In God We Trust-Lindale

Hey friends!

I haven't used this blog too much because I figure I bore people enough in person. Why do it online? However, I have to write this note about an amazing thing that happened last Wednesday night, May 29, 2013.  I apologize right now for the length of this. It's a long, but amazing story!

 A friend who we'd known from our Prestonwood days sent the link you see below. Years ago, Diane and I along with Jeff Brockleman wrote a Children's  musical entitled, "IN GOD WE TRUST". It's a patriotic musical basically telling of the Christian foundation that America has. After examining statements from our Founding Fathers,  it doesn't take long to recognize that their faith in God was the catalyst for our nation being born. I'd recommend a book by William Federer called, "America's God and Country". It's an encyclopedia of quotations from many of our forefathers that clearly indicates that not only did they believe in God, but they also had a faith in Jesus Christ. Check it out!

Back to the story! We wrote this musical in about 1996. After some frustration with publishers, we decided to publish it ourselves. We did a mass mailing, and basically a grassroots, word of mouth campaign created an ongoing use of this musical. We still sell it today. Of course, we've seen it performed by churches and Christian schools, but very occasionally by a public school.

We got word that an elementary school in Lindale, TX was doing the musical. Turns out, this is the 11th year that they have presented it. This year, a certain parent got offended and notified the atheist group, FREEDOM FROM RELIGION FOUNDATION. A lawyer from that group sent a letter to the Superintendent of Schools demanding that the play NOT be performed, citing a 1st amendment violation of the separation of church and state. (By the way, that phrase, though spoken by Thomas Jefferson, does NOT appear in the Constitution anywhere. None the less, that phrase gets used as a sledge hammer by groups like this).  At first, the school decided to go ahead with a "sanitized version" of the play, taking out any Christian references.

Oh, by the way, we were named in the letter. They'd gone on our website and this is from the linked article:  "Cavell states the Machens run a music and worship ministry whose goals are to 'lead the church in worship and reach non-believers with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.'" Isn't that terrible? The Machens are trying to do their ministry. Horrifying! They also printed an excerpt from the supposed offending dialog. Funny thing was, they misquoted or intentionally moved lines around to make it say something it didn't actually say. (I'd be glad to provide that dialog if anyone is interested).

Moving on! 

The pastor of the First Baptist Church Lindale got involved. Not one to be bullied by an outside group, he rallied the entire town together. The church rented out the Lindale Performing Arts Center so the kids could perform the musical in its entirety, "voluntarily."  Of course, the FFRF got wind of this and sent another letter stating that no school employee could participate. Not true! Who are they to dictate what a person does on his or her private time?

As I said, the whole community got involved. Diane and I decided to make the 2 hour drive to go and support the kids, the school and the town. When we drove into town, our jaws dropped.  Marquee after marquee of businesses all over town had put up messages saying things like, "WE SUPPORT IN GOD WE TRUST" or "CLOSED TO ATTEND IN GOD WE TRUST." Businesses that didn't have marquees used masking tape in their windows with the words "IN GOD WE TRUST" boldly displayed. Churches that normally meet on Wednesday nights were closed to attend the 5th graders' performance.

Here's the good part! Lindale is a community of about 4000 people. Some more if you count the surrounding county property. The Performing Arts Center seats 1200. OVER 3000 PEOPLE WERE IN ATTENDANCE to support the kids, the school, the teachers and administrators and district officials! More than that, they were there to support FREEDOM OF SPEECH  and FREEDOM OF RELIGION.  Two overflow areas had been set up, plus some people were outside the Performing Arts Center listening on speakers that had been set up. Oh, and the teachers who were threatened not to participate in the "off-sight" performance were there. Volunteering, of course.

We've never seen anything like it. There still aren't words to describe the evening. It was like a Pep Rally atmosphere. In fact, Diane said, "It was a 'God Rally!'"  The people gave a standing ovation to the kids after almost every song. The cheers were for the kids, but for America, too. There were also state and local officials in attendance.  And almost every person was wearing an IN GOD WE TRUST t-shirt. 3000 t-shirts!!!! Let that sink in.

