Blogging the Adventure

2 New Worship Projects On The Way!

2012-01-09T19:17:00.000-08:00

Lead Sheet and Chord Charts for "What Amazing Love"

Well, it’s been a bit of a music frenzy around here the pastfew days! Not only were we getting readyfor the new single “What Amazing Love” to release via iTunes but we also madethe decision on Tuesday to record and produce another live worship album atCFCC for the 35^th Anniversary celebration of this great church! Two big announcements in just a few days isfun and also brings a lot of details to process. I love it!

As if that wasn’t enough, now that “What Amazing Love” hasfinally gone public beyond our own beloved Northwest we’re moving on with therest of the “Kingdom” EP project that it has been intended to be a part of allalong! The purpose of this is to laydown some studio quality versions of some of my songs that are easilyaccessible to both churched and unchurched people. These five songs will be in a radio-friendlyformat and are packed with some really solid gospel theology and simpledevotion with the power to impact and change lives! Our goal is for this project to beevangelistically useful both here in Missoulaand in our upcoming move to Spokane. “We Are Forgiven,” a song I co-wrote severalyears ago with Arlina Duong and Heather Thomasis already recorded for the project and ready for the finishing touches andmixing. It’s a celebration of God’sforgiveness of sin through Jesus Christ, and declares our mission to show andtell the world this Good News!

Other cuts on this 5-song EP will be a CFCC favorite, “Kingdom of God,” which is a paraphrase of theLord’s Prayer, and “Send Us,” which emphasizes that when we pray, “Your kingdomcome,” we are also agreeing with God’s purpose to bring His kingdom in andthrough us. Though He doesn’t need us to advance His willon the earth, in His sovereign purpose He has chosen to move through Hispeople, His church – that’s us! Another ‘oldie’ that we’ve done for years atvarious weekend retreats but never done publicly will arguably be the most funsong in the list: “It’s So Good” is thegreasiest, bluesiest (is that a word?) song I’ve ever written and I can’t waitto record it and send it to John Lanferman! (We just performed it live with a full band for the first time yesterdaymorning in church. Yes!) Finally, we’ll round out the project with“It’s Beginning To Rain.” It will be ourlatest tip-of-the-hat to U2, one of my favorite bands of all time, and the bandthat has more influenced modern worship music than any other, in my humbleopinion.

New CFCC Drum Booth!

So, all of that recording fun will be happening rightalong with the planning for the live worship recording and planning toward Spokane. The new drum booth has been installed on theCFCC main stage which sets us up really well for future live projects. Awesome! Now to get a drummer… and a band… and a church… in Spokane! (For a minute there, you thought I was slamming our CFCC drummers,didn’t you! Not a chance… they’re thebest!)

New Single Release!

2012-01-07T20:05:00.000-08:00

We are so happy to announce the release of Jon's latest single, "What Amazing Love!" This song has been a long time in production and we are thrilled that it is finally ready. You can find it on iTunes, purchase an mp3 from us at CD Baby by clicking on the button on the right, and even listen for free on our Facebook page or youtube. We'd be very honored for you to leave us some love on iTunes by either rating the song or writing a review (especially if you like it)! The chord chart is already posted under our "The Songs" tab at the top of the blog. Jon's working on a post with more music updates for later in the week, so be on the look out for that!

Why Plant Another Church in Christian America? (Part 5)

2012-01-04T10:36:00.000-08:00

As we prepare to move to Spokane this summer to begin the process onthe ground of launching Grace Church Spokane, we do so from our home church of Clark Fork City Church in Missoula, Montana. I’ve noticed a funny thing: as great as CFCC is, notmany people make the drive on Sunday morning from Spokane to come to church in Missoula. I’ve also noticed that though thereare Christians who do make the drive to Missoula from nearby towns to come and worshipwith us, not many of their friends who live where they do are added to ourchurch. This is just one ofthe reasons church planting is so important, even in the context of onemetropolitan area.

From Neighborhoods…

The city limits of Spokane andSpokane Valley host about 300,000 people. The metro area has 300,000 more for a current grand total of around 600,000people. They aren’t allgoing to fit in my living room. Orin any of the existing churches in Spokane. Or in the largest building we coulderect. This is why we need to have a mindset of church planting evenwithin the various neighborhoods of Spokane. Since the best way to impact aneighborhood is to be a part of it, I envision not just one neighborhood churchof a few hundred people, but gatherings to the north, in the Whitworth and Meadareas; a central location near the University District; one in the South Hill; another in the Valley; another in Hillyard; and still another by the EasternWashington University campus out in Cheney. (Unless you too are a die-hard University of Montana alum and Griz fan, you have no ideahow cross-cultural it is to talk about planting a church near EWU!)

To Cities And Nations…

As Bilbo said to his nephew in The Lord of the Rings, “It’s adangerous business Frodo, going out your door. If you step onto the road and youdon’t keep your feet, there’s no telling where you might be swept offto.” The Great Commission callsus onward from our own living rooms, neighborhoods and home towns to wherever God will send us. Every people group, every socio-ethnicpopulation in the world, has a place in the kingdom of God. Jews and Gentiles. Rich and Poor. From the Tattoo clans to theCowboy-booted Marlboro Men, fromthe urban coffee connoisseur to the tenement-dwelling single mom, these people are all a part of thefabric of Spokane –but they’re also all over the world! Imaginethose people groups within a city uniting under the banner of the good news ofJesus Christ to partner together to reach those same people groupsglobally. We’ll send someright from Grace Church Spokane and we’ll also partner with other like-mindedchurches around the world. Placeslike Mexico. Russia. Ireland. Kenya. Estonia. England. Cities like Chicago. Tacoma. London. Rio. St Petersburg. We actually have friends in theseplaces who think like we do! It’sa big world loved by an even bigger God – and He has filled our hearts with Hispassion to see lost people saved!

