BlackBerry Bible Software

When I first heard that Olive Tree had their bible reader available for BlackBerry devices, I immediately got on olivetree.com and downloaded the beta version.

I was already a huge fan of Olive Tree because I used it on my devices with the palm platform and was always very impressed with the user friendly setup which in my opinion was far better than any other bible software available for palm.

First impression of the initial beta install was not pleasant. Somewhat involved and might be

above the average person; however the install guides were great and very detailed.

After a few weeks of use I was somewhat disappointed with the beta version. It was slow and lacking in many of the features that I had loved so much in the palm versions.

After a few months I got notice that the BibleReader 4.0 was available. I honestly probably

wouldn't have upgraded because I was so disappointed with the beta but the saving grace was that I could download it right from the BlackBerry browser. The new version downloaded very quickly and install was a snap.

I opened the application and was pleasantly surprised to see a much faster running and cleaner interface with a host of new features. Now with the ease of accessing the olive tree store right from within the BibleReader, it makes it so much easier to download new bible versions as well as a host of free goodies and other bible resources.

Navigation is amazing and simple and you can set your preferences for font type, color, size, background color, and a plethora of other customizable options.

Overall my expectations have been far exceeded and I couldn't be happier, but that I what I have come to expect from the folks at Olive Tree. They have one of the best products on the market for blackberry and I give it two thumbs up.

I now have three different bible versions, a commentary, and many other resources right at my fingertips at all times.

I highly recommend all Olive Tree Products. They even have an IPhone BibleReader.

For more information go to www.olivetree.com

I hate the "American Dream"

"Jesus looked at him and said, How hard is it for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed; it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven." Matt 19:23-24

I Always thought the story of the rich young ruler was good, but I never really thought that it applied much to me. I never considered myself rich. I grew up lower middle class and still am in that category as an adult.
However my perception changed last week with the realization that in fact I am the rich man spoken of in this section of scripture. The thing is, by American standards I am not rich, but compared to the rest of the world I am extremely wealthy.
I remember when we built a house in Mexico. The ministry we were with hired a local man to come in and serve as job foreman and teach all the "gringo Americans" how to lay brick. They paid him $75 for the whole week. I was a little upset at first when I found this out until I found out that the average weekly income there is half that. He was paid very well by their standards.
I make his weekly wage in three hours of work.
Yes I am the rich man spoken of in the passage.

I see what Jesus was talking about now.

I see how all my "stuff" holds me back from following Christ.

I can't just quite my job and work for free at my church because I have that car payment, and a cell phone bill, and that new mountain bike I wanted. I never realized before just how much the "American Dream" holds you back from serving Christ.

So that is my new challenge as I realize that I am the "rich young man"
"Jesus answered, if you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. THEN COME FOLLOW ME." Matt 19:21

A few thoughts

The last few weeks have been crazy. I really have not been able to just sit and think very much. A few thoughts have formed in my mind. Some challenges from God. I thought I would share them.

First God convicted me that I use him as a good luck charm a lot. I use him as the ace up my sleeve. Having a really consistent prayer life is something that is hard for me. I do good for a while and then I let life's distractions get in the way. This last week I was really busy working for God at the church office and with my worship responsibilities, but I had not really personally just taken the time for Him to connect one on one. He convicted me two nights ago when I was laying in bed. I had two be up for work at 4:30am. I was laying in bed at 2:00am and I was having a hard time getting to sleep so I started praying that God would clear my mind and help me get to sleep and feel rested even on a few hours of sleep. Then in my mind I hear, "You have not talked to me all day and now you want me to help you go to sleep. I am not a good luck charm." I felt sick for a second at the realization of how I have cheapened my prayer life and relationship with God in general. I looked back over the week and found that almost all the prayers were last minute requests for a supernatural intervention to "help me pass this test" " help me get to work on time" They were all focused on me.
I felt so convicted of my small view of God. Like I have any right to go before the God of the universe in all its majesty, knowing who He is, knowing He is all powerful, knowing how much honor He deserves and after pretty much ignoring him I come to him like a whining baby and ask him to give me a good nights sleep or help me pass this test.
This comes from a small view of God, and a big view of self.
I read a quote this week that ties into this. It is by A.W Tozer from his book "The knowledge of the Holy"

"What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. The history of mankind will probably show that no people has ever risen above its religion, and man’s spiritual history will positively demonstrate that no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God. Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God. For this reason the gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like."