Jay Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice has been contacted to represent the school district and community. This could turn into and national debate. My response is, GREAT! In my lifetime, I've seen the secularization of our American society. We're wagged around by small, but rather vocal minorities and in the name of political correctness, our beloved nation is quickly turning from away from God. But as much as certain liberal groups, politicians and university professors would try to rewrite our history, you cannot erase the facts that this nation was founded on Judeo-Christian morals, ethics and laws. We may try to expunge the Ten Commandments from our society, but we can't erase them from our history. We can't escape the fact that our laws are based on God's Laws. Thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not kill, etc...Yeah, that was God!

Well, if you've survived this rant of mine, I'd invite you to click the link below to take you to the news site that contains the details of the Lindale ISD vs. Freedom From Religion Foundation debate. It's gonna be interesting to see where this goes. Just remember that God sits on His sovereign throne and....well, read Ps. 2 and find out!

God Still Moves,

Chris

http://www.ketknbc.com/news/lindale-5th-grade-play-to-be-modified-after-compla

I"m back!

Well, Arizona Boy took a year long hiatus! Actually, I forgot about this blog page. No problem. I'm fairly certain that no one is reading it. No matter! On I write.

I just returned from Bogota, Colombia on a mission trip with E3 Partners. We assisted churches in ministries to draw more people to there churches. We saw 671 people receive the gift of heaven from Jesus! Exciting! Now back in real life in Texas. It's hot!

Watching Big Bang Theory. See you later!

Chris

Eye of the Hurricane

Next week our church holds its annual VBS. It's a great event for our church. Lot's of people working very hard. But also, Music Texas happens next week as well. It's going to be crazy trying to do both things. VBS from 8-11, drive an hour to Ft. Worth, attend conferences from noon into the night. It'll be fun.

We've sung concerts for Music Texas and conferences like this for years and presented music of our own to the ministers of music. Interesting to be on the other side of the stage. We've got great friends that come to these events. Look forward to getting to see them again.

We'll also be setting up the Worship to the World booth to try to get groups interested in our mission trips with E3 Partners.

Great times, but need strength for a busy week.

Let It Rise

You may know the worship song Let It Rise by Holland Davis. "Let the Glory of the Lord rise among us..." Holland wrote a book that I bought several months ago, but am just now reading. Very excellent thoughts on worship. It's a quick read and worth the time. Let me quote a section:

Worship isn't about SELF expression or musicianship. Worship isn't about having our personal needs met as we encounter GOD's presence. It isn't about what I get out of it. Worship is about seeing the KING and responding appropriately. It is revelation and response. God reveals himself, and we respond.

Holland based this on Isa. 6:1-8. Take a look. I'm always struck by this scene. Isaiah gets caught up to the throne room of heaven, is so overwhelmed and confronted by his own sin and the sin of his people that he just cries out "woe is me." He finds forgiveness and he's changed by being the presence of God's holiness. That's what worship is. Being changed by a real encounter with God. We can't help but be different if we get to that place. And the response: WORSHIP AND SERVICE!

Hey, have a great day! Love to all

Chris

Blogging about Blogging!

Hey there! It's been awhile. If anyone is reading this, welcome to my musing page. I hope you are well today.

I saw my friend, Gene Wilkes, who is a pastor and author, at the Starbucks near my house. He was, yes, blogging! It was good to see him. He's a brilliant thinker. I was having trouble spelling "brilliant." Anyway, he inspired me to get back to it. So here I am.

I sometimes feel I have nothing interesting to say. Then it occurred to me that blogging is not necessarily supposed to be interesting. Many of the ones I read are not. But, I guess that's not the point. It's more of an exercise in thinking out loud. Not because you want someone to think you're clever, but just to spew! I decided to get back to spewing.

I'll be back more frequently. If you think I'm clever, then fine, but if not...I don't care. I'm going to spew. You might want to stand back!

