Winter Snow…

So here we are, sitting here watching the snow come down. As we do this I challenge you to enjoy it and just think over the lyrics of this song. It was suggested to me by someone that I can honestly say I have more respect for when it comes to worship music than anyone in the industry. Unfortunately, when Tomlin came through last week Audrey Assad had been taken off the tour due to a bout of mono. Missed getting to hear this song from her but as I sit here today watching the snow come down, I can’t help but think about this song. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do! You can thank Matt for getting me hooked.

Winter Snow by Audrey Assad (with Chris Tomlin)

Could’ve come like a mighty storm
with all the strength of a hurricane
You could’ve come like a forrest fire
with the power of heaven in your flame

But you came like a winter snow
quiet and soft and slow
Falling from the sky in the night
to the earth below

Could’ve swept in like a tidal wave
or an ocean to ravish our hearts
You could have come through like a roaring flood
to wipe away the things we’ve scarred

No, your voice wasn’t in a bush burning
No, your voice wasn’t in a rushing wind
It was still, it was small, it was hidden

Miss Meredith Dunn

What to even say about this one… Meredith Dunn is someone that I had the same major as at Liberty (though I was a year ahead), had a handful of the same friends, and yet somehow I didn’t get to know her at all until after we were both done and gone from Lynchburg VA. She’s now out in Colorado working for Compassion International as a Donor Services Specialist basically helping to let people know how their donations have been put to use and more excitingly what has been accomplished due to the donations made. Beyond that, her stories on her blog will not only give you a good laugh but they will touch your heart and you will feel like you know Meredith the first time you read it. I promise you, she is every bit as entertaining as she is beautiful! Enjoy!

Just a few quick thoughts about Christmas…

So the Christmas season is in full swing, and I’m not going to take  a lot of time to try to say too much this afternoon but just ask you a few quick questions…

What makes the Christmas season special to you this year?

What has God done this year that has totally blown your mind and refocused your life?

How has God changed your perceptions about yourself and about others over the past year?

What do you look forward to as we flow through this Christmas season and head first into 2010?

This is an all-skate guys, get involved, put your thoughts out in the comments below…

Satisfaction in God

I had a close friend recently that asked me whether or not I thought we could ever be truly satisfied in God. His question was concerning a constant feeling of inadequacy in the knowledge of the Bible and a feeling of needing to learn more, pray more, and cry out to God more. The back story is because of people we’ve both been exposed to in our lives that have expressed this total discontentment in their own knowledge of the bible or time they spend on their knees. But it got me thinking…what does it mean to be “satisfied in Christ”?

Does it mean that we spend hours upon hours reading the Word? Does it mean that we spend hours upon hours on our knees in prayer crying out to God? Maybe it means that we spend every waking moment serving somewhere and pour all we have into a ministry without asking anything in return. I think different people have different ways they try to attain satisfaction in Christ but until we become content with our own journey I don’t know that we’ll ever get there… Matthew 5:16 says “Even so let your light shine before men; that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” Our job is to glorify God and magnify HIM! John Piper talks about this in his book Don’t Waste Your Life when he says “He is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.” This makes me believe that what we should be is totally satisfied in God. Not to become complacent but to become content in HIS glory and HIS might and HIS power.

Complacency causes us to become apathetic to our own personal and spiritual growth which is a dangerous tool that the devil uses to cause us to slowly slip further away from where we should be. Although we should become satisfied in Christ, that by no means that we should ever stop stretching and reaching to bring ourselves into an ever-closer walk with Him. As Brennan Manning said in The Ragamuffin Gospel “My deepest awareness of myself is that I am deeply loved by Jesus Christ and I have done nothing to earn it or deserve it.” We must reach the point in our life where we are so engulfed by His grace that we are able to walk in satisfaction with Him and allow Him to guide our path. In the words of Julian of Norwich “The greatest honour we can give Almighty God is to live gladly because of the knowledge of his love”. I love this statement because I think it engulfs the very essence of living in satisfaction of the grace and mercy that God has given us. By living in satisfaction with the grace he has given us we are truly bringing glory to His name and to what he has done both for us and through us.

Pastor Daniel Floyd

Pastor Daniel is a personal one for me, not only is he an awesome pastor, leading a wonderful church but I consider him a good friend. He leads the church that I attend on Sundays as well as pour much of my energy into serving on the production team. He has a heart for those far from God and unashamedly preaches His word in a way that is easy to hear, and relate to while not watering it down or sugar coating the message. You can check out his messages on itunes or even on our church website at visitlifepoint.org. If you’re ever in the Fredericksburg area hit us up, and stop on by one of our production booths… I’m probably there somewhere!

Leaders, followers, and everyone in between!

Alright guys, I’ve got some big news. As I have mentioned in the recent past I’ve been working on a couple of projects that I’ll be sharing more about soon. But in addition to that I had something else I wanted to share with you. Along with trying to get this blog started back up I wanted to try to let you know where I’m coming from. I am someone that’s constantly networking, stretching my network, and utilizing it to the best of my abilities to bring people from different corners of it together to help people fulfill goals. One of the ways that I am beginning to do this, is by networking other bloggers who I have connections with in different arenas. So what I will start doing over the next few weeks in between my normal blogging is to just share with you one of my featured fellow bloggers whom I follow and a bit about them. I hope that by doing this we can begin to bring each of our networks together just a little bit more and become more united in this little internet space we share. I encourage each of you, if you blog, send me a message. Let me see who you are! I want to get to know you guys! I encourage your comments, and look forward to starting dialogues with you. If you follow me on here, or on twitter, please connect with me on facebook also. I’m curious to get to know you guys, and to know how I can help you out and how at some point in the future you might be able to help me out. So anyway, I’ll be starting this, this week. Looking forward to it guys! You all are great!

