blogging is apparently difficult

Thought i missed a few days. pfff, it’s been more than a month. My schedule isn’t crazy, dunno why i’m not here. I think i might make this more of a journal again cuz the pen and paper have faded. I don’t have much to report other than the excitement i have for a possible mega ACF church plant in Philadelphia. Start the countdown. Two years until We take over Philly for Jesus. Pray that God opens up doors and the floodgate can be opened for souls to come back to him and for Philly to get turned on its head. The possibilities are endless!

2 completely different church services

So my worship job is done. Most of my blogs now will be devoted to cool messages i’ve heard, lessons i’ve learned, or questions i have posed. I have a few of those from my current road trip with Keith Hodge. I am doing my typical stay with friends for free in cities in the south. I am in Charlotte and visited two churches this morning.

One. Ephesus Church. Small building with stain glassed windows. Maybe 35 people there total. Solid worship. Message regarding Honestly. It is not possible to be sort of honest. Once you are dishonest, it takes an immeasurable more amount of honesty to ever make up for it. Maybe you are possibly no longer a honest person once you have been dishonest. Praise God that he forgives.  I found myself also continuing to prove that love is a choice and not an emotion. God is involved in choices. He is in the business of that if you let him. God has less control over emotions. Heck, we have less control over emotions. This is why love is a choice. Because if it were up to our emotions, we would go back on love all the time or become dependent on the emotional high. I compare this to joy. God doesn’t demand happiness. it is an emotion. Happiness is not essential to life. But joy is. Joy is demanded by God. and we must also choose that. Like. Love. and Happiness. Joy. Think on it.

Two. Elevation Church. Huge mega church. has 8 services per sunday at three different locations. We were not lucky enough to have the pastor on site today. It was a video sermon. Interesting. I will say this about elevation. there production is unparalleled. The songs were executed flawlessly. Exactly like the CD from which the songs came from. The videos were professionally done and were weaved into the service numerous times perfectly. I could listen to their worship team for hours. I was amazed today. The message was not given by the controversial lead pastor, but rather, his wife, because of mother’s day. It was on purity to an extent. I liked a few things that were said today. with regard to purity the concept is to”protect the investment God has made in me.” I like how that was said. Often times we are concerned with the burdens that are on us. We cry out “why” all the time. Not the point. She encouraged us to stop focusing on the Why because God never fully answers why he has placed a burden on you anyway. Not in the moment anyway. The point is what. what is next? what is God trying to teach you? What will you do differently next time? what do you really believe in?

Two different services. questions posed. stuff learned. Great to worship in the congregation again. That’s what I got today.

Keep trying to learn from the messages you are hearing while challenging the parts you don’t like or understand. Critical ears that don’t follow up are stupid ears. I have been that for too long. It’s time to actually challenge what i hear and so far, it has been great. God bless.

4 years in the making…

that’s it. I’m done now.

The last ACF service I will ever lead in worship was on Sunday. A lot of emotions. It was teh saddest part of leaving college. But it happens, and I am now officially done. My blog will continue, but will be more focused on random things, my life, or continued thoughts on worship or music. I hope to stay in touch via this blog and the telephone to those of you who desire to.

But this chapter is now in the books. I had an absolute blast. My 5th year here at Penn State was my best by far. Thanks to all of you for making that possible. I love you dearly. God Bless.

New songs

I wanted to post a few youtube clips of some new songs we have done

“You Won’t Relent” -  I heard this song done at a small church called Ephesus in Charlotte, NC…Thanks Laci!

“Let me sing” – I heard of Todd Fields name because i was looking into worship leaders at big churches, and obviously North Point Community Church in Atlanta, GA came up

“Our God is love” – the regular rock version we do of this can be found on lee mcderment’s purevolume. I thought this was a cool piano version

“All things new” – one of the numerous Elevation Church Worship songs we did this year

Senior Year…the first one

What’s better than one senior year? two. i will start with the first one, of course:

