RZIM

kuya manny gave me a 500Mb worth of ravi zacharias
sermons. i really really recommend that you get hold
of his sermons, i haven't heard someone as brilliant
as this wise thinker. you can download these sermons for
free on his website or you can
also subscribe to his podcast if you have itunes, for
free rin siyempre. just go to the itunes website and
check out the podcast directory.

i'm halfway through it and it has richly blessed me the
past weeks. i also bought his book "can man live without
God?" last month just so i could have a hard copy of his
teachings. his books are entirely based on his sermons,
parang transcript na hindi. this is hardcore as you can
get, you may get lost in his teachings once in a while
(hehe, lalim kasi yung iba) but you can listen and re-listen
so you can understand. these are the same sermons that
are being broadcasted every weeknights over at dzfe fm,
around 11 pm. but if you have a dsl connection, i recommend
you download it on his website. yun lang share ko lang. :)

Matt Redman and Louie Giglio Live

This is the closest thing to a Passion Conference and I'm really
psyched out for this!

Commitment is Better Than Talent

we're running out of praise and worship team
members. last week two of our senior members
left to work abroad, the keyboardist and the
guitarist. two members of the junior team have
been inactive for months now because of conflicts
in their work schedules. they both work as customer
service representatives and they are both worship
leaders. the bassist and the guitarist will be busy
in school this coming schoolyear when they start
their nursing internship. the drummer, who is
struggling his way out of college, is somewhat lost.

and so am i.

two weeks ago i find myself training 14-year olds
so as to fill the gap. that's just about the same
age when i started joining in as saling-pusa.
it has been a very challenging experience for me, like
starting from scratch. i taught the simplest songs,
heart of worship and here i am to worship. concon,
who used to be my sunday shool student and the one
who responded to our call, struggled through the song's
chord changes. he's determined to learn.

martin smith (delirous?) in one of the talks he made
at hillsong said these words and it has made an
intergalacticplanetary impact on me:

commitment is better than talent.

i find these statement very true in my experience in the
music ministry. but this is not to undermine excellence
in playing and glorify mediocrity. what i mean is, when
worship is concerned, it will always and ultimately be an
issue of the heart. the Lord sees our hearts and it is
what counts the most.

i pray that these kids would continue with accelerating
zeal. i pray that they would continue to seek the Lord.
i pray that they would not lose their sacrifice. please
pray for our church.