Cross-Cultural Church

I’m not naïve. Well, maybe I am. I’m a dreamer and a visionary so Itend to think in giant terms. I’mdreaming and making plans toward a church of thousands of people locally,representing the various people groups of Spokane and affecting millions on amulti-national scale. Ialso recognize that I’m just one middle-class white guy in my mid-30’s who ismarried to a white girl in her 29-forever’s and that we will naturally attractpeople who are similar to us. Wehave 2.5 children (okay, 3 children) and we have to balance church plantingwith parenting, homework, Boy Scouts and Irish Step Dancing.

We will have to work hard to makein-roads and relationships with others in Spokane who are older, younger, richer,poorer, darker, whiter (if that’s possible) etc. However, since the Book of Acts showsus churches like the one in Antioch witha multi-cultural leadership that sent out the likes of Paul and Barnabas toimpact the world, I’m asking and thanking God for a church that represents thisright in Spokane. Together we will embrace this visionand see a vibrant church established in this great city – quickly becoming our city.

· We envisionyoung and old of various socio-economic backgrounds committing together toplant churches and extend the kingdom of God together in the neighborhoods of Spokane and in other cities and nations.

In a nut shell, Grace Church Spokane is going tobe a place where our common identity and mission in Christ so supercedes ourdifferences that the people groups, cities and nations of the world can comeinto clear focus. Rich andpoor will serve together. Singleguys and families. Collegestudents and business professionals. Grandmothersand single moms. Nationsmixing. The kingdom of God.

Why Plant Another Church In Christian America (Part 4)

2011-12-19T20:55:00.000-08:00

The most common question I’m asked these days aboutlaunching a church into Spokaneis, “So, do you have a building?” Whilethis is obviously a relevant question, it definitely stirs my thinking since myown definition of “church” looks like people gathering together to worship and serve, not abuilding. I think most people asking meabout a building simply mean, “Do you have a place to meet together?” but italso speaks to the need for us to see church life through a wider lens.

The frequent misconception of church as a steepled building isa big one in North America, where we have all-too-often altered Jesus’ words, “Onthis rock I will build my church,” to mean building a structure of brick, wood or steel,panes of glass, stages and lights, when He was actually talking about people beingdrawn together by His grace through faith in His saving power. We may know this in our heads but here’s areminder: Church is people. Church is a community of believers. Church is about relationship, discipleshipand mission together. And that churchcan meet anywhere. It can also go anywhere since the people aren’t limited to a facility.

Missional community

Every few weeks in Spokanea really cool thing happens. Instead of holdingtheir normal church gathering Vintage Church goes out on aSunday morning for a church “scattering.” They understand something that I hope we as a church will “get” as well. The whole church, not just an exclusive or elite team, is involved in serving thecommunity together. There is an understanding that community is important and that a Christiancommunity thrives best when it includes serving others together.

I dream about a vibrant community of believers like this thatdemonstrates genuine love for one another in the way we relate not only to eachother, but also in the way we serve the people and community of Spokane. Even while it is still barely more than a“twinkle in my eye” Grace Church Spokane already exists to serve. I envision a community centered around Christthat turns to face outward, embracing neighborhoods, people groups and evenother nations together. I’d bet thatmany people who have said, “I like Jesus but I avoid the church,” haven’texperienced church like this. We want togive them the opportunity.

Every Member Involved

While training is important and necessary, it doesn’t take aseminary-trained theologian to tell someone what God has done in his or herlife. While there are always moreanswers to be found to difficult questions, even the newest believer can sharewith a friend how God has changed his or her life! Every follower of Jesus has a unique story totell, and we want to equip and encourage people to share their own story of howJesus has impacted their lives. Throughrelationship, through service and even through structured invitational eventsthere will be many opportunities to engage friends, family and neighbors withthe power and grace of God.

Making disciples

In their book, Breaking the Missional Code, EdStetzer and David Putman say, “Making and multiplying disciples involves threethings: (1) living like Jesus lived, (2)loving like Jesus loved, and (3) leaving behind what Jesus left behind.” To put it simply, we really want to dothis! We want to help others dothis! We want to see the people we loveand serve become mature believers who live and love like Jesus, leaving behindthings that stand in the way of His calling in our lives.

· We aim to be a missional community whereevery member is involved in making disciples of Jesus.

The more I think, dream, pray and plan toward leadingand serving a church that embraces being a missional, disciple-making communitythe more excited and full of faith I become! Please pray for my family and for those that are planning on coming withus into this new adventure in God. Pray that God enables us to live out what we believe He is challenging us to do! Allowme to be so bold as to challenge you to consider whether you may be called tobe a part of this team!

Why Plant Another Church in Christian America? Part 3

2011-12-06T19:49:00.001-08:00

Do The Words “Church” And “Passion” Really Go Together?

When I was a kid I was passionateabout baseball! I was a Kansas CityRoyals fan and was especially proud of my George Brett rookie card. On occasion I would join the enthusiastic crowdsof Royals fans who would do the wave, catch peanuts from the vendors and cheerwildly for the team. I spent most of myallowance money every month for four years buying trading cards, and spent manySaturday afternoons playing ball on the make-shift diamond my friends and I hadcreated behind our house. I even triedrunning a baseball card shop out of my bedroom. You could say it was my “first love.”

