Happy Birthday, Church! (And New Music)

Sunday marked the third-year anniversary of our church (that started in a living room), and God has indeed
blessed it abundantly! Everyone got a chance to share a testimony about the church, and I believe those
recordings will be posted on Blane's blog sometime. Anyway, I chickened out, so I might as well say
something here, cloaked in the comfort and anonymity of blog-land...


At the church we attended previously, we were different. We all sat together during the service, and I didn't
participate in any classes or youth group, or anything like that. I had a few good friends, but I was still different. The long and short of it is, I have benefited amazingly from being a part of this body, because
instead of being discouraged from being a mature person firmly rooted in Christ, I am held to a much higher
standard. (And a biblical standard, to boot!) The friendships that have grown, and the new friends that I have
made here, always encourage me to press onward in obedience to Him.
Of course, I am thankful that Elders Philip and Blane are seeking to teach from the Word rightly, and that
though they are men that will fail (as do we all), I have seen that they truly have a heart for God, and I have
full confidence that they will lead this body of believers as the Scripture teaches.
And above all I give praise to the One who, by His free grace, took us all "out of darkness into His marvelous 
light". Without Jesus Christ, we are nothing. If we do not continually proclaim Him alone, and strive to love 
each other as He has commanded, we have no business calling ourselves a church.
(Sorry, I got a little Paul Washer-y there...)

So I want to thank all of you people in this church, for realizing the need to go back to the Bible, to daily 
reform our families, our church body, and our lives. 

Switching gears now.

Before all the testimony, The Wretched Brothers Band, along with Sunny (of Star Hill yore) and
Daniel (on piano), went up to play Indelible Grace's version of "Beneath the Cross of Jesus". We'd practiced
the week before, so by the power of God, we actually sounded put-together!



We also played a special song Blane Jr wrote the day before, commemorating the birthdays of Elder Philip
and Sunny's birthdays. You can check it out with the lyrics on Blane's blog.

After all that, we all got together for a church-wide picture:

 "And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,
  to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,
  until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to
  mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,
  so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about
  by every wind of   doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
  Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the
  head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint
  with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow
  so that it builds itself up in love." - Ephesians 4:11-16