Good Friends!

I was thinking the other day about how blessed I am with good friends. We can all say that, but I really mean it. I remember my Dad saying to me when I was a kid, "If you wind up with 2 or 3 good friends, close friends in your life, you'll be really blessed." He was right about that. But for some reason, the Lord has blessed me with far more good friends than 2 or 3.

I have friends from High School that I place in that category. Glen and Steve. True blue friends that even though we don't see each other often, we just pick up where we left off. I love them.

I have friends from my days at Baylor that are just as close as the day I met them. Brent and Sherry were the first two people I met on campus as an 18 year old freshman. Sherry talked Diane into going out with me. (actually she chided me into not being a coward and asking her out) Brent and I share the love of music and worship together. Their daughter, Liesl, was Jennifer's roommate at Baylor. She introduced Jen to Stephen. Brent and Sherry are on the ministry board of Worship to the World. We've been in Europe and Asia together on mission trips. Our lives are really divinely intertwined. We love them.

Mike & Beth, Gary & Teri are wonderful friends that the Lord brought into our lives via our church years ago. They are friends who love and encourage us in ways too numerous to name. They give Godly counsel and prayer support. They are friends with whom we can be completely ourselves. We love them all.

I married my very best friend. Funny! Diane and I met in a singing group and have been singing together ever since. We actually became close friends, but did not date because we both were dating other people. When that ended (yeah, we both got dumped) the Lord brought us together. We'd been such good friends and then we fell in love. Now we still get to enjoy our friendship. I can't imagine life without her. I treasure our time together. Almost 31 years married and she's still my best friend. She knows everything about me and still loves me. I love her.

Remind you of anyone? Jesus knows all about me/us and loves anyway. Deep, Strong, Forgiving, Everlasting. He said, "I no longer call you slaves, but I call you friends." Inconceivable! But He does. What a friend we have in Jesus! I love Him, with all my heart!

Be blessed and remember...God Still Moves,

Chris

Birthdays!

I don't like 'em!!! Well, actually, I do! Funny how they are so significant in your life as a child. Less so as you get older. Each year drags slowly when you're young and races as you get older. But, I wouldn't go back. The blessing of getting older is the wonderful memories you build and the wonderful friends you make and the wonderful family you're blessed with. I have all those things. So, really each birthday is a time to reflect on how good God is and how much he's given to you.

You can see in these pictures some of my blessings. A wonderful wife, son, daughter, son in law and granddaughter, not to mention a wonderful extended family. And all who are a part of the family of Christ. I am blessed...and stinkin' old!!! But I'm not bitter!! HA!

Love to you all,

Chris

Cutest Baby In The World!

Okay, I know I'm biased, but we are having so much fun with Elizabeth. She's so cute and really interactive now. She should also not have any social issues. She's being passed around so much that she should be a real people person by the time she's 2 years old.

This picture was taken just before she sat on Santa's lap. I know Jen probably has that pic on here blog, but I'll get it and post it.

If I don't see any of you between now and New Years, have a great one!

Love you all,

Chris

Faithfulness

It's a quiet Sunday morning. Diane and I along with Jen and Ryan are about to sing a late Christmas concert at Parkway Hills Baptist here in Plano. I've been thinking about God's faithfulness this morning. I'm going to talk a little bit in the concert about it. I'm not a great theologian so I can't explain all the nuances and meanings of the words. All I can do is testify to the fact that God has always been faithful to me. When I look back over my life...in good times and bad...God has always been faithful. He's always held true to His word. He promised to provide and to catch me when I fall. He's always been there for me. Therefore (play on words), I can go forward today knowing that as He has been faithful in the past, He will be faitthful today and in the future. He is the same yesterday, today and forever as James said.

The big question is, and always has been, will I be faithful to Him? I certainly want to be. I strive to be. But there are moments of doubt, moments of insecurity, moments of having my eyes fixed on the wrong thing or wrong person or wrong circumstance. I must keep my eyes on Jesus "the author and finisher of our faith." Wow! It all starts and ends with Him.