The more I study the old testament and the old way that God set up for his worship with the tabernacle, the more I think that Christians today have got it all wrong. You know what happened back then if you had a small view of God. You would die. We have lost the fear of the Lord. We have cheapened Him so much. No wonder he isn't present in most of our church services.
In Malachi God gets in their face about their cheap view of him because they have been bringing defiled animals to sacrifice and saving the best for themselves. In chapter one verse eleven he says,
"My name will be great among the nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to my name, because my name will be great among the nations says the Lord almighty."

God is not sitting in heaven just waiting and hoping for our worship. His worth is not defined by our worship. He is worthy whether or not we worship. If we are not giving Him the worship he deserves, He will leave us and find people who are.

One last thing that I have been thinking about that ties into all this is from the book "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan.
"Isn't it a comfort to worship a God we cannot exaggerate"

How awesome is that. No matter what we can come up with in our minds about God, it still is no match for who He really is. Our minds are not capable of exaggerating God because He is so much better than we can even understand.
Wow!

National Worship Leader Conference Day 4

What a journey this week has been. I feel almost overwhelmed with all I have experienced and learned this week. What a blessing from God this conference has been.
I am now back in Colorado trying to decompress. I am so glad that I took good notes because the whole week has molded into one blob of information.
Some Highlights.
Best Workshop: Steve Berger. I took two of his workshops. One for worship leaders and one specifically for pastors on day four. It was called Above and Beyond the Common: Pastoring with Guts in the 21st Century. Once again Steve laid it all out. He is one of the most gifted and challenging teachers of the word I have ever heard.

Best Worship: This would be three way tie between Matt Redman, Paul Baloche, and Matt Maher. All of them were awesome and there is no way that I could choose one over the other.

Over all Highlight from the trip was the sign language interpreters and deaf worshipers. Sign Language is such a beautiful language and in the context of worship brings you to tears. It was a husband and wife team named Bob and Denise Pfaff. They did such a great job. what an awesome ministry.

On to Thursday:

Worship was awesome for the morning and afternoon sessions We had a guy named Johnathan Butler in the morning and a favorite of mine, Daniel Doss Band in the afternoon.

That was the highlight for the general sessions. Steve Berger's was the only workshop I attended because me and Dan took the afternoon session off to process information and get some thoughts together for Sunday and to get another quick fix from Maudie's before the awesome Texas BBQ provided by one of the members of Riverbend Church. Prime Angus beef briskets, slow smoked all week, slow smoked sausage, and some of the best smoked BBQ chicken I have ever had with all the "fixins" on the side. I would post pictures but I don't want to cause anyone to struggle because of "food lust"

Tommy Walker kicked off the night with some awesome worship.

Me and Dan cut out early because of idol worship that started when Israel Houghton entered the scene.

This is when the real trouble began. Two Coloradans semi lost in Texas, late at night looking for souvenirs. The following is a tour of the chaos in pictures.

National Worship Leader Conference Day 3

This is where my day started. Five hours of blissful sofa sleeper comfort. God provides but never said he would provide a five start hotel. The AC works good so I guess that is all that matters, heck what more can you expect for $30 a night for two people.
Wake up around seven and get ready to go to the "continental breakfast" and grab the two bagels that look most likely to be mold free and the coldest cream cheese package and an apple and I am on my way.

Fast forward 40 minutes and I am sitting in Riverbend enjoying some awesome worship from Drew Cline, Calvin Nowell, and Nia Allen followed by an awesome message from Bishop Joseph Garlington that took us on a journey through Luke 1:26-45. The Bishop is a great story teller who is also able to really get some truth in there. It is said a spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down. In This case it was an awesome guy who accompanied Bishop on the keys with sound effects and musical emphasis that drove home the bishops points.


After the General Session it was off to my first workshop. Shepharding and training of volunteers - loving our lay musicians for who they are, not just what they can do for us
This was an awesome workshop lead by worship leader Laura Story who wrote Indescribable. This was an amazing time of learning how to handle many of the dynamics you encounter with volunteers. So Much good advice.