Then there were things likegolf. And tennis. And bass fishing shows. For some reason my dad loved to watch theseon TV, yet to me they seemed to involve a lot of sitting, waiting and beingquiet (except for John McEnroe, whose antics broke the monotony!). In my young view of the world, this so-calledentertainment was best described by words like “dry,” “boring,” “slow” and “un-fun,”remarkably similar to the way many people think of church. With that in mind, as Grace Church Spokane:

· We purpose to develop passionate worshipersof Jesus who continually grow in grace, truth, gifting and service to God andto people.

Developing Passionate Worshipers

Wholehearted, passionate enjoymentof God and of the people of God is His plan for us even though, as I statedabove, that’s probably not what would come to mind if one were to ask theaverage American his or her thoughts on church! However, the Bible is clear that throughoutour daily lives and when we come together to worship Jesus, being with Himshould be characterized by words like “joy,” “amazement,” “celebration,” “awe” and“vision.” Our songs should reflectthat. So should everything else we do. So, what changes “stuffy religion” into alife of genuine passion about Jesus?

Passionately Growing in Grace

Understanding and experiencing theundeserved forgiveness and favor of God produces a grateful people! The truth that we have been saved by God’sgrace rather than our good works sets us free, and the reality of friendshipwith God will be increasingly demonstrated through our lives together. As a gathered community who knows that God ispleased with us and actually likesus, we’ll be a “dangerous,” contagious bunch! We hope the contagion of God’s grace inspires everyone who encounters GraceChurch Spokane, and that our life together rings with the vibrant worship thatcomes from confidence in Christ.

Passionately Growing in Truth

The message of God’s grace andlove receives its potency by remaining firmly rooted and grounded in the teachingof the Bible. In fact, if a people wereto lose the moorings of Scripture they would soon find themselves losing thevery freedom it declares! Learning thedepths of this freedom is no dry theoretical study but is rather theopportunity to engage with God Himself through His own words; to learn how Hefeels, what He thinks, and what His plan and purpose is for us and for theworld. It’s from growing in the truththat we find out about His plan to save sinners, heal the sick andbroken-hearted, reconcile families and nations, and ultimately restore all ofcreation for His glory! For this reason,we know passionate followers of Jesus will desire to continue growing in theirknowledge of God.

Passionately Growing in Gifting & Service

Jesus is a servant and He’s reallygood at it. He came to serve throughsacrifice, doing what only He could do – living a perfect life, dying as theperfect payment for our sin, and rising again from the dead, forever victoriousover sin and death. He knew His uniquepurpose that no one else could ever fulfill, yet He also served people inpractical ways like washing their feet and feeding them, because He wanted todemonstrate God’s heart of love. Now, aswe spend time with Jesus we discover more and more the unique purpose for whichHe has created us. We also find that we reflect more and more ofHis heart to serve others. Not only dowe find fulfillment when we develop what He has planted into us, but others areencouraged as well when we serve them.

I Want To Be A Part Of This

The people of Spokane are uniquely created by God. We want them to know it, and to know God’sheart for them. I believe this is bestrevealed through a Christian community that is passionately alive in Christ, rootedin the truth and power of His Word, and that serves the city in love. I want to be a part of a church communitylike this. I know there are people in Spokane waiting forsomething like this, even though they may not know it yet… Next time, we’ll develop the idea of being acommunity on mission together in this wonderful city.

Why Plant Another Church in Christian America? Part 2

2011-11-18T22:54:00.001-08:00

As I’m writing this, I’m thankful to have made it over the mountain passes of Western Montana and Northern Idaho tonight! We've just come over from Missoula for the weekend. After waiting for work crews to unblock the pass (due to wrecked semi trucks, not due to too much snow) we finally made it. While the weather isn't exactly great today, my anticipation is!

This trip will not only have us staying with good friends inPost Falls but also meeting with local pastors in Spokane, connecting withothers interested in being a part of this new church plant, and even connectingwith Dave Hensen and Tim Heath, two Newfrontiers church planters working in Hope Church inSt Petersburg, Russia. Spokane has a significant Russian populationas well so their insight could be really helpful.

No matter the ethnic origins of people in Spokane this is the first of four things wewant them to encounter in the people of Spokane Grace Church.

· We desire to be a come-as-you-are, welcomingcommunity offering a fresh challenge to live life to its fullest purpose foundin Jesus Christ.

Come As You Are:

This means people who come to checkout the church community don’t have to put on a “Sunday Best” façade to hangout with us. This is bigger than beingfree to wear jeans or flip-flops to church, although that’s fine. It means people who have addictions don’thave to pretend like they don’t, and people who have questions can askthem. People who don’t have life figuredout at all can come. People who thinkthey have it all figured out cancome.

A Welcoming Community:

People should feel welcome whenthey get together with the people of God! There should be a sense of “coming home.” While there are many examples in the Bible ofwhat the church is like, one of them is that of family. We want people to find that with us.

A Fresh Challenge:

The call to serve Jesus is notnew, but the challenge to each new generation and every people group to embracethe call to live in Christ must be delivered in the context of that people’scultural understanding. We are called tospeak the language of 21^st Century Northwestern America – Spokanestyle.

Purpose Found in Jesus Christ:

Jesus and His mission will be ourfocus, not only in theory but in actual life experience as well. There is no greater mission in the world thanJesus’ call to carry the good news of salvation by grace through faith inHim! Every believer is called to join inthis purpose, not just by going to church meetings but by bringing the power ofthe gospel into every area of life – work, school, home, the gym, the coffeeshop and the street.

Everyone should have the opportunity to join with achurch community that embraces this. Next time we’ll talk about developing passionate worship within thecontext of this community!