Love to you all and have a great New Year! Be faithful...He is!

Chris

Too Much Fun!

Wow! I've had people tell me for years how much fun grand babies were. Until you are a grand parent though those words aren't true to you. Jennifer and Elizabeth came in Saturday night. She has grown so much in the 2 months when we saw her last. She's now much more active and communicating. She has an infectious smile. She's totally stolen my heart.

Christmas is going to be a lot of fun this year. I've experience it as a kid myself, as a Dad and now as "Pops" and I can't wait.

Hope you all have a great day. It's icy in Plano and we're staying pretty close to the house. That's fine with me because I also work from here. So no worries for me. Be safe if you live near me.

Blessings on you!

Chris

December Dash

Oh yeah! You know what I'm talking about. December is the best time of the year for the obvious reasons. It's a great family time. It's a great time to be in a church family as well. But, it is always so busy. Too busy. There is so much going on that we kill ourselves with stuff. Getting ready for Christmas, closing down business or school, it all is so hectic.

Here's what I am commanding each of you (and me) to do. Take at least 10 minutes everyday between now and Christmas to sit in front of your Christmas tree, small or large, and stare. Ponder your blessings. Ponder your friends and family. Ponder what happened to you that made you what you are this year. How did you get here? Who made a difference in your life?

Finally, think about the greatest gift of all. (you knew I'd get around to Jesus). Ponder the words of the 3rd verse of Hark the Herald Angels Sing.

Hail the heaven born Prince of Peace! Hail the Sun of Righteousness
Light and life to all He brings. Risen with healing in His wings
Mild He lays His glory by, born that man no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth
Hark the Herald Angels sing, "Glory to the new-born King!

I was struck by this verse last night while Diane and I were leading some carols at a party for E3 Partners, a missions organization we are in partnership with. Look at the third line. "Mild He lays His glory by." Christ chose to leave heaven, chose to give up the glory, chose instead to come to this earth...for me! I'm not worth it! But that's what makes it "Amazing Grace." I'll never understand it. I'll never deserve it. I'll never get over it.

Thank you God that You thought enough of me to leave the wealth of heaven and chose the filth of earth to show me that You love me.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Chris

p.s. Stephen, Jen and Elizabeth are coming for Christmas. YEA!!!!!

Worship to the World

Hello friends,

Well, by now you've probably heard that Diane and I are no longer on staff at Prestonwood. God's got us on another path and a new direction...another day on the roller coaster that is our lives and ministry. I was telling someone the other day, the Lord has never done anything in our lives that we expected. But you know, it's always been amazing and He has always given us wonderful places to sing and serve and always taken care of us.

God brought to Prestonwood's staff June 2006 to assist in the launch of the North Campus in Prosper, TX. Well, we launched October 12th.

Now we're launching something completely different. A couple of months ago the Lord placed an huge idea in our heads. We have done numerous mission trips overseas over the years. We took worship teams to Germany, Mongolia, Korea and other spots. They were successful and blessed. We felt privileged to be a part of these evangelism and outreach ministries. It kind of gets to you.

So here's the deal. God has given us a new vision to partner worship teams from churches and colleges with mission organizations that already do short term mission trips. What we discovered is that in all of the wonderful evangelism that was taking place on these endeavors, worship and music was not really being addressed. When we began talking with these groups, all said basically "worship is the missing link" to our evangelistic efforts. We'll be making several trips each year ourselves, but mostly we'll be recruiting and training other groups to go. Group's will do public concerts, help identify and train worship leaders from among the nationals, place instruments, like guitars and keyboards with the new churches, and support spiritually the mission teams as they go into the field. Whew! We're excited.

That's what's up with us. Pretty soon we're going to have an updated website with much more detailed information and video and music, etc. I'll let you know via this blog.