• Second year living in the Mount
• roomates: Kenny Hiser, Adam Hoff, Mike Webb, Keith Hodge, Dave Mosemann, and for the fall- Mark Huey
• This was the best year living at the mount, i love those guys!
• throwing the greatest Halloween party every, or at least a party i spent the most time preparing for ever
• to be specific, mike webb and I snuck out to the tailgate fields at night and yoinked a whole roll of trash bags so that we could lace the mount with them.
• Adam hoff and I wore black spandex and wrapped ourselves in glowstickes (which was way more difficult than we thought) and we came down as “crazy” in honor of Mark Huey
• Went to Michigan with Kenny Hiser, Mark Huey, and Kevin Robinson, maybe my best road trip to a game yet, stellar guys, had fun, sucked we lost
• Began assisting leading worship on sunday morning with the great Becky Zerr
• missed a bulk of the fall retreat, first since freshman year
• became close friends with Mr. President, Keith Hodge. he is awesome
• Webb had an idea to have Samie M. paint a mural of the PSU logo and the font spelling the Mount, which was quite possibly the coolest thing ever
• We threw more parties: back to school party, halloween, Christmas/ Post banquet(which the Mounties came down in santa boxers, black belt, white tee, santa hat, and candy cane to the song “all i want for christmas is you” by mariah carey), The Jamacain me independent, man party, and the end of the year party
• Met the hilarious Sharon Byrne. Began working on Loryn Way and Keith Hodge becoming a couple, and made Justin Kerekes a 5th wheel as much as possible
• We all went on a legendary road trip down south to meet my infamous best friend, Jordan Spillane, who was indeed shrouded in mystery. This shroud was not lifted after they met  him, only verified
• We went to a skillet concert in greensville SC, and hung out in Columbia SC, as well as stopped in for dinner at Charlotte, NC at Rock Bottom where Sharon discovered a quarter in her drink. crazy
• Loryn Way was the most gullible person i know, she would get set up for “that’s what she said” moments constantly, only to not notice this patter, she produced the single worst one i have ever heard. halirous, but cannot be repeated here
• Went on a Senior Week Trip to the Outer banks with this cast of characters: Lauren Mcnally, Samie M, Adam Hoff, Kathleen, Tim, K-rob, Mike Webb, Ashley S, Karin, Beth, Becky, Edith, and Kenny Hiser. There’s drama no matter what you do, so all considered, this was a great trip. It was a sweet house we got thanks to Samie M. it had a hot tub, pool, bar, grill, was great
• We played croquet on the beach in the middle of a storm, was wild
• We played bachi ball on the beach. Adam told us the waves couldn’t move the balls. He was wrong, though we believed him even as the waves were pulling the balls in. he yelled, “run” we got the point….we lost a ball, however.
• Frisbee Golf became a hit. Adam, Mike, and I designed the course some of you have come to know and love the summer before this year. after an “incident” which won’t be repeated
• Justin K road with me to my interview to Charlotte, NC with the Bobcats. We designed another frisbee golf course on the campus of the University of South Carolina. have played it 3 times since.

First Senior year in the books…..

…and i stare the end of my second in the face, a week away. it’s crazy how time works. I encourage you all to write down what you rememer of your years as well, It helps to not forget the awesome times you’ve had, or cool things that you have endured through. It all will be over soon, you can’t slow it down. Penn State is a great place. no matter what kind of person you are. It has been a blessing to me. One more year to record.

Junior Year and counting

This tends to be the year I forget the most, so we will see what happens!

• The first year out of the dorms
• The first year I moved into the Mount
• Roomates: Kenny Hiser, Nate Reed, Chris Wilburn, Mike Breza, and Pete Emerick
• Playing call of Duty 3 with pete, harrison, and Mike constantly – capture the flag at verdun
• Became close friends with Adam Hoff and Mike Webb
• Went to Ohio State for football game with Pete
• Weekly Sunday Mount meetings began, as a house we met once a week to openly discuss grievances, how we’ve been doing, and we prayed for each other
• I perfected the chicken quesadilla
• Spring break: went on road trip with Adam Hoff. first to Nashville, TN. drove straight through the night. then to middle of no where SC to stay at a cabin on a lake. It was awesome. I love road trips and this one was top 3. broke into tennis courts, had dinner at blues bar, hiked trails in sight of waterfalls, relaxed, battled through the wretched state of Kentucky, and conquered the hills on Georgia.
• Started playing basketball every monday with Breza and Pete.
• Became great friends with Kelly. then too good of friends. then not really friends.
• Became friends with Ashley Sakenas
• Started to enjoy running outside often
• Ended up staying the summer in state college after this year to work at Ruby Tuesday. Good times….slow times, but good times
• Met the freshman: Dan Zecher, Mitch Hershey, Adam Jepson, and Ben Roberts….that’s when i knew ACF could recover from losing guys like Mike Breza, Pete Horning, Nate Reed etc.
• Loved every second of listening to Becky Zerr laugh
• Also loved the fact that the Mount was like the central location for anything that went down
• First year I co-led a small group with Amy Henning
• Anthony Barlich is the freaking man
• Getting to Christmas break and realizing I was just then only half way done. Good and bad news. haha.

