All posts by mjfelker1980

General, Music, My Life, Playlists

Friday (Play)List: Top 20 Songs Pt 1

To continue with My Life in (Play)Lists series that I started last week I am revealing to you today the list of My Top 20 Favorite Songs. Remeber that episode of Seinfeld where Elaine is dating that guy that is obsessed with the song “Desperado” by the Eagles? That song would come on the radio and he would stop talking, close his eyes, and drift away completely tuning out everything but the song. Yeah, that’s what happens to me whenever these 20 songs are played. I’ll reveal 10 this Friday and 10 next Friday. Enjoy!

1) Beautiful Day / U2 (All That You Can’t Leave Behind)
Out of all the U2 songs out there, this one grabs my attention every time. I love the bass groove that opens the song. When the drums kick in at the chorus I’m gone- you’ve lost me to the music. Love this song so much! I remember listening to it a lot during the first year we were married in our little apartment off campus. The music is only enhanced message of the song’ “What you don’t have, you don’t need it now, It’s a Beautiful Day!” Maybe I can hook a speaker up to my tombstone and blast this song across the cemetery. Forget the Eternal Flame- I’ve got an Eternal Soundtrack!

Favorite Line: “You’ve been all over, And it’s been all over you, It’s a Beautiful Day!”

2) In My Place / Coldplay (A Rush Of Blood To The Head)
From the open drum beat to the first notes on the guitar, In My Place grabs my attention and holds on for 4 minutes. Whenever this song plays I dance. If it comes on in the car, the sunroof opens and the windows roll down. It is just that simple.

Favorite Line: “Singin’ please, please, please, Come back and sing to me. Come on and Sing it out!”

3) Let’s Stay Together / Al Green
I wish I was a great soul singer like the Rev. Green.

Favorite Line: “Since we’ve been together, Wooo, Loving you forever is what I NEEEEEeeeeeddd”

4) In My Place / Coldplay (A Rush Of Blood To The Head)
From the open drum beat to the first notes on the guitar, In My Place grabs my attention and holds on for 4 minutes. Whenever this song plays I dance. If it comes on in the car, the sunroof opens and the windows roll down. It is just that simple.

Favorite Line: “Singin’ please, please, please, Come back and sing to me. Come on and Sing it out!”

5) If I Can Dream / Elvis (’68 Comeback Special)
I’m a big Elvis fan and this is without a doubt the greatest Elvis song in his cannon. Since this is from the ’68 Comeback Special the energy and the passion is turned up to 11. It is so real you can almost feel the heat of the studio lights and the sweat from his brow. Elvis believes every word of this song and he makes you believe it too.

Favorite line: “While I can think, while I can talk, while I can stand, while I can walk, while I can dream… please let my dream… come true.”

6) Shelter From the Storm (Alt Take) / Bob Dylan (Jerry Maguire Soundtrack)
Any true Dylan fan can tell the difference between the album releases and the numerous alternative takes that have been leaked, released, and traded around for years. While I cannot give you any technical reasons this alternative take of Shelter is different the Blood on the Tracks original I can tell you that this is the superior one. This song totally envelops me whenever I listen to it.

Favorite Line: “I bargained for salvation, She gave me a lethal dose.”

7) Won’t Back Down / Johnny Cash feat. Tom Petty (American III)
We live a world that settles for mediocrity. I hate that. When things get tough or the pressure is on we wither and melt. Hearing Cash’s weather-beaten voice is a bit of motivation for this young pup to keep pushing, keeping shipping, and keep standing firm when everyone and everything else settles for less that what they deserve.

Favorite Line: “I know what’s right,I got just one life, In a world that keeps on pushin’ me around, But I’ll stand my ground, And I won’t back down.”

Eight) All These Things I’ve Done / The Killers (Hot Fuss)
Invisible Children used this track for a simple yet powerful video highlighting teens leading the charge and sounding the cry for children in Uganda who were being abducted and forced to serve in illegal armies. I don’t know if it is because of the video or because of the song but I get completely lost inside this song and I still get goosebumps every time I listen. Great song.

Favorite Line: “If you can’t hold on, Hold on.”

9) Fix You / Coldplay (X&Y)
A modern day hymn complete with organ, longing, promises, and reverence. Is there anything about this song that isn’t absolutely perfect.

Favorite Line: “Tears stream down your face, when you lose something you cannot replace.”