Born To Die

Christmas songs just have a way of making me really think through this Christian faith we have. This song just has been hitting me today… Figured I’d share it… Enjoy!

Born to Die
Bebo Norman

They never knew a dark night
always had the Son's light
on their face
Perfect in glory
Broken by the story
of untold grace...
come that day

Majesty had come down
Glory had succumed now
to flesh and bone
In the arms of a manger
In the hands of strangers
that could not know
Just who they hold

And the angels filled the sky
All of heaven wondered why
Why their King would choose to be
Be a baby born to die

And all fell silent
For the cry of an infant,
the voice of God
Was dividing history
For those with eyes to see,
the Son would shine
From earth that night

To break the chains
Of guilt and sin
To find us here
To pull us in
So we can join in Heaven's song
And with one voice around the throne

All the Angels filled the sky
And I can't help but wonder why
Why the King would choose to be
Be a baby born for me
Be a baby born to die

His Vision, His Plan

Over the past few years my life has taken a lot of subtle but dramatic curves to lead me to where I am now as well as point me in the direction I will travel. I’ve spent the past 7 years going through school for business marketing, spending vast amounts of time working in production environments up and down the east coast. Working with large churches and small churches, and learning the way they operate. Some of the experiences have been wonderful, some of them have been…teaching experiences. But they’ve all lead me to where I am now. Standing at the foot of the cross and looking up saying “what’s next God?” Have you ever had a time like that in your life? Where through everything you’ve been through you’ve come to the place in your life where you are no longer held down by your own plans and aspirations… Yeah, we all have dreams and aspirations but I believe we don’t truly know what it means to live in HIS plan until we give those up and say “not my will but yours.”  I believe that as true followers of Christ we must put our faith not in our own little tiny view of the world but into His greater plan for our lives. I’ve had to learn this as much as anyone, I promise you that.

So where do I believe this has taken me? I feel more alive than ever before in Christ and although the stress of life gets to me, as it does to everyone, I truly believe that God has rocked my world and shown me that He has even bigger plans for my life then I thought I did. I’ve walked away from many of the wants I’ve had in the world to focus on HIS plan for my life, and in turn He has slowly begun to shape this totally radical view of life in it’s place. I’m beginning to see places of growth in my life that I never expected, and am beginning to find friends that I never thought I’d have. I can honestly say that over the past year I’ve made some life long friends that I never expected to, and I feel as though I’m beginning to fall into such a different “aim” for my life that could totally change everything for me as well as potentially thousands of people in the future. What He has planned, I don’t quite know yet, but as I begin walking more in sync with Him I am beginning to see signs of things I never thought in a million years might be possible. The future has a lot to offer… Are you trusting Him to show it to you?



Work, my life as a tent builder…

So the past few months have been some of growth and reflection unlike any that I have ever experienced. God has taken my views on so many different topics and begun to spin works in my life that I never even dreamed of. He has taken my dreams and aspirations and truly shown me that it’s not about ME but about HIM, and that it’s not about what I want to do, but what HE wants to do THRU ME. From what I want in my professional life, to what I want in my spiritual life, to what I want in my personal life, God has jacked me up. My professional life has taken a few turns over the past few months, from doing marketing for a diverse group of companies to being back in sales and consulting in the insurance industry for a small but very experienced agency. It’s been and interesting but extremely fulfilling move to say the least. I am finding that I love to be able to work with people on building their insurance and investment plans and make sure that people have the protection they need.

On top of that 2 other Christian men and I have been working and recently launched Media Procast Inc. a company that has been created to help churches broadcast their messages world wide as well as help them develop an online presence. Along side with being able to take a church that has no experience in internet podcasting and give them the necessary tools and service to bring them into the digital age, we also provide professionals and companies with podcasting and online training strategies. This company has been 2 years in the works and has the potential to blow the lid off of so many churches through out our country.

Finally, one other item that I am working on, I won’t tell you much about other than to say this… I am working on revolutionizing the way the Fredericksburg area goes about marketing and advertising strategies, and bringing together some of the best creatives both in the area and in the country to help develop strategies for some of the best businesses out there. I’ll have more information to come but what I can tell you is that it’s going to be AWESOME! If you have any connections to different creative types in the Fredericksburg area that might be interested in networking get them to drop me an email at clarkwithers@gmail.com. I have already had a tremendous amount of interest developed but I’m always looking for my next all-star.

So anyway, there’s the professional end of my life, and where it’s been headed over the past few months… Now I guess I’ll have to work on the next couple of topics… Check back soon!

Big Change Ahead!

To all my readers that have been probably stopping by on a more and more irregular basis I AM alive, and I am trying to get back to posting on here more frequently. The past few months have been a whirlwind as I have changed jobs, continued my work at the church, and begun a few new projects. God’s thrown me some curve balls and I have accepted them and been doing my best to learn from them. All of these things I tell you to let you know that I have had a good few posts building up that I will do my best to push your way over the up coming couple of weeks. From personal introspection, to spiritual reflection, it could be an interesting few posts…even for me as I write them. I also hope to release some information about a couple of projects that are in the process of being launched that I couldn’t tell you how stoked I am about! But for now, thanks for reading and I hope you’ll help spread the word. I’m Back!!!