Why Plant Another Church In Christian America? Part 1

2011-11-09T18:22:00.000-08:00

I recently heard the argument made that the US isessentially a Christian nation and that we should focus our church plantingefforts primarily into other nations. So, why exactly are we planting a new church into Spokane, Washington then? There are easily more than 150 churchesalready between Spokane and Spokane Valley,not to mention the surrounding area. Isn’tthat enough? (Should I even mention thefact that if every existing church in Spokane had one thousand members – which theydon’t – more than half the population of the metro area would still beunchurched?!) Besides the obvious factthat we have a strong sense of God calling us to plant into this city inparticular, there are practical reasons for planting churches right here in theStates. Take a look.

It’s interesting that missiologists are referring to the U.S. as one ofthe largest mission fields in the world. Also interesting is the increase of Christian “missionaries” being sentfrom other nations to evangelize the unreached people groups of the good ole’ U.S.A. Are they “getting” something that the churchin the States should understand? I thinkso. And what’s even more interesting tome is that the Northwest U.S. is consideredone of the most unreached regions in this mission field. The steeples we see across the skyline of Spokane, therefore, donot represent much more than cool looking landmarks to the majority of thepeople in this compelling city.

While 80% of churches in the U.S. are not growing, accordingto researchers like Ed Stetzer, there are also statistics showing what is working: starting new churches; churches that arespeaking culturally to the society we live in now; churches that are engagingthat culture; churches that are serving their communities rather than simplyinviting the community to come to their events. (I’m not saying events are bad; we plan to host some!) With that in mind, this is what we hope to bein Spokane:

We desire to be a come-as-you-are, welcoming community offering a fresh challenge to live life to its fullest purpose found in Jesus Christ

We purpose to develop passionate worshipers of Jesus who continually grow in grace, truth, gifting and service to God and to people.

We aim to be a missional community where every member is involved in making disciples of Jesus.

We envision young and old of various socio-economic backgrounds committing together to plant churches and extend the kingdom of God together in the neighborhoods of Spokane and in other cities and nations.

Over the next four posts we’ll examine how these ideasplay out in a city like Spokane. Church communities like this are springing up around the

United States

and the world, and God may be calling you to join the magnificent, risk-embracingteams of people planting them! Do youfeel the tug?

Grace Church Spokane

2011-09-19T14:13:00.000-07:00

It’s only ten and half months now until we make the move to Spokane and the countdown feels like it’s gaining speed. The training I’ve been doing (Church Planting Training, a great opportunity offered through Newfrontiers USA) is progressing nicely and I feel like God is honing me significantly through this. I’m currently reading Aubrey Malphurs’ book Planting Growing Churches For The 21^st Century and the Redeemer Church Planting Manual by Tim Keller and Allen Thompson. They’re challenging me to communicate a very clear vision for what God is calling us to do in Spokane. While I’ve had a pretty clear vision internally it’s been extremely helpful to have to write it down! I’ll give a brief summary in a minute, but here’s what else is up these days.

The kids and Becca are back in school and the fall schedule is in full swing: Irish dance for the girls, Boy Scouts for Gabe, church activities for all of them and our Community Group kicking off tonight. (The Community Group is our church’s version of smaller home groups since not everyone can really grow by just showing up at a meeting once a week on Sunday morning – in fact, no one really grows much that way!) Our Monday night group will focus in on relational evangelistic outreach into Missoula while also gearing up toward the church plant into Spokane. We’ll be asking anyone interested in joining the Spokane plant team to join us on Monday nights for prayer, training and outreach into Missoula.

We spent most of the summer getting our house ready to sell and it is finally on the market as of September. We had our first “open house” yesterday afternoon to show it. The place looks great and should sell itself if we can get people through the door. (If anyone knows someone looking for homes in Missoula send them our way – we’re selling this house ourselves. Don’t worry, we sold our last house ourselves too and it worked out great.) Please pray that we can connect with the right buyer for our home!

Okay, here’s a little sneak peak into the future of Grace Church Spokane. (Yeah, that’s still a potential name, but it’s gaining momentum. Let me know what you think of it!)

Why We Are Here:

Grace Church Spokane exists to glorify God as we enjoy and serve Him, each other, our city and the nations of the world.

I know you expected to read more, but there will be much more on the way soon. For now, notice two key words: “enjoy” and “serve.” These will be very important to the success and future of Spokane Grace Church. We will enjoy God, enjoy life together, enjoy the city of Spokane and enjoy connecting internationally. We will also be intentionally involved in service in every one of these areas. Sound like a challenge? Come with us. It will be hard work but it will also be greatly rewarding.

This Is My Passion

2011-05-10T21:35:00.000-07:00

Maybe it's the fact that I'm teaching a songwriting class at the moment, or maybe it's the fact that I've said yes to God's prodding to step out of my comfort zone yet again. Maybe it's because both of these things have me praying a lot, but whatever it is, I feel like I'm getting more song ideas than I have in a really long time. While I tend to get lots of little song "sprouts," in recent years I've have a hard time bringing a lot of them through to completion so that they are usable for our local church congregation. My "seed file," as my songwriting idea file is affectionately known, is full of partial songs, choruses, titles, melodies and harmonic ideas. Lately though, the ideas are turning into completed songs and it feels really great.

