf with the family heirlooms and whatnot, saying we were a part of the family, and up with the family forever. She also gave us these corn-husk dolls that she makes, which are a Slovakian tradition. (Saw lots of them at the markets.) I was so blessed that God could show himself through these people. I truly felt a part of  their family, they were so kind, but I could not even communicate without Martin. We did not even sing a concert in their church, but it was so great to feel like I belong even though I am very far away from home. I will remember them forever in my hearts, as Dorina asked us.

So I will hopefully tomorrow write about the time in Hungry, as well as the concert in Bratislava. It was so amazing it deserves its own post. God has been so good and faithful on this trip, and this is just a very small piece of what he has done!

We are a part of their family

My Slovak family!

Here I go....

Hey everyone! My trip is finally here!
I am literally sitting in the airport, I can see my plane that will take me to Germany. I am so excited for all we will experience. I can't even imagine the ways God could use us on this trip!

Hopefully I can keep you all updated on how things are going. You can check here or on my Tumblr, I'll probably update both (we'll see how great the wi-fi is), but primarily here!

So for those of you prayer warriors, here are some things to pray for!

1. Pray for safety in travel
2. Pray for spiritual warfare that we may encounter. Lots of European countries practice cult worship etc.
3. A few students are a bit sick, pray for their health and the good health of other students!
4. For God to move in people's lives
5. For opportunity to share our faith, unhindered, and without fear.
6. I have to learn the programs for my summer job... Just that I have time and ability to learn it well.  Also just for the transition from Europe to my summer job, I start the day after I get back, and have to have the program learned by then!
Thank-you everyone for your support and your love. Soon I will be across the world!

To the glory and praise of God!

Prague, Czech Republic - one of our stops on the Tour

The Pitfalls of Moralism

So I know I don't usually get on shaky ground, but I feel like this has been on my heart and I want to share it.
Moralism. Something I've been learning about in class, and from observing around me. People tend to make all these positive statements about themselves as if to prove to themselves that they are a good person and okay. "I've got this," "I am confident." I would ask them, "Are you really? How is the power of your self helping you?"

No, I'm not just a cynic - but the reality is, the world and people that God created have become corrupted because of sin, and we can't do good on our own.  Jesus says this, and I don't think enough Christians really take this seriously. John 15:4-5 says

"Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing."

 Because of our sin, we can do nothing on our own. But through the power of the Spirit, we can do whatever is in God's will. Our problem however is that we think we can do so many things. After a bad test, we say, well, I can study harder next time. I can do better. But according to Jesus in this passage we can't. When we try to do things in our own will, we don't get very far.

"The Christian life is what you do when you finally realize you can do nothing." - Dallas Willard

And don't get me wrong, I find myself trying to do things on my own power just about every day. I spent the greater part of my job last summer thinking I was a superhero out to save souls. But God kept reminding me that it was his hand working in those youth to change their life, not me. It is so easy, we want all the glory, but it is God's alone. That is the purpose of John the Baptist's ministry - to point other to the come one, Christ, who would redeem the people of their sin.

Paul warns us of this, and also encourages us through it. Check out Romans, especially chapter 8. He begins by saying "there is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." We are not condemned for our sin and times we messed up, but "For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do" (v3). So God knows that our flesh is weak, so that's why he died on the cross, so we can live a life of the Spirit, abiding in the vine.

"For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace... Those who are in the flesh cannot please God." (Rom. 8:4-8)

But the good news is that we are no longer in the flesh but in the Spirit, and believers have the Spirit living in them. So we can do good, but not by the power of our own self, the flesh. And through the Spirit we are sons of God, and the Spirit bears witness to that.

Jesus did not die on the cross for us to do righteous and good works. Jesus died on the cross to redeem our sinful nature so that we can learn to love him. If you are a Christian and struggle by your conscious telling you to do good works, let that go. Instead, seek Christ, live by his Spirit, and these things will be the byproduct.
Next time you find yourself entangled in sin, do not let guilt and shame get the best of you - rather seek Christ and find love in your sin, for it is sin that turns God's children back to himself. I dare say, don't shy away from sin, if you're only going to let it set a moralist pattern. Instead, find grace despite and within your sin.

This is why many people fear ritualistic acts in the church - because it becomes a cycle of doing an act instead of loving the God the act was created for. Ritualism can creep into any areas of our life if we let it. Ask the Spirit to be a part of your everyday life. Spend time in centering prayer focusing on him and opening yourself to him and see how your life will be transformed. I think this is what Paul is getting at in Romans 12:2: "Do not be conformed to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." Let the spirit transform and renew your heart.