Apparently, I just can’t remember this year, I guess I didn’t like it too much. In general I remember enjoying it, but when it comes to specific memories, less comes to mind.

addendum to sophomore year

• Road trip to Michigan with Nate Reed, Brian Blanchard, and John Smock. great game, should have one it. those two seconds will haunt me for the rest of my life. I hate michigan with everything in me
• Going to Samie Messerly’s with Mike Webb and a bunch of us watched the Orange bowl and celebrated in the hot tub, with stoagies, how could i forget that!?

Sophomore year…weird spelling

Oh Sophomore year, how you stand out, here’s what i got on you:

• Living in the E-wing with Joe Z again.
• We lived in the deaf kid room at the end of the hall with the button (fun fact, so then did Dave Hine, Chase Miller, and now Kenny Wu)
• Forming the Trifecta of Excellence with Pete Emerick and Harrison Lee
• Playing at rock invasion on a big stage on the HUB lawn
• My first Fuax Hawk
• Meeting Matt Case or should I say, “Raul” at the first Mount Party
• Getting to the IM basketball championship. They gave us shirts for losing
• Having a crush on my first Goddard. Met Courtney at NAVS bowling night. it was fling at first sight
• Drove her home for one weekend, convinced her I had two brothers that died of cancer, hilarious few seconds for me
• Follow this: Harrison liked Simone. I like Courtney. Courtney didn’t like Simone. Because I liked Harrison, I would want to be around him while i was with courtney and He around simone, thus, they overcame their original thoughts for each other and became best friends…ie. Harrison and I made that happen. Love us or Hate us
• Courtney and Simone liked us and then took it back at the same time, thus Harrison and I bonded, we spooned as we watched the ACC football championship in my bed
• Trifecta was funniest part of ACF, and best looking, yea, I said it
• By end of year, (i like to think cuz Harrison and I), Pete Emerick was freaking hilarious
• God miraculously healed my father from his death bed due to prayer
• Countless nights iether hanging out in Kristen Burkharts room or Kate Flemmings room just talking
• Played electric guitar for ACF a lot, playing with Pete Horning was awesome
• Adam Hoff and I first starting talking. It was awkward, but eventually grew into a great friendship
• The freshman I met with because I thought I could be a mentor: Kyle Horst, Anthony Junod, and Matt Case (yea, as if i could have helped, what solid guys!)
• I told Anthony not to pursue Christy Cannon towards the end of the year because dating over the summer is tough (don’t ever listen to me on relationship advice/ they did break up at one point because the summer was hard, so i’m half not an idiot)
• I was officially not an engineer anymore
• We ambushed the freshman class with snowballs because they used Facebook as an open method to say where to meet
• Mike Webb single-handedly pulled me out of depression, thank you
• Kelly Goddard became a very close friend of mine
• My first experience of no class on Fridays, awesome
• Joe and I had the sweetest room set up ever
• Throwing soda cans out the window as hard as we could to watch them explode
• eating at Redifer all the time because I could
• I cuddled with Allie Hemphill, she is confusing. i miss her
• Playing football at guys night before the PSU Ilinois game. It was sweet till the girls showed up, haha.

I think that’s all i got. crazy year, learned a lot. generally enjoyable. I will never forget good times with Harrison and Pete. They made that year for me.