I pulled out a song idea from 2009 last week and have been playing with all sorts of lyrical ideas to flesh it out. It feels really close but with a few potential weak spots: It has two working titles at the moment: "Passion" and "Risen One." It also has a different chorus for each verse. This might mean it needs to be honed in a bit. There are some others, but we'll leave it at that for now. The lyrics as of Thursday night, May 10 read as follows:

Passion (Risen One)

This is my passion, to live this life for You

With one desire: to honor You

Jesus, my Portion, I live for Your pleasure

To serve You forever, to worship You

To sing of the wonderful work of Jesus

Saving the sinners to call us sons

Of blood that was poured out to make us holy

Perfectly dressed in the righteousness of the Risen One

This is our passion, to carry Your kingdom

In this generation, declaring Your truth

So fill us again, Lord, with power from heaven

Provoking the nations to worship You

The sons and the daughters of many nations

Praising the Father, we join as one

Freely adopted through great salvation

Now we are dressed in the righteousness of the Risen One

On Saturday night I have the opportunity to have this song evaluated by a veteran Christian musician and songwriter, Bob Kilpatrick. In the 1980's Bob penned the song "Be Glorified" which became one of the most widely sung worship songs in the world and it's still sung in countless churches today. One of his songs was sung at Mother Teresa's funeral, resulting in a public compliment from Hillary Clinton. Bob is going to be leading a clinic for worship musicians, leaders and songwriters Saturday at 7 pm. He'll be evaluating songs from two or three local songwriters as a part of the evening. What fun! We'll see what kind of changes the lyrics undergo as a result of Saturday and I'll be sure to post them here.

PS - If you'd like to hear Bob speak and lead worship he'll be doing both on Sunday night, May 15 at 7 pm at Clark Fork City Church. His band will be made up of local musicians! (Surprise!!)

2011-04-24T20:51:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone. I just realized that we've written several new songs that we forgot to post to our scribd.com page. I'm posting chord charts tonight for the following songs:

Feel free to use these songs! (If your church is in its reporting period for your CCLI License, it's helpful if you report any copies you make! And I can make tens and tens of dollars!!) Ha!

The Rest Of The Story

2011-04-12T21:51:00.000-07:00

While any story like this begins in the heart of God, it became real to me in 2003. My wife and I had vacationed in Spokane since our honeymoon in the mid-90’s and had felt a growing love for its people and culture ever since. After an enjoying afternoon in Riverfront Park we were headed home to Missoula, Montana when I asked the question: “What if we started a church here?” We began to talk and dream and eventually asked the leader of our church in Missoula, Steve Valentine, what he thought about it. He asked if we would be willing to stay in Missoula so I could help train church planting teams. After more prayer I agreed and thought that maybe I would get to train a team to be sent to Spokane in the future.

I dived headlong into training leaders and specifically worship leaders at our church – Clark Fork City Church – where I have served on staff since 1998 leading worship and then serving on the leadership team as a pastor/elder since 2004. As we were preparing to launch our leadership training school Steve was diagnosed with leukemia and battled for sixteen months before God received him into heaven in November of 2006. Though we experienced much turmoil God was more than faithful to our church, and we came through the fire full of great faith, more convinced than ever of the sovereign purposes of God even in the midst of great struggle.

Fast forward to 2009 at the Newfrontiers USA national leaders conference in St. Louis, Missouri: A bold pastor from South Africa named PJ Smyth had been preaching about the exciting vision of planting churches into the one hundred most influential cities in the United States. He led us in prayer as we focused on specific cities like Chicago and New York. As we began to pray, Spokane came to my mind and I began to weep over the city. The enormous knot in my throat made it difficult to pray at all and I actually felt a little twinge of guilt because I wasn’t praying for the cities we had been asked to pray for! It was only after the prayer meeting was over that I discovered that Spokane was actually on that list of one hundred cities! God had caused an old dream to resurface with a brand new vision.

Later in 2009 I had the opportunity to talk with Terry Virgo about the possibility of planting a church into Spokane. He remembered back to his first trip to the US when he flew into the city of Spokane. He had felt then that God said we would have a church there one day and was very encouraging to me about a potential plant into the city.

We continued to pray and the next year at another Newfrontiers USA event, Celebration Northwest, we were again gathered to pray. John Lanferman, the leader of the apostolic team overseeing our churches in the US, dared us to ask God for big things and to call them right out loud in the meeting. The atmosphere of faith was high! I wanted to declare my desire for a reproducing church in Spokane but felt I should not go “public” with that until we did that intentionally as a team. I talked to Josh Yakos, the lead pastor of Clark Fork City Church, after the meeting and he said, “I wanted to ask for a church in Spokane too but thought I should talk to you first.” More confirmation.

After the meeting at Celebration NW I told Ted Hoit, a Newfrontiers leader in Idaho, that we needed to start talking about “when” rather than “if” we would plant into Spokane. He grinned and told me that he and his wife had already been praying about Spokane and us and that they were excited to see us plant into that city. I talked with John Lanferman immediately and in late August we started the preliminary work to discuss making a plant into Spokane real.

Eight months and several leadership evaluations later we’ve finally gone public and the response has already been overwhelming. Twitter and the blogosphere have seen to that. While I’m used to taking big faith steps I’m not used to taking them quite so publicly! But hey, let’s go for it!

Send Us

2011-04-10T14:36:00.000-07:00

So I finally finished the song this week that I blogged about in January. The title stayed the same: "Send Us." The bridge is completely new and I'm glad we waited until we got it right! I had the great privilege of debuting it with Becca and my good friends Dennis & Tammy Reschke and Caleb Burk at the Missoula 3:16 Rescue Mission's banquet/fundraiser Friday night. It's appropriate that the song was finished this week and here's why. Drum roll please...

We announced today that Clark Fork City Church is partnering with other Newfrontiers churches in the U.S. to plant a new church into Spokane, Washington in summer 2012 and... that I will be leading the team to do this! It would be an understatement to say that I'm excited, but I'm not walking with my head in the clouds either. This is going to be the biggest challenge I've undertaken to date. It's one thing to be on a team planting a church with someone else leading it. It's another thing entirely to lead that team.

