Sunday, April 13, 2008

Anointed


As Jesus Freaks München a long crisis and a real hard last year with church services like chewing gum lies behind us. Now it seems to be really a time of change and healing. We can look back on some really cool services!

The worship is really anointed and flowing in the spirit. It really makes fun to worship and praise Jesus and to have an encounter with the Lord. Most of the time I have some cool prophetic pictures and impressions for the congregation or single persons. We had some really good sermons. It makes fun to go to the meetings and to be on the way with the people. Seems to be like a new spring for our church.

It really makes a difference to have new elders now. Finally it seems to have an impact on the church what we were doing as a leadership team. The more what input is coming through our elders!

Looking forward to the future of our church!

Labels: ,

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Hey, Mr. Postman


Want to give you a brief update of what's happening in my life. The past months were very hard. I had no jobs for my webdesign business. And for months no money. So I was not able to pay my bills and my rent. So it was time for a change.

I realized that I was doing a lot of things voluntary. It were a lot of things I really liked to do: Being in the leadership team of my church, the prayer leader, I preached a lot and did many other things. It was on my heart to do these things. It was a part of my ministry for me. So I thought the Lord would provide my life if I would do the things for him without expecting payment for it. Perhaps that is wrong and it would be right to get payment for some things (as pastors do). But for the moment there was no way. On the other hand there were not enough things I got money for. Especially the jobs for my business.

So I was looking for a side job. I was expecting to find an office job to do in the morning to have time for my webdesign in the afternoon. I was looking for a long time. I had some interviews, really good talks. But that brought me no jobs. So finally I signed a job as a postman. I never wanted to do a job like this. I did not like to be all the time in the fresh air with wind and weather.

But it was the only chance. Now I see a lot of good things coming with it:
I always wanted to do more for my fitness. Be regularly in the fresh air for a walk and to get exercise. Now I have it every day on an amount I would never have reached!
And the best thing is: I can pray every day for a whole area of my city. A very special way of city prayer!

After some weeks in this job it is still very hard for me. It is taking me everything. When I come home in the afternoon I am so done that I am able to do almost nothing else. Many times I have to take a few hours sleep. I am lucky to have no other design jobs. It would be to much for me.

It makes fun to deliver those mails - especially in the sun :). The colleagues are very cool, all young people. I like to be together with them. I think it is good to be there for a while (at least to have some result on my fitness). But it is very unflexible. You can finish your day when all the mail is delivered. There is almost no chance to go home a little earlier than usual as it was possible in my old job in this internet agency. Most of the weeks you have to work on Saturdays. So it is not as easy as before to just be away on a weekend. The flexibility is gone to just go on an outreach for the Lord.

As I realized the need for change and to be able to conecentrate on my business I stopped a lot of things I did voluntary. I quit being in the leadership team, layed down being the prayer leader, stopped preaching and a lot of other things. That is very hard for me. There was an outreach of our local healing rooms on the Esoterikmesse here in Munich. I was looking for a door to get there for years. Now it was open and I had to say NO to it.

This a time of change for me. A reboot of my life to find out what the Lord really has in store for me. I want to hear new from Jesus to get a new focus for my life. It feels like a step back for me, feels like loosing, giving up most of the things that are on my heart... but I think that I am very right. It is the place the Lord wants to have me now. Feels like crying, I am very uncomfortable with this situation. But it is better to be in the will of the Lord than anything else.

I feel very close to Jesus, a lot is shifting, all the air is filled with change, change, change. A time of healing - hard to imagine for me... Looking forward to the future.

Labels: , ,

Backgrounds of "Kingdom Of Comfort"


I just found an article on hearitfirst.com about the new album of delirious? "Kingdom Of Comfort". Very inspiring! In the beginning it says that you can say everywhere a shift going on. Another hint that all over the world a change is taking place. God is shifting and bringing us to the places he wants us to be. Being on places of the poor it had a great impact on them and changing their lifes...

“We just can’t carry on the same way in any sphere of our lives. Everywhere you go there’s a shift happening. People are evaluating what’s truly important in life, and I think our new album reflects that urgency.” — Delirious? frontman Martin Smith

For more than a decade now, RIAA Certified Gold-selling band Delirious? has provided the soundtrack for Sunday morning worship services worldwide. Tracks like “I Could Sing of Your Love Forever,” “Did You Feel the Mountains Tremble?” and “History Maker” have inspired congregations to lift their hands and praise God with abandon.