10) How He Loves / John Mark McMillian (The Medicine)
Another song that gives me goosebumps. It is worship in the raw and John Mark McMillian dedicates every word to Almighty God. A simple song with simple lyrics suddenly becomes complex and earth-shattering when the implications of these lyrics sink in. Our great and mighty God loves us enough to send his Son to earth to die in our place and offer us real and eternal life. Oh How He Loves!

Favorite Line: “I don’t have time to maintain these regrets when I think about… How He Loves Us!”

My Life

Wild Wednesday

Well, we sold our house and put a contract on another. We have to get everything done, signed, and moved by September 22. Shouldn’t be a problem because it’s only…. SEPTEMBER 1st!?!?!?! WHAT!?!?

Crazy I know! We have had a great 4-5 years in our current home but it is time to move on. After having a baby, we’ve needed a little more elbow room. The house was on the market for the entire summer. The week school started back we were showing it almost everyday and someone decided to make it their home.

We have been extremely blessed in this house. Last night during our High School Bible Study- while I didn’t get weepy- a flood of great memories washed over me. The teens were crammed on the couch while Sandy and I were on the floor and I was eternally thankful for the decisions, relationships, and commitments made and strengthened in this current house.

I am excited about moving and starting new memories in a brand new house. Please be praying for a smooth and easy transition. It is an exciting time for our little family. Movin’ on up!

Life, Music, Playlists

Top 20

Music plays such a big role in my life. Recently I was in Barnes and Noble and I saw a book entitled “Music Listography: Your Life in (Play)Lists.” This book/journal is designed for you to list everything you love about music. Some the lists include “90’s Music,” “Favorite Shows You’ve Seen Live,” and “Musicians You’d Bring Back From the Dead.” When I flipped through the book I knew I just had to have this book and fill it with everything I love about music.

The first two lists in the book call for you to list your Top 20 favorites. Here is my offerings:

Your Top Twenty Favorite Bands– (In no particular order)

U2
Counting Crows
The Police
The Beatles
Coldplay
Dave Matthews Band
Matisyahu
Hillsong United
Ray Lamotagne
David Crowder Band
Bob Dylan
Pearl Jam
Elvis
Led Zeppelin
The Who
Jars of Clay
Muse
Weezer
The Killers
Jack Johnson

Top Twenty Albums You’d Bring If You Were Leaving Planet Earth In a Spaceship (Again, no particular order)

The Joshua Tree (U2)
Achtung Baby (U2)
Dark Side of the Moon (Pink Floyd)
August and Everything After (Counting Crows)
What’s Goin’ On (Marvin Gaye)
Recovering the Satellites (Counting Crows)
Live at Stubb’s (Matisyahu)
Live at Luther (Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds)
X&Y (Coldplay)
Jesus Freak (DC Talk)
Continuum (John Mayer)
In Between Dreams (Jack Johnson)
Fumbling Toward Ecstasy (Sarah McLaughlin)
Illuminate (David Crowder Band)
IV (Led Zeppelin)
Rearview Mirror (Pearl Jam) – I know it’s a Greatest Hits collection. Who cares?
Jars of Clay (Jars of Clay)
Nirvana: Unplugged (Nirvana)
O (Damien Rice)
With Hearts As One (Hillsong United)

How about you? What are your Top 20 Bands/Albums?

General

Too Easily Pleased

Challenging thought of the day from C.S. Lewis:

Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.

What are you too easily please by? What lesser thing do you choose over and above the infinite joy offered to you through Jesus Christ?

Father, help us to settle for nothing less than you.

Books, Discipleship

Who Do You Say I AM?

Last week I finished reading a new biography on the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the great Lutheran minister who stood toe to toe with the Nazis during World War II. He was eventually arrested by the SS and executed for opposing Hitler and standing for Jesus Christ. Take a second and read the words of the Nazi “doctor” who presided over Bonhoeffer’s execution. Dr. Fisher-Hullstrung wrote,

“Through the half-open door in one room of the huts I saw Pastor Bonhoeffer, before taking off his prison garb, kneeling on the floor praying fervently to his God. I was most deeply moved by the way this loveable man prayed, so devout and so certain that God heard his prayer. At the place of execution, he again said a short prayer and then climbed the steps to the gallows, brave and composed. In almost 50 years that I have worked as a doctor, I have hardly ever seen a man die so entirely submissive to the will of God.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a man who could answer the question “Who is God?” Bonhoeffer knew who God was and that belief directed his every step, his entire life.

I don’t believe that you and I or our children will ever have to face the Nazi gallows but everyday we are confronted with forces that, at best, trick us into apathy toward God and at worst, seek to separate and destroy our relationship with him.