This is where some good theology is really helpful! God is in control, which means my family and I and the whole team are in the best hands imaginable. While we will make our plans, God is the one who is actually directing our steps. This same God who began a good work in us (even in the dream stage) is the one who is committed to being faithful to complete it. If He is for us... who can be against us? This is the foundation we build on, not how awesome of a leader I can be, and that really takes the pressure off!

I'm going to post again about the amazing story leading up to this crazy announcement today, but first I'll leave off this post with the words to the new song:

Father God, we Your sons and daughters sing
Let Your kingdom come here
Father God, we Your children long to see
Your will be done here

You are sovereign, You have chosen
To work Your will through us
You are able, more than able
To glorify Your Son

Let Your kingdom come in us
Let Your will be done through us
In mercy and in love, send us
To the rich and to the poor
To the leper and the lame
In the power of Jesus' name, send us

Let Your goodness flow to the high and low
To the broken heart, to the captive soul
Let Your Father's song from Your Father heart
Be our anthem as we go

New Song In The Works

2011-01-23T21:11:00.000-08:00

So I started writing this song a little over a year ago... and then I wrote another song called Kingdom of God in about 20 minutes, but inadvertently used a couple of the ideas from the other song to do it. Song #1 got shelved and Kingdom of God has become one of our most sung songs over the last year. But I still really like Song #1!

In seemingly unrelated news, we just started a six month worship leader training program at the church so I get to teach classes on Monday nights and Thursday mornings for that. There are about nine worship leaders and leaders-in-training taking these classes, which is really encouraging for the future!

There is something about training worship leaders that sparks my creative juices. It's probably the fact that I once again am teaching worship fundamentals, how to flow in the prophetic, and preparing to teach on how to write songs from the heart that we can use to worship Jesus together! Thinking about teaching others to write and lead stirs me up to actually model the things I teach and to see what God will stir in my own heart in this season. My heart is stirring ... and the song ideas are starting to flow.

Back to the song I mentioned a minute ago: It's based on the opening lines of the Lord's Prayer, "Our Father in heaven ... let Your kingdom come, let Your will be done." Several years ago I heard Brian Doerksen, a great Canadian worship leader, call the Lord's Prayer "The Sons and Daughters Prayer" because we get to call God our Father. I've latched onto it myself (which you can hear about in "Prayer That Works - Our Father In Heaven" at http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/clark-fork-city-church/id390001111).

For now, I'm tying in three concepts in this song's development:
1. God is our Father, so we get to talk to Him as His sons and daughters.
2. He is a sovereign God who has chosen to work through us.
3. He has chosen to send us to minister to the world in Jesus' name.

The working title of the song is "Send Us" but it might change as it moves along! We'll see... I thought I'd post this so you can all see how I process through a song! Notice all the scribbles and ideas in the picture. Stay tuned!

A little update from the other half...

2011-01-11T16:01:00.000-08:00

Happy Tuesday everyone!
Jon and I had the opportunity to sit down last evening with Terry Koepke and Jeremy and Connie Sinnott at the Break. We had coffee (and pie, yum!) and some really encouraging conversation. I think that's one of my favorite things about Jeremy and Connie...how encouraging they are. The Father's heart just shines through them.
Jon has also been working hard on getting some of the newest songs recorded. If all goes well, he may be finishing up vocal tracks on "What Amazing Love" and "We Are Forgiven" this week. That's exciting news for all of you who have been asking for these songs for a long time! He's also been working on getting some demos down for "Just to Worship You" and "Kingdom of God," which I know many of you have asked for as well. So be encouraged, there are actually plans in the works to get these songs out to you!
Have a great week!!
Mrs. Meek

Remembering Wendell Smith

2010-12-20T20:02:00.000-08:00

I received a text message this morning asking if I had heard that Wendell Smith, a pastor and great leader from Seattle, Washington, went to heaven last night. It immediately brought back memories of the times he ministered in our church, encouraging us with His contagious faith in God! I remember Wendell challenging me to step out prophetically in worship as he stood beside me coaching that night. (The inspiration for the song “Gonna Build His Church” came from that night with Wendell Smith as he sang the words, “God’s gonna build His church,” over and over with passion and conviction.) Remembering his graciousness in those moments puts a grin on my face today, since my first phrase of prophetic song to follow was something like, “I smell the smell of the sweet smell of harvest.” How lyrically embarrassing – and how funny!

One night in particular stands out to me when Wendell was preaching at the Montana Shepherds Conference on March 30, 2001. His topic was “Peter the Preacher” and he said there were those present that night who were under thirty years of age that were called to preach. He said that, like Elizabeth feeling John the Baptist leap in her womb, we were feeling a fire or a churning on our insides. That’s exactly what I was feeling – a combination of adrenaline and the Holy Spirit’s stirring. When he asked for those who knew they were called to preach to come to the front I responded quickly along with several others. I remember Wendell anointing us with oil, and my journal contains the prophetic words he declared over me that night along with his encouragement to preach boldly and with great faith.

The last time I saw Wendell was four years ago in November of 2006. He was speaking at the funeral of his good friend, Steve Valentine, who had battled leukemia. Wendell was in the midst of his own battle with cancer as he stood and boldly declared that we would all continue forward with faith in God. He is now receiving the reward of his great faith!

While Wendell Smith has finished his mission on this earth, the mission of God that he loved to declare as he preached continues. God used him to encourage many thousands of people, many of whom lead in churches today around the world. Today, I remember Wendell and am grateful as I freshly realize that God spoke through him to shape my own life and ministry. I know similar stories from many others will be anything but rare! I close out today with the most memorable (to me) of Wendell’s declarations: “God’s gonna build His church!”

