My First JP Experience
I had the chance to visit John Piper’s church for the first time last night. Well over a 1000 people in attendance, the service was filled with worshipers. The service was based off of Titus 3:1-8, and for the most part, was a rich and stimulating sermon. What caught my attention and what I think impacted me the most from last night’s worship experience wasn’t the profoundness of the sermon, but what I would consider to be a “lack of” imagery with the service.
For example, typically I choose backgrounds to support the song lyrics on the screen during corporate worship. JP’s church intentionally left them out. Where I would have considered using a stage prop and sermon illustration to help in communicating the theme of the message, JP’s church intentionally left them out. And for the joy in attempting this style of communication, where I normally would choose an image to support my blog, this time I’ve intentionally left it out.
I’ve been told to watch a sermon by JP entitled “The Gravity of Gladness” and that this sermon would help to shed some light on the intentionality behind using not having an image driven worship experience. I’ll certainly set out to watch it.
I guess my point here is that even with the same value system, that of creating an environment for people to worship God, the path taken and the tools used are completely different than mine, or atleast so I think at this point! 
Would I go back? Absolutely!
Winter Break Vacation
This week, between New Year’s and Christmas, I’m taking the week off. My church has allowed me to take a break from organizing our worship gathering this weekend, and because of that, I’ve going up with Anna to help some friends of ours in our old town with a small youth service on the 30th. My friend Brian is doing all the work! I just get to come and play with the high school students and help lead worship with them. It should be a lot of fun.
When I get back into town, I’ll share my thoughts about our past Christmas season at MVC. God did some really cool things through our Christmas series called “All Bow Down”, and I’m excited to write about them!
So, Happy New Year! Enjoy the holiday!