The only way to confront these forces is to run directly into the arms of our big God who has a big love for us. This God sent his son so that we may have life and have it to the full. When we believe the truth about God we cannot help but follow His call.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxes

Faith in Action, Lauds, Mission, Prayer

God is God

Anyone ever ask you about God’s abilities? You know the classic question: “If God can do anything, can he create a rock so big even he can’t lift it?”

My question to them is “What is so big in your life- what is crushing you under its weight- that you don’t you don’t think God can handle”

“For who is God except the LORD? Who but our God is a solid rock?” (2Samuel 22:32 NLT)

“Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.” (Jeremiah 32:17 TNIV)

“I love you, LORD, my strength.The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I called to the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and I have been saved from my enemies.”

“He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters. He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me. They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the LORD was my support. He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.” (Psalms 18:1-3, 16-19 TNIV)

We do not serve a God that is ineffectual. Our God is not small. Our God is large and in charge for He is mighty to save. Call to him in your distress- HE HEARS YOU!

General

Grace Over Lunch

IMG_0297

School is officially back in session next week but today we started our new school year routine. Sandy went back for teacher in-service and I went back to using my desk full-time after a summer of using the youth room as my office. This year I have decided to pack a lunch and take my lunch time at the office as often as I can. Sure, I’ll visit schools and eat with students some days and I’ll have occasions where I’ll have a lunch meeting but if I can save a buck (or eight) here and there more power to me.

My hope is to watch sermon podcasts or listen to leadership lessons while I eat each day but today… I needed to rock out to the second (SECOND!) encore from U2360: Live from the Rose Bowl on DVD. My soul gets fed in all sorts of ways.

I listend to Ultraviolent (Light My Way) which dovetailed quite nicely with my morning scripture meditation from the Sermon on the Mount.

First from Matthew 5:

“Let’s not pretend this is easier than it really is. If you want to live a morally pure life, here’s what you have to do: You have to blind your right eye the moment you catch it in a lustful leer. You have to choose to live one-eyed or else be dumped on a moral trash pile.” (Matthew 5:29 MESSAGE)

From Ultraviolent:

Oh sugar, don’t you cry
Oh child, wipe the tears from your eyes
You know I need you to be strong
And the day is as dark as the night is long
 Feel like trash, you make me feel clean
I’m in the black, can’t see or be seen

Baby baby baby light my way

It is impossible to overcome the foul stench of sin and unrighteousness we find ourselves in. Sin takes us for a joyride only to drop our rotting corpse on top of the trash heap. We are left exposed to the world- our sin, our humilation, our choices- open to ridicule and contempt. That’s when the grace of Jesus comes, picks us up, covers us with his righteousness. (1Peter 3:18)

Sin leaves me feeling like trash. Only Christ makes me clean. Light my way, Lord! Light our way!

Youth Ministry, Youth Ministry Tips

Gauging the Temperature Pt. 2

Today I want to talk about 3 Ways to Monitor Your Youth Group’s Temperature During The School Year. During the summer you have the opportunity to be around your teens for hours on end. Relationships are solidified during trips across the country and decisions for Christ are made while painting houses together. When students return to school your opportunities to connect with students and to check in with them can be greatly reduced. During the summer you can monitor their spiritual temperature more easily. How can you continue to monitor how they’re doing once math class, band practice, and homework come back on the scene?

First, the best way to check in with your students is through TALKING with them. The summer is filled with late night conversations about everything from choices, likes/dislikes, and even theology. During these convos hopes, dreams, struggles, and beliefs are laid bare. It is one of my favorite things about the summer. Unfortunately, the school year can put the kibosh on these meaningful interactions. The challenge then is to intentionally create moments where you can have sustained conversations with your teens. Offer to meet them for coffee before school once a week, build in discussion time during your midweek meeting, meet for milkshakes after the games. During these interactions don’t be afraid to dig a little deeper under the surface. The point isn’t to log hours talking about C.O.D. (Call of Duty, Noob.) but to understand where your teen is, where they are struggling, where they need encouragement.

Another way to gauge their spiritual temperature is through TECHNOLOGY. Facebook, Twitter, Text Msgs- they’re not just for wasting time anymore. You can harness the power of these social networking technologies to check in with your teens. I have a Twitter account set up for our youth group. I use it to announce upcoming events, brag on students who have done something amazing, and post thoughts for the day or week. I have also used it to take surveys and ask questions. The answers to these questons can be a great insight into what’s going on in the hearts and minds of your students. Twitter isn’t just a megaphone to blast information. It can be an invitation to conversation. Deep, I know. Right now, think of 3 different ways to use Facebook this week to check in with your teens.

