early church catacomb meeting 1

Ultimate Goal: The glory of God—to refocus the affections of our hearts toward Jesus and away from ourselves

“Do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31)

Vision: To help every man, woman, and child who comes to Hill Country Church worship God in spirit and truth

Purpose: To use Sunday mornings to help integrate the life-transforming power of Jesus into everyday life through authentic worship. We recognize that “worship” is not merely an event that happens once a week on Sundays, but is a lifestyle of Jesus-exalting, self-sacrificing, others-serving love and esteem toward God. Worship must be the theme of our life between Sundays.

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (Rom. 12:1)

Philosophy of Worship :: Guiding Principles for Corporate Worship*

1. God-centeredness

The highest priority of our lives is to glorify God through Jesus Christ. Therefore we desire that every aspect our time together on Sundays be characterized by God-centeredness, not self-centeredness. In everything we do we want God to be the central focus of all our affections, recognizing that as we exalt the name of Christ, and declare his worth publicly, we are strengthened by the Holy Spirit and transformed by the power of Jesus (1 Cor. 10:31). (more…)

What do our people think about what we do from center stage on Sundays? One asnwer:

I am impressed when a worship service inspires me to live a life of worship, when it stirs me to deepen my love for Christ, and for His community, when all I want to do is be with the people in the room because we are all doing what we were created to do.  And we are doing it together.  We are joining together on this earth in something that is so other-worldly:  praising God with our voices and our sad attempts at beautiful music in front of the God who created music in all its glory.

Get the rest here.

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vintage jesusVisit VintageChristianity’s new worship blog Vintage Worship, and explore with us the many ways in which we may know and worship the real Jesus in a manner that is pleasing to him.

http://lifebetweensundays.com/2009/05/28/truth-about-short-term-missions/

Interesting dynamic of Paul’s meaning.  Do you have any thoughts?

Koinonia: Women are saved through the bearing of children (Monday with Mounce 35)

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Check out Mars Hill Church’s qualifications for church musicians:

mars-hill-musician-qualifications

Ever wonder what the qualifications are for a Worship Leader? Seems to me that we don’t really take this position in the church very seriously these days. Why not? See Resurgence article on the definition and qualifications of a Worship Pastor here.

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new-calvinismIf you really want to follow the development of conservative Christianity, track its musical hits. In the early 1900s you might have heard “The Old Rugged Cross,” a celebration of the atonement. By the 1980s you could have shared the Jesus-is-my-buddy intimacy of “Shine, Jesus, Shine.” And today, more and more top songs feature a God who is very big, while we are…well, hark the David Crowder Band: “I am full of earth/ You are heaven’s worth/ I am stained with dirt/ Prone to depravity.”

Calvinism is back, and not just musically. John Calvin’s 16th century reply to medieval Catholicism’s buy-your-way-out-of-purgatory excesses is Evangelicalism’s latest success story, complete with an utterly sovereign and micromanaging deity, sinful and puny humanity, and the combination’s logical consequence, predestination: the belief that before time’s dawn, God decided whom he would save (or not), unaffected by any subsequent human action or decision.

Read the rest of the article here:

agnostic-2“Its too bad Christianity is not true.” That is what Scott, a highly educated, relatively wealthy scientist with multiple degrees from multiple universities said to me as we talked about Jesus over lunch. “It would be the greatest thing to have ever happened in the history of the world,” he said, “if only it were true.” Due to his presuppositions about the universe there was no room for God in Scott’s thinking. He wished it were true, but knew that it was not. At least that’s what Scott wanted me to think. I don’t know, he may have actually believed that what he was saying accurately pictured the desires of his heart. Somehow, I don’t think that Scott’s “wishful thinking” was really rooted in a clear understanding of who Jesus claimed to be. What Scott did not say is that he wished Christianity were true so that he could give his whole life to Christ, be ridiculed by the scientific community, lose all his prestige and money, and perhaps even die on the mission field someday. He did not wish for that. So, what is it about Christianity that Scott wished to be true? (more…)

As most have commented, we have not written much lately.  That is because the majority of my time has been wrapped up in church planting in Austin.  We are settled in now and are planting in a growing area in Austin called Dripping Springs.  For more information on the church plant please visit Austin Redeemed.  This site is designed for those who are supporting the plant in various ways.  This can be seen in prayer, commitments from people to move to the area and join or financial.

There is also another site that we lead people to who are searching and have no relationship with God.  This site is designed to speak to them where they are and lead them to a group of people that will speak the gospel into their lives. Please visit this site but we ask not to leave comments that are heavy church language or theological.  This is a place for people to simply find out more information on this new church. You can find it at Life Between Sundays.

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