Contagion

Despite the fact that I slept in this morning (and felt like a total loser because I sent everyone in my phone a text that goes to TXC reminding them to set their clocks back!) and that it was pouring down rain, we had a blast at Silvercity! I absolutely love being able to be one of the pastors at TXC. One of the biggest reasons is freedom. Let me explain:

#1 - I can just be myself. What you see on the stage is who I am. I'm not really sure how to have a preacher voice. I'm not good at being fake cause as soon as I do, everything falls apart. I had an extremely funny joke for this morning but I pulled it last minute cause I don't think that telling fabricated jokes is really my thing. I may do it once in a while, but not regularly. I just love the fact that I can just do my thing and that the rest of the leadership team doesn't expect me to act a certain way

#2 - I love the music. Dave is such a skilled guitar player/vocalist that he can do songs that I would never imagine playing. I led worship at our sending church for 5+ years and I wouldn't even attempt some of the stuff that Dave does. In fact, Dave is so good, that I haven't had a craving to lead worship ONCE since starting TXC. I'm fully confident in his style and ability to lead that I never get antsy when he leads. I love the fact that my brother beats the snot out of the drums every week and every week, without fail, he gets compliments on his playing. I love the fact that we can turn it up pretty loud and people are still asking us to turn it up!

#3 - There is no dress code. This may seem like a piddly thing to some, but to me it huge. I just think that when there is an unspoken rule that pastors dress up to go to church and that if you aren't the best dressed in the room you won't get respect, people who are disconnected from Jesus and the church that are in attendance pick that stuff up. It's out in plain view. And from my standpoint, what you wear should have nothing to do with whether or not people respect you. I thought the fact that Dave wore a hat while leading worship was great. It showed him as relaxed and real.

#4 - People that are older than me are showing interest and actually enjoying themselves. (notice I didn't say "old people"!). This is so needed because they bring wisdom and a balance to our demographic. Naturally, just by our music style and the way we communicate, we cater more to young adults, young married and younger families. To be honest, I was a little nervous at first to see if people that were 20+ years older than me could follow my leadership. I'm honored that those that have stuck around are able to do that.

#5 - We love Jesus and we aren't ashamed to scream it out. I had a comment today from a first time guest that they loved how practical, real, bible based and straight to the point the message was today. I've heard comments in the past from people who say they love how the lyrics to our songs are Jesus centered and that they can really tell the band doesn't perform but rather worships. We made the call from the beginning that we would be centered around Jesus. Not self help. Not deep theological ideas that normally lead to arguments rather than positive outcomes. Jesus. Without Jesus, our faith is useless. We actually don't have a faith. The second Jesus stops being the focus, we're done. The second that we start to think that we can fix people with our own little self help remedy, we're done. It's all about Jesus and I'm stoked that we have the freedom to preach his life altering message with clarity and boldness.

The best days are yet to come and I'm stoked that I get to be in the same raft as the rest of you TXCers!