A third way to monitor the spiritual health of your teens during the school year is by engaging in their TALENTS. In the coming weeks I know that I’ll be sitting in the stands watch my teens compete in sports or march in the band. My evenings will be full of choir performances big and small. If your teens are anything like mine they are talents and involved in many extracurriculars. When you show up to an event or performance you are engaging with them as they apply the gifts and talents given to them by God. Any encouragement you can give them, any time that you give them, any affirmation you can give them deepens your relationship with them. When your relationship deepens and goes below the surface you can truly understand what’s going on in their heart and soul.

By carving out intentional opportunities to TALK with your teens, by using TECHNOLOGY to connect them, and through recognizing their TALENTS you can begin to measure the spiritual temperature of your students during the school year.

God’s blessing on all of you who dedicate your time, talent, and treasure to serving teens and their families in the name of Jesus Christ.

Campus Ministry, Discipleship, Jesus is the Christ, Leadership, Ministry, Youth Ministry

Gauging the Temperature Pt. 1

I’ll let you in on a little secret ambition of mine. You ready?

I want to be the Bobby Flay of my sphere of influence.

I want to be known as a great cook. Not just someone who can prepare a good meal. No, something greater! I want to amaze people with the way I combine meat, seasonings, flame, and creativity. For my birthday last April my parents bought me an honest to goodness bar-b-que smoker and grill. I love grilling and had no problem using the propane side of my new toy. About a month ago, I gave the smoker an inagural spin. I bought a book extolling the virtues of Low and Slow grilling and followed the lessons to a T. What happen was that I was able to cook two whole chickens perfectly! The flavors of the marinade combined with the flavors of the smoke made for and incredible dinner and a lot of leftovers. I can’t wait to work my way up to slow cooking some ribs and pork shoulder. Believe me- it is on!

The most important thing that I’ve learned about this style of cooking has been learning to monitor the temperature inside the smoker/fire box. You don’t want to keep opening the lid each and every time you check on your food. The lid has to stay closed. 1.5 hours for my chicken and up to 8 hrs or more for pork shoulder. The only thing that gives me insight into what’s happening inside is temperature reading on the outside.

As the summer comes to a close I’ve been thinking about my students and their return to school. Right now many of them are running hot and on fire for Jesus. They have expressed excitement for their faith, concern for their friends, and many have made deep commitments to discipleship. Summer gives me the perfect opportunity to be among them on a consistent basis outside of their school year routine. When I am with them I get to monitor the temperature of their lives. As they head back to school I want to make sure that I find ways to monitor their faith, give them encouragement or direction, and help feed their spiritual fire.

Next: 3 Ways to Monitor Your Youth Group Temperature During The School Year

Thoughts

Tuesday Thoughts

Man… I really miss my wife and son. They are off living it up at the in-laws this week. I have managed to keep the house clean… including the kitchen! For a brief second on Sunday night I thought about sleeping on the couch or sleeping on top of the comforter so as not to mess up the bed. I hope they get home soon!

It is HOT!!! I mean, come on! 102? 104? Feels like 108? Seriously!?!?! Texas, I am always singing your praises but your testing my love for you this week.

I am super excited about walking my students through the book of Romans this fall during our HS Bible Study, CHIalpha (Christ First). Tonight, it is on like Donkey Kong! I can remember reading Paul’s letter to the church in Rome for the first time when I was a Junior in high school. I’m praying that my students have the same game-changing experience that I did.

I’ve been reading Eric Metaxes’ Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy this week. It is FANTASTIC! Mataxes has done an incredible job painting not only a vivid and real picture of this theological giant but he has also managed to paint a real picture of what was happening- politically, socially, and spiritually- in 1930-1940s Germany. I am transfixed and fascinated by this book right now!

I have been trying to work on some time-management principles this week. I’ve been adding some disciplines into my day to day to be more effective and more efficient. Starting a new discipline each morning and after lunch where I’m praying, “God, what is the best use of my time RIGHT NOW?” I am really praying that God will direct every minute of my day.

2 Conferences I can’t go to but would love to are David Crowder’s Fantastical Church Music Conference in Waco, TX and New Spring Leadership Conference in Anderson, SC. Anyone wanna sponsor me to attend either one of these events? Seriously. I am in full agreement with the Temptations here- I ain’t too proud to beg.