The Velveteen Guitar Incident

2010-09-29T15:47:00.000-07:00

So, I had a horrible thing happen this past week. I picked up my backpack-style guitar case that I thought was zipped shut... and it wasn't. I slung it onto my back not realizing anything was wrong until I heard the clashing wood and resonating sound of my guitar smashing onto the floor. Can you say, "Groanings that can't be uttered?!" The timing was impeccable too; it happened just a few minutes before I was supposed to lead worship and speak on the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives! Nothing gets a preacher's heart rate going like a good distraction right before he speaks. Nothing gets a guitarist's heart rate going like seeing his broken guitar lying on the floor right before he's supposed to lead worship with it!

Since I didn't have any backup guitars handy (I was just supposed to do an acoustic guitar-only set for 20 minutes - not the kind of set during which one usually breaks strings! Stop chuckling, honey.) I did the only thing I could think of: I tuned up the broken guitar to see if it would still work, plugged it in and gave it a whirl. Amazingly, the guitar, with two splits in the top, a piece of it protruding at an ungainly angle and a brace piece completely broken off sounded... wonderful. I actually received compliments on how great it sounded that night!

Anyone who has seen my old Seagull S6 guitar knows that it's anything but pretty. It has "been through the war" so to speak which is why its affectionate nickname for years has been Velveteen Rabbit. The scratches, nicks and worn places are ugly to say the least. In spite of its worn looks and its new challenges I couldn't imagine getting rid of this guitar. No way!! I hand picked it years ago even though it had a mar in the finish, because of the amazing tone I could produce through the instrument. That sound and tone have only improved with age. (Sorry, to all of you who were hoping to get your grubby mitts on my Rabbit!) My intent is to make the investment to make sure I can keep playing and worshiping with my Velveteen Rabbit for years to come.

Does that just sound like an eccentric musician? (Okay, of course it sounds like an eccentric musician!) But can you hear a familiar ring to this story? I do. It's also the story of our amazing God who hand picks us in spite of our flaws and imperfections because of the "sound" He has chosen to create through us. He brings us through the scratches, the dents, and even the devastation of life's struggles, and He loves us every moment of the way. He has already payed the highest possible price to redeem us from destruction!

Oh, by the way... The Velveteen Guitar Incident has produced another new and exciting opportunity for me. I purchased a brand new Taylor 314ce guitar that is entirely different than my Seagull. The tone is different, the fret board feels different... it's just different, in the best kind of way. I'm loving every minute of it (except maybe the bill!) and look forward to new songs being written on each of these great guitars and new worship experiences yet to be discovered with each of them. And I love how God can use a silly guitar accident to reveal Himself and His ways to me.

Now, to make sure I don't drop this one...

Praying Like God Is God

2010-09-08T13:07:00.000-07:00

(Psalm 144)
I have a love-hate relationship with David. There are elements of David's passion for God that inspire me while other elements of his character repel me. This sounds all too much like someone I see in the mirror every day! One of David's character traits that I admire is that he actually prays like God is God! When times are good he worships. When times are bad he worships. This is a man who relies not on his own strength (most of the time!) but on God's, which is definitely a characteristic that any follower of Christ would want. Psalm 144 shows us a prayer-in-a-nutshell example of how to engage with God in a way that is sure to encourage and build faith.

Pronouncing God's Power (Vss. 1-2)
David begins his prayer, not by praying his problems, but by pronouncing the power of God - what a great reminder to any of us who are facing challenges in life! God is our strength, our resource, our emotional supply, our defense and our rescue! He is always equipping us to face the battles we encounter.

Perspective: God's Sovereignty (Vss. 3-4)
What is man when compared to God? Declaring the sovereignty of God bring us into a right perspective of Who is in charge of every situation. If God is for us who can be against us? Not only are David and his enemies subject to a sovereign God, but so are we and the difficulties we face today. As this truth takes root in us we will be propelled forward in prayer since God can actually DO things!

Petition for God's Presence (Vss. 5-8)
Once we have encouraged ourselves through worshiping God, declaring who He is and affirming His sovereignty over mankind, we're in a better frame of mind to ask for God's supernatural help. If we are advancing the kingdom of God on the earth, we can expect opposition! Recognizing that we really do need God's intervention on our behalf is a necessary ingredient to continued advancement. We need God's power and involvement in our lives, and it's certainly biblical to ask for it. We don't subscribe only to a theology of God's presence with us, but we expect a present-tense reality of God's presence bringing His kingdom among us.

Proclaiming God's Praise (Vss. 9-10)
Maybe it should seem obvious here, but when David declares that he is going to praise the God who saves and delivers him from his enemies, he is only saying it a few seconds after asking God for help in the first place! Nothing has changed in his situation, yet he is choosing to praise God anyway. We serve the same God that David did, and we can sing and worship with the same faith in the face of struggle and warfare. Our God is still a God who saves and delivers us out of the the hand of the enemy. Besides, even if we don't see the full deliverance in this lifetime we still end up in heaven, right? Deliverance doesn't get much better than that!

Prophetic Purpose (Vss. 11-15)
"Deliver me, so that..." Did you notice that of all the reasons David gives when asking for God's deliverance, none of them are really about him? They are really about seeing others blessed within his sphere of influence. Even under the pressure of difficult circumstance God gives us an ability to see prophetically into the bigger picture. As we pray for the blessing of others and for those we impact, our eyes are lifted from the individualistic, self-absorbed mentality of the victim to a broad kingdom perspective that is full of mission and vision! Who else but God can meet us in the middle of intense trial and turn our heart to songs of praise and prayers of faith?