Freshman Year

Looking back, here’s what I remember:

• Chilling with roomate Joe Zimmerman, most laid back guy I know.
• Ry Brainard and Andrew Rice always making me laugh
• Tener Hall, Lifehouse baby
• intimidated of everybody and everything
• Andrew Rice calling his mom at East Commons to ask if Macaroni was ok for his stomach
• Steve Wysz single handedly got me through Math 140 and 141
• riding bikes to class in the snow, while my coffee spilled onto my hand and then froze in the -10 degree weather
• Playing touch football because i was too much of a panzi to play tackle against bigger guys
• The short walk to the stadium for football games
• First PSU game, bunch of us Tener guys painted our chest for the game, we arrived and thought the the seats printed on the tix didn’t mean anything and it was first come first serve. we were seperated and it was rather chaos. A man yelled at me. Todd saved the day and eventually we ended up together, just further up
• Trying to maintain a long-distance highschool girlfriend that I was “convicned I was going to marry” (idiot)
• Meeting ACF legends Mike Breza, Pete Horning, Allie Hemphill, and Mariko.
• Practically tackling Spencer after the first ACF to ask if i could ever be involved in worship team.
• Asking Karin the first week how long she had been a Christian as awkwardly as possible
• Meeting Peter Emerick and Harrison Lee, having them hate me at first, only for us to become best friends and dominate spring semester together.
• Samie Messerly slept in my bed, while i was in it. There, I said it. I feel better now. Andrew Horvath doesn’t read my blog anyway
• Pete Horning was there for me during my break up
• Organizing a volleyball team only to miss the meeting and not get to play any games
• Bible study with Morgan Forney through NAVS two floors away, best study i’ve ever been a part of.
• Going through Fellowship shopping week only to realize ACF was home for me, I never made it to Cru on thursday
• Studying way too much because I was convinced i had to and it was the most important thing ever
• Coming to the glorious idea that Engineering sucks, so i got out.
• Signing a contract to work at Summer’s Best Two Weeks for my summer employment
• Leading the Orange team at the Spring retreat. There were 4 teams. each had 14 people. We were small.
• Realizing that we were the biggest class ACF has ever seen.
• I was in Amy Henning’s small group.
• Played Mafia with the other bazillion freshman in somebody’s dorm like every weekend
• Playing Halo with like 12 people at a time on the 9th floor
• Had small crush on Sarah Fugate. That worked out for me, ha.
• Was a part of the first white out against ranked Purdue. We almost won.
• Was a part of the 6-4 loss to Iowa. (oh Iowa,  you will come back to haunt me)
• Dumped on Easter. Went to Tim kutch’s with random people, including Adam Hoff’s hair…wild
• Hung out with Amanda Thompson a lot, introduced me to Kelly Goddard, soon to be super close friend
• Watched Villanova get shafted against UNC at Aaron Myers cabin (it wasn’t a travel)
• Pete Horning began teaching me electric so could prepare to play for ACF
• For guys retreat, we went to Tyrone and Karl, Pete and I demolished a deck for community service, it was awesome. I met the Egli’s, little did i know…
• Fresh Express, best wraps

That’s all I can remember, One down. Four to go.

I think i plum forgot…

It’s the truth. When life at PSU is coming to an end and i have to worry about a job and whatnot, I just forgot about the ole blog. Well a lot has happened. We had a retreat. Which was the best retreat i have been on and I have been on 9. It was at a new location: The Golden Pond. Other than a little crammed, It was such a stellar weekend. God was breaking people down to eventually lift them up. I could not be more proud of the worship team and all the time and effort they poured into this thing. It went pretty well and I feel like some people were set free in worship for the first time. It was the best response to worship i have been a part of in 5 years. God was exploding in that room and I believe he had the right people there that weekend. Family time was freaking incredible, i’ve never seen so many people share; and share some very hard things, some vulnerable things. We talked about community and choosing life all weekend and ACF certainly responded. I think real community is about to begin. I think we will now start witnessing the body of Christ at work, how it should be. I’ve never felt as close to this place and at peace with where we are at as a fellowship. I am so excited for those that will still be here next year. I have seen the next wave of ACF and it is good. really good. I still have remnants of being emotional. I have slowed down. I’m listening to God a lot more. I’m attempting to be sensitive to the spirit. We have had great worship times in the weeks following. I am very blessed. I love you all, dearly. I can only hope to soak up everything in my last month. Praise God. He is at work and He is very real.