This was a very special Sunday.  We had the opportunity to hear from our Student Ministries Pastor, Tommy Morelock, and several students who served on the Mexico mission trip.  Through video and testimonies, they shared their experiences and how it challenged them personally. Thanks to Tommy and all his leaders for coordinating such a great trip. continue reading »

I’ve recently purchased a new computer for my recording studio.  Of course when you do this, you’ve got to update software and jump through a million different technical hoops (which I did!).  A lot of my recent vacation time was spent staring (with tears in my eyes) at software company’s websites and on the phone with tech’s from Apple, Digidesgn and Sweetwater. I’m glad to say that continue reading »

Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.

(from Isaiah 40)

continue reading »

“Morning by morning, new mercies I see”

Our worship theme this morning continued with our theme from last week:  God’s faithfulness.  Musically, we began with the song “Famous One”, reminding us  “the heaven’s declare His glory and His name is great throughout earth”.  How’s that for a reputation! continue reading »

We began the morning with a large vocal ensemble singing a new arrangement of “The Star Spangled Banner”.  I want to thank Patty Thompson for directing and rehearsing this group.  They did a stellar job!  The ensemble help lead us in worship with an “unplugged” band (acoustic piano, violin & bass).  Together, we sang songs of God’s provision and faithfulness to us.  We began with continue reading »

Through music and words, we gave thanks for God’s unending love and grace.  Kuttless’ song “Taken By Love” helped set the tone of our worship, stating that are hearts are taken by His love and His grace.  The next song proclaimed who He is and that He is worthy of all Glory (Glory to God by Fee). The song “Your Grace is Enough” hopefully gave us great encouragement!  We also sang Matt Redman’s “You Alone Can Rescue”.  We closed the service with the Desperation Band’s “Rescue”, proclaiming that we are captured by God grace!  Tommy Morelock gave a great message this morning.  Please check it out at riveroaks.org!

This Sunday, Tim spoke on the kind of sincere worship that God desires.  For this service we felt that the our worship time would work best after the message.  Tim’s message was a great prep for worship.  We began with Matt Redman’s “Heart of Worship” (lyrics:  I’m coming back to the heart of worship, and it’s all about You, Jesus). We continued with “Here I Am to Worship”, “Holy is the Lord”, “You Alone Can Rescue” (Matt Redmen) and closed with “Worshiping You”.  I encourage you to re-listen to Tim’s sermon (riveroaks.org) to prepare your heart for our future corporate worship times, as well as your own personal times of worship.

We began this service with Chris Tomlin’s “Sing, Sing, Sing”.  It’s a great song that asks the question: “Why would we NOT worship our God”?  It encourages us to not hold back our worship (turn it up!).  We continued with Robbie Seay’s “Song of Hope” and Tomlin’s “God of This City”.  Next we introduced a new song for River Oaks, “You Alone Can Rescue”, by Matt Redman.  This is a great song of hope and grace.  I’m sure this will be a ROCC favorite.  We closed the service with a song we used to sing a few years ago, “We All Bow Down”.  I’m not sure who’s recorded it, but I’m sure it’s on itunes & Amazon (and others).

I’m currently reading through Proverbs.  It’s all there: wisdom, a guide for life, a refresher in common sense. Even if you don’t profess to be a Christian (or Jewish,..), following the principals of this book is the key for successful living.  It seems easy, doesn’t it?  I wish it was. There are a lot of things we get hung up on in these chapters:  greed, lust, poor vs rich… Unfortunately, even the writer of this book (Solomon) found it hard to follow later in his life.  Take a look through Proverbs.  Find wisdom (and act upon it)!

I’m “back in the saddle again”.  I couldn’t decide if I should use a Gene Autry or an Aerosmith picture (they both have a song “Back in the Saddle”). Great week off, but great to be back at ROCC. We kicked off a new teaching series this week on “the Minor Prophets”.  During our worship, we sang songs that declared God as King of all things, that He is powerful, unchanging and everlasting!  Songs included:  “Praise to the Lord the Almighty”, “Everlasting God”, “Marvelous Light” and “From the Inside Out”.  We closed with the wonderful hymn “Have Thine Own Way”.