But when Sunday morning has come and gone, what does it actually mean to be a Christian the rest of the week? What tangible difference are believers making in a hurting, impoverished world? Do our lives actually reflect what we say is important?

These questions, not to mention the band’s first-hand experiences among the poorest of the poor in India, Cambodia, South Africa and beyond, have inspired Delirious? in unimaginable ways. Simply put, it’s been the fuel for their latest album, Kingdom of Comfort and the driving force behind how they structure their ministry.

“Playing in places like India makes us think about how we distribute our finances and how we’re living our lives,” Smith says. “It’s imperative that we reach out and be a friend to the poor. That’s the only way that God’s light will shine upon us.”

That particularly timely theme of reaching out to those who have no hope is one that’s urgently communicated in the songs of Kingdom of Comfort, the band’s 12th album.

“Seeing children looking for scraps on the rubbish dump they call homes in Cambodia and the education and feeding projects in the slums of Mumbai really had an impact on us,” says lead guitarist Stu G. “It wasn’t possible to simply proceed with business as usual. We had to ask ourselves, ‘What am I building? A kingdom of comfort? Or a kingdom of heaven?’”

The idea behind Kingdom of Comfort came from a sermon from popular Mars Hill pastor/author Rob Bell. “Rob was talking about the contrasts in the lives of David and his son Solomon,” Smith shares. “David built a kingdom of heaven. And Solomon was more concerned about himself. All the decisions he made regarding intermarrying and wealth led to building a kingdom of comfort. Of course, hearing that makes us ask an obvious but important question: ‘Are we focusing on building our lives with eternal things?’”

Like the old saying goes, though, “actions speak louder than words,” so Smith began considering how he, along with the international Christian music community, could truly make a difference in the world together.

After 18 months of prayer, countless business meetings and careful planning, Smith’s dream came true when the first annual Compassionart conference met in Perthshire, Scotland. In what he described as a “I-can’t-stop-pinching-myself moment,” Smith, along with Stu G, Michael W. Smith, Steven Curtis Chapman, Darlene Zschech, Matt Redman, Tim Hughes, Israel Houghton and other internationally-respected songwriters teamed up to write songs with 100% of the proceeds from the songs and forthcoming album going to the charities of their choice.

Given everyone’s busy schedules, it would’ve been an impossible feat for many to pull off. But Smith’s passion for helping those in need couldn’t help but resonate with everyone involved.

As anyone who’s listened to a Delirious? album before knows, however, the band had a few new musical tricks up its proverbial sleeve, too. While Smith describes the project as a “step up” from the call-to-action given in 2005’s The Mission Bell thematically, Kingdom of Comfort also marks a new progressive era in the band’s sound. In fact, it’s fair to see that Delirious? has now truly become a guitar band.

Inspired by everyone from Kings of Leon to The Killers to Sigur Ros, tracks like “Give What You Got” and “Eagle Rider” have a decidedly stripped-down, raw sound that meshes well with the album’s insistent message.

With the emphasis on the bread and butter elements of rock ’n’ roll—guitar, bass and drums—rather than incorporating elaborate string arrangements and choirs in the mix, the band was able to translate the frenetic energy of the live concert experience to the studio, giving the album a grittier vibe.

“From a production standpoint, our producer Sam Gibson [Pearl Jam, Crowded House, Hillsongs United, Natalie Imbruglia] kept encouraging us to keep the energy of the live experience rather than overproducing the tracks,” Stu G says. “That deliberate focus made these songs spring to life in an entirely new way.”

While the progression in sound and social justice-minded lyrics are what immediately stand out when listening to Kingdom of Comfort, there’s also plenty of those classic Delirious? moments, replete with soaring choruses that’ll stick in your head for days. Whether it’s the penultimate piano-based track, “All God’s Children” or the gentle strains of “We Give You Praise,” it’s clear that Delirious? remains committed to its worshipful roots. But instead of providing all the answers, the band hopes that listeners will be left with plenty of thought-provoking questions.

“Kingdom of Comfort is a collection of songs inspired by our recent spiritual and physical journeys,” says bassist Jon Thatcher. “Sometimes you get so close to something you can no longer see it for what it is. This record is a journal full of observations, questions and prayers that should leave the listener inspired and inquisitive.”

Labels: ,