What Does This Mean For Us?
1. We serve a powerful God who has all the provision we will ever need to fulfill His God-sized purposes.
2. We are on His Mission.
3. As we focus on the greatness and purpose of God, our faith is stirred.
4. We can now find boldness to ask for big things and dream big dreams, regardless of our present circumstance!

So, what are you asking for today that is bigger than you? What dreams do you have that are simply too big to be accomplished by anyone but God Himself? Like David, we can use a difficult situation as an opportunity to engage with our sovereign God and declare His greatness! Each of us can look beyond our circumstance to the God who rules and reigns over that circumstance and let our faith be stirred!

The Creative Climate

2010-08-22T13:53:00.000-07:00

"The LORD showed me, and there were two baskets of figs set before the temple of the LORD, after Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive ... the princes of Judah with the craftsmen and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon. '... so will I acknowledge those who are carried away captive from Judah, whom I have sent out of this place for their own good, into the land of the Chaldeans. For I will set My eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land;'" (Jeremiah 24:1,5-6, NKJV)

In Jeremiah's lifetime the craftsmen and artists were taken out of Jerusalem "for their own good." It makes me wonder about the climate of the church (Jerusalem) today. Is our atmosphere one where the skill of creativity and artistic design can flourish? Is it one where the leaders of praise (princes of Judah) can lead effectively and do what God has called them to do? This may be an indicator of why so much of the "secular" world (Babylon) seems to have had the edge on the market in recent years when it comes to music, movies, drama, etc. They, in all of their shortcomings, are allowing the creative juices to flow.

Restoration in the church today includes a restoration of the arts. God's word regarding the craftsmen, the smiths and the praise leaders was also, "I will bring them back to this land." They are coming. Could it be that God has actually preserved these creative people in the world until the church is ready to use them effectively without watering them down?

2nd link

2010-04-01T17:35:00.001-07:00

And here is the 2nd link to the rest of the Amazing CD.

http://www.reverbnation.com/tunepak/2520638

Big news!

2010-04-01T17:32:00.000-07:00

Wow, our first post in a very long time!
The big news is that you can now listen to Jon's songs online. Hear the first part of the "Amazing" album at http://www.reverbnation.com/tunepak/2520627

More great stuff to come soon!

Song notes Part 3

2008-07-22T09:44:00.000-07:00

Revelation
words/music by Jonathan Meek

Several years ago our church was hosting a youth conference called “The Flood” and I was asked to write a song that expressed the heart of the event. “Revelation” was born. We are the reason Jesus left His majesty in heaven, came to earth and endured the torturous death of the cross. We were hopelessly separated from God so Jesus opened the door to relationship with Him. He did it for us; WE were the joy set before Him! Then, instead of simply demanding that we worship Him, Jesus reveals His love, His grace, His freedom and His kingdom of righteousness, peace and joy! Should we worship Him? Of course! But when we realize His love for us, it comes naturally. What a God!

Song Notes Part 2

2008-07-18T12:47:00.000-07:00

Praise The Name
words/music by Jonathan Meek

God's Names in the Bible are myriad! He's called the Alpha, the Omega, the Bridegroom, Yahweh, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Ancient of Days, and many, many more. "Praise The Name" started as a song to celebrate some of the names and attributes of God and quickly developed into a celebration of our salvation in Him as well. Funny how that happens! As I was singing through the verses, two different ideas went through my mind. First, an image of heaven's throne room with giant golden gates swinging open to reveal Jesus, while everyone and everything stood in awe of Him. Secondly, Psalm 24 came to mind, where we are likened to gates that open to welcome in the Lord. When I sing the lines, "Gates of praise swing wide in welcome, every gazing eye upon Him," I still think of both heaven's magnificent throne room and God's people praising Him here on the earth. Our praise has immediate impact here, but one day we will all stand before God Himself and worship Him there! Wow.

Chord Charts Updated!

2008-05-22T14:28:00.000-07:00

Here is the link to the pdf for the chord chart for the single "Amazing." Here are the rest of them:

Break Down the Walls

From Everlasting

I Love You

Perfect Father

Praise the Name

Rest

Revelation

Satisfy

Savior of the World

Yeshua Meshiach

Song notes, pt. 1

2008-05-20T16:21:00.000-07:00

I thought it might be nice for anyone who is interested to know the "story behind the song," so to speak. I'll start with the title track from the "Amazing" project.

"Amazing"
written by Jonathan Meek, Bradley Trosen and Jenn Thune

Each of us is a masterpiece, a carefully fashioned poem, penned by God Himself, yet many of us struggle with feelings of inadequacy or a sense of worthlessness. With this in mind, I wanted to put to music what God actually says about us: "I am fearfully and wonderfully made." "We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus..." "He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world." I showed the idea to two of my songwriter/worship leader friends, Brad Trosen and Jenn Thune, and we wrote the song over several weeks, meeting together and firing emails back and forth with various ideas. We probably tossed as many lines as we kept before we got the right ones! The final product is a song that both exalts the God Who made us, and recognizes that He likes what He made. He said so. "Jesus, You're so amazing!"

Until next time,
Jon

Greetings!

2008-01-05T10:17:00.000-08:00

For the inagural post for this blog, I just want to say thanks. Thanks to everyone who has supported our new project, "Amazing." Thanks to everyone who prays for us, and thanks to everyone who loves us. We'll be using this blog to post devotionals on worship, Psalm studies and other stuff like that, so check back regularly to see what's new. Don't forget to check out our website at www.jonathanmeekmusic.com, as well. Blessings on your day!