I'll try to keep up the blog more often. It's been such a hectic time. Pray for us, too as we build a support team who will be making financial contributions to the ongoing of this ministry to help us bring WORSHIP TO THE WORLD.

Love you all,

Chris

Big Day Sunday Oct 12th

I haven't written in a while. It's been pretty intense preparing to move into our new church building. You can see the building. Everything is new which great, but it's also untried. So, yesterday we had a big rehearsal for this Sunday's service. Much of the sound was ready, but the staging still wasn't painted and set pieces that had been ordered were late getting in place. That caused the rehearsal to be pushed late. So we didn't really get a good run last night. We have another shot on Sat. But you can be praying for us on Sunday at 9:30 CDT as we have worship the first time in our new location. One way or another, we're going to have a wonderful time of worship to the Lord who always deserves all we have...even if there are warts and hick ups.

I'll be writing more in the next several weeks about some new things Diane and I are praying about. Meanwhile, enjoy these wonderful pictures of our wonderful grand daughter.

Love to all,

Chris

The righteous flourish lie the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the Lord; they flourish in the courts of our God. They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green, to declare that the Lord is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him Ps. 92:12-15

I was watching coverage of Hurricane Ike, like many were last week. I don’t know what it is about me, but I notice odd things: maybe because I’m odd to begin with. The cameras were panning a part of Galveston beach. You could see buildings knocked down, debris flying around and the rain being blow absolutely sideways. Then a palm tree came into sight. The wind was relentless, yet, there stood this palm tree being blown, but not blown down. He was just standing there minding his own business doing what palm trees do.

In a strange coincidence, (yeah, right) the Lord led me to this passage. That palm tree had probably been there for years and years, seen many strong storms, and yet, he still stood his ground not bothered by this storm either. It was as if I heard the Lord say, “Hey, old sap (Diane often calls me that) keep on going. I’m not done with you, yet.” Let’s all keep going for the Lord until He plants us in His courts…in Heaven.

Love to all -Chris

p.s. Is this the most amazing baby ever? Go Eli!

Yard of the Month

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness self-control; against such things there is no law. GAL 5:22-23

A few nights ago I was watching season two of the show 24 (best show ever-except for Gilligan’s Island) and I heard Diane come in from outside and yelling, “Honey, I need you for a minute.” Well, I thought this better be good to tear me away from Jack Bauer blowing some bad guy away. She took me to the street to look back at a sign that had been stuck in our front yard. YARD OF THE MONTH! We had to laugh because we’ve been in this house and neighborhood for over 15 years. We waited patiently and finally, we received our reward. BIG WHOOP!

I really wish the list of the fruit of the spirit didn’t include that ugly “patience” word. I don’t have much of it. I want to know right now, this instant what God’s plans for me are. Wanting to be able to plan my own life is more like it. We have to wait on the Lord as Is. 40:31 says. But I must admit I’m not very good at it. It's sort of like waiting for the honey to come out of the jar to go on your sopapillas. Yum! (sorry, Tex-Mex humor) PATIENCE TAKES TOO MUCH...PATIENCE!

Silly I know, but remember…wait on the Lord. He’s always on time!

Ya’ll are the best! -Chris

Milestones

So, Miss Elizabeth is one month old now. What a milestone! Seems like the first year has so many of them from birth to feeding to rolling over to sitting to walking. It's truly amazing.

Today I saw the son of the pastor of our little church in Chandler, AZ. Steve and I went through high school together. His dad, Don Reed, was a "milestone" person in my life. From time to time I reminisce about the people God has placed in my life along the way. They have impacted my life in such a profound way that it caused me to make some kind of decision or direction change that the Lord ultimately used to get me where I am. These "milestone" people are Mom & Pop who not only took me to church, they went with me. My pastor Don Reed, who saw potential for ministry in me and pointed me to Baylor. My youth minister, Bill Nakahira, who heard the voice for praise God gave me. Ron Bowles, who directed the BRH choir where Diane and I met, who also gave me my first love for Christian music. Buster Pray, my friend from seminary days who started Diane and I on the road to singing Christian music as a full time ministry. Dick Baker, the first Minister of Music at Prestonwood who brought Diane and me to Prestonwood which became our "base church" for over 25 years. I think of Bill Taylor who saw that I was restless as student minister and needed desperately to sing my praise to God. I also think of Robert Sterling, who saw the potential to write songs in me and helped me dig out of the clay the gift that the Lord placed there. And most of all, my sweet Diane who altered and "altared" my life when she agreed to marry me. 30 years she's been on this rollercoaster with me and we're about to go up and down again. She's the very best!