Lunch was provided by Jason's Deli, Turkey sandwiches. Very tasty. No me and Dan didn't eat all those box lunches. The real number of box lunches we ate is confidential. Dan wanted to show off a picture of his butt for all the world to see. I told him it was going on the blog. Don't think he believed me. He sure does now!


After Lunch it was time for the last workshop of the day. Freedom from the flesh: how to really walk in the spirit Led by Steve Berger. Steve is one of my favorite speakers of all time. He was at the conference last year as a keynote speaker and this year he is leading several different workshops. What I love about him is that he isn't afraid to "bring it" He speaks truths strait from the bible. He uses scripture, not his own words to make all of his points. This is getting more and more rare these days, many "pastors" give their opinion on something and than twist some scripture to back up their opinion. Thank God for guys like Steve Berger who will tell you what you need to hear.

Man this blog is getting long, but if I don't unpack my mind tonight I won't have any room tomorrow to take in more.

After a short break it is back to the main sanctuary for another general session With worship by Rita Springer and a message from Gordon Macdonald that really challenged me on how I approach the people and age groups that I am leading in worship on a weekly basis. It was the kind of advice that you can only get from a man like him 69 with 40 years in ministry. So Much wisdom.

Then it was off for round two at Maudie's Milagro for some more sweet heat courtesy of the Jalapeño Ranch dressing on my fajita taco Salad. Dan has a new addiction called maudie's. Maybe when God calls him to serve full time in Austin he will get to enjoy it much more often.
We Finished the evening with an awesome worship Concert with Don Moen, Kathryn Scott, Gateway Worship, and Lincoln Brewster. What an amazing time to worship and lift up an amazing God.

We finished the night by getting some crack cocaine AKA KrispyKreme. Don't believe me about the crack? just look at that picture of Dan, that should remove all doubt. There are a few more pictures of them producing the KrispyKremes for mass distribution. Got to keep those addicts happy. If you still don't believe me about the drugs, take this into consideration, when we walked up to the counter they gave us each a hot fresh doughnut right of the conveyor belt for free. They say its always free the first time. that is how you get them hooked. Long story short we now purchased a dozen doughnuts which we will consume for breakfast.






It has been a long day and I'm ready for bed.

National Worship Leader Conference Day 2

It is the end of day 2. I am trying to decompress all the information I have taken in today. 12 hours of intense connection with God.

The Tabernacle Experience leaves me feeling humbled and thankful for what Christ did for me. To see how things were done under the old law and to know that only one man was able to approach God only once a year leaves me feeling ashamed that I have taken such a sweet gift for granted.
We really do have it good. Old Testament worship and sacrifice was a messy business.

The Words to the Song Hallelujah your love is amazing have been running through my mind all day

Your love is amazing Steady and unchanging
Your love is mountain firm beneath my feet
Your love is a mystery how you gently lift me
When I am surrounded your love carries me.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Your Love makes me sing
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Your Love makes me sing

Your love is surprising and I can feel it rising
All the joy thats growing deep inside of me
Every time I see You all Your goodness shines through
And I can feel this God song rising up in me.

This is one of my favorite songs. It brings to mind the song I could sing of your love forever. Even if we had nothing to sing about but Gods love. We would never run out of fresh content to sing about. What an amazing God we serve.


On Another note we got to eat dinner at the amazing Maudie's Milagro What I love about it is they are not afraid to add some heat. No Gringos allowed.

National Worship Leader Conference Day 1

Sitting in the beautiful, green rolling hills of Austin Texas, I feel that I am on the edge of something amazing. God is in this place, I can already feel him. I am at the National Worship Leader Conference. It is an amazing example of God's provision that I am here, and not only me but my pastor also. All the things that God has moved into place in the lives of so many to make this trip a possibility blows my mind. I know he wants me here for a reason. I feel that my life will be changed.
I think the main catalyst of that change will be "The Tabernacle Experience"
A Life size replica of Gods temple. Just seeing it from the outside and not even experiencing it yet has me feeling incredibly thankful. Thankful for what Christ did for me. Thankful that I am able to approach God. Thankful that a one time sacrifice was made for me. Humbled by that sacrifice.

I'm ready to meet with God and spend the week worshiping him with no responsibilities, without having to listen to the team in the back of my mind, without having to worry about technical problems, without having to mentally prepare for any other part of the service.

This is going to be sweet.

Thanks dad for helping make this trip a reality, it would not have come together if it wasn't for you.