New Song - "The Perfect Place"

Please take some time to check out my new song "The Perfect Place" available on my music player at www.davelongstrethmusic.com, facebook and my BLOG. Also, if you aren't a 'fan' of my music yet - please help me spread it around the world and sign up to be a fan. It's free, it's easy and it won't inconvenience you one bit. Thanks so much!

To check out the lyrics to my new song (taken from Psalm 25, please read on...

A Song of Psalm 25

Lord, I give my life to you
I will trust in you, my God
Show me every step on the road for me to follow
Lead me by your truth and love

You are God who gave me hope
So every day I'll hope in you
You have shown unfailing love
So lead me to the perfect place

Lord you're good, you do what's right
You've been merciful to me
Every time I've gone astray you have led me back
Teach me how to walk with you

You are God who gave me hope
So every day I'll hope in you
You have shown unfailing love
So lead me to the perfect place

For the honor of your name
Please forgive all that I've done
And when I've fallen down fix my eyes on yours
Pick me up and lead me on

You are God who gave me hope
So every day I'll hope in you
You have shown unfailing love
So lead me to the perfect place

You are God who gave me hope
So every day I'll hope in you
You have shown unfailing love
So lead me to the perfect place
So lead me to the perfect place Click Here to Read more!

Worship and Missions - Philosophical

You should see my desk right now after being on vacation for three weeks - there are more stacks and piles than I know what to do with. My first step is to throw away as much as I can. But looking around I see a lot of mail, papers, magazine covers, etc. that speak of two different themes, worship and missions. Now remember that my place on the team here at RCC is creative arts and missions pastor - so in my small mind these two worlds work together. Here's how I think that world of worship and the world of missions collide in a big way...

Worship literally means giving worth to the object, deity or person that we worship. Of course as Christians this hopefully means that we ascribe worth or glorify the one who created all things and who knows and loves us best. This should in theory outweigh giving glory to any other person or created thing in our lives. So if we are to truly ascribe worth and give the most glory to the Creator - then we cannot accomplish this on just a few hours a week. This type of worth-ship or worship has to happen with every part of our being (our decisions, desires and actions). This is what I call the life of a worshiper.

Then there is the term and the thought of missions. Missions by its definition of its function in churches is all about reaching the body, community and even the world for Jesus Christ - meeting physical, intellectual, emotional, spiritual and social needs of people. So we assume that being on mission 24/7 is something that is very possible. It is being salt and light, it is being a witness all the time, it is living the life of a Christ-follower.

I think that what happens is that people associate everything that happens in the church to be worship and everything that happens outside the church to be missions. In my opinion this is not the case. Worship happens more outside the church than it does within and missions happens inside the church as well as outside the walls.

So where is the collision? The collision is the sweet spot, it is the best place to be. It is where the sky meets the earth, the beautiful horizon which we'll never actually stand in this lifetime but we are always walking towards it. The sweet spot is where heaven meets earth - and thus our one true mission is born. It is our mission as children of God and followers of Christ to see the glory of our Creator expressed in the physical, intellectual, emotional, spiritual and social lives of every person who inhabits this rock.

Do worship and missions go together? Like peanut butter and jelly. Like oreos and milk. Like wine and cheese. That's why everyone should get to do what I get to do. That's why no matter what my title or position on a team will ever be - I will always care about inspiring others to live lives of worship and mission 24/7. Click Here to Read more!