There certainly are more "milestone" people and will be more to come. As I look at Elizabeth, I pray that the Lord will bring those "milestone" people into her life to set her on the incredible journey of following Christ.

Look for those people and bless God for them.

Love you all,

Chris

Gotta Take Your Bath

For those of you checking in to see if we've been posting new pictures, we finally have some. One as you can see is from Elizabeth's first bath. She doesn't like being cold and naked. Me either for that matter.

There must be a spiritual application! Oh, yeah! Truth is, there are many things in life that are unpleasant and unsettling. Seems like we shouldn't have to go through them. "Lord, I'm trying to be faithful here. What's up with this? Are you mad at me?" No, He's not. Sometimes when we go through the trials of life (and we all face them and will continue to face them) and it stinks and doesn't make sense.

That's when we have to go back to the things that DO make sense, back to the things that we know, the things about the Lord that will never change. He loves me! He created me for a purpose! He wants me to worship Him, acknowledge Him as my soul sustainer and provider. His Word can be believed. His mercy is new every morning. He is sovereign. HE'S IN CONTROL!

You might guess that I'm dealing with these very issues. But I know, HE IS LORD! My task is to trust Him in every situation and even if it's unpleasant and unsettling, it's for my good. Rom. 8:28. Read it again. It is very comforting.

Love you all. Be blessed. We have a Friend in Jesus!

Chris

Uncle Ryan's Here

We now have our whole Machen Team together. Uncle Ryan flew over from Baylor yesterday to see his niece. He got his first experience at feeding (and burping) a baby. We got a few pics of him and EJ.

We've had a great trip. We'll head back to Plano Friday night. It's been too short and it'll be hard to leave the kids and our little Tar Heel. But it's time for them to be a family on their own. Jen and Stephen are already great parents. And, thankfully, Elizabeth has been a very "easy" baby. Keep them in your prayers. Pray for a church home and new friends.

Love you all.

Chris

Daycation

Okay, so this is a new word on me. Essentially, it means we had a day to ourselves on this trip. We visited the Biltmore Estate in Asheville. Amazing place. 180,000 acres, a house will 42 bathrooms for a guy, his wife and one child. Lots of parties though. Sort of the Great Gatsby. In fact, I wonder if this is who that F. Scott Fitzgerald had in mind? It was truly a great day. We'll go back to Jen and Stephen's tomorrow. Ryan's coming over too for a few days.

So, here are a few recent pictures. Just to let you know that I don't really think Elizabeth is perfect, I included a picture of her in mid "puke." However, there is one of her and me that is wonderful. Of course, I look like a whale, but she is an angel. Hum...THE ANGEL AND THE WHALE. Sounds like a good idea for a children's book. I'll think about that.

Love you all and thanks for your interest in our boring life!

Chris

One Week Old

Hey everyone!

Well, miss Elizabeth turned one week old today. She's amazing...of course, what else would you have me say. She's very healthy and strong and already lifting her head and rolling on to her side to sleep. Remarkable! Okay, I'll stop! We're all tired, especially Jennifer. Stephen went back to work yesterday. He's a great dad! I marvel at their strong marriage and maturity. God truly brought them together. Please keep them in your prayers. We're planning on returning Friday. Diane might stay a few more days if Jen needs her. We're having a ball and so glad to have this special time with Jen, Stephen & Elizabeth Joy.

Love you all,

Chris