Well, kinda…As of Sunday’s church council meeting vote my full time position at Pequea Church has now been approved. Previously I had served as the technical arts director for both Pequea Church and the Brethren in Christ Denomination. Now I am full time with Pequea Church as the director of technical arts and impact ministries (young adults) and all the praise goes to God!

While I am really sorry to have to leave my position with the BIC general church I am excited about focusing my work and ministry life. Over the last year, it became very clear that I was stretching my time too thin and it was effecting the quality of my work. I was spending lots of additional hours out of the office late at night working to complete projects in a timely manner. On some weeks I easily was working my two, 20 hour a week jobs as two 40 hour a week jobs. In ministry it is all to easy to get burned out and for me to loose focus on God’s plan for my life. In November my girlfriend of 4 years and I got engaged and we are now planning a June 2010 wedding. I had to begin thinking about my “Family or Church“.

Although my new position will still be filled with a lot of work and projects and even new responsibilities I am excited about where God has me and what he has in store for me in the near future. I thank God daily that I am able to have a job like this and get paid for ministry, doing something that I love.

In February 2008 I was given my first opportunity to serve on a cross cultural experience by going with a team from Pequea Church to Esteli Nicaragua. The trip changed my life and perspective on how God is at work all around the world. My God, choose to show me how He is accomplishing His mission beyond my over-saturated views of North American “church”. With my role as a technical arts director at a church in North America it is very easy to become so wrapped up in the programs and worship services of our local church and totally miss what God is doing around the world.

In January of 2010 I have been given a chance to return to Nicaragua. A team of young adults from Pequea Church will travel to El Viejo Brethren In Christ Church to serve this church and help replace a failing roof. Although we will be serving the church in this way, so much more of this trip will be focused on meeting the families, neighbors, and children of this community. It is my desire to better understand the story of the people of Nicaragua and bring that story home to share with our congregation. I am certain that God is at work in me, preparing me for something unexpected, my prayer is that I will be open to His leading me in this experience. Throughout the trip I will be blogging daily updates with photos and hopefully some video from our time in Nicaragua over on the churches blog. If you are willing to support me with prayer please just leave a comment or shoot me an email.

Service is a means of bringing about change within ourselves, making us not the “givers” in the interaction but fellow recipients with those we serve. – Jeremy Tyrrell

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With the announcement of yesterdays iPhone 3GS and so many other goodies like Macbook Pros, Snow Leopard etc. I continue this battle: My core value of simple living (valuing uncluttered lives, which free me to love boldly, give generously, and serve joyfully)  in comparison to the world and society that I live in. First ponder this quote:

“How many things we own that we do not give away because we feel so attached to them. It is better to have less in order to give all to Jesus.” – Mother Teresa.

Are we so attached to the latest gadgets, shoes, purses, etc. that we forget those in the world that have so much less then us? As Christians we are committed to the Biblical call to be in the world, but not of the world. As a Christian that means I need to be aware of how I spend my time, money, and talent. You have probably heard the saying if you want to know what a person really values, do not listen to their words, but rather look to where their money is going.

Some may call me a rather large Apple fan. I love Mac’s, I have one personal iMac and a laptop and G5 that I work on everyday in the office. I have my own personal first generation iPhone. Each of these things I value greatly they allow me to exhibit my creativity in so many ways. So when the new iPhone 3GS was announced at the WWDC I had this immediate feeling “I have to get one.” Good thing they didn’t go on sale yesterday because I might have been tempted to buy it right then. Today as I reflect on my own selfish desires I am reminded of the fact that I have a working iPhone. It might need an extra charge throughout the day and it certainly has a few scuffs and scratches, but it still is working, in fact I will even get a free upgrade to the 3.0 software. So unless I win a free iPhone I think I will at least wait until the one I have becomes unsupported or wares out.

Apple makes it so hard for me to value simple living. I am committed to living a life that reflects the life of Jesus. I am never perfect, in fact I have a lot of flaws, but I know that if I give into what the world says I need I will find myself wanting more and more stuff. Our society is in trouble economically and the main reason is because we are greedy. American’s are in debt over there heads and they don’t know what to do. As you consider making your next purchase will you consider basing your decision on God’s principles and not society’s viewpoints?

For Sound production as well as our main source for gear we used a local company called Illusion Sound & Lighting. What a pleasure it was to work with this company! They sent along two dedicated staff to assist us with all things audio and lighting and the end product sounded great!

Check out the highlights video:
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