So how do you know if you are a moralist? First, their conscience acts as a moral tutor with the response "I'll do better." They use truth that leads to conviction, which leads to shame (something is wrong with me), which then leads to guilt (as fear).  This then leads to the neurotic self talk and feelings of moral failure where people use obedience as an antidote to shame, guilt, and moral failure.
However, a healthy conscience is a tutor to Christ. They take the truth which leads to pangs in conscience and feelings of guilt, shame, and moral failure, but instead use healthy self talk to lead them to Christ and confession.  Healthy self talk looks like this: "I don't want in my own power to keep the will of God to deal with shame and guilt. I cannot do it in my own power." From here, this person decides they don't want to hide or cover their sin, but confess it and open their arms to forgiveness and freedom.
The bottom line from this is that obedience (moralism) is not the answer to guilt and shame which we all feel from sin.

My dear brothers and sisters, take this to heart and open your spirit to the Holy Spirit's work in your life. Drink from the living water and run into the embrace of your Savior, for nothing is greater.

I hope this all makes sense and was not condemning in any manner. I aim to write as God has been teaching me. Believe me, if I knew how to not be a moralist, I wouldn't write this. And I would love more discussion on this, whether here or in person. I don't have all the answers. God bless!

Great thanks to Dr. Phillip Bustrum from Cornerstone University, Dr. John Coe from Biola Universtiy, Dallas Willard

Going to Europe

Jehovah Jireh

Jehovah Jireh, my God provides!

God has literally done a miracle. The money for my Europe trip was due yesterday, but God did some serious provision work.

As of Friday before our mini-tour weekend, I needed $2,038.50. (Or something like that). What seems to human hearts as something impossible to raise in two weeks. But God showed me how he is bigger.
This weekend our Choir went on a mini weekend tour around lower Michigan with stops in Luddington, Charlotte, Lansing, and Hudsonville. And from the very moment we walked off that bus into Luddington High school for our first gig, God was working. I'll tell the story of Mr. Parker and what happened in Luddington later, but first I want to explain my money situation.

So the first night we stayed in Luddington and my cousin Karen and I were visiting with our host family. They were a great family with two younger girls. It was great to get to know them more. The next morning though, we had to leave and as we were leaving, they handed me a check for $400!
I shared this huge praise with our director and he was excited for me as well!

The next day was Sunday, and my mom called me to tell me that someone handed er a check at church, another said a check was on the way. Awesome! But then my mom shared that I needed money in a very short time frame as a prayer request in her Sunday school class - and someone decided to anonymously donate the rest of my tour funds! It was literally a miracle and I was in tears when she told me.

Just earlier that week, I had decided that I was probably not going and didn't want to get my hopes up. Then the speaker in chapel that Wednesday, the speaker said something along the lines of "I know you got money troubles, but don't give up - you go get it, and get it to win!" It kind of put me in my place and I felt God was saying to me, "why are you giving up?" Then that weekend all my funds were provided.

I tell this story to not only say how grateful I am for generous people, but for how grateful I am that God moved in hearts of people, and provided for me to go on a trip HE has called me to go on!
Since then, I had a few more donations as well, enough to cover my cost and a little left over to help others. Also this is probably more exciting yet, all 30 of the chorale members raised money in similar ways, that are only by the mighty provision of the Lord! He is so good, and called us to go, and so we are rejoicing because we have the opportunity to do the Lord's work in Europe!

Praise Him today for he is Yahweh, Jehova Jira, El Shadai. (Lord, the God who provides, and God with us).

Just some words I needed to hear in my time of need:
²⁷ And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?^[a] 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, ²⁹ yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. (Matthew 6:27-29)

And our theme passage for this tour:

My heart is steadfast, O God,
    my heart is steadfast!
I will sing and make melody!
     Awake, my glory!^[b]
Awake, O harp and lyre!
    I will awake the dawn!
 I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples;
    I will sing praises to you among the nations.
 For your steadfast love is great to the heavens,
    your faithfulness to the clouds.

 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens!
    Let your glory be over all the earth!

(Psalm 57:7-11)

Europe!

Hey everyone!
I am on to a new and different endeavor which you can help with.
As some of you may know, I am raising money to go to Europe!
This is a great opportunity for me to go with my choir and to share our music and God’s love with people in Europe.  This tour is 17 days long, happening this upcoming May. We are going to 5 countries including: Hungary, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, and Slovakia.  There are about 35 of us in my choir going on the trip, and we are excited about the great opportunities we have.  In past shorter tours, God has tremendously used our music ot touch people, and we believe he will do it again, despite the language barriers, and cultural barriers of a different country.  Never underestimate the power of God!

There are two ways I need help.
1. Prayer (James 4). Prayer is huge! We need people to pray for donors, for the trip itself, and the prep work that we will do this semester.
2. Financial Support. It would be awesome if anyone would be able to to donate. Any amount helps, but if you’d like to support a day for $202, or half a day for $51, that would be awesome!
If anyone happens upon this and are interested, please email me at rachel.woolard@cornerstone.edu and I would love to talk to you more/ I will put more info on here when I get a chance.
Thanks and God bless!

Budapest, Hungary, one of our stops on the trip.